Sunday, January 6, 2013

A Sunday Afternoon

It was a Sunday afternoon, wet and cheerless; and a duller spectacle this earth of ours has not to show than a rainy Sunday in London.

Thomas De Quincey

When I read this quote I thought it was made just for my city on a cold, wet afternoon. It is often like this in winter on a weekend when one would like to get out and see something.  A lot of people suffer from seasonal affective disorder (depression from lack of sunlight over the dark, winter months) as a result and it is easy to see why. I find it helps to get out when you can despite the weather and to also have things that you look forward to doing, whether it be inside or outside (having my list of annual goals really helps me with ensuring I have useful things to do and things I want to do).



However I've been indoors a lot since I returned home from my Christmas visit.  I am nursing my left leg which gave out before Christmas (another knee problem in my good leg). It has been too painful to walk and I'm trying to get well before my new class starts on Monday night (that's tomorrow already!).

I've been praying for myself, getting others to pray for me, putting a heating pad on the knee for hours at a time, rubbing some  liniment on it, doing some light stretching, taking fish oils and generally staying off the leg as much as I can.  Just the other day I added Curamin to my regimen.  I am happy to report that late yesterday and again today I can feel an improvement and I'm cautiously optimistic that if if things continue to improve I will be able to make it to my first class tomorrow night. I plan to study and learn the Cree language, one of the largest of the First Nations languages of Canada.  It doesn't seem to be offered every term so I really want to take advantage of the offering now and will be studying the Plains dialect (spoken in the western provinces and Northern Terrritories).  Originally I was going to carry on with my Swahili language lessons but that will have to wait until the Fall or I will try to make time to study on my own.

In domestic news, my kitchen is now back to normal. The new dishwasher has been used to wash a load. It is a very quiet operation (so nice). I've also made some porridge on the new stove top. The burners heat virtually immediately. This is such a nice feature as I really dislike waiting for water to boil. The oven was also used to roast a rosemary chicken and came out very nicely crisped on top. I will save some white meat for my lunch or dinner tomorrow. The fridge appears to be working very well. Everything is nicely chilled. So far I'm very happy with all the new appliances. I'm now going to kick back with the heating pad on my leg and read a good book.

I hope you are making good progress on your goals and plans for 2013. We have a whole wonderful year to look forward to and enjoy. See you soon.

Blessings!



5 comments:

Joanne Noragon said...

We have had only one sliver of blue sky and sunshine for an entire week. My Sunday was equal to the picture you posted.

You have set yourself a mighty challenge for the new year. Good for you and Godspeed.

Beth Zimmerman said...

I watch (way too much) HGTV and especially enjoy House Hunters International. There was an episode on recently where they were in Greenland (I think) and they showed the family in a (heated) local pool under heavy gray cloudy skies. I guess if you live where the sun is an exception, rather than a rule, you learn to live with it. Or move! I surely do like the sunshine though!

Denise said...

May you enjoy 2013, love you.

Penelope Notes said...

Brand new appliances must be a joy. Also, what good brain food to learn another language. Wishing you the best of health and strong knees in the year ahead!

Jo said...

Penny, we had rain for most of last week, and by Friday, the third consecutive rainy, dripping wet day, my friend and I sat and drank tea and bemoaned the state of the weather. We Africans just cannot take a day (or more than) of sunlessness! I continue to pray for your painful knee condition, Penny and hope you're going to be better soon. You are so amazing at the things you learn and do. I look forward to hearing more about your new language, Cree! Have a blessed day. (((Hugs))) Jo

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