I think I'll go for a walk outside now...

As I started to write this post and tried to decide on a title, the first thing that came to my head was that starting lyric to a song that is now running through my head. If you aren't familiar, it is from the Brady Bunch and the song It's a Sunshine Day.

Two years ago, I committed to making time to get outside for at least a thirty minute walk each day. It was the start of COVID shutdowns. The kids were home from school, for two weeks to start (that later extended, as we all know). I knew that I needed to make time to stay active, and not just sit in the house all day. With everyone home, I knew I would benefit from some me time, doing something just for me. I also knew that I needed the mental break, a chance to get away from the news and everything.

So, I headed out that Saturday for a walk. I was pretty close to 30 minutes the first few days, because the pool at the Y was still open and I was putting a couple of miles in in the pool each day. When the Y closed, along with gyms, I was left with just walking and started to stretch my walk most days to a longer. In the beginning, I was unemployed and I tended to walk mid-day. As time passed, I finally was reemployed and I started to mix it up and walked in the morning or the evening working around my schedule. I had a couple of different paths that I took around the neighborhood but started to see people outside on my walks. Some commented, most just said hi.

Of course, living in Northeast Ohio, many of my days were not Sunshine Days, perhaps the quote from Greek historian, Herodotus is more appropriate - “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Somedays, I was limited on where I could walk based on snow or ice. Other days, I was ducking under the trees to stay dry for a few minutes. Regardless of the weather and the degree of light or dark, I found a way to get out and walk. Most days were by myself but occassionally, I was joined by friends. When I walked with others, we tended to go much further and for a longer time then when I walked on my own. I got to enjoy seeing the seasons progress and some beautiful sunrises. I fell a few times on ice but I got back up and kept going.

When the first year wrapped up, I decided that I would keep my streak going. In some ways, the streak serves as motiviation that I need to keep going. I wouldn't want to fall short of completing the year, especially as I got closer to the year mark and it was cold and snowy.

As of this morning, I have completed 104 weeks of getting out and walking at least 30 minutes every day, regardless of the weather or around whatever was on my schedule that day. Some days I struggle to get going but I am never not glad that I saw it through. Walking in the morning is invigorating and a great way to start my day, walking during the day is a great way to take a break and get away from the stresses of life, walking in the evening is a great way to wind the day down. The fresh air, the sunshine, the beauty of nature, all make it worth my while. Even in a rain storm, I get to see the beauty of trees reflected in the puddles and the occassional rainbow. Snow is pretty and peaceful, especially in the early morning before it has been disturbed. Whenever and wherever I walk, i am glad that I am doing it every day. Hopefully, this time next year, I will be sharing that I completed another full year, that I have 156 consecutive weeks of getting outside for at least a 30 minute walk each day.

One Year

It is so hard to believe, it was a year ago today that my kids attended their last in person school day of the 2019-2020 school year. The state was starting to enter shut down mode. First was the schools, just two weeks for now. Then came restaurants, bars, gyms, and more. Each day we tuned into the press conference our governor held to update us on the cases, the precautions, the closures. Needless to say, it was stressful.

That next day, I decided that if I was going to make it through this and be ahead of the game when (I figured it was beyond if) the gyms closed, I decided that I was going to commit to walking at least 30 minutes each day. It was my decompression time, a chance to get away from the constant barage of news about the virus and what else was closing. My chance to get out and clear my mind and just be alone with my thoughts. A chance to watch the cycles of the seasons with the changing appearance of grass, bushes, trees and flowers.

I don't know that I had a plan for how long I would stick to the committment but here we are 365 days later and guess what -I got out and took at least a 30 minute walk each day for the last 365 days. I walked over 775 miles. My best month was May with just under 100 miles. My longest walk was 5 miles, my shortest walk was probably about 1 mile. Most of my days were between 1.9 and 2.8 miles. All but one day I got outside and walked - that one day was Christmas and we had 10" of snow and with the holiday, I didn't want to venture out so I looped my house, upstairs, downstairs, circle the basement, circle the main floor, walk to each of the rooms on the 2nd floor and repeat. I walked as early as before sunrise and as late as sunset to fit them all in...with most taking place in the middle of the day. I walked in the heat, the cold, the sunshine, the rain, the snow. There were days I looked forward to taking a walk and days where I couldn't get done fast enough.

I feel like I am in better shape as a result of my daily walk. We live in a hilly area so there was always a mix of up and down on any route that I chose, so I always was pushing myself. I have always been active but the activities have varied and although routine, were never every day. Unfortunately my eating (and drinking) were off for much of the pandemic and there were a lot less 'everyday' steps as a result of going no where, so I didn't lose weight but didn't gain any either, which is a win in my book. Maybe I can get back to normal with other activity and better eating and see the benefit of walking.

