Red petunias
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: Seeing #Ruby Red

If you were born in July, the ruby is your birthstone. Happy birthday!

The monthly color challenge is ruby red, a deep, rich red like you see in this example image. According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, “seeing red” means to be excited or emotionally stirred up with anger. I’m going with “excited” in this post!

ruby red
Photo by Arif khan on Pexels.com

So far, our road trip has been very exciting! We’ve visited family and friends, visited some new and beloved places, and feel like we are truly retired.

It is my little Aero’s 12th birthday this week. He is feeling his age and has had some spring allergies. He loves our road trips and looked forward to visiting his older brother, Gideon, last week. Now that my grand-dog Gideon crossed the Rainbow Bridge, Aero really misses him.

Aero red frame

Aero might be “seeing red” in this image as the threat of his old kennel looms.

Aero doesn't like his kennel
I’m not going in there, Mom!

As we continue our road trip this week, we will work our way back through California, then on to Lake Tahoe/Reno area to celebrate my dad’s 86th birthday!

Dad with New Bag
Happy birthday to Dad later this week!

Newest Florals and Outdoor Decor

In early May, we updated our patio with new red seat cushions and added some potted florals.

We bought four potted floral arrangements from our local nursery down the street from us. Even I can’t kill the petunias, but the coleus grouping took a hit in early May when we had several nights below freezing! All four pots and the hydrangeas were hurriedly placed in the shed overnight for several days.

Red petunias
petunias
coleus conglomeration
Ruby Red Petunia View
Ruby Red Petunia View of Backyard

Ruby Red Florals

Some of my favorite florals are in the ruby-red range of colors.

Red Maple Square
Red Maple
Raindrops sit atop an American Beauty rose bud
American Beauty Rose
Deck Garden
Ruby red Ecchinacia

What Else is Ruby Red?

Although ruby red is not a color I wear, I am drawn to its richness in choices like cars, birds, and windsurf sails.

Ford Flex
Christmas Decor
Black and white image of woodpecker with red head
Red-Sail
Windsurfers at Sherman Island, Sacramento delta
Red Topped boats
Red Topped boats in San Diego Harbor

Seeing Red When Trying To Stay Fit

Is getting and staying fit a challenge for you? What is fitness anyway? Read more about this on Always Write.

“If you don’t make time for exercise, you’ll probably have to make time for illness.”
-Robin Sharma

Getting hydrated
Me and My Dark Red Water Bottle

As this silly photo of me suggests, it is easy to see red when you are enjoying outdoor activities in the heat. We visited Marsha and her husband as part of our road trip to the Prescott and Scottsdale areas in Arizona last week. Talk about summer heat! There wasn’t enough sunscreen in the world to keep our skin from reddening.

Enjoying activities like paddling and water sports on a lake in Arizona in July might seem like cruel and unusual punishment. We all wanted to go SUP/kayaking at Watson Lake near Marsha’s home–and of course, I had brought my two inflatable SUPs with us on our trip. If you like paddle sports, is inflating your own board a deterrent to getting out there and enjoying the activity? Does it make you see red?

Inflating a paddle board
Marsha getting pumped for paddling
Inflating SUP
Hans wants to pump you up!
Notice the ruby red in both images?

Once my mind is made up to get on the water, I go for it. Aside from the actual paddling, pumping up the paddle board is also a great warm-up fitness exercise. It only takes me about 12 minutes to inflate it to 15psi.

To help you to avoid seeing red, try some of these tricks to minimize potential barriers to fitness activities:

  • Arrange to go with friends. It’s much easier to go through with the activity when others are also motivated to do it with you.
  • Plan ahead when parking and expect to lug your gear to the activity site. We could drive the truck up to the launch and unload all the beach paraphernalia.
  • On hot days, conduct your activity earlier in the morning if possible. Not only is the air a bit cooler, but there are also fewer people out early. A bonus was finding the last shady spot!
  • Accept help when offered. I typically paddle alone so I know exactly how to set up and inflate my board. We needed to inflate two boards manually, so I demonstrated how to attach the pumps and got Marsha and Hans started. Vince helped with the last of the pumping as the board got to 10 psi when it’s very hard to pump!
  • Be prepared to make accommodations and adjustments to your activity. Marsha wanted to learn to SUP. She had kayaked before and felt comfortable in the water. Knowing that wind could be a barrier to standing on the board, I had brought kayak oars in case we needed to “sit-down” paddle. There was plenty of wind and a little chop on the lake so we decided it was better to sit or kneel on the boards. I suggested a couple tricks to handle the paddle for steering. She took to it very quickly!
Paddling in sit-down position
Marsha and I came into the launch, sitting and kneeling. Marsha’s life jacket is ruby red!

