Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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marathon monday: shifting gears

Happy New Year, and happy running! Is any new fitness program on your agenda this month, this year? If so, I hope it’s part of a gentle, realistic, healthful mindset for you, something that serves you well in many ways, not something that lords over you and makes you miserable.

Because you’re awesome and don’t need a big ugly guilt trip. xoxo

At the start of this recent holiday season I mentioned that marathon training was starting again and that I’d chosen the Hal Higdon Intermediate 1 program to get me ready for April. Week one was really good, and I felt great and was strongly motivated. Mileage was right on the mark.

Theeeennn… It was Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, and time for family and cuddling and watching movies. I had much better things to enjoy than running alone. Then I tried to get back on track (err, trail) and the weather turned nasty. Quite nasty most days. I can make excuses as well as anybody, but these bumps in the schedule were true obstacles. Family and safety first. Thank goodness this is happening early in the 18 weeks, when I have lots of time to make up for it.

So… Taking the same loving advice I would give you, I’m neither giving up nor accepting the guilt trip. 

I just looked again at the schedule to see how badly I’d slipped behind. As it turns out, things could be much worse. No towels have been thrown in! But still… Looking at the next few weeks of weather I don’t see things improving much; so I’ve simply regrouped and shifted from Intermediate 1 to Novice 2, which is a program with the same number of weeks but slightly lower mileage. There’s a real mental benefit to not feeling quite so far behind. If over the next month or so I feel stronger and life opens up a bit, I may step it up. We’ll see.

Current Plan:

For now? I’m doing short runs plus strength on Mondays and Wednesdays. Longish runs (they are still pretty short this early in the program) on Tuesdays and Fridays. Cross training on Thursdays. Taking the weekends off so Handsome isn’t too lonely. That will likely change over time, too, or from week to week depending on our social calendar.

Our Talking Tree, filled with sleepy guineas, on a day so cold the air around us stayed bluish gray.
Our Talking Tree, filled with sleepy guineas, on a day so cold the air around us stayed bluish gray.

A question for you:

Speaking of all this cold weather, and by cold in Oklahoma I mean temperatures between 15 and 38 degrees, how cold is too cold for you to run outside? My friend Norma asked me this on Facebook recently and it got me thinking. Apparently the world boasts some pretty hard-core runners who will lace up for miles in sub-zero temps. I MEAN REALLY. haha

I don’t mind bundling up quite a bit, and rain itself doesn’t bother me, but if it’s both cold and wet I rethink it. Or if the winds are blowing down our pine trees, making it too hard to climb hills, I tend to give it about half an hour then reevaluate. What about you? I am so curious.

Thanks for stopping in, friends! I wish you all the best this week, whatever your goals are. I wish you just the right measure of challenge mixed with a deep personal motivation to overcome it. Happy first full week of this new year!!

If you want to live, you must walk.
If you want to live long, you must run.
~Jinabhai Navik
XOXOXO

top ten posts of 2014

Whew, are we actually at the end of the year already? Or, finally? Yes, both. Happy end of the year to you, friends. I thought it would be fun to glance backwards and see the top ten posts of 2014. I am always surprised by the thoughts that spark the most conversation, so this is fun for me.

Fearless. A post from last January was all about replacing fear with faith. And it led to a wonderful year, I almost can’t believe it! My journey to that “aha moment” to say the least.

fog, lazy w, oklahoma, faith

Slow Food Early Spring Ordering Also from last January, a lot of us were pretty excited about getting our gardens started! No surprise. I keep company with some wonderful growers.

july 2014 harvest

Reviewing Dee Nash’s Book! Then in February I was honored to be one of the bloggers who previewed, reviewed, and hosted giveaways for my friend Dee Nash’s first book, the 20-30 Something Guide to Gardening. That was so fun! She photographed me for her book, too, even though I barely qualify for this age group, ha!

Ted Bundy Ah, yes. Ed-tay Undy-bay. If you haven’t read this story yet, you might want to take a few minutes to do so. Pretty funny.

