1st of May. What happened to April!?! Nothing. My calendar is blank for that month other than marking my nephew's birthday on the 23rd. 50 days cocooned in domestic prison. Is this what retirement feels like? My mother is happy out. She's getting her lettuce seeds today.
It's a beautiful morning. It's forecast to lash rain later but I've my optimist hat on this morning.
The book club met last night via ZOOM. I sat up in bed talking to seven friends, listening to them discuss a book I hadn't read, while drinking cider. When it was over, I didn't have to find my way home, I just turned out the light and slithered under the covers. It was Kathleen's birthday and Brighid had arranged for Kathleen's husband to surprise her with a cake and candles while we sang to her. I told the girls about my mother's quest for lettuce seeds and they recommended the 'Brown Envelope Seed Company' in Skibbereeen. They're organic and you can order them on-line. As it turns out, Kathleen's husband ordered a load of seeds from that company on Sunday and he had a spare packet for me. I'll collect them at lunch time today and surprise my mother.
I have a bunch of wild garlic to plant. Hubbie's aunt makes fabulous brown bread but will only use Macroom brown flour. It comes in a yellow bag and is usually available from Supervalu. He couldn't find it. I found it on the bottom shelf in Dunnes on the Bandon Road when I had my doctor's appointment last week. I bought a bag but she needed two more. Hubbie got her the extra two and delivered the three last night. She gave us in exchange a flower pot of wild garlic from her garden, three books and loaf of brioche bread. A fair exchange.
As it turned out only four of us in the club read the book. It's not like we don't have the time but as Brighid admitted to me during the week, we don't have the attention span. I read a book and my eyes close halfway down the page. If I listen to a podcast and unless I'm walking at the same time, I fall asleep. If I'm watching TV after 9pm, I doze off halfway; my own snoring wakes me up again. Is this what retirement looks like?
Yesterday afternoon, we had the 2nd workshop on Change Management. Jay talked about the four quadrants of the brain, people are either action oriented, fact minded, emotional or analytical. We discussed 'fixed' mindsets versus 'growth' mindset. I would consider myself half and half. I was definitely 'fixed' for the first two weeks of the Lockdown but now that I've experienced the alternative - working from home - I am now fixed on the value of balancing working from home and working in an office. Working a five day week in an office while raising a family is brutal. How do people do it? How did I do it for so long? What was I thinking? Like most people, I assumed there was no other way but now we know it can be different and it can be better. When we go back, and it's not likely before June, it will be a mix of working from home and office. I'm delighted with that and as are most of my colleagues. Thank you Lockdown.
On the news last night, car sales are plummeting and the price of petrol is in the negative. It's the first time since 2006 that I've reached the end of month without praying or bracing myself before checking my bank balance at the ATM.
I've gained a full stone - 14 lbs - since the 12th March. I have to change my 'fixed' mindset that I can do nothing about it. Jay said, "Control the controllables and let go of everything else." I'm letting go of the cider. The news also told us that Bulmers sales are down which I shared with the girls last night. They found that puzzling too since my drinking, and theirs, has quadrupled these past seven weeks. That's going to change. No Bulmers in May. I'll ease off on the ice-cream too. The weight has to shift. As soon as I get my sunglasses and hat I'll be out walking again. My face is healing well. So far the eye is not pulling and the stitches come out next Thursday. I can't wait to rub Bio Oil into the scar and give it some loving attention. Son (20) is still asking for a dog....
May is a new month. And a new start. When I was growing up and still went to Mass, May was celebrated as the month of Mary - maybe it still is - and so it always had a feminine feel to it. You can see why: nature just goes berserk with growth. Every tree and growing thing just seems to burst forth in impossible abundance revealing the secrets it's has been hiding from us all winter. I remember experiencing my first May in Ireland as an adult. It was in 2007 and after nine years in Singapore/Hong Kong where there are no seasons, the seemingly overnight transition from bleak March through windy April with its timid hints of changes coming and then we explode into May with its glorious green goddess spendour of summer.
