04.26.21 Ch.ch.ch...changes

After an inauspicious start to the vaccine rollout...which included the Governor lifting statewide mask mandates and indoor capacity limits back in March, before most of us were getting shots...the state of Texas managed to get its act together, and as of now all adults (over the age of 16) are eligible.

I was 1B, so I got my first dose in late February. In mid-March, the process was opened to anyone over 50, so my husband got his first shot.  As of today, we are both vaccinated and are past the two week mark that represents maximum immunity - and we are grateful.

Over the next few weeks and months, we'll be venturing out again, to some of our favorite restaurants (although still dining outdoors), small gatherings with vaccinated friends, and hopefully by the end of the year, seeing our children again.

But, there are things I did before, without giving them any thought, that I won't be returning to. 

The yoga studio...

I have been taking yoga classes online with some of my favorite teachers three or four times a week.  It has been one of the most important things I do for myself, mentally and physically...and I'm going to keep doing it, but virtually.

I cleared out my office to make room, and have acquired a full set of mats and props so there's no need to return to the studio.  I haven't missed rushing to get to class on time, trying to find a parking place and being squeezed into a room with 20 other people.

At first it surprised me, how much more I seemed to be getting out yoga by doing it at home...but then I realized I was practicing with teachers who are friends, who know me, and my body's quirks and limitations. 

For those times when I can't attend class in real time, I'm taking advantage of recorded sessions with my instructors, and bought a set of yoga dice, if I want to squeeze in a quick practice on my own.

Finally, if I want to stay in savasana for 30 minutes at the end of my practice, no one is forcing me to roll up my mat and move along.

The nail salon...

One thing that did annoy me as I practiced was bending over in forward fold or downward dog and seeing naked nails on my hands and feet.

I bought an Olive & June nail polish set last summer, because it was clear to me that I wasn't going to get a salon mani/pedi again soon, maybe ever. I'd read lots of good reviews, but honestly, what sold me on their kit was the tools...because (as I have written about before, in previous posts) having the right ones can make all the difference.

Olive & June mani vs
memory of a Shellac mani

I've actually become quite proficient at manicures, and at making them last several days to a week.  It's not like the before times, when I had a UV cured Shellac mani - in the salon - that would last at least two weeks...but I could do it safely, at home.

My toes were a very different story...

Nearly 20 years ago I was in a truly horrible automobile wreck.  A woman ran a red light and broadsided me.  She broke the axle on her car, totalled mine, and as my car was spinning around, my spine twisted...and one of the disks in my low back ruptured like a Christmas cracker.  Within a matter of hours, my entire left leg had gone numb.

I needed back surgery and 18 months of physical therapy - which were some of the longest, hardest months of my life. I am fortunate to have made a virtually full recovery...due in very large part to an amazing medical and rehabilitation team as well as my regular yoga practice. 

But I have residual nerve damage on my left side, and painting the toenails on my left foot is a difficult process that usually ended with a less than satisfactory result (with as much polish on my toes as my nails).  In the before times, it wasn't an issue...during the winter, it didn't really matter and during the summer I had a pedicure once a month.

Enter Olive & June again, this time with a pedicure kit.  It really is all about the tools, and in this case, erognomics. The kit comes in a container that becomes an angled foot rest...which means I don't have to contort myself to reach my left foot.  

The result is that instead of swearing and making a mess of my feet...I can polish my toenails - and look down at them on my yoga mat - with a pretty significant sense of satisfaction, feeling no need to return to the salon.  Not to mention, the pedi kit costs less than two appointments!

The grocery store...

In the before times, I had pretty much quit cooking.  We were busy, sometimes my husband and I had different schedules, so we weren't home at the same time or dinner was late.  Covid changed all that.  I've returned to cooking, and baking, and because I wasn't able to go to the jewelry studio - my kitchen became my happy and creative place.

We will eat out again, but not the same way...and I won't shop like I did in the before times, either.  I've come to love my Sunday trips to the farmers market, and incredible the fresh meat, produce and specialty baked goods I am able to purchase from vendors I have come to know.  

What I can't get at the market, I will continue to buy at HEB or Target (when HEB is occasionally out of something I want that week)...but I am a curbside convert! Before the pandemic it never occured to me, an able bodied person with a flexible schedule, not to go into the store and do my own shopping...but I have been so impressed with the process and the consistent quality of items that are picked for me (even when there are substitutions), I see no reason to return to the old way.

