Be sure to visit the blog of our host Natalie the Explorer for wonderful photographs of murals in downtown Toronto, Canada: 5 Colourful Murals To See.
Welcome! This has been a hectic week, and I am looking forward to relaxing in the rocking chair for a good, long while. I enjoy a coffee latte and very dark chocolate. Made a new batch of coffee concentrate for the coming week. I’m drinking some and calling it supper. I’ve plenty enough to share … even if this were not a Virtual visit. Stocked up before the bad weather arrives.
Al has gone out, again, to shop for semi-soft cheese to disguise Thaddeus’s pain medication. He had two teeth removed on Wednesday, and he does not like pills. We bought soft, prescription food to feed him until the sutures dissolve. Still waiting for an appointment to be made available for Charlie’s tooth cleaning.
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Some weekends do not go as planned. The two-hour co-working gathering (Liz Danforth Makerhouse Meetup on Zoom) was enjoyable and productive. I got a lot done; not everything I had planned to finish, but also some tasks that popped up to be taken care of instead.
The online Poetry Heals Zoom workshop (poetryheals dot org) this past Wednesday was the last online gathering for a while. Hiatus for now planned for July and August. The local/in-person events are the focus during the summer. The website has downloadable prompts and exercises available for personal use. I am wondering if I want to add that sort of focused, stress-relieving activity to my weekly poetry writing. Lately, the activity on Ronovan Hester’s site has slowed down, and so there are fewer participant poems to read for the Monday Haiku and Wednesday Sijo challenges. I think it might be useful for me to develop a writing routine that includes therapeutic or introspective writing (à la Naomi Wakan, for example).
My in-person activities out of the house are pretty much limited to pet care and my now less frequent but necessary ventures into health care settings. Al is pretty much doing the shopping and banking, while I remain sheltered. Spring and summer bring various pollen allergies and other irritants that keep me mostly indoors and away from people. I need to build in more routine activities that involve interacting with people as I can, which seems to be on the Internet.
I am taking more seriously the possibility of working on my handwriting, again. I think better with the keyboard, but regaining handwriting abilities might also broaden what I write about. I don’t know if a tablet and stylus would do the trick. I should buy a pen and try writing on paper with ink and pencil.
In the transition from the colder, more comfortable seasons, I think it would be worthwhile to find some different activities that still don’t cause balance or breathing problems. I mean, it’s a large world with a lot going on that doesn’t demand sounds of media or physical presence.
Again, I have spent not enough time seeing to household management (or playing with the Scamper dogs). I am now feeling much less put upon by the routine. The temperature is still, I believe, above 100° F outside. Perhaps a rousing game of “Chase the Tennis Ball”?
I hope you’ve had a lovely week!
Best wishes,
Lizl
P.S. Moving on from the Collegium books to Lackey’s Alberich’s Tale series.
Stray Coffee Breaks 