All the Things in Everyday Ramblings
- March 19, 2020, 9:53 a.m.
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- Public
From Tuesday. Happy early Equinox! Fall and cooler temps for hunkering down, spring and blissfully longer days. They say this is the earliest equinox in 124 years. Along with everything else in our lives, another exception to the norms we are used to.
This is a post snow picture of the park that in 1918 during that pandemic housed the county hospital. One wonders what our hospitals now will look like in 100 years. One can hope there will be parks there too.
I am doing fine but I realized, after a bout of irritability yesterday, that I am not as relaxed as perhaps I could be considering that other than being prudent and doing all the things, the social distancing things, the hunkering down things, there is nothing much else I can do to make the situation better.
To address the grumpiness I did a physical yoga practice and then a calming grounding meditation practice and at the end of it I understood that the reason I am grumpy is that everything I am doing is self-directed. One of the things working and teaching and getting out there taking care of things does is in the routine of it you do what you need to do.
I don’t get up and say, oh, shall I teach today? How shall I teach, who shall I teach, where shall I teach, can I teach? What new tools do I need to learn to teach?
Instead it is, okay, today is so and so day and I am teaching at this place at this time and addressing these issues and my mind is preoccupied with solving problems and keeping my commitments and the totally random joys and challenges of dealing with what arises in these routine circumstances.
For all of us that has been, umm, excuse my language, blown to hell.
There is a lot of pressure in the yogic community to produce classes online. So far I am resisting but I also know my students are not practicing on their own, at least most of them. They come to classes for a reason
So as I build a structure to hang my days on that includes writing and keeping in touch and eating and exercising on my own I need to keep in mind that every day it would be good to have a big block of zone out time. Time where I can go on automatic and not think to much about how and why and when I am doing something.
Carlo says that works for him. 15 minutes of rambunctious play, a half hour of uninterrupted leg sitting on time and more frequent food breaks.
Both the cats approve completely of having me home more and available to wait on them more. I have managed to get Diego’s puking to around once every three or four days. I tested out a carpet cleaning paste of salt, vinegar and borax last week and although it doesn’t get every particle of stain out of the rug it helps a lot. Mostly though he is throwing up on washable things and I am grateful for that.
I have a daily alarm set for 6AM so that I do my pushups then. I am writing in 750 Words every morning. I get my cardio in as early as possible in various ways.
And then it is a free for all of mostly puttering and listening to endless podcasts and checking in with a few folks.
On Monday afternoon I did do some cleaning and sorting and organizing and one of the things I did, big step, only 4 months into retirement, is throw away 12 years of steno books with daily work notes in them.
It is instructive to think it took me that long to accept in a deep way that the change is permanent; I am not going back.
We are not going back either. When we get through this, certain things will be different. Who knows what they will be?
The key now is to get through and be kind. Prudent and kind.
Those are the things that matter.
Last updated March 19, 2020
woman in the moon ⋅ March 19, 2020
Besides the distancing and the hunkering, there is always the hand washing!!! And singing. Wish me a happy holiday please.
noko woman in the moon ⋅ March 19, 2020 (edited March 19, 2020)
Edited
Will do. I have also discovered that if I soap up, turn the water off and walk to the front door and back doing all the hand washing moves (getting in a few steps) it takes about 18 seconds to get back to the sink before I rinse and dry. :)
woman in the moon noko ⋅ March 19, 2020
Brilliant walking and hand washing.
I just got a Fitbit and anticipated steps and stuff and the nudges to make you get out of your chair and I can't get it to work. Frustrating and a waste of money.
Say ---- talking free stuff... would you ever consider posting one of your 750 entries here? I know and love the difference between here and there - one is private, one isn't - but I'd love to see how you are there. You can edit or pick a non-revelatory one.
Either way, you write plenty here and it's all good. Thank you.
noko woman in the moon ⋅ March 19, 2020
Well I write in pretty great detail what I call “the puke report” for Diego on 750 Words and I don’t use paragraphs. Don’t think I want to share either of those here.
woman in the moon noko ⋅ March 19, 2020
That's ok. Gives me some inspiration. Not the puke report - right now anyway - but the no paragraphs. I did for a while and kind of liked doing it write 7 or 8 100 word paragraphs. It made you write MORE than a short one and LESS than a long one. When I go back to read - seldom but once in a while - I like the 100 word paragraph ones. Also for a while when I was trying to write every day and trying to write something slightly significant, I would end each entry with a subject/title for the next day. That lead to more focused writing too. I enjoy that site - was surprised it was there when I went back and seems to have a kind of universal commitment to privacy and no advertising. Its search function works well too. (Here too)
woman in the moon ⋅ March 19, 2020
Congratulations on getting rid of the work notebooks. Were you temped to keep just one as an example?
noko woman in the moon ⋅ March 19, 2020
Not really. Once I made the decision it was so long, been good to know you.
Zipster ⋅ March 19, 2020
It took me years to throw away my work address book. I do ally threw away all but the most filled one. Then one day, I realized a lot of those businesses and people had moved on. Done.
My animals are thrilled that my husband is home. Another person to attend to them. Happily it gives me a bit of a break.
Etaine ⋅ March 20, 2020
I was not aware this was the earliest equinox for over 100 years. So interesting about how everything changes
Marg ⋅ March 21, 2020
Amen to that! And hopefully when we learn to do that on a daily basis we’ll carry on doing it after all this is over :)
How did you manage to decrease Diego’s puking?
noko Marg ⋅ March 21, 2020
Can I just say, your notes are so welcome! Thank you. Very small incremental things. Before I get out of bed I feed him (and Carlo) a tiny bit of dry food or a couple of treats. That stops the acid in his tummy from churning. Then I take his water away when I feed him his morning wet food. He starts asking for water usually about 30 to 40 minutes after. I don't feed him wet food and dry food at the same time. When I feed him dry food it is (mostly) a brand for sensitive stomachs (but I have to be careful because that food gives Carlo the runs). And I don't feed either of them the pate food any more. They get grilled beef, chicken, turkey and fish. This whole thing is crazy making but it seems to help.
Marg noko ⋅ March 21, 2020
That’s really useful thanks. Bailey started being sick randomly this last couple of weeks but I’m not sure why. It’s only like once a day and not every day so not too worrying and I’m just monitoring it really at the moment. He’s only on dry food - he’s got a really sensitive stomach - and he just eats when he wants because it’s not very much - he’s never been a big eater. I did try him on a wet food for seniors (he’s 17) but he just went off it eventually - I was throwing away more than he was eating. It’s a nightmare when you’re feeding more than one isn’t it? I remember that when I had the three of them and had to limit Willow’s food - it was basically impossible! :)
noko Marg ⋅ March 21, 2020
Based on what my vet told me, it seems the one big concern is dehydration. If he is drinking water every day that is a good sign.
Marg noko ⋅ March 21, 2020
Ah that's good then - he's certainly doing that. Although he's on Loxicom daily now and I think that increases their water consumption as well as far as I understand. He gets so stressed when we go to the vets that I'm trying to avoid unnecessary visits but I try and take him regularly to get his claws clipped so he gets a good going over then :)