Hi, welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere. My name is Shelley and I’m a self-proclaimed learning-as-I-go(grow)-blogger-and-photographer from a quaint little town in the Midwest.
I click away on keys of my keyboard early in the mornings while I sip coffee. Or I grab my camera to capture shots of random things I find interesting.
Both activities lead me on adventures to learn more.
Even as a 50-something-baby-of-the-baby-boomers, it IS possible to keep on learning. Learning isn’t just for kids, it’s for all of us who are kids at heart.
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. – Pablo Picasso
I’m learning more about life from my 20-something daughters than I did myself at that age. And about how much I love reviving things that had gone dormant while they (we) were busy growing up. You’ll be surprised by my occasional salty confessions…
I blog about my adventures on most days, as a creative therapeutic escape, but occasionally I take a day or two off. My blog is where I focus on reviving everyday quaintness in my empty-nester life as a Dubious MinimalistTM.
One last thought about me…In case you didn’t notice my profile picture (flashing on the main page of my blog), I dared to let go of the hair coloring routine. 14 years was enough. Yikes, yeah, I did that!
In the process, I revived my authentic and sometimes impatient self. I share both sides of me here with you. I sprinkle in doses of sentimental tears of joy when the empty nest tissue moment calls for it.
I’ve discovered – stuff is just stuff just like hair is just hair.
So, yeah…that’s all for now…I’m so thrilled you stopped by to say Hi. I hope you stick around to visit with me for a while!
PS – Your comments are always welcome here. On a side-sharing kind of note, while I do adore comments, I’m one of those introverts that chose to refrain from receiving and giving Blogging Awards. As a part-time blogger, I’ve had to limit my time here somehow, someway. Don’t let that sway you away, though – I love hearing comments from you! The quirkier the thought the better – please, do share!
Your face delightfully shows your shyness, warmth, mischievousness, strength and. humor. I envy you your daughters. I look forward to reading more.
Aw, thank you, Ellen! Your feedback warms my heart! I appreciate you taking the time to read and share your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you again!
I love this. On this journey with you my friend. Love your genuine and yet humorous outlook on life.
Thank you, Donna! I love to hear it when others are embracing their authentic selves. Your about page is inspiring!!
I love your about page. We have lots in common it seems! I can’t wait to read more of your blog!
Thank you, Gail! We do have lots in common – I’m looking forward to reading more on your blog too!
Never too old to learn something new, Shelley
You’re very wise Woolly. Thank you, too, for stopping by to read my About page and for sharing your insight for this phase in life. I look forward to reading more on your blog!
Hello from the other side of the frozen tundra (Appleton)! Thanks for stopping by and following my blog bag of everything. I enjoy your writing and truly appreciate quirkiness, so will get over here from time to time to see if the snow is deeper on the northwest side of the state. 🙂
Hello Maryj! Thank you, too, for stopping by my quaint little spot on the other side of the state! I appreciate your compliments and look forward to your revisits as well as checking out what you’re doing way over in Appleton! 🙂
I absolutely love how you transform your face from young to younger! Brilliant! And I love your attitude. Perfect combination.
Thank you, Cindi. I absolutely love that you said young to younger – that’s brilliant and comforting and very appreciated! Thank you, too, for stopping by my little world here in cyberspace!
Shelley, you look fabulous! Have a Happy Holiday. And I’m one of your newest subscribers. Here’s to a great 2018!!
Aw, thank you, Cindi! You’re so sweet, I love how your smile makes you sparkle! Happy Holidays to you too, and I’m following you as well. Cheers to 2018, I look forward to seeing what you’re up to!
Nice to get a like from you on my comment Silence. Looking forward to read your blogs and gain more knowledge and experiences about different experiences. 🙂
Thank you, too, for stopping by to read my blog – I look forward to reading yours as well!
Thanks a lot mam. Lot of respect for you 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Always welcome mam 🙂
Thanks a lot mam. Lots of respect you 🙂
Where are you in the Midwest?
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin! Are you in the midwest too?
I am in Saint Joseph MI. Right on Lake Michigan.
Not too far away then! Nice to hear from you!!
This is lovely blog! So nice to meet you Shelley!
Ms. Zen, so wonderful to meet you, too, and THANK YOU, for stopping by Wisconsin to meet me! Hope we connect again in the blogging world!!
We’re not too far from each other. I live just north of Minneapolis, MN. You sound like a fun upbeat person.
You’re right, that’s not that far away! Thanks for the compliment 😉 Stay warm…soon we’ll see an end to this cold weather!
Thanks for following my blog Shelley, please drop by any time.
