Looking into Sky

This post was first published on a writers' blog to which I contribute. We were asked to answer the question - Do you have a regular system for becoming recharged for your writing?  This was my answer.


I don’t have a "regular system" for becoming recharged for writing.  I think I need to get a regular system for writing before I get a regular system for becoming recharged for writing. 

But I do know what recharges me and sparks my creativity.  

We moved to the big city almost 8 years ago.  Before that we lived in the country.  All I had to do was look out any window to be recharged.  A short walk to the burning barrel refreshed me because I was outside, listening to the trees whisper and the horses run home.  Deep breaths came easy then.

More than anything, what refreshes me is the sky.  Wide blue sea or swollen clouds, heavy grey snow sky, wind whipped mare’s tails, or starry expanse, the ever changing sky is my inspiration.  Always.

In the country I could see the sky from any window in my house.  Then we moved to the city where I had to walk to the middle of my cul-de-sac to see the sky.  But one day, when we were in the midst of a 3-year-long family crisis and my writing had taken a back seat, I did that. 

I don’t know exactly how it happened but, as I stood there smack dab in the centre of the cul-de-sac, breathing deeply and looking up into the sky, inspiration came.  She just showed up, like a child approaching with a smile.  I welcomed her and she started to tell me her story, and then I went into the house and wrote down her story. Word for word - the first chapter of my novel.

The sky does that for me, and it never disappoints. 

You Don't Know What You've Got Til it's Gone

I'm a people watcher.

Lately, when I watch people, I am drawn to the way they walk.

For two years now my own walking has been hampered. I am forced to think about how I walk every single day. Tasks I need to accomplish are organized by how many steps it will take to complete them. So, when I people watch now I watch how they walk.

Here is what I observe:

Most walking people pay no attention to walking. It doesn't even cross their minds how they are
going to get from A to B. They just go. And I used to be just like them.

Which brings me to the question:
How many other seemingly involuntary functions does my body perform daily, hourly, secondly, that I take completely for granted?

Hearing? Sight? My beating heart? My texting thumb? The fact that I can breathe?

These are no small things.

I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well.
-- Psalm 139:14

Dental Monologue

Remember Pollyanna?

I found myself thinking about her the other day as I sat in The Dentist's Chair for my annual check-up and cleaning. Eyes closed, willing myself to unclench my vigorously entwined fingers from each other, I thought,

I'm getting to be more of a chicken, the older I get. Pollyanna had that glad game. She played it whenever things looked bad ... I guess I can be glad it's just a cleaning and not a root canal. And, once this is done it'll be 9 more months before I have to come ba ... YOUCH! 

I grimace as my head twitches.

Dental Hygienist:  "Oh was that a little sensitive?  I'll come back to it without the pic later."

I'm glad she is keen to these little nuances of pain indicators. I wonder if they are taught to watch for these things in dental hygienist school. Like, does she notice my hands clenched so tightly together that my knuckles are white? Okay, relax ... untwine those fingers ... rest them comfortably in my lap ...

I open my eyes to see the television screen in the ceiling above me. It is black, except for the words floating across the screen - "Musical information not available".

There's music playing? Oh yeah. I remember it was when I first sat down and she asked if I wanted the remote. I said no. Why would I say no? At least watching some mute talk show would take the edge off the sound of that drill-like water pic high intensity cleaning tool that is right now getting dangerously close to the sensitive spot right behind my bottom front teeth!!

I feel my fingers clench together again. Then I breathe. Unclench. Adjust the dark glasses she put on me before she began the torture ... excuse me ... the cleaning.

Used to be we never had to wear these glasses. Are the tools so all powerful now that there's a danger of putting my eye out with the flying shards of ... what? What could possibly be flying out of my mouth?

I look up at her as she concentrates on her task.

Hmmm, blue eyes. I wonder what HER teeth look like. I'll have to remember to look when she takes off that mask. I don't think I'd ever be able to identify her on the street though if I only had to go by the eyes. Interesting how much difference a whole face makes. I'm glad for whole faces to look at. 

