Tag Archives: holiday

The return

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I had a wonderful holiday break. We got home yesterday and were fully unpacked before bedtime. I met my buddy this morning and went for a workout and then we were back on the Coquitlam Crunch for a couple training walks up it, getting ready for our challenge just two weeks away.

…and that was my entire day.

Isn’t it weird how even after a very relaxing holiday, the first full day home feels like you need to recover from your holiday? Is this just something I experience or do others feel it too?

I’ve heard the expression, ‘I need a holiday to recover from my holiday,’ but that’s usually because you’ve had an action-packed holiday. I did nothing but relax on my holiday. I ate well, I did a wine tour. I enjoyed a short walk to a waterfall. I listened to an audio book. Sure, I exercised a few times, but not a single workout compared to anything I usually do at home.

So how did I come back and feel I had to take the entire afternoon and evening off?

Swaying in a hammock

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When the wind is just right, cool, a bit gusty, and yet consistent, a hammock becomes a self-swaying cocoon. No intentional momentum is required to keep motion going. Light dances across your face as you sway with leafy branches between you and the sun.

There is something peaceful about this movement. Perhaps it is connected not just to the movement but also to your location. Hammocks are only common at outdoor holiday destinations.

Maybe this needs to change. Maybe hammocks should be more widespread in distribution. A porch, a backyard, a family room… all enjoyable spaces that might be more enjoyable with a hammock.

Question: Would a hammock be as wonderful if it was used more often, or is the rarity of it partly what makes it so great?

Right now, I think I could get used to being in one a lot more often.

So Smokey

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I remember when forest fires were not a factor that disrupted summer holiday plans. However for a few years now smoke has wreaked havoc on our summer vacations. The worst for my wife and I was in Nelson, BC back in 2021, when it seemed the whole province was on fire. I actually tried to do a morning run and learned later that on that morning Nelson had one of the worst air quality indexes in the world, due to nearby forest fires. My breathing felt like I was jogging inside a plastic bag, and I could taste the smoke. I struggled.

Today we drove to Kelowna. We charged our car in Merritt where the air quality was awful. You could see the smoke in the air between you and anything 8-10 feet away or more. And while there were a couple clear patches beyond Merritt, as we entered Kelowna the smoke returned.

So our holiday now starts, and will probably end, in smoke. Exercise might be curtailed, and so too might beach time. We’ll make the most of our time here… but I’m not sure we’ll do this trip again next year if we have to book it months in advance and won’t know the smoke conditions.

We are fortunate that the smoke seldom heads to the lower mainland, where we live. I have a lot of empathy for people who deal with this all summer long, and also face the threat of fires affecting their lives more personally. It’s one thing to be upset about smoke filled air on your holidays and a whole other thing when it affects your everyday life.

Decompression time

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First day back from my holiday started great. Woke up, met my buddy and went to the gym for the first time in 12 days. Had a great workout then he treated me to breakfast at his place. Then I had a couple appointments. I met my new doctor for the first time (my previous one is retiring), and I had a physio appointment.

And that made for a full day. Besides that I had a very long nap, and listened to my book. I then watched a bit of tv with my wife. All-in-all a great day. What really made it feel good was just having the time to flake out after a busy morning. No agenda, nothing pressing, no hurry, no worries. Just a good dose of decompression time.

Tomorrow I’ll do the Coquitlam Crunch walk after taking a month off. I hadn’t missed a month since my buddy and I started doing this in January 2021. But my lower back/discs has settled down and I’m not getting any nerve pain down my leg anymore. I’ve done a few completely painless walks, including one that had a bit of a climb during my holiday and so I think I’m ready, and my physio thinks so too.

It wasn’t just today that was about decompression time, it had been almost two weeks of it, and I’m feeling really good. It’s taken me 58 years to figure it out, but a little down time isn’t just good for the mind, it’s good for the body too.

Coming home

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I spent the day travelling today and now I’m home. What a fabulous holiday my wife and I had. It was wonderful to visit with my mom and sister. Unfortunately I spent the entire 10 days with a cough that I still haven’t shaken, but that helped me see the importance of rest.

Normally when a holiday is filled with a lot of down time, I end up feeling guilty, like I wasted the holiday. Not this time. I truly relaxed. I even took time away from my regular routines like meditation and working out… and I did this without the need to beat myself up about it. I just took the time to recover. And as a byproduct, my sciatica has completely gone. I’m not sure if it will return with more activity, but I am thrilled to not feel pain just from standing for a few minutes.

And now I’m home, and the routines return. I’ll be back in the gym early tomorrow. I’ll get back to daily meditation. I’ll start back at work on Monday, ready to enjoy my last 3 months before retirement.

