Week 4 Thursday Took the day off work to hang out with SAR friends and play patient for some training. I also got to sleep in because the first training scenario was cancelled. It was good. Did candles and teeth for a short rest.   Turkey: 3 hp Short Rests: 21 Week 4: 30 xp

After a long discussion with the other spider investigators, Radost took some time to set everything back where she found it. Lifting pots carefully back through the webs between trees, stretching to disentangle mobiles. She looked up and saw that the others had already started walking back. “Whoa, I’m way behind!” she thought with a mild curse, and started rushing back through the sticky webs. Unfortunately, in her haste she leaned a little too hard on an anchor strand and even her human senses could feel the vibration as she pulled free. A mid-size spider dropped towards her on a thick line of silk tinged ominous red by a ray of the setting sun and as she grabbed for her knife Radost suddenly realized she had left her belt pouch back in the clearing. Radost froze in indecision. If she bolted now, she might be able to outrun the spider and rejoin the safety of the group. But…there was a not-insignificant amount of coin in that pouch, not to mention several useful items she didn’t want to have to replace. In a flash of courage she vaulted over a fallen log, putting some horizontal distance between her and the spider. She scanned the ground as she moved quickly back towards the campsite and soon spotted her pouch. “Right, I took it off when I was looking for a pencil to sketch the mobiles,” she muttered as she deked across the clearing, grabbed the pouch, and darted behind a thick tree trunk.  She peered out cautiously and noted that the spider she’d disturbed was hanging eerily still about eight feet above the ground, eight eyes watching her intently. Radost buckled the pouch back on her belt, sheathed her knife and eased out from behind the tree, hands open in front of her. “Just passing through, friends, just passing through,” she said in a calm, low voice. She edged around the clearing, carefully navigating between the webs and the thick underbrush. The spider spun slowly, keeping her in sight, but made no other move. Radost stepped onto the path. She could see the others not far ahead, but before running after them she glanced back at the spiders. The one that had watched her was climbing its silk back up to the canopy and several others had gathered around it as though waiting to confer. Radost shook off a shudder and started jogging.    I wanted my 30 seconds of courage to be something fun and awesome, maybe related to Drawtober. But I have been trying to get some money from EI for the time I was not working through the summer (don’t get me started on how infuriating it is that school employees are expected to do this every freaking year)  and it turned out I was going to have to … dun-dun-DUNNNNN make a phone call!  OooooOOOOOooooooo.  So after work yesterday I put on my grown-up undies and Did The Thing. I fit in some simple dumbbell exercises while on hold, sorted out the problem (which is going to result in a bonus thousand bucks in my account next week, huge relief), and was done in plenty of time to get in a run (run away from the scary tiger of making phone calls!), a quick yoga video, and ten minutes of meditation before starting dinner. 

Wow. I am definitely fighting something off, and hard. I’m very glad I canceled the Covid booster appointment today and the afternoon acupuncture. I am so tired I can barely move. I’m not in pain or discomfort, so it’s all fine enough — I just need to rest and drink tea, which is exactly what I’ll be doing for the rest of the evening. 🦋

Heidi rests in a small clearing, making a low fire in a circle of stones. She collects a few apples and pears from the nearby trees, grateful for the abundance of nature that seems everywhere.  A small cauldron sits on a large rock in the fire, and she slices the fruit into the vessel, stirring in a dash of water from her flask. She covers the cauldron with a flat rock, and then sits to meditate a while, and possibly sleep while the apples and pears become a delectable sauce for the small stash of oats she has in her pack. What a blessing it is to be able to do less.   This week I said no every day, sometimes more than once, and it was needed. I found the space to be gentle and compassionate with myself and with others, and also found some reflection time that I had been putting off “just for now” for overlong. The insights were good and right.   Especially for my cooking compatriots: the apple-pear sauce and oats concoction mentioned above is real: a few of each fruit (or only apples or only pears, whatever you have on hand that looks good), peeled and cored, can go in a slow cooker for 6-8 hours with a dash of water (or whatever juice you have on hand; I squeezed a lemon into today’s batch). Three pounds of fruit yields approximately one pint of sauce, give or take. A cup of the sauce with 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats can sit overnight and be ready whenever you are. I usually add just a touch of brown sugar and cinnamon to mine when I stir the oats in, but it’s optional. Any warm spice is really lovely, even blends like pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice. If you go with a straight pear sauce, ginger and cardamom are excellent here.  🦋

You are such a brat quoting Super Supportive at me hahah! Thanks though, I re-read that chapter and it felt like a warm hug.       Gosh Sara, that was lovely. I was expecting something more up its ass with a name like Archibald MacLeish, but that had a fun punch.     That was beautiful.    And patiently learn to receive the self You have forsaken in the race of days.    

Today Mom and I walked through a trail at a local park.  It’s a beautiful, hilly trail in the woods. the path covered in acorns. It was so fantastic to get out of the house and away from the daily routine. Now we’re back and everything is usual but it doesn't seem so overwhelming. it was her idea, and what a good one!   

<4 🤣

Grooming is starting to become a problem: past the low hanging fruits of trimming my beard/improving my hair, there isn't a lot that makes sense to do as a non-working/not going out much person. I've decided to put preparations for getting back to work in this category. Finding the right style, right clothes, getting my jackets to the dry laundry and such stuff.       5 days   Wednesday Thursday       09/22 09/23             Success%       100% 100%             Workout         Yes Running       Yes   Grooming       Yes Yes Meditation       Yes Yes Sleeping       Yes Yes

So excited for you both! 

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