we scored appointments

 Zip a dee doo dah day! With an amazing amount of luck the planets aligned and we scored two spots for vaccination. By the time we were both registered there were no spots left. I’ve been searching for days with no appointments to be had anywhere, and it seemed that places may not have even had vaccines… this afternoon the Walmart site finally worked and voila! a few appointments at a town an hour away. Nothing closer. We nabbed them and will enjoy a long drive!

The weather has been un-freaken-believable for the last few days. A high of 14C today encouraged Carm to putter around outside while I cheered him on from the sidelines. To be honest, I was a bit ‘slow’ today after a late night of fun so didn’t have the energy to get the rake out. Such a slothenly life.

We had a traditional Easter supper of ham, boxed scalloped potatoes (cause those things taste amazing), and asparagus. Brandy Alexanders for dessert.

I’ve been right on the cusp of hypomania for ages now but it’s working out and I’m staying on the side of sanity. Oh, there’s more than the usual amount of singing and dancing but I feel in control. It is an awesome feeling! If I could skip and kick up my heels I would.

ice from the pool

Spike’s doing a bit better but he hasn’t had a miraculous recovery. He waits to be carried up and down the stairs which is a big deal for him as he hates being picked up and will normally growl or even try to bite.

A memory came up on Facebook for our Caribbean cruise in 2019 so I visited my blog to read the entries for our trip - gosh, it seems like so long ago and strange to be in such close quarters. If I knew then what I know now I might have been more diligent about having a great time - maybe that’s a lesson to be learned for life in general - enjoy every moment as if it could be your last.

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. (Sonnet XCVIII)”

~William Shakespeare

unconventional

 We are officially in lockdown again, 384 days after the first one. Oh, it’s not called that, this time they are calling it the emergency brake… it boils down to more or less the same thing. Except that dog groomers are still open so Adia will get her nails done - hurrah! I suppose it’s basically the same for us except that we won’t have any laneway visits for a month and Carm will miss out on golf which is a big bleep drag.

No luck getting a vaccine appointment yet…

After a week of no zoom calls I was desperate for company last night - luckily Olaf & Stephanie were able to step up to the task. As usual we had a little party with lots of laughs :-)

So… (and I hate to start a sentence with a conjunction but this time it seems right) Spike was feeling pretty good after his haircut and was running around a lot. He was even getting on the futon again. And then… yesterday afternoon he jumped off the bed onto the hardwood floor (there are carpets on both sides of the bed for him to jump onto, but no) and hurt himself. He’s not quite 3-legged lame but close, especially after he’s been lying down. It’s so hard to watch his decline.

We went for a short drive yesterday, stopping first at High Ties, the neighborhood pot shop so that I could get something different to try. This one is called 2:1 something or other with CBD being 2x more than THC. I thought it might be good for stress and wondered if it would be good for menopause symptoms like the trainwreck, only less wrecky if you know what I mean. It’s nice, but won’t replace the trainwreck.

This time of year I always know when it’s the weekend as golf is on TV. It used to be that a good nap could be taken during the event, but alas, the crowd now cheers and yells so it’s no longer quiet with hushed voices.

I wasn’t in a super great mood today - not a bad mood, just not amazing - so a little bit of Muskrat Love was on order: 

Muskrat, muskrat candlelight

Doin' the town and doin' it right

In the evenin', it's pretty pleasin'

Cause really, isn’t it a prescription for joy? Especially if you cue up some Eagles to follow.

I was thinking (during golf) about how I would describe myself. The first thing that came to mind is that I am a rule follower and yet I consider myself to be somewhat unconventional: I had pink hair decades before that was a thing; I wore cowboy boots or converse high tops with dresses; I had white sneakers that were covered in rhinestones before Paul Simon wrote his song about the girl with diamonds on the soles of her shoes; I designed an open concept house even though people told me it was a huge mistake; every wall in the house was painted pink because I loved it; I had a pet rabbit and would walk it on a leash; I had a motorcycle before girls did that; I bred parrots and brought the babies to work with me; oh, there’s lots of other things, but these roiled off the top of my head. 

I’ve never been the cool one! But maybe not being cool IS cool!

“And the Spring arose on the garden fair,

Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast

Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

song sung blue

 Only a dusting of snow was on the ground this morning and it was all gone by the time I dragged myself from bed, luckily no April Fools joke :-)  Winter ended suddenly this year - there may even be ½ a tank of gas in the snowblower. Oh sure, we could still be dumped on but enough for the snowblower? Hopefully not.

As I often do, I scrolled through Facebook this morning and today it was (almost) worthwhile. An article mentioned that Ottawa pharmacies were getting doses of the vaccine for ages 55+! That’s me! And Carm! Together we went through the list to contact some nearby places, but alas, some didn’t even know about it let alone have a booking system up and running :-/ We persisted and got our names on a few waiting lists…  I feel impatient and excited.

I’m afraid to hold out real hope.

I had a revelation today… When I’m feeling good I tend to sing and dance but it’s a bit like the chicken and the egg. Which comes first? Does singing make my mood better or do I only sing when I’m a bit manic? When I sing, my brain is not ruminating on whatever might make me feel stressed so maybe ‘Muskrat Love’ is like a drug of sorts. Not all music does the trick - it has to be sing-along. I have playlists full of this sappy music - not all 70s pop… there’s the Doors, and Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Pink Floyd… but mainly it’s lame music from my youth. Although ‘Sex on the Beach’ was rumbling around my head yesterday. 

If I were a doctor I’d write prescriptions for Spotify.

I don’t know why it took so long but I’m finally not self-conscious gyrating in front of Carm. I no longer care what he thinks… not actually, but maybe the pandemic has forced the change - I must move! He laughs when I grab his hands to get him to try dancing - he thinks I’m crazy, but I think he likes a bit of zany in his life!

“It was such a spring day as breathes into a man an ineffable yearning, a painful sweetness, a longing that makes him stand motionless, looking at the leaves or grass, and fling out his arms to embrace he knows not what.”

~John Galsworthy