What's on My Mind & In My Basket

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

Happy mid-week to you.  I hope you are all well and good.

I cannot believe how fast May flew by and now we are almost through a full week of June. How did that happen? I seem to say that the time flies by so fast but lately I hear everyone else saying it too! I guess it means we are all getting older.

In sad news there are so many wildfires burning across Canada. It is devastating for many smaller communities and for the people who live in them.  Not only does it affect Canadians but Americans have been saying how their air quality is being affected in various parts of the USA. Unfortunately it isn't even the official beginning of summer yet and the meteorologists are forecasting a hot, dry summer ahead. Hold on to your hats.  If you're the praying type, please keep in prayer for moderate temperatures and more rain.

Here at home in southern British Columbia, we are okay but in the northern part of the province wildfires are burning.  Here in Vancouver, I've found it quite cool.  Despite the local meteorologists forecasting hot weather for several. days I've only felt very warm temperatures on one day and that didn't last all day long.  If I had to choose though, I would far rather it stay on the slightly cool side.

While the weather has been cool, I've been keeping super busy and trying to get as many things done before hotter temperatures arrive.  When it gets too hot I really am not up to doing much except trying to stay cool.  Sometimes I wonder how come I'm always so busy and never seem to catch up to things.

I think it's a combination of getting older and having too many hobbies. When a person gets older, they tend to have more medical appointments and medical related appointments, especially if they have a medical condition. There is always a test to do, medicines to pick up, a specialist or doctor to meet. Then there are also the dental visits and eye doctors which most people have. I seem to have lost my eye doctor and have to find another one because I haven't had an eye examination for quite some.  In my case, busyness is also greater this year.  After several years identification cards need renewal including, government ID, driver's license and my passport.  Two gardens needed to be planted and 2 tax returns needed to be be prepared and filed.  All of it within the same month or two. On top of that, the building where I live always has major projects going on.  While these impact  all residents. My particular apartment has had 2 leaks from upstairs which needed investigation and repair. In fact, the 2nd one is not yet completed.  It's a good thing I don't have to go out to work every day or this would be a difficult situation to manage.

Last, but not least, I always find more work for myself.  For example, the decluttering and cleaning project I started long ago.  Related activities include the purchase of several new furnishings (patio conversation set, storage sofa and adjustable bed and mattress) all of which took time to research and compare options before buying, and the organization of delivery and haul away services. 

Honestly, there is never enough time in a day and I also don't want to waste time.  Time is going by so fast and it's such a precious commodity.  Does anyone else have the same issue with time and too many things to do?

Despite the busyness, I'm happy that I've kept up with some reading and I've also started making more time for hobbies. 

Here are the current books I'm reading or about to read.

An Ocean of Minutes was a of a genre I don't normally read, a dystopian, fantasy novel.  The books revolves around the relationship between Polly and Frank. Frank becomes sick during a pandemic and the medical care he needs is cost prohibitive.  Polly decides to help him by signing on as a bonded labourer into the future. The company she is employed  by will pay for Frank's medical treatment.  Frank and Polly promise to meet one another in Galveston, Texas in 12 years time but Polly ends up being re-routed an additional 5 years into the future.  When she arrives she can't find Frank and the city has changed enormously.  Polly must learn to survive in a totally changed America.  She has with no money, no friends or family and no status in the country.  This begins her search for Frank and the heartbreak that goes along with the search.

Reading this book, at this time, seemed very appropriate to this time and place with all the radical changes taking place right now.

Meet me at the Lake is the second book I've recently picked up by Canadian author Carley Fortune.  I picked it up quite randomly and didn't realize that the author is quite a popular author. 

T he book is about a young woman named Fern who lives and works in the big city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her mother dies and leaves her a Muskoka lakeside resort.  Unfortunately, the resort is in a tight financial situation.  Before her mother dies, she hires a consultant named Will to help get things on a more even keel.  Fern doesn't find out until Will arrives at the resort to begin his work. Will is a former boyfriend bof Ferns, one who ghosted her so there are lots of unresolved feelings.  Will doesn't know that Fern's  mother has died when he checks in to begin his consultancy.

I enjoyed several things about the book such as the settings for the book (Toronto, Muskoka Lakes, Vancouver) and the general story arc.  However, the writing  is a bit too graphic for me when it comes to the intimate situations between the characters.  It's probably quite tame for some people.  But for me, it's a little too much. 

In A House for Alice, Alice Pitt has been living in England for over 50 years. After her husband dies she yearns to return to Nigeria to live out her last years on earth. Her daughters however, are torn over whether their mother should return to Nigeria or remain in London.  Her youngest daughter Melissa, is not only coping with the loss of her father and her mother's departure for Nigeria but her marriage is also breaking down.  I haven't gotten too far into the book but it seems to be about how significant life events can have negative impacts on one's family foundations.

I haven't started the next two books but they look interesting.  I just picked them off the shelves because I was short of reading material at the time. Now I've got too much to read.

The Paris Express is based on a real life event, a French railway disaster of 1895. It's ready for pick up at the local library.

Some of you may know that I started a major decluttering & reorganizing project quite some time ago.  In between these tasks, there have been many interruptions so it's taken forever to make progress.  The main purpose of the project is to create time and space to for work on a number of hobbies. One of those hobbies is crochet.  

