This & That
If variety is the spice of life, then I am pretty damn spicy today! Lots of different, little thoughts on my mind:
- Contemplating what this Fall may be like for me and my wife. We are being guided by the U without much in the way of detail to "plan" for a variety of different scenerios for teaching this Fall. Meaning... it could be face-to-face, or it could be online, or it could be some chimera of the two. They do not know, so we do not *really* know how to plan at the moment. But, we are asked to plan.
- In regards to my wife, her underlying health concerns make her at much higher risk if she were to be exposed to Covid-19. Yet, in the same vein we both are in a higher age risk category as well.
- We planted our garden yesterday. The one new plant type we are trying this year is Swiss Chard. I have been looking at recipes in the hope/anticipation that it will grow well so we have a lot of it. There are some interesting uses for it I have been finding, including some interesting sounding Spanish style uses including chickpeas.
- We also are growing watermelon, zucchini, acorn squash.... and cabbage, tomatoes, and tomatillos (Mexican Husk Tomatoes).
- Yet, my most looked forward to items are the herbs we are growing.... basil, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, and cilantro.
- I am still having extraordinarily deep yearnings to smoke my pipes again. It has been so consistent and strong for roughly the last week. I sometimes feel very, very exhausted from the effort it takes to try to keep refraining at the moment. I wish I understood why it is such strongly felt desire lately. I have to admit I have come close to throwing in the towel a couple of times in the last few days.
- I am hoping to try to arrange for purchasing a new pair of running shoes in the next week to 10 days. My current pair has somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,700 miles on them, and I am beginning to feel their wear. I need to bite the bullet and buy a fresh pair of the damn expensive things.
- I have been practicing a new piece to play on the saxophone. It is the song, "Watermelon Man" by Herbie Hancock. I have access to the backing track as well. I am not stellar by any means yet, but it is fun and helps me to get better. The link takes you to a great YouTube video of the song.... it takes about 15 seconds for the introduction, before you hear the "soli" trumpet and saxophone that is the part I am learning.
2 Comments:
Regarding your deep yearnings, I wish you wouldn't think of any outcome as "throwing in the towel." There are very good reasons why you may be better off continuing to abstain, but there may also be very good reasons to return to your old friends. Either choice means you will have grown and learned something about being true to yourself and your values, so I wish you wouldn't think in terms of "throwing in the towel."
Maybe, though, if you are serious about going back to pipe smoking but worried that you might take it as a defeat and something negative, maybe you could instead set yourself some milestone, such as the anniversary of your first pipe, and resolve to wait until that date to decide whether or not to return to your pipes? Resuming on the anniversary of the day you started could be one way to convince yourself that your decision is not a defeat but simply a choice.
Oh, and as for your "expensive" running shoes. When you drive your car on university business, how many cents per mile does the university let you charge as a business expense? I'm pretty sure that the cost-per-mile of even an expensive pair of running shoes compares favorably to the cost-per-mile of driving an automobile. So, take heart in that when you spend your $100+ every now and then on a new pair.
You have a lot of spice, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home