I was running from 6 a.m. to 5:30 today; I won’t bore people with the list. Among other things, I drove to Saratoga to return a whiteboard I’d purchased for the Mansion that won’t fit in the activities room. I had a dozen places to go today, and I went to each one, one after the other. The day I ended with our assembling a new wood card for bringing firewood into the farmhouse.

There was an awful lot of driving.

My first cart came from L.L. Bean, but they no longer sell them. This one cost $69 and is very well made. We’ll be able to bring in twice as much wood at one time as the other.

The old one lasted 20 years and fell apart. In between, the kitchen and bathroom plumbing got blocked, and we had to dig open the septic covers. The system was clogged. I’m finally home, accessible, and able to blog; it rarely takes me this long. But I did a lot of good for myself and, hopefully, for others.

It’s time to prepare for the next storm coming Saturday. We’re hauling out the generator; we’ve had two blackouts already.

I’m beginning to study and focus on what the shrinks and spiritualists call Deep Breathing, an increasingly popular and respected antidote to anxiety and worry. I am a worrier; I often have trouble resting and being still, and I have experienced a lot of stress in my life.

I’ve found several sites and YouTube videos to help me learn about this new way (for me) of meditation, and I plan to play a video for the residents tomorrow during my Mansion Meditation Class. I’ve been practicing Deep Breathing at the suggestion of my long-time therapist. She is right. It works.

There is a lot of research to suggest that breathing calms the body and the heart. I’m eager to know more about it.

I want to share the experience of Deep Breathing on the blog, but I won’t be sharing specific sites, apps, or programs. I want to escape people correcting my choices or explanations or lecturing me on how Deep Breathing works and how I should do it. And I never feel qualified or inclined to make specific medical suggestions.

We are all different and can all go on YouTube or Google for ourselves. My ideas are no better than yours and often not as good. I have little use for amateur shrinks, doctors, and untrained dog advisers.

I like to learn for myself. I will share the experience as I find it. I plan on doing Deep Breathing Exercises every morning, sometimes at night; Maria will join me if she can.