This Perfectly Imperfect Life

Because I am missing this view so very much since being home on the coast, I am going back two weeks ago, to the bitter cold 28* Halloween morning when I sat on our dock and took this quick video. I bundled up in whatever layers I had so I could spend time here in my favorite spot, despite the cold, because our week at the camper was ending the next day.  Coming out to the dock after waking each morning and before breakfast had quickly become a morning routine during that week, and while I look forward to many more mornings like those in the future, I am missing this view, missing my mountains, deeply each day in the meantime. (I apologize for how blurry it is! It wasn't when I uploaded it but it was after posting. Click here for a clear version of the video).

Well here I've been posting my 30 Days of Thanksgiving daily to my Instagram and forgot to post them here. Silly Chick! So to catch up, I'm going to share November 1st through yesterday here now, but for those who don't know, I've not only been doing the 30 Days of Thanksgiving posts for a number of years now, but I also have an attitude of gratitude on a daily basis, I just don't always share it daily like I do in November.  November 1 I am thankful for our little bit of Heaven on earth in the mountains. More than words can tell you! The beauty, quiet and solitude does both of us much good. Our dock became a part of my morning routine (last week while we were at the camper on vaca) and I look forward to many more mornings out here in the future!  November 2 I am thankful for The Marine (aka the Hubbs). That man, right there in the corner of this photo. Who strongly prefers not having his photo taken, which is why I have to sneak one from time...

It has been a rough couple of weeks (scroll to previous post or click here ), and this Thursday was an awful living with disease day, but this week has also been a productive one writing wise. Usually in the morning, after I wake and before morning pages journaling and breakfast, I add my favorite moments of the previous day (or what I was most thankful for the previous day, or a goal I want to accomplish) to my happiness jar. (For the down low on happiness jars, click here  to be taken to author Elizabeth Gilbert's post).  As I was finishing up my note paper for Tuesday, 10/7, the day I had an MRI after which I was in awful pain, I wrote down "Finding books I have had on my list for some time on the bargain rack! Simplest pleasures = greatest joy!!!"  Simplest pleasures = greatest joy.   I continued writing about this in my journal. In a nutshell: Simplest Pleasures = Greatest Joy will be a new featured post here at The Portable Homestead an...

Autumn is well under way at our Northwestern NJ home as you can see here. We awoke this morning to a crisp 37*! Such a beautiful day. Well, let's see... Autumn arrived on a Monday and I threw my back out on Wednesday. And that triggered the worst sciatic nerve flareup I've ever had and the worst pain I've experienced in a decade. This past Wednesday, a week to the day this all started, I went to my Rheumologist and was treated to two shots, one in my spine and the other in my upper right... Glute. Heh, hem. He increased the anti inflammatory and nerve meds I'm already on for at least the next two weeks. In two days I go for a MRI to see exactly what's what because it's not getting significantly better. On a pain scale of 1 to 10, I started at 1,000 and I've been hovering at 990-995 since the day after this all started.  I have to alternate between lying down and taking short walks because sitting only aggravates the nerve something awful. Of cou...

There are places which call to me. Places I sometimes have the overwhelming need to visit every so often. Thankfully, this past Labor Day Monday morning, the Marine (Hubbs) and I had the chance to visit one of these places: Sunrise Mountain and the Scenic Overlook in Northwestern NJ. Of course I took many (many) photos! Here are some of my favorites: It was disgustingly hot and humid, but, for once that didn't bother me much. I was winded by the time we got to the pavilion, but not nearly as bad as in the past, even with the oppressive air! That made me very happy. Proud even, since I've been working on some of my physical aspects as of late.  It smelled like Autumn atop Sunrise Mountain, looked like it too. Many of the trees near the pavilion have already lost their leaves.  So gorgeous up there! I can't explain it accurately enough, I don't think, but, it was like a sigh when ...

(That photo of me was taken the day after we got back home here to the coast. Traveling kicks my arse!)