Back in the Swing in Everyday Ramblings

This is the Halls Hill Lookout & Labyrinth on Bainbridge Island. It is a commissioned art piece that you can walk on and feel the wind and the quiet from the inlet below.

We took the island bus service over there. It was a feat of logistical coordination, but we didn’t have a car and it all worked out well. It didn’t even rain, but we brought an umbrella because Miss E. in her fashionable New York overcoat did not have a hood.

I ended up spending way more time talking and hanging out with my niece rather than Miss E. She spent almost all her time in the kitchen with Mr. B. There was much gourmet cooking going on. We had homemade sushi, the aforementioned dumplings (in reprise from the night before), cucumber salad. The next night it was super yummy grilled salmon sandwiches on a baguette with a scrumptious sauce. We had homemade basil gelato. Yes, you read that right, basil.

In the morning we had a taste extravaganza with three different types of panettone made into French Toast. There were fancy cocktails, one for my niece made with persimmons. Oh, and one can’t forget the chocolate chip cookies made with browned butter and miso.

Everything was so good. The wait times were long though. As this was more art than sustenance.

My niece’s safe place is the upper deck of the ferry and on the way back over to downtown Seattle she talked candidly about her mother (my sister’s) illness and death. My niece’s anger, resentment, guilt, frustration about the doctors, her brother, and the whole awful situation. It was intense. We both cried. I cried on the darn train coming home.

My niece also suffered a long rolling breakup in the last few years with her longest relationship and she has complicated feelings about all that. She is living alone for the first time in her life. It is a lot. She is also experiencing some health inconveniences.

I hope my being there was helpful. It was good to get away.

The cats got lots of attention.

Now I am back, and things are happening.

Before I left, I had my first speech therapy session. It was fascinating and effortful. The speech therapist is also a yoga teacher and we got on well. It turns out, it did not come up in the original evaluation, that I have a vocal tremor.

It is neurological. A lot of the tension in my throat, the hoarseness in my voice is my unconscious effort to manage the tremor. It is like say you have a tremor in your hand, and you compensate by hiding your hand, so others won’t notice. There has not been a lot of research on vocal tremor so we are working on the things I am doing to compensate and then if it becomes more pronounced medication will be considered.

In the meantime, I am driving the cats slightly nuts with my vocal exercises. I didn’t get to work on it much on the trip. I hope to focus on it more in the week to come. The next session is tomorrow.

I did order a wireless microphone after talking to the speech therapist about it. It should be here in the next few days.

Back in the teaching saddle, one of my students in my daily class fell while ice skating with her granddaughter over the holiday and has a concussion. I am brushing up on the brain injury recommendations and protocols. I had a student with one before, so I have a general idea of what to do.

The League budget committee is meeting tomorrow in person as well. It will be a busy day with both things and teaching two classes but that is the returning into the swing-ness manifesting here in the new year.

Oh, and the roofers are back. I am hiding out in the bedroom with the blinds closed until they finish.

Ariel texted me from Joshua Tree this afternoon. I hope she has a good time down there and relaxes.

So far, no sign I picked anything up while away but I am being careful none the less.

Last updated January 07, 2023