In May, I started making some crocheted dishcloths as gifts for friends. I also made an oversized cardigan for a friend who has a birthday coming up later this summer. Earlier in the year, I made a few cushions for a cousin's birthday. I haven't given them to her yet because she is supposed to visit this summer from a city about 1200 km from me. I will give them to her during her visit. I also made a few knitted dishcloths. Before the year ends I hope to work on other hobbies as well. If the weather remains moderate, I may be able to do some of my work outdoors on the patio. That would be ideal as I could play some nice music while I work. Not too loudly though as I don't want neighbours complaining. I suppose I could also just use my phone and wear earphones.

The Dishcloths

The Oversize Cardigan

The Cushions

Daily and Weekly Planning for Energy Management

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

How are you all doing? I hope you are well and enjoying the season wherever you are in the world. Here in my city, we are transitioning from summer to fall or autumn season. It happens like clock work every year that I can feel the distinct shift to chilly weather on September 1st.  

This year I felt it a bit earlier but then hot weather returned after that. By the time I post this blog we will be in the midst of 2 days of much cooler weather. When I went out to buy a few grocery items on Monday night, it was spitting a bit of rain.

Anyway, many of you already know that I suffer from a few chronic medical conditions though they are mostly manageable as long as I can keep on top of things and do what I need to do. But you may not know that I also suffer from something called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).  It's the one thing that is much harder to manage and there are all kinds of symptoms that can arise as a result of it. 

I have periods where I am feeling reasonable and able to look after what I need to but there are also periods when my energy is very low or virtually non-existent. I've just actually come through a prolonged period where I was feeling reasonable and could do what I planned to do almost every day.  But for the past several weeks I could feel myself veering into a low that I haven't felt in a while. 

I've been trying to pace myself and manage things so that I don't go into a zero energy phase. In that phase it is hard to get out of bed, let alone get up and shower to greet the day.  

Do you or anyone you know also suffer from this?

Here is a simple chart that illustrates some of the myriad symptoms that people with ME/CFS exhibit.

Recently, I started going to a new church that meets at night, not in the morning.  One Sunday I discovered that one of the pastors also has ME/CFS and that's one of the reasons the church gathering is at night and not in the morning.  

I was relieved that she would be able to relate to my symptoms and possible understand why it is difficult for me to fully engage in all that churches do.  Sometimes it's even difficult just to get to church.  Having said that, it is easier to attend night service because it means I have more time to get ready for the day and get going.

I've had ME/CFS now for many years.  It's the primary reason I had to retire from work in 2006, much earlier than I wanted.  

Having this problem changed my life in so many ways and led me to a much more restricted way of life than I had been living before.  My concentrations level was so bad in those days that I couldn't even read a page of a novel. That is what actually led me to start this blog and also to challenge myself to set reading goals.

Happily my concentration is much improved.  But I still go through phases where I can't concentrate enough to read or to write.  Lack of concentration affects my ability to write blog posts or do anything that requires sustained effort.  For example, whenever I write I post, I end up going back to correct it several times after posting because I wasn't able to catch all the mistakes the first time around.  This is rather frustrating and annoying but it isn't the end of the world so I try not to dwell on it. I try to keep my perfectionist tendencies reined in otherwise I'd stop doing a lot of things.  In relation to my reading habit, I've always enjoyed it and now that I set annual reading goals, I read far more than I ever have though there are still periods when I cannot read much at all.  Like right now.

Making appointments in my calendar for everything I do is also helpful. I go to the extent of blocking out all the 'to dos' in the calendar and I try to do this for several weeks in advance. I write things on a wall calendar because then I can see things at a glance and make adjustments if needed.  I've come to know what I can actually accomplish in a given period of time so sometimes I have to make a lot of adjustments when other things crop up that are priorities like lab work and appointments. 

It also takes me far longer to accomplish things than it ever did. It isn't just from growing older. It has more to do with energy levels as a result of illness though I know some of it has to do with aging. I am a young senior, however so I keep on going and don't feel that age is a reason for my limitations at this point.

I would love to get into better routines and meal planning but I'm simply not there yet. I'm not sure if I will ever be because routines and meal planning were never really my thing. The reason I'd like them now is it brings more structure to daily life and getting things done.  It also means I always have something on hand to eat rather than have to worry about having nothing ready when I am not up to cooking. My dear husband is not a cook so I can't really rely on him and I'd rather not have to order take out for all the times I don't feel like cooking.

So lately I've been making a few meals ahead. No more than 2 or 3 items to have in the refrigerator for meal times. While I do have a small freezer, I've found that preparing a few weeks or meals ahead doesn't really work at this point. I may revisit the idea in future.

Here are the foods I cooked this week. They aren't as healthy as I would otherwise make when I have more energy. These foods were largely cooked in the Instant Pot (IP), a lifesaver when one doesn't have much time or energy to make meals.  Food also tastes much more flavourful when cooked in the Instant Pot. Other meals were quickly made on the stove top. 

This week I was proud of myself for making 2 meals without meat though they were not veganized (Taco Soup with Lentils and Garbanzo Bean Soup).  I am going to try to make meatless meals more often because we've been eating far too much beef these past few months.  I was also told by one of my doctors that chicken is not good for my cholesterol levels. We have eaten a lot of chicken in the past.  I've cut way back on chicken but we are having some this week.  I'm also reinstituting more avocados, nuts and olive oil in to our diet and reducing butter and dairy in general though this is harder for me to do. 

Pork roast with root veggies and cabbage

Taco Soup made with lentils instead of beef

Leftover pork and potatoes with scrambled eggs/beans

New pototoes and ground beef with veggies in mushroom sauce

Seasoned roast chicken, cooked in IP & browned in oven

IP Garbanzo and veggie soup in chicken broth

Thank you for reading this far. If you have ME/CFS, I'd love to hear how long you've had it and how you manage it.