Beach Therapy

“It’s hard for me to put into words why I like the beach so much. Everything about it is renewing for me, almost like therapy...Beach Therapy”
-Amy Dykens

Jacob's reading week is coming to an end. He will be returning to Guelph tomorrow. The week has flown by. Our last full day together has been spent in companionable quiet. Jacob is working hard on an assignment that is due on his return to classes. I've been wrapping up loose ends and trying to get organized for our trip on Sunday. Our week in Playa del Carmen is finally here. Our Sunday morning departure should have us on the beach by mid-afternoon. I am so much looking forward to feeling the sun on my shoulders and the sand under my feet. Given that, of late, there are problems with sharks in the shallow water, I don't expect I will spend time in the ocean. But I will enjoy my walks along the shore and save my swimming time for the resort pool. I've downloaded ten books to my e-reader but I think I'll load a few more on just to be sure I have enough. I'm planning to take my netbook so I can blog while I'm away.

I am tired though significantly recovered from the hectic day I had yesterday. My dentist sent me flowers today as an apology for the disastrous appointment I suffered through. Nice to know I wasn't over-reacting. I like to think I'm a good sport but next time I'll be saying "no" to being used as the training guinea pig.

I wish you March week that comes in like a lamb. Hasta luego amigos!

No Time to Breathe

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom."
- Thomas Carlyle

I hit the wall last night when I got home from a clinic board meeting after ten o'clock. I was tired and stressed. Even after watching an hour of American Idol starting at eleven, I couldn't turn my brain off in my otherwise aching body. I tossed and turned and thought of all the things I needed to do today. Sometime in the wee hours, I finally fell asleep.

I started my day with an appointment at the Village Spa. My poor feet have been sadly neglected. I haven't had any inclination to get pedicured in these past few months - especially when I started to lose my blackened toenails, courtesy of the 60k walk I did in September. But as Merv and I are headed to Mexico on the weekend, I bit the bullet and went to try and have my feet put in some semblance of decency. It hurt. When I left the spa I headed to the grocery store to buy food for the gathering of ten friends Jacob was hosting tonight. Then, I was off to the dentist.

My scheduled hygiene appointment and minor filling turned into a training session for the dental staff on dental damming techniques. The filling which should have taken about ten minutes, took an hour. By the time the dentist was done, my jaw was aching, my tongue was cut and I was a nervous wreck. I didn't stay for the hygiene appointment. The staff felt so bad about my experience that they would not accept payment for the filling. That says something about how truly bad the experience was.

After I left the clinic, I picked up Jacob, Sara and her friend JJ and we headed off to lunch. An hour later, I drove them to meet their friends at their old high school. When I got home, I tackled some pressing work that I was on a short deadline to meet. While doing that Geraldine came by to borrow my carpet steamer. While sharing a cup of tea with Ger, Sara called and requested that I pick her up and drive her to another school so she could watch her brother Carlo's basketball game. After I dropped her off, I gassed up my car and ran it through the car wash so that it would be presentable when I picked Stan and his mother up to drive them to the theatre. After that excursion, I came home to complete some other work that needed to be done by tomorrow morning and then prepare dinner for all the kids. Clean up duties ensued. It is now after eleven and there is still work to do. Most of Jacob's friends have left but there are still a few remaining. Once they go, I will do a cursory pickup downstairs. Dear God, I'm tired.

Enchanting Billy

"I can't really explain it,
I haven't got the words
It's a feeling that you can't control
I suppose it's like forgetting, losing who you are
And at the same time something makes you whole
It's like that there's a music playing in your ear
And I'm listening, and I'm listening and then I disappear.
- Lyrics to Electricity from Billy Elliot

Yesterday was a full day. I had coffee with Sara in the morning, picked Jacob up from Guelph in the afternoon and went to the new production of Billy Elliot at the Canon Theatre in the evening. Billy Elliot is simply spectacular. I was enthralled from the beginning of the play to the end. Four young actors rotate through the role of Billy. Last night, Billy Elliot was played by a twelve-year-old ballet dancer. I laughed. I cried. I held my breath. I loved it.

I also loved getting home at the end of the evening to find Jacob laying on the couch watching television. I loved going to bed knowing he was sleeping in the room across the hall. I loved making his breakfast this morning and shopping for groceries to make his favorite foods for dinner tonight. My baby is home. Life is good.

