Discovering My Inner Jock

Thursday, March 29, 2012 – Discovering My Inner Jock

Should I blame Elliott, or thank him?  After all, it’s his desire for frequent trips to the gym that is clearly responsible for my transformation from exercise dilettante to workout fanatic.  Okay, maybe daily sessions at the gym don’t qualify as fanaticism.  Perhaps exercise devotée would be a more accurate description.  Regardless, when I took him to the gym a week ago, I had no idea that I was about to unleash my inner jock. 

What makes this development so remarkable is that I spent my entire childhood and adolescence believing I was allergic to athletics.  I showed no talent whatsoever as far as team sports were concerned.  I invented all kinds of implausible excuses in an attempt to skip gym class.   Volleyball and basketball days sent me into a panic.  Summer camp, with its emphasis on swimming, softball, and boating, was sheer torture.  I would hide out in the woods with a book.  I simply could never comprehend the attraction athletic activities held for other people. 

There was a brief time, in my twenties, when I took tennis lessons from a pro at a club in Boston.  I could hit the ball over the net, but I never got the hang of serving.  I didn’t really care about keeping track of points, either.  When Elliott and I moved to France, we spent a couple of hours batting balls to each other on the public courts in our little village.  I think we spent more time laughing and running, however, than hitting the ball.  I haven’t picked up a tennis racket in over 25 years.  My main excursion into the world of sports occurred shortly after we moved to northern Virginia in the late 1980s.  I had always enjoyed watching figure skating on the television so I decided to take lessons at the local ice rink.  I started from the very beginning.  Over a three or four year period, I progressed from group instruction to private lessons and skated a few times a week.  That all came to an end when I started teaching full-time.  My skates are still somewhere in a closet.  One of these days, I’ll dig them out and see if I can still fit into them.

Even after I joined the gym a few years ago, my workouts were sporadic.  I’d be so exhausted at the end of the workday and so busy from my responsibilities at home that I didn’t make exercise a priority.  In addition, I had an aversion to sweat (which I’ve fortunately overcome).  Now, of course, having experienced that wonderful post-workout sensation, I realize what I’ve been missing.  I’ve discovered that a daily workout is neither a chore nor an indulgence.  It’s simply a basic necessity, like food or sleep, if I want to retain my health. 

And to demonstrate my newfound love of physical fitness, I just took the logical next step:  I got a jock-worthy haircut, one that should be easy to maintain with my new exercise routine.  

One final thought regarding exercise:  When I see runners on the neighborhood streets or on the path in the nearby wooded park, I fantasize about running outdoors at this time of year.  Do you think I could put an elliptical machine under the dogwood tree in the backyard and run a long extension cord out from the house? 

The Best of Both Worlds

 

Tuesday, March 27, 2012 – The Best of Both Worlds

As I near the three-month mark since my formal retirement, I’ve settled into a routine that offers me the best of both worlds.  Through my work with the ESOL drama class, I still have a presence at Annandale High 2-3 times a week (without the need to get up at 5 in the morning).  I also get to see my colleagues during lunchtime.  Then I’m free to leave at 12:30, so it’s an ideal arrangement. 

And the rest of my time is available to spend with Elliott.  We’re both just delighted to be together during the day, whether we’re at home, traveling, working out, or off doing mundane errands.  It’s amazing how much you can accomplish and how much more efficient you can be when you do errands during the week rather than on the weekend.  Yesterday, we were out of the house between 10 and 3 and we checked off the following:  library (to return books), Macy’s (summer shirts for me), jewelry store (for watch repair), Dick’s (gym shorts for Elliott), Whole Foods (lunch – yum), Costco (more graham crackers), Target (printer ink), Office Depot (various items – I have a weakness for office supplies), gas station (to feed the car).  And then we had time to take an hour-long nap before we had dinner at home and headed back out to see another movie at the Jewish Film Festival in the evening. 

It certainly takes a lot of energy to do retirement well.  To keep in shape, we’re trying to fit regular workouts at Lifetime into our schedule.  Yesterday morning, Elliott had his first meeting with a personal trainer there.  Since I’m Elliott’s 24/7 personal trainer, I attended the session along with him, and we came back with stretching exercises he is supposed to do at home three times a day.  Increasing his flexibility is the first goal.  Then we’ll move on to developing balance and strength over the coming weeks. For cardio, Elliott alternates between the treadmill and the bicycle.  By the way, he looks really hot in his new gym shorts. 

