Saturday and Plastic Fantastic

Rainy day today.  The rain started yesterday.  Heavy grey skies emptying themselves onto the ground below.

In the office it is unaffected.  Warm and dry.  Music playing.  Coffee breaks.  The turtles in the pond have slowed their movements down now the cold weather is in to stay.  The don't watch us from the water, heads out and eyes following us as we walk past.  Always hoping for food.  Now it is chilly they just stay in one spot for most of the day.  Sometimes they come out of the water and sit under the shelter of the green bamboo that grows in the garden bed.

Today I had that Tupperware party.  I baked a few things but not as much as I thought I would because I realised that it would be possible to have too much food.  It was a busy day and delightfully social.  Being sociable takes effort for me.  Not as much as it used to as I have worked out what to do to be sociable and I appreciate the benefits of it.  As long as it is controllable I am fine.

When I decided to have the party I thought it would be nice if a few turned up.  As it was, there were twelve and they spent a lot of money collectively.  One of the women had not been to a Tupperware party since the 70's.  She was tempted to hold a party herself but was too embarrassed that her friends would never let her live it down.  My sister, however, fell for the temptation.  Sucker.......however, she expects me to come too.  Sigh.

I enjoyed baking bits and pieces for the afternoon tea.  It is a nice thing to do.  Calming. Productive. I like looking up new recipes and trying them out.  Degree of difficulty is never off putting if the end result is pleasing.

There was a lovely book that I read not so long ago.  It was called Mr Rosenblum's List.  In the book was mention of a cake that his wife would bake and I wondered if I would be able to bake it.   It is called a German Tree Cake.  Definitely not something to whip up after work.

I look at the recipe a lot and visualise all the processes.  I have to visualise it before I can contemplate doing it.  Like mapping down the journey in my head.  That process is one I use a lot to get through each day.  Even when I was training for the Oxfam walk I would visualise each section so that my head and body would be in tune with what was happening.

Today my son did volunteer work at one of the local charity shops.  It is part of his Duke of Edinburgh award that he is going for.  Two hours each Saturday for three months.  He enjoyed it and it was good that he got out and about.  His job there today was to arrange the books in genre.

One of the other activities he will be doing is an overnight trek.  They have been talking about what they are going to take for food.  Things have to be light as they will be walking a lot.  In fact, they will be walking on the same trail that I did for the Oxfam walk.  My son had a list of food that he would take and all seemed reasonable until I got down to what he intended to eat for dinner.  Two cheeseburgers from McDonald's.  Imagine the state of those two after being in a back pack for a full day.  In summer.  After a discussion with him he agreed that maybe they were not a good option.

There are a few local camping and hiking stores that sell freeze dried foods that you add boiling water to so we will try out a few of those.  As he does not eat nuts or dried fruit we have to work out what he can nibble on for slow release energy.  He thinks lollies are the go or banana chips.  Having over indulged in those at one point in time on a training walk I tried to advise him that he may well end up with a really bad gut ache if he just eats those.  But he made it clear that he knew best.  Fair enough.  I can't tell him anything really because I am his mother and therefore know nothing.

He also has to do one hour physical activity each week.  He suggested a one hour walk with me.  This was allowed by the coordinators despite me being a parent.  So, at the beginning of the week he and I had a conversation that went like this:

Son: So, mum, I need to start this walking with you this week.  I worked out that we can walk about ten minutes each day and that will make it more than an hour for the week.

Me: What?

Son: Yeah, ten minutes each day, seven days, seventy minutes.  That is more than the hour.

Me: It doesn't work that way.  You walk with me for one hour.  You go for a one hour solid walk with me.  Not a ten minute walk around the block each day.

Son: Why not?  It is still an hour each week.  It is more than an hour.
(as if that extra ten minutes will impress me more)

Me: That is not an achievement or a challenge to you.  Also, I have plenty of stuff I have to squeeze in a day and I am not adding a ten minute walk into the mix.  One hour per week with me.

Son: Okay, settle down.

He must have thought that the physical exercise challenge would be a doodle.  Ten minute trot around the block.  However, we did go for the one hour walk last Sunday and it was great.  He talked the whole time about what was going on in his life and his thoughts on the world around him.  No complaints about having to walk at all.  It was great.

Poor Benny today was relegated to being outside for a bit of the day today.  K took him for a long walk which was meant to tire him out a bit.  But Benny sat outside the back door looking at everyone and put on a sad face.  After nearly everyone left he was allowed inside and wagged his little body to bits.  Then, when our back was turned, he ate sandwiches from a plate that was too close to the table.  Very sly about it too.  He knew it was naughty.

A puppy is so much like a child.  Later in the evening Benny was being very pesky and energetic.  In the end I put him in his pen where he rolled around for a few minutes and then crashed into a deep sleep.  Reminded me of when my son was a toddler.  Big day, silly behaviour and a bed time crash.  Very cute.

Tomorrow is just a relaxing Sunday.  Take Benny down to the dog beach.  Go for a walk with S.

Just relax before a new week starts all over again.

Ciao
LC