Working On It in Everyday Ramblings

I have only been to Hawaii once. It was lovely, the Big Island. At sunset every night near our resort area someone would blast classical music. I kind of felt like this one from Saturday night on the Oregon Coast deserved that treatment. After our first day there the weather the whole time away was crystal clear and gorgeous.

We did not see the Aurora Borealis though. I was out on the beach early under a huge dome of stars. The Milky Way was clearly visible, but the waxing crescent moon was bright like the blade of a freshly sharpened sword bright.

It was the luck of the draw that the weather was so fine. We book these days way in advance.

There is something I forgot about going away because it is so rare these last few years. One works so hard to get everything cleaned and packed and food bought, and all the right parties notified and then you go and relax. Then you come home to a clean place with happy (but clingy) cats and you don’t-want-to-do-a-darn-thing!

Granted, it is dark and wet today after a big wind and weather shift overnight.

I taught this morning and will teach this evening. I wrote 750 Words and got the regulation amount of cardio. What I did not do was go to the grocery or do the Pull Up Club weekly recorded practice.

For the last three weeks of Pull Up Club I am going to do the exercises from the recorded practice. I am getting to the point where there are things the instructors are doing at 35 years old that I cannot. I am building strength, I felt it in the ease of carrying stuff to and from the car for the trip. But I am coming from a baseline in a 30 plus year older body.

So, I am going to switch things around and I will do weights all on one day twice a week. That will give me more time to recover. I have some new heavier weights coming midweek. I need to lift over twice as much as I am now, to do a pullup.

While away and relaxed I ordered the weights, a new waterproof jacket, tickets to our local Audubon Wild Arts Festival (Christmas ideas) and a continuing education program on using TheraBand’s in yoga poses to build strength.

Funny how it seems easier to spend money when one is relaxed.

The novelty of taking classes online has worn off and I am losing some students. It looks like I am going to make financially what I did in 2019 teaching this year. Last year there was a bump because I added students from out of the area. It is okay. The goal is to make enough to cover my expenses and the supplemental medical insurance we all need to function as a Medicare patient.

I hope Joe Manchin needs eyeglasses, dental care, and hearing aids when he retires from the Senate. All things he is making sure are not covered on his watch. He is plenty rich enough to afford to pay full freight for these things but still…it is the thought that counts. :) He probably thinks paying $6,000 for hearing aids is reasonable because that is what the manufactures tell him.

A little while ago I paid for my garden plot for next year. That is a go. At $20 for the year (and six hours of community garden service), I can afford that.

There is a gray squirrel rooting around in the maple leaves under the rhododendrons outside my bedroom looking for a stashed snack. He has the cats’ full attention.

The leaves are almost all on the ground. It is looking a fair bit like the dark days of winter out there, about now. Even though it officially doesn’t start for 7 weeks here. The trick is to find a way to keep one’s spirits up in the meantime.

I’ll work on that, shall I? And report back.