Day 66: Auld Lang Syne

Decades ago, when I was in my mid-twenties, I talked to an associate who ran six miles everyday.

"How can you do that?" I asked.

"If I don't, I feel the same as when I don't brush my teeth, only it's my whole body," she replied, with a look that said to me, "and when was the last time you brushed your teeth?"

Okay, so I've rarely been exercise fit that I know of.  The apex was when I was a sophomore in high school.  I was riding my one-speed to school, four miles into town for sure, and probably another two to the school.  I was in track for a few weeks at the same time, doing fartleks for most of the time.    At the end of the term, I came in third or forth in the long distance run (you should have seen the look on the P.E. teacher's face), did all the sit-ups in the allotted time, ran the hurdles and successfully made it over the last one.  My stomach was concave and I felt strong and energetic.

So here I am now, decades older, more weight, less muscle.  But still, after my water exercise class and the short stroll I had in Juniper Park, my body feels the way my mouth does after using a water pick.


My high school.  Photo from http://www.lakeview.k12.or.us/schools/lakeview_high_school_daly_middle_school.php

Day 65: Thanksgiving Day walk

So it takes me forever to deposit my birthday checks.  What better time than when the sidewalk project is done, and I won't have to walk around heavy equipment and fencing?

The new sidewalk is on the east side of Third Street, clean and clear of debris and other pedestrians. The wind came from the south, and had a bitter chill in it, the sky was grey, but there was no threat of rain.  The lower foothills of the Cascades were dimly visible, and I wondered if the mountains were getting snow or just fog.  There was hardly any traffic, due to the holiday, and the parking lots had few cars.  The Factory Outlet mall's parking lot was completely empty, every store shuttered.  At the shopping center next to it, there was only one red car parked near Ross and Jo Anne's, and those stores were also closed. Both places had restaurants, both closed.  I wondered if this was how North Korea was like on a daily basis.

On my way back from the bank, I stopped at the Butler Market store and got the mail.  There were three or four cars in the lot, but the only person in the store was the clerk.  We wished each other a Happy Thanksgiving.  She was going to celebrate hers tomorrow, as one of her sons was going to his wife's family, and the other was going to his girl friend's; Friday they would all be together.  I felt a twinge of guilt for leaving her alone, but someone else came in as I was leaving.

At Fred Meyer, the store was how it usually is at 3 p.m. Thanksgiving Day--pretty empty.  There was a dad with three boys picking out produce, a woman dressed in black with a white faux fur vest and heavy gold jewelry on her wrists and neck, an old couple, a few singles of various ages, a group of three or four girls.  The fresh fish area was empty and cleaned, as was the hot deli area.  I picked up a couple of turkey baguette sandwiches that were on mark-down. I went to the greeting card area but decided not to go roaming in the as-good-as-empty store. Someone announced every ten minutes that the store would be closing at four, and at three-thirty there was the dire warning that the store would not only close at 4, but that the cash registers would be automatically turning off very soon afterwards--I'm not sure if it was five or ten minutes later.  I visited with the cashier briefly about my time working there, and left before the three-forty announcement.

Day 64: Cynthia

Okay, her name's not Cynthia.  I thought it was when I first met her, decades ago.  She's a celebrity of sorts here, and is either a supervisor or a lead instructor at the facility, I'm not sure what her job title is.  Cynthia is easy to spot, as she's blonde, thin, always wears pink, always cheerful and energetic.  Her voice is sounds ragged, as if from all of her years of announcing.  If the South Sister were to blow up, and the forests caught fire, and we all had to flee the devastation, she'd be, "Power run, people!  Knees up and kick those feet forward!  Swing out the stress!  Both arms to the left, now arms to the right, swing and step! swing and step!" and hundreds of years later, when Plaster of Paris molds are made of the hollow forms, there would be uncovered thousands of Bendites, facing east, each standing on one foot and the other straight out, arms up.

Cynthia was substituting at the class today.   I got there late, but still got a good workout.



Yep, South Sister, she's going to blow one of these days, any day now.  Soon.  Keep watching.
Image from https://www.brasada.com/bend-oregon-adventures/best-bend-oregon-hikes.php

Day 63: Kick in the pants

Monday morning, again.

Had my swim bag ready to go in the morning, and made myself late by reading "Girl Genius."

Go to the class late, or get a later class and risk not going?

I thought of this, by Rohit Giri at Quora:

Self discipline is the ability to get yourself to take action:-

• to do what you need to do
• regardless of your physical, mental or emotional state.

Everything you want in your life, everything you want to have and do depends on your ability to get yourself to take the necessary actions to achieve your goals, whether you feel like it or not, which is why the developing extraordinary self-discipline is the most important commitment you can make to yourself right now.

And then I thought, "Parking spot!"

So I went.  Forty minutes of swim fitness.

Yesterday on my way to church, I learned of this book, "Peak:  Secrets from the new science of expertise," by K.Anders Ericsson.  It's at the library, so I will pick it up this afternoon, see if I can treat myself to wellness.


