My favourite devil kitten

Gratuitous picture cause I love it and it took me NINE hours so it deserves to be seen.

So super high off my bird drawing, which was done following instructions from a class in slow motion 😂 I decided I wanted to draw Mori.  But the *real* Mori.

Alas, they don’t make classes - anywhere I could find - on how to draw realistic dragon kittens ;).  Shocking that.  And even fewer (than zero - imaginative realism, remember) options about how to do so w pencil crayons!

Now, I’ve been doing a course on sketching (SQUIRREL!  hmm just scrolled back through some of my past posts - I stopped following that artist because I found her "follow alongs" helped me produce some cool stuff (I follow instructions well) but I wasn't actually learning to draw.  I found another artist - Kirsty Partridge - who has a class called "Drawing Decoded" which I purchased last year and have been working through that actually teaches how to draw.   She has several other courses and, of course, a subscription option lol.   I have two courses that I own (the second one is about using colour), and a one year subscription to see how much I use the subscription material.  Since I'm like 6 months into it, I'm going to say courses are a win but the subscription less so.   Which financially is great because the courses are forever. /endsquirrel)  Anyways - the bird drawing, above, was a follow along as well, so it doesn't "count" quite as much BUT I used my new skills from the drawing course to sketch Mori based on a photo I had….   Then just tweaked a few things ;).  Mostly based on books or other people’s interpretations of dragons.   C came in part way through and said he needed a spiky tail - he was right ;).  So now may I introduce:

My favourite devil kitten

For how early I am in my drawing adventure, I’m ridiculously pleased at how this turned out.  Certainly there are things I would do differently next time, and there are things I’d like to do differently but am not sure how yet ;).  But I was still really pleased with the end result.  And, those who know me will appreciate that apparently I was the *first* in the drawing school to share a dragon 😂. Said school is all about realism, so not shocking that.  But there was no rule I could see about NOT posting imaginative realism instead so…

Apparently imaginative realism is welcome here :)

Our 10th Anniversary

Happy 10th Anniversary to us :)

This year marks TEN (can you believe it?!?!) years since that amazing day we got married on a beach in Costa Rica.  TEN.  And we’re going back to that beach to celebrate but alas, due to work commitments (adulting sucks - but for the record, just this once it wasn’t MY work commitments ;-P) we couldn’t go on our actual anniversary so that’s a future post to look forward to.

The outside is deceptively simple

Fortunately said anniversary did us the favour of landing on a weekend, so C and I booked a mini-escape for ourselves and went to the Inn on the Twenty, which is all of about 20 mins from here.   And it was completely lovely.

We had the Merrit Suite

Started with checking into our suite - that not only had sitting area, sleeping area, and giant soaker tub, but there was also a private patio w a hot tub.  Win!   I was slightly concerned when I discovered that the associated restaurant was actually across the street and not in the same building given a big storm was supposed to be rolling in, but deemed that a future me problem ;)

Took this before the snow started,
was very much looking forward to using the hot-tub in the evening snow.

We didn’t really have time to do much more than drop our stuff though before going to the spa for a lovely couples massage that was followed by a random fruit tray?  😂 idk what that’s about but why not?   The whole experience was very nicely done.

Our sitting room - super civilised :)

Back in our room there were Happy Anniversary welcome treats and we turned on the fire and settled in to relax for a bit before dinner.  Super civilized and cozy for a cold Feb day.   Sometimes the quiet moments are good for the soul.  

Got dressed for dinner and gave half a thought to the fact that appropriate footwear for the dress I was wearing and appropriate footwear to walk across the street to the restaurant in a snowstorm were decidedly not the same thing.  I did enjoy getting dressed up though - it’s been too long.  And in honour of 10 years, even wearing the same jewellery I got married in.  So like most Canadian women, decided I’d suck up the snowstorm for the walk across the street.

Was a super-short walk, to the restaurant literally across the street

Much as I'm not generally a great fan of winter, I have to admit it was the kind of storm that is stunning.   It was that kind of thick heavy snow that dampens the sound so everything is extra quiet and special - especially as there were zero cars.  Seriously - we stopped in the middle of the road to take photos and it was neither a risk nor a hassle for anybody.  

