Many of you may recognize the phrase in my title, especially if you are an avid hiker, jogger or cyclist, like my blogging friend Mary.
It makes a lot of sense, especially considering many people are lost in their thoughts, listening to music or perhaps even enamoured of the beautiful world around them as they walk or run…or push strollers, wheelchairs and try to reign in pets.
It was a beautiful trail
We had to stand and wait about ten minutes to get a shot without half a dozen people. I love people. I work with them every day. But people out of doors can be, well, very non civilized at times.
The thing I take issue with is that, in my recent experiences, these cyclists often shout this phrase more like a command than an alert, they never are prepared to stop on a dime, nor do they make any attempt to ever slow down. It is as if the world might stop and spin the other way if anyone or anything broke their cycling stride.
I’m sorry. That is just rude. To make matters worse they fly by within a hair’s breath of you. (I swear I can smell their breath too). Seriously, what if one of them should be coming up “on the left” of a seriously deaf person.
This was rare
We recently hiked a beautiful paved trail near where we live, but I doubt we will go back. There was not a five minute stretch that we weren’t having to climb to the grassy curb due to convoys of cyclists, all shouting,
“On your left!”
It’s kind of hard to stay in a Zen Zone when you fear for your safety. What say you about this dilemma, Mary?
I had a stellar weekend. Really, it was all I wanted and came right on the heels of a great week. Was work perfect? Hardly. But I realize the things that mean the most to me are those little gold flecks that show up while I am sifting through life’s dirt and rock to make a living, with or without striking it rich. Things like friends that pass through town and spend an evening relaxing and laughing over some great food. Things like meals I neither have to cook nor clean up after. Things like preparing a simple, tasty lunch with my hubby and enjoying it outdoors.
I‘ve made my mind up about one thing since returning to full time work after our brief ‘retirement’ in Costa Rica.
I cannot go back to living for the weekend.
My time in paradise taught me that each day is meant to be lived entirely-whether brilliant, beautiful, boring or back breaking. When we power through our days with blinders on working toward those precious moments we feel belong to us alone, shining like a trophy on a folding table at the finish line, several things happen.
Number one, we rush through our moments, trying to ignore the difficult ones while our eyes are glued to the checkered flag waiting to mark the end of another gruelling race.
Secondly, we build ourseleves up for something stupendous to serve as our reward for a job well done, for putting up with so much nonsense for yet another week and for perservering through life’s muck and mire to get to that place in the sun we call our weekend. And then it rains. 🙄
Thirdly, we age while we live our lives in chunks of time. Week to weekend, holiday to holiday. Vacation to vacation. Another year closer to retirement. Talk about a hamster wheel!
While I can’t always (though I try like hell) improve the quality of a nightmarish work day, I can at least step outside of myself to be objective.
This too shall pass
I can’t change the attitudes of anyone around me, so I must be content to do what I feel is healthy for me and hope that someone else might find value in my outlook, might learn to laugh instead of complain about the small stuff, and so a ripple effect is begun.
Sooooo. I have made the decision to no longer live for the weekend; and the first step in this new mental directive is to change the way I view the mini repreive I get every 120 hours.
Henceforth the afore mentioned ‘weekend’ will be now be referred to as the Free 48. The Glorious 48 hours that are blank pages in my book of days. What do you think?
I am celebrating this new outlook by sharing my very first Free 48 with you here. It was relaxing, exhilarating, creative, fun, rewarding, loving….did I mention it was really good? Here are a few of the simple, fantastic details.
It started Friday afternoon by grilling shrimp with the hubby and enjoying our meal on the deck under some welcome sunshine.
Magenta bloomsA nice Reisling to go with our shri pMy humble little paradise in the making, check out the SUNshine……..
Then, my ‘book-that-never-came’ from Amazon finally arrived! Yaaaay!! (Yeah, it was sent again with actual shipping info too!) Miracles do happen. This little book is a real treasure. If you haven’t read it I recommend it highly. The simple truth of the Tao spoken through the heart of a lovable bear.
The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet. 💕Which explains my completely Zen feeling all weekend.
Then, Saturday we got out for an early morning hike. Well, early is relative since my one rule of the Free 48 is no alarm clocks. But we did make it out of the house by ten am. Hubby is in charge of adventure time, finding us new trails, parks and places of interest. This time we hit the Silver Comet Trail, a very scenic and easy to walk paved hiking trail that goes on for miles. We did about three. It was beautiful but had a bit too many bikers for my comfort. (More on this subject on One Liner Wednesday. I’m working to keep my ohhhhmmmmm on here.)LOL.
After our hike we rewarded ourselves with a great Mexican meal and margaritas at our new favorite Mexican place in town. (More on that for Thursday Doors)
Silver Comet TrailI wanted so much to get a shot of this tunnel sans people-no easy task.Someone else was feeling Zen!My new best friend in a glass.
Now on to my favorite moment….
Sunday brunch with my youngest at the place we tried to go before. You know….where the awesome bar Eleanor is?
