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I went for a hike yesterday that took every bit of me. Before lunch we took a quick trip to Tiffany Falls. It is about 1.2 km and it was an easy walk. After lunch we went on the “long hike.” We went to Sulphur Springs road and we were walking on a loop that circles around the Hermitage Ruins and the Rail Trail Station. What a gorgeous trail with stunning vistas, moss-covered rocks breaking away from the edges of the trail, old forests and wide open meadows. This trail has everything. The sign said it was 3.4 km and I think it was true, except that we missed a turn and got lost. I have had some struggles with walking. In 2010 I hurt my SI joint and then I had a really bad fall. After I thought I had almost recovered, I was walking across the street one day and my leg stopped walking. I was essentially stranded in the middle of the road. I recovered partially, but have been compromised physically since then. Two summers ago we were discussing whether or not we needed to buy a wheelchair as back-up. I believed at that time I would probably never go on a walk again. I had MRIs and saw a specialist. It was unclear what was going on, but I assumed my condition was progressive and I would have to make the best of it. About 18 months ago I lost weight and worked with a nutritionist who hypothesized that I was allergic to corn. I cut corn from my diet and started to recover. I got better. I was able to walk much better last summer but I still wasn’t able to hike. I felt cautious and afraid of strenuous activity. I didn’t venture out much. In February I hired a trainer and started to work out. We are planning a trip to Europe this summer and I set a goal of walking 5 miles before we leave in July....
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Question: How are you feeling about your trip? Anonymous Answer: I am feeling unsettled about our trip. I am feeling excited, wound up, a little bit edged. I am feeling a strange longing for the warm, bursting-with-flavor summer in Ontario. I saw a farm crawl advertised yesterday for this weekend and I wanted to go on it. In some alternate universe I could be on the farm crawl and be in Iceland. I could be both swimming in my backyard pool and wine tasting in France. I am excited about going and yet feel a small sense of loss about missing the beauty of the Ontario summer. We will be in Iceland on Friday and I can’t wait. I think it will be raining Five weeks feels like a long time and I know it will fly by. I will want to live in Paris and Copenhagen. I am curious about Sweden. I will want to buy a vacation property in the south of France–I know I will want to. I always do. I always dream of returning to the places I go. I am looking forward to driving around the countryside in the places we visit. Road trip! Packing for such a long trip is a challenge. I have to let go of things that make my life comfortable at home in order to go on this trip. Part of the vacation is releasing the things I love and being on an adventure, like allowing our house-sitter to care for our home and property without worrying about it. That said, I am pretty committed to taking my bread knife and cutting board with us. We have had many conversations with friends in the last few weeks about my bread knife and cutting board. I gather insights about how our friends travel from their opinions about my bread knife and cutting board. Some think bringing a cutting board and knife is a great idea, others can’t imagine why I would want it at all....
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I love cooking food from the CSA (community supported agriculture) box I get each week. Here’s a video and recipe for my breakfast. It was delicious! 2 Tbsp diced onion 4 radishes, sliced 4 shiitake mushrooms sliced 3 stalks asparagus, sliced 2 eggs 2 heaping Tbsp grated Reggiano parmesan cheese 2 Tbsp sour cream 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro ...
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After deciding to try being in a relationship with Mel, I had to try to figure out how I wanted to “be” in the relationship. I know the rules are different for us, but I didn’t know how I wanted to “be” with those rules. Also, we were in a new relationship and I wasn’t ready to tell everyone I knew about us because I wanted to keep him to myself. After we had been together about a week, we went to an event I have come to recall as my “One Day in the Closet”. This was an event put on by our church and ironically, it was an informational event for congregants about the church becoming a “welcoming congregation”. Being a “welcoming congregation” is a Unitarian Universalist designation meaning the church is GLBT Friendly. The church has a series of information sessions and then votes to become “a welcoming congregation”. Mel and I go to this and pretend for the whole day that we aren’t together, that we aren’t a couple. We know most of the people there and we try to “act normally.” It is agony. I want to hold his hand, I want to sit next to him. I feel physically sick from the deception. The event goes from 9am-3pm and when the end finally comes, I realize that if I am going to be in a relationship with Mel, then I am not going to hide. I am going to have to be brave enough to come out of the closet and tell everyone I know that we are together. Even though I am sure I don’t want to be closeted, I am also sure that I want to be safe. I become acutely aware of the special attention we get if we hold hands in public. I learn to ask myself whether it is safe before I grab Mel’s hand. I look around–usually for conservative looking rednecks–before offering a kiss. I am a rebel, so I like the...
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