Dull Weather, Dull Me

I'm getting regular visits from lots of Varied Thrushes and Flickers visiting my feeders, and I find the Flickers absolutely glorious. The feathers under their wings are almost orange!

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It’s dull (with some sunny periods already) but warm. I’m hoping for some rain because we need it. The gardens need water; I’ve had to do some watering already, and it’s mighty early in the year for watering.

I watched Toast last night (on Prime) and quite enjoyed seeing the screen version of the book I enjoyed reading very much. 

I’m about to go on a walk about with Her Highness. Walking her is my favourite thing to do of late. Nothing else happens really, I turn another page, I put another log on the fire, I try to speak, I chase birds off my newly-seeded lawn and I wait for evening when I can be a slob on the couch.

Tonight: The Great Canadian Baking Show and The Seaside Hotel (that I tape because it comes on too late).

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I met a lovely woman who’s a neighbour yesterday. Our conversation got started over her spiffy new red electric bicycle, and as we talked she revealed that she, too, was a writer (journalism) and suffered a breakdown. “Me too,” I said twice, so she invited me to get together. I’m going to take her up on her offer once I get my shot.

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I hate having pain. The pain in my foot is nasty and recurring but I cope. My new problem, back pain, is my biggest problem because when I get a spasm, I have a seizure. I feel angry, useless and defeated, so all I want to do is sleep. Me, who lived for decades on four hours of sleep each night, slept for twelve hours last night, and a million things that need doing around here go undone. I’m hoping that my energy and ambition returns with the warm and sunny weather.

Vaccine Appointment!

 Chop wood? Maybe later.

Not long after getting home from the dog walk, I got my lounge chair out of storage and got a blankie and got comfortable in the sunshine. I loved feeling the warmth and the feeling of sunshine on my skin. I figured this was how I’d build up my energy for chopping wood. Besides, the next week is going to be fine, so there’s lots of time for chores.

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I hate it when your doctor calls after some tests and asks you to come in—to come in, not to have a Zoom appointment; I hate the worry and anxiety that sets in. It was blood tests I had, and so I’m concerned my HIV count is up or that my blood sugar is high. Now I wait for my appointment.

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Relief: The smart gardeners of Rollo Park have seeded their lawns, so I’m no longer concerned about having done mine too early. I reckon that sometime soon, I’ll see 

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I called and registered for my vaccine after I chopped the wood I needed for another couple of weeks. It was easy to get through, but I was on hold listening to beautiful (sic) music for fifteen minutes. I got an appointment on April 11^th in Nanaimo. I’m thrilled! If I wait to do it at the clinic here on Gabriola, I have to board a bus full of people and I don’t want to do that.

Also, I get a voucher so that the ferry ride is free, and I’ll be able to do some shopping and go to the White Spot for one of their to-die-for burgers. Yum!

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Our second walk yesterday was lovely because it was 13° in Rollo Park. Heaven! Today, however, is cloudy, but it’s light cloud. It won’t rain.  We’ll walk and I’ll read, but Saturday will be just another day. And that’s it; that’s all I have to say because my life is so, so dull.

Vaccine Registration Day

Today is another stunner. Yesterday truly felt like Spring! It reached 13° yesterday and will again today. And it’s going to be lovely for the coming week (except for Sunday which is predicted to be cloudy). I hope I get out in the yard today! Yesterday, I walked Sheba three times, but the rest of the time I just read and lay around.

I remember once, as a child, thinking it very, very funny when someone on television said, “MY ‘get up and go,’ got up and went.” That’s something I might have said over the past few days. I’ve been experiencing back pain, horrid foot pain (I have Morton’s Neuroma in my right foot) and a general malaise due to the severity of my speech loss.

I walked Sheba with our friends this morning and now, I hope, I’ll feel like chopping some wood and attending to raking the back lawn. But most important today, is calling in for a vaccine appointment. I’m eligible to register as of noon today.

A Crack in the Wall

Wednesday was okay. I had a lot of trouble speaking with my fellow dog walkers and when I came home, I went back to bed. I got up to read. I like this book a lot, too. It’s called, Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger. It’s a light and lovely memoire about a boy a lot like I was—sensitive, afraid of his father, sickly and one who lost his mother at the same age as I did.

The best part of a dull day was the sun coming out late in the afternoon.

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I notice Amazon Prime has a movie on it called Toast. It’s a movie adapted from the memoire that I’m reading by Nigel Slater and thoroughly enjoying. I plan to watch the movie to see how it compares to the novel.

I recently watched The Go Between, a movie on Kanopy or Netflix (I can’t remember). I absolutely loved the novel, so I decided to watch it. It told a story about which I had forgotten a lot, and the settings of the film were much different than my memory of the story and the images it conjured in my imagination. I liked the movie but not as much as the book.

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DR phoned me yesterday. My God, it was rough speaking to her on the phone. But over time, my speech got better—not great, but much better than at the beginning of the call.

Tomorrow, I register for an appointment for a vaccine—if I can get through on the line. I’m hoping that once vaccinated and with the coming good weather, that my condition improves somewhat. It never ever occurred to me that my condition would worsen. I thought it would get better. I’m scared that it’ll get even worse. I doubt it will; I hope it won’t. 

Wait … good news…I could get words out to Sheba late this morning. I crack in the wall.