HAPPY SHABBAT ~Concerning All Things

Three things of importance happened, today:

As I finished up getting ready to walk out the door, the phone alerted me to an incoming text – and I knew this would be the last time I responded to texts from this source.

It looks like my face got a bit of a sunburn the other day, dinking around in the garden area - note nose area. LOL

Should I stay; or should I go? That is the million-dollar question.

The Clash – ‘Should I Stay or Should I go?’ song:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfEH7uXaGLY)

(1) I'm not sure the Friday mornings in Lexington will work for me ... they're okay people, but I don't feel that I really {fit}; I'm not the "rah-rah!" cheerleader type - never have been & don't want to be. The History of Longview, and the history of the Civil War Era don't interest me enough to stay interested. I'm more of the "in the moment" type of History person.

This morning was my last Friday Lexington drives. I’ll still be friendly with everyone, but it’s time to move on. When you have to scramble for reasons to ‘make it work’ – it’s not the right {fit} for your life.

My last Friday in Lexington; The look of knowing you've made the right decision in a difficult situation ...

Building a New Life is difficult. There are a lot of starts that fizzle out and go up in smoke. I’m still trying to find where I {fit}. It’s a process – no apology forthcoming: I have to do what’s best for me. The Lexington get-togethers have been fun, but they aren’t what’s best for me: there’s something lacking. I don’t like aimless loose ends. I don’t feel the need to be around people just for the sake of being around people.

There’s got to be something deeper threaded through the gatherings; and there doesn’t appear to be so. I am continually asked to return, but there is really no reason to – I don’t play games/small talk just to send echoes bouncing off walls bores me/I have nothing to share about my kids or grandkids/I’m not a globe trotter … and no one is interested in hearing about local Daytrip jaunts/covid and shootings are the highlights of convo – and I’m just not interested in wasting breath on either. I’m wasting gas to get there; and wasting time I feel guilty spending there, when it could be used more effectively elsewhere for more profitable purposes.

There is no real, connecting identification, on any level.

Building a New Life is difficult. I don’t want to waste my time in a fruitless atmosphere. Maybe I’m expecting too much – I don’t know. All I know is that I’m not feeling any excitement to be there, anymore; and I come away more drained than when I arrived. Friendship should feel more uplifting, and fulfilling.

(2) My new sunglasses arrived this afternoon. I received the text as I was preparing to drive home from Lexington.

On my way to pick up my new Sunglasses; they are not as dark as I had been promised ... and I had hoped.

The lenses look great in the frame; but the polarization is pretty see-through! That’s disappointing: Bob wore polarized sunglasses, and I don’t recall them ever being see-through lenses – they were more like opaque reflection mirrors. I hope these new lenses deflect the glare from the sun and oncoming headlights. I'll try them out next glaring sunny day - or nighttime drive. I've never had polarized sunglasses, so I'm not sure what to expect: but I did expect DARKER lenses.

They do look nice, though. I like that 😊

The polarized lens' don't appear to be that much darker than the tint on my everyday glasses.

Pros & Cons of Polarized Lenses: https://connectusfund.org/9-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-polarized-lenses

(3) Later on; at home, while balancing my checkbook, I noticed a significant deficit in both checking and savings tallies - so back into town I drove to find out "why", "how", and "who": it was a mystery, and I was thinking someone had stolen my account info and was skimming, leaving me in dire straits if it continued (bills need to be paid next week! I need that lost $$$$!!); I balance the balances every month, just like Bob drilled into my head for 44 years - there should have been NO glitches in either account.

It turned out to be a freak thing, and was quickly sorted by the girl who went over the details with me - she had a sharp eye that caught the snafu 😊 NO FAULT OF MINE – YAY!

The $$$$ has been recovered, and my deficit balance righted, again. HAPPY!

I decided to treat myself with a splurge, and picked up a pizza on the way home.

Shabbat Supper Splurge; Cheese Pizza.

I am thankful for Elohim's presence and faithfulness in my life this week. I am honored to be loved and favored by Yeshua. I am grateful for every single circumstance, and situation I experience: through them I am 'becoming'; and finding out who gets to share space with me as my Tribe is being formed.

