Hello!
I have not written to you in a while. Sorry, procrastination happens.
Maybe it wasn't procrastination as much as the anxiety or weirdness of the political unrest. (For you reading this in the future, on January 6th, 2021 there was an attack on our US Capital with the crowd chanting to hang the vice president who was about to certify the election results from the 50 states.)
The events on top of a year of the rise in cases of COVID19 has many of us anxious and I didn't want to write anything about it and add to our anxiety. But how could I write and not mention it? Families and friends are torn apart by not just differing opinions, but deep beliefs in what is the truth.
How do you prove what is real when someone insists that every source you site they don't trust. Every fact you site they believe is false. That is some of our experiences during these times.
Anyway, that isn't what I am writing about.
What I wanted to let you know about is a free virtual conference for caregivers happening in February. No matter where you are, you can attend as much or as little of it as you want.
Here is the link to register. https://conference.coping.today/
I am thrilled to be invited to be part of an Author's Panel discussing the power and benefits of keeping a journal.
If the dates and times don't work for you, no worries, the whole conference (except Teepa Snow's presentation) will be recorded and available to view after the conference. Pretty cool!
Thanks to Coping with Dementia for putting on this conference.
What else is happening?
Carolyn has returned! She rented a room from me last year and it worked out very well. She is quiet, nice, clean and she rides a trike. What's not to like!
This year she has a puppy with her, Nine-month-old Josie is cute and well-behaved and likes to play fetch with me.
Debra and Glen's dog died. So they were anxious to come over and meet Josie. They have a fensed in yard so one day I took Josie over to play and they were thrilled to sit in the yard with me and play with her. Their new dog arrives in early March.
I am excited! I bought an inflatable paddle board and it arrived yesterday. I thought it would be something I could take with me traveling and do some early morning floats while the water is like glass.
I am hoping to test it out this week before it gets cold again. We have had three wonderful days of warm weather this week so far.
Today our bike group biked the Van Fleet Trail. It was a great turn out with over 20 people riding! It was wonderful to hear the chatter as we glided down the trail and pointed out the gator at the bridges.
When I got home from the ride there were men up on the roof of my building. All four households have agreed to get a new ridge vent put on our building. My tile roof has leaked four times in the four years I have lived here. I hope this puts an end to it. It's a relief to see something getting done. They said they found quite a few rotten boards they had to replace today.
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COVID
Covid cases continue to grow, along with hospital stays and deaths. Our place in history.
The health department has started giving the Covid vaccines to those 65 and older in Florida. The vaccine is given in two does 28 days apart. Debra and Glen got theirs already. I have yet to get an appointment. The grocery store pharmacy is giving them, but it is only able to provide so many before they run out of appointments or supply. I go online and try to get an appointment, but they sell out quickly, so I have not yet succeeded.
President Biden signed an executive order giving war-time effort to the elimination of the virus. This will increase the supplies needed to test, treat, and distribute the vaccines.
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Writing
I finally started the long journey to book three. My sister has a friend that does a blog called If it Brings You Joy.
One of her posts was setting your intention. Write it down as an intention, "I intend ..." So I wrote down that I intend to have drive and joy carry me through writing and publishing book three.
Each time I would try to start writing I would get stuck on something and end up not moving forward. So I gave myself permission to just let the drive and joy happen when they happen.
The other day I did yoga and took a walk, I weeded and watered the garden, I started a jig saw puzzle, and I played with Josie and still managed to look at and edit some of my old journals for the period of my life I want to write about next. What I realized is that I can still make progress. Maybe it is the pushing, the I must, that is keeping me from moving forward. And since I am one that values my freedom, allowing myself the freedom to do it in my own time, might be just the ticket to get the creative juices flowing again.
We will see.
Coming up
In February I go on a couple camping trips in my Weeroll.
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