Look how much snow we're wearing :)
We'd walked not quite half way across a two-lane street.

Dinner was lovely - 3 course meal was included in our package and every one of them was yummy.  They’re even a coke establishment 😂 (those who know….).  Our reservation was fairly early so for the first half of the meal patrons were pretty spread out, but it was filling fast by the time we left and the “reservations strongly recommended” was making sense.

Liked this art in the restaurant;
Particularly when the light reflection looked like moonlight

There were two options I was debating between for dinner - I picked one and C chose the other.  When both arrived I was happy w mine.  However, when the same thing happened w desert, C definitely won and by a lot.

I don't usually take food pics, but C's desert was so pretty 😂 

When we went to go back to the hotel, we learned they shovel the whole path door to door!   Not their first rodeo clearly ;).  It’s the little things in life.

The rose was a nice touch

Back at the hotel there was a rose waiting for us, even though I’d declined turndown service, which was a lovely touch.  And since we had the storybook snowfall happening, C swept us a path to the hot tub.  Hot tub in the snow is one of life’s simple pleasures.  Big white flakes coming down while warm and toasty, yet outside….  It’s so wrong it’s right.  And we stayed out there enjoying the quiet and the weather for way longer than was reasonable.  Before retreating back to the toasty fire-warmed room.

No during-storm pictures,
but this was our courtyard the next morning :)

We had breakfast included in our stay as well so in the am we hiked back to the restaurant - again made simple by the fact that they shovel/plow the path between the two.  They also shoveled out the back gate so we could easily get our bags to the car parked on the other side of it when we went to check out.   Basically a great combination of a hotel that’s got it figured out, and it not being particularly busy on a random weekend in Feb.

Garden beside the hotel

The town itself is also super cute and we’ll come back and explore sometime when it’s not blizzarding ;). 

Such a classic winter scene

Overall was a super nice treat that really made a snowy anniversary special.

#TIL - How to do a back handspring

Just like that ;)

Today I learned all the components of a back handspring.   Lol now to put in perspective - I could never do something that even vaguely resembled a back handspring even when I was spring-aged ;).  The closest I ever came was a front walkover or stand to bridge going backwards (I never managed the walkover part going backwards).   And these days - well my bridge is very structurally unsound and I’m legitimately terrified of what would happen if I tried to go into it from anything other than lying on the ground.  I don’t technically *need* to be able to walk to do my job but I kinda enjoy that ability for quality of life ;)

Suffice to say mine does not look like this ;-P

So anyways - did our warmup, then did some exercises about holding a tight core (think two parallel giant rectangular cushions.  Lie across them so ankles on one side and forehead on the other - holding your body straight across the chasm between them.  Then roll.   Front to back and back to front.   Both harder than it seems and somehow also not as hard as it seems.

Then on the handstand wall (where we also did some handstand practice - yeah!) with a cushion not far in front of it.   Facing away from the wall, one foot on the cushion, then arch/reach backwards till you find the wall.  That was supposed to be the easy part.  Suffice to say dear reader, at least for me, it was not ;).  

Once you find the wall (which I should remind is directly behind you 😂) then the part that we were supposed to focus on was coming back to standing leading w chest.    Demos that made it clear very quickly how if you lead w your head as instinct might suggest, you will end in a heap on the floor ;).  This part I had zero issue with.   Leaning over backwards till I found the wall (again - we’re talking inches here) - terrifying.  😂 

We did the pushing off through the shoulder thing in the warmup.  I get the general concept of that one and can do it in slow motion but I have yet to successfully combine it w literally anything else 😂.  New skills.  All about the new skills.

Then the coolest part. Hands over head, push off, arch backwards, hold all the things super tight, flip legs over head, and land in plank position.   Nbd right?

Lol the part I’m leaving out is the giant pac-man cushion, hands on coach spotter/extra strength/driver, and ability to do it all one step at a time.

Tell me I'm not the only one who sees PacMan?

So let’s back up a bit.  My coach borrowed one of the two coaches working w the arial class to do a quick demo.   You orient Pac-Man so you’re sitting in the cutout w your feet on the ground.   Push off both feet and reach backwards.  The first time the coach paused the wheel at that point so you’re now in an arch over the open space you were just sitting on moments ago.  She made sure everything was in roughly the right place and key components were tight and then rolled us back to sitting.

