Holiday Park Fitness Room - Day 2

Michelle did MUCH better at the gym. She discovered the "abs" machine and the situps bench. I'm having a hard time not bursting into tears over the poignancy of it all.

Imagine, if you will, me, as huge as I am, dragging her, a mere five-foot two, wonderfully zaftig, by her collar, sulking, up the sidewalk to the front entrance, through the sliding-glass doors where I have to PRY her membership card (membership is free but they issue a card in order to substantiate their funding) out of her hand so they can scan it, then proceed down the hall to the fitness room where I THROW her onto a treadmill & kick it into gear. Ten minutes later she's clipping along at 4 mph and showing no sign of boredom or exertion.

The only other people in the room are another couple about our age, but in much better shape. They're obviously on a cardio routine and move from one machine to another without hesitation or breaks.

Michelle (inadvertently) beats him to the abs machine. He goes by and mutters "Fuck" under his breath. Soon his wife queries him about his upset and after several exclamations of increasing volume of "WHAT!?!" (apparently due to his wife speaking too softly), he practically bellows, "I'm waiting on this machine!"

Michelle, in her inimitable capacity to ignore, just schluffs him off as "grumpy" and later relates the incident as a humorous anecdote.

At the Post Office we stand in line for 15 minutes  when on the radio comes "I'm frrrreeee, I'm free fallin'! Free Fallin' now I'm Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty.

Free Fallin' by Tom Petty

There're about 15 people in line behind us (we're always front-of-the-wave) and they all know the chorus. It takes only a little encouragement from yerz trooly for everyone, including the postal workers, to join in for a flash-mob (no video as I'd have had to get a release from each). At the counter, the clerk kindly points out it's a UPS mailing label.

While she's at UPS I go next door to the "neighborhood" Walmart.

Once home and groceries unloaded and lasagna in oven I'm lying down and speculating I may not move again for a week, perhaps longer.

Tomorrow at 12:30 & 6:30 Sifu Dug Corpolongo teaches Tai Chi. I hope to make it to one of the classes...if I survive.

Holiday Park Fitness Rm - Day 1

The young man at the registration desk said there was no way around the policy of two people having separate accounts with the same address. I asked how old he was and when he said "19," I assured him he had a ways to go. 

Natashia Baca, the Center's Director, had it worked out in less than ten minutes.

We started on the treadmill - I went 2 minutes, Michelle went 10+. Then Michelle to the chest press (We must! We Must! We MUST increase our Bust!). I got a pair of 5 pd dumbells and strutted forth & back in front of the huge mirror wishing I was in my grass-hopper-green speedo. 

I started a conversation w the sweet young (78) strawberry blonde about Dug Corpolongo's Tai Chi class. Dug and I used to enjoy sparring in our younger day; he always won.

Digital Recorder

Advised that being on hospice was the first step toward MAID, I met with a representative. She said the minimum contact was a twice-a-month visit from a nurse. On Monday, when we met, I was still thinking I might want to take short trips and didn't want to be tied down. I chose NOT to sign on. 

Thursday I was acknowledging my traveling days, even short trips, are of the past. (What to do with an "old beater" that has over $25,000.00 of restoration in it?)

A couple of weeks ago a woman I met at the January 6 Death Café referred me to a Death Doula. He's a he/him and inquiring minds wonder if that means he's a DoulO? In Spanish "a" is feminine and "o" is masculine.

Last Friday we set up a meeting for Sunday afternoon; I immediately ordered a digital recorder. On 13.Jan they said it'd arrive on the 18th. Then came a note saying it'd be early, but if it didn't arrive by the 18th I could request a refund (this is Amazon). Late last night, around 1:00 a.m., came a note saying it was delayed and would arrive on the 23rd, but if it didn't I could request a refund. 

I called UPS to plead my case. I 'splained how The Doulo is in high demand, time is of the essence and we couldn't reschedule. The nice lady said there was nothing they could do but Amazon might overnight me a replacement.

(Tap image to goto product on Amazon. No, I'm not monetized, but there IS a donate button in the upper right on the desktop view.)

Sure enough! They couldn't absolutely guarantee it would arrive in time, but they'd try.

Now that Der Führer has been dethroned, I gather Mr. Bozos has taken center stage as "everymans'" target of enmity, but when I 'splained my sit-chew-ay-shun to the rep, he got it instantly, asked me to hold for a minute and in less than 30 seconds was back with a "free replacement" that would be overnighted. I was in pretty rough shape and it took all I had to choke out a "thank you" before hanging up.

As I collapsed back into the post-breakfast exhaustion, I wondered if I'd have to pay the overnight shipping cost and whether I could just refuse the original when it finally arrived or if I'd have to endure WHOLE FOODS in order to return it?

After all this, I remembered I have an mp3 recorder in Phoebe. I called the shop where she's getting some custom fabrication to compensate for out-dated clutch technology and was told Robert would bring it to the house tomorrow. (They don't work on weekends.) The goddess keeps me hoppin' but like the man said, "You might'nt get whut chew want, but yuh jus' might find yuh git whutchyu need."

I might be able to record in stereo!

Hyacinths

It was while walking to school in Rolla, Missouri that I became aware of hyacinths. I like the purple ones best but they all have their smell. 

These were still too young to tell their color when I picked 'em up at Trader Joe's; I'll be on the lookout for purple over the coming week.

