Weekly Bread #233

I did some hiking this week, but didn’t take many pictures for some reason. These are the Dancing Lady Orchids currently blooming in a pot on my porch. They don’t bloom often, but when they do, they make me happy.

Last week I wrote about how being a polio survivor affected my balance. Then this week Mitch McConnell had a “moment” and his history of polio was on the news again. This time the report included how his balance had been affected by having had polio. I assume they were talking about physical balance only and not anything more. His political stance is not particularly balanced in my opinion. But old Mitch and I do share some history – and he also “believes” in vaccination. Thanks to the polio vaccines, my generation is (hopefully) the last to have lingering “balance issues” due to the polio virus. By the way, like George H. Bush, I am also not fond of broccoli, one of the few things I had in common with that Republican leader. Common ground. If we search hard enough, I suppose we can find it with just about anyone.

Dancing Lady orchids grow in dirt. So does Poison Oak. Perspective matters too. I kind of miss the Bushes.

L’Chaim!

Average weight this week was down .1 pounds for a total loss of 144.9

Weekly Bread #232

Our hike this week including 4 of these structures to navigate. They were bridges/boardwalks across gullies or streams. I found it challenging to climb them, and rather scary to go down on the other side. My balance (and my confidence in my balance) has never been great. My experience of polio as a child left me with one leg slightly shorter and feet that look like they belong to two different people. Tripping and falling was something I got used to expecting at an early age.

A colleague and facebook “friend” (we have never met in person), who has been very involved with fat liberation, posted this week about her decision to begin taking some medication which will likely lead to weight loss. She mused about beginning this journey while not wanting to betray her conviction that ALL bodies are worthy and beautiful. Fat liberation is Body liberation, and it has to mean that we all need to have the autonomy to decide what is right for ourselves – for our own bodies.

Having been on my own body journey for the last 5 or so years, so much of her post spoke to me. It also reminded me of when I went to college on scholarship and it how it sometimes felt like I was a “class traitor” as I began to act in some ways like my wealthy classmates. (I still remembering buying a brocade vest from a shop on Union Square – it was on sale, but it freaked me out as all my other clothes were from Sears and Penny’s )

As I have aged, I began to realize that, most of us anyway, never really leave any our histories behind us. We change but we are also the same in some essential ways. I still react to class and other privileges through my childhood frame despite my education and other middle class trappings now. And, because of my weight loss, I may not be shopping in the plus sized stores anymore, but I still much prefer loose-fitting clothes – and relatively inexpensive ones. Most of my wardrobe is from Costco and REI. I do love being able to fit into REI hiking clothes and I am really enjoying being out hiking, something I couldn’t do for years. I also know that my physical ability to do so is only temporary and really is a miracle. Stairs on trails will always be a bit more challenging for me than for others who never had polio. I may not be graceful, but grace has definitely blessed me.

Blessings on all of our journeys, wherever they may lead.

L’Chaim!

Average weight this week was up 1.4 pounds for a total loss of 144.8

Weekly Bread #231

This week we celebrated the 10th anniversary of our legal marriage. This picture is from that wedding day. For the time being anyway, our relationship is still recognized by both God and Country. 10 years ago the country finally caught up with God who clearly had blessed us back in January of 1975.

We were not legal in Utah for months afterward. And the way the Supreme Court is acting these days, who knows what will happen. Our lives will, however, remain intertwined for their duration.

This was how we looked shortly after we met, and this is how we look now.

And for now, the weather has been hot this week, as it has been in a lot of places. No big fires nearby yet at least, so that is a blessing. We are living in troubled times, friends, very troubled times. Hold your loved ones close and keep on keeping on. We are still alive. We will, we must, keep trying to bend that long arc back toward justice again. Our plates are very full.

Interesting metaphor, “having a full plate.” Like most metaphors, considering the reality of something we know well, something that is very concrete, can help us untangle something else that is more difficult and perhaps more abstract. Having a “full plate” is usually considered a good thing in the dinner realm. No one should have to leave the table hungry because there isn’t enough food to go around. “Food insecurity,” which is what we call hunger in this country, is very real. Not everyone has enough to eat. Not everyone’s plate is even close to full and too many people don’t even have plates. But how full is enough? How full is too much? I was admonished as a child to not take more on my plate than I needed, and also to finish what I took. Not taking more than you need is excellent advice for almost anything in life, but the “cleaning your plate” rule can lead to much less desirable results.

It has taken me a long time to realize that I don’t have to eat everything that is on my plate. I also don’t have to do everything that someone (even me!) thinks I have to do. I can also eat, and do, in a way that works for me. I can leave the broccoli on the side or give it to someone who likes it. I can ask for help with a task that is hard for me. I can have dessert first and and I can do the fun, easy and satisfying tasks before I tackle the dreadful mind-numbing challenges. I don’t have to rush through a meal or through life. And yes, sometimes, I need to consume something that is hard to swallow, simply because it is good for me or for the world. And then sometimes I also need to walk away from a table where there is nothing really worth eating, when what is being served doesn’t really nourish my body or my soul. Don’t you really love metaphors? I can never walk away from a metaphor no matter how full of them my plate might be.

