So what am I doing to reaffirm myself?

Well first off Shaul and I walk to the beach most mornings. This is when the shadows are still long and gentle, the waves gently lapping and the birds shaking themselves out of the trees. I used to go to the gym at lunchtime (double-whammy, not only do you exercise but you also eat healthily afterwards), but that is now far away and I hope to replace the exercise by walking, isometrics and stretching. But the walk to the beach is much more than exercise; it is a balm to the soul – both sight and sound. Traffic is still scarce (except for bikes and joggers) and we have time to chat with each other.

I started doing yoga again, but must have overdone it and both my back and knees complained; so we’ll need to take a different approach on that. My yoga teacher is my wonderful daughter-in-law, so not only do I have a yoga lesson but we spend quality time together.

I signed up to audit a university course and find that fun and mildly stimulating. This weekend we went to the Hula. It is that time of year when there are thousands of cranes coming in and even some pelicans are still around. We got up at 3:30 so we could be there at 6:30 to see the cranes perform mass take-offs to go feeding. The noise and the arrow formations are something else. Later, when it started to warm up, the pelicans took to the air. They are massive and it felt like the air force was exercising. There must have been a couple of hundred pelicans, in groups of 10 or so.

I promised myself that I’d catch up on my reading – but that has not happened yet, though I do read the newspaper (not just skim the headlines). My reading list is long and varied, from books trying to make sense of the Middle East, Richard Dawkins, a new (for me) Umberto Eco collection – Turning Back the Clock, and background reading on Antarctica. We are going on a 7-week voyage at the end of the season to the Antarctic Peninsula and then up the South Atlantic towards the Equator. Seven years ago we visited Antarctica from New Zealand, and this will round off the subject.

Something else is cooking. I now cook quick and healthy meals (even tasty) at lunchtime. I got used to eating out, but however good the food was, I had no control over the amount of oil and salt used. My waistline reflected this. I enjoy the cooking and it doesn’t take up too much time. It is usually based on the premise that there are 1001 ways to cook chicken breast. These are quick to cook and the marinade makes all the difference and stops the boredom. Anyway, it makes me feel good about myself (that I am looking after myself) and that is reaffirmation in my book.