Zooming past gloom

Or we do try; walks, talks, and tasty sushi did some good. Glad to see the end of January, looking forward to more sun next month. Early crocuses are breaking through the dank dark earth, which is too soggy to work without compacting it badly. The kids are taking off for a spot of climbing in a sunnier clime, and I do hope the break is restorative for them.

Low wattage

Opportunity for a climbing session arose, but it turned into a mileage exercise; better than nothing.
Reading a collection of short stories by the deceased Canadian writer, Carol Shields. It's weird, I think I skipped around in this collection when I first got it, and it didn't really take. This time, I'm appreciating her voice a great deal.

Another swirl of time

It seems to be escaping from one of our household members; all that can be done is to keep up the routine as much as we are able.
The fullest moon ever this year tonight, and we can't see it through the rain clouds. At least it made them a bit brighter.

Dental wellness

No problems, just the ongoing need for crowning before ancient fillings go tectonic; after seeing what happens if a person drifts into neglect of her mouth, I have vowed not to let that happen to me just because I might want something bright and shiny instead of solid teeth. Someone told me recently of knowing a person who got himself a brand new motorcycle, whilst his teeth were rotting; expenditure on the wrong kind of chopper. People from all social stratas can be idiots about this.
A bit of time left over after the mouth maintenance, so I drove across town to the kids' gym for some bouldering; an hour's worth did me in. Two young guys, probably volunteers, were doing their best to manage a large group of what looked like 8 or 9 year old girls, who were appallingly unruly. I would have been tempted to have them practice knot tying on one another, as well as the famous mountain gag, with colorful bandanas wound around those shrieking mouths.

Tempis sucks

Learned the day after it happened that a local place in which we've had delicious meals and beverages closed for good; had I known this was coming, I would have stopped by for a farewell toast. It isn't my habit to stop by a bar in the afternoon, even if the place looked inviting after a workout, so I passed it by. The spot where it existed has housed a few places over the years we've been here, but this last incarnation was the most fun. I spoke with one of the owners today, who remarked that another establishment was moving in, something that "fits the neighborhood better." I told him his place had suited us just fine, and he said not everyone would agree. Made me wonder who around here has such lofty pretensions; perhaps it wasn't continental enough.

uses for stale chocolate

When life gives you stale-looking chocolate, make fresh-looking sauce out of it; then hide it real good.
Finished re-reading Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus, and am sorry it is over. Could have spent another couple of days seeing what would happen once the main cast of characters made it back to jolly old England, as the twentieth century dawned.
Furnace filters of unusual size have been procurred, so there will be clean air for at least another year or so.

Unremarkable

And that's fine, in some cases; no illnesses, no dramas, we just putt along through the day. Running an errand, I happen to go over a freeway bridge which affords a sweeping view in all compass directions. Despite no rain to speak of at the moment, there's a huge transparent-looking rainbow west and north, over the lake; huge swathes of cloud banks edge the horizon, no mountains in sight. It's a lovely view, despite the freeway roaring beneath my feet.

Gray land

Unexpected boost out of a dismal-looking day; another friend needed a climbing session before the next week began, so I got the other half of yesterday's. Gym not as crowded, atmosphere somehow more conducive to effort; we had fun. Hail pelted away on the roof, and it was cold and nasty outside, but we were oblivious.
Things all right on the home front thus far.

Jupiter's gravity

Was in the air this morning, weighing down upon me as I climbed; cut short the sesssion and wrote it off.
Evening party with acquaintances and new folks, in celebration of one person's professional retreading. May she find some stability and work. Several people there were in between jobs, and at various points of the effects; some minding pennies, others still energized to set off in a new direction. The wrong people are suffering from the ongoing economic disaster.

Stimulating

As in elder workout, hairdoing, walking and talking; we fly through a blah looking day. Late evening meet up with friends and new acquaintance, for pizza, wine and passionate discussions, the kind one friend in particular prefers.

Would it were endless

Sweetly sunny early day, good for airing nonegenarians; we were almost too warm in our winter coats. Much walking about for supplies, including elusive furnace filters that can't be bought at the local hardware store, as we've done for years with our own heating source. The ball now rests in the purportedly capable hands of a fellow who procures heating supplies for all kinds of operations. He quoted me the price of the current filter, which was enough for a moderately-priced dinner out; efficent thing, but ridiculously costly.
But the sunshine wasn't endless, and palled down before sunset. Sweet repast with beloved spouse later.

D-lightful

Satisfactory climbing session, sunny skies, fairly cheerful people; must be getting closer to spring. The Dungeness crab looked tasty, and its price was right at the local supermarket. With herbed, home made bread giant croutons and salad, we had a deal.

Enfolded again

Just slogging along, trying to maintain fitness; very tired of the viruses flitting about, time for the D3 fish oil to kick in.
Re-reading Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus; it's as delightful as it was the first time.

D from the skies

We could peel off a layer during walks, it was comparatively so warmish. Spoke briefly with a woman in a little store who said that after twenty years on the West Coast, mostly in San Francisco and up here, she had had enough cold rain. She wants to move back to the other Washington, where she has family. She looked so sad and sounded depressed, you had to wonder what else was driving her out of the area.
Pleasant evening repast with the beloved spouse, whose horn playing is improving apace.

Dragging on up

The invaders seem to be relenting; workouts seem a little easier. Will try again tomorrow. Big winds predicted through the night, may we not get any of California's winter storms.

Frustration

Yet again, the virus interfered with my exercising; every time energy is expended, the price comes thundering down.
Someone has put up an auction item on E-Bay which is hilarious and perhaps will be useful: A Pat Robertson voo doo doll, proceeds of which go to the Haiti relief funds.

