Sophie's Story

      We live a block or so from the library. While I haven't spent as much time there as I would have liked, I like the fact that it is so close. Last year, they shut the library down to do some renovations. I was pretty sad about it. Although  I'd been choosing my books through an online catalog, I liked being able to walk to the library and pick my books up as well as drop them off when I finished reading them.      The library moved temporarily to the second floor of one of the county buildings. I was happy I had access to the library, but the county building was not convenient. I still checked out books, but I had to make sure to pick up books or drop them off when running errands.     The library reopened a month ago. I was working on reopening day so I had not seen when changes were made.        A few days ago, I had a book I needed to return. Since the library is close to our walking path, we decided to drop off th...

           For our latest bike ride of the season, I wore my flowered bike pants. Because it was going to be warm out I wore a thin purple t shirt that matched the pants. The shirt had a round collar and is close fitting.  We had a good ride, ate the picnic lunch that we brought and then went home.       I was in the bathroom doing something when I glanced at myself in the mirror. I took a really good look. Then I felt sick.        I looked fat. I looked in the mirror and saw something grossly fat and unattractive. I changed out of my biking clothes but it didn't make me feel any better. I felt fat and ugly. I hated what I saw in the mirror.        This is something I've struggled with off and on for a lot of my life. Even as a teenager I was never fashionably thin. Many of the woman in my family tend to be rather sturdy especially on the Italian side. When I was out of college and working, I was t...

           Willow turns three years old today. Most mornings she walks onto my lap and tilts her head to get a scratch before settling down for a quick nap or cuddle session. This morning after she settled into my lap, I reflected on how she came to live with us.          Three years ago, in July, a woman from church needed someone to take care of a kitten she recently adopted. Because the kitten was so small, it meant the kitten would need to stay in the home of whoever was caring for her. The woman and her family were going on a trip over the Independence Day weekend. She had planned to pick up the kitten after her trip, but the family she was adopting from wanted the kitten in her new home before the holiday. Someone put her in contact with me as someone who might be able to help.          We had just lost our beloved Scamp a little more than a month before. For the first time in 25 years I had no cat to ...

           In the interests of fair disclosure, I have absolutely no ideas to write about today. All I have are a series of small things that alone aren't enough to write about. I hope you will enjoy this hodge podge of topics.          Lately C has had a craving for beans. When he was growing up he ate pinto beans and cornbread. In the south, it's cooked with fatback. It think fatback is like bacon with a lot of fat and very little meat. It was salty which flavoured the beans. I've tried several times to cook beans all unsuccessful. I finally decided to try again. Since I'm never organized enough to do an overnight soak with the beans, I used a quicker method. After sorting and rinsing the beans, I put them in a pot of water to boil. I let them boil for ten minutes. Then I turned the heat off and let them set for an hour in the water. When the hour was over I drained the beans, rinsed them and rinsed out the pot. I put them back in...

           Yesterday we went for our first bike ride of the season on the Cannon Valley Trail. We got there later than usual because we wanted it to warm up a little bit before we rode.          We had planned to start out in Red Wing and bike to the midpoint at Welch. Due to construction on the trail we were not able to do this. We had to start at Welch and bike toward Cannon Falls. It wasn't going to be a problem.          We got to Welch and unloaded out bikes. My job is to tie on our trail passes and put our water bottles and other things in their proper places while C puts the bike rack in the trunk. C brought out our helmets. I put on my helmet and instantly knew there was a problem. I had my hair tied back as usual and it was up too high. I removed the elastic hair tie and retied my hair lower. I think I got a piece of the scarf I had tied around my hair. Also the knot from the scarf was in the wrong ...

           At the end of last year's riding season, C fell off his bike. It happened when the front wheel of his bike tapped the back wheel of mine tipping him off the edge of the trail into the grass. It was scary for me as I didn't know in the moment what had happened. I was scared he had a stoke or other serious medical issue.  Fortunately he was able to get back up with assistance and ride the last mile to the car. His bike had some minor damage and a few days later his shoulder started to ache. Nothing was broken and it healed slowly over the winter.          We are not sure why it happened. C never rides behind me and never directly behind me. That is a rule that we have. How he managed to be directly behind me is something he has pondered for weeks. It's still a mystery.          C decided, because of this accident, that we are going to get helmets and wear them when we ride. Until now we hadn't ...