Monthly Archives: October 2025

A Saturday In October

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It’s day 18 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. So far, so good. I’ve been able to show up daily but I am in danger of tanking today. I’m showing up late. Words and thoughts are slow in coming. My day started well with a hearty breakfast of omelette and toast. I’m always slow at getting the show on the road. I like to hem and haw, undecided as to what I should do. One of these days, I have to start to make daily plans as to what I need/want to accomplish. Oh, maybe I can start tomorrow.

I wasn’t totally wasteful. I did some morning stretches to limber up and added a couple of minutes hoola hooping. I thought of doing the stairs and a bit of weights but I didn’t. I’ve fallen behind on the Inktober challenge so I made one quick sketch instead. Then it was almost 10 am. Time to head out to a couple of art shows. It was good to step out into the October sunshine. I felt immediately energized. The house across the street from the show was an art piece itself. I had to snap a picture.

I was excited by the second show we went to. One of the artist did fabric art. Her landscapes were beautiful.I came away inspired and wanting to turn on my sewing machine. Maybe tomorrow or the next day.

It’s a Mad, Mad World

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Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

There seems to be so much madness in our world today. Wednesday morning a man was seen praying, standing on top of his car in traffic. Not long after there’s a car chase and crash on the University bridge. It took hours to clear the bridge. We had to take an alternate route to get home. We were lucky not to be on the bridge when it happened. It’s dangerous reading the news in the morning. News of violence so near can and has colour the rest of my day.

My mood can turn on a dime. When it happens, it is usually not in the right direction. It’s good for me to recognize this. I can pause, breathe and think about how I will deal with it. Byron Katie’s The Work came to mind. I’ve learned to ask my own questions. What if I don’t have this feeling? is what I asked myself today. And how can I rid/change it?

It’s difficult to protect oneself from the bad stuff because we all live in the same world. So I’m turning to my keyboard and my cuppa Orange Pekoe for comfort. My tea, of course, is not black. That would offer me no joy. This morning the scale at the gym told me I gained a pound. I try not to feel crestfallen. I think of it as a pound of muscle. I do feel trimmer. I’m adding more aerobics to my workout. Today I did 50 skips of jump rope and 10 minutes of the bike. My goal is to work up to 100 skips at one go eventually.

It helps that today was bathed in sunshine. Taking my father out for coffee helps, too. It gives me a sense of purpose. Seeing my pink door as I drove off helps, too. Sunshine and colour are good for the heart.

A Long time Coming

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Day 16 of the Ultimate Blog has started. Yesterday I posted a vision board to help me attain my goal of losing 17 pounds. It was composed of photos of my ideal self. It helps to keep it fresh in my mind’s eye. Even though I was feeling sluggish and lazy, wanting to be a hibernating bear, I didn’t cave in. It’s hard to start the morning with a cup of black tea so I didn’t. There’s something so delicious about that first cup of sweet and creamy Orange Pekoe. It’s a wonderful start to my morning. Just so you would know, I used just a tad of honey and 3 teaspoons of evaporated milk.

It was hard not to sink into my love seat after breakfast. I forced myself to run up and down the basement stairs. Noticing how dusty the stairs were, I vacuumed them. It wasn’t hard but the getting to it part was. I wondered if our brains have been altered by all our gizmos. I can’t really say I love scrolling but find myself doing it too often and for too long, wasting too much time and making myself feel not good. The scrolling and pushing of buttons make me feel impatient and frustrated. If I can’t get results right away, I’m pissed.

It’s silly I know but I want to lose my 17 pounds right away, at one try. That was in my mindset yesterday at the gym. I was sorely disappointed with the scale. I did not drop even one ounce. I am more reasonable today. I know it will take awhile to achieve my goal. I will focus on slow and steady progress. I will try to regain pleasure in doing hands on work. Some things just can’t be done by pushing a button or twitching your nose. Some things require hard work. There’s no getting away from that. It’s what I am in the middle of now – cleaning and decluttering my sunroom. It’s taken me a year to get to it. That’s a bit long, isn’t it? But I am here.

Wordless Wednesday – Vision Board

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Yesterday I talked about wanting and needing to lose 17 pounds to achieve a healthy BMI and creating a vision board to help me. Here is a start – a collection of a photo shoot when I was in my best physical form. This is, of course, years ago when I was young and vibrant. I want to feel that again.

No Walk in the Park

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Sometimes I wish that the earth would stop spinning so I can step off and get a rest. Life is no walk in the park. I’m complaining again. I’m weary, wishing for a camp, the kind they have for children where I would be entertained and all my cares taken care of. Some smart aleck quipped that it’s called a nursing home. I do not wish for such wherein we lined up, sitting silent and vacant in our wheelchairs. I guess I better stop complaining and keep moving my ass.

I’ve thought of a few changes that I could make to reboot myself. I could lose a few pounds. According to my BMI, I am overweight. I need to lose 17 pounds. Sounds formidable to me. When I was thinking about losing weight the other day, I thought now is not a good time. We are in autumn and my hibernation response is triggered. I want to eat and sleep like a bear. It’s not good thinking. I am making excuses. I need to pull up my socks. I will try even though it is harder. I will cut back the cream and sugar in my coffee and tea. I will move a little more.

