Super Moon

I love the moon.  It shows up often in my block prints - you've probably noticed.

When it was full on the 12th of July, it was a beautiful night here.  I drove down the road to a near-by park overlook at sat with the dog, hoping to see it rise over the lake.  When it did, I took some photos with my cheap little nikon coolpix camera.  I put it on a night setting and then used the timer as the shutter stayed open too long to hold it still.  It was  a magical night.  I sat there for maybe 45 min just taking it all in.

The photos in NO WAY do the moon that night justice.  It looked so huge.

What have I been doing lately? Suffering crappy sick days and doing interviews.  I am now out of educators to interview.  I've called and emailed every wolf education center I could drum up online and through asking participants if they knew of places.  There are three or four more possible participants that may come through.  I'm on the border of having enough to actually do this study, it's close. But to be honest, the PhD is a month by month thing anyways.

I am out of medical leave and I have one year of funding yet (if it's approved by my disability program).  It would be funny to be a semester away from finishing and have to bail, on the other hand, at some level, we all live day to day.  The best philosophy I've found is just to live each day and not spend too much time worrying about the future….because it never comes.

And for me, it causes anxiety that I don't need. Sometimes (well a good portion of the time) it's everything I can manage just to get through each day.  Most times I can't wait for evening both because the weakness, dizziness and flu symptoms (except throat) ease up, and because I can go to sleep and not feel ill.  To be honest, I've thought of throwing in the towel from time to time due to sickness and loneliness, but that alone would take too much effort.

But then there are moments like watching the moon rise that I try to savour.

What other things do I love or find inspiring?

Here are 10 things I love:

1. Reading a good book, the kind I wish would never end, escaping into some other world.
2. Snuggling with my dog
3. Hanging out with friend/s (if I'm not too ill and it's low key)
4. Swimming in a fresh water lake (hope to do it this summer)
5. Watching the moon rise
6. Being out in nature (rare lately)
7. Growing veggies and flowers
8. A glass of nice red wine
9. Lake Superior
10. Lots of foods: chocolate, avocado, cherries, strawberries, decent fresh corn on the cob etc.