Category: Rambling Thursday

Candy. Here. Now go away.

So, Halloween. I used to like it. I don’t know what happened other than a few decades of accumulated grumpiness.

Random people ringing my doorbell at night freaks me out. Hoards of them. Adults, children. And costumes, hiding their devious little faces! I just want to put a big bucket outside with a sign that says, candy. Here. Now go away. Or maybe leave the candy scattered throughout the yard like an Easter egg hunt. That could work. Instead, we turn off the lights and hope for the best.

I also worry about the cat. They are sneaky little guys, and I could see me opening the door and Riley slipping outside for a smoke. We could lock him up somewhere upstairs, but that doesn’t seem right. It’s his house, too.

Maybe I could watch Young Frankenstein in honor of Teri Garr, who passed away this week. What knockers! That is one of my all-time favorite movies ever. Speaking of Mel Brooks, we watched Spaceballs the other night. Very funny, and I vowed to use the term ludicrous speed at least weekly.

We watched the original Dracula last week. It’s pretty good, but we didn’t make it all the way through. We aim for shlocky movies on pizza night, and the minimum requirement is that it lasts through the pizza.

I never enjoyed horror in fiction or in life, but I’ve come to appreciate what’s sometimes called comedy horror. We lean toward animals gone rogue. The best ones don’t take themselves too seriously and are only marginally gross. While it’s hard to top Zombeavers, I also like Llamageddon, Lavalantula and all the Sharnados.

My knee et all is manageable, so I’m back to golf, etc. I will still see my primary care physician in late November, but in the meantime, I’m trying to think of pain in a new way. It’s a sensory experience emanating from my brain. That’s it. Don’t attach emotions to it – don’t cry why me, don’t worry about what I can or cannot do because of it. It’s just a thing.

To celebrate the arrival of cooler weather, I bought a few new items from Athleta to get me in the spirit of things. I particularly love the Venice High Rise Cargo Jogger. Super- comfy and great pockets! Athleta is not cheap, but for me, the quality and fit is excellent.

Actually, I would like to be an Athleta brand ambassador. I don’t think they have such a thing, particularly if you are old and gray and can’t do yoga, but it’s practically all I wear now that I’m retired. Maybe I could get a discount!

Streaming blues

I said I wouldn’t whine about creaky body parts, so I won’t, but I will share that my problematic knee turned savage, and I’ve been nursing that traitorous wretch back to health. You think you know a knee, and then it pulls something like this.

Physical therapy, or physical tyranny as I’ve been calling it lately, has been life-changing for me, but I’ll be having a heart-to-heart with my guy later today. I give him full credit for helping me strengthen my core and pretty much eliminate lower back pain, but I’m no longer on board with the concept of strengthening my quadricep muscle to fix my knee.

I know that’s the standard, but in my case, lunges and squats do more harm than good. They are dead to me. I’m calling it a farewell to harms.

Fortunately, I’ve had a good book to help me ride out the storm. While crime fiction is my default, I occasionally like to read science fiction and fantasy. The library had Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. It’s about a young woman who attends a brutal war college for dragon riders, and I enjoyed it very much. It’s a trilogy, and I just picked up the second one from the library. The third comes out this month, I think.

And so I find myself with the streaming blues. I love the choices available these days, but I hate burning through a show only to find it’s the end of the season, and there are no assurances there will be another one. All that emotional investment, and then it’s wait and see.

Still, I’m weak and continue to watch, even though I know I’ll soon be left high and dry. I’m mostly thinking of Hulu and The Old Man with Jeff Bridges. I have one more episode, and then who knows? Next year, maybe? The show is based on the The Old Man by Thomas Perry. He’s a prolific writer. I really loved his Jane Whitefield series and highly recommend them. The first one is Vanishing Act.

I also burned through some of my PBS shows, including Hotel Portofino. I need to stop around for a new one over there.

Back to Hulu. I liked Shogun, which is a limited series. How great, I thought, that I don’t have to wait for new seasons. I thought the finale was just perfect and was at peace with it being over. Then I went online to read more about the actors, only to discover the show has been such a success they plan to produce one or even two more seasons. That just pisses me off.  They’ve already killed off my favorite character, so I’m kind of over it.

