Two quiet days

Since I haven't had therapy, it's been work trying to keep myself occupied these past two days. Overcast and down in the 50s, there also has been no opportunity for balcony sitting to help fill the gaps between packing and other final activities before my holiday begins. However, I have been able to avoid the TV trap until late afternoon. I always feel I've been wasting time in the extreme when the TV is turned on before 5 o'clock. Tomorrow is another therapy day and I'm grateful for it. I don't think I could take another day indoors with little to do but nail things, check the mail or reduce file sizes on my computer.

Yesterday, I got through two loads of laundry. And, as I needed something to do while the clothes dried on the line, I picked up a task from my "back burner" list. You may remember that last summer, Nico and I hiked up and down the trails of the Blue Ridge mountains. Along the way, I collected what I could of hiking coins for each trail. Yesterday, I began nailing them to a beautiful hiking stick I got as a Christmas present one year from my cousin Dee. Isn't it lovely?



Getting around
My little silver bullet is gone. Mobicomfort came by and picked it up today while the cleaning woman was here. It's just me, Hazel and the greenie beanie now.

Though grateful for the bean, in the near future I hope to resume a once treasured routine with fiets. When it was nice weather, I used to meet Nico at his house after work where we began a bike ride through the park toward my house. He and Casper would accompany me halfway then turn back. I made the rest of the journey on my own. Now, my apartment looks out over this park and, as soon as I relearn how to take Hazel alongside me on my new fiets, we can return to this beloved routine.

No plateau, please
I don't mention it much but I still see improvement in myself. Walking, stair climbing, playing the guitar, taking showers, getting up and down from the floor. Oefening - pronounced oo-fen-ing - means practice and it's a word I hear a lot. Oefening has become less about making things perfect as it is making things as good as possible or just easier.

I feel the most successful when I am at home, in the park or at Blixembosch. I feel I have a long way to go when I visit somewhere for the first time (even if I was there a thousand times before my stroke) or am around people strangers or people who make me nervous. Everything old is made new again because I'm seeing it through the eyes of someone with a new consciousness.

Thanks for keeping in touch!