You’re welcome, will do!!
I just love the sound of you and look forward to reading more of your blogs. Great About Page. Getting older is not so bad – really – it gives you a lot more freedom to do what you want to do and be what you want to be.
Aw, thank you, I appreciate hearing from you, your feedback is heartwarming. I agree, getting older isn’t bad! I’ll be following your blog, too!!
I think I’m a bit ahead of you on the age spectrum but like you learning from my 20-something daughters every day. How did they get to be so wise at such a young age? Certainly not my example!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I wonder the same thing, every day – how did my two get so smart? Maybe they’ve learned from my mistakes or missed dreams? Either way, they’re helping me discover it isn’t too late to embrace quirks and enjoy life!
You’re inspiring me: “Stuff is just stuff”! And I need to get rid of some of what I’ve collected and cherished over the years. Not sure the next generation will be so fond of it all!
Aw, thanks, glad you found inspiration. Stats show the next generation isn’t fond of the stuff from our pasts, but I think they’ll be sorry someday!
I agree. But how much do we save just in case?
Just enough that brings us joy ;-)!
Love your energy and enthusiasm AND your embrace of your grey. I stopped coloring almost 4 years ago and so. do. not. miss. that. costly. chemical. process! And I love all the natural shades that nature gives us. I see that in your natural coloring as well. Kudos for embracing it and I agree, it’s a great way to shake up old habits and find new paths and release the inner curious. Looking forward to reading more. Cheers!
Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and share your thoughts on the going grey and living with the grey journey! I’ll be stopping by to see what you’re up to as well! Cheers to you, too!
..well, some say ‘ life starts after sixty..’ it seems as if there is still another thirty years to the beginning line…
I feel that we are walking in similar shoes. I’m relating to and enjoying your posts (going grey, midlife, empty nest). Thanks for following my blog as well.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, so nice to hear from you! Happy Midlife fun to you!
Oh life gets even better in your 60s, and you will be going full speed ahead through your 70s exploring and experiencing new adventures. Welcome to that little voice and thank you for following my blog:
Thank you, Margo, I appreciate hearing your words of wisdom! Thanks for stopping by to check out my blog, too! xx
Hi Shelly. Loved your picture, you have beautiful, warm, friendly face, and that little voice. My daughter forced me to join WordPress 7/8 years back. I’m 70 now. I am an introvert, didn’t know how to express myself. But slowly catching up. I have made so many friends here.
Hi Indira, thank you for your kind words of encouragement. Thank you for sharing your story of how you got started as well. I appreciate you reaching out to me. You’re right, it is a nice way to make friends.
Sharing and caring 🙂
My aunt decided to go gray sometime in her 40s because she started feeling that the chemicals of the hair dye were penetrating inside her body through the roots of her hair. Weird but that’s what she told us. But she did it for herself and really enjoyed the benefits that she raked in after the decision. One time, she had gone to the temple with huge queues. The priests thought she was a senior citizen and thus let her cut the queue. I know some people who would take such incidences to their heart but she laughed it off every time and enjoyed the perks.
Looking forward to reading your posts. 🙂
Ah, yes, there are unexpected perks like that going gray naturally! So nice she enjoyed it and laughed at it. Thank you for stopping by to read, I enjoy the company!
A fellow Midwesterner … hmmm. I just heard we might have our first flurries, or snow showers the end of this week and I visibly winced. My walking regimen has taken a hit with all this rain this year. I am glad Laurie mentioned your blog Shelley and I’ve discovered someone new.
Thank you for stopping by to say Hi! I’ll be by to check out your blog as well. I hear ya on the walking regimen taking a hit due to the weather. I’m back on my dreadmill to get exercise. I’m getting through my reading list faster though…! Thanks again, I appreciate you stopping by and for sharing your thoughts!
Thanks for following me as well Shelley. I am glad that Laurie mentioned your blog in her recent post. We are having some wicked winds right now – just clocked at 43 mph and going up to 45-50 mph later. I like my morning “walk fix” and the park where I usually walk, Council Point Park, is a mile from my home. So I get two miles in just going to and from the Park and try to do three loops (miles) all Summer/late Spring and early Fall. The rest of the year I just get four miles in daily. On the weekends I try to take longer excursions to other Parks and more picture taking then. I hope you like squirrels … I interact with the squirrels at the Park and they are very cute and make for some fun photos sometimes. I know they are tapping their foot wondering where I am this morning. There are three of us who feed them and I am usually the first one to arrive. Yesterday I only walked in the neighborhood as rain threatened and Sunday I did errands.