The bright side is there’s almost always something around the bend. Season 3 of The Lincoln Lawyer drops Oct. 17 on Amazon Prime. That show is based on Mickey Haller books by Michael Connelly. Speaking of Michael Connelly books, The Waiting, featuring Harry Bosch and Renée Ballard, is out Oct. 15! I’m pretty sure I’ll end up buying that one.

The weather has finally turned cooler, so I’m starting to get excited about fall foods. I adore pumpkin, especially in savory dishes, and I have a boatload of recipes I’ve been saving. It’s a matter of choosing which one. Some recipes call for fresh pumpkin or butternut squash, and others use canned pumpkin. I’m actually a big fan of canned pumpkin, but I’m good with any of the above.

Dale wants to make chili. The question is beef or chili verde with pork. Both are spectacular. He is of the opinion that beans do not belong in chili. He also uses stew meat – nothing ground.

Our election ballots arrived in the mail, so that’s on the docket. I’m quite nervous about the whole thing, but I still have hope Kamala can pull it off. I simply can’t understand how it can even be close. If you haven’t checked out my one-pager about Trump’s shameful pattern of disrespect for the military, you can find it here.

Dancing with bad knees

I forgot to mention I had a birthday. I’m 69 now. And damn glad to see it. Aging happily is the gift of having cancer in your 40s. Everything after that is gravy.

As I once wrote, “Sometimes I imagine that I carry around cancer in my pocket like an emergency dollar bill. And sometimes I just have to reach in my pocket and fish it out to remind me that every minute of every day is a gift.”

Even if you haven’t had cancer, you’ve most likely lived through adversity, and it’s my contention we can reframe our sad experiences to remind us of our strength and resilience. Adversity is in our pocket, too.

While it was not exactly pocket-worthy, I did have to pump myself up a bit after I fumbled in the final round of our golf tournament. I still came in second … or as they say in the pageants, runner-up! No tiara for me, but I was hoping I’d play a little better in the final stretch.

So, whew, I’m glad that’s over. In this final stretch of life, I find that competition is overrated. Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance!

Of course, I mean that figuratively, because you know, pain and inflammation and all that. But here we are. Still at it. Finding joy no matter what. Dancing with bad knees.

The aging body is wont to crap out, but I have vowed I will not be part of the club that recites their ailments like baseball stats. Bone-on-bone … that’s my personal favorite. It’s actually a drinking game for old people. Every time someone says bone-on-bone, you take a shot of your protein shake.

I’m sticking with my physical therapy and will save my whining for a professional.

We went to Walgreens to get the new Covid vaccine, and for the first time, we had to check-in using our phones to scan a QR code. We don’t know nothin’ about QR codes. Dale can barely use his phone to text hi, and I say that as his loving partner of 45 years.

It was an unpleasant experience at best. Low-grade profanity was involved, but we finally got it done, and I had to apologize to the pharmacy assistant for my rant about serving old people with technology designed by and for young people. Oh, sorry about you wanting to stay alive, but we’ve got this little test for you first.

I do think she was a little rough on the arm. Note to self: Be nice to the people who poke you.

A good number of you have expressed an interest in volunteering – learning more about my personal journey toward deciding what to do – and reaping the rewards of any pearls of wisdom I may uncover during this quest. Did I mention this time of life is also filled with disappointment? As in you will be disappointed I have nothing new to share.

Well, that’s not completely true. I seem to be very good at talking myself out of potential opportunities. Children scare me, animals are unpredictable, I don’t want to go into anyone’s home, I don’t want to actually talk to anyone, no closed up spaces where I’ll catch any virus that’s going around, I can’t sit all day, I can’t stand all day. I’m sure you understand.

I thought it would be good to ask people I know if they volunteer … how they got into it, etc. But I’m probably not wording it right. They seem a wee bit defensive, mostly because nobody I’ve asked so far said yes.