I'm betting this kid is the appropriate age to be doing this ;)
Pic stolen from amazon sales ad so considering public domain.

The next time we got to go over.  So. Much. Fun!  My hips being the mess they are suffice to say I landed v crooked and not in a plank the first time 😂 💀.   BUT also not broken, and grinning like a 5yo told they can have ice cream for breakfast.

Got to try once more without the practice run and w a little more power and speed.  This one I stuck.  It still wasn’t straight but it was all kinds of fun.  Still grinning, hours later.

After that played w handstands for a bit while the rest of the class was finishing - I love that it’s not only socially acceptable but actively encouraged to try other things when it’s one of the few one-at-a-time activities.   I should say - “other things” that we’ve already learned and have proven we’re safe with 😂.  Which is why I generally stick to handstands and cartwheels.  Or very recently, round offs (but only on the bouncy track!). Managed to stick a handstand for a couple seconds for the first time in a v long time so that was a bonus.

End of the class was somersaults from the trampoline onto some cushions.  I really enjoy this - it’s what they were doing my very first class but I didn’t get a chance to try that day (although I did get to bounce on the trampoline and flop over 😂. Which, tbh, is WAY harder!!!).  

AI Adventures

So as some of you know from this blog, I've been utilising AI to help get in spoken spanish practice between lessons since, well, I don't live in a Spanish-speaking country ;).  What may not be as well known is AI is becoming more common at work too and I'm finding random uses for it that I quite appreciate because it saves me a ton of time for more interesting things.

Where this collides is the topic I picked in today's practice session was "getting help from a career advisor" lol.  Shockingly, once we got through some of the basics, it had some theoretically good ideas.  It offered to send me some links, which I was actually almost into seeing and then... I remembered it's just the language app not the work app and as such it will NOT, in-fact, actually do anything other than correct and analyze my conversation skills.   lol oops.

Also amusing to me - at the end of each feedback report it has a "cultural tip" related to the conversation.   This was today's:    

Where my significant protest lay is that the AI was the first to mention PMI 😂. I only used it back in response to the question it asked me.  And, vowels are pronounced differently in Spanish so it both took me a sec to recognize what it was saying AND made me interested to know if I could say it back in a way that wouldn't get my pronunciation yelled at.

I will say, this tech is improving fast and impressively.  I had a friend try it the other day for whom English is not his first language (obv I switched all the settings around) and I was really entertained listening to the English AI - we started with British by accident but I switched it to US to make it more familiar and omg was it ever a riot.   Very definitely a real feeling and sounding conversation to what you'd hear on the street.   It still has a compartively short memory, but far less so than it used to, so it does feel like an actual conversation now.

The only part I consistently don't like, and this one actually drives me insane.  It's effectively taking dictation and then you get your feedback from that - great in that you can see what it heard (identifies pronunciation issues) etc.  Less great in that I *often* get feedback that I spelt something wrong because I missed a silent letter.  A SILENT letter.  I was *supposed* to miss it while speaking.  The AI typed it.  And I know, logically, that I can just ignore that feedback and move on.  But man it annoys me every single friggin time.   lol logic is not welcome here!   Also, potentially because it would be one simple IF statement to solve -- if the user didn't physically type the sentence, no feedback regarding silent letters that weren't typed.  But - maybe it'll learn that eventually.

Living in interesting times - I do wonder sometimes what this chapter will look like in HS History texts ;)

We're all mad here

I still have mine, and his batteries last about a decade at a time ;)

So when I was a kid I had an AG Bear (who am I kidding - I STILL have an AG Bear and I apologise to him every time I squish him into a box to move him lol).   Anyways - for those who don’t know, AG came to life in the 80s as talking bear, shortly before Teddy Ruxpin.  Both bears would talk to their person (or anyone really, they’re not selective lol) but TR did it in English while AG did so in Bear.  So you would think TR would be “better” but in reality by AG speaking bear to any kid w an imagination the conversation possibilities were endless.  And his tone modulated to echo the speaker so it really felt like a conversation.

