Goodbye, Irene

Glad to see her heading out to sea, but I feel for everyone who was in her path. It was a relief to learn that she was downgraded to a tropical storm as she arrived ashore in Brooklyn (specifically at Coney Island--she brought her own cyclones & didn't need to ride the wooden roller coaster of the same name). She certainly left behind a huge mess; I'm just grateful not to have the flooding in my little corner of the world, despite our local need for a bit more rain.

Now the potential tropical storm (hurricane?) Katia is blowing far out in the Atlantic south of the Cape Verde islands this morning. I fervently pray that IF she hits the USA she's relatively minor AND that she goes into the Gulf of Mexico to Texas, simply because they need rain more desperately than the Carolinas do.

Algebra

Most definitely NOT my favorite subject in school, which I've not kept a secret from my children.

Fortunately, this evening's homework time doubled as bonding time for my two daughters over this very subject. The seventh grader is in an advanced class preparing to potentially take Algebra in the eighth grade. The eleventh grader is currently taking Algebra II, so when the younger one had questions, her big sister was able & willing to assist (much to this writer's everlasting relief!).

Sometimes it pays to let the kids be the mercifully wise ones!

Evacuating a Chrysalis

The perpetually wise Mr. Webster, whose dictionary is one of my most oft used resources, defines a chrysalis thus:

1) The pupa of a butterfly (any of numerous slender bodied diurnal lepidopteran* insects including one superfamily, Papillonoidea, with broad often brightly colored wings).

*Lepidoptera is the order of insects encompassing moths, butterflies, & skippers, specifically the brightly colored ones that start life as caterpillars. (I didn't know either!)

2) a sheltered state or stage of being or growth, from the Latin chrysallid-, chrysallis (gold colored pupa of butterflies); from the Greek chrysos (gold).

Today's project is to find the contents of the golden chrysalis among the butterflies at the end of the rainbow (me). The reason for the search is that I was recently been diagnosed as "low thyroid," or hypothyroid, which according to my physician may be stress-related, and according to friends with similar problems, is likely to be lifelong.

Because the thyroid gland is butterfly-shaped, I've adopted the insect as a personal mascot. Where I now live, Sulfur butterflies abound (so called for their yellow color, the same as the nasty smelling stuff most of us recall from high school chemistry). They're small, not much larger than the actual gland that resembles them, so they seem an appropriate mascot--to say nothing of my efforts to emerge from a chrysalis I feel like I've been in since starting college. Contributing to this are, of course, my own tendency to not take the best care of myself at all times, but also other factors I'm now learning are potential hazards to the thyroid; to wit:

-exposure to a microwave tower only a mile from the house where I grew up in Connecticut, which seems to have been implicated in numerous episodes of thyroid cancer in several of my peers at a relatively young age. (It's still there, though no longer a microwave tower.)

-a diagnosis of mononucleosis when I was 16, possibly as a result of (or contributing to) what's known as adrenal fatigue & is rather difficult to diagnose, much less to treat until it's identified (a quest all its own, from what I've read).

My goals for the coming year are rather simple, if not so simply achieved:

a) lower weight, including a body weight & BMI within the healthy range

b) improved flexibility & general mobility (I've already been working out most mornings of the past year, so I just need to step that up a bit more)

c) a less stressful career in which I can actually relax on weekends & take vacations that DON'T result in so much backlog as to have hubby & I joke, "no good break goes unpunished."

Advice/counsel much appreciated if you have any to offer!

My Zoo

I have Socks on my lap. (Socks is a two month old Maine Coon-looking kitten, also known as "itty bitty kitty.") It's the first time today I've sat down somewhere other than in the driver's seat of the car and I'm relaxing for five minutes while eating a sandwich before attempting to remove what appears to be mildew spots from the roof of my convertible. I'm sure she won't be happy when I displace her.

When I left the first time this morning, to head to the YMCA for a workout, the two dogs & our two mature cats all greeted me at the porch, looking at me like I was the worst mistress on earth for not feeding them before I left. By the time I returned, everyone had eaten & Peyton (the larger of the two dogs) was eager to have me toss a pine cone for her to "fetch." Taco wanted a ride in the car (he got one for about 25 feet), and the cats were lounging under the dogwood tree, looking at me as if I'd interrupted something important (knowing them, their cat naps!). The only animals that hounded me for food were our three red hens, for whom I scattered some feed. (They at least earn their keep in egg output. It's a joy to go grocery shopping and NOT have to buy eggs except at Easter.)

Older daughter has informed me that the ball python & ruby tarantula (both in secure tanks in her room) are well fed & have water, so that means I only had to dispatch younger daughter to feed her rabbit, who got a treat of timothy hay along with her pellets & water (hope she enjoyed it).

Time to wash the car (before it rains!)--I'm sure the dogs will be right there to play in the water.

"Forever"

FOREVER is the goal of so many components of life; yet often the parts that OUGHT to result in that answer more often DON'T end up a permanent fixture. Far too often this is due to baser elements of human nature in some people, to impediments over which I have little or no control, or to the competing desires of many individuals.

How to fix this? One way is to brainstorm, and I've found that immensely helpful at times. It remains to be seen, however, whether any of the latest ideas will resolve anything. I certainly hope they do!