Hello Friends!
Yet again I must apologize for my absence. There are times when I just cannot form meaningful words. I just keep putting one foot in front of the other. In my experience, eventually the fog clears.
And just now, it has started to lift.
So here I am! Where do I begin?
Perhaps, as I usually do. Just start typing as see what comes up!
I am sitting outside my humble little abode right at this very moment. It is 10:11 p.m. It is currently 84 degrees fahrenheit. We are in the midst of a heat weave. The high was 97 today. The low is only expected to reach 66 degrees. Tomorrow and Friday the forecast is 101 degrees.
But come Monday, the temps will descent into normal Portland readings. Hopefully we'll even get a smidgeon of rain!
I'm not really complaining though. I am a bit of a rebel, if you haven't noticed. I rarely complain about the rain. I get a bit snooty or in German: "Ich bin hochnäsig", which I believe literally mean my nose is high! lol. Don't send my German professor after me. That's what we used to see at German Club meeing every Tuesday night at Sams Hof Brau Hause near PSU. By the way, I got quite a lecture when the owners of the pub reported that there were underage students drinking quite a lot of beer and causing a ruckus every week.
My face was so red when my professor looked at me pointedly when she proclaimed there would be no more German Club meetings if this continued!
Anyway, I digress. See? Look where my fingers lead me if I give them free reign!
So I was initially dreading this heat wave. I even considered purchasing an AC unit. Of course, by the time I decided to look into it, the smaller ones were sold out. My man convinced me we would make it through. Last weekend it looked like the 100 degree weather would be gone by Thursday.
But you know what? Somewhere deep inside, my warrior woke up. I am not like lower life forms! I do not complain about things that I cannot control. Like the weather. I welcome the rain. Bring it on! I come from good strong Czechoslovakian peasant stock. I will survive! What doesn't kill me makes me a better musician!
Ok. I have to stop here and explain. I have a teenage piano student who just returned from vacation with his family. They went to New York to visit relatives. They even brought me back some cookies and a little New York spoon! I was so tickled! I love when my students think of me!
We chatted for a bit. He told me about his trip. And we talked about finding a piece of music that he really loves - that touches his soul. I found a piece he seemed interested in. So we walked downstairs together so I could make him a copy. The subject of the heat wave came up. I told him surviving inclement weather and pandemics made us stronger. I told him I was 60 years old, took the bus to work and did not have AC.
As we descended the stairs, he looked at me and said, "Suffering makes us better musicians!"
I gave him a high five!
He told me his family did have AC, but it was not that strong. He said he was just surviving until the heat wave was over.
I told him how I was channeling my Czechoslovakian grandma. She lived on a farm in West, Texas during the depression. She was widow with 4 children. There was no AC back then. She would wake up every morning at 4 am, open up all the windows and turn on the fans; feed the chickens, gather eggs, sometimes slaughter an animal, make homemade bread and kolaches. Then she would make breakfast for her children and send them off to school.
When I spent time with her as a teenager, it was the happiest, cleanest, most comforting house I have ever been in. I still salivate thinking about her homemade bread, fresh out of the oven!
I never heard her complain about the heat. It was hot most of the year. She rose above. She was not only a warrior, but she is the family saint.
I am a warrior. I have risen about the heat! I wake up super early and open the curtains. I have a "ghetto ac" that I put together. You would laugh if you saw it. I take a colander and put it on top of a large mixing bowl. Then I fill it with ice and sprinkle the ice with kosher salt. I set it on my piano stool with the fan directed at it.
When the temps start to rise (about 8 a.m. this week), I close all the windows and the blackout curtains. When my man and I return home in the early evening, it is bearable.
Today I stopped at the library before work to return a book. It was pleasantly cool inside. I was offered a free bottle of water as I entered. I was pleased to see many people inside the library. It is a very good location for a cooling center. Good AC, free water, BOOKS and computers! I wish I had gone in earlier to blog. That is probably what led me to sit outside with my laptop tonight.
After the library, I walked out to the bus stop. The bus was not due for 8 minutes. So I found shade and sipped my water. I felt like a survivor. Back in the day, people sought shade. God's original AC!
The bus was also refreshingly cool. Tri-Met made an announcement that anyone who could not afford bus fare during the heat wave could ride free to a cooling center.
I paid my fare and rode to the gym. Which was also a lovely temperature. I had a very good workout. Today was Day 91 - which is 91 days of nearly daily gym workouts. It amounts to usually 5 days a week, maybe 15 minutes each visit.
Speaking of which, I am ready to take it to the next level. I increased my weights today! I am also attempting to return to intermittent fasting.
Honestly I think Shame with a capital S has kept me from sharing with you for nearly 2 months. I have returned to late night binge eating, particularly crunchy carbs. Believe me, my mental and physical health have suffered because of it.
But I am pulling myself up, yet again by my bootstraps.
60 years old - who would have thought I still had bootstraps to pull?
Anyway, I have discovered the health benefits (physical and mental) of making my own cold brew coffee, including grinding of the beans! It is supposedly less acidic and tastes very smooth. I doubt I will ever be a morning person, but my cold brew gives me something to look forward to!
I have one good habit that I have continued - my morning smoothies. And the occasional overnight oats.
The popcorn and cheeseballs do need to go. There, I've said it.
Seriously, I am working too hard to justify my jiggly abs. They need to go too!
Ok. That is a lot of rambling. I did not know I was going to go in all of these directions when I started. I honestly didn't think I had anything to say!
But as usual, now that I have started, I scarcely can find a way to end this!
It is 10:48 now. The temp is now 80 degrees, with a gentle breeze. I think I will have a tall glass of water and call it a night.
I do plan on checking in more regularly. I have so much more to talk about! (Remind me to talk about musical composition!)
I just hope you can follow this stream of consciousness! Hopefully, if I get back to daily blogging, I will organize my thoughts a bit?
In the meantime, I wish you goodnight, and good health and happiness.
Talk soon!
Love,
Zita
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