We’ve had a welcome change in the weather, although some might disagree.  Temperatures in the forties and fifties are fine with me.  At last I feel grounded in early spring rather than teetering on the cusp of summer.  Of course, the cherry blossoms are just a beautiful memory.  The last of the petals were blown away by the recent winds, but all of the trees continue their greening, and the redbuds still dazzle.  The azaleas splash new colors about on a daily basis.  Driving back from our morning workout, we were greeted by a resplendent array of tulips at the entrance to our subdivision.  One of our few contributions to the spring glory is a fairly modest dogwood with a profusion of blushing blossoms.  

Spring Marches On

 

Sunday, March 25, 2012 – Spring Marches On

Sunday morning, and spring marches on:  Low fifties, a fine mist, hint of green on the tree tops, first blossoms on the dogwood, and bright pink buds popping out of the azaleas.  

Cooking with Miso

 

Sunday, March 25, 2012 – Cooking with Miso

OK, I didn’t even offer Elliott a taste of this one, but I loved it:  stir-fried cabbage with miso, served over quinoa.  (For those of you not au courant in the kitchen, miso is that fermented bean paste that the Japanese use as a seasoning – think miso soup.)  You have to try it.  It was the simplest of dishes – sauté shredded cabbage and diced red onion and some sesame seeds for a few minutes in a bit of olive oil.  Then stir in a sauce made of miso, a little Dijon mustard, and a little more olive oil.  The result?  A burst of unexpected deliciousness!  Thanks to Yum Universe for a recipe featuring Brussels sprouts that inspired my adaptation.  This all came about because I had some leftover shredded cabbage from our pre-St. Patrick’s Day dinner.  Next time I think I’ll add cubes of tofu to the mixture.  And I’ll try to remember to pick up a couple of bratwurst for Elliott.  

Am I dreaming, or did I really wake up at 2 in the morning to write this???

Here Comes the Rain

 

Saturday, March 24, 2012 – Here Comes the Rain

Cooler Temperatures + Daylong Rain = Happy Flowers

Fortunately, the rain didn’t interfere with Saturday’s planned outing.  I took my mother into DC to see Basil Twist’s unusual and innovative production of Stravinsky’s ballet, Petrushka.  What made this production unique was the use of puppets to perform all of the dancing.  Puppets doing ballet???  Yes, before today, I was skeptical, too.  However, the program turned out to be delightful and enchanting.   The puppets were amazingly expressive.  At the end of the performance, the puppeteers (there were three per puppet) showed the audience exactly how they created the illusion of dancing.  And at only 55 minutes, the show was perfect for my mother, whose attention span isn’t quite what it used to be. 

The weather certainly didn’t keep the crowds away from downtown DC today.  Many people were heading to the Tidal Basin to catch one last glimpse of the cherry blossoms or to attend the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which officially started today.  Others may have been on their way to one of several rallies scheduled for Saturday.  And with the museums, theaters, concerts, etc., there’s always something exciting going on around here.  Part of my “problem” now is to avoid being over-zealous about what I’m going to do.  For example, my activities this past week included the Jewish Film Festival, Spamalot, the Matthew Bourne production of Swan Lake, a program at Beth El on the Jewish community in Cuba, and today’s Petrushka.  Yesterday, I ordered tickets for a screening of La Traviata (live from the Met) and I was about to order tickets for an upcoming play at the DCJCC when I hesitated.  It was so tempting, and there was an early booking discount.  But it’s probably not a good idea to put something on the calendar for every single day. 

Another reason why I was so busy recently is that I went back at Annandale High this past week on Monday and Wednesday.  Most of the time, I was assisting in the ESOL drama class.  However, I also spent a short time in an ESOL classroom.  Just seeing Leslie in action there for five minutes, juggling multiple inquiries, problems, and demands for attention, reminded me of what I used to deal with on a regular basis.  How did I ever deal with it?  I immediately realized that I no longer operate at that speed.  I now have the luxury of doing things one at a time and at a more reasonable pace.  Although I enjoyed my time working with the drama students, I felt my stress level rising simply by being in that environment.  I was listening for the bell, rushing through lunch, worrying about getting to the restroom.  After I left (mere seconds before the tornado drill struck), it took me a while to get back to a calm state of mind. 

I’m so glad that there’s nothing on my calendar for Sunday.  I can go to the gym with Elliott, I can work on a photo collage for his birthday celebration, and I can start reading a new book on my Kindle. 