She is finished with the pics and tells me she is going to polish. Do I want mint or bubblegum flavour? For a second I wonder if I should go out on a limb, be unpredictable. But in the end I choose mint. Again.

I'm glad for mint flavour. I don't think I could handle that bubblegum aftertaste for the rest of the day.

The doctor pops in for my check-up. He's not my regular dentist.

"Hello," he says, "I'm Dr. P_____ .  Dr. G_____ is not here today. I'm sure you have noticed the difference. I'm younger and taller and of a different ethnicity."

"And you have more hair," I say.

He smiles and snaps on his latex gloves. Starts inspecting my teeth while quietly mumbling dental-type words and numbers to the hygienist. She marks things down on a chart.

I hope he doesn't tell me it's time to replace that last filling. I can't take another 6 months of pain, and chewing on only one side. It's just plain annoying.

Dr. P____ leans back and lowers his mask. Takes off his gloves.

"Everything looks good. Eventually we will replace that filling, but it's not urgent."

"Great," I say, "Thanks."

The Hygienist asks what colour of toothbrush I want.

"Do you have pink?"

No pink.  I take purple instead.

I'm glad for purple and pink.  Such happy colours.

She escorts me to the front desk.

As I put on my coat, I glance out the window at the sunny sky.

I'm glad that's over.  What a great day!



  photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bahkubean/2956924785/">Sappymoosetree</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

Transition - Reboot, Part 3

It has been over a week since we finished our Reboot towards better health - 10 days of replacing all meals and snacks with juiced vegetables and fruit.  I promised Bobbi, one of the commenters to my blog, that I would post about how the transition from Reboot to regular eating has gone.

                                                                (Photo credit below)

For me, the hardest part of the Reboot was the Transition.  To be honest, although I knew I'd have to take it easy for a short time as far as what I ate, I didn't expect it to be as hard as it was.  My body did not take kindly to getting back to 'normal'.  It liked getting all of those micronutrients every day.

The first day back to regular eating was okay.  I had part of an egg and some toast for breakfast, juice for lunch, and a small supper - baked chicken breast, noodles & veggies. On the second day, I headed to bed at 4 pm and didn't resurface until 10 am the next day.  My stomach was queasy and I was a bit dizzy.  I had started the day with a fruit smoothie and an egg.  Juice for lunch again.  Could have been the chocolate wafers I tried in the afternoon that put me over the edge ... or maybe the cheese.  Remember I craved cheese during my reboot? But maybe I just needed the extra rest.  Because of the boost of energy I'd had during the 10 day reboot I had kept very busy.  So maybe I really needed rest.  After 10 am the next day I was fine.  Babe & The Cowboy didn't seem to have a problem at all with the transition other than a little queasiness.

True to our resolve, The Cowboy and I are replacing one meal a day with a juice, at least 5 times a week.  We are also continuing to start the day with a cup of hot water and lemon before breakfast.  That seems to get things moving first thing in the day.  The Cowboy drinks hot water and lemon throughout the day in place of coffee.

I forgot to mention in my Reboot posts that we usually ended the day with an herbal tea. I've never been much of a coffee OR tea drinker but I do like my licorice spice herbal tea.  So I'm still continuing to end the day with tea when I can.

The Cowboy can't believe he had nothing but juice for 10 days - that he kept with it for a whole 10 days.  And most people who know him can't believe it either.  I think we did so well because we did it together.  Nobody else in the house was eating regular food, and I didn't have to think about cooking meals for someone else either.

It is recommended that during the reboot you stop taking any vitamins or medication that is not prescription. (Continue taking prescription medicines)  I have always been a big vitamin-taker but I adhered to the recommendation and stopped the vitamins during our 10 days, and I felt very healthy.  After the reboot I decided to not go back on vitamins for a week to see if there was any difference.  There was.  I was more tired, and foggier in the brain. So this week I will go back to vitamins again.

For those of you who are interested in trying a reboot, I've posted some links below.  It's definitely worth checking out.  If nothing else, watch the movie Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead 2, and see what you think about a reboot after watching.  


