YOWZA!

It’s been a very long time.

My post-actual-birthday celebrating was amazing.

Beyond Van Gogh was definitely beyond. I loved it!!!!

That’s just one of many still photos I took of the exhibit. So much fun to see!!!

We did in fact go to my restaurant of choice afterward, though they were out of the pride cake that day. Instead, I got the dessert you see as the featured image of this post. It was like a Crème Brûlée but chocolate (if memory serves), with whipped cream and berries on top. Beautiful and delicious.

I definitely lived up to my intention of celebrating myself throughout Gemini season, and maybe a bit beyond. Lots of self-care, etc.

I won’t lie– as exciting as all that sounds on the surface, it has been a STRUGGLE lately. Lots of setbacks on perceived progress (even if I keep reminding myself that healing isn’t linear and that progress will vary day by day). I’ve had a lot of goals I set for myself that maybe didn’t take into account my current levels of fatigue and depression.

I’ve had a couple productive days here or there, like this past Thursday, when I got quite a few things accomplished in spite of having slept rather poorly.

Mostly, it’s felt like trudging through, even if that isn’t necessarily how it looks on the outside, to everyone else.

I am, however, anticipating my visit to see my daughter NEXT WEEK ALREADY… meeting her boyfriend’s family, and seeing the sights.

I managed to tidy up formatting of the e-book editions of my two most recent self-published books, just to make things look a smidge more professional.

I had planned to poke around through all my e-books but haven’t made it quite that far just yet.

I just barely started to nick the surface of one of my Wattpad stories, editing that some, potentially in anticipation of a sequel.

But I haven’t felt much like writing. I’ve done a few short exercises in a poetry/collage prompt journal, and I’ve journal-journaled (even if I fell off the Morning Pages wagon).

I am reading again, on the plus side, and just finished watching part one of season three of The Witcher, in anticipation of the rest of the season releasing next week (even if I may have to watch it later, post-vacation).

I even joined a book club.

Maybe this is more of an input than output cycle for me? I’m still feeling my way around, trying to suss out the best course ahead. Maybe it’s a necessary fallow period, absorbing and resting.

Today, we went to a park on the water, ostensibly to watch the sunset. Heavy cloud cover and an incoming rainstorm got in the way. All the same, I found the clouds strikingly beautiful. Seagulls swooped and glided along the water’s surface.

The most gorgeous of the storm clouds were further off to the left of this shot, I think, but there were people fishing on that part of the dock. I didn’t want to intrude. It’s a lovely sky, isn’t it? You can even see a bird high off in the distance on the right.

We even saw some deer on the way there, and again on the way back.

I’m trying to honor simple, everyday beauty, like the way light catches on water, the immense depth of a stormy sky.

Speaking of which, I noticed today’s prompt of the day. I’m not sure if it will become a favorite game, but I did FINALLY teach myself the solo-play version of Sunset Over Water, on Thursday. I don’t have it with me to photograph for you, but the card art is phenomenal. It even came with a postcard. I found a haiku online about sunset, using the metaphor of the sun spilling a can of gold paint; I dashed it off to a friend, on the very same sunset postcard.

I never heard back from the friend with whom I had the water conversation, about sending some poetry via snail mail. Maybe I will one day, yet. We shall see.