ALMOST THE 70'S

Well, here l am mere months away from seven decades on the earth. I must say, "that was quick". Now what? What have l got left and where do l go with it? I am glad to be driven to create, to draw, paint, muck around in the dirt...whatever. So far, l envy no one. I truly enjoy my life and what l do. I have much to be grateful for. My troubles seem to begin and end with my fellow man. I suppose l should just quietly create...l say that, as if contemplating an alternative when l have none. None l wish to pursue at any rate. My brothers and sisters on our earth are legion. Since l expect to live a normal life span, the few "tic-tocs" l have still clicking on my clock are few and precious....so here goes: 

The secretary to my dentist called last evening to remind me of my appointment the following morning. We made small talk and with a mildly (well, duh..) attitude l assured her l would see her at 9:30 in the AM.

The chill l got at seeing the caller ID on the home phone at 9:45 the next morning can scarcely be described as l began falling all over my self in an attempt to apologize and hope l could jump into my car and.....well.........they can squeeze me in in mid March. 

It's funny how, instead of thinking that l'm getting "drifty", l do my damnedest to recall that l've always been like this, so it' s OK. ..what's with that?

My good neighbour swept me up this afternoon to go have a couple of beers with he and some of his friends. Fun, but, man, l have a couple of those schooners and l'm off to the can at least twice before everyone else has had three or four. Cripes, are they peeing on the floor? If you poured all that beer into a plastic bag and tried to tuck it into your pants or wherever the bladder is...well damn how do they do it?

We decided to just use our wood stove here for heat. I suppose our first electric bill was the major influence. We pulled the breaker on the baseboards and instead got in touch with our inner "keeping the fire going all night" thingy. Well, l like it ok, and there seems to be a symbiotic relationship with the stove and the demands influenced by my prostrate. Every 3 to4 hours as l trundle from bed to bathroom, l stop by the wee stove and feed it another log or two. Oddly, l even kind of like it. 

As the weather gets damp and chill, the novelty tends to wear off. I feel the joints in my legs and fingers as l feed the fire. UNLESS!! .... I have my morning smoothie with ginger and turmeric.....plus, our garden still has kale, celery and parsley. That, and avoiding wheat (almost impossible but getting there) seems to be doing what they claim....reduce inflammation. 

I'm signing up to teach a bunch of classes this spring through the fall, mostly watercolour with adults, but also a couple of week sessions teaching drawing with kids. These are my battery chargers. 

We are going to the warm sunny weather for all of February. I love it, but the crocus are just emerging, the witch hazel is blooming and some early iris are smirking at me. Don't do it all before l get back eh?