Notes to Boys I have had the pleasure of interviewing lots of authors, but this one stands out. Pam Ribon’s book Notes to Boys was laugh-out-loud hilarious, wonderful, smart, and just everything good about books by authors from my generation. Trading notes with her was even more fun. Here is my review of her fabulous memoir.

Harvey’s Story I ran the OKC Memorial Marathon for the first time last spring, more than anything to honor my husband’s parents, who were first responders to the Murrah Building bombing in 1995. Harvey was kind enough to sit for a lengthy and heart-touching interview over a series of quiet nights at the farm. And the first part of his interview was well accepted. You all were so affectionate to him with your words.

No More Belly Dancing for Me In August I became a belly dancer and then stopped. I had reasons.

me-hula-cropped

Worm or Pasta? I am neither proud nor terribly upset by this, but my dilemma over identifying a weird house plant passenger got plenty of traffic. This post from September was, well, interesting.

worm-or-pasta

Introducing My Great-grandpa’s Apiary Journal Last year my Uncle Tim gave me the most wonderful gift, his grandpa’s (my great-grandfather, Papa Joe) beekeeping journal. I introduced it to you in January and have been sharing entries from it in bits and pieces every since. More to come in 2015!

bees aug 2014

Clinging to Love Throughout last year I wrote pretty frequently about the incredible power of Love, prayer, faith, and positive thinking. In May I strove to clear up a few misconceptions and hope that it was successful. I think a lot of you, my friends, are thirsty for affirmning words and deep spiritual nourishment. It is available! And truly anything is possible. Even more of that this coming new year.

june maroon lily

I am so thankful for you, every time you choose to click over here and see what’s happening at the Lazy W or in my head. I’m looking forward to hitting reset in a few ways and starting the fresh new year with better focus, longer reach, and deeper love.

Are there any Lazy W moments from this past year that stand out to you? What about in your own life? I would love to hear.

For the record, it was a worm.
But not a butt worm.
XOXOXOXO

a wonderful, unremarkable day

Yesterday was so fun in a patchwork-Christmas kind of way. I was busy from the minute I woke up to the minute we crashed in bed (I fell asleep with my red kimono still on, I was so tired). Monday was filled with sewing projects, animal silliness, fresh high-vitamin food and also frosted sugar cookies, scarlet red poinsettias, and two of the people I love most in this world. It was an unremarkable day by the calendar, but it was absolutely thrumming with Love. And already I can see that today is, too.

It started early. While sitting at my sewing machine in its temporary dining-room spot, I heard a harsh tapping on glass. A cute little white chicken we named KFC was perched on a milk can in the front flower bed, staring into the picture window there, tapping her beak on the glass. I had already fed everyone. So much, in fact. I  swear, the more I feed the animals the more they expect to eat. It’s ridiculous.

KFC the chicken trying to pressure me into giving out more treats.
KFC the chicken trying to pressure me into giving out more treats.

Then a little while later I heard the same tapping and discovered that KFC had relinquished her window post to this hen we have named Red Dot. (So named because she is red and has a dot on her face.) Red Dot stared at me with the most disgruntled expression a chicken can possibly have.

red hen in window

The big mood lifter for everyone yesterday was the return of sunshine. For more than three weeks Oklahoma has been wrapped in fog, dark clouds, and just a flannelly cocoon of winter weather. We are not built for this much darkness! I really don’t know how people in the Pacific Northwest cope with it. So yesterday we all felt refreshed just seeing the sun. I went for a quick little 3 mile run wearing only a light jacket, and I had thoughts like better get the pool opened up soon!

Even with cool temperatures, feeling sunshine on our faces and arms was pure luxury.
Even with cool temperatures, feeling sunshine on our faces and arms was pure luxury.

