Soldiering On

 Grabbing those bootstraps and keepin' on

General mood was not helped by getting a text from Gill yesterday morning that her husband Jim (whom I've known for 30 plus years) was in a motorcycle accident.  He's been riding a bike for as long as I've known him and is a very careful rider.  And thank God he wears all the things:  Boots, gloves, jacket with spine plates, helmet. Fortunately he was going only about 35 when a woman in the next lane changed lanes into his and clipped him with the back of her car.

He was unconscious for a short time but revived in the ambulance.  The CT scan showed no major damage.  He has a huge lump on his head, and left a lot of the skin on his right leg on the pavement, but he'll be all right.  At least physically; psychologically it's gotta hurt - it's the first time he's been hit.

The bike, on the other hand, in a goner.  Good only for parts now.

FaceBook memories from Thanksgiving a scant four years ago.  Seems like a lifetime.

Happy Times.  It's hard to see this and wrap my head around the idea that he had only four months to live.

Ebaida is trying to figure out how to help her brother's wife - sudden death brings on extra expenses.  She tentatively asked if maybe I could do a fundraiser, because the American dollar is very strong against the Egyptian pound (like 30 to 1).  I did - but also warned her that people see so many GoFundMe fundraisers that they simply scroll past them.  We've gotten a few hundred dollars, which will help, but I feel that she's disappointed (and she won't let me personally help her, which is frustrating.  And my modest anonymous contribution didn't fool her.)

My friend Los posted a clip from a Dr. Who video (the Doctor's Wife) in which, for a brief time, the Tardis was able to assume a human existence.  She spoke of a word, a big word, but so sad:  Alive.  "I'm Alive."  The doctor said that alive wasn't sad. She looked at him.   "It's sad when it's over.  We will always be together.  But this - this is when we talked."

I miss talking.

I had a vision of him today.  I was dusting the shelves in the den (preparatory to Mike's visit) and had a sudden vision of making them.  Rather than painting or staining the shelves, we burned them.  I could see him standing between the barn on the cottage, shelf on a sawhorse.  Wearing a white (well, once upon a time it was white) T-shirt and torn jeans, a bandanna headband, using the weed burner to sear the wood.  When it was nicely colored, I would grab and wax it while it was hot.
I visualized it so very clearly.  It's been so many years now since I have worked in tandem with someone, building a project.  I had thought I might get a shadow of that at the woodworking class I took, but alas - no one showed up.  Maybe someday (still missing the Halloween Howl).

I did have one thing happen that could also be considered negative, but it was so very stupid that it lightened the mood.  I was goofing around with the cats - kneeling on the recliner and peeking over the back.  I felt the back start to go down; after all, it's a recliner.  But it wasn't reclining - it tipped over backwards and threw me face first into the wall.

It seemed to happen in slow motion.  I felt myself hit, then start to slide down, my lip pulling up and my teeth starting to scrape the wall.  NOT THE TEETH!  I was able to twist my head to the side.
Lying on the floor, I took inventory.  Teeth still seemed to be intact.  Then it occurred to me to check my neck.  Seems to be still on straight.  Today I'm sore, and look like I've been in a bar fight, but I'm OK.  Have to admit that doing something that stupid lightened the mood.

I'm still continuing my virtual walk of Oaxaca.  I chose a good program - it's enough to motivate me, but not enough to discourage.  To meet the challenge, I only have to put in about a mile and a half of walking (or equivalent).  If it were something like 5 miles, I'd probably soon fall behind and give up.  But 1 1/2 miles is easily done.  So far I'm even ahead of where I should be by almost 4 miles (I've done 13 miles in 5 days).
If I finish this one (should be done my mid January), then my friend Nick and I are thinking of doing a Lord of the Rings one together (they have various ones - if we walk to Mordor that's 283 miles.  Maybe I'll stick to the Shire at 145 miles)

I also signed up to a food app while it was on black Friday sale.  There's a cooking show I follow on YouTube called SortedFood - 5 British guys who like to cook.
I have sort of gotten into a rut in cooking - I have 4-5 things that I eat in rotation.  I usually don't even think about what I'm going to have for dinner until I get hungry (which is about now - 7:15 - so I don't want a lot of cooking time)
I even though about a food delivery, like Hello Fresh.  Rob and Amanda use it - it's convenient, because everything is portioned out and the instructions are there.  But they brought me a box one time when they were going to go on vacation.  The food was OK if pretty mundane, but the environmentalist in me cringed at the packaging - pre-measured means that you end up with piles of little plastic packages that once held a spoonful of sour cream or soup base.  Far too much waste for my taste.

This food app sends you a choice of "packs" - three meals in each.  The idea is that each meal is different, but uses the same ingredients, so that you use all your fresh food by then end of the week. It has a shopping list, and both audio and written instructions.  I figure if I cook even a couple a week it will expand my repertoire.  But not tonight - because I'm hungry and it's going to be my usual pasta-with-vegetables-and-a-cheese sauce.

Tomorrow will be going to work and trying to explain my beat-up face.