Deliveries in Everyday Ramblings

We are having this little break in the bad weather, and we had some sun today, distant but blue skies. Mrs. Sherlock forgot Frieda’s harness, so she came over here and got me and we stopped back at her place, got the harness, and walked in her neck of the woods. Frieda had a new haircut and was all fluffy and sweet.

This shot is from a couple of days ago in my more plebian neighborhood. I haven’t seen Mrs. Sherlock in person in about three weeks so it was great to catch up. Her husband threw the homemade dogfood she had made for Frieda in the compost heap yesterday. It was a frustrating accident.

Wednesday, Kes and Most Honorable came up to drop off presents (which, really the vacuum cleaner was plenty), and cookies and to hang out with the cats. Diego is driving me slightly batty with his insistence on being on me… all the time. He got lap time with them and that was a lovely break. Seeing real live people in the same room! Radical concept these days.

I am teaching the last two classes of the year today and then I have this luxurious nine-day break where the only body I need to focus on is my own. Does that sound selfish?

I usually spend a lot of time thinking about shoulders and hips and hamstrings and knees in general. And today, the arms, because Mrs. Sherlock may or may not go on a snow shoeing trip the 2nd week of January and we are trying to beef up her arm strength for the poles.

With Omicron the event leaders are thinking about making the trekkers eat all their meals outside. It is a whole cascade of tradeoffs to get the companionship and the experience of being in the woods in the snow and staying safe.

Although a couple of years ago I was all gung-ho about learning how to snowshoe, this year, not so much. Certainly, it would be hard wearing a mask. The pouch N95s are so much better though, and I can wear my glasses with them!

A few days ago, I was able to wear my glasses comfortably at the store for the first time in a year and a half with the duck beak like looking pouch mask.

I was teaching on Monday evening and a very insistent delivery guy kept ringing the doorbell and then calling me and I finally decided I had to tell the class to relax and breathe while I answered the darn door. I was recording the class and in the recording it all happens fast and is kind of low key but inside I was all, what am I going to do, what am I going to do? Eek.

He had the big bag of masks I had ordered the day before. One of my major goals of 2020 was to find American sourced masks that I could wear with my glasses, and these are them.

We are so privileged here, those of us with resources. The band on my Fitbit broke on Tuesday. I ordered a new one online and in a forest green I love, and it was here Wednesday.

On Monday before class I listened to this insightful interview between the Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg and bell hooks that was recorded in 2017. They had both written books about love and that is what the interview was about.

I have been using that discussion as a jumping off point in my classes this week for reflection and relaxation and it has been a rich topic here as we sneak up on Christmas and the time of giving and receiving.

Many of us have received care in our lives, but love, from family and friends, that is more rare. Compassionate, non-judgmental, whole-hearted love…

I wish that for you all now. Consider a little parcel of it on its way in appreciation from these here parts heading directly to you the rest of this challenging year.

And thanks too, for reading, for noting when so inclined and mostly just being here and expressing yourself, perfectly as you are.

Last updated December 24, 2021