A day in the life of retirement

It's funny how things come in waves. There will be times when nothing much is happening. This can be good, verging on very good. It gives you a bit of time to decompress, double check your list of things to make sure you haven't overlooked anything in the daily scramble, and just maybe, get in an afternoon nap.

However, even though time was invented so everything wouldn't happen at once, it often does. Book a date with a buddy for something, and the next call will be someone else, wanting just that time slot and nothing else. Or you won't see someone in a while, then you'll bump into them several times in no time at all.

Sophia was here Saturday for our run in Fish Creek (link has photos and all), even though it was a little bit cold. Nothing serious by Calgary standards, probably about -10 to -15 C (14 to 5 F) although there was a bit of a wind out in the open driving the apparent temperature down further. And initially the plan  was to run from the house along the very exposed 37 st path down to Fish Creek. So I can hardly blame Leana and Deb for not coming. But it was nice and there was no wind down in the trees.

Then the very next day, Sophia showed up again, first thing in the morning. It was all part of Linda's master plan. The run with me was to get Sophia all warmed up for the full scale rampage and trampling involved in the Millarville crafts market. I was never able to quite figure out if Linda was going to push Sophia through first as a human plow, or use her to distract the masses while Linda darted in for the goodies. In any case they came back with lots of stuff.

Since I was a total weenie, unable to take the carnage, I stayed home and did a peaceable 90 minute spin. Lots of high rpm, and some spin ups to high wattage, focussing on keeping my legs light and spinning full circles. Stretched after.

There was some other stuff, but I can't remember what it was. I know I was reading for a while. Supper was beans that had been simmered with sausage and duck, with wine of course. I finished my book, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, if you want to know, and pretty good it was. Not as good as my favourite in the series, Memory, but I had always wondered how Ivan would end up married.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, and like character driven plot, you have a big treat in store for you. The way Lois McMaster Bujold likes to write is to think "whats the worst thing that could happen to this character?" She is one of science fictions most awarded authors, winning the Hugo for best novel 4 times, (FOUR TIMES! which is something only one other author has done) and nominated for another 6 novels. One of her novellas won both the Hugo and Nebula. Baen Books claims to have sold more than 2 million of her books. Google her Vorkosigan series. It is much, much better than the blurbs make it sound. Read it in order. Set aside lots of time. Last word, I'd love to see Lena Heady play Cordelia Naismith, one of the strongest female characters in all science fiction. Her "shopping trip to the capital" is a classic.

Monday. Retirement day started after dropping Linda at work. Got to the pool a little later than normal and missed some of the morning rush. In the pool for an hour, though it wasn't one of my best swims. It was just a bit slow and awkward. Slow flip turns.

When I was swimming at Renfrew many of the people there were retired. It was very common for them to go out for breakfast after. I only thought of this as I was showering after the swim. My one retired buddy lives in Okotoks. Just a bit far to go for breakfast, and would take way too long. But then I remembered I hadn't eaten at the Galaxy Diner for a long time. My tummy instantly decided that was going to be breakfast. It's one of the best places in Calgary for all day breakfast. The line up says so, though there wasn't one today. It was as yummy as I had remembered.

Home. Puttered about getting ready for a run. Ran 5 K, 33 minutes. Slow start. I don't quite believe the pace chart so I won't post it. The theory was that as I warmed up, I'd try to run each K just a bit quicker. Well, as long time readers might know, I suck at slow builds. Today I found out that I still suck at slow builds. The last one was good, though. As far as I know that's the fastest I've ever run a whole K. Just a hair over a 9 minute mile pace.

Long bit of stretching after, with a bit of core work. But not much. I should do more. But today, I'm channeling a geezer.

The high point of the afternoon was wrestling with a normally amiable 14 pound cat. He was still amiable about it, about as amiable as a cat getting things done under his tail that he doesn't want done, can be.

Linda is having an LRT adventure getting home so I need to zoom out and rescue her.