Well, Hello There …

Posted on by marissafh

It’s been a while.

I’m still around, although my head and my brain hasn’t been.  It’s been an annus horribilis, to borrow a quote from Queen Elizabeth II from some years back.

Things have not been right with the world.  It’s not just the hectic, chaotic, missed deadlines frenzy that everyday life throws at us.  That, we somehow manage to handle, deal with it, move on.

It’s when we’re thrown for a loop that everything crashes.  It sounds so cliche, and until it happens to you, it’s just a phrase that you hear and read about, and sometimes dismiss.  But when you’re living in that loop that’s thrown at you, your world really crashes down on you.

There were no physical injuries, no, nothing as traumatic as that, and we’ve fixed and patched things up as best we could, and gone on with life.  But mentally, I’m not settled.  The constant worry that things will blow up again, the constant watchfulness, and things may have settled down into a routine again … But I’m not settled.

“This too shall pass”,  I remind myself regularly.  Things will get better, of course.  I’ll just settle myself down, and start writing again.

Hope you’re all having a good summer.

 

 

 

Advertisements

Cotton Clouds

Posted on by marissafh

The school sports season has started.

In between trying to get everything ready for school, sports continues to take up much of the time.  Is it me just getting old, or are preparations and to-do lists getting longer with less time to work on them?

It seems to be the same schedule and routine every year … I know I’m getting tired of everything, and my priorities keep shifting around. But I’m on a wheel that keeps spinning, and there’s no time to jump off, because everything will have advanced too far and I won’t be able to catch up …  *Sigh*

Need to work on time management to get more done … or take off more items on the priority list … yeah, maybe that might work better … Let me have a think about that, while watching the clouds overhead.

 

 

Eclipse Monday

Posted on by marissafh

Here’s my best photos, taken with the iPhone.

I used the eclipse glasses to take the dark photo, at the beginning of the eclipse here in NYC.

The next ones came out blurry, then I tried to take one without the glasses. I forgot to zoom in, but you can see a little sliver if the eclipse.

It didn’t turn as dark as I thought it would be. I thought it might sort of be twilight-dark at the peak here, but there wasn’t much difference in the lighting.

As we left, I took another one. Can’t remember if this was directly with the lens, or the selfie mode.

But I see a little blue dot, with an eclipse. Is that the moon? And the bight ball in front is the sun? Still trying to figure it out … What do you think?

How was your Eclipse Monday? Got any good shots of it?

Trying to Settle Down

Posted on by marissafh

Oh wow … I skipped through all of July without blogging !

I think I’m getting old … I can’t keep up with all the activities any more … I tried quick posts on Facebook and Instagram – the new technology for the year, and that worked for a while but I think even that is falling behind now …

Anyway, in a nutshell … 


We had an unexpected trip to Trinidad at the beginning of summer, and then three weeks later flew across to San Diego, California for a soccer tournament.  We stayed an extra couple of days so the boys could see more of California … 


  So our routines have sort of flown out the door, and we’re not quite ready to settle back down yet … 

Tin will be starting his senior year in high school … aaarrghhh!! really???  senior already?  Maybe I’m the one who’s not ready for it.  He doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, which drives me crazy, because there’s so much to put in place before the school year starts!  And .. he’s finally got his license!  No, that’s not his car – he’s just sitting in it! 😂my stress level and blood pressure has been up these past few months, and now that he can drive out on his own, it’s double-double pressure … and no, he’s not bothered by it, because of course, this euphoria of being able to drive around on his own, with friends, anywhere, is ultimate freedom … *sigh* what to do?


 

So, I’m going to make myself settle back in a routine … and we’ll start that with working on the blog again, if for no other reason is that it makes me sit and write – or I should say, type.  There’s something about the fingers on the keys and the clicking of the keyboard, isn’t there?  Sometimes, I just want to re-type a page or two of documents just to type and exercise my fingers. Yeah, weird … 

I’ll work on a photo recap of the summer up till now .. That will also give me a chance to sort through the thousand and more photos that I took these past few months …


Have a good weekend, all !

 

 

New Runnings

Posted on by marissafh

New experiences … outdoor track meets.

Tin participated in the winter indoor track, to keep in shape since his soccer team wasn’t playing much last year.  Turned out that many of the athletes were also filling in the time by running.

Well, it turned out that Tin liked running.  He was fast, and could hold his own.  And of course, there was the challenge of catching that other runner ahead of him.

Our first outdoor meet turned out nice, weather-wise.  A little breezy, but the sun was out, and it was warm.

High-tech running shoes … See that dial on the sides?  That’s to tighten the wire-thin ‘laces’.  They looked more like strips of nylon thread.  Dial right to tighten the laces; pull it out to ‘undo’ the laces.  High-tech indeed.

The next day, he had a soccer game.  Again, warm weather.  Dare we hope that spring is really staying?

And of course, after the game, the boys were hungry.  And while walking on the sidewalk, they came upon a vendor selling icees and fresh mango – so they got two bags of pickled mango.

Yes … spring and summer are here …

 

Grey Skies on a Sunny Morning

Posted on by marissafh

We were looking forward to a weekend tournament in Virginia, thinking that it would be warmer than it is here in NYC.  Wrong ….

We were out on the fields, in blustery winds and 0-20 degree weather in the early mornings … Us parents had three and four and maybe five layers on – the boys had two to three layers … And spring is next week already?  Oh wait … we came back home and there was a nor’easter snowstorm-blizzard waiting for us!  We really are having crazy weather these days, right?

grey skies

 

It’s Fall … or Summer Extended

Posted on by marissafh

The calendar says it’s the first day of fall, or autumn.  The temperatures say it’s still summer.  No matter.  We can extend summer a few more weeks, I don’t mind.

Is it only me, or are the days going by faster and faster?  Is it me not managing my time and schedule efficiently, or are there less hours in a day?  I really don’t know where the time goes.  We seem to be spinning around and around and the march of time is measured by the changing seasons and schedules, and yet I don’t feel that we’ve even stayed long enough in one season, and the next one is upon us.

I’ve also realized that one of the reasons why I haven’t blogged much is because I’ve become predictable.  Just like the changing seasons, you know what I’m going to write about … the hectic and chaos of schedules, the new school year, the sports season … And yet, that is what life is all about at the moment … there’s not much going on, in between running between home, school, work, soccer games, home, school, work …

Oh, we did manage a two-week beach vacation .. yeah!!

beach1

… which didn’t stop the boys pokemon-huntingPokemon-hunting everywhere on the island … you’ve heard of this game, right?  lol

They even went riding all around the island to hit all those Poke-stops and catch those creatures …

I didn’t mind … that kept them busy, and I was left to my reading, crocheting, knitting and just plain being a beach bum .. We need that sometimes, don’t we?

 

Here’s hoping that the last quarter of the year doesn’t go so fast …

sunset