Something different

I took a yoga class yesterday. A chair yoga class, designed for those of us with mobility issues, that made me safe and secure during the class and pretty darned good afterward.

Parts of it were very easy. I've practiced yoga before, and was able to do very difficult poses. Probably still could, if I bothered to try.

But parts of the class were very difficult. I cannot, while seated, place my right foot (that's the artificial hip limb) on my left knee. I can do the opposite, but don't have the flexibility or strength to do right on left. So that's a challenge to work on.

And balancing on my left leg was a problem. I would have thought the right leg would have been more difficult. But I would have been wrong.

The chair class is only offered once a week. I'm not sure if I'll go again, or if I'll go every week. Drop-in classes are $10 each, and a class package (8 classes in 10 weeks) is $65.

At any rate … it was good to try something new.

It's quite cold today. I have a dentist appointment in Beckley at 2. The roads are ice- and snow-covered, and it won't melt because the temperature won't get above the upper teens today. I'll need to give myself plenty of time to get there. This is the impression visit. I'm honestly worried that one of my lower teeth will come out with the impression material. Ugh.

Other than that … nothing to report.

Be kind.

That went well

Yesterday went really well. I walked on the treadmill for an hour and read a lot more of my book, I wrote a boring blog post, I completed a perfect first day of the Whole 30, and I cleaned up a large area of the upstairs office. Two more sections to declutter there and I'll be satisfied.

Today is going to be super busy, and could go in any of a number of directions. Fortunately the outside temperature is warmer than it's been for a week or so. We had some ice yesterday, but it actually melted overnight. I've been walking with a friend on Tuesday mornings, but we haven't been able to get together for three weeks, so I'm looking forward to that.

This afternoon, we are either having furniture delivered for the bedroom OR I'm spending some time helping my husband with a project. Then at 3:30 there's an old-lady yoga class I want to try. (It's chair yoga, which means there's a chair handy if you feel like you can't hold a pose.)

I like yoga. But I don't love it. I realize I would benefit greatly from practicing, just as I would (will) benefit greatly as I continue to do some light strength training (don't want to go overboard here!). A friend is strongly encouraging me to try the chair yoga class, both for me and for the instructor, who she says is quite good. Then a short meeting after yoga.

Busy, busy day.

We'll have leftovers for dinner. Yesterday's pork tenderloin was enough for two meals, and I'll pair it tonight with sautéed mushrooms and onions (instead of cabbage) and more applesauce, which I made overnight in the slow cooker.

And that's it for today. Be kind.

The antepenultimate day

When I get home from a trip I'm all revved up and peppy the day after, glad to be home, excited about getting back to normal, doing laundry and fixing dinner and – well, you get what I mean, don't you?

It's the day after the day after I get home when I crash and burn.

That would be today.

Yoga is on the agenda this morning and I hope to walk this afternoon, after the rain-rain-rain has moved out. I remember my dad asking, during a long stretch of back-to-back-to-back rain, "Think the rain will hurt the rhubarb?" I forgot to look at the rhubarb yesterday when I was out checking on the daffodils. I did notice some bright green cilantro in the herb garden, though, perhaps I should make chili for dinner.

Two other things on today's schedule: a dentist's appointment this morning. The denture adventure continues, heavy sigh. I believe a relining is in my future. I hate the damned thing, it's so uncomfortable. So there's that to not look forward to.

And the prison AA meeting tonight. Which really is something to look forward to.

Right now, I'm off to salute the sun, or at least the direction of the sun. Apologies for a kind of blah post. And before I forget it, here's a cause we can all get behind. Thanks for the awareness check, Audrey.

Y'all are the BEST!

Not that I needed the validation or anything, but it was lovely to read your supportive and uplifting comments yesterday. It was, indeed, a down day, and those happen every once in a while. I made the best of it, and will continue to do everything I can to eat healthfully, move gracefully and with intention (doesn't that sound all yoga-y?) and shoo those negative thoughts from my mind. With your help, of course. THANK YOU.

After I published yesterday's post I went to the drugstore for generic Claritin and an allergy eye drop, to treat whatEVER the hell happened to my eye on Friday at the garden center. I was standing at the potting bench, moving petunia plugs into larger pots, when suddenly my right eye began swelling. It was quite dramatic, actually, everyone there noticed it. I washed it out with clear, cold water and hoped for the best, but that best wasn't good enough. I needed an anti-allergy arsenal, because whatever it was was quickly spreading to the left eye.

