There is something special about waking at the lake.

Last night, around 8:40, we finally got everything packed for a long weekend and headed out on the night-drive to Cyndie’s family getaway in northwest Wisconsin. By grace, we were allowed to hurtle through the darkness at deadly speeds, while being blinded by headlights of oncoming traffic, to reach our destination, safe and sound. My thanks go out to all the deer that didn’t try to cross the road just as we were flying past. I realize that I am not supposed to be imagining the worst that could happen, but it seems to be my natural inclination. So, all the more remarkable that we don’t experience that kind of calamity.

Actually, last night, it was a vision of a drunk driver crossing the center line and smashing into us that I needed to dash from my thoughts more than once. Thank goodness my frantic corrections, in which I visualized our successful arrival, worked to clear my mind of those distressing images.

As we neared the “cabin,” in jest, I mentioned that we should put the air conditioning on when we arrived, since the weather conditions are so stiflingly hot and humid. Tropical weather here always seems so bizarre to me. What a surprise when we opened the door and found that the closed wood and stone structure was successfully insulating from the extreme humidity. It actually felt like walking into an air-conditioned building!

I slept incredibly soundly. When I woke in the darkness of early morning to the sound of Cyndie getting up to use the bathroom, I was confused to hear a door opening. I didn’t realize I wasn’t in bed at home. As may be apparent by today’s late post, I had no problem sleeping in a bit. That was a real nice treat, since we didn’t arrive until almost midnight.

All that, leading to something truly special: waking at the lake!

Like the hues of a plant with leaves that transition from deep purple to green, the number of things going on in our lives now are diverse and nuanced. Four me, yesterday’s physical therapy session produced the advice that I could try returning to my previous normal activities, as much as pain allows, to test the new stability I have been developing with walks and exercises.

The days are approaching a mark on our calendar when we had planned to return to visit Ian and family at their Forest Garden Estate in Portugal. Even though we have had to postpone that trip, we find ourselves ever more entranced with the memories we have of that paradise, and by the current stories we read of Ian’s present activities. It is as if we are becoming more connected even though we are not traveling there right now.

The current issue of Experience Life magazine features a cover article that describes a woman who had an experience very similar to Cyndie with regard to discovering an extraordinary connection and communion with horses. The woman moved to a rural area and began an endeavor with horses that reflects the images of possibility that Cyndie and I have been envisioning.

More immediate on our horizon is the US Independence Day holiday which is one of the big weekends of the year up at her family’s lake place. We will be packing up her crutches, and the wheel chair that Cyndie has rented, and making the drive out of town before the work-week ends. Hoping a little head start will reduce traffic for us. Hopefully, the inability to participate in any of the activities won’t spoil her visit to our favorite place.

It will be good for me to take a break from the work place for a few extra days. The business is booming at a record pace for us lately and is taxing our little organization to some of its limits. It is taxing me to pretty much all of mine.

I’m looking forward to bringing up the mandolin to the lake and increasing my familiarity with it. I would like to be able to make more pleasing music, but now it is mostly hunt and peck for notes that sound desirable.

Kinda like life for me lately. It feels like I’m in a bit of a “Research & Development” mode, doing a fair amount of hunting and pecking…

In my new exercise regimen, which has replaced participating in team sports, I am relegated to walking for a half-hour every day. I have been alternating between finding it a moderately pleasant chore, and an underwhelming task that can never adequately compare with my previous athletic activity. No matter how I frame it mentally, the physical activity is the same. I cannot deny the results. The pain I was  enduring before is reduced to the point that I now sometimes forget to be careful about how I move or what I lift. In a way, that ends up being a precarious place. I have been cleared to test out playing some soccer outdoors on grass. We’ll see about that.

Meanwhile, I try to remember to bring my camera with when I walk. Here is one view I have been experiencing lately. Out of the tunnel and through the woods. Onward, and upward. There are a lot worse predicaments I could be suffering. I know that.

A lazy Saturday morning with allowance to sleep in a bit. What a treasure. My morsel of spare energy lately has been devoted primarily toward the process of interviewing members of my online community, Brainstorms. For each interview, I create a graphic with the person’s face and the logo, or logos, of publications they mention in response to my initial query. I find great pleasure in the mastering of tricks available with the software for image manipulation.

As a result of using my miniscule available spare time for that pleasure, I have hardly had a chance to practice playing the new mandolin my family presented to me as a combined Father’s Day/Birthday gift. I do find myself inclined to self-teach, but this instrument would probably require more years than I have available. The gift included one free lesson, so I have no excuse to struggle alone.

I never imagined I would find it so difficult to fit in a simple half-hour of walking everyday, as prescribed by my physical therapist treating my degenerating lumbar disc condition. Both Cyndie and I are trying to be good about doing our rehab exercises every day. We get to share the groans of effort to push the envelope of comfort and ability. Alas, healing appears to be coming along for her, and strengthening for me. I am enjoying some reduction in pain, but I don’t think Cyndie is receiving the same level of that benefit.

Since I have become more responsible for meals, we are going out to breakfast this morning. We get to park in the handicap spaces now when we go out. Not a victory I relish.

It was 25 years ago today, long after Sgt Pepper taught the band to play. I’m not referring to the release of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, one very great and unforgettable film. I’m talking about the birth of our first child. Today, my baby girl reaches the milestone of one-quarter century!

.

.

.

Happy Birthday, Elysa!!

Ralph Forest Hays ~ 1919-1981

It is a great honor to be a father to my children. Their pains cut to my core and their successes bring immeasurable joy. Today in the US, it being the third Sunday in June, people are issuing the ubiquitous greeting of “Happy Father’s Day” to dads everywhere. One of the things this does for me, is it reminds me that it has been almost 30 years since I have had my father in my life. During the entire time I have been in the role of father, my own dad has been reduced to fragments of memory and a variety of snapshots. He was my primary influence, for better and worse, during the most influential years of my development. Then he was gone during the years I was trying to reenact the role he played for me. It has been an interesting challenge to unravel the traits that I unconsciously adopted and to strive to fill the voids in areas of inadequacy. Regardless, the strong bond of connection maintains a fascination for the man who was my father, and it leaves me with an ongoing feeling of loss and longing for the relationship. I would like to be able to tell him, “Happy Father’s Day” today.

I can’t seem to get there. I can post pictures, but I can’t seem to get back to the mode of conjuring up my old style of highly informative, incredibly intelligent, sometimes witty, occasionally relative, blog posts. I’ve got facts. Yesterday, I did my daily exercises for my back. I drove Cyndie to Tria orthopedic center, twice. I stopped in to work for about 3 hours to frantically address all issues in the constrained amount of time. We picked up a wheelchair for Cyndie. She tried to roll herself along with me while I took my required daily 1/2-hour walk to exercise my back. I pushed her most of the way. I received pictures and messages on my phone from Gary and friends up north on the bike trip. I drove to the drug store to drop off Cyndie’s prescriptions. I did dishes. I watched game 7 of the Stanley Cup championship game. Boston won.

We are getting by, but it’s not much to brag about. One bit of good news about Cyndie’s knee, they released her brace from the 30 degree locked position. She is allowed to bend her knee. At this point, it appears that straightening it all the way will be the hard part.