Presence, Security

My Feet are Finicky

June 22, 2026

Too soon to tell if these will work or not. I’m still hopeful!

I had shoes to return at the DSW store in Roseville last weekend. The shoes I ordered online from there did not fit. Apparently, I am having trouble buying shoes these days. Part of it might be that I hate buying shoes, since nothing seems to feel right in the store. I am afraid my feet are getting finicky as I age. Also, shoes are expensive and manufacturers are rude and sometimes change a shoe’s style, apparently to keep things updated and fresh. But if the old style worked for me and I could buy it sight unseen and be happy, then they decide to change it? All bets are off.

That’s what happened to the sandals I’ve worn the last few summers. I ordered what I thought was the same thing and tried to wear them, but they weren’t comfortable. After looking at them more closely, I noticed they are slightly different from the ones that were great before. There is a spot by the big toe on my right foot that hurts! Some people say I should keep wearing them, that eventually they’ll break in, adjust, and be fine. That has never seemed to work for me, though, which is why I have a few pairs of nearly new shoes that never got comfortable. Hence the need to go to Roseville to return them, look for something else, and try again.

Unfortunately, I don’t only need new sandals—I also need new running shoes. I’ve worn the same style of running shoes for years. I love them! I found a pair online at a shoe liquidator that should work. I wore them around the house one morning and desperately wanted them to be comfortable! But there is a spot on my left ankle that is rubbing the wrong way. I will clomp around the house again soon and hope that it’s a temporary blip. If not, I will have to return them and visit the local running shoe store and try something different. The problem is that new running shoes cost upward of $150. The ones I found at the liquidator were about half that, and though they were not a color I normally would have picked, I don’t care much about that. I basically want comfort and support. I think the local running store will let me buy a pair for $150 and return them if they end up hurting my feet. I know it’s an investment in my health and well-being, and I should do it without angst, especially if I miraculously find something I love. I’ll keep you posted.

In the grand scheme of things, having trouble finding shoes that are comfortable is not a big problem. It is annoying, sure, but not catastrophic. It’s not like getting a scary health diagnosis or losing my job or needing a major car repair. All seems mostly right in my world right now. I have so much to be thankful for!

Except my sandals are old, and what will I wear out in the world today?

For now, my old sandals.

Success

Hedge Parsley and Doing What I Can

May 31, 2026

The dreaded hedge parsley, member of the carrot family. The internet says that its seeds are a good source of protein! Nevertheless, I will not be harvesting them for my morning smoothies.

It rained this week and the temperature dropped enough to set off my car’s tire pressure warning light. Thankfully, I remembered that sometimes a sudden drop in temperature will affect that gauge, which turned out to be the case, since the light went off when the temperature rose again.

It was also a week when I finally had time to venture out to my favorite plant stores: the Peaceful Valley nursery in Grass Valley, the Ace Hardware there, and finally Grocery Outlet. I bought zinnias, a bee balm, cucumbers, eggplants, and different types of tomatoes. I found another six pack of snapdragons and cosmos, two basil plants, and one salvia, a perennial that will hopefully survive if I place rocks around it to guard it against the chickens’ scratching. They don’t mean to tear up my new plants, but somehow they do. Still need to get a zucchini.

Plant buying makes me happy. I even had time on Memorial Day to get a few planted. Except when I wandered  into the yard, shovel in hand, I realized that I could not start planting immediately—because of the weeds! Sure, there are always going to be weeds in my yard, but the ones I hate most are the evil Velcro weeds, otherwise known as hedge parsley. There were so many! Before I could plant, I dragged out a garbage can and basically filled it.

I have been gardening and working my little piece of land for more than a decade. I used to hope that someday I would get to the end of the hedge parsley. Alas. The hedge parsley flourishes. It is a clever plant, part of the carrot family, and loves to cozy up to my California poppies. Sometimes, I accidentally yank out a poppy when I’m aiming for the hedge parsley. I think unkind thoughts when that happens.

Maybe it’s time to accept the fact that weeds and especially hedge parsley will always be with me. It might never be vanquished in my lifetime (I confess that a small part of me is still hoping!), but in the meantime, I do what I can.

Do what you can.

That’s a good motto to adopt for gardening and life in general.

So what can I do? I can pull weeds and fill trash cans with them and also realize that I will find more weeds tomorrow. I can lean into the truth that I am not a failure when I go outside with my shovel and bags of fertilizer and new plants and realize that I have weeding to do before they can even go in the ground. It’s part of the process. Weeds are part of life.

It was a week of weeding and beautiful, cooling rain and time at the plant stores. I got a few plants in the ground and said thank you for the rain that is caring for the ones that are still in their pots. I filled a trash can with weeds. It’s time to turn the sprinklers back on, because the weather is set to warm again, up to the eighties soon. I’m hoping to get the rest of my plants in the ground soon, and I’m grateful that I have at least one more empty trash can to drag along with me, filling it with weeds I discover along my way.  I remember that all I need to do today is what I can do. Somehow, that will be enough.