Check out the Trailer for Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead 2  here

Here is where you can "meet" Joe Cross and find out all about a reboot:      Reboot with Joe

The exact plan we followed was this one.  It's a 5-Day plan that we did twice.


And that's about all for this post.  Please comment below and let me know how your reboot goes.






photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ross_strachan/3277582680/">[Rossco]:[www.rgstrachan.com]</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

Reboot - Part 2

Here we stand on the other side of our Reboot.  We did it, and I’m so proud of us!

For me, it turned out to be a lot easier than I expected.  Surprisingly so!  I expected to starve, and spend most of my time in the bathroom.  Neither of those was the case (although, I admit I spent more time than usual in the bathroom).  I expected long days, and to crave everything but what I was eating.  That didn’t happen either.  Interestingly, the only food I did slightly crave was cheese. 

The first couple of days were hard.  The Cowboy and Babe suffered bad headaches.  I’m chocking that up to the fact that they are both coffee drinkers (I am not) and they were having caffeine withdrawal. After that things got better, although Babe never did warm up to the taste of most of the juices. 

Part way through the reboot I made both Babe and The Cowboy have a bowl of chicken broth because they were getting a little droopy.  Babe is an active athlete and The Cowboy works long days, and I decided they needed a boost.  They both felt immediately better.  It’s good to remember, when doing a reboot, to bring your activity level down a notch or two.

One unexpected side effect was how fresh the house smelled.  In the middle of winter we walked into the house and it smelled like a garden, or freshly mown grass – which is actually what one of the green juices tasted like.    

We started the day with hot water and lemon.  Then it was a juice for breakfast. Later in the morning the requirement was 500 ml of coconut water - for the electrolytes.  This was the worst part of the reboot for me.  That coconut water is nasty!!  But I choked it down, and was amazingly and instantly energized.  That surprised me every single day. Babe liked the coconut water more than most of the juices. 

 

Another juice came for lunch – green, which included green apples, cucumbers, celery, and sixteen leaves of kale.  Yeah … you read that right.  16!!  We eventually cut that number down to about 10.  Our afternoon snack juice was always yummy.  Then came another green juice for supper and we ended the day with a “dessert” purple juice.  Those were delicious too.  The Cowboy says he always went to bed hungry.  I didn’t.

During the 10 days, we watched the sequel documentary to Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead which is called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead 2.  (Go figure!)  This is the one to watch if you can only watch one of them.  Over the course of the show, Joe Cross meets up with many people who have taken his challenge to juice to better health.  The stories are amazing.  I highly recommend the documentary.

And all those groceries?  The case of green apples - gone.  The case of red apples is down by half.  The huge bag of carrots ... about half gone.  We replenished kale, cucumbers, spinach and lemons several times over.  Anybody want a bag of beets?

Babe’s Observations:

Motivation – weight loss

The Good – energy in the morning

The Bad – hungry in the evening, and the green juices sucked.

The Result – lost 8-1/2 pounds

Babe juiced for 8 days.

The Cowboy’s Observations:

Motivation – lose weight and get off medications

The Good – Juices were better than expected and felt better than expected

The Bad – evenings were hard, and couldn’t stop thinking about Cantonese Chow Mein

The Result – lost 16-1/2 pounds

The Cowboy plans to do a longer juicing session (under doctor’s monitoring) in order to get off all of his meds.

My Observations:

Motivation – along for the ride, and more energy

The Good – Felt really good, had more focus, lots of physical energy and brain power

The Bad – coconut water

The Result – The extra energy and general feeling of health and well-being was worth it all.  To be honest, I was sad to stop. 

Going Forward: 

The Cowboy and I plan to replace one meal a day with a juice.  Interestingly, we all find ourselves craving a carrot stick, or looking forward to eating a salad.  Never would have said that before. 

Thinking about doing a reboot?  Go for it!  I guarantee it will make a difference. Let me know how it goes.

Reboot - Part 1

“I’m starving!  Let’s go get some kale.” Never thought I’d hear those words come out of my mouth.  Not in 2 million years.  But today they did.  And I don’t even like kale.