Yes! We finally ate at Muss and Turner’s. And it waaaas good. From the Tropicalia on draft to the pulled smoked pork andwich on an H &F bun, it was all I hoped it would be.
Cheers!
Dusty’s special pork sandwich. Yeah.
But the real gift was the company. Food, no food, we all had a great time catching up!
Oh yeahhhhh…I actually spent an evening working on my latest creative exploration. I have wanted to try my hand at paper bead making for quite awhile. It was such fun! I am only just getting started. 👏🏻🙈
Sooooo…..there you have it. My first Free 48. Can’t wait to gear up again in about….well…..who’s counting anyway? 😉Have a great week friends!
Now, I have to say up front that I try my hardest not to be redundant and to find something original for all my posts. And I do hope you don’t roll your eyes in boredom when you see the backdrop for my Thursday Doors post today. This prompt is brought to you by the talented and adventurous Norm Frampton.
If you visit his link above you can find the details for this fun weekly event and even join in! If you click on the hoppy blue frog, you can find more great doors posts too!
Now, I say ‘backdrop’ because, while a door is involved and required to successfully participate, it isn’t truly just the door that is the focus of my post today. You might even say it is about a theoretical door, one that ranks high on my list of favorites; for when friendship’s door is opened, my heart is happiest.
Most anyone who knows me knows I don’t let go of things easily, especially my relationships. I have friends that go back to my grade school days and I can still recall our best times together. So, when a friend said she would be passing through town and wanted to stop over for a night at our house with her son, I was thrilled. This is someone who made work seem like fun for years at a place I still consider the best job I ever had. Don’t ask. Life happens. Costa Rica happened. Moving on happened. But we have stayed in touch and I treasure her as a friend-a friend who loves sports, especially LSU-go Tigers! When she saw my photos of last week’s adventure to the new Atlanta Braves stadium at the Battery, she said the Braves were once one of her favorite ball clubs. Woohoo! A great reason to visit the Battery again and guess what- she is a burger lover! And, so class, Where is the best burger I have had since we moved here? That’s right!
Wahhaaaaalburger’s of course! As soon as I got home and changed clothes we headed to the Battery and walked the main drag, took photos, shopped for sports ‘stuff’ then headed to our spot for food and drinks. Of course, Wahlburger’s did not disappoint. And it was great catching up on all our mutual news, gossip and current events. When we left I was going to snap a quick photo in front of THE door when one of the servers offered to take the photo of all of us. Oh Yay!
I loved this picture. I quickly posted it to Instagram on my little phone and shortly after I got a message from my son laughing about the photobomber in our shot. 😀I never even saw it but I love it. He was the host and a very amiable fellow. It was a memorable evening and I hope they can return sometime for a baseball game and we can explore some of the other food and beer venues. It’s just so hard to walk past those burgers……sooooo seductive.
Just. Can’t resist those charms.
Oh….and on the weather front, Mother Nature is teasing us with some warm days and new beautiful things. I say….
Okay, well not just for baseball; but that is kind of the theme for my post today. It was an accidental theme due to our adventure last evening; nonetheless, it is the focal point of the evening.
So, without further ado, let me introduce you to my special guest on today’s post-the letter ‘B’!
B is indeed for baseball, for Battery, for Braves, beer, burgers, bunting, bikes, and bring it on !
My last week was mentally gruelling although I am fast forgetting why, due in part to our visit to one of Atlanta’s newest sports arenas- SunTrust Park’s Battery.
Now, it takes a lot to get me pumped over public venues, and I might well have my enthusiasm curbed if ever we find ourselves swimming among the sea of fans at one of the events here; but, as far as the location, the buildout and the resataurants, I am duly impressed. They are still growing and many unopened venues promise much more shopping, food and spirits coming soon.
Meanwhile, I will take you on a brief tour of the main strip down the center of the Battery. There are also restaurants, bars, shops and ticket venues on the main road as well as four major parking lots with several levels. We hit it just right with four free hours of weekday parking if you arrive before four pm. After that the free time decreases.
A walk down the main strip takes you by Wahlburger’s. I am slow to jump on any bandwagon that is overly hyped; but I have to tell you honestly that this was the best diner style burger I have had in years. I kid you not…the meat was seared and crispy on the outside but perfectly medium inside and they were double so a lot thinner than a big ole medium burger. Add a splash of wahl sauce, shredded lettuce, tomato, kosher style pickles, two perfectly crispy bacon strips and -dare I say it-good ‘ole American-or as they say on the menu- gov’ment-cheese. The fresh bun toasted to a golden brown held it all in place. Kind of. But I ate every last sniff of it. Oh, and there was a cup of Yukon Gold fries too. What? Did I take photos? Oh paleeeease….
Thank you, #Wahlburger’s all!Such a welcoming casual atmosphereHad my Chopsecutioner half drunk before I thought to snap a photo!Spiked Cherry Coke. Yummmm..This was the double Wahlburger, my new best friend. Helped me forget the week.