It has been a tough year. I wish that the original estimates of "two weeks" to stop the spread had been legitimate. In our area, things are mostly open but there are still restrictions and still a mask mandate (even though so many other states have or are opening up). I'm ready for real normal not new normal. I'm ready for people to start to understand what worked and what didn't, to understand how two states that reacted completely different arrived at the same spot with similar case rates and death rates. I'm curious to see how long it takes to reach herd immunity and what this virus looks like as it becomes endemic like the flu and common cold.

I do know that I will keep walking. Will it be every day? I don't know, it has sort of become a part of what I do. I think that if I don't fit in a walk I will miss it.

How have you been coping during this past year? What was your escape?

24 Days of Tea Advent Calendar and 12 Days of Tea Gift Set

A complimentary Tea Advent Calendar and 12 Days of Tea Gift Set was provided to enable this review. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family. 

When I was a kid, I was not a fan of tea. I'm not sure where or when I had had it but I remember thinking that it was without flavor and left a 'dry' aftertaste in my mouth. I knew that I also had tried and didn't care for sun tea. My feelings about hot tea changed when I was in high school. I had a really good friend that was a fan of tea and when I was at her house to work on a project or doing homework, she would often times drink tea but it wasn't plain tea. Rather she was always drinking different flavors and the aroma was enticing. I think the first tea that she had me try was a peppermint tea around the holidays. There was something that was so good about the fresh pop of the flavor. She also introduced me to apple cinnamon, lemon, and probably a few other flavors.

As I got older, I became more adventurous and liked to try new flavors. Dining out, hotel breakfast bars, and offerings at business meetings were the easiest places to try new flavors and further experience tea. There are a few that are definitely not for me and I have a tendency to primarily purchase herbal teas. I enjoy a mix of loose tea and tea bags. I like the flexibility to adjust the intensity of the tea with loose tea but there is an on the go convenience to bag tea. My tea making supplies expanded with time too. I have a tea kettle for boiling water. I have both a ball infuser that screws together and a snap ball tea strainer. One year for Christmas, I received a carafe with a center infuser that allows me to make several cups at once. A few years ago, I picked up a ToastTEA travel tea infuser from Adagio tea which makes taking loose tea on teh go a little easier.

Winter is my favorite hot tea season and it is my go to beverage when I am looking for something warm in the afternoon or evening. Lately, I have been preparing myself a mug of tea after the work day winds down. Being at home, makes the transition a little different but I have found that putting up my feet and sipping on tea is such a great way to relax and unwind. I think that with all that is going on, the ability to take a few minutes of down time and relax is an important thing for mental health.

If you are looking for a gift for someone on your list, check out these two items from Adagio tea. The 12 Days of Christmas Tea Gift Set comes with 12 varieties of tea, each in it's own tin that you can hang from your tea or stack for a cute ornament image. I love that they are each ornaments that you can hang in your tree. How fun it would be to seek each numbered tin on the tree. The teas include: White Pear, Rooibos Peacan Turtle, Lavender Lemon, Candy Cane, Golden Monkey, Jasmine Pheonix Pearls, Blue Mango, Cream, Cha Cha, Earl Grey Bravo, Fruit Medley, Rooibos Nutcracker. I'm curious to see what Golden Monkey is and the Rooibos Nutcracker I am expecting to love. Of course, it not only makes a great gift for the poeple on your list but you may also decide to make it a gift for yourself and experience the twelve flavors.

Looking for a unique Advent calendar? This Tea Advent Calendar from Adagio makes an 8 oz serving of tea each day, as you count down to the holidays.

It gets the thumbs up from my daughter, as she noted, the numbers are not in order, which from her point of view makes for a better Advent calendar.

I was thinking that buying one for your friends and family, could be a fun way for everyone to connect through a common experience. Enjoying a cup of the same tea while video chatting with your friends or family could help bring your together in a year where there is real potential that more families are apart during this time of year than normal. With 24 unique teas, you will have the chance to try many flavors. If you are enjoying it as a group, perhaps you could make a chart and rate the groups' favorites. The added bonus is that you would then have insite and could order more of their favorite tea as a gift in the future.

Do you have a favorite variety or flavor of tea? Who in your family would enjoy these gifts?

A complimentary Tea Advent Calendar and 12 Days of Tea Gift Set was provided to enable this review. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family.

