A new year, starting now.....

 "And now we welcome the new year full of things that have never been." —Rilke.

Happy New Year!

     I ran 3.1 tm miles tonight, the end of year run total is 1534.6 miles.  I walked the dog 4.5 miles this morning, ytd walk total 740.4 miles.  I didn't come anywhere near running 2020 miles, but adding in the walking I reached 2275 miles.  I'm okay with that. Now to think about resolutions for 2021.

Resolutions?

 

(daily ex. update, pm tm 3.2 miles, ytd run 1531.5 miles.  Morning dog walk 3 miles, ytd walk 735.9 miles.  Yearly run + walk total = 2267.4 miles.  Only 1 day left)

A powerful article.

 "Be a lady they said. Your skirt is too short. Your shirt is too low. Your pants are too tight. Don’t show so much skin. Don’t show your thighs. Don’t show your breasts. Don’t show your midriff. Don’t show your cleavage. Don’t show your underwear. Don’t show your shoulders. Cover up. Leave something to the imagination. Dress modestly. Don’t be a temptress. Men can’t control themselves.

Men have needs. You look frumpy. Loosen up. Show some skin. Look sexy. Look hot. Don’t be so provocative. You’re asking for it. Wear black. Wear heels. You’re too dressed up. You’re too dressed down. Don’t wear those sweatpants; you look like you’ve let yourself go.

Be a lady they said. Don’t be too fat. Don’t be too thin. Don’t be too large. Don’t be too small. Eat up. Slim down. Stop eating so much. Don’t eat too fast. Order a salad. Don’t eat carbs. Skip dessert. You need to lose weight. Fit into that dress. Go on a diet. Watch what you eat. Eat celery. Chew gum. Drink lots of water. You have to fit into those jeans. God, you look like a skeleton. Why don’t you just eat? You look emaciated. You look sick. Eat a burger. Men like women with some meat on their bones. Be small. Be light. Be little. Be petite. Be feminine. Be a size zero. Be a double zero. Be nothing. Be less than nothing.

Be a lady they said. Remove your body hair. Shave your legs. Shave your armpits. Shave your bikini line. Wax your face. Wax your arms. Wax your eyebrows. Get rid of your mustache. Bleach this. Bleach that. Lighten your skin. Tan your skin. Eradicate your scars. Cover your stretch marks. Tighten your abs. Plump your lips. Botox your wrinkles. Lift your face. Tuck your tummy. Thin your thighs. Tone your calves. Perk up your boobs. Look natural. Be yourself. Be genuine. Be confident. You’re trying too hard. You look overdone. Men don’t like girls who try too hard.

Be a lady they said. Wear makeup. Prime your face. Conceal your blemishes. Contour your nose. Highlight your cheekbones. Line your lids. Fill in your brows. Lengthen your lashes. Color your lips. Powder, blush, bronze, highlight. Your hair is too short. Your hair is too long. Your ends are split. Highlight your hair. Your roots are showing. Dye your hair. Not blue, that looks unnatural. You’re going grey. You look so old. Look young. Look youthful. Look ageless. Don’t get old. Women don’t get old. Old is ugly. Men don’t like ugly.

Be a lady they said. Save yourself. Be pure. Be virginal. Don’t talk about sex. Don’t flirt. Don’t be a skank. Don’t be a whore. Don’t sleep around. Don’t lose your dignity. Don’t have sex with too many men. Don’t give yourself away. Men don’t like sluts. Don’t be a prude. Don’t be so up tight. Have a little fun. Smile more. Pleasure men. Be experienced. Be sexual. Be innocent. Be dirty. Be virginal. Be sexy. Be the cool girl. Don’t be like the other girls.

Be a lady they said. Don’t talk too loud. Don’t talk too much. Don’t take up space. Don’t sit like that. Don’t stand like that. Don’t be intimidating. Why are you so miserable? Don’t be a bitch. Don’t be so bossy. Don’t be assertive. Don’t overact. Don’t be so emotional. Don’t cry. Don’t yell. Don’t swear. Be passive. Be obedient. Endure the pain. Be pleasing. Don’t complain. Let him down easy. Boost his ego. Make him fall for you. Men want what they can’t have. Don’t give yourself away. Make him work for it. Men love the chase. Fold his clothes. Cook his dinner. Keep him happy. That’s a woman’s job. You’ll make a good wife some day. Take his last name. You hyphenated your name? Crazy feminist. Give him children. You don’t want children? You will some day. You’ll change your mind.