The terra-cotta figure has lived atop the desk since my earliest childhood. She and the desk are among the few remaining elements of that period. Her head was glued back on and unlike the matching orange Meissen vase and bowl that my mother loved, she is still here.

Abbey of Regina Laudis Cheese & More

We read childrens' stories to each other before going to sleep. Tonight we continued with The Witches by Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake. During intermission, Michelle read how the book's royalties went to the Roald Dahl Charity for Children.

Perusing Roald's Wiki page, Michelle recognized his first wife, Patricia Neal.

Perusal of Patricia's Wiki page disclosed she "had become a Catholic four months before she died and was buried in the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut, where the actress Dolores Hart, her friend since the early 1960s, had become a nun and ultimately prioress. Neal had been a longtime supporter of the abbey's open-air theatre and arts program."

Thus....

https://abbeyofreginalaudis.org/stewardship-dairy.html

The CBS segment begins with the Monastic Community singing Gregorian Chant in our church Jesu Fili Mariae and then correspondent Mo Rocca visits our dairy where he interviewed an Abbey herdswoman and cheesemakers. Watch Sister Jeanne Paul feed the cows and introduce her beloved Milking Shorthorn Red Wing Lily who is certainly not camera shy. Sister Teresa Benedicta and Monastic Intern Regina show Mo the final steps of the Bethlehem cheesemaking process as they salt and wrap the cheese in cheesecloth. Mother Noella introduced Mo to the ripening process in the cheese cellar and through a microscope. They spoke about Benedictine Spirituality and how the work of each nun with an element of creation, opens to the comprehensive vision of St. Benedict. And of course Mo had his first taste of our Bethlehem cheese!

Mother Noella on the Science and Spirituality of Cheesemaking
In this web exclusive, Mother Noella, a Benedictine Nun of the Abbey of Regina Laudis, talks with correspondent Mo Rocca about enzymes—the catalyst in the traditional cheesemaking process—and how they relate to the spiritual. You can, she says, find the universe in a microbe.

 From the CBS Sunday Morning Website, November 20, 2016

Watch the video Mo Rocca Pays a Visit to the Abbey Dairy Farm.
Watch the Interview with Mo Rocca on the Science and Spirituality of Cheesemaking from the CBS Sunday Morning broadcast.

NETFLIX PREMIERE OF COOKED DIRECTED BY ALEX GIBNEY IN COLLABORATION WITH MICHAEL POLLAN, February 2016

Explored through the lenses of the four natural elements—fire, water, air and earth—COOKED is an enlightening and compelling look at the evolution of what food means to us through the history of food preparation and its universal ability to connect us. Highlighting our primal human need to cook, the series urges a return to the kitchen to reclaim our lost traditions and to forge a deeper, more meaningful connection to the ingredients and cooking techniques that we use to nourish ourselves. 

Synopsis of the documentary film Cooked from Michael Pollan's Website

On February 19, 2016, Netflix began streaming an original 4-part documentary series based on journalist and author Michael Pollan's book Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. Regina Laudis, in particular the Abbey Dairy, is featured in episode #4: Earth—Fermentation's Cold

As a fan of Michael Pollan, it is with enthusiasm I encourage you to peruse his books Cooked and How To Change Your Mind, two I very much enjoyed.

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Gregorian Chant

https://abbeyofreginalaudis.org/video&chant.php?mediaID=8&autoplay=1#top

CHANT AT THE ABBEY TODAY

Gregorian chant is not something the Abbey "preserves" or "performs" simply as a treasured relic of the Church’s heritage. Chant for us is a way of life. We are privileged to continue our study of the Chant under the direction of our Abbess, Mother David Serna, who is an accomplished musician and directed the monastic Choir for our third CD, The Announcement of Christmas

Seven times a day, and once in the middle of the night, the nuns of Regina Laudis come together to pray the Divine Office, an arrangement set forth by Saint Benedict in his Rule more than 1500 years ago. For us, Gregorian chant is life-giving. In the words of Mother Benedict, Chant is a medium that has the power to release and strengthen people. The chant is for me unique and superior to all other musical responses to Scripture. There is nothing that equals it because of its paradoxical simplicity and complexity. The chant centers our mission to praise God at all times, a mission expressed in the Abbey’s motto: Non recedat laus—Let praise never cease.

Watch a video clip of an Abbey class with Dr. Theodore Marier from the 1980's on the Rhythm of Kyrie XVI.

Captain Rob Cane Bids Farewell

Bob Cane leaves from Switzerland January 16th.

 Here's his goodbye...

https://www.exitinternational.net/this-is-your-captain-speaking-by-rob-cane/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=real-or-fake-how-to-spot-a-scam-dec-2019-peaceful-pill-ehandbook_59

Princess Mononoke

The Guild Theater in Albuquerque still shows The Rocky Horror Picture Show, has an annual LGBQRST+ series and has been run for decades by a couple of altruistic dudes. God nose how they've kept head above water these many years, but today the place was PACKED.

While waiting for everyone to get gone, Michelle spotted Betty who'd been sitting across the aisle.

Still in the lobby when we got there, I asked for their picture. They had a youngster, a female around age 8 with some purple hair, but she didn't want to be in the picture. 

Betty's a karaoke singer in Santa Fe. It was great to see such originality and delighted with how approachable "s/he" was.

The inexorable weight-gain as my energy wanes.

Still, it was a good day.