The Inherent Dragonfly A journey of discovering hope, change and love within myself.

Western Reserve Greenway Trail, Trumbull County Longtime followers of my blog may remember when I purchased Messy Bessie, an electric bike, in April 2020.  It was 2 blog sites ago.  You can read about my bike journey  here . In a snap shot- I was nervous. I kept trying. I found  success . I had a 2 year set back. Messy Bessie because when I rode it was messy I only rode my bike once for a year and a half from the onset of my set back in March of 2022.  That one time was in July of 2023, I am not exaggerating when I say I was terrified to tears and had a death grip on the handle bars for our 1 mile ride around a lake. Again, my confidence was gone and the stiffness in my shoulder's made even the slightest turn was agonizing. It was uncomfortable, but not painful.  It was not a smooth transition either. Even the slightest turn was a series of jerky movements and received a slow response from the bike.  When I got off the bike that day in Solon, Ohio, I w...

As I sit sipping my chai latte at a local coffee shop, I am reminded that the autumn season is coming. I love where I live with the change of the 4 seasons Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. I guess my attention span is too short to have fewer seasons. I am more excited in greeting a new season, than saddened by saying goodbye to one. My summer has been wonderful, but I have been craving what I call “Soup Season”. The cooler nights wrapped in a blanket with a lit candle and a movie on the television. As my daughter says, it curates a certain vibe. Autumn also presents a long to do list as we pack up our summer into plastic bins and store it away in the shed until next May. My garden harvest winds down as the grapes on my vine ripen. Even with my small garden I still have tomatoes, beans and carrots to can and freeze for future meals and soups. This week I have been reminding myself how to make grape jam with a few missteps, but the outcome looks hopeful. Soon the float pool will be empti...

The second weekend in September brought another camping trip to a new Ohio State Park Campground, Mosquito Lake State Park. Mosquito Lake is one of the largest lake in Ohio at 7,850 acres. We were lucky to book site #45 after a cancellation. As previously stated in past blogs, Ohio State Parks book up 6 months out, but this is the 2nd time we had luck that someone cancelled 2 weeks prior to our stay. We absolutely loved the large campground with over 200 sites and paved roads which are a plus for dog walking and bike riding. Since we were limited in location, we were in close proximity of the playground with a bell for kids to ring once they climbed the gym, though we saw more parents than children banging the bell.  "I guess what a campground needs is more cow bell." my husband bemused. One thing we did note was that with larger sites come people walking through the grounds closer to your trailer than we are used to.  We tried to spread our area wide using the hammock, ...

This summer has been a busy one with all of our travel.  I feel like we are making up for lost time.  I am finally coming out of the health challenge that began 2 1/2 years ago.  I have a new normal and I have finally come to terms with it.   No one knows how much time they have or what the quality of that time will be, but when slapped in the face with that realization, Bruce and I had a big mental shift, well once my brain had calmed down enough to put together thoughts.  We have named it the “Fuck it Bucket.”  If anyone knows me at all, they know that word is deplorable to my ears.  I absolutely detest that Fnnn word.  My hate runs so deep that my daughter had me watch a show on the history of the word thinking it would change my mind.  It honestly gave me a different look at it.  I believe it is the way I hear it used and so often that it is like nails on a chalkboard.  When...

The summer has gone by quickly.  Traveling every two weeks will provide that feeling.  We embarked on our 2nd longest trip the last week in August which we deemed “The Birthday Weekend”.  At a suggestion of our friends, we traveled to Letchworth State Park in Mount Morris, New York.  The drive with the trailer from our home took about 5 hours.  For safety reasons, we don’t drive much above 55 mph with the trailer which always adds time to the GPSs arrival estimation.  We also stop for a stretch break around the 3 hour mark.  The driver, passenger and dog all partake and are appreciative of the break.  The break consists of a 5-10 minute walk and grabbing a drink and a snack from the trailer to fuel us to our stop. The drive was thankfully uneventful though we were surprised that with 2 hours to go our directions took us off the highway and on side roads through many little towns.  The posted speed limit...

Choosing to go camping for an extended weekend twice a month has been a successful experiment for us. Bruce enjoys the long weekend after a long hard week at the Handyman business. Our trip preparations for our camping weekend the second week of August felt a bit rushed though. Campsites start booking up six months prior, especially the full hook up sites. This weekend was a “last minute” decision as I only booked it 2 weeks prior to the trip. Finding a State Park with electric was a challenge. Welcome to our lives Findley State Park Campground near Wellington, Ohio. On the same day we were leaving, our daughter was moving back to Columbus after residing with us for her Master’s Degree internship in Cuyahoga county. Bruce was chomping at the bit to go, but I wanted to regain some semblance of my reclaiming of our lower level of the house. I want to clean and put some items back in place that were moved due to my daughter’s cat's interest in knocking them over. She pulled ...