That’s awesome that you get that many miles in every day! I love walking and running, and a combination of it to get exercise. I do like squirrels – we don’t have any by us, just the ground squirrels and bunnies – my dog chases the bunnies, and I’m not too fond of them eating my plants, but they are cute. I look forward to seeing more of your adventures. Stay warm today – that wind sounds horrible!
I wish I had a treadmill Shelley but my house is very small and rather cluttered in the basement. I do have an exercise bike down there and try to get on it in the Winter when I can’t walk due to icy or snowy sidewalks and I’m not shoveling. Last year I think I shoveled snow almost every day and shoveled for my neighbor as we had a “deal” (I shovel snow and he cuts and trims my lawn all growing season) and after four years, he reneged on me after I shoveled all his snow all season. Grrrr. We had 62 inches of snow in our Winter but I guess you likely had much more. I think it is great that you can read and use the treadmill – what a great way to keep up with your reading. I know it gets boring just walking on it. I’ve not seen too many bunnies in the Park this year, more in the neighborhood though. I am concerned for the squirrels due to the appearance of Cooper’s Hawks. They started circling around mid-Summer and one time I fed a squirrel and I had just walked away when the hawk swooped down on him. That squirrel ran under a picnic table in the pavilion area and was spared. And, we now have coyotes in the Park so I worry for the squirrels there as well as the walkers. The police shot one of them (there are three – two adults and one pup) and wounded it and were unable to catch it so it is at large. It was walking on my street last Wednesday and people were concerned for their kids on Halloween. It has been an ugly day today and the wind is still humming along. I hope I can get out tomorrow as I miss my morning jaunt.
You have quite the adventure spot to hang out in. So many things going on and to see. I enjoy watching animals in action like you. We’ve had eagles who have attacked the neighbor’s pigeons right on the rooftop over our front door. It was gloomy yesterday here, and today we have snow…so winter has begun. And I’m adding to my book reading list! Thank you for sharing glimpses of your life!
I do try to take it all in Shelley and write about it – today was my first trip back in three days and the squirrels welcomed me … the welcoming committee was there at the parking lot to greet me. They always make me smile. I saw no coyotes, but they still say in the crime forum there are three on the loose in Lincoln Park. Oh no – snow! We still will have a taste of it Friday morning, but minimal in my county (thankfully).
I love how walks and animals provide so much info for blog writing and smile making too! Oh, and photography too – the options are endless :-)! Stay warm and safe – coyotes…yikes!
I had a lot of nice experiences with baby birds in the Spring and seemed like I was always writing about baby robins. One time I watched them in a nest in a homeowners’ garage roof overhang and after they fledged, one of those fledglings came over and sat on the fence by me – I think he recognized I was the one who kept taking pictures documenting how quickly they grew. I took several photos as it balanced unsteadily but it seemed like it was smiling – overjoyed to be out of the crowded nest. They had been standing on the side of the nest when I passed by the few days before they fledged. A few weeks later, I was walking past this same house where the nest had been and a juvenile robin flew over to the garage roof and began singing and just sitting there watching me – I’m sure it was the same robin. People never give credit to animals and birds where credit is due – they are much more intelligent than you’d think!
So fun that you found friendship with a little bird. I agree we don’t give them credit enough. Thank you for sharing your insights!
People may think I am imagining it – but that baby robin clearly knew me Shelley. When he came wobbling along the chain-link fence and posed for the longest time, I was talking to him softly and he was not nervous at all and Mom was not around to watch that bird, nor me. It left me with a warm feeling all day.
Aw, that’s great – your kindness to the little birds is so touching.
Thanks Shelley – as a person with no family, I gravitate toward these little creatures. I lost my own bird, my only pet, almost two years ago, and because I work from home, Buddy was my companion pet. He sat about six feet away from me on the counter top and was a cheerful companion, always singing. He had a stroke and I had him euthanized and decided on that day, December 2, 2016, he was the very last pet to grace this household. It was too hard on me. Now I gravitate to the birds and critters in the Park, but, to tell you the truth, I’d feel badly if something happened to one of them and I witnessed it. That squirrel who follows me around and runs to greet me, runs across the busy street to see me and I cringe every time. I’m a bleeding heart … this is the little baby I found on the ground. https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/07/11/missed-steps-and-a-misstep/
Not a single pet in our lives so far that we’ve lost, hasn’t filled our days with a companionship of sorts and we still miss them. We adore all of three we have now and will miss them when they are gone. I’m torn if we’d get more or not, I do know there are health benefits to humans who care for pets. We’ll decide like you did when the time is right to not have a pet in the house. The birds and critters in the park are lucky you extend your love to them!
