So Not Complaining in Everyday Ramblings

We had a couple of days of very dramatic overcast skies with rainsqualls now and then but today it has cleared again. The trees are blooming! We are three weeks early even for us. Every year I complain that spring is unfolding beautifully under dark heavy skies and sodden streets but not this year. It is out there for everyone to see. There are daffodils everywhere. It is still on the cool side but that is what coats and jackets and sweaters are for. My body is madly, greedily making vitamin D as the sun travels across the sky a little higher than it has been and there is more daylight.

The one drawback to all of this is allergies. My voice is shredded and I have had a sinus headache for most of a week. I am doing everything I can, including using nasal irrigation and hot washcloth compresses on my face but with so many trees, and we have trees everywhere, blooming all at once…

Kes told me on Thursday night I looked a little, umm, not well, I noticed it too; I am unusually pale. I think my immune system is all riled up. There is a virus going around that I have been exposed to rather more than I would have liked and I ever so hope I don’t succumb to it.

We were at the local café and there was an older gentleman, probably about my age, (but he looked ruined in that way that good looking young folks who burn themselves out look when they get older) who set up this amplifier and microphone and played blues guitar with a slight country feel and sang standards basically only to us.

I think there were a couple of folks at the bar as well as the waitress but we were the only folks in the dining area. I thought it was quite poignant. You hear stories of musicians paying their dues and playing to empty houses but I’d never really seen it in action before. He was very dignified and played as if the room were packed although there was no patter between songs.

We gave him a nice tip. I am more sensitive to this because of this last year showing up places to teach and not having any students.

I enjoyed taking a little time off work and subbing the studio class yesterday. These women are in their 60’s and 70’s and yet can do stuff folks in my other classes can’t because they practice regularly so it was fun to work with them and be curious.

They told me they felt better afterwards and that kind of feedback is so helpful. So I am going to teach a modified version of this class on core strength and stability on Monday night. In the meantime I need to come up with something to teach at the studio on Monday morning. If I have students. :)

Much intense work is going on in Seattle for the big move tomorrow. Apparently Miss E. is acting out a little. As a 14 year old she probably would be anyway but this is so darn difficult. Kes packed and cleaned yesterday for ten hours with a break to run an errand across town. She is taking Miss E. out to dinner tonight while Miss T. works. At least that is the plan. My oldest sister’s friends and acquaintances have been an incredible support during this unsettling transition. She didn’t have many close friends but the ones she did have are just wonderful.

I am trying this new thing to build my aerobic capacity where I go climb stairs for two minutes (you only count the climbing part not the coming down part) and am going to work my way up to five minutes. You do this five days a week for 8 weeks. I am hoping this will help with the running. I am also hoping this will help make my inner pony more comfortable as she goes trotting around the track three times a week. A study showed that this simple thing 5 minutes a day can over time improve your aerobic capacity 17%.

That feeling of lightness and ease is what I am after.

This is all in preparation for training for the half marathon in October. S. has never used a heart rate monitor before so this will be a journey of discovery for her. She’s gone off to the East Coast for a flower show this week. I think that is so funny as it is snowy and cold there…while here everything is blooming and the air is fragrant and the birds are singing their mating songs…

Last updated February 28, 2015