A Break or Two
08/11/2005 12:40 p.m.
Tomorrow I leave for a week's camping trip, after three years or so of not camping. I'm very excited now that we're almost ready and the weather's cooled to reasonable for the last bit of work and loading up, and driving.

A lovely break came last evening when my girlfriend Pat and I got together for dinner and a glass or two of wine, then coffee at a cafe down the street from the restaurant. We had let far too many months slip by without seeing one another.

Pat's a nursing supervisor, does incredible work for the Mission, here in Ottawa, after almost 30 years as a VON travelling nurse, who ended up supervisor and teacher of that and palliative nursing, but then switched to head nurse for the street people or others down on their luck and health (very fatally often) and I so admire her. I've often considered her our Mother Teresa in town, and now I learn people do nickname her that.

She's a writer, poet, prose artist too, and a really dear friend.

We caught up as much as we could in our little time together, and of course the wine hits me so fast, I probably was a bit silly. But needed the relaxing break.
She's worried about my weight, when she first saw me on the front steps when she picked me up she was overtly shocked and thought me ill, and asked right away if I'm alright. She even checked with Ernie on my health. But I wanted to lose this much, and just stay where I'm at.
I take good care of myself, I believe, and honestly feel much better on the light side than heavier. More energetic and springier, and it's handier to be able to move and do things when you're slim. Probably I'll put a little more on, as my doctor advises, but I don't want to go up much.
With me, it creeps fast the other way, so I like to have allowance to play with. But I eat! Well! And treats too!
I'm working on muscle mass, though, with my weights and calcium intake. I know that's incredibly important.
Once I could finally get her off that and diverted her every time she went back to it (nurse and mother that she is) we had lots of other great conversation.

We're so much at the same places in our lives, except she's always been a career woman as well as great mom and wife, and we love the same things - cottages, nature, romance, the arts, writing, church, laughter, cabins and old heritage homesteads, special movies, I could go on and on. She's a true sister of the heart.

So it's off to the campsite tomorrow. I remember plenty of raccoons at that park, but apparently it's not so high a population lately. And there are black rat snakes (harmless but often large) but I'll be off the ground. Our son and daughter won't be though. They have the tent. But they're not concerned about the wildlife.

I know we're moving in on the creatures' territory so I respect that they're there, and it beats Tv, right?

I'll miss you folks but it's well-needed, this change. I'll be off-line sometime after early morning tomorrow.

I'm hoping to write haiku, tanka, journals, poems, and just soak up the scenery and sounds and air, for inspiration. I received my copy of "Gusts" finally, with my pond romance Tanka in it, in the romance section, and was so excited and pleased when I found it. It's Tanka Canada's brand new Tanka Journal, and I'm honoured to be in the company of mentors and leaders in the tanka and haiku styles. Marianne Bluger, (for whom we named the journal after her "gusts" book of Tanka, (I believe I refer to all this in previous entries) Grant Savage, Terry Ann Carter, George Swede, Claudia Coutu and many others I hold in awe. I'll probably re-post that tanka on here when I return as it is one of a pond sequence series I did a while back.

Take good care, all my fellow poets and friends and admin staff, while I'm gone.
I am currently Cheerful
I am listening to Majic l00 in my new headphones on walkman