Summer Time is Coming

As we enter the last weekend of May, I am looking forward to summertime. I'm not sure that it will feel much different than the last several weeks for the most part, but it is nice to finally be getting back to some more normal things.

As a family, we went out to lunch yesterday and ate at the restaurant, inside because of the rain. It sounds like a small thing but it has probably been almost 3 months since the last time we went out to eat as a family. It was nice to to relax and just hang out.

This past week both kids returned school books and empty out their lockers. The school year is officially over. Online learning was okay at best. It was nice that several teachers would post a recording of the learning. It gave them the opportunity to watch the lesson on demand, on their schedule. I don't know that my kids did it but it also gave them the chance to rewatch the lesson if there was a question or something confusing. I think though that I would have liked them to do the lesson live in an interactive classroom space - like they do at school - where the kids can ask questions and the teacher can get real time feedback on how well the group was responding to the lesson. They all had office hours but they were not always at convenient times and some overlapped. As an example, math classes all had their office hours, a live chat space, from 8 - 9 am. The kids would need to watch the current lesson before the office hours or use the office hours for the last lesson, which was not always convenient. In addition, since all the math class office hours were at the same time, if you had multiple math classes (my son had two), you likely could only get to one or the other. Unfortunately, several teachers didn't do online lessons, video or live. They simply relied on the kids reading the book and shared some notes. I also feel like the lack of classroom discussion was a loss. How many times as a kid did you pick up on something based on what a classmate shared. Whether discussing a classic like Great Gatsby or asking a question about a chemical reaction, sometimes hearing it posed by someone else helps you process or clarify it for yourself. And then for activity driven classes, there was again a loss of opportunity. For my son, we boiled eggs for different lengths as a chemistry experiment but that was really the only experiment that the class did the last 12 weeks of school. I would have expected more labs as part of a chemistry class. And for my daughter, who was in Family and Consumer Sciences the last quarter of the school year, she missed out on so much. They normally make a drawstring bag but with stores on limited operation and most students not having access to a sewing machine, the pattern was simply shared if they wanted to try it. For the kitchen half, the lessons were limited. She made a dish with an egg (souffles for her), a bowl of fruit salad and a vegetable. She still learned from the videos her teacher would post but they normally make so much more in class. The other gap was the absence of spring sports, spring dances, lunch room socialization, after school socialization on the bus or the walk, and so much more together time with fellow students. It is a unique experience that has impacted my kids and something that they will remember always but I do hope that we can return to classroom learning in the fall for the benefit of all students.

Baseball season is restarting for my son. He had three practices this last week and we have games next weekend. I have missed the families and the experience of being at games. It will definitely not be the season we had planned - the boys didn't have their high school season and had limited access to facilities so mostly had to keep in shape on their own. We have already learned that one tournament was being rescheduled which caused the team to drop out of that tournament and pick up another one. Many schools are not opening their fields so there is a scramble to locate fields for games. In the youth program locally, several kids have dropped out (not sure if it is concern, the change in timing for the season or some other factor). I am happy to have baseball back and hope that it is as near normal as possible.

I continue with my daily walks and have done at least 30 minutes (usually closer to 50 minutes lately) each day for the past 77 days (today marks 78 but I haven't gotten out yet). It has been a great way to stay active but also a chance to 'get away', let my mind unwind and destress and a chance to relax and soak in nature and sunshine (and rain on occasion). I have easily 80+ pictures to illustrate the soaking in of nature - I have trees and flowers, blue skies and cloud formations, 'artsy' shots with puddles and capturing the droplets collected on the leaves. It has been nice. I do hope to continue the daily walk. We heard yesterday that the pool at our gym will open in just over a week for lap swimming only. I am very glad to hear that news and will try to get there 4 or 5 mornings each week and likely move my walks to later in the day when I do. I was at almost 100 miles swam since January when the pools were closed with the gyms almost 11 weeks ago. My goal is to complete the 100 mile challenge and then try for another 100 miles yet this year.

My schedule as a whole will be changing here in a couple of weeks. I was offered a job and accepted it (actually, was offered two but one required relocation). It is such a relief after 6 months of being unemployed to have a job lined up. Job seeking during closure was interesting. I did all of my interviewing from home - a mix of phone and video interviews. It will be even stranger starting a new job at a company that is (at least right now) still work from home. I will be doing remote onboarding and orientation. I will meet the team that I will be partnering with by phone. I should have ample opportunity to explore the software and learn about the products on my own. I am a people person though, so it will definitely be strange.

Made some bread last night and it was perhaps the best batch yet. This morning, I am trying a new cinnamon roll / muffin type recipe.

What have you been up to? How are things opening up where you are?