Be a lady they said. Don’t get raped. Protect yourself. Don’t drink too much. Don’t walk alone. Don’t go out too late. Don’t dress like that. Don’t show too much. Don’t get drunk. Don’t leave your drink. Have a buddy. Walk where it is well lit. Stay in the safe neighborhoods. Tell someone where you’re going. Bring pepper spray. Buy a rape whistle. Hold your keys like a weapon. Take a self-defense course. Check your trunk. Lock your doors. Don’t go out alone. Don’t make eye contact. Don’t bat your eyelashes. Don’t look easy. Don’t attract attention. Don’t work late. Don’t crack dirty jokes. Don’t smile at strangers. Don’t go out at night. Don’t trust anyone. Don’t say yes. Don’t say no.

Just “be a lady” they said."

Author- Camille Rainville who has a blog called Writings of a Furious Woman.

(daily ex. update, pm tm run 4.7 miles, ytd run 1528.3 miles. Morning dog walk 1 mile, ytd walk 732.9 miles. 20 min. scooping snow)

 

(daily ex update, pm 1.1 miles, ytd 1523.6 .  Morning walk 2 miles, ytd 731.9 miles.)

 (daily ex update, pm tm 2.8 miles, ytd 1522.5 miles.  Morning dog walk 2 miles, ytd 729.9 miles)

      Sharing a post from our Governor, Jared Polis:

To me, “Little Girl Looking Downstairs at Christmas Party” by Norman Rockwell captures this year’s very different Christmas. The party below is inaccessible, almost ethereal, the figures evocative of the wispy ghostlike memory of the joyous parties of years past and the anticipation of future fêtes. While some partiers are having a grand time, others look like they would rather be elsewhere. But to that little girl, the festivities look otherworldly: wondrous yet inaccessible. Rockwell’s staircase represents the barrier of time, allowing remembrance of holidays past and the promise of holidays future. The girl can only imagine the conversations and the gaiety so close at-hand yet so far out of reach. I typically attend a dozen holiday parties each year, but this year none. Holiday parties tend to blur one into the next, just as the revelers in Rockwell’s painting. This year, we have our memories to lean on, and sparkling visions of a post-pandemic future to inspire us.

(daily ex. update, tm am 1.5 miles, ytd 1519.7 miles.  Walk 4 miles, ytd walk 727.9 miles)

Happy Holidays

 (daily ex, update, slow 1.6 mile streak saver jog, ytd 1518.2 miles.  1 mile morning dog walk, ytd 723.9 miles)

Merry Christmas

 

(Daily ex. update, pm jog 1.5 miles, ytd run 1516.6 miles.  Morning walk 2.1 miles, ytd walk 722.9 miles)

Give it your some

 

(daily ex. update, tm pm 4.1 miles, ytd run 1515.1 miles.  Morning dog walk only 1.5 miles, it was cold, ytd walk 720.8 miles.)

Thank you Charlotte

 “You will live, secure and safe, Wilbur. Nothing can harm you now. These autumn days will shorten and grow cold. The leaves will shake loose from the trees and fall. Christmas will come, then the snows of winter. You will live to enjoy the beauty of the frozen world, for you mean a great deal to Zuckerman and he will not harm you, ever. Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be yours to enjoy, Wilbur—this lovely world, these precious days . . .”

Social distance

     The Covid numbers in Colorado are stabilizing down.  I hope people continue to social distance for the holidays so we can stop this thing in its tracks.  With vaccines arriving, the end is in sight in a few months. Stay strong and safe.
 

(ex. update, pm tm 3.5 miles, ytd 1511 miles.  Morning dog walk 3.2 miles, ytd walk 719.3 miles.  It was a beautiful breezy first day of winter.)

Winter solstice and the great conjunction....

 

Taking a moment to reflect, as we prepare to welcome the winter solstice and a new year

“The Shortest Day” by Susan Cooper

So the shortest day came, and the year died,

And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world

Came people singing, dancing,

To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;

They hung their homes with evergreen;

They burned beseeching fires all night long

To keep the year alive,

And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake

They shouted, reveling.

Through all the frosty ages you can hear them

Echoing behind us—Listen!!

All the long echoes sing the same delight,

This shortest day,

As promise wakens in the sleeping land:

They carol, feast, give thanks,

And dearly love their friends,

And hope for peace.

And so do we, here, now,

This year and every year.

Welcome Yule!

(Photo credit: Stonehenge Salisbury Guided Tours)

Shared from my cousin Frank. Beautiful.

