Living between the lines

That is a phrase that popped into my head as I was sitting and thinking - meditating some people might call it - though I think that might be a bit grandiose for what I was doing. Anyway, I sometimes feel like I am, once again, sort of waiting for the next thing - the next shoe to drop. That doesn't mean that I am living in the future. Or in the past. I do think that I am living in the now. That being said, I am also trying to figure out the next thing that I want to do or next task I would most like to accomplish.

Maybe treading water is what I am doing. When I was in camp, many years ago, one of the swimming awards required one to tread water for a certain amount of time. Actually, different awards required different amounts of time treading water with different challenges. One I recall was having to tread water while holding your thumbs up and out of the water. The other was having to tread water while holding a five pound object - in my case a substantial rock. Did I mention that water and I are not friends? For me, treading water is not the most pleasant thing I could be doing - perhaps why I picked that as an analogy (is it an analogy? Or a metaphor? I get confused about those two things. Oh, and simile.) (I think it might be a metaphor - but am open to being convinced otherwise...)

What do you think of me going back to school, again, maybe for massage? I sometimes act as soon as I think of something - so I went online to look for massage schools in the area. Found one that I knew was there in Ithaca. Sent in an info request form and maybe 5 seconds after I hit "submit" the phone rang. Elena left a message (lovely voice) and also sent an email. Maybe they are eager for students?! I don't know - Ithaca is a longish way to go for classes...there is a school in Rochester as well. Both cost about the same. Where the money would come from is anyone's guess.

Well, Ithaca is out - their part time program is weekends from 9-5. That won't work easily. The other school has a night time program. Hmmm...

I forgot to mention that mom and I watched a movie together on Wednesday night. As I have mentioned previously, watching movies with mom is not always the best experience for me. This time, she sat fairly quietly and didn't worry that she didn't understand what was going on. I thought that it might be a good movie for her to watch - and it got good reviews so I thought I might be interested as well. We saw Silver Linings Playbook and I was entertained. I like Bradley Cooper generally. Jennifer Lawrence was decent. Great supporting cast - including Julia Stiles who I hadn't seen in a while (I have always liked her) and Robert Dinero who always adds energy to a movie. All in all, it was a good rent.

I could use a massage

I am sore. Not horribly, incapacitatingly sore, but sore. And a massage is always welcome. Oh, to have a romantic partner who liked swapping massages. Someday, perhaps. Maybe I will look for a therapist around here who isn't too pricey. A nice, back, leg, arm and head massage. Mmmmm...

Long driving day yesterday with a break at Karl's house for a couple of hours. We managed to get up fairly early yesterday and got out only about half an hour later than I had wanted. Mom wanted to go get me a pair of winter boots, which I haven't owned in 20 years. At Paul's or Juliet's suggestion we went to Reny's to look first. Found a pair fairly quickly that met my needs. Helped by a young man with a sort of mohawk who seemed to be able to read the boxes. Mom was surprised at how quickly I got something that satisfied. I tend to shop that way. If I am looking for something, zip in, evaluate quickly and purchase. I am not a huge fan of endless browsing, though I have done that too on occasion. Then it was five and a half hours to Karl's house. Only one bit of a slow down - where 295/90/84 meet and diverge. Luckily it was just very slow, not that much stopping. Yippee!

We got to Colchester just as Karl was stopping working on house decorating. We shared some of his tasty turkey soup and chatted. Candace had done the midnight madness shopping and stayed up all night. Karl got himself and the kids up at 5 am to meet her and do some more. Crazy people, but I think they had fun and might have saved some money. Both good things. I think it was good for mom to see the house, the kids, Skyelyn and Jacob, and to see Karl and Candace. We didn't stay too long, and hit the road again right around 5. 5 More hours back to Geneva and we were walking in the door right around 10 at night. Not too bad, really. Yippee!

Pictures from November 26, 2011:

The view in Maine

The stream by the side of the Maine house

Candace, Jacob and Skyelyn

Three of four were looking my way - Jacob, Karl, Skyelyn, Mom