And for today's picture, a page from the adventures of "Girl Genius"!

Oops, it won't show.  So here's the link:

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ggmain/strips/ggmain20161118a.jpg

Day 62: Damp, drizzly November in my soul

Still having trouble digesting the election.  (I've been doing yoga at home, but I didn't think it was enough to write about, even though it takes about a half an hour, more or less, and I'm able to move from upward dog to downward dog, albeit clumsily.)

And today I just had to make time to write a post at another site, and thereby made myself late for the water fitness class. This session the  class emphasized the arms.  The music was unremarkable, but the final slow-down moments, followed by a noodle float were comforting in a way.


After class, I did some water-walking.  Did I feel better? a bit.  Then I found out I needed to get an okay from the monitor, who wasn't there, to do water-walking at that time, and there was a misunderstanding, and so forth, and, yeah.  So I did the hot tub, sauna, showered and got dressed.

I went into the facility area, where Karen was meeting with a supplier.  She and the building facility guy (I've seen him at meetings all year, and still don't know his name) gave me the okay to go up to the crow's nest and see what it looks like.  It's an office area with three or four computer monitors at a U-shaped desk, pretty much how the shared desks are at the facility trailer, with a window that looks out into the wall to the north, and another that looks out to the park to the east.  It's accessed by a flight of stairs.  It had been a storage area, but more offices were needed and so now it exists.

After leaving the building, I went for a stroll through Juniper Park, hoping that the fresh and and sunlight would do me good.  I pondered the counsel I was given Sunday--that this is a period of time where nothing can be done, but to endure and do well with the space and the people around me.  The sunlight gradually faded as the sky grew cloudy during my meditative journey.

I briefly visited with another co-worker who was unloading his plumbing rig, and then found one of the seasonal landscapers.  I felt a bit cheered after the visits, but it was short-lived. My fight-or-flight mode was still stuck in the "on standby" position, which isn't good at all--it's very stressful, and I tend to over-eat while waiting to see if it go one way or the other.  It was just as well for me that the little local grocery store was closed, or I would have eaten its pastries. I went to Costco, has a slice of pizza, and came home just as the drizzle started and the melancholy returned.

https://bendfamilyparktour.wordpress.com/tag/juniper-swim-and-fitness-center/
 

Day 61: A long walk

Today is Election Day, and I have the jitters.  As I was driving by Farewell Bend Park, I decided to take a walk on the river trail, then when I walked under the Bill Healy Bridge, decided to go the other way instead.

So I went on the trail to the footbridge, crossed over to Riverbend Park, took the crosswalk by the Bend Parks and Recreation District Office, down to the Les Schwab Amphitheater, past the Art Station that was across the street, and used the rest room at McKay Park.  I saw some of the my parks co-workers with their trucks, two were from the shop, and one was from facilities, but they were busy and didn't see me.

I don't skateboard, but going up the path to the White Water Park overlook, I wished that I did.  I looked over to Miller's Landing Park to my left, but turned to my right to go under the Colorado Bridge via the pedestrian tunnel, walked to the Old Mill District, passed the flagged pedestrian bridge and went on to the Columbia Bridge pedestrian tunnel, exiting the Old Mill District.

I walked past the condos and into Farewell Bend Park, and went the length of it, back to my car.

I have no idea how long it took, nor how long the walk was, but I felt good.  No aches, no heavy breathing, just a gentle tiredness.

The Art Station

Day 60: Back to the Pool

I've been doing yoga and some free weights, but that's been about it since my season ended two weeks ago.

Today I made sure to get to the swimming pool for the 7:30 morning class.  I was so early I had my pick of parking spots, and was greeted by my former co-worker Karen, who had transferred over to the swimming pool in June.

The dressing room still had the scent of cleaning chemicals (nice!) and had only one or two people in it.  I spent about 15 minutes water-walking, warming up, when the instructor appeared about 7:25.  She was older than I've seen working there, and her playlist was in honor of Veteran's Day, which will be on Friday.  The pool was full, but not crowded, as half the group had on flotation belts and were in the deep end.

The music started with "(Coming to) America" by Neil Diamond, and there were some old sounding World War I songs that I don't recall ("Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" was not one of them"), the Andrew Sisters' "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Chattanooga Choo Choo," and a few others that I didn't recognize, with the recovery at the end including a band playing "Amazing Grace" and some other slower pieces.  We did yoga stretches in the water for the last few minutes, which was different than the slow stretching exercises of past visits.

After warming up in the spa, I spent a few minutes with my custodial supervisor, Glen, and again with Karen and got a glimpse of the Juniper project that had been going on all summer and they explained the broken door at the Fish Bowl.  (One of the night crew accidentally broke it with the floor machine.)

In the dressing room, Karen was mopping up the water as I finished dressing.  We had some more shop talk before I headed out.

I feel nicely wrung out.  My center of gravity is finally up in my torso.

 For more about the song "Chattanooga-choo-choo," click here.


More on the Andrew Sisters

Photo from the Andrew Sisters' website

(