Quiet time

It rained off and on through the night, but no thunder or high winds, so quite peaceful. I did wake up several times...of course, I was in bed about 8:30...Ray's friend sent me a photo of them at the reunion, looking happy. If it was me, I'd be up and out of there...and probably back to Beverly by now. 

Tamara and I watched a movie, letters to Juliet, quite corny but pleasurable. We had chicken stir-fry and rice. Always nice to have help--she made the rice and cut up the broccoli and chicken, so it didn't feel like much work at all. I don't always have as much energy as I would like by dinner time. Good thing I don't have to take care of small children at the same time any more! 

Sunday is pancake day, so I made the bacon and mixed up the batter for whole wheat blueberry pancakes, using some half and half that was past its prime. Delicious! Although I miss Ray, there is a joy to cooking for myself and eating when I feel like it. He has been dutifully eating all the old pancakes from the freezer, which I was saving for some kind of emergency, or maybe just because I hate to throw them out. He should finish them sometime this week. Truly a labor of love--and counterproductive if you are trying to lose weight! I am committed to never having any left over from now on, which causes its own problems. Now I am waiting for T to come and eat, which probably will happen around 10, so I can eat the leftovers. 

I get up and wash a few dishes every 30 minutes or so. I want to have a clean kitchen, but I am leery of my back hurting. Standing seems to be the worst for it. The last time it spasmed and I had to lie down was after prepping some green beans for the freezer--not that difficult, but apparently too much for my back. 

I had yoga on Friday and I think that is good for it, strengthening my core and other muscles, but I am often achy afterwards, so not sure. 

Tamara and I went kayaking yesterday for just a little while--45 minutes maybe? It was warm but overcast. There was some choppiness, but not a lot of wind. I always enjoy getting out there on the water, it's very relaxing to me. It's great to have her help with carrying the kayaks down to the water; I can't really do that by myself. And she helped me get out, maybe the hardest part. This is the second time I've crossed the channel. It wasn't very busy yesterday. As a kayaker, I wait on the shore side of the big red can buoy and make sure no vessels are coming from either direction (like crossing the street) before paddling hard to get all the way across. It was fine yesterday, there wasn't much traffic, and I think most skippers would do their best to avoid us, but I prefer not to make that difficult. On the other side of the channel, we can wend our way among the moored boats. I generally ignore the motorboats and admire the sailboats. "That one's too big," I'll say to Tamara. "I couldn't count on handing it myself. But it should be big enough that I can take a friend or two." I'm not likely to get a sailboat--too expensive, too much trouble, one more thing to worry about. But Tamara says, "if you had a boat, what would you name it?" "That's a fun thing to think about," I say. "Maybe something French." I pause, thinking, "or Peace. No," I say, "I would call it the Annie B, after my Mom."