Covid

SOMETHING BETTER

Something Better

I’ve been feeling somewhat unsettled the last few days with the rising number of Covid cases in our province. There are 164 new cases today. The government have issued more restrictions, though not nearly strict enough. Bars, restaurants, churches and other non essential businesses, including bingo halls are still opened. I have been feeling quite safe going to exercise and swim at the YWCA. Now, I am uncertain if I should continue. I was happy the ‘Y cancelled all group exercises. The decision was taken out of our hands. Though I could still swim and use the gym, I will forgo it, too until a better time.

The ‘Y offers virtual classes. I think there is something every day of the week. I’ve done them before. I am flexible. I can also exercise on my own. I will do qigong and perhaps yoga instead of swimming. I have my hula hoop for strength and aerobic training. Then there’s cross country skiing that I’m trying to learn. I really do enjoy the challenge of it. I got the falling part down pat. Now I have to learn the getting up and gliding. I have all winter. It’s a very good alternative to my daily walks. I look forward to posting about my daily skis.

I think we/ I need to think of these times in different terms. There’s no denial that we have a pandemic on our hands, but I don’t need to use/think of this time as ‘locked down’. It’s quite distressing to my psyche. I can see/feel the bars coming down. I can the locks clanking. We are restricted in some areas of our lives, but we are not locked up. In my neck of the woods, we can move about quite freely in safe areas. If there’s a traffic accident with a huge pile-up, they would put up barriers. You wouldn’t want to go that route, would you? 

Now I’ve decided that I’m not locked up or down. I could still go to the gym or swim, but I’m not. I’m being responsible and am feeling much better. I can just settle and enjoy this time learning more about new and old stuff. I can bake to my heart’s content. I have lots of flour, yeast and eggs. Someone asked me to share some of my recipes. So Martha here’s the recipe for my bread from allrecipes.com 

SKIS AND PICKLES

SKIS AND PICKLES

Gosh, I’ve gone past my magic hour of 5 pm! I’m staring down 5:45. Good thing we are late diners. Supper won’t be ready for a while. So what should I talk about today? Our province’s new Covid cases for today is 236. It’s no small potatoes. It’s not that there’s nothing we can do about it. There are! We can wear our mask when we go out. We can avoid crowded and hot spots like bars. We don’t have to wait for the gov’t to close them down. We can choose to be responsible without a government order, can’t we? Some businesses have. All of us need to step up.

Enough ranting already, eh? Let’s get on with the show even though I don’t have much to show. The morning went, just like that. I did a bit of chopping and throwing things into the Instant Pot for lunch. I thought I would deal with my Jerusalem artichokes pickling down in the basement for awhile now. Then I would have a sit down with my cup of tea. As it turned out, it took longer than I thought. A lot longer. Isn’t that how it is always?

The pickles were in a bit of a pickle. It’s not a complete disaster, but I could have done better. It was my first time so I have to be easy on myself. I should have done a smaller batch. I should have used dried pepper flakes instead of a whole fresh chili pepper. The chili insides sort of melted into a white slime. It didn’t make the brine look delicious. Some of the sunchokes were a bit soft and mushy because they bobbed out of the brine. I took everything out and threw out the soft mushies. I discarded the brine and rinsed off the chokes. I put them back in a clean jar and filled it with a new 3% brine solution. I covered them with cabbage leaves. A teacup on top of that to weigh everything down. It was a bit of work leaving me not much time for sipping tea. Then it was lunch time.

My day seem so short, filled with messing around and cleaning up. But I did have a short ski up and down our back alley a few times. After many, many years, I’ve finally got out those long ago skis I got at the Ski Swap. I’ve only tried them out twice ever, if that. It was a bit of a challenge getting everything snapped on. I fell down immediately. Had a hell of a time getting up. So I just laid there and the guy finally had to pull me up. I got better with the second fall, though my foot came out of the boot. That made it easier. I felt pretty good after a few more times up and down the alley. I think we’ll try the park next time. I’m sure the falling downs will have softer landings.

FOR BODY AND SPIRIT

For Body and Spirit

It’s almost that bewitching hour again. But it is not quite 5 pm. I’m 20 minutes earlier today. The sun is gone. It was lovely while it shone. I basked in its warmth this morning. I walked in its brightness this afternoon. I couldn’t waste all my minutes to Covid distress. The daily numbers of positives remain high. Today it is 153 in a population of a million and some. I try to do all the positives to remain healthy, vibrant and strong in body and spirit.

Sometimes it is a hard call as to what is the proper thing to do. For instance, this morning I wasn’t feeling my best. I had trouble laying down to sleep last night because of a cough. Most likely it was due to a post nasal drip as I have seasonal allergy and sinus problems. And I just had my 2nd shingles vaccine yesterday. But how do I know for sure? I had to get up and use my nasonex spray. It did helped and I was able to get back to sleep. However, I didn’t feel really super in the morning.

I attributed it to my shingles vaccine. I could have flu like symptons. My arm ached though not as bad as from my first shot in September. I still wanted to go to my gym class but should I? I don’t want put others at risk. I thought about taking a tylenol but then it would mask a fever if I had one. I decided that I have been well all along. I would go to the gym. My temperature would be taken. I could decide then. I no longer have a cough.

To make a long story short, I did go to my exercise class. My temperature was 36.5, pretty non-feverish. I will keep my swim date in the morning if I still feel ok from the vaccine. I feel better if I can keep my exercise routines. If I can’t do much, I can do less. 30 minutes will suffice. The water will be soothing. Moving my arms will help. My arm is aching now, so I will take that tylenol.