Did I lose anything by working with Marsha to accommodate her while safely teaching her on the SUP? Nope. We had such a marvelous time playing, that we forgot we were working on our fitness! In fact, shortly after, the wind died down slightly and Hans and I both went back out, this time standing on the SUPs and we got a great workout.

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”
-Jim Rohn

Inspirational Photo Challenges

I enjoy joining other blog challenges to tie into my weekly theme.

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

Sunday Stills weekly challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Thank you to everyone who read, commented, and linked back to Sunday Stills last week to share their beautiful beaches!

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

There is no Sunday Stills challenge on July 17, as once again, we are heading back on the road to camping in the RV. I am really looking forward to spending time with my dad and enjoying the Lake Tahoe area again.

Are YOU on the road this summer or traveling? Please join me on July 24th as we explore the theme of “Road Trippin.” I’m including my blogger meet-ups and more in that post!

Have a wonderful and safe week!

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128 comments

    • Thank you, Graham! I farmed out the potted flowers to my neighbor who is watering them all for me while we’re gone. Spokane isn’t having last year’s blazing hot temps so far, and we look forward to getting back to longer daylight hours and cool nights. Another week and a half before home!

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  10. Great timing to staying fit message…I’m feeling a little lagging in that area. All your photos show off such a variety of the reds in your life and especially like those deep reds. My Cooper is showing his age like Brody. He’s over 13 now. Hope the trip towards Tahoe gets you some elevation and cooler temps, nothing like that AZ heat to sap the energy out of us when we’re there.

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  11. I (red heart) loved our visit, time on the lake, walking around town, blogger meet-up, and playing with the doggies – especially Aero since he was able to sit on my lap. Of course, I’ve already written about them. BTW, I really did miss last week’s Sunday Stills as far as creating a post that linked to it. I hope you’ll forgive me. I had guests! And beaches are my favorite places. I just don’t think too well at 2:00 am when I’m racing to finish my post before it goes live unfinished. 🙂 Your reds are gorgeous. I just went through the last few months and tagged all my red photos, so I’ll have time to create a post after church. Your flowers are exquisite and you did an amazing job tying the whole thing to fitness. Love the fat gal near the trash can picture. 🙂 I know that gal would never be able to inflate a paddle board to 15psi in 15 minutes – or 30 or an hour. But three or four minutes right at the beginning – no problem. 🙂 Have a great rest of your trip. I think you should come our way again on your trip back. There must be another way across those silly mountains.

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  17. You and Marsha do such similar posts (in length and arrangement) that I thought for a moment I’d gone to her post rather than yours. 😳. I love your reds. I’d like to try kayaking sometime and maybe even paddle boarding. Mot much water around me right now though. Soon I’ll be hiking and riding horseback in Wyoming, although riding is certainly more work for the horse than for me. 😉. Right now I walk very early in the morphed it’s”cool”, lift weights, do a bit of yoga, and use my rebounder while watching rugby or the Tour de France.

    Your trip sounds like lots of fun. Enjoy and be safe.

    janet

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    • Must be the educators in us, Janet, lol! I didn’t intend to write as much but fitness inspiration struck. I mostly post once a week so it was more chatty than usual. Horseback riding in Wyoming sounds amazing. I owned a horse when I was a kid and took years of riding lessons. Other than hot temps, our trip is quite fun. So great to meet you the other day. Take care!

