A Morning Walk, and Other Pleasantries

I think there's nothing more pleasant than a morning walk when the weather is nice. And nice, for me, means cool (at least down in the 60s but I don't mind cooler than that) and low humidity. We have that kind of weather this week, hooray! So I just got back from my walk. I saw several hawks enjoying the morning air (I love hawks!).

Equally nice is an over-easy egg on toast, with Cholula and salt & pepper. You can't beat that for breakfast. A poached egg is nice, too, but for me that's a little more trouble. 

A really great workday is the day you can work from home after having to be in the office. This week, we had VIP visitors so it was all-butts-in-seats Monday and Tuesday, but my manager said I didn't have to be there today if I didn't want to, and guess what? I didn't. ;) Today I'm back at my home office, with the windows open and the cats standing watch there, until it gets too warm. 

Another great workday, I just learned, is a WFH day from your (my) parents' house! I took a quick trip last week to Pensacola. Left here Sunday, so we had Sunday night and Monday Labor Day to relax and do nothing, and then on Tuesday and Wednesday, I got up early with the laptop. It was nice! Lovely to just be there and have breakfast, lunch and dinner together. To watch TV together. I tried to be helpful, too, although I feel like I should have done more (definitely should have looked at some health care stuff with Mom, whoops -- next time). I'm going to plan to do that more frequently, I think. Would they like to see the rest of my family, too? Sure. But I think they liked seeing me, alone, just fine. And I sure liked being with them.

Something I've been doing on my WFH days lately, is stopping at 4:00 or 5:00, sitting down with a book and setting a timer for 30 or 45 minutes. Sometimes it morphs into a power nap, other times it doesn't. But usually Kate has just come home from school, so she's having her "chill out" time, too (sometimes she falls asleep) and it's been a DELIGHT to treat myself in that way. Then I'll get up and start dinner. Of course this will change when other activities come into play -- volleyball is about to start up again -- but for now I will TAKE IT. :)

Updates: I think the back extension exercises are helping, and I've stopped doing forward bends, (yes, even the yoga kind). I feel like I have fewer days of outright pain. Is it fully healed? Still no. But I feel a bit better. Shawn is rolling his eyes at me and silently begging me to go see someone. I'm the man in our relationship as far as doctor visits are concerned: I'd rather not. But next up in aches and pains: Plantar fasciitis. I went to a podiatrist once for this problem, and it was the WORST medical experience I've ever had. The guy seemed SO uninterested in helping me, and even seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. But this, my right heel, does seem to be getting worse, not better. Argh. 

Alex is doing great at college. We get to see him this weekend for a band thing (we're going to watch his girlfriend march at her university), so that will be nice. He told me that yesterday he spent a lot of time outside studying. How awesome is that?!