I know Shelley – many people have told me to go ahead and get another pet and lavish love on it and let it be a companion pet, but I remain reluctant. In fact, after Sugar my canary died in 2010, I swore up and down no more pets. My neighbor, who gave my mom and I Sugar in 2006 was the biggest proponent of getting another canary after Sugar died (in front of me no less). We had taken care of him while she was on a trip to Arizona to visit her mom who had taken ill shortly after she had bought him and we spoiled him so much he was listless when she came home 3 weeks later – he refused to eat or sing, so she asked if we wanted him. We had sworn off any more birds since our parakeet Joey had died of an esophageal tumor in 1983 and we were distraught. I got Buddy just before Christmas and felt it was too soon, but she pressed me and said “don’t go through the holidays alone” … when I asked her to go with me to the vet to have him euthanized in December 2016, I was grateful but railed at her on the way home for telling me to get another pet and going through this hurt again, even though it was six years later. I apologized later, but I was hurt and angry with her. So now, I can lavish attention and love on the critters in the Park and hope I don’t see or hear of anything happening to them.
Thank you for sharing your story. Reading your words, I too am convinced you’ve found the best path for you and pets – park pets are perfect for you!
Stuff is like stuff as hair is like hair indeed! Honestly, I think that the salt and pepper makes you look younger! Gorgeous the way your color came in
Thank you, Lisa, I appreciate you stopping by to share your thoughts!
Hi Shelley. I’m an empty nester like you, have been for several years, now. I do miss my kids, of course, and having a front row seat to the best show ever, but I’m also loving this time of my life. My husband and I have a lot of fun together and really love watching and parenting our adult kids from afar. It’s bittersweet. Love your musings and look forward to more. Cheers!
Hi Barbara! Thank you for sharing your story and for saying Hi! I’m happy to meet you a fellow empty nester here in the blogosphere. I’ll be checking out your blog too!! Cheers to you!!
You are never too old to try! And right now, today is the best version of yourself so far. Tomorrow will be another masterpiece if you just believe. And thanks for following my blog.
Thank you, Pamela – I appreciate you stopping by to say Hi. I’ve been enjoying Linda’s links to fellow blogger’s sites, and am glad to have found yours as part of the journey!
You write so pensively! So nice to know you!
Thank you, I appreciate your feedback and your follow! Nice to meet you here too!
My pleasure to be able to connect with prowess writers like you!
Aw, thank you! Ditto to you!
Likewise!
Hi, Shelley – I just had a quick look around your site and am already hooked. I will definitely be back!
Aw, thank you! Same to you, I’ll be back to check out your blog too. 🙂
Great to meet you Shelley. “Quirky” is definitely a necessary quality in people, places, and things. 😀 Said by a woman who (in large part) chose her new little city because of a 30 ft. tall pistachio nut. Hugs!
Thank you, Teagan, I appreciate you reaching out to say hi. It’s so nice to meet you, too, as a fellow “quirky” one out here in the wide-wide-blogosphere, I love it when someone raves about their quirkiness, too. That’s an awesome way to choose a home – if you’re gonna go big, go nutty big! 🙂
Greetings Shelley. I scored 4 of 4 on your photography test – so yes, I guess I’m one of those photographers you described. Excellent images and posts. Nice to meet you.
Greetings to you too! Thank you for taking the test, and for sharing your results. I appreciate you stopping by and for sharing your feedback – nice to meet you here in the blogosphere!
Thanks Shelley. I agree. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I can tell you, as a person in her 60s that there’s always going to be plenty to learn. And retirement is AWESOME!
You’re welcome – it’s nice to meet you here! I look forward to those days, I’m taking notes until then!
Beautiful smile!
Thank you!
So glad I stumbled upon your blog. I too am on a similar journey, and have been on a quest to find other women traveling the same road. Love your zest to keep learning and be creative, and your wit. Looking forward to following your site and reading your posts.
Hi Mariann – thank you for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts! Sorry, it took so long to reply – your comment ended up in my spam folder for some odd reason. I appreciate your taking the time to share my journey here in the blogosphere. I look forward to hearing from you again!! Take care, stay safe, and enjoy the journey too!
Nice to meet you! 🙂 I abandoned the hair colouring routine at the age of 57 and never regretted it. After all, “Grey is the New Blonde”. 😉 Looking forward to exploring more of your blog. Cheers from Canada!
Hi Debbie, thank you for stopping by to share your thoughts and for taking the journey to Gray with spirit and joy! Cheers to you up in Canada, I’m glad our paths have crossed. 😍