Shedding It

It was a bit brisk for a swim this morning but the sky was beautiful. My wrist is sore from the poor ergonomics of my laptop, so I was happy to do just 500m. The water was warmer than the air, which my thermometer showed was only 6C, and there was a stiff breeze so the water was choppy. That makes for a fun workout in the waves. Britannia Beach Looking across to Aylmer from Windsurfer’s Cove. Looking upriver towards Kanada and the ol Nortel headquarters (now DND)

This afternoon I did a video for my medieval group. I was on my own, using my iPad and was having troubles getting the angle right so I piled books up on a chair. I picked a lot of fat hard covers from the shelf of books that I either love or want to give “one last read” before I get rid of them. I needed at least 10 books. As I pulled them out, I realized that most of them had just gotten more use than they had in years. I decided I didn’t even like most of them enough to put them back on the shelf. They were books that I had held onto because they were by “serious” authors, or on “important” topics. They are now in the ever-growing bin of things to give away. I decided to wear my Italian Renaissance dress for the video because I was making lace. That meant I needed to pin up my hair, so I dug out a package of green sewing tape so I could sew up my braids. It’s a brilliant style that stays in place for days; there are lots of Youtube videos showing how to do it, but it’s pretty simp...

Heigh Ho  from the Disney classic Snow White, was a favourite as a child. It's what I sing to myself as I head to the salt mines of my work each day - especially now that I am working in the basement. It's relatively dark, cool, and full of undiscovered treasures. I'm working harder down here, if only because I go up and down the stairs much more often. In the past couple of days, I have done at least 10 flights of stairs each day, and the first day I did around 15. The best part about working in the basement is that I am decluttering like mad. Things that I was able to ignore when I only passed through the area a couple of times a week on the way to the laundry room are now getting examined, put away, or thrown out. It is delightful. And because my basement opens out to the back yard, it’s easy to go outside for short breaks during the day. That, of course, leads to me noticing how many weeds have grown up, so I did a bit of weeding. I hate weeding, but convince myse...

I have been working from home for about nine weeks now, so I finally decided I needed a more ergonomic set-up than an armchair in my living room. Also, I got tired of hearing my daughter complain about the scattered paperwork. A week or so ago she wisely suggested that I should turn our sunroom into my art space since that’s where I stored a lot of my stuff anyway. If I just decided to use it, maybe I would get out of the habit of taking over the dining room table. As a result, over the last few days I brought my sewing machine table up from the little sewing room In the basement that I never use, and took a desk I never use in the sunroom to the basement. My goodness it is amazing what one can overlook when simply passing through a space on the way to the laundry room! As I sit at my computer I am constantly irritated by things I don’t need, Or that are out of place. Every time I need a little break, something else gets tossed, put away, or mended. I have been meaning to tackle the ...

I got some of both done today, but not enough of either. I was so tired when I got up at 4:30 am that it took me an hour of staggering around the house before I got out the door. That meant less time to swim, but it still felt good. Here we are social distancing at the beach. The rest of the day was devoted to gardening. I picked up some plants at a friend’s, then spent several hours weeding and planting in my Mom’s garden. I was glad I had started the day early because by noon it was hot! Then it was home for a rest until the weather cooled, so I could get my own garden tidied and the planters set up. I ran out of soil far too soon, and need to buy more tomorrow, but all my plants (so far) are in the ground.

I swam about 1500m this morning! I got up stupid early and was in the water by 5:30, along with five friends I hadn’t seen in months. We stayed well apart and swam back and forth across the width of a little bay. I could really feel the muscles on my left side working. They have been tight/weak ever since I broke my arm last July. I had only been back to regular swim practice for a couple of months when COVID hit, so full recovery has taken far longer than anticipated. I was really slow and the water was sufficiently cold (14-16 C) that I am still chilled, more than an hour after getting out. Plus I’m ready for a nap when most people aren’t even out of bed yet. It feels great to be back in my element.

The weather is warming up and I miss swimming more than ever. It has been over 2 months since the pools closed. The beaches are slowly reopening but my two favourite spots are still off limits. The Pond is having repair work done to prevent further erosion, and the beaches are still closed in Gatineau Park. Friends have been going to Britannia Beach since Tuesday but I have had early morning calls all week so today was the first time I could go. I was so excited I was awake by 2 am! At 4:30, I got up and into my bathing suit, grabbed my swim bag, and headed out the door. That’s wen I met the crushing disappointment of an empty driveway. My daughter had taken the car overnight and I had completely forgotten. I am now more thankful than ever that I got an on-line Zumba class last night with another swim club. It’s not a swim, but it was hang-out time with swimmers, and there were more upper body moves than usual in a Zumba class. Maybe I’ll take a walk down to the Pond later to check o...