Anyway, my current strategy is to keep browsing through charity websites, volunteer message boards and the like to see if anything sounds doable. I’m hoping I just haven’t seen the right thing yet. My calling is yet to be revealed! In the meantime, I increased my monthly contribution to the food bank to atone for my lackluster performance.

More rambling than usual

While I am exceedingly grateful I survived cancer twice, the experience has turned me into a bit of a hypochondriac. I always assume the worst. I bet you cancer survivors out there know exactly what I mean.

For example, I was at the optometrist this week. There was some sort of anomaly in one of the screening tests, and the assistant said the doctor would decide what to do next. Then she dumped me in a room to wait for the doctor.

It seemed to be taking forever, so I sat there and let my imagination run wild. I assumed they were out there trying to figure out how to tell me I’m going blind. I thought, well, I probably have a few good years. I’ll make the most of it.

The doctor finally appeared and said everything was consistent with all my previous exams. And then it was all which is better, this one or this one?

So silly of me, I know, but also such a sigh of relief. I almost danced my way out of there.

I’m contemplating volunteer options. I started with a list of considerations, because most of the goodness in the universe starts with a solid list. I have dozens of half-filled journals hanging around, and I’m using one of those to document my observations, but I might go crazy and buy a new one. Nothing like a fresh journal to get the juices flowing! Well, maybe a new pen?

Here are the categories so far:

  • Skills/Talents
  • Casual Interests
  • Passionate Interests
  • Groups I Identify With
  • Groups I Prefer to Avoid
  • Activity Level
  • Time Commitment

Although I’m just getting started, I’ve already realized a few things. I do not want to work with children. Nor hospice. I get fired up about current events and am open to volunteering for a political organization, but I need to think that through carefully. Even though I’m a proud Democrat, I’m not sure I want to spend my volunteer time drinking the Kool-Aid with other Democrats. Maybe something nonpartisan, like the League of Women Voters.

At first I thought I’d prefer an office setting. The county website says they sometimes need volunteers for senior legal aid. Doing office work for the lawyers and such. Seemed like a good fit at first, but then I remembered jury duty and how hard it was on my body to sit all day. Even when I write at home, I have to get up a lot and do other things to keep my joints and muscles from rebelling.

Finally, there’s writing, which is a strength and something I do anyway. Is there a way to make that more service-oriented? To experiment, I’m following up on a current theme that is driving me nuts. Trump has stepped in it again with regard to his comments and interactions with military veterans. I’m a veteran, and my husband is retired military.

I feel a calling to help educate voters – you know, eyes wide open. Even if they choose to support him, they’ll know what they’ve signed up for.

However, I haven’t found a concise summary of all the things (and there are many) he has said and done to disparage the military over the years. And what I have found often cherry-picks the most current mess.

When I was on jury duty, both the prosecution and the defense did the same thing with evidence. The information as presented was hard to digest and didn’t seem to tell the whole story. When we went into deliberation, we struggled to make sense of it all and put a lot of effort into making a timeline before we could arrive at a verdict.

We needed to see it in chronological order, and that’s what I’m working on with regard to Trump. I want to see how his comments about veterans unfold over time. I’d like it to be a one-pager that someone could share with a friend or family member who may not realize the broad scope of Trump’s years-long disrespect for the military.

On the entertainment front, I haven’t been reading as much, but there are some great shows streaming. The new season of Hotel Portofino is out on PBS Masterpiece. The show is about an English woman running a hotel on the coast of Italy in the 20s and 30s. Fascism is on the rise, and her family drama makes everything harder than it has to be. PBS is stingy with the once-a-week drop, but that seems to be popular these days.

On Hulu, I’m enjoying Only Murders in the Building with Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. Steve plays a TV has-been, Martin is a semi-washed up Broadway director and Selena is young and wondering what the hell to do with her life. They get together to start a true crime podcast after someone in their building is murdered.

The first episode of the fourth season dropped this week. The show is silly but in a good way. Lots of famous people have small roles, and it’s fun to see who shows up.  Tina Fey, Meryl Steep, Jane Lynch, Mel Brooks, Sting …

Another great show that recently aired on Netflix is Discovery of Witches. I’ve seen it before and vowed I would not watch it again, but here I am on season two. I’ve also read the trilogy! It’s so good, and I’m catching things I missed the first time around.