I have to get out of bed now: I have wild garlic to plant. It's a while off yet but maybe retirement won't be so bad.
It's a beautiful morning. It's forecast to lash rain later but I've my optimist hat on this morning.
The book club met last night via ZOOM. I sat up in bed talking to seven friends, listening to them discuss a book I hadn't read, while drinking cider. When it was over, I didn't have to find my way home, I just turned out the light and slithered under the covers. It was Kathleen's birthday and Brighid had arranged for Kathleen's husband to surprise her with a cake and candles while we sang to her. I told the girls about my mother's quest for lettuce seeds and they recommended the 'Brown Envelope Seed Company' in Skibbereeen. They're organic and you can order them on-line. As it turns out, Kathleen's husband ordered a load of seeds from that company on Sunday and he had a spare packet for me. I'll collect them at lunch time today and surprise my mother.
I have a bunch of wild garlic to plant. Hubbie's aunt makes fabulous brown bread but will only use Macroom brown flour. It comes in a yellow bag and is usually available from Supervalu. He couldn't find it. I found it on the bottom shelf in Dunnes on the Bandon Road when I had my doctor's appointment last week. I bought a bag but she needed two more. Hubbie got her the extra two and delivered the three last night. She gave us in exchange a flower pot of wild garlic from her garden, three books and loaf of brioche bread. A fair exchange.
As it turned out only four of us in the club read the book. It's not like we don't have the time but as Brighid admitted to me during the week, we don't have the attention span. I read a book and my eyes close halfway down the page. If I listen to a podcast and unless I'm walking at the same time, I fall asleep. If I'm watching TV after 9pm, I doze off halfway; my own snoring wakes me up again. Is this what retirement looks like?
Yesterday afternoon, we had the 2nd workshop on Change Management. Jay talked about the four quadrants of the brain, people are either action oriented, fact minded, emotional or analytical. We discussed 'fixed' mindsets versus 'growth' mindset. I would consider myself half and half. I was definitely 'fixed' for the first two weeks of the Lockdown but now that I've experienced the alternative - working from home - I am now fixed on the value of balancing working from home and working in an office. Working a five day week in an office while raising a family is brutal. How do people do it? How did I do it for so long? What was I thinking? Like most people, I assumed there was no other way but now we know it can be different and it can be better. When we go back, and it's not likely before June, it will be a mix of working from home and office. I'm delighted with that and as are most of my colleagues. Thank you Lockdown.
On the news last night, car sales are plummeting and the price of petrol is in the negative. It's the first time since 2006 that I've reached the end of month without praying or bracing myself before checking my bank balance at the ATM.
I've gained a full stone - 14 lbs - since the 12th March. I have to change my 'fixed' mindset that I can do nothing about it. Jay said, "Control the controllables and let go of everything else." I'm letting go of the cider. The news also told us that Bulmers sales are down which I shared with the girls last night. They found that puzzling too since my drinking, and theirs, has quadrupled these past seven weeks. That's going to change. No Bulmers in May. I'll ease off on the ice-cream too. The weight has to shift. As soon as I get my sunglasses and hat I'll be out walking again. My face is healing well. So far the eye is not pulling and the stitches come out next Thursday. I can't wait to rub Bio Oil into the scar and give it some loving attention. Son (20) is still asking for a dog....
May is a new month. And a new start. When I was growing up and still went to Mass, May was celebrated as the month of Mary - maybe it still is - and so it always had a feminine feel to it. You can see why: nature just goes berserk with growth. Every tree and growing thing just seems to burst forth in impossible abundance revealing the secrets it's has been hiding from us all winter. I remember experiencing my first May in Ireland as an adult. It was in 2007 and after nine years in Singapore/Hong Kong where there are no seasons, the seemingly overnight transition from bleak March through windy April with its timid hints of changes coming and then we explode into May with its glorious green goddess spendour of summer.
I have to get out of bed now: I have wild garlic to plant. It's a while off yet but maybe retirement won't be so bad.
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