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"The cure for anything is salt water, sweat, tears or the sea." - Isak Dinesen
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Today's tea: Royal Cup Tea 1896; orange pekoe and pekoe cut black tea
Today's music:
-- Bob Seeger & the Silver Bullet Band - Greatest Hits, 1994
-- Oak Ridge Boys - ICON, 2010
-- Merle Haggard - Greatest Hits Finest Performances, 1995

Today's entry is from a writing prompt from The Daily Post. Their suggestion was five books but I came up with six. I would be interested in what are your favorite books. Saying that, here are mine:

"Black Stallion" by Walter Farley. Would you believe, I joined the Walter Farley fan club and I still have my button? I was taken with the book and the books to follow. Being a young girl I loved horses. Don't most girls?

"Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. I had not seen the movie before reading this book. I discovered it in my high school library. I was taken with Mitchell's portrayal of the people of this time period and the history of the Civil War. When I look back now, I see the dysfunction and co-dependency of the characters. Still by the time I finished high school, I had read the book 10 times. One year I asked my favorite maternal great aunt to purchase me the book instead of giving me money. This she did and I still have the book. It is in my stack of books to read.

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values" by Robert M. Pirsig. This book came highly recommended and since I was riding on the back of a motorcycle I thought why not. Oh man, the book paralleled many of the experiences I had had on the motorcycle. Here I was practicing Zen and did not even know it. It is still one of my favorite books. And now I own my own motorcycle and the book is still applicable.

"Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice. Granted I loved the "Dracula" by Bram Stoker, this book introduced me to Anne Rice. I loved her story and of all the others she has written. I am not sure what it is about this book that intrigues me or the entire realm of vampires but I find I keep coming back.

"West with the Night" by Beryl Markham. Beryl was in the group of initial women who flew and this is her story of what kind of child she was and the woman she became. And to think she was in Africa at the time Denys Finch-Hatton. Which if you have seen "Out of Africa" he was the lover to Baroness von Blixen aka Isak Dinesen.

"Nobody Said Not to Go: The Life, Loves, and Adventures of Emily Hahn" by Ken Cuthbertson. Granted I am enamored of the Emily Hahn since my name is Emily. This lady led the kind of life that in some ways mirrored mine. I did not conform to society much to my family's dismay. This lady does what she wants, when she wants and with whom she wants. The story begins in the 1920s where she crosses the country dressed as a boy; worked as a Harvey Girl in Taos, New Mexico; ran away to the Belgian Congo as a Red Cross worker during the Great Depression; was the concubine of a Chinese poet in Shanghai in the 1930s; had an affair and an illegitimate child with the head of the British Secret Service in Hong Kong just before the outbreak of World War II; and, much more. Granted I didn't do some of these things but I was a wild and crazy girl in my younger days.

So there you have some of my favorite books.

Today I wake up to sunshine. Hooray, the rain is not here yet! I think about going walking. A part of me wants to stay in bed to sleep or get up and write my morning pages. However, I prevail and I get up and get dressed and go walking. I know I will appreciate it when I return home.

I had planned to take a short route. Then I thought I would take the longer route but this made me anxious. So, I said to my inner child, let's just walk and see where it takes us.

Then I thought if I was going by the pharmacy I could stop in to pick up my prescription. And if I was going to do that, I might as well go the back way and pick of my meds on the way home it would be less time to carry the package. Okay, I can do this. My neighbor Mr. T is out in the parking lot and he encourages me on. What an inspiration he is.

So off I go, I work up a sweat in no time. At 8:30 a.m. it has to be in the high 60s. One of my first sights is a blue heron in the vacant lot in front of our apartment complex. I talk to him or her to let it know I was not going to harm it. It was not taking any chances and walked away from me and then at the last minute it flapped its wings and flew a short distance to the other side of the field.

Another notable encounter was the crazy lady, I wrote of her sometime back when she came down our walk way between the apartments and was yelling about someone being missing and no one cared. This morning she is over by the storage units. My first thought was she was a worker for the storage place. That is, until she asked me what I saw. I thought a minute and replied I saw nature. I then asked her the same question. Her reply was she saw nature too but first she had to pick up trash. I thanked her for her contribution to our community and I kept walking.

It was a great walk. The pharmacy was not open so I continued home. This walk took 45 minutes to complete. There were three small inclines to walk. I felt every one of them. Since I did side bends last night while exercising with my weights, I can tell I stretched the oblique muscles.

When I returned home Mr. T was outside and I told him I was ready to go back to bed.

I am excited though because I have walked for a week. Today is the beginning of the second week. Yippee, maybe I was right about a habit coming on.

Once I entered my abode, Bailey was all over me. He was meowing like crazy. I think this is his way of bitching me out for not feeding him before I left. I think he would have meowed at me even if I did feed him first. Sometimes Bailey can be a little pig when it comes to his wet food.

I take care of washing out his dishes and his place mat. I do this once a week. Not that they are very grimed but I like to keep his areas as clean as possible. All the while there is the meowing. Okay, okay already, I will feed you. Plus, I give him a clean plate every day for his wet food. Once I put the food down for him. He leaves me alone and I can go about my day until it is time to feed him again.

I cannot believe how beautiful out it is. There is a light breeze, the flowers are blooming and I feel all is well in my world.

Tonight is Sunday Night Football! Michael and I are going to prepare food prior to the game. Last week Michael was cooking and watching football and he does not want to do that again. I am finally going to make the pita chips and now we have salsa to have with them. I do not know what Michael will prepare but this is kind of fun. We are creating a ritual of our own for Sunday night. Michael made mention of this when he saw me reading my book. He said this was our time and I needed to be present during it. He is right.

It is things like this that make our days happy ones. These are the fond memories for later years. We have so many fun memories. We have had adventures to raise your hair. Some I would have liked to not have had but even the bad adventures have made us strong as a couple.

I love my little nook here at the dining room table. I get to look out at the back patio. I hear the humming birds sing and hear their wings as they dive and bomb one another. I love the fresh air. I noticed a new little bird yesterday. It appeared and disappeared so quickly I didn't get a good look at it. I will be glad when I can get some seed to see who comes to feed. Yes, this little corner, cluttered as it is, is very peaceful and welcoming my words to come forth.

mz. em
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Currently reading:
-- "Charade" - Sandra Brown
-- "The Daily Book of Art/356 readings that teach, inspire & entertain" - day 6
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