The story is about vampires, witches and demons, who live by a covenant that says they can’t intermingle. Their powers are fading in the modern age, and a youngish witch seems to be the key to discovering their origins and how they will survive in the future. Oh, and she falls in love with a vampire.

Well, this is longer than my usual post, but that’s why it’s called Rambling Thursday. 

Less food, longer life?

Yesterday’s New York Times featured an article about calorie restriction and intermittent fasting – and whether they increase longevity in humans. It seems to work in animals, but they’re not so sure about people.

Part of the problem is cutting calories by 25 percent or more is difficult for mere mortals. Animals in cages don’t have a choice. Plus, there’s not enough information out there to confirm whether these tactics will help you live longer.

While I want a long and healthy life, I want to enjoy it with delicious food and can’t see going through all that deprivation just to sneak in a few more years. I always love the comments section, and readers did not disappoint. Here are some of my favorites:

  • For years I’ve eaten one vegetarian meal a day at lunchtime with a small snack in the evening. Now I’m almost ninety in excellent health. What has it gotten me? The chance to meet the coming Apocalypse.
  • I have restricted my caloric intake by 10% (but cutting added sugars), and practice intermittent fasting (16hrs;8hrs) 100% of the time. My triglycerides went down by 50%, and I reduced what little bit of joy remains in my life by nearly 90%.
  • If a person reduces her caloric intake, will she live longer or will it just seem longer?
  • The bottom line: Who knows? My 95-year-old mother has been overweight all her life, is still mentally sharp, lives independently, and looks about 80. Her skinny mother died at 63. I’m just hoping these things don’t skip a generation.

I said I wasn’t going to dwell on my back problems, because I know, it’s like, take a number, pal. But I’m hoping readers will appreciate progress reports on my treatment in case you are in the same boat. I’ve done a lot of work on the mind-body connection and how emotions impact our perceptions of pain, and I do believe that helped, but it’s not enough. Surgery and prescription drugs are options I’m hoping to avoid, so my current program is physical therapy.

The MRI of my back looks like a high school science project. I’m still not convinced they know what causes the pain, but so far the medical professionals have zoomed in on severe spinal stenosis at L4-L5. Most of my pain is not in the back, but in the left buttocks and down through my left leg.

It has been six weeks, and the first five were grueling. As I’ve previously reported, the exercises are designed to strengthen my core and presumably take pressure off the back. A month in, and I saw no noticeable improvement. I only hung in there because my massage therapist said I seemed more flexible.

At the start of week six, I suddenly noticed my butt didn’t hurt. Everything else is feeling pretty good, too. It’s quite possible I have stomach muscles. I feel more solid, if that makes any sense.

No Tylenol, no Advil. I complained to the PT that some of the exercises make my troublesome knee worse, and he threw in a couple more exercises he said would help both my knees and my back. One of them is lunges, which I thought would make the knee worse, but to my surprise, I’ve seen a remarkable improvement.

My plan is to keep going. I figure this is my big chance to do whatever I can to mitigate my symptoms long-term, and I don’t want to squander it. The PT said he would add some weights in at the appropriate time, and I’m excited about that. Not really excited, I guess, but I like the idea of increasing muscle as I age.

These exercises take about an hour a day, so I’ve just come to accept it’s one of the mandatory tasks associated with my new job – which is taking care of myself in retirement.

In irrelevant but possibly interesting entertainment news, I discovered a moral dilemma as I was watching TV. Warning – spoiler alert.

I subscribe to PBS Masterpiece and decided to try watching The Royal Flying Doctor Service. A woman doctor recovering from a messy breakup moves to Australia to work with the team that provides people in the remote Outback with medical care.

First day on the job – unknown, unproven, etc. and she beds one of the guys on the team. I’m anything but a puritan, but I was deeply disappointed and haven’t watched any more of it. I mean, that’s just bad form.

However, I also started watching Bones from the beginning. She’s a genius forensic anthropologist working with Booth, a hunky FBI agent, to solve mysteries of human remains. You can see where the relationship is going, so I cheated and went to the episode guide, only to discover it all happens in Season 6.