     And don't forget to step outside to view the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the SW night sky an hour after sunset.

(daily ex. update, pm tm run 3.5 miles, ytd 1507.5 miles.  Morning walk 4.5 miles, ytd walk 715.8 miles.  Extremely windy.  Winter blew in like a lion.)

“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters,” wrote Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci.

 

  This seems appropriate at the time of the winter solstice in this year in particular.

(ex. update, pm tm 2.4 miles, ytd run 1504 miles.  Morning walk 3 miles, ytd walk 711.3 miles)

      It has been so many decades since I read Shel Silverstein to my kids. 

“The Voice

There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long,
"I feel this is right for me,
I know that this is wrong."
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What's right for you--just listen to
The voice that speaks inside.”

(ex. update run tm 1.1 miles, ytd 1501.6 miles.  Walk 3 miles, ytd 708.3 miles.  Run/walk total ytd = 2209.9 miles.) 

 (ex update, pm tm 4 miles, ytd 1500.5 miles run.  Walk 3 mi. with dog. ytd walk 705.3 miles. Run/walk total 2205.8 miles.)

“Vanity working on a weak head produces every sort of mischief.” ― Jane Austen, Emma

 '

“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.
”

― George Washington

     Above are two quotes I read today that remind me of the Trump family.

     

Some days are harder than others.

 

(ex update, pm tm jog 4.2 miles, ytd 1496.5 miles.  Dog walk, 3 miles, ytd 702.3 walk miles.  Run/walk total = 2198.8 miles)

“Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup. ” ― Suzanne McMinn

 

(daily ex. update, jog 2.1 miles tm, streak saver run. ytd 1492.3 miles.  Dog walk 2.5 miles, ytd walk 699.3 miles.  Run/walk total ytd = 2191.6 miles. Only 2 weeks to go for this year.)

Herzensangelegenheit,, a matter of the heart. This sums it up.

                                               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N2eSsIWtNI

Lumiere brothers 1897

                                             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQMMDGd4ciA

(daily ex. update, pm tm 3.2 miles, ytd 1490.2 miles.  Walk 2 miles, ytd walk 696.8 miles.  Scooped snow but no snowball fights in sight.  I did talk to several neighbors also out scooping.  In this time of quarantine, it is one of the few opportunities to see them.)

I want to break free...a nice ad

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFMsIrS4YqU

(daily ex update, tm 3.5 miles pm, ytd 1487 miles.  Morning dog walk 2.5 miles, icy out, ytd walk 694.8 miles. And it is snowing again.)

 By Kurt Vonnegut:

“When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.

And he went WOW. That’s amazing! And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.”

And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”

And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could “Win” at them.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

(daily ex. update, pm tm 3.1 miles, ytd run 1483.5 miles. Morning dog walk 1.5 miles, ytd walk 692.3 miles. Also a little snow scooping.)

 

(daily ex. update, super cold out, only walked 1 mile with the dog.  Ytd walk 690.8 miles.  Evening TM run 4.1 miles, ytd run 1480.4 miles.)

"If you have a body, you are an athlete." - Bill Bowerman

 Good to remember.

(ex update, jog 2.5 miles to save my streak, ytd 1476.3 miles. Morning walk 1 mile with my dog in the crunchy snow and cold, ytd walk 689.8 miles.  Also scooped snow, although more snow predicted for tonight and tomorrow.)

 

(ex update, tm run 3.5 miles pm, ytd 1473 miles.  Walk dog in am 1.6 miles, ytd walk 688.8 miles.  Run+walk total=2161.8 miles)

“The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”
― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

Fun Fact: Goats have rectangular pupils, which is thought to be a development to help detect predators in the wild.

 Just an interesting piece of info for the day.

(ex update, run 3.5 miles tm pm, ytd run 1469.5 miles.  Morning slow walk with dog, 2.5 miles, ytd walk 687.2 miles.  Run/walk total 2156.7 miles.  RSD 2287.)