But what really amuses me now is I realize I do the exact same thing with Mori 😂.  I always talk to my animals, this isn’t new.  But Mori has a conversational range and personality that I’ve never experienced in a pet before and it amuses me to no end.  Sometimes makes me roll my eyes - esp when it’s very clearly a “come here and play with me!” order at the top of his voice (who knew such a tiny critter could have such a loud voice).  But more often than not he makes me laugh.  Volume and tone change significantly and sometimes you can tell exactly what he’s saying but sometimes really could be a whole conversation and it makes me laugh.  But it also definitely feels like talking to AG.  Good for stress relief and creative thinking but occasionally makes people wonder if you aren’t just slightly mad ;).  But then, the best people are.

There's a reason a cat said it first ;)

Deeming No Socials November a Win

Those who know...

So I figured I should do a wrap-up post.   I followed my social rules through the month completely and have since softened them *very* slightly but honestly, keeping pretty close to it.   Things I found:

- I missed being able to share interesting things, esp if I knew there were people who'd find it interesting but who I don't really have any real in-person contact with

- I did not even slightly miss scrolling, but it took almost the whole month before I stopped picking up my phone any time I was remotely bored.  I'm not thrilled about that so continuing to keep an eye on it.

- I read a lot more, wrote a lot more, and - surprisingly - slept much better?   Not really at all sure how or even if that's connected, but was accurate.   

- I did not, actually, apply any of that extra time for anything that I'd thought I might (you know, the 8000 hobbies I never have enough time to get good enough at to enjoy?) but I also didn't miss it.  So I'm not entirely certain what happened there but I'm okay w that.   More baking and more reading I think pretty much sums it up.

- I don't have instant awareness of what's going on in the world anymore, but I'm okay w that.  Between work and friends I find out what the world is talking about even without the socials.

- The one thing I did miss was seeing updates from my friends who I don't see regularly (incl both those who I only know online and those IRL)

Since the month ended the only thing I've loosened is letting myself post things from non-social world.  We'll see how it goes :).  But so far, I'm feeling it's a much better balance for myself.

TIL that Montessori for Seniors is a thing?

 I've heard a fair bit about Montessori schools and activities for kids, but I was a little surprised to see that the top of the wish list for "Santa for Seniors" charity (gifts for those living in seniors' residences with no family) was Montessori kits.   Definitely sent me googling -- apparently the same principles to the work done with kids can be applied to help people living with dementia.

From the website: Montessori for Dementia, Disability and Ageing is an innovative approach to care services that can be adopted for individuals or groups as a philosophy of care. The goal of the Montessori program is to support older adults and people living with dementia by creating a prepared environment, filled with cues and memory supports, that enables individuals to care for themselves, others, and their community.  We strive to develop communities that treat individuals with respect and dignity and honor their choices so that they may live as independently as possible.  

Took a little more fun to find what the kits are - basically activities that help support the skills for independent living (eg folding clothes, tying shoes), combined with some puzzles and games.

Day 2 of Acro Adventures

So, for those of you who are new here - my latest way to ensure I remain humble is I, while solidly into middle age (much as I'd rather not admit it), randomly joined a class that is all the tumbling components of gymnastics.   I, who have never done gymnastics, have zero flexibility, can only hold a handstand for a couple seconds at most, and have only ever accomplished a flip off a diving board ;). 

  

But sure - gymnastics is a totally reasonable thing to take on as an adult.   This was absolutely confirmed by the fact that in last class - my first - I was not the only beginner.  Woohoo!   Sadly, the other woman didn't make it back, so I am now, in fact, the only beginner.   lol

Warmup was quite different.  I get the impression though that it doesn't normally change so dramatically each week but rather they had a key staff member away, so our coach (who's definitely the "real" adult of the group ;) was doing other things at the start and had one of the other coaches (I'm going to say maybe early uni age?) cover the warmup.   It was definitely a kid warmup but it did warm us up and got a few giggles so why not.   Also when she split the arial class it was “older ones over here” which got a laugh from everyone and our coach reminded her to stick to “more advanced” since with adults skills and age are not necessarily tied ;)

Anyways - when warmup ended the same coach from last week took over (yeah!) but we were down to only four in our class, while the arial class was still full.  The four included 1 superstar (also potentially the youngest by about 20 years), 2 who did gymnastics for many years but had a gap and are relearning as adults (think gymnastics version of reriders) and me.