I’m at the beginning of Season 2, and now it’s like I’m on a mission to catch them in the act. I don’t know why I was so judgmental about the flying doctor but can’t wait for Bones and Booth to get this done already.

Such is entertainment, which beats politics hands-down. However, you know me, I can’t resist a political jab. If the Supremes say  the president has unlimited immunity, we are all in trouble, and it won’t matter who is or isn’t having sex on TV.

In closing, I offer up the following AI video for your viewing pleasure.

Spring … so cruel

Once again, the bitter disappointment of spring is upon us. I hate that you get these beautiful warm days only to have it foul up again with rain and cold. Yes, I know that is the nature of spring and weather in general, but I think fall does a better job as a season. Much more gradual and consistent.

Still, last year I made a conscious effort to fully embrace the diversity of weather, so welcome, rain and cold. You rotten bastards.

We’re doing dinner Triple O or OOO (On Our Own), For Dale, that always means my homemade tacos from the freezer. My tacos are fried crispy, and Dale does a fantastic job of resuscitating them. I won’t make new ones until the freezer stash is gone, so he’s motivated.

I mix it up, but tonight I decided to eat my last piece of birthday lasagna. That’s from September! While I was rooting around in the freezer, I saw two sad and lonely pieces of my birthday cake, so I pulled out one of those for good measure. A little rain and cold deserves coconut layer cake. For breakfast.

While we’re on the topic of food, Dale corned a beef brisket. The first night we ate it boiled with potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbage. The second night he made Reuben sandwiches on his homemade rye bread, which by the way, makes delicious toast in the morning.

Sometimes I like rye toast with just butter, and sometimes I add a little bitter orange marmalade. Dale thinks it’s weird that I use both butter and marmalade, but I think it’s a great combination! Peanut butter is also good on rye, but for some reason, I don’t like peanut butter on sourdough.

Since many bloggers report on Thankful Thursday, I will share that I’m grateful we’re both obsessed with food and cooking. Aside from eating exceptionally well, I also believe cooking at home most of the time makes for healthy aging. I rarely eat any kind of processed or packaged food, and it’s my contention eating reasonably “clean” helps with weight management. I know it’s different for everyone, but that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

I had my first-ever facial this week! I liked it very much and plan to go every six weeks or so to see if it makes a difference. I’m low-maintenance when it comes to beauty routines, and Tammy, the esthetician, totally got that. I said I’m not looking to get any younger, but I’d like to keep my skin looking reasonably good as I age.

She used very light microdermabrasion as part of the facial, and my skin tone definitely looks more even – lighter dark spots, less red. My skin also looks brighter and feels moisturized.

Tammy didn’t push products. She thought my CeraVe stuff from the drugstore was fine. The only thing I purchased was a bottle of Vitamin C serum. That goes under the sunscreen in the morning. She gave me a bag full of samples to try. One is a tinted sunscreen. I used that yesterday for golf, and aside from the sun protection, I liked how it made my skin look.

On the aches and pains front, I’ve decided to cut back on the rhetoric. As I was getting out of the car for golf yesterday, possibly grunting and groaning, one of the women who also deals with sciatica was getting out of her car. We’ve often compared notes. She said, “How are you?” And I said, “Hanging in there …” I’m not sure if I was going to elaborate or not, but she quickly said GREAT! and exited the scene at a high rate of speed.

I think that was a message to find something else to talk about.

On the entertainment front, I read March Violets, the first book in the Bernie Gunther series by Philip Kerr. Bernie is a detective in 1936 Berlin. The writing is quite sharp with that sassy hard-boiled dialogue we often associate with crime writers from that era – Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet, etc.  

Anyway, I liked it a lot, but that Hitler stuff is pretty depressing. Not to go all political on you, but I do feel Fascism is a real threat these days, and not just in the U.S. So, I have to decide if I want to continue with the books. I also finally read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Set during World War II, there’s also a fair amount of Nazi bullshit in there, but for some reason, it didn’t bother me as much in this novel.

