"Checking In" Time: Highs & Lows, A Serene Cap to a Hectic Week 6/22/13

The Harbor Bay lagoons of Alameda

          How is everyone?

It was great hearing from several readers in the previous posting. Thank you.  This week has been busy, eventful, challenging, but
good. This is the time of the week when I ask for your high and low points for this past week.  Are you ready?  Here are mine:

High Points:

1.  I dealt with people who were not fair towards me. They didn't have boundaries and expected me to operate the same way, allowing vagueness, so that there would be no accountability for their actions. Well, that didn't happen because I have very clear boundaries.

      I was happy asking these people, who were taking advantage of me, what they were going to to make things right.  The arrangement, due to my insistence on fairness, was adequate.  That's much better than nothing. That would have been the result, if I hadn't voiced my need for respect, mutuality and appreciation for what I offer.

      I'm glad I don't accept unacceptable behavior.  Maintaining my integrity and adhering to principles allows me to have a better life, one where my wants and beliefs are respected and valued.  That makes me feel pretty good.

2.  I had varied and phenomenal sessions with clients this week. What a joy it is, my profession.  I am privileged, helping others become who they want to be. Using my gifts is satisfying and rewarding.

3.  I love the strength I feel, when graciously voicing my concerns.  It is rewarding learning how to do this while being kind and considerate at the same time.  Exercising the principles of nonviolent communication is a joy.  I'm thankful for the fulfillment that happens when needs are met by expressing them and making requests, not demands.

Having a A Mini-Vacation
Wrapping Up a Whirlwind Week On Two Wheels

       I'm thrilled to have ended the week cycling with a friend.  For part of it, we rolled through a scenic urban forest edged by a lagoon of three-and-a-half miles.  We took in weeping willows, Japanese-styled wooden bridges, egrets, ducks, people strolling with dogs and couples sitting along the water on solid, well-made wooden benches.

Part of our view today, while cycling. The sounds of
baby birds squawking the the quacking of ducks is
 missing, is all. 

       Within this urban forest in Alameda, there was a slight breeze, still water ornamented by the silhouettes of ducks and other waterfowl. Weeping willows languidly dipped their limbs in the lagoon.  The views of lovely homes backing into the water, with canoes, paddle boats and kayaks attached to their docks provided jigsaw puzzle-like views along the meandering trail.

Stroking Melodic Xylophones With Four Wheels

      One third of the way into the lagoons, we wove among the grey-wooded stores in the back of the Harbor Bay shopping area that edged the shoreline.  The walkways alternated between boardwalk and brick.  Rolling along the loose bricks and boards, they sang out their scales, adding to the delight of our ride.

The promenade, after passing the lagoons. To the
right were the lapping waves  of the San Francisco Bay.

      Doubling back home, after venturing four miles further along the bay, we went out of our way to hear the brick laid and boardwalk pathway sing again, much to our auditory pleasure.  It is such fun---being sensuous----taking in all the pleasures life offers, in its nooks,  crannies, and sidewalks of life, if we but notice and make time to receive its many mini gifts.

      We wrapped up our twelve-and-a-half mile ride watching the sun slip behind the San Francisco skyline, as it dipped into the nether reaches of the Pacific Ocean.

This stock photo does not do justice to the majesty we viewed
tonight. But, it captures the taffy color of the sky.

    The lights of autos from east-bound lanes approaching the Bay Bridge, created two side-by-side jack o'lanterns.  Their bright, white eyes stared at us as we took in the view of The City.  The orangish, yellow sky immediately above it having the appearance of stretched out butterscotch salt-water taffy.

         The fingers of the Sutro Tower

reached through the shroud of fog that lay south of Market Street and the towering buildings of the Embarcadero financial area.

See how the peninsula back there drops into
 the Pacific, like Diamond Head?  That's Sutro
Tower, on the skyline, unshrouded by the fog

        Theresa and I inhaled the serenity of the view and the smell of kelp as we sat along the bank of the San Leandro Bay  estuary, delighting in the majestic darkened backdrop to the city-by-the-bay. The end of the peninsula looking similar to Diamond Head as it abruptly drops at the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge.

        I rode sixteen miles overall for the day.  I feel better, I will sleep better, and had a delightful summer evening.

Low Point
1. I have not been sleeping well.  I have a mental fog and suffer migraines when I don't get enough rest.   In front of my house this past week, Pacific Gas and Electric dug up the street. The sound of jackhammers was startling to hear at 7:30 a.m.  I normally don't get to sleep until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. so it's been tough.
2. I installed the Opera web browser this morning.  I wasn't paying attention but an adware program got attached to my laptop.  Now, ads are being attached, against my will, to this blog. If you encounter them, please let me know. I no longer have control over Internet Explorer. Ads are superimposed on my screen if I use that browser. Ugh.  I had an IT guy at the library help me. He used Adblock to remove this virus from my Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox browsers but couldn't, from IE.  If you have suggestions, please let me know.

        This blog is ad-free.  If you see one, let me know, because it's not coming from me.   I'm not happy with this invasive intrusion of adware programs to the inn.   I am irked that it is invading past posts and overriding my ability to remove them.  That's upsetting.

How About You? 
What were your highs and lows for the past week?  I really enjoy hearing yours.