Cherry Blossoms and More

 

Friday, March 23, 2012 – Cherry Blossoms and More

I just finished my annual spring ritual – the potting of the pansies.  This is my major gardening achievement and I’m very proud of myself.  I’m also soaking wet and covered with dirt.  Some extremely bedraggled flowers now reside in the pots on either side of the front door.  Fortunately, it’s almost dark so I can’t see them too clearly.  It upsets me to see such limp plants.  I hope they survive these prematurely hot temperatures.  If they perk up, I’ll take some photos.

Otherwise, my half-hearted attempts at gardening are confined to a small corner of the front yard where the liriope, nandina, mint, some bushes whose name I can’t recall, and a lot of hideous juniper have thrived despite my neglect.  I’d love to kill off the juniper, but it just won’t die.  Oh, and one more of my few concessions to plant-stewardship is the herb garden that I grow in pots on the back deck.  If I remember to water them, I’ll have basil, oregano, chives, thyme, and rosemary. 

My relationship to plants is similar to my relationship to pets.  I feel uncomfortable with this dependency thing they have.  It’s not like caring for a child who eventually becomes capable of caring for him or herself (if you’re lucky).  With a plant or pet, that’s never going to happen.  I want to say to these plants out there – grow up, already.  I don’t know what accounts for my attitude.  Perhaps it’s the fact that we had very few plants or pets when I was growing up.  After our parakeet died when I was about 8 years old, we never had another pet.  And I don’t remember any plants in our home or any gardening work that my mother did.  Whatever the reason, I never developed the pet- or plant-nurturing instinct.

Even with my lack of gardening talent, there’s plenty to appreciate in the great outdoors in the spring.  Washington, DC is justly famous for its cherry blossoms, which appeared quite early this year.  Although I didn’t go into the district to walk around the Tidal Basin this week, I’ve had more than my fill of cherry blossoms right here in northern Virginia.  And the cherry trees may get all the attention, but the magnolias and redbuds are equally spectacular.  Each type of tree seems to have its own personality.  The magnolias, which bloom first, are the sultry, voluptuous beauties of the season.  As soon as the magnolias begin to shed their heavy velvety flowers, white and pale pink buds appear on the cherry trees.  These trees are the charming ingénues, with a delicacy reminiscent of the finest porcelain.  Their first tiny blossoms seem suspended, floating on the gentle breath of spring air.  My favorite neighborhood cherry trees are a pair of weeping Yoshinos whose abundant blossoms form a lacy canopy.  

Magnolias

Cherry trees

Redbuds

Everywhere you look, you see cherry trees – in yards and parking lots, along roadsides, on medians strips of heavily trafficked suburban thoroughfares, growing wild in wooded groves, overlooking a stream, leaning out over street corners, standing in front of Annandale High School.  They’re already losing their tenuous hold, however.  A breeze stirs the warm air and they swirl around me, immersing me in a cherry blossom storm cloud.

But personally, I get a greater thrill from seeing the redbuds, a tree native to this area.  In terms of personality, the redbud is the casual yet elegant sophisticate.  Luscious clusters of tiny reddish-violet blossoms adorn its slender limbs.  I wish I could find a name for the startling color of the redbud flowers.  It’s more like a rich, rosy lavender, or a cross between an amethyst and a ruby, or a frothy mélange of grape and cherry.  If I’m distracted when I walk or drive, it’s because a redbud has caught my attention. 

Grocery Shopping with Elliott

 

Thursday, March 22, 2012 – Grocery Shopping with Elliott

Nowhere is the contrast between Elliott’s and my approach to food more apparent than in the supermarket.  On those occasions when we grocery shop together, it looks like we’re stocking two different households.  For example, today we went to Wegman’s with completely different ideas about what to get.  While I was checking the carbohydrate count on the whole grain bread, he was tossing a bag of marshmallows into the cart.  I grabbed a bottle of low sodium tomato juice, and he hoisted an 8-pack of Coke in my direction.  The only reason he didn't get more cookies is that we had already stocked up on those at Costco.  I could only shake my head in disbelief as I helped him track down a big bag of Milky Way mini-size bars in the candy aisle.  (Note to Elliott:  Halloween is over!)  He couldn’t even wait until we got out of the store.  As soon as they were scanned at the checkout, he tore into the bag.  I’m not criticizing his need for a snack.  After all, I brought along an apple and a slice of yogurt cheese.  But a candy bar right before lunch?  And despite (or because of?) these eating habits, Elliott is soon going to turn 100 years old with relatively minor health problems.  What message is this sending?  Should we all start eating like Elliott?