Busy, Busy

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A dear friend, Joanie, has moved to Sun City! And in a happy coincidence, in a town of approximately 17K people… she has moved walking distance from me. We met 30-ish years ago in a Nia White-Belt training; she went on to become a wonderful teacher and will hopefully teach classes here in Sun City and in Georgetown. It turned out I that have stage-fright, so teaching was not for me.

Yesterday Joanie and I went to an exquisite yoga studio downtown for a 75 minute Yin (restorative) yoga class with sound meditation at the end. I was so excited to “be getting my airy-fairy on,” it’s been years! Both the class and the studio far exceeded any expectations I might have had.
The sounds were singing bowls – so soothing – during our long poses. And at the very end, during the “corpse pose,” everyone’s favorite, where you lie still on your back and integrate the work you’ve done, they played a vibration for 10 minutes or so. When I came home, I did my homework; it is one of many frequencies known to have healing effects on the nervous system and the body. These vibrations are measured in Hertz, and 174 Hz has been found to have the potential to alleviate stress and pain, improve focus, and give the organs a sense of security.

For the first time in years I felt at ease, as if I were floating. Unbound. Unburdened.

I’m still feeling more relaxed than “normal” today. I’m scheduling that class into my schedule. That ease even made my workout with my trainer easier. Weight-training is so important as we get older for bone density and strength. My watering can weighs 16 lbs when I fill it, and I can carry it again to water the garden I’m trying to grow. My green thumb seems to be limited with indoor plants, where I can grow anything. Outdoors, all bets are off. I keep starting over. And over.

Speaking of… I have three books on my nightstand that I just can’t stay focused on. I start, read 15-20 pages and put it down. On to one of the others, same thing. I seem to have the attention span of a gnat. Is this inability to focus an age-thing? Any of you having the same problem?
Or is your Mom?

So, I bought another book. Of course. The title is simply Long Island. Since I’m from there, how could I not delve a little deeper? It’s one of Oprah’s book club picks, which aren’t usually my cup of tea, but the female protagonist has a man come to her door one day, asking for her by name, and tells her that his wife is pregnant by her husband, and when the baby is born he will deposit it on her doorstep. The novel is about what she does with this news, and what she refuses to do.

My youngest sister, Elizabeth (you remember her) and I have started reading it. I will give you a book report next time. And maybe this will break my lack of focus and I’ll get into the others.

One last thing, a health alert. I was really shocked to read this, so I’m passing it along, please do the same.
AZO and Uristat are brand names for the drug phenazopiridine, long used to treat symptoms of urinary tract infections. Both are available in any drugstore or pharmacy aisle in the grocers. I’ve used it a few times while waiting to reach my doctor. And, of course I assumed it was safe.

It is not FDA approved, and twenty years ago the FDA raised questions about its potential to cause cancer.

It works by numbing the urinary tract, but that can mask serious infections requiring medical attention and antibiotics. Sadly, most doctors are unaware of this drugs potential for harm. If you do use it, it should only be used for two days as you call your doctor for treatment.
If taken for too long it can slow breathing, and lead to death. A 1978 National Cancer study showed it caused tumors in lab rats and mice, and the National Toxicology Program said “it is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.”

The article I read was from BLOOMBERG: “The Potential Cancer Health Risks Lurking in One Popular OTC Drug,” by Anna Edney May 19, 2025

Thank you for reading my posts – always makes me happy to know you’re “out there.”

XO Donna

One More Thing

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4 minute read


What’s your weather like? We’ve had spring, jumped forward to full-on summer for a few days, then fell back to winter. Now it’s spring again. You’ve just gotta love Texas for its weather.

We have been playing with the idea of planting a veggie garden. And planting a tree. And whether or not to take out a large portion of our back yard and add a simple rock “solution” there, which would mean much less lawn-mowing/weed-eating for my sweetie, while adding visual interest.

I think we both still expect to have tons of energy to accomplish things, but we’re finding that we don’t. We discuss, decide, and then lollygag… and nothing gets done.

I think that the political strife is getting to my sweetie. I’m better at ranting, then letting it go. Every day brings something new to freak out about, if you let it get to you. I’m striving to keep my wits about me. I’m also trying to make arrangements for my son to have a series of MRI’s done.
For those of us with good insurance, it’s simple to schedule these kinds of procedures… for those without, it is a Möbius loop of authorizations, denials, un-returned phone calls, and a scheduling nightmare. I know I will eventually accomplish this for him, but I wonder how someone without an advocate would ever get their needs met.

On the positive side, we’ve developed a strategy for decision-making; we ask if what we think we want to do is “going to be one more thing to take care of.”

That question has put the kibosh on lots of ideas because our summers are overwhelmingly hot and neither of us wants to deal with garden maintenance in that kid of heat. So, we ruled out a veggie garden.
It’s also why, despite many, many convos about getting a pet (I’d love another cat) we don’t get one. We are well aware of everything that being a good pet parent requires, and neither of us is willing to do that again. Especially at an age where our pet could conceivably outlive us.

At this point in my life, I don’t think I could even give a goldfish what it needs!

I’ve got two Purple Fountain Grass plants waiting to go in the ground. And a couple of shrubs that need pruning back because it’s starting to look like the Addams Family mansion around here, and today is a good day, I had 10 hours of sleep last night.

Success! The grasses are in the ground, and two of the three shrubs are scaled back. It would be so much easier to keep everything box shaped, but, of course I want them to be round green balls. I brought my hairdressing skills to this task (I was imagining channeling Edward Scissorhands as I plodded along with my clippers) but overall, it looks great.

When I peruse Pinterest… I always admire the topiary gardens. Plants spaced as evenly as pieces on a chessboard. And a pebble pathway through it all.
Upon moving in, I tore out the old overgrown garden that ran along the back of the house, under the kitchen windows. We tried putting flowers and plants in a wild cottage garden style. We both hated it. The next year I strived for more order, but a plant I grew for the butterflies took over – invasive, leggy, stretching for the sun, and stinky! I’ve been pulling that out this year. I assume most gardeners go through this trial-and-error when they plant gardens for themselves, right?
I know what I don’t like, and I am learning from what has failed so far… at some point I hope I’ll come up with something I love.

Sounds a bit like life; our garden setting parameters and guiding us, showing us (and others) a little something about who we are inside.

I am determined. I will figure this out. I’ve done it before at the house we remodeled. I tore out a hedge of holly with its prickly leaves from around the pool, and planted a tropical garden (in luscious soil that held moisture) unlike this dry, rocky fill our new house is built on. Maybe this needs to be more of a desert garden? Okay, I’m headed back to Pinterest for ideas on Arizona/desert style…

I’ll have some great books to share with you next time, and maybe photos of a finished garden. If you have any favorite plants that you know would work, please share. I’d love your input!

XO Donna