And So It Goes in Everyday Ramblings

This morning: that after Halloween feel in the neighborhood this early November. I took a little walk between rain squalls. Everything is all yellow and overcast out there with an unexpected burst of red now and then. And the purple beauty berries (Callicarpa americana) are coming on. I am always so hungry for color as the trees get barer each day.

I wrote another poem at the beach. I also snuck this one in as the morning poem in my morning class. It is good for my soul to know that I can still write something that I feel is strong enough to share. I don’t have any ambition anymore other than to write pieces I like and that express what I want to express.

All the pressure I felt to get the poems out there when I was younger is gone. Maybe I will Zoom them and put them up on the old YouTube channel I started with Mr. Finch someday, but there are other things to do.

This week I am teaching building energy and I have one more class to go. Because of the getaway and focusing on these techniques I am much less draggy than usual on a Friday. I switched around my personal weightlifting sessions to be on the same days my little weightlifting classes are and that is quite helpful. I can use the class as a warm-up for the heavier loads of Pull Up Club. Next week is the last week of that. Hard to believe.

I am totally hooked on the rings, and I have some good ideas of what to keep working on. I have specific goals that are intermediate. A full unassisted pull up and chin up are still way out there. I have always had weak wrists and fingers and sort of accepted that. Now I have all these tools to keep them flexible and strong.

If you have ever been to a physio or physical therapist, you have probably worked with bands. I have this whole new course on teaching yoga with bands to add resistance and to build strength in preparation for some movements.

This morning my challenge was tying stirrups into the bands. I had to watch a couple of instructional videos twice. But I got it. Always good to challenge the brain as well as the body. It looked so simple. Ha!

Diego had the snuffles for a day when I got home. That happened once before when I went away. He’s fine now. Standing here supervising my typing.

On the mouth breathing front I am practicing wearing the mouth strips for an hour at a time when I am awake. It is fine and good practice if one doesn’t need to talk or drink or eat. I can feel that I am keeping more moisture in and that is lovely. I also got a package of these nostril expanders called “mu:te”. … You can see a short video here

I am also wearing those during the day as well as I am alone most of the time except for the cats and they don’t care. I have a small nose, mouth, and ears. The nose expanders are comfortable, you can’t feel them once you have them placed. And whoa, I noticed a difference in how much air I can take in right away.

This is all stuff I am doing to help with the sound of my voice. The sleep benefits will be a bonus.

Now that I can only plan for next year’s garden, I am thinking about baking again. And I ordered the ingredients for what looks like a yummy autumn sheet pan meal in my Imperfect box that arrives Monday. I am on cookie duty for memorial services at the church, so I need to get my cookie mojo back on line.

The church is going to have its first in person service this time change weekend.

Everybody must be vaccinated and masked and there is a limit of 200 people. It is a big deal. It has been 20 months. We are still around 1,200 cases a day and about 20 deaths. But there is a decline from the peak of well over 2,000 cases a day when Delta slammed into us.

I guess this is it. We need to get used to this being the new normal I got a new box of surgical masks today…

And so it goes.

Last updated November 05, 2021