Next on the reading docket are all the novels of Dashiell Hammet. Conveniently, they’re relatively short and all compiled into one book. I’ve probably read them all at some point, but I’m refreshing my memory before I watch Monsieur Spade.

When I first retired, I had a hard time reading during the day, but now I’m a pro. I still won’t watch TV during the day, though. I burned through all my favorite shows on PBS Masterpiece, and I’m currently back to Netflix with Resident Alien, a hilarious but kind of dark show about an alien who is sent to Earth to kill everyone, but it all goes terribly wrong.

Happy it’s just a cold

I came down with a cold – tested for Covid twice 24 hours apart like a good girl – and both tests came back negative. One presumes it’s a garden variety cold. I don’t feel horrible, but I don’t feel great. Still, I’m happy it’s just a cold.

My sister got Covid for the first time last week, and she is doing well now, but she was quite ill, and I wouldn’t trade places with her for anything.

Oh, for the days when E. coli was the worst thing you brought home from the grocery store!

So much has changed since this virus came into our lives. I always had an aversion to large groups, and I felt bad about being somewhat anti-social, but now I just roll with it. So-called experts will say that’s well and good now, but you’ll die of loneliness. I don’t know. I’ve read about a lot of people who lead solitary lives, and they seem pretty happy to me.

For in-person social connections, I have the women’s golf club, but that’s the extent of it. Against my better judgment, I agreed to be secretary for two years, so there’s no turning back. One of the women started calling me Madam Secretary, and I must say, I rather like it.  

We’re a week out from Thanksgiving. Dale ordered a fresh Diestel turkey – 14 pounds – and we eventually eat every bit of it. I’m known in these parts as Side Dish Mama … which means I will be making green beans, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. I’m also making apple pie and homemade vanilla ice cream.

They sure are proud of those Madagascar vanilla beans. We ought to banish the term plain vanilla since there’s nothing plain about vanilla these days. I needed two beans, which is what came in a jar, and I think it was $15. But I made the same ice cream last year, and it’s worth every penny. I suppose I will make it a few days ahead in case something horrible happens and I have to get some from the store. Nothing like a positive attitude.

Apple pie used to give me fits, but I think I’ve got it now. For apples, I use half Granny Smith and half Honeycrisp. For crust, half butter and half lard. Plus, my beloved Emile Henry ceramic pie pan.

After reading the book about ultra-processed foods, I avoid Crisco. Good quality lard is your friend! We like lard from the farmer’s market, or we buy US Dreams leaf lard on Amazon. Most of the stuff you see at the grocery store is hydrogenated.

Dale and I usually drink Pinot Noir with our Thanksgiving dinner, and we have a nice one from Navarro in the queue. We visited the winery in Mendocino County a year or so ago and loved their wines. They have good deals for 1 cent shipping if you live in a place where they can ship wine. We especially like their Gewurztraminer and other whites.

Oh, and for art, I’m happy to present Number 41. It might be one of my favorites. See if any of you New Mexico art fans can identify a little inspiration on the right side of the board. My rendition is pretty pitiful, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

A reader recently said she was considering art as a retirement hobby but couldn’t draw much more than stick figures. Just so you know, I’m still terrible at drawing freehand, although I do like my quirky cats. I traced and transferred most of the images on this piece. Once I have a penciled outline, I burn them in with my pyrography tool and eventually paint.

If you are inexperienced at art, I think the trick is to say, ok, I’m going to try art, and I will show up with whatever I have. It’s your art, so it doesn’t have to be anything other than what you are able to create.

Rambling Thursday

I bought a new car this week. My 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid was a great car, and I gave it a proper farewell, but it was time to move on. The new one is a 2023 Honda Accord Hybrid EX-L. I had to wait for it, as they weren’t on the lots anywhere around here, and the first ones that came in did not have the blind spot monitoring system. That was a deal-breaker for me.

It’s a nice sedan with a real trunk for all my golf stuff, and it should average about 50 miles per gallon. After much deliberation, I decided I wasn’t ready to make the leap to electric yet.

