©IBKimage2011

Hello Dear Readers:

After a two week hiatus or possibly three I’m back at it and delighted to be.  I’ve had visits from friends; our almost 9 year old grand nephew flew in for a visit; and tomorrow our younger son returns to D.C. after a delightful  time with us and other family members.  As grand as it’s been we all are ready to get back to our normal normals.   Watching the olympics and hearing the backstories before the ascent to the medal podium, reminds us again that the steps we take every day are the ones that will come to fruition in some way or other in the next week,month or four years. The time we invest with others, or to learn a new skill or overcome a prejudice or accept a health challenge, etc. does start with just one step.

I remember the exact moment I was finally relieved of the burden of believing that when everything is right and I had  the right tools, and I’d learned enough and I had enough money and …. then I would do x.  Now I know that as I begin somewhere the joy comes from the result of the discipline of using the tools, learning from doing the thing, budgeting money for my choices and by “doing x” I’m actually  able to look back with satisfaction that where I had been was not where I was now.  One of my late mother’s gifts was the phrase: “Every age is interesting and has its own blessings.

As this very active summer begins to wind down and my body is needing to be back in touch with a new normal, I’m reminded of a commercial from my childhood for a bath salt product called © Calgon.  A tired beautiful woman in the city would get into the back of a limousine equipped with a bathtub.  After a long soak (60 second commercial) she would step out of the vehicle dressed in evening clothes and ready for a night on the town with a waiting beau.

The tagline for the commercial: ” Calgon, take me away.”  It was my fantasy for a long time to take a bath in a moving car.  Fortunately, I took up photography a few years ago and can be “taken away” by todays image in Acadia National Park in Maine.  When I need a rest from the busy the sea serves me well.

Thanks for letting me meander and offer two blogs in one.

Joy,

IBK