Off to South Africa

I'm leaving to catch the bus to the airport in about 1/2 hour. I will arrive in Johannesburg tomorrow morning. Malcolm's brother Eric and his wife are picking me up. What an adventure. I'm not bringing a laptop with me but I think they have a computer and internet so I will try to update. At the very least I shall Twitter.

A sad week

I spent most of the day yesterday regretting that I hadn't gone to my brother's funeral. At 3:30 (10:30 in Toronto and the time of the funeral mass) I decided to take a walk to the local church to have a sit down and my own little remembrance. I tried two churches and both were locked up tight. I wonder if god was telling me something. I haven't believed in a personal god for 45 years - maybe I'm getting my comeuppance. I went back home and carried on with the preparations for my dinner party. Well before the death I had organized for some of my friends to come for a meal and I stayed with this plan. I'm glad I did because we had a great time. There were nine of us clustered around my excellent square tables. Today I'm clearing up and getting ready to go off to Brighton for a couple of days. I want to see A,S & H before I go to South Africa on Tuesday.

Spring has sprung

This is my magnolia tree in all its glory.

A bad week

As I said in my last entry, I had a great day in London on Saturday with Chloe. On Monday I had a call from my sister in Canada to tell me that my brother George had died in the night. Apparently he went to bed on Easter night and never woke up. He had some minor health problems but nothing urgent so it was a huge shock for all of us. Because of my imminent trip to South Africa, I did not feel that I could go to the funeral in Toronto. Luckily, Daniel is going so he will represent the family. If you look at Jane's blog (chairitable), she has a couple of pictures of George when he was much younger. The one of him running down the road was taken at Malcolm's and my wedding in 1971. God we're old. It is a very sad business to lose a brother. He is the first of our generation to go.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Hi Everyone - what a treat I had on Saturday. Chloe and I went to London to see Priscilla. It was fabulous. I saw the film many years ago and loved it. Well, the stage production is better. The costumes are marvellous and the speed and skill of the costume changes is amazing. Now I want Darcy and Joe to come to England so I can go to see it again. Actually, anyone will do so if you are coming to England this summer, let me know and I will get us tickets for the show.

Time for an Update

Here is my garden







The good feelings generated by a weekend at Earnley lasted well into the next week. Then I had Ian Hacking to stay for a day and a half and it all fell apart again. He didn’t do anything dreadful. Quite the contrary, I think he was trying to be nice. It could well be that I am the one who is difficult. Whatever! Anyway, I found myself weeping and feeling miserable until I spoke to KD on Wednesday. She is so wonderful. I’m trying to change my default mode from dejected and despondent to jolly and positive. I’ve been the former just about all of my life so there is work to do. I wish it were as simple as changing the default mode on a computer; especially when it flashes a warning which states that ‘pressing this button will delete everything that has gone before’. Wouldn’t it be great if I could delete the past three years? I think it is called senile dementia. If I do get it, I will praise the day when someone says, “Malcolm Pike”, and I say, “Whose that then?” See what I’m doing? I’m slipping into my easy default. STOP, I say. Look out the window at your beautiful garden and put a smile on your face. I’m going to The Playhouse tonight to see The Crucible. A friend of mine is in it. Actually, it’s Judith who is a combination friend/gardener. My garden wouldn’t look nearly as good if it weren’t for her.

Weekend at Earnley

I had a marvellous weekend at Earnley Concourse. This is a place on the south Coast about an hour from Brighton which runs courses in everything from bird watching to spinning. You sign up for the course and they give you a nice ensuite bedroom and three meals per day plus snacks. There is also a well stocked bar. I did a course on short story writing and Alison did nothing. She had that day finished her term and it was the heavy one with lots of teaching so she was worn out. She brought her knitting and her ipod and spent many happy hours in the reading room and the atrium. Sian stayed at home with Harry (what an excellent mate). We were blessed with wonderful weather which prompted us to take a few nice walks. I’m planning to go back in July for a weekend of watercolour painting. Here are two pictures; one of the house and one of Alison reclining on a bench in the garden.

Fallen Behind

This past one has been an unexpectedly busy week. It began a week ago Friday with my trip to Rushton for the detox weekend. I had a stressful time getting there; the directions were terrible. The weekend itself consisted of two bowls of thick broth and two glasses of thick juice and a few treatments (lymphatic drainage, liver pack, scalp massage). Most of the participants had colonic irrigation. Fortunately it was optional so I declined.I didn't mind the shortage of food and I never felt hungry. The worst thing about the weekend was the boredom. There was nothing to do. Given what I paid for it, I wouldn't ever go again.

So I got back quickly on Sunday by following my own route. Monday was the portrait photography class. I liked it and am pleased that there are three more sessions. Then on Tuesday I went up to London to see a voice coach. I've never liked my speaking voice and now that I can do just as I please, I thought I would indulge myself. She was a wonderful woman who spent two hours with me, listening to me talk, read aloud and then showing me how to form the common sounds of vowels and finally working on my breathing. As far as speaking voice projection is concerned, my breathing is all backward. She has sent me a CD with the lesson on it and now I will practice. How weird am I?

I wake up on Wed morning all ready to take photos and practice backward breathing and the phone rings and it is Alison reporting a sick baby. She wants to know if I can come to Brighton to watch over him on Thur while she teaches. Of course, I drop everything and rush to Brighton. Foxy is indeed not himself. He tried his best to be rambunctious but it's not working so he moans a lot of the time and sleeps a lot more. He is better enough on Friday to spend a couple of hours at the creche while Alison teaches so I go home to prepare for my dinner party that evening. I'm doing fine until about 6:30 when I am assaulted by feelings of weakness and nausea. Fortunately, I had most of it prepared so I crept over to Diana's and threw myself on her mercy. I didn't want to cancel the dinner party because the food was ready. She took over and I went to bed. Everyone came as planned and seemed to have a great time. I struggled out of bed at ten and came down to say goodnight. I am so fortunate to live in a neighbourhood where this could happen. They even washed up. Today I am taking it easy.

Success

I went to WW on Wednesday and I had lost 4.5 lbs. Yippee!! I know it is common to lose a lot in the first week but who cares what the reason is. I then proceeded to Diana's house where I drank wine and ate my first really satisfying meal in a week. I think this was okay because I'm off to Kettering this afternoon for my Detox weekend - no coffee, no tea, no alcohol, no food!!! If I make it back on Sunday, I will provide an update.

Self Improvement continues...

I have been slogging away at my self improvement regime. As stated, I joined Weight Watchers last week and I've been really good about counting the points and feeling hungry. I know they say you shouldn't feel hungry if you're doing it right but that's rubbish. The English version is a bit different from the American one that I did nine years ago. They don't consider fibre content and they seem to work in half points much of the time. Luckily, I still have my point calculator from before and I like that method better. I'm going to my second meeting tomorrow evening and I better have lost a pound (that's my weekly goal. Also I've been good about going to the gym but better still, I am walking each day. My longest walk so far has been 3.5 miles. By the time I get home I'm exhausted and I am still sporting a large gut but at least I have got started. On Friday I go for my detox weekend. I don't know if I will feel less poisonous but it should be helpful for WW as I think I only get juice and maybe the odd lettuce leaf.