The best part of the purchasing process was using the Costco Auto Program. If you have a Costco card, you can take advantage of prices Costco has negotiated with various automobile manufacturers or dealers. That saved me thousands of dollars.

The best part of completing the process is that I will not have to talk to a car salesperson again for at least 10 years. The worst part of owning this car is learning how to use all the new technology. Android Auto. Streaming music. Voice-activated telephone calls. I’m sure it will be fabulous. But right now it makes my brain hurt.

Our kitchen scale finally quit, so we’re on the lookout for a new one. Any suggestions? Dale remembered buying it, and he claims it’s 30 years old! Another sad farewell to a trusted performer. I was going to post a picture of it, but the scale actually looks like it died from filth.

Although I still measure stuff, I like when recipes include weights instead of volumetric measurements. I prefer grams over ounces, as I believe they are more precise. Especially when making bread or other baked goods, it’s great to just keeping zeroing it out and adding more ingredients to the bowl. Fewer dishes!

While we’re on the subject of food, I’ve rediscovered cottage cheese. I’ve been eating it because I like it, and it’s a good source of protein. I prefer whole milk dairy products. The skim milk versions don’t taste right to me. I mean, duh. And I believe whole milk dairy products are actually quite good for you. I’ve been trying different brands of cottage cheese, and today bought some of the best I’ve ever tasted. Kalona Organic Whole Milk Cottage Cheese. There’s a thin layer of cream at the top. I poured that off because I like a slightly drier texture. I had a hard time not eating the whole tub.

It feels like this post is a little disjointed. Then I remembered … it’s Rambling Thursday! I’m blaming it on a five-hour golf round yesterday with temperatures approaching 100 by the time we finished. It was a dumb thing to do, but golf is like crack, especially lately, as I’ve been playing rather well.

That said, I need to be smarter about dealing with the heat, and I will not be doing that again anytime soon. One day last week I teed off at 6:45 a.m. to avoid the worst of it, and aside from getting up and out the door quite early, it was rather enjoyable. Back in time to have lunch or even a nap! I’ve also decided it’s time to wear a rash guard when I swim laps since it’s an outdoor pool.

I’m not crazy about the extra layer, but every now and then I do the smart thing. It seems to me survivors might not be good at the smart thing, but we mostly avoid the big dumb ones. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.  

The reality of spring

Spring always disappoints me. By this time, I’m ready for the warmer weather, but the cold and rain can’t quite quit us. My neighbor, high on life and all that, likes to say rain is wonderful! This is the way it’s supposed to be! Relish the cold – it will be hot soon enough!

OK, Earth Girl, message received, but I’m still pissed.

It rained Tuesday, but I walked anyway. I’m trying to increase my mileage as a test to see if my body will hold up for a long-distance walk of some sort. I thought I’d build up slowly (months) and eventually try to walk 10 miles three days in a row. What do you think walkers? Good plan? Bad plan?

I’m on a mission now, and I was like, rain, you can’t stop me! It actually wasn’t so bad.

Yesterday was golf, and it was cold and miserable. I played very badly. My body just won’t move properly when I’m freezing. I’m never happy about bad golf, but I have evolved. I’m no longer embarrassed. Sometimes I play great golf, and sometimes I play horrible golf. What you see is what you get.

Today is another rainy one, so in the spirit of accepting the reality of spring, I decided to make the most of it. A little Covid vaccination to kick things off. We got our second benevolent booster in the morning, but after that, I was a free agent. I went to the library and loaded up on books.

I paused as I walked across the library parking lot and reflected on the reality of nature’s cool wetness fucking up my glasses.

The “Lucky Day” stack had Life on the Mississippi: An Epic American Adventure by Rinker Buck. His previous book, The Oregon Trail, was great, so I have high hopes for this one.

As a crime fiction aficionado, I have been remiss in my Don Winslow reading. He is among the best. I absolutely loved his earlier works but am afraid to read the border trilogy, which deals with the war on drugs. I’m not sure I can get through the violence. I decided to try The Force, which is about the NYPD.