Concerning all things - I'm not getting younger: or richer. Time is of the essence for balances to balance ... 😉

L'Chiam!

LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE ~Traveling Thursdays/2022

Today, I had the $$ to make the drive to Naselle to visit my friends, there.

We have missed each other. We love each other. Love doesn’t change overnight – it can be killed, or it can be nurtured; that’s up to the people involved. We, as community-building friends, choose to nurture the love that flows freely among us 😉

The hour-long drive is welcome … and I hope recent money-eating-expenses that have been eating up my carefully budgeted gas $$$ will taper off enough to allow me to make that drive every week, again. I enjoy the scenic drive: I enjoy the coffee hour convo 😊

Life in the Slow Lane was very welcome change of pace today – and I expected to be gone all day long; so I dressed in clothes and makeup that would take me from AM to PM with ease 😉

Queries incoming ...

Affirmative reply; YES!

Ready to rock & roll.

Naselle from Longview; 1 hr. 10 mins (1-way) via Ocean Beach Highway.

Anticipation of two catch-up chit-chats (AM & PM), and delicious tempting coffee aromas were not highjacked as I experienced a ‘Manic Monday’ start to my Traveling Thursday.

Right off, the day started out like a Monday.

Drivers need to be respectful of deer crossing the roadways.

Road work at Stella; patching potholes around the upper bend.

Despite the unexpected wild life snafu’s (2-legged humanoids, as well as 4-legged actual animals), and sporadic road work spread out along the route from Longview to Skamokawa, I managed to arrive at my destination on time without exceeding the speed limit.

Laughter and coffee flowed with carefree abandon. Serious convo was kept light with hope and encouragement liberally sprinkled throughout the train of thought. Ramona (not my sister – another Ramona, my friend) and I helped Becky (not my niece – another Becky, my friend) unwind and untangle her skein of yarn, so she could easily finish her latest WIP. And I came home with a gifted snippet of an Airplane Plant 😊

I love life in the Slow Lane: it really is the simple things in life that make life enjoyable.

A Spider Baby; gift coming home with me.

Pointing the Highlander’s nose homeward, I made a snap decision to deviate from the straight-n-narrow highway … and drive a few side roads.

I was out of Dodge, and foot-loose and fancy-free, today. It was a nice day, perfect for a country drive down several country roads 😊

Eden Valley Road, Rosburg.

The skies have been filled with helicopters lately - either campaigning politicians ... or war maneuvers being practiced.

2nd Cousins in a familial triangle formation; Russell & Wally (forefront) & Bob.

3 deer prancing down Altoona-Pillar Rock Road; I came to a jerky stop: unpredictable deer get the right of way ;-)

Altoona-Pillar Rock Road, Rosburg.

Barr Road, Graysriver.

Covered Bridge Road, Graysriver.

The Covered Bridge; Graysriver.

Once again on Ocean Beach Highway (the straight-n-narrow road from here to there), the old cement bridgework guardrails of the Graysriver bridge pulled my eye: so, I turned off the road and parked on the gravel near Fossil Creek Road to admire it. I like these old cement guardrails. I do not like the modern aluminum guardrails, at all.

Old bridgework ... I like it; Graysriver.

1938

Ugly, ugly, UGLY 'upgrade improvements'.

I remember walking across the old cement walkways, when I walked this highway, every weekend; in the early 1970’s. It was about 11½ miles one way from Ingalls Road (where I lived at that point in time) in Skamokawa, to where the old Appelo’s Store in Graysriver, used to be.

Appelo's Store in Graysriver - gone now, but it looked like this when I hiked to Graysriver.

Graysriver from Skamokawa; 13 mins. driving time (11.8 mi. distance) via WA-4 W

I enjoyed hiking those 23 miles every weekend. I’d take a short break at the top of KM Mountain, to catch my breath; and then I’d finish the first half of that hike at Appelo’s Store where I’d buy a can of coke, and a pack of Marlboro Reds, before hoofing it back over the KM, and home.

I’m pretty sure the log truck drivers did not enjoy seeing me walking that ditch-side white line 😉 As an adult now, I sympathize with their concerns – but as a teenager, then, I didn’t think of the dangers while selfishly enjoying my foot-loose, carefree, all-day-hike.

