Shedding It

 One of the unexpected benefits of COVID times is the return to baths. I used to love a nice hot bath, but between work and having two kids (either fighting for the single bathroom or taking them to some extracurricular activity), quick morning showers became the default. Now I have more time in the evenings, so a long soak in the tub has become a welcome evening ritual. It’s like the slow food movement but for personal hygiene.

 On Sunday I rode Fancy alone for the first time in well over a year. My lesson had been cancelled so I decided to go out anyway and see what I could do. Before I broke my arm last summer, Fancy had developed the habit of walking away from the mounting block when I was trying to get on. My coach taught me a way to get on so she wouldn’t do that, but I barely had one chance to try and then couldn’t ride for six months. When I got back to it, I was pretty nervous - the arm and shoulder muscles were still tight and my whole body was off balance. I managed a few lessons, then went on vacation, and then COVID hit. After a mere two lessons, here I was planning to ride in an empty arena. (I did ask someone to come check on me if I wasn’t back in the barn within an hour).  It wasn’t the world’s most brilliant ride, but I was very pleased. We walked, trotted, and even tried a couple of leg yields. The whole time, Fancy was distracted by people talking just outside but she mostly relaxed and did

 As the water gets colder, I tell myself I am channeling my inner eleven year old, gleefully leaping into the chilly water in May. Today I went twice. The first was a swim at our usual spot at Britannia Beach, and the second was at my sister’s cottage. She needed someone to go in to haul out the intake hose for her water pump, and I since I was in anyway I swam across the river and back. I even had my mom on shore, looking on disapprovingly. This picture is from the first swim of the day.a Then I channeled my inner pre-teen girl, riding Fancy with no adult supervision in over a year. It was a short ride, almost all walk with a tiny bit of trot. She did a reasonably good job of relaxing despite the people chatting outside the arena. She even halted on request (she is much more “go” than “whoa”). I’m feeling pretty proud of myself, and also very sleepy. 

 My friend Melanie and I went out for a walk along a walking trail very near her house. It was a perfect place for kids to play adventurous games filled with imagination.   

 1) The fall weed die-off is what you get for not registering for your swim club. I was slow off the mark and didn’t get one of the few spots available in these COVID times, so have been swimming exclusively at the pond or in the river. This was the shoreline today. There were lots of weeds floating in the water as we swam, too. 2) Riding your horse is like playing the oboe. As I do several different sports, I have been learning how instructions apply across discipline, mostly relating to posture, balance, cores strengthe and flexibility. My riding and ballet instructors both talk about keeping my shoulders down and back. My riding and swim instructors work on getting me to stretch ad use my left side as much as my right. Everyone reminds me to use my core, look up/forward, and stretch up out of my pelvis to align my body properly. The newest one was realizing that riding my horse is like playing the oboe. Long slow breaths, with pressure behind them that comes from way down in my bell

 My fiend Beas has a rule about getting stuff done that I find really helpful when I’m struggling to find energy or enthusiasm. Do five things. You define how big or how small those things are, but when you are done, you don’t need to do more because you have met your goal for the day. So what did I do? 1) cleaned up my community garden plot (harvested the beans, collards, kale and kohlrabi, pulled weeds, dismantled the protective fence, covered everything with a thick layer of mushroom compost). 2) made a batch of fennel frond pesto because I got fennel in my CA basket this week and I hate food waste. 3) washed And hung up two weeks worth of laundry, and changed the sheets. The load that was outside is already dry so I’ll fold and put it away shortly. 4) baked bread (my sourdough needed feeding)z 5) cooked up a stir fry for lunches, plus some beets and potatoes for later use.  I also went for a swim this morning, and I will clean up the kitchen shortly.  There is more that needs to be

 I am having a lot of fun with Ontario Culture Days, a three week celebration of all kinds of things. Today was another powwow workout, plus learning a couple of words in Anishnabe and planning to watch a video next week on pre-contact cooking.

It feels like ages since I updated, but I have been keeping busy. Mostly it has been dance-related. I had a couple of extra ballet classes, and this week I also did an Afro-Caribbean class and a powwow workout. Both used different sets of muscles. The Afro-Caribbean involved lots of arm movements and spins, while the powwow workout focused on footwork and jumps. I broke down and bought myself a ballet barre too, because I have gotten tired of trying to use the back of a chair (too low and not long enough when I moved forwards or back). I didn’t get to swim all week but I finally went today. It was cloudy and breezy, but I still managed a little over 800M. This evening, I went for my first riding lesson since March, when everything closed down due to COVID. When barns were allowed to reopen, the priority for riding went to my daughter; I was finally ready to get back at it in September, but tonight was the first time my coach was available. Fancy was a bit of an idiot (there were horses