CHRISTMAS IN NOVEMBER

Christmas in November

Gosh, it is already 5 o’clock in the afternoon. I did not go for my afternoon walk. No sun today. It’s been foggy and dreary – like a cup of weak tepid tea. I did get my exercise this morning at the YWCA. My enthusiasm was a little dampened by the rising numbers of Covid positives in our province. It’s difficult not to be affected by bad news. But I’m still doing well considering. I once thought I reigned supreme among the depressives. I was always reading books and taking workships on beating the damn thing. My shelves are full of self-help books. Maybe that is the reason I’m still standing. They have helped after all.

I’ve just gave myself a Christmas present – a year’s subscription to Permaculture Magazine U.K. I’ve been watching alot of gardening videos on YouTube by Huw Richards. I was a little put off by his accent at first but then I got charmed by his good manners and looks. He’s very informative and a good presenter. I can’t wait to get my first copy in the mail. On top of that, I have digital access to their past 28 issues. This is Christmas in November.

We finally got a remote temperature/humidity sensor for the greenhouse. Now I don’t have to trot out to check every time. We can see what the temperature is over the 24 hours of the day. I can see that it is 0 degrees now (5:30) in the greenhouse. I have given up on growing anything there till end of February. But who knows? It’s our first year and the weather now is unpredictable. Meanwhile, I can observe the temperature and weather patterns. I can study what other gardeners are doing elsewhere. There’ll be seeds to order soon.

I do still have a little viable garden inside my sunroom. My herbs are doing very well. The lettuce has germinated in just a few days. I might have to transplant them into other pots as they are a little leggy. I wish the sun would come out but it looks like we’re having more snow tomorrow. That’s November for you. It’s a dreary month. But I have a room full of colourful blooms to cheer me.

DAY 29 UBC -ALMOST THERE

Almost There

It is raining. I’m glad I got my walk in before it started. I’m here but I don’t know how to get started. You would think the rain would be a good conversation starter. It isn’t. Maybe if I get up and pace a bit. Trying too hard can be counter productive so I might as well just tap my usual drivel. Two more days left to the Ultimate Blog Challenge after today. I’m almost there.

I’m not terribly rested and chirpy having had a day to do as I please. I feel cranky as can be. Maybe I shouldn’t think about days off. I should just keep trucking along life’s highway. I was happy on my walk through the park near the school. It was good to see so many kids out playing and laughing, wearing their masks. I never saw so many children playing outside before Covid.

There are some good side effects from this pandemic time. It’s not all gloom and doom. Maybe we could work our way back to engage and live life instead of watching reality shows on TV. Maybe we can use this time in ‘lock down’ to find solutions to reverse climate change and have a greener planet. There are so many maybes but it’s good to throw them out there. It’s better than crying over what we have lost. Those are the things that we probably didn’t value before. If we did, we would have taken better care, wouldn’t we?

I am cranky and irky but I am not unhappy, depressed or despairing. I like challenges. These times are challenging but when is it not? We should just get over ourvelves and get to work. Our greenhouse is almost finished. I am looking forward to seeding and growing greens. The temperature in it was 30 degrees Celsius the other day with the sun shining. I’m excited. I think I can grow greens even in winter. I found a gardener on YouTube who could in -31 C without heat. I’m pumped.

DAY 21 UBC – THE EVOLUTION OF THINGS

The Evolution of Things

Here I am again, at the end of the day, trying to find a few words, thoughts worthy of a post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. There’s a few things I could talk about that could raise some controversy. They could generate interest, heat and possibly more traffic to this site. But that has never been my goal for writing. I don’t have a business, product or service to sell. I write for the beauty of the word. I write as a form of therapy. I write in the hope I can help another having similar experiences, interests and problems. So I won’t talk about the elections, Canadian or American. And I won’t talk about whether we should or shouldn’t celebrate Halloween.

I had a good start to the day, sleeping in to almost 8:45 am. My first reaction was, Oh God! I have to cancel my exercise class. Then I thought, How stupid. I don’t have to be there till 9:30. I even have time for breakfast. I was really glad that I showed up because exercise is the best medicine. It cleared my brain fog after retirement. A couple of weeks after I started the AM Energizer class at the YWCA, I felt so much better. I was so excited, I talked about it alot. I talked about it so much, the guy decided he wanted to go, too. I am sure it’s the reason why we are as healthy and active as we are.

It certainly helped resetting my mood and circadian rhythm. I am sure they are interrelated. I know I have my days, but overall I have a pretty grip on life. I am optimissic and happy even in this Covid time. That is not saying I haven’t had my difficult days – seeing my mother through her shingles and losing Sheba. They occurred during the pandemic but not because of it. I cannot really say I suffered. I was still able to move about freely. I was still able to take my mother to her medical appointments. I was still taking Sheba to the dog park and let her run. The pandemic made it a little harder going to the medical appointments. It made it not possible to be with her at the moment of Sheba’s passing. But the vetinary people were kind. They brought her out so that we could say goodbye.

Those two experiences were life changing and helpful for me. I would say that this pandemic is life changing and could be helpful for all of us. We have to be open to change. And when it is forced upon us, we should be grateful that there is in time for us to make the changes. We don’t have to cry and lament about what we have lost. We could look at what we could gain. I’m speaking from a very safe space. I am retired. I haven’t lost employment or income. I don’t have children or other dependents. I do feel very grateful and privileged. I am in this very moment very happy. It’s a light bulb moment for me.