Encompassing Much in Everyday Ramblings

Mrs. Sherlock keeps remarking on how much more engaged with the world I am now than I have been since I retired. I did make some attempts at this quite soon after retiring and then boom… pandemic.

I tried some things (group hikes come to mind) that weren’t exactly working for me. I enjoyed them but not enough for the effort and persistent social anxiety they brought up.

These people push themselves hard and that would be fine for me if I wasn’t teaching 8 classes a week, already getting cardio every day, and lifting weights on occasion. It was too much. Of course, I was only teaching 2 classes a week back then, but in person, which involved a lot of getting there and home.

Yesterday I did my Bone Builders weightlifting class. Then went for an almost 4 mile walk with Mrs. Sherlock. Topped up my cardio to get 20 minutes. It was clear and cold, and the mountains were beautiful. We walk fairly slowly as we stop and look at things like oh, the above picture.

After that I spent over an hour (with Diego supervising) drafting an email to the almost 40 people assigned to my League of Women Voters Discussion Unit. We are talking about the midterms on Tuesday, a debrief.

Then I grabbed some lemon bars I had made midweek and went down to hang out with Ariel. This time we started in her beautiful kitchen. I love her kitchen. She made waffles. That was a surprise. It was fun. Baby the cat, supervised that. We then moved into her living room with the beautiful hard wood floor and chatted some more. I met her daughter (briefly) who lives with her. Her house was built in 1902.

We could have talked longer. We will. It was getting quite cold and dark. She walked me up to the corner by the garden. There were some rough people around when I walked down, and I asked her if she wanted me to text her that I got home okay, and she was startled by that. She hugged me anyway.

I was chilled when I got home so I took a bath and wasn’t much good for anything else. I had put in a maintenance request for the dryer earlier. Fingers crossed I don’t need to wait weeks for a repair person.

This morning I am taking my live interactive Feldenkrais class and then I need to prep for my own classes next week and get my daily cardio. This afternoon, in the old man’s book club we are talking about and sharing Native American writing that we enjoy.

I have one poem to share I read to my class last week about an old fox with broken bones that sends his young paws out to encounter the world. It is called The White Paws and is by Dara Yen Elerath. I think it is beautiful and encompasses much.

My skin is less painful. I am still in flare up but at least it doesn’t hurt to move.

Last updated November 21, 2022