Saturday, May 31, 2014

Raising the Bar

It's not my usual day of writing but it hasn't been my usual morning.

The week has been intense, tiring, the five hour a night sleep because I've pushed the boundaries of work, play, and Skype.  By yesterday afternoon, I was spent and the last thing I wanted to do this morning was to awaken at 5:00, gear up the car and drive an hour to try my hand at open water swimming with my fellow aspiring half-iron training group.  I wanted to sleep in not publicly flail.  My post-reading-water-and-a-movie self reasoned that an 8:15 barre class would be a good start to the weekend.  I have never been to a barre class but have heard it described and thought, why not?  Knowing that it had a reputation for being quite intense, I was beginning at the Y; I knew they didn't have a bar but instead use chairs and add in a few other exercises.

"Chairs, I can do that."

So this morning, I snoozed my alarm until 7:38, left the house at 7:45 and arrived promptly to the gym at 8:00 for the 8:15 start.  So far, so good.  I knew the instructor, and she and another student helped me with the set-up.  Oh, and no shoes.  With all the props and bare feet, I had the thought that it was like Iyengar yoga.  This would be removed from my brain with the warm-up set.  The instructor mentioned planks.

"Planks?  I do those every day.  I've got this."

"Will I sweat?", I asked the veteran student?  "A little," she replied.

And so it began.  At the beginning of the class, I was aware there was music but at some point the echo of my heart beat replaced all rhythm emanating from those little speakers.  I was sweating.  Not the dainty sweat of the rest of the class but the "I just ran 5 miles" kind.  My legs trembled in spots I didn't know had muscles.  As I sip my coffee, I'm still trying to forget the words "pulse" and "tiny movements" and "on your toes."   ON YOUR TOES.  Who knew such words would cause my hips to scream for mercy as we did the "double-time" set.

We started to stretch finally.  I was excited.  "Are we finished?" I asked hopefully.  No, she said, "we're only halfway!".  Oh my.

Enter stage left:  planks.  On gliders.  GLIDERS.  Elevated.  "Just 10 more."  These were the words that nearly brought spontaneous tears.  I won't write the words that went through my head like a mantra, but let's just say they were "Holy".

"Gliders can be put away."  Grateful.

Enter an ab ball.  Not grateful.

Now I've used a ball once in my life to the entertainment of my sister.  Now I was miraculously rolled on it with my "heavy" weight set dangling over my body.  First set, fine.  Second set, burn, but fine.  Change to the smaller weights?  Mine were out of reach.  "I'll just use these so I don't fall off the ball," I thought with assurance that I had made the right choice.

Weights above my face?  Change hand position while arms elevated?  I began a series of earnest prayers entitled "Please don't let me drop one of these on my nose" while my arms trembled overhead.  And raised bridge with pulses on a ball?  I wasn't sure I would make it.

With the remaining energy and a "dig deep" pep talk, I finished the class.  Apologies to the person who uses my blue mat as I forgot to wipe it down after.  This thought only occurred to me much later.  I hope you'll understand and have forgiveness for a newbie with trembling arms and legs.

Namaste.

Friday, May 30, 2014

I Play Chicken with a ...

“The train is a small world moving through a larger world.”
― Elisha Cooper, Train

Arm out window stopped at the tracks
Americana, IL May 2014
On this particular Saturday, I had two moments with a train.  The above was taken en route to a BBQ festival* and the other while stopping for a minute to sit along Lakeshore for a break during a run.  A gentleman stopped by, asked if he could sit with my friend and me and said he rode trains.  He had been in Birmingham (beaten by the police), Memphis (didn't like) and Chicago (his favorite).  "Look at this view" he said while sweeping his left hand.  "Just keep doing what you're doing" his parting words before stepping away.

*Nothing beats Southern BBQ.  Sorry, Chitown.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

No Way?

I can hardly think of a better gift than an unexpected novel via post.  This weekend I devoted some time to a recent receipt:  The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope.  At 100 chapters, it is a significant carry-on item (versus my Nexus) but worth its weight.  True to my (OCD) form, I'm 100 pages in and yet to break the spine.  The characters each seem to have something slightly amiss so I've not yet selected my favorites.

