Hello everyone, this week I have posted on my other site:
I hope that you will click through, and begin to follow that site, too! I will show up every-other week in your in-box.
Your presence means a lot to me, thanks for reading and commenting!
XO Donna
Change either happens all at once, leaving us dazed and confused, or doesn’t happen as quickly as we wish. Find my ideas on dealing with change, this week over at:
Just click the above link and you’ll find my article entitled ‘Speeding Up Change.” And while you’re there, enjoy the other great writers!
Happy Labor Day,
XO Donna
I have a wonderful, challenging, fun-filled, who-knows-what-will-happen? weekend planned. To see what’s in the works, just click below. Any advice? Please share your knowledge, thoughts, or encouragement!
Click Here https://damnedgypsy.com/2016/08/10/my-three-rs/ to read all about it!
XO Donna
This week you will find my new article about downsizing and struggling with my feelings over it at: 1010ParkPlace.com. If it’s your first time there, linger a while. The articles are short, well-written, and relevant to women of all ages – but especially so to those of us on the other side of the big Four-Oh.
If you haven’t seen my Travel Blog, here’s this week’s post: damnedgypsy.com. I look forward to having some great on-the-road adventures and photos to show you as soon as I “get this party started.” But this week I’m still packing!
I really appreciate you reading and sharing. And I especially love to hear from you!
XO Donna
Due to “circumstances beyond my control,” I’ve only been able to publish one post this week, and it’s over on my other site: damnedgypsy.com
I guarantee you it’s a good one, so click the link and head on over there! I’ll tell you next week what’s going on.
Thank you for reading,
XO Donna
Sorry about not posting last week, I was having computer problems – I thought Mercury was out of retrograde, but based on everyone’s complaints, I guess not.
I did manage to post on www.damnedgypsy.com
I’d love you to click the link and check it out. Always a short post with a photo I’ve taken. And, it goes without saying, I’d be flattered if you want to follow.
❤️ Thank you,
XO Donna
Austin by Donna Starnes
For the fantastic weather we are having here in Austin, TX.
We just sent a text to our dear friends in Lincoln, Nebraska when we saw that their high temperature was going to be 27F today. “Hate to gloat, but it’s 82F here!” The response was swift and contained an unrepeatable four-letter word.
I have a weather app that tracks the temperatures anywhere, so I have pages for dear friends, family, and vacation spots. Sitting on my patio, bare legs propped on a chair with the sun shining on them, I can see that it’s only sixteen degrees where Sister #5 lives. And only 63F in Key West, FL – one of our fave places. It’s pretty nice being in the catbird seat, and I am grateful for this glorious winter day.
Days like this explain why people are moving here in droves. It’s exactly why I moved here from New York, after being snowed-in for three days on Valentine’s Day in 1978. Austin was a sleepy little town then, and contrary to what people say, it was not better – just smaller. No traffic, much less people. I think there were about 350,000 then. There are closer to 2M now.
There were almost no decent restaurants then. No good pizza. Not a bagel in sight. Now, there are lots of fabulous restaurants, brewers and distilleries. But, it took an influx of people to make that happen. Now, there are too many people and too much traffic.
Which is why I really appreciate having this amazing balcony and patio – my little slice of Heaven on a day like today. I don’t have to go anywhere – I can see parts of the river below, cliffs and hills lush with evergreens across the way, and a large swath of cloudless blue sky.
Speaking of colors, I notice my legs are still ghostly white – but there’s self-tanner for that. And it will be cold again next week. The shorts will go back in their drawer. The jeans will come back out. I’m telling you – living here’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it!
XO Donna
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Tidied up the original. Enjoy!
Yes, I did write this post a few weeks ago, and I admit that I was in a hurry when I pushed Publish. I didn’t realize that WordPress had a glitch and posted a garbled blend of two earlier revisions.
I didn’t see it until the next afternoon and I was aghast! But, I must admit, some of it was pretty funny. In the spirit of Marie Kondo and her “life changing magic of tidying up,” I want to tidy up that post.
What I like most about her method is that it works and it’s fun. So much so that I’ve done my closet and dresser since then.
Regarding her rules:
View original post 220 more words
Last week I was listening to Danielle LaPorte co-interview Steven Pressfield. Toward the end she said, “I will tell you, this is a trick question; Beatles or The Rolling Stones?” When he answered that it was The Stones she laughingly said, “aw…the real answer is Led Zeppelin!”
I laughed along, and thought, no – the real answer is Bowie. On Monday morning I found out that David Bowie had died. We all have our favorites, 
and while I loved it all, I loved Ziggy Stardust most of all. His music was the soundtrack of my life.
I bought my first album, The Man Who Sold the World, in 1970. Having never had a dog as a child, as soon as I had my own place I bought a Black Lab and named him Bowie.
A couple of years later, I was in beauty school and listening to Aladdin Sane. I cut off my lovely brown curls and dyed my new haircut a vivid Clairol Flame Red, a la Bowie.
I must have listened to that album a lot, because my son (who was three or four at the time) was in the car one day as my cousin and I drove my aunt on an errand. When the car started, the cassette played the song Cracked Actor, and my son started singing along in his small voice: “suck baby suck, gimme some head, before you start saying that you’re knockin ’em dead!”
My aunt became apoplectic, my cousin couldn’t eject the tape fast enough, and I sat there dumbfounded. Secretly, I was impressed – I had no idea he was paying attention and knew all of the words. Like any dirty word that children pick up when they’re little, if you don’t make a fuss, they move on. Or, as my aunt did, you can totally freak out. Poor Jason burst into tears! We still laugh over that story to this day.
David Bowie was always on the leading edge, never resting, continually growing and evolving. His movie credentials are as impressive as his music. About creativity he said, “Always go a little further into the water. . . a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are touching bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.”
He was always exciting. And I’m blue, blue, electric blue – but I have movies to rewatch, albums to linger over, and his final album was released on his birthday, just two days before he transitioned back to whatever brilliant star he came from.
XO Donna
SexyPast60 