Sophie's Story

     Today is my birthday and it's been a good day so far. The sun is shining.      Willow and I shared a morning cuddle session. She's getting so big. I'm trying to teach her how to balance on my shoulder so I can get things done and still have her with me. She's doing all right, but insists on sitting up on my shoulder which isn't the most stable position.    I got a happy birthday text from Mickey who has known me longer than anyone. It occurred to me that we have been friends for over 50 years. That makes me happy.    C went off to play pickleball and I did a restorative yoga class. We went biking yesterday and really pushed it. The class felt good. I had to work around Willow who decided to take a quick nap on my yoga mat.    I baked a hummingbird cake for my birthday cake last night. I put it into a Bundt pan instead of making a traditional layer cake. It turned out well. I put some cream cheese glaze over it this morning and I am pleased with it. I'm goin

     Normally I don't write about serious topics for weekend columns. Weekends should be a break from the what goes on the rest of the week. However, I've been stewing over something for a couple of weeks and it's time of me to get it out of my head.    Someone I know posted on Facebook that anyone who does not support and vote for the same conservative leaders he favours should leave the country. His opinion was that people who do not support and elect the group that he likes do not love this country, are not true patriots and need to live someone else.     I wanted badly to comment on his post. I wanted to tell him that I was born here, raised here and have made a good life here. I cannot in good conscience support the people he chooses and I am not going to leave. My uncles and my father-in-law fought in a war to prevent this kind of authoritarian thinking. I didn't because I know that doing this would only start something that I didn't want to start.    To me wh

     C and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary yesterday. Two days after the actual date. Like many couples I had to work because I didn't block the day off. It wasn't the first time I had worked on our anniversary.    I married late in life because I saw no reason to get married. I wasn't beautiful and had a very demanding career. I just didn't think there was a man in the world who would want a short, stout, bookish, cat loving woman who was devoted to being a good pharmacist. Marriage was for attractive girls who wanted to have children.    Then I met C. He didn't mind that I was bookish, stout and had a family that consisted of two cats. He was just fine with me and my career. We fell in love and decided to get married.    I thought I knew what I was getting myself into I think most people who get married think they know what they are getting into, but I don't think it is possible to really know until after the celebrating is over and you are left to b

     One of the surprises that I got when we bought the house that we live in was discovering that the property contained a small raised garden. I found this out the day we moved in when a neighbor came up to me and said, "I hope you are going to do something with this garden." The garden had been designed by a master gardener who lived in the house when it was first built.. The young men who bought the house had let it go.    My parents had a large garden at the house I grew up in. They planted lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and other vegetables.  Sometimes my Dad would try to grow strawberries. Once he grew raspberries. There was a flower garden and Dad grew roses around the foundation in the front yard. As children part of our job was to help tend these gardens. I didn't mind. I especially liked helping to tend the roses and picking the flowers that grew. I even had a small patch where I could grow a flower called a four o'clock. I don't remember what they looked l

     Hopefully everyone has a period of time in their lives where they are happy. Things are going well and life is very good.    I'm having one of those times right now. Life is good here in Minnesota.     Our new flooring is all that we hoped for. It looks like a wood floor to me even though I know that it's actually vinyl. It so much easier to keep clean and the smelly old carpet is gone. We're debating on doing some painting before we move furniture and the TV back into place. We realized that we have a nice carpet that will look good on the floor and give it some warmth. It will be so nice to enjoy the space and perhaps to have visitors.    Last weekend we went to a festival in Red Wing. Small town festivals are always fun for me. There was music, food from local restaurants and a lot of people and dog watching. They had craft booths down by the river. One of the big ships that cruise down the river was docked at the park. I've seen those boats on TV. They don'

     Thanks to the severe storm that swept through Hudson, the location of our  Toastmaster's summer party had to be changed. Two trees had fallen at Maha's house. One on part of the house and another on the deck. Her house was all right, but her gardens and deck were a mess and she didn't want to host a party until she had cleaned things up. Tosia offered to host it at her house. She would make pulled beef sandwiches and everyone could bring sides, desserts and appetizers. She also said that anyone wanting to take a dip in the pool should bring a suit and towel.    I was tempted. I like to swim and I like pools. The challenge was that I hadn't worn a swimsuit in front of people I knew since I was in high school. The only times I put on a swimsuit are we are on vacation and I want to sit in the hot tub or swim in the hotel pool. Tosia said that she had two pool rules. The first was no peeing in the pool. The second was no body shaming including self body shaming. I wasn