Things Out There, Things In Here in Everyday Ramblings

Summer comes in wearing galoshes this year.

It will clear tonight and be dry for at least four days. This last Sunday I went for a walk with Charity south to our beautiful Willamette Park on the river and the mixed-use path and park were full of people! There were more people (and goslings) with various levels of mask usage than I have seen or been around in three months.

I am finally feeling comfortable enough around her to gently tease her and I think she is feeling that way about me too. She was an alcohol and drug counselor for 20 years, right in there, in the mix with folks with a deep array of challenges. She looks at life through the perspective of family dynamics and that is what I was teasing her about.

She retired fully in January and we talked about how we are adjusting to it. She is curious about how I have transitioned to teaching online and it was great to be able to talk about not only the challenges but the sadness at not being able to be in the room with my students.

Last night I had the biggest class I have had in years and it is so hard to sense what is going on with them while I am moving through the material. In person I can tell how effective the relaxation practice is being and modify accordingly but online it is so hard to tell.

One of my students blurted out afterwards last night that I should lead the relaxation practices at the protests. ??? What a cool idea. This is day 20 of protests here. But my response was…but I would have to wear a mask!

Mrs. Sherlock and I are having trouble picking a time to walk or be together with her schedule and the weather. We were supposed to hike today but we are having intermittent heavy squalls. And she is riding her bike a lot to gain strength so I won’t see her for awhile.

This means though that I have a free day. What I call a “Rabbit Hole” day where I can go off on all sorts of tangents.

The cats are adjusting to their temporary new diet. The vet is letting me continue to give Diego the anti-nausea medicine and he hasn’t thrown up in 3 days. He is still scratching and grooming a little too much but I understand it can take weeks for the effects of the immune response to the food allergy to recede.

I have a bunch of high quality online continuing education from my two most favorite yoga teachers and am going to dive into that.

And I have been slowly but surely reconnecting to my neighborhood history project. Today I was trying to figure out if this entertainment or sport called “pedestrianism” came to Portland in the 1880’s when this neighborhood was built up.

It was where men, mostly men, would walk around a track, or from place to place for 6 days at a time, and people would bet on all sorts of things.

These athletes would sleep for maybe a couple of hours and apparently there was an understanding that champagne was helpful during this activity and one of the most famous of these fellows (a bit of a dandy, he wore ruffled shirts and sashes and sometimes a cape) would chew coca leaves as he walked. They had coaches and sponsors.

It reminds me of these ultra-runners doing 100 miles on a treadmill in a spare bedroom during lockdown these days.

Why?

I walked 9.37 miles on Sunday and I assure you, that was plenty.

Reading a book, or listening to podcasts, chatting with a friend, or eating good food (they ate while they walked) or hanging out with a family member sounds much more appealing than walking, oh say, an additional 85 miles.

I am getting lots of birds at the new feeder and the other day there was a handsome male downy woodpecker selecting what fruit and nuts he wanted with his long sturdy beak.

Considering how crazy crazy things are out there, they are good here.

Last updated June 16, 2020