A BIG new adventure and Caterpillars

I can hardly believe what I did yesterday. My dear friend Mary took me to the range and taught me gun safety. Then, for the first time ever, I fired a gun. It scared me and was way wayyyy outside my comfort zone.  I am proud to have tried it, comfortable saying I don’t like it but weirdly certain I want to try again to become less frightened of it. 

A handful of new neighbors have moved into our garden.  I met them today. Neighbors who look a little something like this: 

                                                                              

Enjoying my dying parsley is a tiny herd of these caterpillars.  Needless to say, fresh parsley did not make it into my crock-pot this afternoon.  I drug my tablet out to the garden to figure out just what kind of caterpillar they were.  Google pointed me to this lovely gal’s blog where I learned that they are going to grow up to be Black Swallowtail butterflies. The wild thing is, she’s from far Northern Canada and my garden is on the Florida coast, these butterflies have quite the range.  I can’t wait to see the cocoons and then the big beautiful butterflies they turn into!

Proud Pink Running Shoes

I started to write this post in a very different frame of mind. I titled it Salsa, yes please! I was going to expound on the yummy new recipe I made tonight. Healthy, delicious and approved for a repeat. A recipe involving salsa where I literally get to spoon the salsa into my mouth with no judgment. Hurrah, a success! But, I’ve been cooking for most of my life and these successes, while exciting and fun take a backseat to the success I had before I even started cooking.

Two weeks before my birthday, I hit my first running goal.  Then I got sick. Then I climbed back on the wagon and pushed myself back to where I had been. And further. Then I slid back again. And forward. Then a tropical storm, rain, rain, thunder, rain and no running.  Then, sunshine. Then, last week, I felt awful. Awful like I was trying to get sick and had an awful tummy flare up to boot. Hardly any running.  So, this afternoon, when I got home from work, strapped on my tennis shoes and suited up, I was uncertain how it would go.  I can tell almost instantly if this run is going to be one of those amazing runs where my determination is in sync with my body and I just go.  Today, surprisingly, was one of those days.  I feel like an Olympian, a champion, this afternoon.  And I love it.  I am proud to say I run. Proud to say I take care of my body. Proud that I like the way I look in my clothes. Proud of me. Proud of what I can accomplish.

Stop and See the Wildflowers

Today started with an abnormal morning. Instead of going straight to work, I went to an early morning before work allergist appointment.  While my normal commute is done mostly on autopilot, full of hurried coffee sips and busy traffic, this morning drive was much different.  Streets eerily empty of cars and lesser frequented roads prompted me to stop and take note.  Stuck in a turn off trying to make a U-turn, I saw a sign for the Melbourne Wildflower Program in the median amidst a patch of bright yellow flowers.  The entire rest of my trip found me scouting the medians for similar signs. I saw tons of different little flowers - bright reds, oranges and yellows cheerily gracing medians I had previously thought were little more than weed bedecked grass. Those little weeds are deliberately placed, lovingly cultivated treats.

I may be editorializing; they may not be loved but they certainly are pretty and perky.  My oddball morning gifted me with a reminder to slow down and enjoy doing something out of the ordinary.