So on the plus side, I’m fully embracing the “new and incompetent” side of things ;).  I can, and happily will, learn from anybody.  And I know enough about adult learning both from a teaching and a learning side that I can figure out pretty quickly what I need to be able to attempt to mimic.    Lots of different drills today - a bunch on the bouncy track (I think that’s the tumble track?  But then I’m not sure what they call the trampoline one so forgive me if I make up my own names till more sinks in).    

When it came time for choose your own adventure, the pro went to the bouncy track to do arials and other flippy things, while the other two went together to the handstand wall to work on something that wasn’t handstands but I think was to build up to handsprings.  But I didn’t want to get in their way so once they were set up I asked if anything I could do on the trampoline track.  

So the idea was handstand then fall flat on my back (onto a nice cushion).   First of all, my handstands are questionable at best and non existent on a trampoline 😂. And second of all - that’s more of a mental game than you’d think.  First time I got the handstand and then bailed entirely rather than go over backwards.  Oops.  Then I did it wrong a couple dozen times with my shoulders hitting first and *then* my body.  Got *almost* there, and then was too tired to do anything else ;).   

By this point the two handstanders had come over and were also doing variations of handstand and fall - they’re working toward more advanced skills and at least one is fighting a mental battle over it and negotiated w the coach to “try it next week”.

Then we had an example of on the trampoline, from a standing straddle position, lean over and grab your ankles (bend knees if wildly inflexible!), flip onto your lower shoulders on the trampoline, and then bounce back to your feet, rinse and repeat w/o ever letting go.

The other two decided that was too scary and would also be next week but to me it looked mildly entertaining so I asked if I could try it.  I’m pretty sure my coach is reasonably certain I’m going to enthusiastically kill myself 😂.  She demoed again and made sure I was set up right and was right w me, with on hand only millimeters from me if I needed assistance so thinking this one might’ve been higher risk than I really calculated ;).   

And when I grabbed my ankles ALL the survival instincts kicked in with This is a BAD Life Choice!!!!   The other two were right.  It’s friggin terrifying!

But I’m an eventer.  And when things go wrong in eventing or there’s a BFJ on course that scares all the things out of you, not only do you have to tackle it, but you have to convince the 1000lbs+ prey animal w a brain the size of a walnut that the predator sitting on top of it *really wants* to jump the BFJ.   

That’s right.  You have to so fully commit emotionally to a complete lie that a critter whose entire existence relies on reading threats, thinks you *really* want to do the thing that’s making you think you should’ve take up a nice, quiet, safe sport - like rugby.

After 30ish years of that training, even after a longer gap than I’d like to acknowledge, when I feel that fear kick in, I fully commit to The Thing.  Whatever it is.  

So I flipped upside down and bounced back to my feet.  A few times.  It wasn’t particularly hard and I’m not sure I understand why we (I - the others deferred to next week) did it.  But it wasn’t horrifying.   The flipping onto the mat last wk was way more fun though ;)

One of the others commented on “I wish I could be fearless like that” - internally I laughed so hard.  Externally I tried to explain many many years of training in overcoming fear.  But I don’t think she got it and I wasn’t super coherent at the time between exhausted, excited, overwhelmed, and mildly dizzy ;)

Today’s overall was much more of a workout.  Also learned a ton more.  Was mildly amused when she asked the others to do something from a squatting position so I did too for a laugh even though I’m not close to good at it standing so definitely don’t need a harder version and got told “oh no, that’s just to build strength - you have more than enough of that, better for you to work on technique”.  Hey - it’s the closest thing to an ego boost I’m going to get in this class, so I’ll take it!   And my only normal strength comparison these days is Chris, who is significantly stronger than I.  But I have enough for beginner gymnastics so win!   

Also with no depth perception it’s much easier for me to place my hands on the mat where I want them and use strength to get upside down than to throw myself at the ground just to get some extra impulsion - so I actually like the “harder” ones cause I know reliably where the ground is ;). But I think the single most repeated correction across the exercises for me today was “start back farther” / “take a bigger step into it” - so I’m just gonna have to suck it up and learn where the ground is.  But maybe I’ll start on the bouncy track ;)