This work was published in 1875 and I found this trivia via The Guardian:
Trollope, professional to his fingertips, often kept a calendar for the composition of his fiction. Before starting The Way We Live Now he made the following, slightly chilly, calculation: "Carbury novel. 20 numbers. 64 pages each number. 260 words each page. 40 pages a week. To be completed in 32 weeks."
But he was wrong. The "Carbury novel", begun in May 1873, took just 29 weeks, and ran to about 425,000 words.
How's that for six month productivity?

The title also seems to fit recent themes as two of my most recently viewed films have been The Way and They Way Way Back.

Friday, May 23, 2014

60 seconds

I hope you have a nice long weekend and have the opportunity to take pause for those fallen. The holiday dates back to 1868 with the idea to decorate graves for those lost in war.  Three p.m. local is the recommended time for a minute of silence by the National Moment of Remembrance.

Union Station, May 2014
Chicago, IL
 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Starlight, Star Bright

A nod to anyone who has shared reading water tonight and discussed books, life, poetry, the Lakers or just looked up at the sky and been mesmerized for a few short moments.  I am thankful that our journeys have overlapped.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Raindrops on Windowsills and Water in Glasses

Yesterday was a gloriously rainy day.  The early morning training was canceled so I could sleep in a few more hours and then visit the gym late.  I could have tea AND coffee and catch up on correspondence.  I could finish errands in the afternoon and then sit quietly on the sofa with a glass of reading water and finish The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  It was a good day.

My review of the novel will have to wait since it's an upcoming August GBC read and I'm a believer in "no spoilers".  I do feel after having finished it though that I should revisit parts of the beginning as there are a few threads which still are not yet clear.

A reminder to sprint to the finish for the May reads: your choice of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen or Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Green Goddess II

Any fool can get into an ocean
But it takes a Goddess
To get out of one.
What’s true of oceans is true, of course,
Of labyrinths and poems.


Gulf at sunset off the coast of Tampa
May 2014
Happy weekend - happy reading!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Take a Dip

Amazon provides many wonderful deliveries.  In 85% of the small Prime boxes, I receive paper items but there's a solid five percent devoted to the art of swimming:  goggles, fins, caps, and today, a swimming metronome.  The first time I swam with a metronome, I had flashbacks to seventh grade piano and a teacher who kept tempo with a pencil.  Now I'm much more relaxed and swimming is more akin to waltzing through the water with the occasional fox trot to jazz things up a bit.

With swimming on the brain and a soft spot for childrens' books, this NYT review caught my eye: Suitable Swimming:  ‘Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine’ and ‘Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas’.  The Queen and an elephant seal will give you a mid-week lift.

Monday, May 12, 2014

See you Later Alligator-ade

Some events happen in slow motion; dry Gatorade powder falling from the top of a refrigerator does not.  One appreciates the full thrust of 9.82 meters per second square as the canister slips just out of your reach onto the floor.  At this point, a cloud of dust (orange in this case) will rise like a summer storm enveloping your kitchen space only to fall gingerly, slowly, encompassing regions you never even considered with a grainy powder.  It's worse than glitter.

As a nod to anyone else who has vacuumed themselves as their last departing act for a Monday morning, First in Thirst: How Gatorade Turned the Science of Sweat Into a Cultural Phenomenon by Darren Rovell.


Sunday, May 11, 2014

Week End

This week has gone by in a blur of multi-state travel, excel spreadsheets, a Field Day, and a wedding.  [I think every manager should have to instruct groups of K-5th graders to create a circle quickly.  This was test one's ability to vary communication to an audience.]

I'm still making progress on The Goldfinch.  Hope you're having a good weekend filled with things that make your heart happy.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

I'm on a Boat II

sometimes days run from 7 to midnight and there's no time to read
you manage a morning paper and a few lines from social feed
evening boat with wind in your hair and water's good deed
lucky yet, a view for a sunset succeed

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Tell Me About It

With the sun making its slow drop across the sky and perhaps your evening reading water in hand on the porch, this interview with Lynn Barber is just the thing to hold the Sundays at bay just a bit longer.  Decca Aitkenhead had me laughing more than a few times with her piece.  Barber seems like just the woman we would love to have at a GBC meeting.  Her second memoir is out this month:  A Curious Career.  

Friday, May 2, 2014

From Sea to Shining

...
I leave, imagining myself on the stern of a ship
nosing into Ellis Island, looking back at
the green lady, looking back, back at the sea.

Looking back at Ellis Island
April 2014