Giving up on goddess hair

My retirement hair is one length, no color, long enough for a ponytail or bun. Cheap and easy, like my men.

Just kidding. Dale is anything but easy. Although I will hand it to him … he might qualify for cheap. Dale doesn’t spend much money. His big trip out is the grocery store, where he goes wild. He is a good but obsessive shopper. I think it’s his military background in logistics.

the great feta cheese crisis

For a few weeks, it seemed there was no decent Feta cheese anywhere to be found. We tried multiple stores, among them Whole Foods, and we wasted money on several different brands, including some sort of cult Feta from Berkeley. It was the worst!

Even one of the Greek brands sucked. It turns out we like Bulgarian or Israeli Feta. In brine, in chunks, not pre-crumbled. Such snobs! Now Dale cruises the cheese aisle every time we go to the store to ensure as God is his witness, WE NEVER RUN OUT OF CHEESE AGAIN.

The cut

I get my hair trimmed about three times a year. This week, I asked her to take off more length. My hair is fine, and the ends were getting scraggly. All that to say it needed to be done, it still looks kind of cute under a hat, I can still pull it back or up, and I know it looks good … but … I wish I had my hair back.

So, yes, I must accept I don’t have goddess hair. Seriously, I knew that a long time ago, but hope springs eternal. I will probably let it grow back just a bit, as I almost always let my hair air dry, and I believe it falls better and looks less frizzy with a little more length.   

My other option is to go short, which I’m not opposed to, but I hate the idea of spending more money and more time in the salon. I may end up there, but we shall see. To me, mid-length hair is easier all around.

Swimmer’s hair

While I was at the salon, we talked about swimming. That’s one of the reasons I had so much cut off – the pool is killing my hair. I bought some anti-chlorine shampoo, which was OK but left my hair like straw. My neighbor swims, and her hair is gorgeous. But then she is one of the goddess people. She uses Aveda Sun Care, which I bought and like much better than the other stuff.

My stylist said the anti-chlorine shampoos are good, but they strip your hair of moisture. I would need a moisturizing masque. Whereupon she escorted me to the product rack. She said this one will last you forever. I said, “That’s code for it’s expensive.”

She laughed. I really like her, and she did exactly what needed to be done to my hair. I can still mourn the goddess, right? Anyway, I only use a dime-sized amount of the conditioning masque, so I believe she is right about it lasting forever. It should. The jar was $63.

To be fair, it’s a fancy jar. Pretty enough for my ashes, since it now seems likely we’ll both be here for the end. On the bright side, it fixed my problems with swimmer’s hair.

playing outside in the heat

We’re having a hot spell, and the women’s club championship started this week at the golf course where I play. I had all my sun gear and walked with my pullcart and my UV sun umbrella, even though it was supposed to be 104 degrees. I had an 8:30 a.m. tee time, so I figured I’d be spared the worst of it.

It was toasty out there, but I felt fine. Drank a lot of water along with my electrolyte beverage. I also took a spray bottle and sprayed myself down every few holes. What a difference that made! It’s like personal air conditioning.

For the record, I have no possible chance of winning. I’m pretty much a bogey golfer with a handicap of 18. I’m just playing for the experience. My goal is to not be DFL – dead fucking last. I shot an 88, which is not my best but certainly acceptable by my standards. We have to play two more times for the championship, so hopefully I’ll keep the streak going.

It’s funny how golf giveth and taketh away. I had a lesson on how to get out of the sand. The good news is that it worked. It’s a great shot to know, and it’s useful elsewhere on the course. The bad news is it aggravated my old wrist injury. I’m taking a couple of days off from golf and wearing a wrist brace. That usually fixes things.

An outing!

Dale and I are actually going on an outing today. We haven’t camped or traveled since he hurt his back earlier in the summer. He’s coming around, but we are still taking things easy.

Today’s outing is a trip to the Folsom History Museum, where there is an exhibit on the Chinese legacy in Folsom. It’s just one town over from where we live. This entire region is so rich with history. Even driving up 80 toward Reno, I get excited when I see signs for the Donner Pass.

I especially love all the Gold Rush stories. I’ve read about the Chinese in California during that period, and I want to learn more. While I’ve always assumed my strength is journalism and personal essays, I am tinkering with the idea of writing some sort of historical fiction.

When it comes to motivation, I often think of the movie, Cross Creek with Mary Steenburgen. The movie is based on the life of Marjorie Kinnen Rawlings, who wrote The Yearling.

She was basically a talented but unsuccessful writer who didn’t find her niche until she was inspired by the rural people she got to know after moving to an orange grove in Florida. Once she found out what she was supposed to write about all along, everything fell into place.

All that to say, you never know what will inspire you to try new things or achieve something you never thought you could do. That’s why I keep looking.