I've had eye "issues" before. A couple of times it has been too-much-sun-related, and I once ended up in an urgent care facility in Florida because of it. My glasses are the transition kind, and I try to wear a visor or a hat when I'm in the sun, but sometimes even that doesn't help.

But it wasn't a sun issue on Friday, it was probably just something in the air that decided to attack me. My eyes are still swollen and red this morning, but the loratidine is helping and I'm not sleeping the day away, as I would if I were taking Benadryl, which is the other thing the pharmacist recommended.

I spent yesterday afternoon crossing things off my long garden work list. I weeded the herb bed and planted lots of stuff in there, both plants and seeds. There's one empty "slice" of the circular pie, which I will fill with lavender and bee balm, I think. It still looks pretty raggedy; definitely not photo-worthy!

After I told a friend about all the straw we've collected lately, she asked, "What are you going to do with it?" Well, here's what I've done so far:

All the onions have been weeded and straw-mulched. What a huge job that was. I got the electric fence up around the vegetable garden Friday morning (and thinned the apples) and fenced the blackberries yesterday afternoon. Now I need to trim around them, add some cardboard and put down a thick layer of straw.

Then it's back to the big garden for more weeding/yoga (downward dog really is the best weeding pose) and, maybe, if the rains stay away, some major planting. In addition to the 48 Amish Paste plants I bought yesterday, I have some other tomato plants and a few peppers, along with cucumber, zucchini, edamame and Italian green been seeds. Oh, and this celery plant, which I hope will grow in the ground as well as it's grown in a dish on the kitchen counter. I'm always willing to try something new in the garden. I've planted celery before, but always new plants, never the root end of a bunch from the grocery.

We shall see … I think it's important to keep trying to grow my own celery, although I haven't had much luck so far. Celery is #2 in the dirty dozen, and Tiny Kroger rarely has organic celery in stock.

Time for breakfast, then time for work. And one last thank you before I go.

THANK YOU!

Aging gracefully

Looks like the issue which has sucked up so much of our time here in the Middle of Nowhere may be resolving itself, albeit slowly. One of the things which has come up for me, watching this situation, is how very much I don't want to put my children through a similar one.

I'm not saying my progeny wouldn't be willing to step in and manage my affairs if I were suddenly incapacitated. My husband would, of course, be first in line, if he were able. But what if he and I were suddenly incapacitated at the same time? Any one of us can be impacted by a random and life-changing accident, at any time. Some things are out of our control.

But most things are well within our abilities to attend to, to be responsible for, to take care of … so someone else won't have to.

My friend whose birthday cake I made yesterday (isn't it pretty?) will be 60 this week. I will be 61 at the end of the month (May 25, mark your calendars now!). We were talking about how our 40s and 50s had been pretty okay, all in all. My 30s were chaotic – I got sober when I was 39 – but hers were good. But this new decade is, um, challenging.

She's just discovered a chronic health issue which needs to be treated for the rest of her life. Nothing that can't be managed, but she's having trouble adjusting her dosage and managing the side effects.

I'm hooked on Aleve because of joint and muscle pain in my hip and shoulder. My left foot swells dramatically if I forget the daily Lasix. Sometimes it's difficult to get in and out of my car.

My friend suggested I take up yoga. Again. I've been an irregular yoga student for decades, but have never managed to make it a habit. She has. She simply gets up, does her practice and moves – moves – into her very busy and active day. Every day.

I start my day right here, sitting on my ass in front of a screen, drinking coffee and listening to the birds. Which is fun and all, and even peaceful. I'm a lark and my husband is an owl, so I feel completely justified in taking these early morning hours for me, me, me.

But she's right about the yoga. My excuse for not doing it is that even some of the simplest poses are difficult for me. My bigness gets in the way. But if practicing yoga, even a little bit, will help me move into old age with more independence and without needing my children's assistance, then I need to pay attention to that.

Sadie says it so much better. I've just written a long, rambling post (so what's new?) when I should have just pointed you to my inspiration for today. (Be sure to read her "About" page, too.) Sadie is my friend's daughter and is the in-house yogi for the Clif Bar company. I'm so glad I learned in AA to keep an open mind and to remain teachable. I'd hate to be one of those old lady dogs who can't learn new tricks, especially from a smart young pup like Sadie.

The sun is up. Time to salute it.