L’Chaim!

Average weight this week was up .6 pounds for a total loss of 146.2

Weekly Bread #230

We went to the Marin County Fair this week. I hadn’t been in years. We used to take the kids every year, putting a blanket down on the lawn for the music and then later the fireworks. Randomly we went on the day that was the designated “Out at the Fair Day” so there were special events like the above drag show. Great fun. It also felt very good to have pride celebrated at the fair, although truth be told, it made me just a little nervous too. Bigoted violence can break out anywhere, and the flames of homophobia and racism are being fanned in the interest of, let’s call it what it is, fascism. Scapegoating minority groups is a favorite tool. Fear is another. If you have a few minutes, give a read or a listen to this:

My Little Pony Was Right: Reflections of Fascisms Without and Within
203rd Berry Street Essay
Delivered by The Reverend Cecilia Kingman
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
June 21, 2023

I have known Cecilia a long time, she is brilliant and not prone to imaginary conspiracy theories. Her oral essay is both fabulous and frightening. Please note her reference to school shootings – it really gave me pause. None of this – from overturning Roe to all the recent anti-trans legislation – has ever been about the children.

There were, as always, a lot of children at the fair. We got there late, mid-afternoon, as our kids are way too old for carnival rides and were off on their own that day anyway. We snuck in our bag lunch/dinner so I wasn’t tempted by all the fair food; some rules are just meant to be broken. “No outside food” is one of them. I did manage to buy an (expensive!) ice cream cone though. It was a pretty hot day and the ice cream really hit the spot. We stayed to enjoy the fireworks and while walking back to the car (a rental – ours is still in the shop where they are replacing all the wiring the critters ate) feeling both tired and happy I tripped and went down on on an uneven part of the sidewalk. Concrete is much harder than a trail! No major damage – again I am lucky- but not a fun end to the evening.

L’Chaim!

Average weight this week was up .1 pounds for a total loss of 146.8

Weekly Bread #229

We spent 3 nights in Tahoe Vista this week, on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. And of course we hiked. My favorite hike near there is Spooner Lake to beautiful Marlette Lake. It is the third time we have done that hike and I love it. It was 12.6 miles with a 1632 elevation, but the hard part was the altitude as Marlette Lake is at 7823. You really need to breathe deeply on the uphills. The air was clear though, the day was sunny but not too hot, the trail was gorgeous and actually pretty easy, mostly sand instead of rocks, but plenty of small boulders for a lunch stop so no need to pack a chair. I love hiking in the Sierras partly for that reason. Because it was mid-week we saw very few other people. We had the lake pretty much to ourselves and saw almost no one on the way back. No bears either, although I am sure they were around. The hike was, I think, worth what happened when we got back to our car, a plug-in hybrid.

When we turned it on we got an “engine overheating” alert on the dash and it then cycled through every possible error message. Something like this had happened once before and that time it just needed a reboot at the dealer. The closest Honda dealer was in Reno, so we drove back to where we were staying. After some text messages with one of our sons (who did some internet searching for us) and a call to our local dealer, the most likely problem seemed to be that our 12 volt battery was dying, and so the only real concern was that the car might not start in the morning. Bummer, but no problem driving home and we let the car rest the next day and just hiked the nearby forest service trails.

The drive home was nerve-racking, trying to ignore the warnings, but the car seemed to be driving fine and we had made an appointment with the service department the next day.

When they opened the hood they discovered that it wasn’t the battery but that some critters had gotten into our engine and chewed up some of the wiring. Our AAA insurance will cover it all with only a $100 deductible and AAA is also paying for a rental car until ours is repaired. Having only the one car, that was good to find out.

What really scares me in retrospect, however, is that we really shouldn’t have driven it 200 miles home which included a curvy mountain highway with lots of big rigs to maneuver around. We were stupid but lucky I guess. I am very glad that we got home safe. We should have looked under the hood. The chew marks would have been obvious. Live and learn, and be ever grateful to be alive. Survival isn’t guaranteed.

Luck and grace are close siblings, I think. “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come.” With some luck, Grace might lead me home.

Maybe it was the stress, or the long hike, but I actually lost weight this week. This is unusual for me when I travel. Of course we had a kitchenette instead of a free breakfast, so I had my usual blueberries and yogurt – and not the eggs and waffles I ate when we stayed at a place with a breakfast buffet. A high protein low carb breakfast seems to work best for me, more satisfying in the moment, and lasting longer before hunger comes again. No guilt though, I do love waffles once in awhile.

L’Chaim

Average weight this week was down 2.9 pounds for a total loss of 146.9