What I Pay Attention to?

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, soul nourishing romantic women’s fiction with light paranormal elements. My stories show you what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support, you make choices to overcome the darkest nights of your life to choose love and light.

When the Blog Queens, Sarah McDermed and Judith Ashley, get together to brainstorm blog topics/themes, their creativity runs wild and ideas pour forth. This is one of them inspired by The Ides of March, the day Brutus killed Julius Caesar. Perhaps if Caesar had been paying attention to his surroundings a bit more, he could have escaped being stabbed?

However, although there is not as much peace in the world as I’d like to see, I’ve found for my own mental health I do not spend copious amounts of time worrying or agonizing over what is happening in another part of the world. It isn’t because I don’t care about other people, it is more that I’m reserving or perhaps saving the energy I do have for issues over which I have some control.

I’ve written an entire blog post for The Glasser Institute for Choice Theory©- US on The Ides of March – Power and Self-Worth. It should be up by March 7^th. You can read it here.

Other things I pay attention to in no particular order are:

My Family – How are they doing? Pictures of my great grands always brighten my day.

My Friends – How are they doing? At my age, I’ve lost several over the past few years.

Weather - I know I can’t change it. And yet I do want to be prepared for the winter storms, possible power outages, excessively cold or the increasingly hot temperatures of spring, summer and fall.

My Health – Actually this could be the first item on the list. I’ve found as the years go by, my vision of what I’d be doing now was off a bit. That is an adjustment I find more difficult than I thought it might be.

Traffic – I swear people are driving faster, running red lights and jumping green ones. I’m very careful to enter major arteries at traffic signals and if I’m the first in line, I wait for a few seconds and make sure ALL vehicles are stopped before I start into the intersection.

And one last item here:
Commercials – yep, television commercials. Why? This summer one of the themes Genre-istas can write about are Favorite Commercials. I’ve got a few that I enjoy watching. Can’t always remember the product though. Those that I Really Do Not Like? I can tell you the product and I do not purchase it. 

And I no longer watch the commercial. Mute is my favorite button on the remote and it gives me the opportunity to get up and move around, something that is a positive for My Health.

There is a longer list of things I’m aware of. I do what I can here like recycle, vote, keep a few of the essentials on hand.

Climate change
Politics
Supply Chain issues
When geraniums are in stock at Costco
When the daffodils bloom (they are several inches tall right now)

Looking at that list, now I’m wondering...Should the Geraniums at Costco be moved to the Pay Attention to list?

You can find my books at your favorite e-book vendor as well as through my website www.JudithAshley.net and Windtree Press. Print books are available at Jan’s Paperbacks in Beaverton, OR and Arte Soleil in Portland, OR. Get the addresses from my website. And be sure to ask your library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshley.net

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

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© 2024 Judith Ashley

Hot or Cold? Summer or Winter?

 by Diana McCollum

I love where I live. Northern CA is a place that has actual seasons. 

We live at an altitude of 2,200 ft. We have the hottest weather middle of June through the middle/end of September. Leaves change around the middle/end of October and the weather gets considerably cooler, with even the chance of frost.

The two years we've lived here we've had snow by December. It doesn't always last but a few days. This

year it was 2 1/2 ft deep and lasted 2 weeks! And once in a while it snows again in January and/or February. Spring rains start in March through May. Although we have had rain in the winter months too. In fact we had a lot of rain this year throughout the winter and spring months. Oroville Dam is at 100 % for the first time in many years.

If I could change any of the seasons, I guess it would have to be the hottest months. 85 to 104 is too hot at this altitude. So during the hottest part of the day I tend to stay in doors. I go out after dinner to water the vegetable gardens and floweres. I might even pull a weed or two.

Now my husband thrives on those hot days. He spends most of his time outside, weeding, sitting and watching the plants grow, or building something. Today he worked on a fence behind the Oleanders, so he could tie the branches up. The poor branches took a beating this winter with 2 1/2 ft of snow on top of the plants for two weeks or so, and now while not broken, they're bent and don't want to stand up!

I love our gardens and flowers, and of course, without the hot weather the veggies wouldn't grow. Therefore, I guess I do like all the seasons. I don't want to change a thing!!!

I like the cool part of the year, as I can spend more time outside. Plus there is something to be said for wearing extra layers of clothes and turning the fireplace on in the mornings to have coffee and warm up.

I like the summer because the heat grows the plants. The cool summer evenings sitting outside with ice tea and listening to the frogs in the pond is very relaxing.

Do you like the weather where you live?