Raige Creations

 I can hardly believe how long it has been since I added to my blog. I often open a tab, create a new post, and watch the blinking cursor tempting me to type something. But it blinks in vain. I sit there, my mind blank. Mind you, it is not blank any other time. In fact, I have written many a great post in my head while laying in bed at 1am or 2am, after a 2 or 3 hour nap on the couch. But the minute the cursor blinks, great words and ideas disappear. I wrote this blog many months ago, but never thought it was quite ready to post. Plus, I had to ask my friend if I could post her picture. We had both been so busy we didn't get to talking about that, or even swimming much. But here this is, I am sharing now because I finally asked and she said sure! The sad part is, we were chatting because she is moving away. And I said, " NO!!! - What will I do without my Swim Buddy!?!? Oh, by the way I have this blog....." So much like the original night I wrote this , I am sitting here o...

  Thanks Pinterest We now have got three walks in over the past five days. We took a long break, but hopefully this is the start of a regular thing. And today, I realized how much I missed it. Every time we get back to walking, we wonder why we stopped. It is really such a simple thing, going for a walk in Nature. Why do we find so many excuses not to do it?  Even they days you get rained on are wonderful - the other day, in fact, we were soaked. Even the grey and cloudy days are beautiful.  Even a grey day is beautiful I knew things were starting to feel better when I wanted to take a picture. Sure, that is not the best photo. It was cloudy, it was the 'wrong' time of day, it was a rough and not brilliant sea. We hadn't seen much that was particularly interesting. But still, the waves look cool, the breeze was refreshing, and the grey is a bit soothing. I realized I wasn't feeling nature, until then. Figuring I may as well take as shot, seeing it through the lens (so t...

Another Monday, another week of what the heck will happen this week? source And we are just floating around waiting for the next WFT moment. I say, it is time to enjoy some Modest Mouse then and we can all float on together. Alright, already, we'll all float on, alright Don't worry, even if things end up a bit too heavy We'll all float on Alright, already I kind of love that the video has the band in a little puppet show, moving around with magnets. Being controlled by someone. Read into that what you will, I sure we could draw some real life parallels. And then there are the sheep. All singing along, as we float along. Perhaps another real life parallel can be found here. But I won't be drawing or finding any parallels today, it is Monday after all. Asked about the song in an interview with The A.V. Club , Isaac Brock , the lead vocalist and guitarist for the band, said that he consciously intended to write something that felt more po...

Who would have thought I would find my spirit animal on a walk? Is it really my spirit animal, or just a chance sighting I thoroughly enjoyed? We have been doing well getting our walks in. Oh yes, I have a walking partner now! I finally got hubby to start exercising. Even if i go a slower pace than when I am alone, it is great to have some company. Our walks bring us to the North Sound. If you follow me , you should recognize the views. I try to take a picture every day, thinking it would be interesting to see the slight differences each day. Honestly I think some days are just so beautiful, other are more subdued. A different view each time really. But perhaps I am the only one that finds it that way, as the moods often highly affect my interpretation of the views. And I may be the only one who never tires of these same place views. As we are still on  lock-down , and the beaches are still closed, I must find interest with what is in walking distance as we are not t...

As has been the common popular birthday present for me, this year again I got new running shoes. Yes, I have gone on about new running shoes before.... here .....and here ....to share just a couple.... I am doing more walking instead of running these days, as my legs keep hurting when I tried to run lately, probably from my worn out shoes. So, that is the reason this year I was absolutely thrilled with these new shoes. They hug my heels so nicely and offer some great support for my overpronation and thus will help my sketchy knees and achy legs. My awesome new shoes My double excitement that we could find these shoes on island, where I could try them on and see that they fit nicely. I won't mention the price I had to pay for this convenience, as it was my birthday and I reasoned it was okay to overpay for such wonderful convenience and totally enjoy the instant gratification of getting these shoes. No more waiting for a 'mule' to bring them down to me after ordering...

Well this year I am trying it. A Good Things Jar Good things jar. Strategically placed. For years we have seen this idea, but I bet no one has really ever done it. Well, okay not no one, but really, do you know anyone that has ever done this? Just do a quick  Pinterest  search and you will find a bunch of Jar Ideas. Source - Pinterest I never have started a jar, but always thought it was a good idea. This year, I finally put one out. Strategically placed next to the fridge, on top of our antique medicine cabinet, in plain view. (a photo of my mothers now in the background, near our duct tape because you never know when you will need duct tape, and emergency flashlights and candles which we need more than you would think because the power goes out that often. Ah island living.) I still need to put scraps of paper near it with a pen, so it is easy to add the good things. All in an effort to ensure this year, setting the tone for the next decade, will be differe...

I asked for suggestions, and a great cousin of hubby's said she was listening to  Led Zeppelin  yesterday. This request led to an evening of the band for me and hubby last night, and nearly all day streaming the band at work, until I found one that spoke to me, that fit. This one does, more or less . But seriously, so many good songs to choose from. So many! So many that brought back memories of my brother . He was the one who first introduced me to this band. Through his closed bedroom door. He was a musician, a true connoisseur of good rock music. So many hubby had stories about. He knows stories of the band members, and he introduced me to The Song Remains The Same movie . If you have a couple hours, check it out! It is worth it, I believe. The concert was at Madison Square Gardens, this video a part of it. They put on a great show, excellent musicians. And, story from hubby, Robert Plant didn't even realize he was rubbing his fingers through most of the concer...

What a race! The Flowers Sea Swim , a very well done event, this year is the 27th year it has been going! I trained a long time for this, since January. All through training, I simply wanted to just be able to swim a full mile without stopping. And at the start, I realized just how hard that would be. But, after months of training, I knew I could swim that far, even if I did stop to get the mouthful of water out of my mouth, or massaged a cramp, or slowed to get a better look at the fish. So the day came, and I wanted to swim it faster than I had in every training session. I was excitedly nervous. The weather was beautiful, even if a bit hot. The ocean was calm and a few clouds gave us some relief from the sun sometimes. Me and my numba! Never so proud to wear J16! Especially after I got my number painted on me! I felt so good, actually, with that number on. It was official now. Now, I just had to stash my stuff - they had a shuttle to take our stuff to the finish line....

Motivation. It is hard, yo. Especially to get out the door, and drive to have a swimming workout. from teespring.com It is not uncommon for me to have major motivational problems to do this. Especially when my coach (hubby) says he is not up for going with me. I sit and battle with myself that I really SHOULD go, but don't want to ~ it takes so much preparation to go. Both physically and mentally. These help, a little gift I got myself - I LOVE these goggles. He usually says, after I whine about the struggle to him, ' Just go if you're gonna go !'  His way of motivating. Gee, thanks coach . I guess it is somewhat effective. I have this struggle nearly every time I plan to go for a swim workout, so I often go to Pinterest for motivation, as one does. Usually, it works: his words in my head and reading all the motivational things I find.  This made me think about the whole process that makes it so hard to do. To get ready: put in contacts. put on sui...