‘Waht’ (😉) could we do after such a meal but walk? So we made our way up the strip a second time. Other venues include an Italian pizzeria, a wine bar, NY bagel grille, Fried Chicken restauarant, Yard House-where we ended up-Terrapin Craft brewhouse with barbecue diner, El Felix Mexican, an Oyster Bar, Todd English Tavern, Sports and Social-a grown ups playground-and various others. For a complete list, check the link above. Oh, I have a few more photos for ya. Oh…that beer? It is by Terrapin Brewhouse and is purportedly brewed over baseball bat chips…I wasn’t sure how I felt about that but had to give it a try. It is a pretty lightweight beer but has a decent flavor, very mild and not hoppy at all, really. Just a little 5% kick though. I’m wishing we could serve a few of these at the bar, Dan.
Welcome to SunTrust ParkWho doesn’t love a Harley Davidson shop?This fountain was beautiful, changing every few secondsUnder the glow of BaseballMy friend Al would love this place!Ahhh…my good friend the Terrapin Tortuga!Obviously reporting the main events.Just had to get this shot with the neon baseball.Inside Sports and Social.What a view. Never saw an indoor monitor this large. 30 feet tall!The men’s room. No, I did not take this one, though I have done worse on a dare. Or accident. 😂The Chick-Fil-A mascot inside the stadiumAs it got darker, the night life awakenedImagine this area in the middle of playoffs!Yard House. Largest beer selection on tapMy choice for after dinner was a Jameson Mule. Giddayup.
And while my post didn’t make it in time for Norm’s Thursday Doors, this would have been my entry. Oh well, there’s always next week. Meanwhile, you guys get out there and enjoy some sunshine if ya’ got it!
File this under my “#I love Atlanta” diary entries. 😀💕
Too many hours, minutes, days and weeks
mark the passing of time between a life
with you in it and this one without any trace
of your face,
your smile so kind, my mind
has found a way to let go.
No more sorrow creeping,
seeping from my veins like
poisonous regret for all
the things unsaid-
instead I fled onto
another road leading
from the familiar.
Yet no road, no future,
pleasure or pain
can restrain a foolish heart’s
memory and hope as now
and then, once again
my heart whispers your name
and the longing the same
as, the wistful mists clear,
I feel you near, memory sweet.
I feel less alone,
like going home and understand
wherever I go, whatever I do,
remains the thought that leads back to you.
TGIF everybody! I have to say the moon really outdid herself this time around-such beauty, brilliance, magic and shine. A triple event month! And she also had her effect on the wee humans down here on Earth. Sometimes they behave as though she has a golden finger stuck right up their b….brain stem. Many nights I come home feeling as though I have been gunslinging all day, avoiding verbal bullets, arrows and hand grenades.
It is no surprise to me that it is still Mother Nature who is the heroine in my life’s saga. She, with all her children, move through life without fanfare, fame or often even acknowledgment. Yet it is through such acknowledgment that redemption comes…on tiny feet and winging its way across the pink landscape of sunset. It shimmers on the rushing river and whispers through the forest canopy, drowning out the din of daily life and replacing it with the music of the universe.
In this way my life seems enchanted. I am blessed, humbled and rejuvenated. How can I feel sorrow over a rough week when most wild things must keep moving, keep foraging-without choice-just to stay alive. When we share with them, they show their appreciation by bringing beauty and positive energy to our living space.
Now, what isn’t enchanting about these little angels? And, speaking of Enchanted, I’d love to introduce you to our little under the deck resident, Pip. Pip is a chipmunk! Before moving here I had never seen a chipmunk excpet in photos or nature shows on TV. I have to admit I squeal when this fellow shows up on the porch; but he shows up for hubby more than me. He is very tentative and timid, but we give him berries and cashews hoping he will come to realize we are friends. It’s a process and lesson in tenacity.
I just think he is adorable! And he so reminds me of the animated chipmunk in one of my favorite movies, the Disney film that made millions of wanna be princesses’ hearts go pitty pat over Mr. McDreamy. (Yeah, mine still skips a beat when I see him. 🙊)
Excuse me…do you have some cashews?If you just leave them here I’ll take them and scurry along.
And that is how Mr Pip got his name.
So, you view the clip and tell me if my new friend isn’t star quality. And lucky for him, we have a couple of film connections. 😉 Hmmm…I wonder if he could be Chippy’s Southern cousin. I’ll have to ask Dan next time I’m bartending. They have Chippy nearly housebroken! 😉
And now for the gratuitous Happy Ending-‘cuz, ladies I don’t know about you all, but I could use one this week!
Dream on…..
And on to the weekend. May yours be enchanted. Oh…and don’t take any apples from haggy old ladies. Or Susan Sarandon. 😉
"I have enough time to rest, but I don't have a minute to waste". Come and catch me with your wise words and we will have some fun with our words of wisdom.
Dreaming Reality 
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