So far, so brilliant. My medieval club has an annual get-together over the May 24 long weekend but I never go because it is too far away. This year, it was all offered via Zoom (and Google Hangouts when Zoom went down yesterday morning). I did classes on everything from sourdough to calligraphy to gardening and making a peplos dress. I participated in two bardic circles (once telling a story I had never written down until yesterday, though it has been in my head since last telling it over a decade ago, and the other time singing a song I haven't sung in even longer). I found out things had moved on-line from a friend who makes sausages, so naturally I needed to make sausages too. That was Saturday morning. On Sunday, I got my sourdough going while participating in the sourdough discussion. That led to bread this morning.   In between, I worked on stitching up a pair of linen socks patterned after finds from 14th C Greenland while listening to classes and other performe...

It has been an unusually busy week interspersed with small disappointments. Plus some horrible stuff and a suprise little visit. Work has gotten even worse than usual, with most days starting well before 7 am and ending around midnight. Last night, I stayed up until midnight to finish reviewing one document and giving my comments so that I could focus on two others. By 7 pm tonight I hadn’t opened those two documents, in favour of about five hours of on-line meetings and calls plus endless emails. So I gave up and decided I needed to move. That led to another of this week’s little disappointments. On Tuesday, I discovered I didn’t have the code for my Zoom ballet class. Tonight, I couldn’t connect with my Zumba class. I had been pumped, and even broke out my new leggings from No-Mi-No-U , an eco-conscious Canadian company (they are beautiful and super comfy). I ended up doing a stretch class from Movement Union, a local fitness studio that has moved to Facebook for the duration...

Somehow, this week got away from me. It was busy, but generally in a good way. I am getting ino a certain rhythm with activities: zumba Thursday, ballet Friday, walks most other days, and sometimes an on-line stretch class. I still don’t love walking, but I enjoyed discovering a new path with my daughter; it had a little house that seemed half buried in the ground and looked perfect for some kind of elves or other fairy creatures. My daughter waits patiently while I stop to identify birds and take pictures of the lake: I didn’t have much time for socializing during the week, but I got to an on-line naalbinding get-together on Saturday night, and I did a two day conference on experimental archaeology. I managed to make myself a new coaster for my bedside table, using a new naalbinding stitch. The rest of the horrible acrylic yarn is going into a bag to give away in the neighborhood. I know people are teaching kids to knit, so I should be able to find it a home. The best part of tod...

I used to love walking. Then I got old. And stiff. And most of my walking was for getting to work, or home in the dark, in the winter when it is bitterly cold and the transit service is even more horrible than normal. COVID is forcing me get over that attitude and start enjoying my walks again. I usually walk with my daughter. Which I think is nice bonding time. She may not agree. Tonight though, she is out so I am enjoying a lovely meander - taking time to notice a dozen different bird calls at the pond, even though I can only identify the robins and red-winged blackbirds. I can hear individual squirrels scrabbling in the trees. I found some ruins that are probably from the same Bank demolition that led to the creation of the McKenzie-King Estate “ruins”. The same park has daffodils, Scilla, as the occasional crocus growing wild. The moon is almost full, and the sunset over the river was glorious.

I had hoped to post every day, but I felt too tired after a busy weekend. It was mostly positive and helped me get settled back into myself, but I still need to do more. More exercise, more sleep, more decluttering, more creative time, more....something. I did a reasonable amount of all of those things this weekend but I still feel unsatisfied. I wore all my swimming Tshirts, and all my swimming socks, but it didn’t help me miss swimming any less. I mentally went through a riding lesson. I practiced the recorder (something I haven’t done in years). I learned a new naalbinding stitch. I have blog posts bouncing around in my head. I’ll try again tomorrow to get some of them out. In the meantime, here’s a picture of Fancy just as she and a buddy were starting to go nuts because a goose landed in their field, or something. Silly girls. Apparently they are going stir crazy with the COVID confinement too.

The last few days have been hard. So hard, in fact, that I couldn’t even write here. But on Friday Mambo was giving me strong hints that I needed to get out of my funk. Here she is in the midst of all my craft things. So today I decided to be totally lazy and just enjoy myself. I stayed in bed until noon, listening to the radio and sewing a new cap for my medieval hobby group. Then I spent the afternoon redacting 16th C Turkish recipes. I also figured out how to use my new meat grinder, which I haven’t tried since it arrived a few weeks ago. I went for a walk with my daughter. Finally, I spent several hours chatting with friends from across the province while fixing the trim on a tunic I wasn’t happy with. All in all, it was a good day.