Once a year I go out to dinner with a group of women friends. Some of these women I see regularly but some I rarely get to spend time with outside of our annual meal. Everyone leads busy lives, so it’s a chance for us to take a step back from all the busy-ness and reconnect. This year, the dinner took place over the week-end.

As I was getting caught up on everyone’s news, it struck me that all of us have been dealing with challenges. One woman just went through a marriage break-up. Another is dealing with what could be a serious health issue. Another woman, who couldn’t be with us, also has major health problems. And on it went…one after the other of us sharing not only the good things but the heartaches and difficulties in our lives.

I myself, for the most part, have lived a charmed life. But certainly I’ve had my challenges too. And when that happens, all I want to do is run away. But of course that’s not a realistic option. So I do the only thing I can think of…I just put one foot in front of the other and keep walking.

I suspect this must be one of the lessons learned by walking the Camino. No matter how tired or sore you are, all you can do is keep going. One step. Another step. Hundreds of thousands of steps. And somewhere along the way, when you think things can get no worse, they start to get better. And in the end, hopefully, something beautiful will come of it all.

So to anyone reading this who’s going through troubles, all I can say is keep the faith. Keep walking. One. Step. After. Another.

With canning season well behind me, I thought my header photo was getting outdated and needed a mini facelift. This is a section of a painting by Lourdes Ladron de Guevara (known to me as Luz or Lulu). I purchased this painting from her a few years ago. It’s called ‘My Grandmothers’ Garden’ and it hangs right beside my bed so I can see it every morning when I wake up. It’s lovely and I know it will continue to give me great pleasure for years to come.  Anyway, check out her web site for more beautiful stuff.

Here’s where Alan ’s band is these days:

Not sure where they go from there…I know Vancouver and Victoria are both on the roster at some point in December. I’m going to be in Vancouver but not at the same time they will be. However I will get to see Iris perform. It’s nice to have her close enough that I can get down to visit her from time to time.

My Fluevog boots arrived yesterday!

And my Betsey Johnson party dress arrived today!

Oh yeah, and somehow these found their way into my ebay shopping cart too.

And yes, ebay is officially off limits to me as of today!

There’s something very satisfying about the act of mending. I don’t know why, but it gives me a little kick to make things ‘whole’ again, whether it’s stitching up a rip or just sewing on a button that’s fallen off.

When I was a kid, my Grammie was always mending something. Most often it was my dad’s handknitted wool socks or the mittens that she made for us kids. Sadly, mending appears to have fallen out of favour. It seems people would rather throw out something rather than fix it.

Case in point: a while back I found a high quality women’s shirt at the local Sally Ann that looked like it had hardly been worn. The only problem was it had a button missing. There was an extra button on the inside bottom of the shirt, so it wasn’t even that the previous owner couldn’t find a match to it. So for a couple of bucks, and less than five minutes’ work, I have a new shirt that I love.

And just today, I found this Gucci leather backpack/purse on eBay that was going for peanuts because one of its zippers was broken. Gucci, for Pete’s sake! They sell for between a few hundred and several thousand dollars. But for $34 Canadian, I was able to buy it. I will have the zipper repaired or replaced the next time I’m in Vancouver for what I’m sure will be a reasonable price, and that will be that!

Anyway, today was a mending day for me. I sewed on missing buttons, secured buttons that were loose and thinking of dropping off, stitched up a rip in the lining of my winter coat, repaired a tear in one of Jamie’s t-shirts, sewed up a little rip in one of my gloves, and then…because I was on a roll….I pulled out my shoe shine box and polished most of my shoes and boots until I could almost see my reflection in them. Most satisfying!

They’re off! Alan’s band Sanktuary left today for their Western Canadian tour.  I won’t see him again until shortly before Christmas. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they won’t run into any major snowstorms, or if they do they’ll know enough to hunker down somewhere.

By the way, the band turned up on some international heavy metal CD…bands from all over Europe, the U.S., and them: the only Canadian one among the bunch. I have no idea how this all came about, but I guess someone heard their stuff on their MySpace page and decided they liked it. Cool!