Bead Therapy

“Sometimes you've got to let everything go - purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything . . . whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”
- Tina Turner

My day at the Human Rights Tribunal yesterday left me frazzled, stressed and convinced our legal system is in serious need of an overhaul. The case WTCLS has been caught up in these last four years was postponed once again but only after a useless and frustrating morning. I became free of the situation by about 2:00 which left me enough time to grocery shop, wrap Merv's Valentine's Day present, do some house cleaning, spend a half-hour with Brian and Geraldine's new grand daughter and still be back in time to make Merv a special dinner. By the end of the evening I was exhausted. Wound tighter than a drum, I wasn't able to unwind enough to get to bed before 1:00 A.M.

After a long, sound sleep I woke this morning feeling much refreshed. Gail and I made a trip downtown to Queen Street so Gail could buy some Swaroski hearts and I could do some bead therapy. I didn't go with something particular in mind but rather thought I would try to find something that caught my eye. The trip wasn't a resounding success in that I didn't come home with a lot of stuff. But I did find some bright yellow seed pearls, the colour of the sun, and the purple seed pearls I've been looking for since last summer. I'm excited. For the first time ever, I'm going to start a beading project with the express purpose of making something for myself. I've made a lot of jewelry these past few years. I've given most of it away or sold it to raise money for breast cancer charities. A couple of times I've kept something for myself. But, I've never started out with the intention of making something to keep. I've been thinking about those yellow pearls; how they will look with a couple of my favorite summer dresses and my yellow patent leather pumps. Tomorrow I will start stringing. I think I'm going to enjoy this project.

Cupcake Decorating 101

"When you look at a cupcake, you've got to smile."
~ Anne Byrn

I've rather been neglecting my blog these past couple weeks. There have been so many demands on my time and yet nothing much of interest to write about. An ugly lawsuit at the clinic and annual planning for the clinic and Willow have been sucking up an inordinate amount of time. I did take some time out of my hectic (yet sadly unpaid) work schedule to visit Jacob in Guelph on Friday. He looks wonderful, his hair now a little longer than brush cut, his eyes bright and spirits high. Unfortunately, he came down with a cold, just in time to create a little misery for his coming week of midterms.

I spent the day yesterday sorting through thousands of pages of documents which will be presented at the clinic's hearing at the Human Rights Tribunal tomorrow. A lousy way to spend a Saturday. But Merv very graciously did the grocery shopping yesterday and made a delicious meal last night. It was an unexpected and much appreciated gesture. Today, I took the whole day off to play. I went to cupcake decorating class in Ameliasburg in Prince Edward County.

Hosted by From The Farm Cooking School, the event was more of a play session than a learning session. In fact, I didn't learn anything at all. I did, however, have access to a whole lot of cupcakes (all white), a ton of icing and food dye to make it any colour I wanted, modeling chocolate, sprinkles, candy, piping bags and fancy tips. After two hours of decorating, I left with a baker's dozen cupcakes in various designs and colours. I don't know what I'm going to do with all those cupcakes. Merv isn't a cupcake enthusiast and as much as I'd like to, I don't think my hips or my blood sugar levels will be served by me eating them all. I wonder if the judge would think it an attempt at bribery if I brought a dozen to the hearing tomorrow.

Much Ado About Nothing

"The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it." ~Patrick Young

I went to bed last night after staying up late to hear the latest dire prediction for the winter storm that was supposed to overtake us last night. Words like "the storm of the century" and "the city will be paralyzed" and "stay at home and off the roads if at all possible" echoed in my head as I drifted off. Earlier in the day I went to the store and laid in groceries for a few days as well as a supply of bottled water. I never buy bottled water but after hearing reports of frozen water mains bursting with the result of little or no water available to nearby residents, I decided it was prudent to make the investment. The truth is, I always have enough food in my cupboards and freezer to feed a small army for a week or two. But I shopped just the same.

When I got up this morning I was struck by how quiet everything was. No traffic noise. No hammering or building noise from the renovations next door. No noise from plows or trucks. I went to the window expecting to see a winter wonderland. So I was really surprised to see pretty much nothing. A light dusting of snow on the front porch. Some drifts on the upper balcony show little accumulation, but rather just the reconfiguring of the snow that was already there. It is gray and overcast but there is only sporadic light snow falling. No high winds.

Jacob sent a text message. The University of Guelph, like many Toronto schools is closed for a snow day. But there is no snow on the ground in Guelph. Jacob is going to take the day to work on an assignment he needs to do by Friday but was worried he wouldn't be able to find the time to get done. Guess he doesn't need to worry about that now. I gave him a recipe to cook spareribs in his slow cooker so he decided he would do that this morning and share a good, hearty dinner with his housemates tonight.

It is Groundhog Day and the groundhog didn't see his shadow this morning. I hope that truly is a harbinger of an early spring. It is also the birthday of my dear friend Nancy. So, happy birthday Nancy. Stay warm and enjoy your day.