Making changes is never a walk in the park. I feel like crying just thinking about it. How many times have I already fallen back into those well worn ruts? Too many to count! There’s no point in shaming myself. It doesn’t work. I will try to visualize what I my successes will be like – as if I’ve achieved them already. Perhaps that is what is meant a vision board. Right now my two wants are to lose 17 pounds and clear my clutter. I am going to create 2 vision boards, one for each want. Wish me luck.

Slothful Thanksgiving Monday

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A cold Thanksgiving Monday. It went down to -2℃ but we are now sitting at 1℃. There’s a layer of ice in the water buckets sitting outside the greenhouse. We have a little heater to keep the temperature above freezing in the greenhouse. I want my little bottle gourds to get big enough to eat. Thankfully no more below 0 in the forecast for the next week. But it will be cool with the high no higher than 13℃.

I’m feeling the hibernation response. I’m slow to rise in the morning, burrowing in the warmth of the duvet. The cold, the grey and a holiday are good excuses for skipping the gym this morning. It’s a good reason to have a second cup of tea. I’m feeling drowsy. I’m slow as a sloth. I don’t think I can slither down a tree even if I have to. At least my fingers are tapping out words for another Ultimate Blog Challlenge post but I am in danger of nodding off.

I have the beginning of soup in the Instant Pot. I threw in what’s left of a roasted chicken, leftover roast pork, some beef bones and tomatoes. I rescued a few stalks of celery from the raised bed. They’re sitting in some water, waiting to be washed and put in the mix. I will have to get up, run up and down the stairs a few times to wake up. I will do a few rounds of hula hoop. I dream of being a hoola hoop queen. I think I have to settle for just being able to keep it up and going. I do hope and aim at being able to walk and hoola at the same time. I wonder if I have enough time.

Getting Ready for Winter

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A rainy Thanksgiving Sunday. I’m happy to look out and see the bright pink garage door. The kiwi leaves are turning golden on the trellis. In its 4th year we are still waiting for blossoms. Maybe next spring. The rain is turning into snow as I tap. Hello winter? Happy we finished harvesting the carrots and leeks from the raised bed yesterday. The greenhouse got its last water from the rain catchment behind the garage. My avocado, rosemary and jasmine are repotted and brought in. The wooden compost unit moved closer to house for easy access in winter. It was hard work. But now I am sitting easy and cosy.

In the greenhouse, the bottle gourd is still going strong. It feels the end is near. It’s popping out little babies like crazy. Too bad pollination is not always a guarantee. They are delicious in soups when they are young. I have one that is getting heavy and needed a little support from an old pair of panty hose. It helps that I never throw out anything.

Thanksgiving Blessing

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Another beautiful sunny day for this Thanksgiving weekend. I have much to give thanks for – bounty harvest, good health and family. Beannacht is a poem written by John O’Donohue for his mother. It means blessing. And I say this blessing for my mother who passed from this life in October of last year.

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

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Another beautiful sunny October morning for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. My thoughts are scattered and disjointed – sad and glad intermixed. It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. First of all I have to be happy that a woman won the Nobel Peace Prize and not Donald Trump. Indeed that is a very good reason to be happy and hopeful that the good will prevail.

Last year was our last Thanksgiving with our mother though I don’t think we all gathered together for a meal. There was much that happened last year. My nephew cooked and catered the meal to each of us. How wonderful was that, eh? This year we will be taking our father out for Chinese tomorrow evening. Then he has an invite from my brother’s mother-in-law for Easter Monday. As for ourselves, we have no plans for a ham or turkey. We can just relax and do whatever. I have never been one big for celebrations. Shame on me?

I do remember Thanksgiving of 2014. How could I forget? We flew to France on Thanksgiving day. There was a problem with my ticket but we didn’t know that till we were boarding at the airport. It was a holiday so our travel agency was closed. We had to buy another ticket right then and there at the airport from Air Canada. We got to Paris and saw it right after we stepped off the plane in the morning. Needless to say it was all a blur. I slept through most of it. The next day we were included in a birthday party. Everyone spoke in French. It was great in that I didn’t have to do any small talk since I have no French.

We got a refund for my faulty ticket from the travel agency after our return home. I can’t remember what was wrong with it. Some things are best forgotten. The French trip was full of drama. I was sick for a long time after we got back to Saskatoon. But there were some bright moments.

Success, Meeting the Goal

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A cool sunny October 9th. I’ve worked my way through the first week of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. And it was hard work, tapping wobbly through each day, searching and finding the words and thoughts. Now a week in, I’m a little more engaged and interested. I’m looking back at my purpose, my goals. I see that it is to cast off my malaise, my dis-interest. I want to see the world in technicolour again. I am weary of the dishwater grey.

I’ve succeeded somewhat. Yesterday was a lovely day. As I stepped into my front yard in the warmth of the afternoon, I felt alive for the first time in a long while. I breathed in and out, taking in the beautiful mess of autumn leaves on the ground, the bare branches reaching up to the blue of the sky. I felt part of the whole universe. I am the breath that is going in and out.

A small step towards the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. A week in and 3 more weeks to go. It’s a journey and any journey is a work of art. I have to put my heart into it and paint it with vibrant colours.