Opening for Three Inches of Blood

This week-end went by faster than a speeding bullet. There was Joe’s birthday dinner on Friday night (just the family), Halloween on Saturday (which really seemed to be a non-event for us this year: only about 30 kids and no terribly creative costumes; maybe some were at home with the flu?), a birthday brunch for Joe yesterday morning (eggs bennie for 18 people – it was quite a production in the kitchen!), and East Indian food at a friend’s house last night. Phew!

Oh, and those turquoise Fluevog boots? They’re winging their way to my house right now. I’ll post photos when they arrive. I also bought a black lace Betsey Johnson  (video takes a while to load…can you believe this woman is 65??) party dress for dirt cheap, so now I’m all set for the Christmas season.

I love shoes. Beautifully made, colourful, soft leather shoes. Trouble is, shoes like that are not cheap, so I usually limit myself to one new pair every 12 to 18 months. This past trip to Vancouver I got lucky; I found a pair of Stephane de Raucourt boots at Value Village for all of $20 (his boots typically sell for $300 or more). Here’s a shot of them: a cross between a bowling shoe and a vintage ski boot…funky and fun, with lovely leather inside and out.

But then today, I stumbled on something that really made my heart go pitter-patter. Take a look at these and these! And here’s some more…I love the Executor Luciano men’s shoe that comes in electric blue patent leather!

These are a bit out of my price range. However it just so happens that there’s a pair of turquoise Fluevog boots that have been listed on ebay, and they’re batting their eyelashes at me. Be still my beating heart!

I will tell you in a few days how this love story ends.

I’ve spent part of the morning curled up in bed with a book called “Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman”. It was written by Alice Steinbach, who’s a former journalist with the Baltimore Sun and it recounts a series of ‘learning holidays’ she took. Acting on the advice of the Japanese poet Basho, who wrote “To learn of the pine, go to the pine”, she heads off to try out French cooking in Paris, study traditional arts in Kyoto, take a writing course in Praque, learn more about Cuban music and art in Havana, and partake in several other adventures in various countries. Along the way she meets some pretty interesting folks and gains some perspectives that she just wouldn’t have gotten from reading a book (or a whole library of books).

She is definitely a woman after my own heart. Long on my ‘bucket list’ has been a desire to spend time in a number of different countries taking classes in traditional dance. The differences and similaries in varous dance forms fascinate me, as does putting together the puzzle about how dance in one part of the world has influenced and connects with dance in a completely different part of this planet.

I’ve had a chance to dabble a very tiny bit in this: a flamenco dance class in Seville,  a couple of tango classes in Buenos Aires, and a bit of salsa in Cuba (I’ve been introduced to several other dance forms, but not in their country of origin). But it’s a big world out there. Before my bones get too brittle and my joints too creaky, I hope to experience first hand Baroque and Renaissance dancing in France, step dancing in Ireland and folk dancing in Turkey and Greece. And those are just the first few on my list!

Courtesy of www.greekdancemonterey.org/

The goal: to reduce water consumption. The result: nothing to write home about. Yes, I did forego a morning shower, opting instead for a sponge bath and washing my hair in the sink. And no, I didn’t run the washing machine or the dish washer. But really all I did was delay the inevitable…I will have to wash both dishes and clothes today and I am only prepared to go so long without a shower. I am lucky in that my appliances are EnergyStar rated, plus I will wash the clothes in cold water and hang them on my clothes rack to dry instead using the dryer. But unlike No Impact Man, I am not prepared to give up my washer in exchange for throwing clothes in my bath tub and then stomping on them with my feet as if they were a vat of grapes.

For me, I think the real accomplishments this week have not been so much that I’ve drastically decreased my footprint (although I have made small gains in some areas), but that I’ve become more aware of the ecological consequences of my everyday actions.

After this week will I change my habits going foreward? In some cases yes. I’ll probably continue to try to keep my garbage producion to a minimum (I did get a bit of a thrill the day that I produced no garbage at all), and whenever possible I will either carpool or take the bus. I’ll try to eat locally too (I’ve been trying to do that for quite some time) but I’m also not going to get myself bent out of shape if I eat a banana once in a while.

Thoughts? Do you think this was a worthwhile experiment or just some kind of group publicity stunt? Did this week change anything for you?