Even the animals were in high spirits, as if the window-tapping chicken story wasn’t enough to convince you. Our oldest was home for most of the day and did some fun ground work with Dusty, her horse. And by ground work I mean they practiced climbing hills and played gone-gone peekaboo.

These two. xoxo
These two. xoxo

It was a cookie-making night, and I had so much fun. I even stopped counting how many carbs were sneaking into my grateful mouth, that’s how much fun it was! Martha Stewart’s Royal Icing recipe, by the way, is perfect. Perfect, easy, and stunningly uncomplicated for her. It gives a nice glossy shell and is thick. My only complaint about last night’s cookie extravaganza was the conspicuous absence of red food coloring. Why? Why is there never any red? In twenty years of having my own kitchen, I have owned red food coloring maybe three times. It’s mystifying. Who is taking it? The chickens?

Bet royal icing: one cup powdered sugar, one egg white, few drops lemon juice, food coloring. BAM. Perfect.
Best royal icing: one cup powdered sugar, one egg white, few drops lemon juice, food coloring. BAM. Perfect.

How is your week of Christmas going? I hope your heart is peaceful. I hope your home is warm with joy. I hope your expectations are set more on Love and surprises than on purchases. I really hope you’re not counting calories… just pleasures and memories and moments.

Thanks for sharing a few minutes with me! Happy Christmas Tuesday, friends. I’m off for seven miles and some Christmas caroling with the parrot.

“He who has not Christmas in his heart
will never find it under a tree.”
~Roy L. Smith
XOXOXOXO

 

sparkling joy

Sometimes when she’s home I want to hug her so close and squeeze her, cup her face in my hands and stare into her ebony eyes. I want to press her close to me and stroke her long brown, satiny hair and smell her and cradle her like the baby she hasn’t been in nineteen years. But I get this feeling of restraint, like when in a sleeping dream, a book or newspaper appears and the harder I strain to focus on the words, the blurrier they become. Eventually my efforts to read wake me up, and the dream is gone. Dissolved. Sometimes I feel like if I squeeze her too tight, if I want her home too much or cause her to feel all the love I have for her, she’ll be gone again.

Jocelyn at age four, Christmas morning. Scrumptious! xoxo She still is, too. Every bit as beautiful, loving, and sparkly in every possible way.
Jocelyn at age four, Christmas morning. Scrumptious! xoxo She still is, too. Every bit as beautiful, loving, and sparkly in every possible way.

That’s fear, not faith. And it’s never love that drives people away; it’s Love that brings them home.

She’s home. Home for dinner, home for movies, home for laughter and silliness and talking about everything under the sun, both serious and easy. Home for her horse and our family and memories old and new. Home to figure things out and also to just relax.

She’s home for Christmas, and my heart is bursting hour by hour, over and over again.

Nest feathering… Preparing the Apartment for her stay has been as much fun (more so even) as decorating a nursery for a newborn baby. I have felt every bit of the same joyful, nervous anticipation I felt just before her due date almost two decades ago. And daily I think of our friends Brad and Trisha who right this minute are expecting their first child, also a girl, Avery. I am beyond words excited for them! They’ll be amazing parents, I know. Avery is already a lucky little girl. And in what will feel like moments Avery will be a young woman visiting her parents for Christmas. And they will be so elated they will scarcely find words for the feeling.

Of course, our baby (not a baby anymore, I know!) is a busy girl, so it’s not like she’s here all day every day. But she’s here. Close. It’s music to hear her walk in the front door, her pretty, sing-song voice saying, “Heeeyyy, we’re here!” (She often brings a friend.) And it is beautiful just to see her tiny-feet sneakers paired up against our work boots. Cooking for her is a total pleasure, too. It’s become a running joke that somehow on the nights she eats at the farm, I manage to repeatedly serve either some variation of pork chops or spicy Italian food. It’s the weirdest ongoing coincidence ever. Last night we had homemade chicken and dumplings, so maybe the streak is finally broken.

