Lots of Work for STAMMA

This is an untouched-up photo of the Japanese Maple outside my studio. I meant to take this photo for das, but I didn’t and then came the storm on Sunday night, and many of the leaves fell.

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The cats are still on Daylight Savings Time. They come in to wake me up at 5:00 now, whereas for months they were always coming in almost exactly at 6:00. Reluctantly, I arose at 6:00 and when I opened my computer, I saw a zillion panicky emails. Tracey was wondering where I was. She was waiting for me to open up Zoom and admit her to our chat.

I thought our call was at 7:00, but since we’ve changed to Standard time over here, we are one more hour behind the UK. So, I scrambled to get Zoom open and we were together online by 6:17. Our meeting went very well. We are tidying up our mailing list and making plans to grow our group. 

When the call was over with, I hurried to get dressed so that I could walk Her Highness before going to my ASL coffee clatch. By the time I got to Mad Rona’s for the session, I was already feeling overwhelmed by my morning. When I got home, there was laundry to do and hang up, pets to feed, and a whack of things to do. I had to get my forms for free travel to Vancouver on Wednesday to go to St. Paul’s, and to renew prescriptions, and I had promised Tracey that I’d do considerable work on our UK stutterers mailing list. Busy. Busy. Busy. By 11:30, I needed to have a lie down. I was pooped.

The day began with torrential rain, strong winds and a short power failure, but it soon cleared up and most of the day was lovely. I, however, was homebound with duties. The UK Mailing list took a lot of work, but my work was a valuable investment. I have proven that our list’s server is not working. Now it’s up to STAMMA to fix it. I went to bed quite early last night. I needed to, I’d had a rather bus and trying day.

Today should pass quietly and comfortably. I hope to have a very relaxing day because tomorrow is a killer. I go to Vancouver.

Day One: Standard Time

I forgot about the time change, so I got up at 4:45 thinking it was 5:45. But at least, it starts getting light at 6:00 instead of 7:00. I prepared for a long day, but when it is My Day, long is a good thing.

The sling has worked miracles with my shoulder. My research tells me it’s a muscle called the rotator cuff. I only wish I’d taken to the sling months ago; it would have saved myself a lot of pain.

We went for our morning walk at Elder Ceder. It’s a short drive to get there, but it’s flat and there are no puddles, so it’s perfect for us. It’s about a 40-minute circuit. It was beautiful to walk in the forest. I felt fabulous being out and about so early in the morning, I knew that we’d encounter nobody on the trails.

When we got home, I got busy in the kitchen. I made another big batch of chicken chow mein that should last me a while and save me lots of cooking time. But I was totally baked when I was done. And this was after making only one dish. I’ve stopped entertaining because of this fatigue. 

Pete and Ali wrote to say that they’d be dropping by at 2:00 to borrow my blood pressure monitor and to see my stunning Japanese Maples. Their colour is out of this world. Pictures do not do justice to the brilliance of the colour. 

Because they were coming in for tea, I had to tidy up and vacuum which, after all the cooking, had me feeling thorough defeated and lacking in energy again—and I still had more kitchen work to do. I made some pesto sauce after Pete and Ali left. I wanted to have lots on hand through the Winter. A local farm is selling bags of basil, so I’m taking advantage of the abundance to make lots of sauce because nothingtastes better on toasted bread and pasta.

Once that was done, I could relax and final feel like it was My Day. Oh it felt good to soak in the spa and then to collapse onto the chaise to have my dinner and to watch the final episodes of Joan.

My Day. Hurray!

Saturday was a ‘normal’ day. We walked in the morning. It was a short walk, but it was dry. And then we went into the village to shop for groceries. For a while, I’ve had a hankering for noodles, so today I went shopping hoping dearly that Nester’s might have some Chinese cooking wine. And they did! 

I was so stunned and happy, I posted my joy on Facebook. I seriously doubted that Nester’s would carry something so obscure, but once in hand, I had all the ingredients with which to make chicken chow mein. So, that’s what I did in the afternoon, and I ate a big bowl of it as soon as it was done, and it’s absolutely delicious! 

Next, I want to make laksa. There are scores of recipes for this lovely Asian dish. Most variations are prepared with a rich and spicy coconut curry soup or a broth seasoned with asam, and I love adding lots of seafood. Yum. 

My friend John, who’s part of our UK support group asked me to watch Joan which I can get on CBC Gem. Joan, the titular character, was John’s brother’s girlfriend for many years, so he got to know Joan well and he’s keen to talk to me about her once I finish the series. I’m enjoying it. I watched several episodes last night. The series is based on a book titled, I Am What I Am: The True Story of Britain’s Most Notorious Jewel Thief by Joan Hannington. It stars Sophie Turner who I think does a great job, and she is a delight to see in all her finery and in full make up. 

Today has dawned sunny and bright. What a break! I’ll have a spa today. I have missed my spa because of the endless rain. I shall spend the day casually as it is My Day, a day for self-care and self-indulgence. I may make more chow mein because I love it so much and it’s so wonderfully delicious.

Slow, Slow Days

thursday

Thursday rolled by with me hardly noticing time passing. It was a wet, wet day, so our walks were short. Sheba went to the groomer’s and came home looking irresistible to my old, tired eyes. And Jake and Noor were back to reattach the tube connecting the stove to the vent. 

The most significant achievement of the day was using my improvised sling to immobilize my right arm. It made a huge difference to my day, both good and awkward. Last night was my first night in ages without pain in my shoulder, so the sling really was a good idea. The awkwardness came from being left-handed all day. It made many things much slower to do, but I’ll be using the sling again today and I’ll keep using it until I feel that my shoulder is well healed.

friday

Friday was soggy as Thursday. Time will crawl, but we’ll be warm and dry after our morning walk with our friends and their dogs. I was head to toe in rain gear, and I confess to loving the walk even though it was so dreadfully wet. The air smelt sweet and wonderfully fresh. The only drawback was my breathing.

When we got home, it felt fabulous to be warm and dry. But it was a quick turnaround for us because I needed gas and groceries, and when we got home from my errands, it was time to feed the brood, and once done, it was nap time. I was pooped, and I never recovered through the day.

The time has come to begin reading again, so I cracked the last of a series of books I head read last Winter and ordered a copy of my friend Beth’s book. Our ASL course ends soon, so no more studying for a while and that means books will become a steady diet now until May.

saturday

Dinner with Jay, Eoin and François tonight has been cancelled because Jay is feeling poorly. It will be another slow, slow day. There will be a nice warm fire going all day because it is wet, wet, wet out there.