Or Maybe Not in Everyday Ramblings

Camas. In the water gardens down in the South Waterfront area. What surprised me as I walked by was that I knew what they were. They are native here, but I don’t see them that often. I was going to the dentist when I saw them. I took the picture on the way back.

I have three weeks now before I start the big procedures for the next implant. I was happy to find out my bridge is fine and the sensation I was experiencing was in the area that is going to be worked on. The nerve is dead, so I feel sensation, not quite all rightness, but not pain. I was hugely relieved about the bridge being okay.

Having been through this all before I know it won’t be pleasant, but I will get through it fine.

We are finally having a clear sunny day after endless gloom and rain. It is so good for the soul. It looks like the weather is good in Portugal too. One of my students texted me pictures of a few meals they were enjoying al fresco over the last few days.

My nephew got Covid last week. He’s been very good about protection, over the duration of the pandemic, vaxxed and masked but working throughout. He says he is still a little weak. Critical staff at school with Most Honorable got it this week too. Our case counts are way up. It is just raging through the state.

If you enjoyed reading or watching “Station Eleven” and possibly “Cloud Atlas” you will enjoy “The Sea of Tranquility”. I liked it a lot. There was a moment, about two thirds through, where I thought it sagged a bit, but she pulls it out and brings the story into a satisfying ending. It isn’t a long book. The audiobook has multiple readers for the different characters and POV.

This week in my classes I worked on grip strength. It is amazing what you can do with a dish towel. I sent an email out to my regulars this week asking them to have one on hand for class. Most Honorable showed up with one from the botanical garden in Tasmania. We had fun ribbing him about it. We all had basic dish towels from regular rotation in the kitchen. Last weekend I had ordered this series of graduated exercise aids called CanDo Flex Bars. Physical Therapists use them a lot, for things like Carpal Tunnel and Tennis Elbow.

They came yesterday. I have always known I had relatively weak wrists and wasn’t good at volleyball or baseball at all. But even after a week of teaching strengthening exercises I still had to start on the lowest level Flex Bar. Besides making it easier to turn knobs and open things, the stronger the grip, the easier pullups are as well as lifting heavier weights.

Congratulations to those of you in Australia for the change in government.

We had a primary last week. No big upsets. We now have three women running for Governor. The two candidates from the major parties basically hate each other. It is going to be a long contentious race until November.

The murder trial I was selected as a preliminary juror for is still going on. I am so grateful I wasn’t chosen. They had to stop twice for Covid and there was a motion about a former cellmate testifying against the defendant. It sounds like a mess, a high profile one.

Tomorrow I am going to take some of my tomato seedling down to the plot and get them in. They are probably too leggy to survive, but it is all learn by doing this year. I was able to harvest and eat a little spinach and chard last week. And I have started a bunch more seeds with the new grow lights. There is always hope, and the mesh cold frame will help.

Today though, I am chilling. The Movement and Mental Health workshop wrapped up this last week. I learned this one key thing from the workshop, and that is that instead of using yoga as a tool to change one’s mind state to say manage anxiety, one uses the practices to come into a state that allows one to fully experience the anxiety in a useful and non-harmful way and then let it go. It is a subtle difference. And deeper. And gets to the root of the discomfort instead of temporarily distracting oneself out of it. So over time it can be transformational.

It’s a lot taking three separate workshops and teaching all my classes in one week. I need to get back into a regular weight routine and maybe going forward I will have the bandwidth for that. And writing too.

Or maybe not.

Last updated May 21, 2022