“You can remember it, he told himself, but you cannot experience it again like this. You have to be satisfied with the shadows.” —John L. Parker Jr. in Once a Runner

 

     When Nostalgia was a disease, treated with leeches and bullying:

Swiss physician Johannes Hofer coined the term in his 1688 medical dissertation, from the Greek nostos, or homecoming, and algos, or pain. The disease was similar to paranoia, except the sufferer was manic with longing, not perceived persecution, and similar to melancholy, except specific to an object or place.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/when-nostalgia-was-a-disease/278648/

In the fall we were nostalgic for the summer. In the winter we were nostalgic for the fall. In the summer we were nostalgic for the spring. But in the spring we were not nostalgic for the winter, not even for its quiet, or its hot cocoas, or its video fires,

     from The Ruins of Nostalgia 38 by Donna Stonecipher, who has an entire series of poems on The Ruins of Nostalgia

https://poems.com/poem/the-ruins-of-nostalgia-38/

     It's interesting how several of the things you happen to read point to the same subject.  Is it coincidental or just what my brain finds of importance at a given moment?

(ex update, run with dog 2.1 miles slowly in a.m.,  run 3.3 miles on tm in p.m., ytd run 1466.8 miles.  Walk 1 mile to warm up/cool down.  Ytd walk 684.7 miles.  Run + walk total 2151.5 miles. That number is sure increasing slowly!)

 

The Swiss Cheese Model of Pandemic Defense defined:

 

The Swiss Cheese Model of Pandemic Defense It’s not edible, but it can save lives. The virologist Ian Mackay explains how. Thought this was important to share - Saw this on Google News from NYT - virologist Ian Mackay University of Queensland -- Lately, in the ongoing conversation about how to defeat the coronavirus, experts have made reference to the “Swiss cheese model” of pandemic defense. The metaphor is easy enough to grasp: Multiple layers of protection, imagined as cheese slices, block the spread of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. No one layer is perfect; each has holes, and when the holes align, the risk of infection increases. But several layers combined — social distancing, plus masks, plus hand-washing, plus testing and tracing, plus ventilation, plus government messaging — significantly reduce the overall risk. Vaccination will add one more protective layer. “Pretty soon you’ve created an impenetrable barrier, and you really can quench the transmission of the virus,” said Dr. Julie Gerberding, executive vice president and chief patient officer at Merck, who recently referenced the Swiss cheese model when speaking at a virtual gala fund-raiser for MoMath, the National Museum of Mathematics in Manhattan. “But it requires all of those things, not just one of those things,” she added. “I think that’s what our population is having trouble getting their head around. We want to believe that there is going to come this magic day when suddenly 300 million doses of vaccine will be available and we can go back to work and things will return to normal. That is absolutely not going to happen fast.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/health/coronavirus-swiss-cheese-infection-mackay.html

Dad jokes.......the Father of Wit

 

(tired today, very slow jog tonight 2.1 miles to maintain streak.  Ytd run 1461,4 miles.  Morning dog walk 3 miles, ytd walk 683.7 miles.)

Underdog

 

(ex. update, run 3.5 includes virtual Rudolph Ramble 5k, ytd run 1459.3 miles.  Walk 2.2 miles, ytd walk 680.7 miles.  Run/walk total for year = 2140 miles.  It is gorgeous out today.)

Growing

 

     Run/walk group this morning.  We look like a bunch of marauders, but that's 2020 for you.I did win a pair of shoes in the weekly drawing.

(ex update, run 2.6 miles tm early am, ytd run 1455.6 miles.  Walk 4.6 miles am, ytd walk 678.5 miles.  Yearly run/walk total 2134.1 miles)

 

(daily ex. update, tm run 3.1 miles, ytd run 1453.2 miles.  AM dog walk 2.5 miles on a gorgeous day.  Ytd walked miles 673.9.  Total run + walk miles ytd 2127.1 miles)

 (daily ex. update, jog 4.5 miles on trail with my dog, ytd run 1450.1 miles.  Walk 1 mile warm up/cool down, ytd walk 671.4 miles.)

Good news.  Exercise may protect against a deadly Covid 19 complication. 

https://news.virginia.edu/content/exercise-may-protect-against-deadly-covid-19-complication-research-suggests?fbclid=IwAR3wpA87B5NtdKuijRCDivsCcGqlIi9hObSaNDCq6lYzP08lafIi6Rwqaxg

"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."

We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.

And wear a mask!

(Daily ex. update, t.m. p.m. 3.5 miles, ytd run 1445.6 miles. Morning chilly dog walk 3.1 miles, ytd walk 673.5 miles. Ytd run/walk total 2119.1 miles. RSD 2280)

“To share a table with someone is to share everything.” ― Paul Krueger, Steel Crow Saga

 

(daily ex. update, tm run 3.7 miles, ytd run 1442.1 miles.  Walk dog 1.5 miles on a chilly day, ytd walk 670.4 miles.  Run+walk total this year=2112.5 miles)