The West Commences: August 2011

Jay survived the deluge in Korea. He said that although some parts of the subway system were flooded and people lost their lives, he was only struck be heavy rain and continuing humid heat. I checked the weather in Seoul this morning in ‘The Globe and Mail’ and appreciated the difference between there and Vernon at a glance. Here the daytime temp. is between 30c. and 28c., as it is in Seoul, but here, it’s dry and drops to about 11c. at night, so I haven’t had to use the air conditioning. I open the windows around 8pm and close them when I get up in the morning, but in Seoul it’s humid and the temp. doesn’t drop much at night. It’s 11 a.m. now, and I’m hiding from the sun. I bought a ‘Globe’ and went to The Bean Scene, a popular coffee shop in greater downtown Vernon to read it as I ate a bagel and drank a double Americano. Later I intend to give the Tom Tom GPS that I bought yesterday on sale at Canadian Tire a road test. I decided to make the purchase, after almost 2 years of thinking about it, which is an average amount of time for me to contemplate parting with about $130.00, because I saw how much Matti and Lindsay’s helped them on their trip here. Also Canadian Tire had them on sale this week. I bought it and drove home, only to find I couldn’t even figure out how to install it on the dash. I didn’t want to break it, so I returned to CT and worked up the nerve to ask the guy at the auto shop cash to help me. He immediately began manhandling the thing in a way that gave me the fantods, came out to the car and popped it on the windshield. He told me not to leave the actual unit in the car in this heat because in might fry some aspect of it, so it’s in the house now sitting on a shelf in the sunroom, daring me to try it. Will I muster the courage? Tune in next week to find out.

Last Sunday’s hike up the Sun Peaks hill near Kamloops was a good one. We took the tow to the top and hiked up from there, through wonderful Alpine meadows to the summit of Mount Tod. Not at all a difficult climb, but lovely country and a long view. I discovered that the name of the ski area was changed from Mount Tod to Sun Peaks when the Japanese became financially involved in it’s development because the word ‘tod’ sounds like the Japanese word for death and they didn’t think that that was an auspicious name for a ski hill. I biked on Wed. and Thurs. this week and have finally come to the conclusion that my bike is not the problem. I’m just not as fit as these people and I don’t think I ever will be. The good part is that they’re very accommodating and I can leave a ride when I want. They make sure I know the way back. On Thurs., Priscilla turned back early too and came with me for an iced tea on the back deck. That’s more my speed.

I have lots of exercises to do for my shoulder. That’s one thing about physiotherapy; it works, but not without effort. I continue to like my therapist. He’s a straightforward, funny New Zealander. And he found me a GP, a woman he knows. I phoned her office after my last session of physiotherapy and have an appointment for Aug. 17.

Living alone necessitates more conscious planning and effort day to day than I was used to when Jim and I were together. He did a lot of that, and I was more the facilitator. Now I have to decide what to do and get myself there to do it. Usually, things go well. But I am still alone at home. That’s fine too most of the time, but there is a lot of time. It is often a luxury to have nobody to please but yourself, but it’s hard to get used to not being part of a couple. Jim and I spent a lot of time doing things more-or-less by ourselves, but each was always aware that another person who loved them, except when you drive them crazy, and even then, was within calling or touching distance. But I did have 38 years with the man I loved, so I know I was very lucky and still am.