Unrelenting

Dreariness, soddenness, grayness, all on the menu most of the day; we got a wee break for hairdoing, the only walk we could manage. Hard to see the images from Haiti; the little ones especially wrench the heart. They never asked to be brought into such a hellhole. Robertson,Limbaugh and all other such rightwingers should be dropped onto the island and made to search for bodies to make up for the foul stuff they've been spewing.

Schleppeday

Battled on against the urge to not move, and felt better for it; despite rainy, depressing skies, soggy feet, it felt cheerier. Most objectives were accomplished out and around; swell late dinner with my menfolk. To bed, tired but more sanguine.

Starting over

Whacked again by the boomerang virus; the day blurs by. Fresh air seems to help, so we keep as much of our regular routine as possible. Gray skies, wind and rain. The earthquake in Haiti is a nightmare, even from afar. Watching a bit of the news on the British station, the horror was compoounded by one of the manifestations of overpopulation and its ensuing poverty: Les bon bons du terre, or "dirt cookies." In the slums in Haiti, huge shanty towns full of half-starved people, women buy dirt trucked in from the countryside to produce dirt cookies. They're dried mud, and sold for a nickel apiece to mostly children. It's sometimes all they get to eat.
This island needed family planning long ago, and the religious groups which have been there proselytising and not providing birth control should be thrown out. Now they have had the worst kind of population control.

Temporary relief

A brief but pleasant climbing session opened my sinuses; wonder if it is a cure.
Keep trying to get into novels by Antunes, but he is just not engaging me right now. No doubt it's due to the congestion clogging my head...

Boomerang bug

Just when you think it's over, this virus slams back. Most irritating. Just hope the rest of the household isn't affected.
Buckets and lashings of rain, mild temperatures that still aren't pleasant; supposedly the planet is screwed up due to diagonally moving jet streams. That'll work as well as any other explanation.

more worked

From a routine trip to the plain old workout joint; wonder what this portends. One person had a good kayak outing; Some of us are so tired we hie ourselves off to bed quite early. It's already raining and miserable again.

Worked

Bouldering can use you up in no time; after a little less than two hours' worth of trying every problem that looked possible for me, I finally fell off one and realized I couldn't manage any more. It's strange when you have a disconnect between brain and body, the brain still having fun and urging the body to carry on; the adreneline has to stop fountaining forth, and there's a distinct feeling of disappointment. Then reality kicks in, with all compass points feeling fatigued, and it's time to go home. My friend stayed with her weiner dog, who slept on my lap on the way down to the gym, she with her lover and the dog with his somewhat resistant little female playmate. They were well-trained little animals; usually I can't abide dachshunds and their owners, having had lousy experience of them in the main.
I got to talk a bit with the guy who had designed and built the walls at this new gym, as well as designed and produced holds for the routes. My ride home was with several men who own and/or manage climbing gyms; interesting to hear about the business. It's a much more fun version of a gym than your usual weights and aerobics joint.

Vamoosed

That's what the day did with itself. It snuck right out the front door, which we didn't use much. Fine evening relaxing with beloved spouse, and curiosity about an outing planned for tomorrow; a friend's boyfriend is opening a branch of the climbing gym which is completely committed to bouldering. Sure hope they have enough little old lady routes to keep me busy.

A breathing moment

Before more bouts of cold rain, during which I got my walk abouting done without opening an umbrella; not much was happening out and about, other than observing the demise of a small urban garden store. The few times I've stopped by to see what they had, I was the only customer. I've been wondering if they would survive, and they haven't, their "store closing" sign hanging forlornly nears piles of unsold Christmas trees. Not the first one to fold in the general area, and I would rather see little places like this one rather than overpriced clothing stores.
Snowdrops have begun to shoot upwards, and I saw a few of last year's primroses trying to bloom.

Room to move

We hunkered for a while, then got out for a couple of nonegenarian style walks, complete with friendly neighbors. Nonegenarian is reading some Bellow short stories, and appreciates his style.
Her spirits seem to be rising a bit, as the virus relinquishes its hold upon her.
Nice evening walk with the beloved spouse, and a spicy dish to warm us up. It was getting cold again.

achy breaky climbing

Several people at the gym were commenting on the general heaviness of the atmosphere, feeling like they had extra weights hanging off them while climbing. One of those big gravity kind of mornings; muscles ached with the effort.
Hairdo day for our nonegenarian, which is always kind of festive; one of our chatty neighbors was there, blaring out her rather tactless remarks to the general audience. One of them was addressed to me, but there's little point in retorting to even things up. Avoidance is the best policy, if possible.

Soaked again

Horrible, terrible, not much good about it kind of day; just walking somewhere for a bit, even under an umbrella, got drenched, due to heavy mist that won't be contained. Indoor working out for our nonegenarian, and a spicy pizza later for comfort; maybe tomorrow will have some redeeming qualities.

patchy

Bit of a climbing party, meeting up with a couple of my friends; the gym became increasingly jammed, humid with human exhalations, even, and we didn't stay a long time. Good to see that people are trying to keep some semblance of fitness.
Quiet evening at home, and early to bed.

01/02/10

A palindromic date; big deal. Some weird-ass mathematician was carrying on about it, saying stuff like,"Numbers are like people." We'd perhaps be in better shape if people behaved more like numbers...
Kind of a blank of a day, choring around, self-maintenance abounding; two gigantic kale plants survived the cold snap, so I may try to do some greens.

Bonus session

One of my friends is hanging out with the owner of the gym, who can open it any time he pleases; she invited me out there for our own little climbing party. Nice to see them; they're busy people.
Football afternoon for the nonegenarian, who admired the Buckeyes' efforts. Even for people indifferent to sports, as I am, it was fun to watch.
Pleasant evening repast with the beloved spouse; the year has begun rolling.