Growth and Change, the Constants in Everyday Ramblings

Just in case you might be under the misapprehension that Portland is an idyllic garden oasis…

I mean it is, but it is also growing fast, as these workers this morning, Saturday morning, prove. I took this picture as I was walking to the gym.

Look at that blue sky! Today you can even see our local volcano, Mt. Hood fairly clearly. After our somewhat schizophrenic hike around the Hoyt Arboretum with Frida we came out on upper Burnside and the view was fantastic.

We were trying to come up with a hike for Mrs. Sherlock to take her “Primetime Ramblers” on in a few weeks. It can only be 4 miles and needs to be shaded and relatively flat and have restrooms at the beginning and the end.

We stopped to admire the oaks, firs, redwoods, larch and redwoods along the way. And talked as we haven’t seen each other in a couple of weeks. We let Frida run around like a crazy dog in this beautiful sunlit open meadow.

The rose garden was absolutely packed as was the Japanese garden, which has been remodeled and now has a big fountain at the bottom. You have to pay for parking up there now. I used to go up there with Mr. Finch once a week in spring and summer and we would just zip into a parking space and go our merry way.

Not so now with population growth and pressures.

We still don’t actually have a manager at work and it is getting weird there. Our end of fiscal year issues are being bumped up to the team that was kind of sort of peripherally involved when the problematic manager was trying to kill my project. The vibe is friendlier but clueless and troubling.

With Mrs. Sherlock away for her hiking retreat in Eastern Oregon and Kes and Most Honorable dealing with an annoying and badly handled water crisis in their area it has become apparent to me that I need more people in my life I can just call up and say, hey, you want to have a tea or go for a walk and talk?

My interim solution? Yeah, you guessed it…emotional eating. Bleh.

I am trying to get some things in place so I don’t eat my way into a larger size than I already am as I get through the next two years ‘til retirement.

This current trend is not encouraging.

I did do a full workout at the gym today, including a 20-minute run/walk on the treadmill in front of a giant fan. And I am seeing my doctor on Monday to get a referral to talk to a sports physician. She is just back from maternity leave. This is such a privileged problem I am presenting with so much suffering out there.

And Tuesday we are going to Seattle for Miss E.’s (my great-niece) high school graduation. It will be the first time we have all been together since my oldest sister died and it is such a happy occasion.

Kes and Most Honorable are staying an extra day but I am coming home on the train so I can teach my class.

It is a sad fact that I am looking forward to having the short time off work, as I am anything else. I have yoga business stuff to attend to and I am looking forward to doing that on the train. It is amazing how much time all the logistics and finances and reporting are involved in a side hustle when one is working a full time job.

I am so not complaining. If it wasn’t for my yoga teaching I would probably weigh 25 lbs. more and be on anti-depressants. My job is just plain weird. Or at least the people involved. I do enjoy teaching my class there with some of the same people, so it is the situation, the circumstances I think that brings out the worst in all of us.

Last week I taught about the pelvic floor. (Did you know that 38% of American women report some incontinence? 17% of men.) This week I am teaching about the sacroiliac joints for perfectly selfish reasons…as I have arthritis in mine I want to feel better when I can.

Diego is curled up in a little ball next to my hip with his paw over his nose as I type this. He is getting a cool new piece of cat furniture for my upcoming birthday.

We can’t wait.

Last updated June 03, 2018