Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
20 minutes equals 20 laps
so – this morning i managed to talk myself into signing up at the ywca again…
… and then i swam 20 laps in the pool. i’m pretty pleased about that at the moment (not that 20 laps in 20 minutes is any great achivement – but it does mean i swam a 1/2 a kilometre on my lunch break which is better than most days).
wishing straighter and stronger
sunning seal on the lamb islets
ever have those times when it seems like a number of people in your life have just gone missing? you know, they say they will call, or email, or come for a visit – and then a month goes by and you haven’t heard from them, two months goes by and you wonder wtf you did to discourage them from coming around anymore.
i have a bunch of people like that in my life lately – a vast silence out there in the ether, compounded by promises of being in touch – making me wonder if the horoscope has just lined up like this or aliens have abducted my friends. strange yes, but upsetting – not really – i’m just curious about that (also recognizing my own tendencies to drop out of touch with people due to work/life events that overtake me).
in any event, life rolls on – signed up again today in a kayaking introduction course (for women only and with rescues) since the one i had planned to take on the weekend was cancelled for lack of enrollment. i’m crossing my fingers for this course in october instead, though the sea will be mighty cold by then for dunking in!
i have been thinking a lot about finding time to work out regularly again – so as to be in better hiking, swimming, kayaking shape by next spring. since breaking my ankle (which put me out of commission for about 10 months), and then moving (the commute has broken into my health time) – i have not taken up any regular physical practice beyond the odd hike or swim. i’m thinking of rejoining the ywca near my work so as tohave pool access at lunchtime, and also signing up for a qi gong class that runs once a week in gibsons. partly this is motivated by a general desire for greater strength, and partly by my secret desire to do the pacific crest in the next few years (seems like a silly, far away dream when i say it outloud). in any case, i have this idea that next summer i would like to do two 100 km (7-day) trips, but i’m not sure where yet. if anyone has some 100 km suggestions in bc, wa or oregon – please let me know. and if anyone wants to come along, i am in need of a hiking partner for at least one of those trips (i suspect one of them will be done with aaron). my friend joe has also invited me to do a kayak up around the bella coola area, so that is another summer possibility if it comes together.
now – to get to work on getting my ankle straighter and the rest of me stronger. that seems like a worthwhile winter project 🙂
things my parents told me.
when i was little, one of the things i wanted to grow up to be was a writer. i used to write poems and stories and bind them into little booklets to give my family. i wanted to grow up to be just like the writers who i loved to read so much.
my dad (who worked for the gov) would tell me that there were lots of writers who worked for the gov, and that’s just what professional writers did. i was pretty sure that wasn’t the kind of writing i ever wanted to do – and i would tell him so. i think to him writing was just writing, there wasn’t really a distinction between creative and bureaucratic endeavours.
while i have to admit my parents were right about many things, i can now say after almost 7 years experience writing for the gov, i was right at least about that.
productive weekend
a hearth for my fire container – 9 very heavy paving stones
i’m lounging about tonight – too tired to do much but read a little and update my blog as i anticipate my early-morning wake-up call for the start of the work week tomorrow. my very productive weekend has involved:
preparing the front garden bed for spring planting – this meant weeding it right down to some of the sorriest soil i have ever seen, purchasing a yard of compost for it, which i then had to spread and turn into the bed, covering it in a layer of newspapers (to keep down the weeds), and finishing it off with landscape cloth. yup – that was some sweaty work – but the goal is to have a plantable bed come march so i can put some perennial-type plants in there for easy maintenance. my next gardening task in a few months time will be working out the edible garden i plan to put in the side plot. purchasing, loading, and then unloading and carying upstairs nine very heavy paving stones to use as a hearth on my deck for the fire container i acquired earlier this summer. you can see it pictured above – simple, but it will do the trick of protecting the deck from sparks. installing a digital thermostat in my living room – again, an earlier purchase that has been waiting for me to action it. despite a little confusion in the wiring, it worked as promised on the box – and now i can program the heat in my home to be ready when i get in from work during the dark winter months. reading two books from my reading challenge list. playing music with some friends from gibsons and roberts creek on saturday night. funny enough, i thought i would only know one person there (richard, who invited me) but it turned out that i knew two of the other musicians from completely different places – proving once again that i do know people on the coast. talking on the phone – catching up with my mother, and also with aaron. doing the regular weekend chores – laundry, groceries, other odds and ends (but unfortunately no cleaning, i was just too wiped out from everything else!)
phew! all this really because i feel that the few weekends i am around the house, i have to make the best use of – next weekend i am off to vancouver island to visit family for the first time in months.
Red Cedar 