Monday Moanings - January 12, 2015

A kinder, gentler week...

Phew! My goodness last week was a grueling one on the the world stage! The terrorist attacks in France while grabbing hearts and headlines, also spawned much fear and rhetoric. But then something more remarkable emerged - resolve. National leaders linked arms together to march through the streets of Paris yesterday. I honestly don't care who wasn't there in the front line. I'm betting the French security forces were thankful some of the more notable absentees were not there. The fact that this occurred at all is the amazing bit.

And yet as impressive as this was, the more heartening, the more reassuring thing to my mind was the huge number of ordinary people who walked streets not only in Paris but all over the world in solidarity with the people of France. Now that really was something to help me sleep at night and wake to go about my daily life free, confident and hopeful.

















I'd like a kinder, gentler week, if that is at all possible.
No sudden descents into terror and death;
no sharp twists and turns around fear and vulnerability;
just time to breathe deeply, ponder calmly and rest.

Perhaps spend a little time in a garden...

Can we all just have a good week? Please?

©2015 April Hoeller
(all photos were taken in Paris in May 2012)

Monday Moanings - January 13, 3014

Sputter, Lurch and Moan. Repeat.

It's just that kind of morning when my legs feel like cement blocks and I can't find the energy for anything but a whimper. I've been feeling less than optimal for a week now, feeling like I'm not quite running on all cylinders, feeling like some god-awful bug has begun to invade my body. I've dosed myself with loads of Vitamin C, Cold FX and extra echinacea. I've drunk a ship-load of ginger tea and I've motored on through the days.

Monday Moanings - Labour Day 2013

This is how I'm spending my Labour Day:

With word of caution:

And one request:

It's time to push off into a new week, a new month.
Wherever you are, have a great ride this week.

The Pity Party

I don't recall receiving an invitation to this loathsome affair, no pretty little note card festooned with balloons and sweets pushed its way into my mailbox. And I certainly did not offer to host this event nor offer my space as the venue. Apparently that doesn't matter, for here I am flopping around, a fish caught out at low tide.

Popular wisdom would encourage any of us stuck like this, to surrender all resistance and fully enter the experience. "Be in the moment," some would say. Well I don't like this moment, thank you very much and I can't possibly get out of it fast enough. I'm hoping the next wave will pick me up and carry me back out into the sea where all the action is. A good long walk in the forest, so wonderfully decked out in her autumn wardrobe, would go a long way to busting me outta here -- if only I could actually walk the distance.
I am struggling with tendonitis in my feet (the lower extremity equivalent of tennis elbow). First it was the extensor tendon in my left foot, followed shorty thereafter by the posterior tibial tendon in my right. I have endured physio for six weeks now. The guy does this thing called "frictioning the tendons". I have another name for it, a unique sequence of expletives that quite possibly would catch the attention of the cyber police. Let me just say that if you asked me to rate the pain on a scale of 1 to 10 that this frictioning inflicts, my response would be, "FORTY-BLOODY-SEVEN!"
I have iced my feet 3 times a day and faithfully done the prescribed exercises. I do solemnly confess though that I have not rested as I ought to have rested, and as a result there is no health in me, which is another way of saying recovery has been extremely slow.
For the past week however, I have repented from my waywardness and abstained from anything more than minimal walking. Sadly this sabbath appears to have put out the welcome mat for a pity party. Limited mobility it seems yields a whole lot of manure. For someone on the cusp of their sixtieth birthday, this is great fertile ground for reflections on personal morbidity and mortality, creeping decrepitude oozing from every crack and crevice.
Bring on the Pity Party!

Wait! Hang on  a sec -- I've actually accomplished something worthwhile today! I've not only taken time to write, but I've even posted on my blog!  That's TWO things done. Woo Hoo - I'm riding the wave...

Oh crap, I gotta go ice my feet. Sheesh!