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  21. Lovely to read this and know we BOTH have red cars! And I am off down the motorway from our place to visit Dad too…he’s 98.5 years old today..lol. He is doing OK..but life is tough with loss of some mobility and vision. Your weather is doing the heat extreme thing while in our part of Australia, its been cold and FLOODING rains for the 4th time in less than a year. Great to see you and Marsha on the water…My post: (thanks for commenting!) https://www.denysewhelan.com.au/denyse-blogs/whats-ruby-red-sunday-stills-colour-challenge-july-45-2022/

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  22. Ruby red is a happy color for sure, Terri! I have quite a few inside and outside of y house. Many flowers are in ruby red. It looks like you got that red car as a present. Good to know your road trip is enjoyable. Happy birthday to your 86 year old dad!

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      • I know, I bought the last two cars as gifts to myself. Yeah, I look forward to getting together, Terri. Guess what, my husband and I will stop by Seattle for one day on August 21, on our way back from Victoria, then fly home from Seattle on 8/22. It was too rush to come from Victoria to Seattle to CA on one day. Backtrack – we’re going to Portland on 8/11 then Victoria.

        Liked by 1 person

  26. Hi Terri
    You petunia with view of the yard is my fav photo today!
    Love the rock and flower Together and Angle
    🌺🌺🌺
    Also enjoyed getting about the SUP adventure with Marsha and the exercise tidbits 😉
    —

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  32. Wishing your dad and Aero Happy Birthday! Coincidentally, my dad’s birthday is in a few days from now too. I love the dew and/or raindrops on the flowers and maple leaves. Maple leaves are also my favorite (ruby) red florals.

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  33. Lovely selection of ruby reds. Looks like you are having a great road trip! I have never tried SUP, it looks like hard work and tranquility at the same time 🙂 Qouting an article I read some time ago – “The best workout is the one that actually gets done” 🙂

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  36. It’s my husband’s birthday in July. Tomorrow, in fact! I’d never thought of him in terms of ruby red. Perhaps I should! Have a fantastic trip, Terri! Lovely to spend time with your folks.

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  40. Love you red collection Terri, the flowers especially. I didn’t know the Woodpeckers head was that red….amazing 🙂
    PS Add me to the July birthday list as well. Not quite 86 yet. Happy birthday Terri’s Dad 🎂

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  46. Terri,
    I want to learn SUP-ing. Looks like so much fun. This theme was easy for me. My truck’s name is Ruby and the picture below was taken at Lost Dutchman SP in AZ.
    Your reds are fabulous. Glad you’re having a great trip. travel safely. Joe

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    • Thanks, Debbie, Marsha and I really had a great time, as well as meeting 3 other bloggers (which I will share about in 2 weeks). It is so easy to finally feel retired. I always appreciate your SS posts, they are always so fun and refreshing!

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  51. How lovely to see that you met up with Marsha, Terri. You guys look like you had lots of fun, and I bet there was never a dull moment when talking about blogging. Seeing the parts of the blogging community meeting up in person is lovely. It’d never have happened if it had not been for blogging.

    Ruby red reminds me of Dorothy’s slippers in the Wizard of Oz. But I can’t find a pair – anywhere. Maybe they are still in Kanas?

    Here’s my entry for the challenge. I hope it makes your mouth water.

    Enjoy the rest of your trip and your father’s birthday celebrations.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks so much, Hugh! Love the idea of Dorothy’s Ruby slippers! But your breakfast looks healthy and delish. We indeed had such a wonderful time with Marsha, Hans and Vince get along great and they are so hospital and now such good friends. We’re driving back to the Sacramento delta today and will use the RV for the rest of the trip. Thanks for commenting, now I can go read your post from my phone 😁

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  61. I love the color red, Teri, though I agree that “seeing red” isn’t such a great feeling, nor is sunburn! Love the flowers and splashes of red everywhere, especially in the sunshine. Glad to hear that you’re enjoying your road trip. 🙂

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  68. I hope your roadtrip is absolutely amazing! We are going on a little roadtrip ourselves, by bus, next week. The floral arrangements are wonderful. I remember you talking about that lovely nursery down the road in a previous post. How exciting to have a nursery so close. If you lived closer I would have gifted you some more coleus, I have an abundance. Enjoy your weekend!

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