who only by moving can balance

( nerding! )

Incremental improvement. Weeks that were worse that I stuck through, because practising the movements is still good for me even if I'm not performing At My Best in any given session. Mastery and agency: proof that I can learn this from the ground (as it were) up. Faith that I can learn it again, and this time I'll know the way.

Progress. <3

Admin: the LRP episode 1 is coming up faster than, I think, anyone would probably like. The plantar fasciopathy flare I set off last summer is still grumbling along, at a low enough level that I've been ignoring the bonus extra physio for it buuut it reliably flares every time I increase the amount of time I'm spending on my feet. Which I will definitely be doing in a field.

So I have taken a deep breath and Started Doing My Sodding Bonus Physio and have, at least, discovered that some driftwood I picked up in Cornwall for possible crating purposes is exactly right for doing The Most Important Exercise After Leg Stretches (heel lifts with toes dorsiflexed), which is making even getting started much less aversive, so I'm now trying to build in doing a set of those every other time I get up to pace.

The other thing I am trying to do is sort out actually managing to keep up the whole "Pilates three times a week" thing while... spending a week in a field. I definitely feel better for doing it in the short as well as the medium term, and it's also a Very Useful Way for me to make sure I take (and for that matter model taking) Actual Breaks. Like, only two of them, and only an hour each, but still. Alas the scheduling challenge is not the only logistical issue: there is also the minor matter of needing a flat, rigid surface I can put a mat on, that isn't any of (i) underfoot, (ii) two feet off the ground so I can roll dramatically off it while pretending to be a seal, and for that matter (iii) something that will be damaged by me pretending to be a seal, thus causing other departments more work and aggravation. Plus, you know, ideally under cover, so that when it rains...

The ISO containers I have any claim to are both unsuitable, for reasons. I have been asking around a bit and have an offer from someone to bring an extra Big Bit Of Plywood I could just dump on grass, which is mildly suboptimal for reasons. One of the other departments has said "hmm, I think we might be able to help"; depending on how that works out I have a shortlist of people to mug for van keys (at the top of which is "big boss I hassled into getting physio"). I am mildly trepidatious and definitely intending to shift forward from my usual Tues-Thurs-Sat pattern (which gives me slack if I have to miss a day) to Mon-Wed-???Fri, which would let me do one session at home, one session before any players and most crew arrive, and one to fit in Somewhere during the event proper. For bonus points I am planning to repeat the Executive Decision I made last time I was away from home for a week, of "cool so I'm doing the Essentials sequence only", which actually takes me closer to half an hour than 45 minutes. I am sure I will waffle further once these theories have been applied.

Meanwhile, some things that are making me happy this evening: scrolling through the bokumondoh back catalogue; getting a double batch of rice pudding started; excellent information about a Relevant Toddler's ongoing indoctrination into The Banana Discourse, which I started last week (A opens bananas from the wrong end. the child wanted two bananas opened.)

I continue to Acquire high-quality Premium Leefs (leaves.) in part because when I went to the allotment yesterday I Observed that The Leaf Sweepers had been along but had run out of bags/time before they ran out of neat piles of mostly-oak leaves. So I acquired two full panniers to dump at the allotment, and then it was GETTING DARK so I acquired another two full panniers on my way home to Encourage me to go back today... so I went to drop those off and observed, en route, that the filled bags had all been removed but the unbagged leaf piles were very much still there.

So I dropped off the first two, and then the first round of refills, and then I did a second refill On My Way Home, so now I am going to try to trick myself into going back to the allotment again to drop those off, and then we'll see whether my Leaf Cylinder is actually more-or-less full yet or if I am going to trip and fall into acquiring. More. leefs while they still exist.

I am going to try not to go "well what if I did just collect the rest of the piles, though--" because there are non-leafmould things I could and should usefully be doing at the plot, but for now, hey, I am taking advantage of my good days.

( heartrate numbers, mention of PE )

• I put an entirely-green tomato (it came off in me hand) in the fruit bowl with the bananas and it's actually ripening: it's been there about a week, this morning I was at "hmm, is that turning yellow?", and it is now unambiguously turning red. I am very excited about this!
  
• I spent a bunch of this morning sorting out my accounts; I'd not been doing great at keeping up with them since about... April... but a quarterly statement arrived last week and, well, I'm now up to date, so that's one background stressor down.
  
• I have come to the possibly dubious conclusion that in addition to tracking (in my giant nearly decade-old spreadsheet) what I've read when, and author demographics, and brief notes, and so on, I should also track when I bought things (or who I borrowed them from, etc), and thus elapsed time between acquisition and consumption. This in turn means I'm... actually going to set myself up with a list of Things I Haven't Read Yet But Own And Want To, in addition to the "recs received" list, because that's the easiest way to track acquisition date with my current set-up, and long story short I think I might be procrastinating.
  
• I have picked up a reread, however, which is. A doorstop of a hardback. That I want to keep Nice. And it turns out there are in fact many reasons that I mostly don't read hardcopy full stop let alone hardbacks, still, and also that the ebook is currently £4.99, so I think I'll keep going for the first chapter or two and probably then grudgingly admit defeat that discretion is the better part of valour and that I really like this book.
  
• Two days ago, Freecycle went "hey, do you want an exercise bike?" "Hmm," thinks I, "well Adam will probably say we don't have space for it and even if he doesn't it'll probably be gone by the time either of us reply," but I sent him the link and heard nothing back and made mild enquiries later that evening about his thoughts on the topic and, uh, yesterday evening (1) we picked up an exercise bike and (2) A spent a bunch of time Doing Some Tidying to make space for it. It is... very much designed for a 6' tall man, and it is a bare-bones model with minimal scope for adjustment, but I did a slightly incautious three minutes and my knee isn't screaming, so, let's see how it's feeling tomorrow, eh?