The Hermits' Rest

Book Review: The Art of Racing in the Rain

The book I read all in one day is The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein (also a major motion picture, which I did not see). There seems to be an entire genre of books written from the viewpoint of dogs, these days. In fact, here’s a list of them from Amazon, and you will see it includes a book by a human with “dog” in their name.

As for this book, it’s both about racing and being a very intelligent dog observing a life. Like A Dog’s Purpose, this one posits that dogs are put on earth to protect or care for a family. When they are done, they go away and come back as something else. For our book’s dog, named Enzo, he is convinced he will come back next as a human, and he’ll know so much stuff, especially about racing cars.

I can see how this book became a “major motion picture,” because the people in it are not quite as complex as the inhabitants of the last few books I’ve read. The race-car driver dad is just plain good, with just a hint of temptation to be bad. The lawyers are just plain lawyers.

I CAN Relax, So There!

We all know that I am a busy little bee (speaking of which, look at the beautiful carpenter bee, one of many we saw on some non-native heather today).

This week is my annual week in Hilton Head, and I vowed to actually rest and not cram every moment with work or stressful activities. Today was the big test.

Anita demonstrates a relaxing beverages.

It’s a Real Vacation

I’m off on my yearly trip to South Carolina, this year, with Anita. Lee has a house to close on, or had one, which explains why we are flying.

Anita was suspicious at lunch in the Austin airport.

The plane to Charlotte was very pleasant. I did not feel squished, and all aspects have gone smoothly. We even got some legit Carolina barbecue, recommended by my frequent flyer friend Mike Y.

Dig in! Captain Jack will not get me high tonight.

The best thing, though, is that I read a WHOLE book today. Ahhh. That means real vacation to me! I’ll review the book tomorrow once we get from our guest-night hotel and get to the condo we have for the week.

I intend to look at many birds and maybe go horseback riding! Hilton Head beckons.

Overcommitted? Me? Maybe Not!

I read a lovely article today about a woman who was overwhelmed and realized the work she was doing had nothing to do with her actual talents or things she enjoyed doing. She got therapy, pondered a while, and POOF, she’s now living on a goat farm in a yurt, perfectly happy to enjoy a quiet life.

Yurt, sweet yurt. Image by *@sojourneynicole via Twenty20*

I’m happy for her. As she pointed out, it’s not a character flaw to be someone who shudders at the idea of trying to “make it” and cramming as much as possible to achieve some new goal every few months or climbing the corporate ladder until you “win.” Knowing full well that most people aren’t going to “make it” or “win,” it’s probably a good idea to take comfort in more modest goals and aspirations that allow you to live a full but not overfull life.

Looking at the list of things I’m involved with lately, you’d think I am among the over-achieving group and that I am trying to “win” at something. Most organizations volunteered for? Most confusing schedule? I sure don’t look like a very good hermit.

Book Report: Me, by Elton John

Here’s a random fact about me: I really love to read memoirs, especially of my favorite musicians from the seventies. Some are definitely better than others (like Keith Richards’ memoir, dang that was some good writing). So, I had this book by Elton John pre-ordered and got it the day it was published last week. I’d enjoyed the movie a lot, especially the costumes that were exactly like what he wore in real life, but I was interested to see if his own words differed from the cinematic portrayal.

Luckily I finished the other book I was reading, so I could delve right into this one. And delve I did. At first I didn’t like the writing all that much, but soon enough, I was trying to keep my eyes open every night so I could read more. Yep, he was an interesting guy. He is also an honest guy. No sugar-coating of his less than stellar qualities for him!

I’ve read a couple of books recently where the author remarks that random decisions or meetings changed the course of their lives dramatically and mused about what would have happened if person X hadn’t been in the shopping center on the right day, or whatever. Elton John does this, too, but I liked his conclusion that all his mistakes, lucky coincidences, and random choices made him the happy man he is today, so it’s all fine by him.

I just thought this was pretty, and it’s here to remind me to tag when I finish writing this.

I have to second that, myself. Every “mistake” contributes to your growth and wisdom.

Hair Color Hmm

I wrote last week about how extremely red my latest Overtone color was. It definitely was fire hair. I’ve now washed it twice, with interesting results, to say the least.

