Saturday, April 12, 2025

Sort of short stuff!

Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully. Occasionally, I will also publish some of my shorter fiction in this newsletter to read for free.

Daily Diary, Day 1683:

Yesterday went well. I got in my two walks before lunch. I think that it works best for me if I can get the first walk in early as possible, which then leaves time for me to rest a little before doing the second walk around noon, just before lunch.

My impression is that as the day goes on, I start to lose steam physically (whether I’ve done a lot or not) probably just from the effort of living (getting out of a chair, going up and down the stairs, staying upright to stand to cut vegetables or wash dishes, etc.) As a result, on a day like last Thursday, even though I had had a good night’s sleep, done only basic cleaning and one walk, by three in the afternoon, I was tired and the idea of doing second walk wasn’t very attractive. And when I do get up the energy to take that second walk in the late afternoon, I tend to be very slow, not making it as far in my 30 minutes.

Yesterday, however, even though I had done more before lunch (yoga, regular clean, and two walks) when it was time for my second walk before lunch, I was still feeling energetic and walked quickly.

I suspect that my late afternoon and evening fatigue is simply the effect of age, but it is something to take note of, and plan my days accordingly. As a result, since I have an early zoom call this morning, and I have already done 45 minutes of cleaning, and this means I won’t be able to get in two walks in the morning, I think I will try to do the second walk right after lunch and see if doing it a couple of hours earlier I have more energy. (I also just went down the rabbit hole of research to confirm what I thought I had read, which is exercising about 30 minutes after a meal is good for maintenance of my blood sugar.)

On another subject, yesterday, we got the good news as well that the only problem with the car was the small 12 volt battery, and its replacement and new windshield wipers kept the cost below $600. A running joke between my husband and me is that if a car goes into the shop, or a pet to the vets, the initial cost is always $700. Anything less than that and we count our blessings.

We have been trying different shows to watch while eating dinner (having rewatched Big Bang Theoryin that time slot way too many times), but we aren’t coming up with anything that is sticking yet. We tried Cheers, and Frazier, but got tired of them, tried a couple of others whose names escape me, and we are on second episode of Veep, but it is going to have to get better to catch our interest.

We are enjoying Mad About You for the right-before-bed slot, but most of the seasons aren’t available to stream. We are finding it is important to have something light to watch at these times, in order not to stray into conversations that will get us riled up about the newest awful things happening around us, which is not good for the digestive system or a good night’s sleep.

But here is another couple blooms to bring some brightness to your day.

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