Thinking of that experience, I decided to drive Ingalls Road to the Duck Inn, for lunch (the backroad route).

I enjoy country road drives 😊

Country roads are generally slow lane travel: today was a Slow Lane Day.

As I was driving along, radio talking heads were discussing (and bitching about) escalating gas prices. It irks me too … but it’s going to happen, and bitching about it won’t halt it. Escalating gas prices is what the obamanite DC devotees want: it is what they intend to implement – the push, according to the obamanite doctrine, is EV’s for the filthy rich, bikes for the millennial urbanites, train travel/city bus travel for lower class city dwellers … and beat-feet-travel for country bumpkins. That is what the biden-harris cartel is aiming for, that is what they are preparing for.

Seattle is already primed to implement it: jay inslee is, after all, barak hussain obama’s west coast evangelist, feverishly doing his best to browbeat Washingtonians into slavishly embracing the obamanite cult doctrine.

Ingalls Road, Skamokawa.

Landslide cleanup on Ingalls Road, near Fernhill Cemetery.

Middle Valley Road, Skamokawa.

Sleepy Hallow, Skamokawa.

Inflation experts are predicting $10-gal. gas prices this year ... that won't stop people from driving.

barak hussain obama’s solution to the “fossil fuel issue”: https://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/opinions/editorials/article_936795e0-83f0-11e1-ac93-001a4bcf887a.html

WA State Gas prices expected to reach double-digit costs: https://nypost.com/2022/05/19/washington-state-preps-for-10-gas-stations-run-out-of-fuel/

And, on the tail-end of that radio discussion as I left Ocean Beach Highway for more country road driving, came a report of more leftist lunacy: canada has eliminated Laws that made fentanyl illegal: I am sure the biden-harris team administration from Hell will follow suit. Oh goodie (not!) … now we can expect those drug addled morons to be aiming cars down the highway, too, with pothead drivers/heroin fueled motorists/wobbly bicyclists that do not know how to pedal on the highways/and absent-minded mental cases walking down the center lines ☹

Canada decriminalizes hard drugs: https://www.cp24.com/news/canada-announces-decriminalization-plan-for-drug-users-in-b-c-to-fight-overdoses-1.5926923

What the Hell are politician’s thinking!?! Are politicians thinking at all, or are their brain cells totally misfiring 100% of the time?

Besides the slow lane scenery, and country road vibe; I stick to backroads for a logical reason, people … there is protection as well as comfort in the Slow Lane 😉

Beaver Creek Road - off Elochoman road, to Longview.

Columbia River shipping lane – birds-eye view of Stella-Willow Grove & Longview in the near distance ... ship headed downriver to Port of Longview anchor bay.

Back on Ocean Beach Highway, case and point was played out in a scary scenario that could have ended very badly for the car, the log truck, and me.

Thank God Bob was always nagging me about the “2-cars-length following distance”.

((((THANK YOU, BABE!))))

Thank the Lord, angels are dispatched every time I hit the open road.

That nagging – and an Angel on my shoulder – saved my life today.

Dumbass driver nearly caused a traumatic wreck ...

WTH! We need stiffer drug and driving Laws!

‘Life in the Fast Lane’ song:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po6QU0z1rSs)

Time to get rid of the demonrat lunacy laws.

Counting my blessings and thanking my lucky stars, I pulled into my carport and dropped off my Airplane Plant snippet; collected the mail, and took a couple minutes to run into town and deposit Bob’s TOC love gift … before backtracking to Spruce Creek where friends were waiting for my arrival for an evening coffee hour 😊

Spruce Creek Road, Longview.

Randy Travis – ‘It’s A Great Day to Be Alive’ song:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kwCc5uqJv4)

I was glad for this evening gathering of mixed company. It is good to see life from different angles. It is good to laugh. It is good to be touched emotionally, spiritually, and physically; on comfortable levels.

Even though there were two very obvious manic monday moments in this Thursday, I actually thoroughly enjoyed Life in the Slow Lane, today – all day 😊

Both coffee hours (AM & PM) will be weekly repeats; God willing, and budget providing 😉

 

*Traveling Thursday Links~2021: (https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2021/08/traveling-thursday-lael-moon-nursery.html)