Country fairs and Cookies

Country fairs and cookies. Today the weather was beautiful, perfect to be outside with family at a country fair. below is a picture of my niece Adrienne and me acting silly in front of the cookie cottage. Adrienne bought so many cookies she needed a box to transport the delicate beauties. Left is Nick,Adrienne and Kate trying on hats at the craft fair.Above is Justin and our awesome friend Syb on the porch of the cookie cottage.

August 5 K

Finally I am updating my blog. Justin and I ran in this 5k it was hot and it was tough but we finished (not last ). We are going to WALK in the upcoming (october) 5 mile Apple walk for diabeties. I don't have any pictures from the 5 k because we forgot to bring the camera so I photographed the T shirt.

Summer time

beginning in spring and throughout the fall I measure time in flowers. It is exciting to me to see the very first crocuses early in the year, some of them so impatient to feel the sun that they push their heads up through the cold, mushy snow. Summer rushes by too fast and I am always shocked when the sunny black eyed susans and purple cone flowers are in full bloom. Can the dog day's of summer be here already? Next month the fields will be replete with the warm glow of golden rod and burgundy joe-pye-weed which will eventually succumb to a dark rusty brown, but there will still be the bright grand finale of hardy mums in all my favorite autum colors.

WATERSLIDES

Last week I took Justin and his friend Chris to the water

slides at Breezy picnic grounds. They had a great time and it was as the name suggests; breezy. They went up and down the slides like crazy and the beach on the reservoir was very clean. I was thinking I would maybe go down one of the slides but totally chickened out when I saw them. There was supposed to be a slide show on this post but I can't get it to upload. If I ever figure it out I will add it.

Justin's Birthday

Here is a picture of Justin with cousins and friends at his birthday party. The planning was sort of last minute but sometimes impromptu events are the most fun. we played wiffle ball (the competitors were fierce) and went inside when it got dark to play Apples to Apples ( the competition grew even more fierce). If you have never heard of Apples to Apples I highly recommend it and the more players the better, it is a hilarious card game, we love it.

Tougher thank you think

Justin during our 5 mile run .He did great today he didn't get really tired until we hit four miles. He never ate breakfast,had the wrong shoes 0n and we didn't bring enough water so, considering that, he did super.

We are training to run a 5K at the end of august, he will actually be back in school when we run it. I just hope we stay motivated and don't get injured. I think we both need new shoes.

DEPRESSION IS THE WARDEN OF MY PRISON

Today I am feeling blue. I didn't do any exercise and I ate the wrong foods. Not a good combination for me. Depression likes to grab hold of me if it can; today it got me. Everyday is a battle just to participate in life because depression is a cozy warm bed that wants me to climb in , pull the covers over my head and stay. Depression is a bully, it calls me names like loser and failure and fool. Depression is the warden of my prison and he wants me to serve out a life sentence. Depression's best friends are fear and insecurity and he often invites them to the party.When Depression wants a day off from lurking in the shadows of my mind he sends in his maven, Anxiety and she is so good at her job.She isn't subtle; she doesn't waste too much time lurking in the shadows, she usually shows up like a bolt out of the blue, boldly and swiftly taking out her target. She gets right to work and her job is to paralyse me with fear and simultaneously make me want to run away. It's hard to run away from ones self .
    I will force myself to end this post on a positive note with a quote from one of my favorite fictional optimists Anne Shirley - "Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it."