The jewelry studio, on the other hand, is someplace I hope to return to soon...and when I do, I'll share with you here.

Until next time.

04.12.21 MoJo sez...goodbye

Fourteen is old for a cat, especially one who spent as much of his life outdoors as MoJo did...and I hadn't noticed how much he was aging (or maybe it's just that I didn't want to)...

we called him the Tabby Spaniel, because when he joined our family as a kitten, he was trained by our cocker spaniel, Max.  They did yard partol (sniffing along the entire fence around the backyard) every morning; they came when they were called for meals; they slept side by side, indoors or out.

When Max died, more than 5 years ago, we had entered a busy part of our empty nest lives, and didn't get another dog.  Honestly, I didn't feel the need for one...we had MoJo.

When I say he was more dog than cat, I mean that he came running when he was called, slept in a crate in the house, and never ventured far from home. Sometimes he'd go to one of the houses next door, or across the street to hang out on a porch with a neighbor cat...but mostly, he would nap close enough that he didn't have to walk very far if he wanted to come in for a snack.

He would snooze in the corner just outside the kitchen door (where you had to be careful not to step on him if you went out)...or under the silverleaf bush just across the driveway.

He was also like a spaniel in the way he ate.  We tried free feeding him once Max was gone (we used to feed them at the same time, because otherwise Max would eat his own food, and then the cat food).  However, with his bowl always on the floor, and a constant supply of kibble, MoJo got fat, so we had to put him back on a scheduled - and a weight control diet.

He had no fear of preditors (you'll notice he sleeps with his feet up and belly exposed, like a dog not a cat) and believed that he, not he humans, was in charge of the property.

Covid was great for MoJo because there was almost always a human around...as opposed to be before times...when I would go to the jewelry studio and my husband went to the office.  Back then, sometimes, he'd have to go *gasp* more than four hours between feedings!

Even when we were home all the time, except in cases of bad weather, he preferred to spend his days outside.  Every few hours he would appear at the kitchen door during the day, or on top of a patio chair behind the family room where we watched TV in the evenings, announcing his presence and demaning that a human let him in and give him his portion.

He did this every night...he didn't want to come in while the humans were eating dinner, or even cleaning up.  No, he waited until we were settled on the sofa to appear in the windows behind our head barking orders.

It's what he did the last time we saw him.

On a Sunday night, a few weeks ago...during the 10 o'clock news, he made himself known and came in.  He ate a little - but not very much, he got his chin and ears rubbed, then he went to the door and asked to go out...of course, we let him.

Thinking back...all the signs were there...he was eating less; he'd had terrible allergies for years (and we happily purchased and administered expensive medication from the local compounding pharmacy to treat him) and they had been pretty bad - but we just attributed it to spring allergies.  His eyes had become glassy and droopy, he was coughing more and sometimes his breathing seemed a little labored...but nothing that set off any alarms for us, or frankly the vet, who had seen him recenlty.  We all thought he was doing pretty well, considering.

When he didn't show up after 24 hours, I was worried...he'd wandered off before, but never for more than one or two feeding cycles.  We posted his information on neighborhood lists and missing pet forums. We put his favorite towels out on the front and side porches, so that he would be able to smell his way home.

I kept refreshing the water in his bowl on the back porch...and on the third day he was gone, there was a cardinal perched on the edge of the bowl drinking...something I'd never seen before.  I noted it, but didn't think much of it.  But, when...after more than a week of searching for him, checking with neighbors and shelter postings...the cardinal appeared again, I thought maybe the bird, the cat, the universe...is trying to tell me something?

We left the towels, and his rag toy out on the porch a little longer, but I knew in my heart that he had crossed the rainbow bridge...and I had to let go.

This pendant was last piece I made in the jewelry studio before everything shut down...I bought the stone and designed it for myself, and named it "MoJo sez".  

I stayed late that day to finish it, because I had a sense that it might be a while (I thought maybe a couple of weeks, or a month) before I got back...and I'm glad I did, because I can wear him close to my heart on a day I need some warm fuzzies.

Before MoJo, I would have put myself squarely in the "dog person" camp...but he changed me.  Dogs need their people, cats appreciate you but want their independence, and are okay if the humans have some too...which is where I am in my life right now.

There's a lot of joy in having four legged members in a household, and imagine we will invite a new feline into the family sooner, rather than later.

Until next time.