The fact is … we are doing a reboot, my Cowboy (formerly referred to as hubby), Babe & I.  

It all started when Peaches (daughter #2) got a juicer for Christmas. She has wanted one forever. While she was visiting she told us about the documentary, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.  This is the true story of Joe Cross and his journey from fat, sick, and nearly dead, back to health, simply by drinking juiced vegetables & fruit, 4 – 6 times a day. For 60 days! Rather extreme. But it worked for him and he is healthier than ever, 5 years later.

Now, Peaches is neither fat nor sick, nor nearly dead. Nor is she planning to eat nothing but juice for the next 60 days. But she is a very healthy living individual. And the juicer was amazing! Big thick carrots turned to juice in the flick of a button. 2 seconds! 

We watched the documentary. (I highly recommend it.) That's when the Cowboy decided he needed to try the reboot – which is 10 days, not 60.  Immediately Babe, daughter #3 and live-at-home university student, got all excited about it. So basically, I’m along for the ride. 

The Cowboy is a “Go Big or Go Home” kind of guy so we went all out on the grocery shopping. Two cases of apples – one red, one green - a humongous bag of carrots (and when I say humongous, I mean the bag comes up to my hips). Another big bag of beets. Lots of lemons, cucumbers, spinach … you get the picture. All of this gets zimmed through the juicer in varying amounts and combinations and, voila!  There is your meal.   

We studied Joe Cross’s helpful hints, juicing plans, and recipes online. We invested in a juicer.  We were definitely all in.  

Today is day 3. Some of the juices are delicious. Others we are barely choking down. The Cowboy has lost 5 pounds. Babe's excitement has turned to disenchantment and she asked if she can just make apple juice for the next 7 days. But we are in this for the long haul.  

Check back in a week and I'll fill you in on how it goes. Meanwhile, what have been your experiences with juicing?  I'd be happy to read any comments left below.

Joy Comes Christmas Morning

I recently posted this story to a writers blog to which I contribute.  And just in case any of my relatives become confused and wonder when this happened ... it didn't.  This is just a story.  
Merry Christmas!

We had the Christmas tree in the kitchen that year, next to the church bench on the long wall by the phone.  Seemed strange to my brothers and me to come down the creaking stairs Christmas morning into the bleak, echoing living room where the very atmosphere was hard and gaping.  Hardwood floors, bare plastered walls, sharp corners, and high vaulted ceiling.  Everything was unfamiliar after the summer fire that had taken that side of the house.  Not even a whisper of past joy-filled Christmases remained.

But then we entered the kitchen where the coloured lights twinkled on the tree, and splayed into sprays, like fireworks, when we squinted our eyes at them.  Mom already had Christmas breakfast baking in the oven, filling our beings with warmth and promises.

We sat down by the tree, Christmas oranges in hand, to listen to Dad read the Christmas story.  But none of us could take our eyes off of the lone gift under, or rather, beside the tree.  It was huge, oddly shaped, wrapped in a combination of newspaper and three different kinds of wrapping paper.  My brothers and I exchanged wide-eyed wondering looks.  Was it any wonder we couldn't stay focused on the Christmas story?  No matter.  We all knew it off by heart anyway:

" ... And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not:  for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord ...'"

Finally, permission was given and my brothers and I ripped into the paper to discover the trappings and skeleton of a trampoline!

Now, any rational parent living on the prairies would never give a trampoline for a Christmas gift.  Where on earth do you put it in -30 degree weather?  Not to mention four feet of snow!  But my Dad was full of surprises.  Calculating.  Ingenious.  He never did anything without thinking it through.  When he realized that the living room would be rebuilt in time for Christmas, but that no furniture could grace it until spring, he contrived to fill it with a used trampoline for the winter.  He was like that, my Dad, always finding ways of turning hard things into joy.

So that Christmas the stark living room was filled with squeals of joy as my brothers and I took turns jumping on our best gift ever, and shouting, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!"


photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cabarney/330055739/">cabarney</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>