I love the library for many reasons, but I especially love the no-risk element for a book I’m uncertain about.  Oh, and I’m on the waiting list for Small Mercies, Dennis Lehane’s new book. He’s another great crime writer if you haven’t read him yet. Mystic River is maybe his most famous, probably due to the movie, but I would start with A Drink Before the War.

Then I came home and consoled myself with a tuna melt. I made it in a gratin dish without the bread, and it was just delicious. I do pride myself on eating very little processed food and was disappointed to learn canned tuna is considered a processed food. I thought, well, if I’m going to die, a tuna melt is not a bad way to go.

That said, I am going to pay more attention to labels. I thought ice cream was better than, say, candy, since ice cream is a real food, except they add all kinds of shit to it, so it’s not exactly pristine, either. I’m not going to get fanatic about what I eat, but I do want to know what’s fueling the engine. I might still go for death food, but I’ll think of it as informed consent.

After that, I went out into the garage and worked on my art for a bit. That usually makes me feel good.

I really need to clean the bathroom, but it’s not high on my list. I have all those new books, and I’m thinking it’s time to get started.

Exercise for introverts

A chair yoga room of one’s own.

A guy I play golf with took it upon himself to share his thoughts about my personality.

He said I seemed intelligent and independent, but I was aloof and didn’t show enough interest in other people. I need to ask more questions, he said, if I want people to like me. I just nodded.

Hmmm, so not interested in your thoughts on this subject.

For the record, I’ve never been a social animal, just a few close friends, but people seem to like me well enough … as in not universally despised. That’s a distinction I’m rather proud of.

My buddy is extroverted, randomly chats up people on the golf course and asks a million questions, some kind of personal, and although I find it annoying, it’s not a deal-breaker. As an introvert, I try to avoid the talkers, but somehow we started playing together regularly. He’s a decent fellow, and I don’t want to work all that hard to find someone new.

I actually did play with someone new this week and thought, what the hell? Ask a question. The problem is questions lead to answers, and if you get a talker, sometimes those answers are more than you bargained for. Then there’s always the possibility of sliding down that slippery slope to conversation.

Seems like I prefer exercise without conversation. I suppose that’s why I’m drawn to swimming and long walks alone.

Anyway, my buddy and I are supposed to play again next week, and I’m hoping he’ll have moved onto the next person to fix. I’m not going to apologize for being an introvert. As always, I try to be a pleasant and encouraging partner. No temper tantrums. A laugh, a smile, a thumbs up. Great putt! Wow, you smoked that drive!

Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy people. Let’s get a beer afterward, and you can talk all you want.

I don’t know why he felt compelled to share all that, but in the end, I’m glad he did. In a strange way, it was validating. As I reflected on his comments, I’d say he wasn’t far off on my personality assessment. The part he got wrong was thinking I should do something to change it.

Feeling comfortable in your old flawed skin is one of the great pleasures of aging.

Chair Yoga

Yet another great pleasure is discovering something new that makes you happy. A recent addition to my happiness bucket is chair yoga. It feels good mentally and physically, and it’s reducing my back and leg pain.

I did the 7-day free trial at YogaVista.tv and tested a variety of YouTube videos. I liked Yoga Vista a lot, but one of the instructors had a voice that reminded me of anesthesia, so I didn’t renew. I looked for similar sites that had a wide selection of chair yoga practices but couldn’t find any.

After a week or so of random YouTube videos, I decided Yoga Vista was a better deal and signed up for $9.99 a month. There are lots of instructors, so I can easily avoid the drip, drip, drip of anesthesia voice.

While gentle is not a word typically associated with me, I am trying to take the less is more approach to this new endeavor. My goal is to stick with it forever and watch myself grow stronger and more flexible over time. Some of the workouts also address balance, which is important, because we don’t bounce like we used to.

I still attend the in-person class at my health club when I can, but I also set up an area in our guest bedroom, where I can take my laptop and follow the instructors on the screen. I like to think of it as a chair yoga room of one’s own, except I share it with the occasional guest and Dale’s war books. The cat seems quite mesmerized by the whole thing.

Some of the chair exercises are sitting and some are standing, using the chair for support. I have just enough room to accommodate all the movements.

Kind of perfect for an introvert, don’t you think?