The hair itself has become more orange with each wash. And, as usual, my gray fades fast (more on that later). And oddly enough, my scalp was dyed quite red and continues to be that way. I guess it’s like that stuff for thinning hair you put on to make it LOOK like more is there. Thanks, hair color.

I am glad I had a spare old pillowcase for my bed and the hotel last weekend, because after dyeing it, it got all over the place. I also dried my hair with an old beach towel.

It looks better in better light. Note I have different glasses on in each picture. Hmm.

I’ve used the conditioner in the red for dark hair each time I’ve washed it. I guess it helps. However, my hands turn quite red, a bluish red, as you can see. It usually takes me multiple washes to get my hands back to normal. The other Overtone conditioners do not color my hands.

This hand has been washed three times. Hmm.

My advice?

I’d suggest that if you want to use the Overtone for dark hair colors, you also invest in a box of gloves to use, even when you wash and condition your hair. And don’t expect it to stay true to color.

On the other hand, the current color is nice, and will do until I re-up the red again. I’m probably going to do it Friday morning so it will last through my trip next week. And I will take the old pillowcase in my luggage!

Stinky but Fun!

In my previous post, I talked about going on a walk with Kathleen (who will be here for the next year or so, getting our Hearts Homes and Hands business going) around the ranch for a long time and getting no “exercise credit” for it on my watch. While annoying, there are darned good reasons we didn’t just trek briskly around the property. Plus the dogs got stinky.

Kathleen is ready for checking out the nature!

It finally cooled off enough to go for a nice exploration of the woods, which is just not easy to do in the summer. The dogs were pretty thrilled at the prospect, and engaged all their sniffers.

I hadn’t had a chance to show Kathleen what’s in the woods (mainly a lot of cedar elm and coral berry), so she had fun discovering the little stream (or where it would be if it rained more), then as we moved on, we saw the gate to nowhere, and other bottomland landmarks.

The War Between Exercise and Nature

Some days I get quite annoyed with the exercise tracker on my Apple Watch. There are days when I KNOW I have gotten a lot of exercise but the watch stubbornly displays the “fact” that I just got a few minutes. Take last weekend as an example. On Friday I went on a long hike and my legs could feel it. Then I walked all over the Hilton. The watch did not agree.

Yep, looks like on Friday I got about 8 minutes.

Every morning, it gleefully informs me that I get two minutes walking the dog. And it does believe I’m exercising when I walk up and down the parking garage. But, when I walk around the pasture? When I take the dogs on a longer walk? Not so much.

How come?

It’s because of Nature, that’s why. These days I am completely incapable of going on a nice brisk walk, arms swinging merrily (because that’s how the watch knows I’m moving, as I’ve probably mentioned before), for numerous consecutive minutes. I was proud to do it yesterday for enough minutes to reach my goal, but that’s because we didn’t let ourselves or the dogs be distracted.

Usually, though, something distracts me, and not just the dog needing to sniff or do his business. I just see things or hear things that I have to investigate. There seems to be a bird, a bug, or a flower every few feet, and this nature gal just has to check them out, and most likely take a picture. I mean, heck, iNaturalist is always there, wanting me to add stuff and make my number larger.

Bee Happy, We Won!

Howdy. I hope you didn’t miss me too much yesterday, but I was too zonked once I got home from the Master Naturalist Conference to write anything, and I did want to spend some bonding time with Lee, since I won’t see him again until November.

Our merry band, plus a guy I don’t know, but must have been one of us once. Mike, in the back with the hat, is going to re-join us once he retires as a game warden. Apparently he was the only one who brought his gun with him. Yee-haw, Texas.

The blog title tells you two big things that made me happy yesterday, learning about bumblebees and our Chapter’s brochure winning the best brochure award at the conference. Everyone worked SO hard on it (yes, including me) that it just felt great.

Most of the folks showing off our certificate participated in the brochure project.

Of course, I was busy loading my stuff in the car when the announcement was made, but my colleagues valiantly handled it themselves.

I was so thrilled my eyeballs went crazy. Also note my fancy nails. They do glow!

As for Bumblebees

My main session yesterday morning was about bumblebees, which will be the Texas creature featured on next year’s re-certification pin (by the way, we FINALLY got our golden-cheeked warblers for this year). It turns out I didn’t know much about bumblebees. Now, I do!

My advice?

How come?

As for Bumblebees

But wait, there’s more