Coming home after a break can often feel like a bit of a slog, but I’m excited to be back, and I’m looking forward to returning to my usual routine… Especially since it’s coming from a desire to get back to my good habits, without beating myself up because I took a bit of time off.

Traffic flow

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I’ve had a couple days of long highway drives in Los Angeles and despite significantly more traffic than in Vancouver or Toronto, I have to say that traffic here flows very well. Two things make the flow here unique compared to what I see in Canada. First of all, highway speed limits here are more of a suggestion than a limit. When the traffic opens up the speed goes up. Tonight, at one point I was going in excess of the speed limit and for about 10 minutes and many cars passed me, while I didn’t catch up or pass any. Even when traffic is heavy it seems every lane will travel at speeds seldom seen on highways I’m used to driving on back home.

Another thing that works far better here are lane changes. There seems to be an acceptance of lane changes here that is far more polite and efficient compared to anywhere else I’ve driven. I’ve seen, and in one case actually been, a car needing to cross 2 lanes to get to an exit in heavy traffic, and with indicators on, cars make way for the move.

In Vancouver, that would be responded to in two very different ways. First of all, there would be an angry horn blast and/or the person in the lanes you are trying to get into would speed up to squeeze you out of the lane change. Here, I have seen countless lane changes with neither horn beep nor accelerated blocking.

After hearing about the driving here, and stories of road rage in LA, I’d say, ‘Don’t believe the hype’! The reality is that I’d rather drive here than on any busy highway in Canada. Maybe I’m just in the honeymoon stage and living here would be different, but my sister has been here for 20 years and she’s often told me this is the case. Sounds a bit weird to say, but Vancouver and Toronto drivers could learn a thing or two from spending a little time in LA traffic.

It takes time to unwind

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It might have been slowed down a bit due to having a cold, but it has taken me a while to unwind this holiday. I always take a short while to get used to holiday mode, and not feel guilty for having a quiet day where I don’t do much.

Today I didn’t do much of anything. I spent a bit of the morning feeling guilty about not getting a workout in, and then late this afternoon I finally felt it… I felt unwound enough to just relax and enjoy doing a little bit of nothing.

The big plans for tomorrow are to head to a beach and rent some bikes to ride on the boardwalk. A busy day compared to today, but also, how chill is that for a day plan?

Now the holiday really begins. Now it becomes guilt free listening to a an audiobook for over an hour. I can just chill, and not feel like I should be doing something else. I can sip my morning coffee in the sunshine and feel like no matter what the day brings, it will be a good day.

I don’t have to fill time, I can just appreciate what I’m doing, while I do it… even if the thing I’m doing is nothing.

Lemon love

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My sister has a lemon tree in her back yard. The lemons on this tree are not normal. First of all, they grow quite large. The phot below show lemons from her tree. The two in my hand are what I’d consider large sized at my local grocery store, the rest are more typical of what comes off of her tree. Secondly, these lemons are sweet. I make a lemonade with them and there is no need for sugar.

The juice of two lemons fills half of a tall glass. Add water, (or if I’m feeling fancy, soda water), a little Angostura aromatic bitters, and some ice and I’ve got the most delicious lemonade I’ve ever tasted.

The lemons in the photo produced a litre of juice. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some lemonade to make.

Duffy and Crab

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Today was a wonderful first day of holidays, visiting my mom and sister in Tustin. We went for a cruise on a Duffy boat then enjoyed a bag of seafood at a restaurant called Kicking Crab.

What’s a Duffy? It’s a fully electric boat that travels at 5 mph at its maximum speed. I got to captain it, with my wife, sister, mom, and an aunt who I haven’t seen in over 25 years. We circled protected a harbour in the boat, then drove around the beaches before going for a crab, shrimp, and clam feast.

A late afternoon nap was the final part of a wonderful day. I could get used to this!

…And crash

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Day three of March break and my eyes and nose are streaming. The good news is that I don’t feel sick other than a little congestion. The bad news is, even if I’m not feeling awful, I’m still sick.

I’m tired of the pattern of getting to a holiday break and my body crashing. It’s a pattern I’ve seen too often and it has decided to repeat on my last March break.

Oh well, it got me again.

As I was reminded be a retired friend, March breaks from now on will be times to avoid holidays rather than go on them. My upcoming retirement will include not travelling at the most expensive times, when everyone else is travelling.

Now it’s off to bed with a handful of tissues and cold medication. I’m hoping some sunshine and rest will hurry this runny nose along. And I’m really hoping to avoid these kinds of crashes in the future.