Sometimes when the house is quiet and I am thinking about all that God is doing for us, in this arena and others, I can’t stop smiling with my whole face.  My back teeth chatter together gently, and I giggle until I cry. Of course there are still needs in life, still unanswered prayers. We know that. Except that they aren’t unanswered. Every wish deep in our hearts has already been heard and addressed. Every tear shed, already invested in laughter in the future!

This is for you too! All the faith you have been living is already accomplished in a miracle bigger than you can even imagine!

Brad and Trisha are experiencing a miracle different from ours yet still very much the same. They have been waiting to be parents for a long time, just like us. They have loved their daughter without seeing her, just like us. They have trusted God and the power of love and prayer, just like us. And their broken hearts are mending. Only to burst again with joy. Just like us.

Sparkling joy,
joy unspeakable
XOXOXOXO

 

 

 

friday 5 at the farm: photos & captions

Whoa, is it really Friday? I’m not complaining, because Fridays are awesome. But I am surprised. Life lately has been lulling me with such pleasure, so many daily graces and perfect rhythms, that I forget to notice the passage of time. And I’m getting really good at Carpe Diem; it’s just that sometimes I forget which Diem it is.

How about a little Friday 5 at the Farm, just some photos and short stories? Okay.

Photo #1: Below you see an image of what holds my attention most of my waking hours: Books and sunlight. I am reading two very different from each other books right now, and each of them is fascinating in its own right. And I still haven’t told you more about Tasting Home! Sometimes I think about starting a blog just for book reviews. Because of all my spare time, you know.

  • Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  • The Mapmaker’s Dream by James Cowan

And sunlight. Oklahoma has been so wrapped in fog that every ray of warmth we enjoy is a total pleasure. Winter is right around the corner, and it promises to be a cold, wet, snowy season. For all my Carpe Diem preaching, I am already craving springtime.

 

f5f books lace

Photo #2: This horse below is Dusty, you may know. He is our girls’ horse, a smallish mixed breed with a heart of gold. He and our girls basically grew up together. He is cut now but before that little procedure he managed to sneakily father the only two colts to spring from the equine loins of the Lazy W. Our oldest daughter has been spending a lot of time at the farm lately, riding bareback and training Dusty to learn some basic groundwork. He’s doing great, but she does mildly reprimand me for having him so conditioned for treats. Apparently horses are supposed to obey voice commands more than Oreo offerings? Who knew. Here you see Dusty sporting a cool pair of her sunglasses. He is very likely the most photographed animal on the farm right now, thanks to her visits and loving devotion.

 

f5f dusty shades

Photo #3: A decent trade for sunlight is the wintertime staple of homemade pie crust. Cold, dark months boast so many good reasons to enjoy this simple pleasure. Whatever recipe you use, may I gently suggest that you try this? Divide your fat between half butter and half shortening. It is perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect. Delicious, flaky, tender, flavorful. Whether for a sweet or a savory dish (here I was making homemade chicken pot pie), this combination is really truly amazing. As a side note, we tried chicken pot pie with finely diced potatoes in the mix, and it was really good. Maybe great. Possibly worth exploring again and sharing with you fine people.

f5f pie crust

Photo #4: Pacino, our blue and gold macaw, has been a lot of fun lately, too. Still perhaps not as photographed as Dusty, but he does get a lot of face time. He’s been keeping me company while I crochet scarves and fold laundry, and he is really good at never letting the house grow too quiet.

f5f pacino

Photo #5: Always take the scenic route, friends. Slow down. Neglect multi-tasking when you can. Taste the food you eat. Write down the details of your day, the things you see, hear, feel, smell, touch, think, and experience. Open your eyes wide and unclench your fists. Soak up the world with your heart. It is so beautiful, this world, and so are you.

f5f scenic route

Okay, that makes five photos and five short stories! Thank you so very much for visiting. I hope your weekend is shaping up to be restful, happy, loving, productive, and whatever else you need it to be.

Always take the scenic route.
Always.
XOXOXO