Zest & Aplomb

Lifestyle

Spring Planning: We’re Down To The Wire

We’re having a perfectly wet winter here in Northern California. There has been enough rain to make activity planning frustrating but a good amount to ensure a beautiful spring and summer. I’m using my rainy downtime to go through thirty years of photos, taking them from overstuffed, dusty bins and loading them up to the cloud.

My daughter suggested getting a fancy scanner, making the actual scanning part easy. So, it’s the organizing that is taking so long. But it’s been unexpectedly fun to take the trip down memory lane! There are some long-forgotten gems in there. And I thought I looked terrible in those photos back in the day—well, I have a much different opinion about that now. It was also fun starting the project with my daughter. She loved seeing her long-lost baby photos.

March 7, 2024 by Cheryl Ryan

Wellness

Loss: An Inevitable Part Of Life

By Cheryl Ryan

This past year, both of my husband’s parents passed away. It didn’t happen overnight, yet somehow we didn’t see it coming. Things changed for my mother-in-law when her hearing loss became more profound. We started speaking more clearly, then louder and finally less. It was frustrating for her, but I’m not sure we fully realized how hard it really was. Communication was her love language, and as much as we needed to hear her, she needed to hear us more.

As my father-in-law’s walking became increasingly unstable, we worked to introduce canes and walkers to keep him upright. He mostly rejected those, enduring many falls, but we all kept moving forward. As the changes mounted, we adjusted. Adjusted our interaction style as they adjusted their ways of staying in the game of life. Throughout all these changes, we instinctively knew they would be leaving us, but we never really knew what that would look like.

February 9, 2024 by Cheryl Ryan

Lifestyle

New Year’s Resolutions…so last decade?

By Cheryl Ryan

I’m a bit behind in making my resolutions this year, but I didn’t make any last year. So, I’m going for late rather than none in 2024.

I’m hearing from millennials that New Year’s Resolution lists are out. Choosing a single word or phrase for the year is in. The reasoning is that setting your intention is less pressure and more achievable than checking off items from a list.

I’ve been making resolution lists for more years than I care to admit, and they’ve worked pretty well for me. I’ve typically checked off three-quarters of my resolutions each year. In fact, I’m not sure I would’ve achieved some of my loftier goals without my list.

January 26, 2024 by Cheryl Ryan

Lifestyle

Fall – My Favorite Time Of Year

By Cheryl Ryan

I love this time of year. I love the changing light. I love the smell of the first rain and the wind as it knocks loose leaves to the ground and carries them dancing down the street.

More than any other season, it signals change to me. It reminds me of the passing of time as children progress to new grade levels. The dying of hydrangeas and garden crops – making way for the new ones next spring. I had to pull sweaters out and store sandals to make room for boots, all in preparation for the cold months ahead.

Because it’s been such a late growing season this year, I am just now picking the last of my tomatoes and using them any way I can. I’m making fresh tomato and summer veggie pasta and tomato and mozzarella salads. It’s the first year I’ve tried to freeze tomatoes for later. We’ll see how that works.

And this year, I finally got a decent apple crop from the tree that I planted a few years ago. Since they all ripen at once, you have to get creative, and I’ve been making this cinnamon forward homemade applesauce and dehydrated apple chips. Both of which are proving quite yummy and if you don’t have an apple tree – there are still some at the farmer’s market.

November 21, 2023 by Cheryl Ryan

Lifestyle

This Summer Was For Reading!

By Cheryl Ryan

It has been a busy summer, starting in May with travels to Spain and Japan. Then came the arrival of two grand babies, a visit to see my Mom in Arizona, and an extended stay in Lake Tahoe. All of this travel has kept me moving more this summer than in the last five combined, which has facilitated some excellent reading!

I’m ready to spend some time at home, start fall planting, get ready for the holidays, and enjoy some cooler temps.

I’ve already got my fall reading lineup ready to go, but I want to share what I’ve read and listened to before moving on.

Here are my reviews:

Since I’m new to audiobooks, I will separate the two into separate categories. Mainly because the experience can be so different depending on the audiobook narrators.

October 2, 2023 by Cheryl Ryan

Relationships

Saying Good-Bye To Theresa Yuan

By Cheryl Ryan

I started seeing posts last week on my Theresa Yuan story. Her friends were writing that she passed away on July 13, 2023, at the age of 89. I’m sad that I won’t see her on the street anymore but so grateful that she allowed me, a stranger riding by on my bike, to interview her.

A few days after seeing the posts, I ran into her son at her home as he was going through her belongings. He said that she didn’t want any memorial or obituary. I told him that people were writing in about her and I asked if I could share her passing so that those that wanted to could share here.

He said, “Of course.” So if you’d like to share about her, please go to her post at the link above and share your memories with her friends and family. The picture I’m posting is the last photo I took of her while she was out for her daily rain-or-shine walk in March.

Her son mentioned that she was a bit of a celebrity around here. And it’s true. Watching her walk with such confidence and determination is what drew me to her and made me stop, and I’m so glad that I did.

July 23, 2023 by Cheryl Ryan

Travel

Next Stop: Madrid To Tokyo

By Cheryl Ryan

I flew directly from Madrid – following my Camino de Santiago hike – to Tokyo. It was a culture shock. Coming from Spain with ancient Roman ruins, expansive fields of grain and plenty of cheese and wine to a pristine, modern city of high rises, airport monorails, sushi bars and rice fields took a minute to adapt to.

The first thing I noticed was how clean and orderly everything was. Not a piece of garbage to be found. Anywhere. And there aren’t even trash cans. All citizens manage their own garbage and collectively agree to a social contract of keeping the country clean for everyone. People don’t carry food around. They eat it where they buy it.

July 21, 2023 by zestandplomb

Travel

Crushed It! Camino Francis: Stage 1

By Cheryl Ryan

I did it. I finished! It exceeded my expectations – it was, honestly, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was hard at times (ok, I wasn’t always crushing it but it sounded good in the title) and strikingly beautiful. I’m feeling especially grateful that I overcame the drumbeat of naysaying voices that took up residence in my head and decided to go anyway.

We went with The Natural Adventure Stage 1 tour. It’s a self-directed tour, meaning that you follow the well-marked path without a guide and when in doubt, ask other hikers. We went off path a couple of times while getting in and out of cities, but were always directed back to the appropriate path, usually by well-meaning Spaniards (often when we didn’t even know we’d gone off trail).

They count your arrival and departure dates as part of the trek, but we were only walking for 7 days. Our estimated mileage came in at about 100 miles. You should add mileage, though, for coming into towns, finding your accommodations, looking for stores or bathrooms, and site seeing in the evening.

June 30, 2023 by Cheryl Ryan

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