Life this week is full of contrast. It’s not just the weather, though it rained like crazy with highs in the 50s on Sunday. Today it’s all sunshine and 81 F.
So why are we inside?
You know, 9, the weekly blog thing. And since when are you an outdoor type?
Yeah, I know. I stay inside a lot this time of year because of hay fever. Those huge green pills I take for it make me really sleepy, too.
I remember it well. You’ll be glad to know that in a couple of decades they’ll come up with less drowsy-making options. And when you’re a little older your allergies won’t be quite so bad. In contrast, I still take antihistamines at this time of year but I can also stay awake long enough to write blogs and perform other duties useful to society.
Aside from the varying weather and the attendant plague of grass and tree pollen, I had a highly contrasting 48 hours on Sunday and Monday. Sunday, I stopped by an open house at a friend’s dance studio to say congratulations and “well done” and that kind of thing. He surprised me by asking if I’d consider playing a (non-dancing) role in an upcoming ballet, something that will be elegantly costumed and include an amazing wig!
Contrast: Wig, Carhartt vest- -what the heck do I wear to work?
Did we accept?
Of course we did, Lily! Imagining myself as a fairy tale queen in contrast to my actual Sunday attire of leggings and a thermal shirt was thrilling! And what a contrast to what I wore the next day, down in a river channel helping a friend record depths and flow velocities. Beat up Levis 501s, rubber chore boots, Carhartt vest, sweat stained work hat that’s seen plenty of rain and sun, plus it hailed while we worked. A fun job, but definitely not glamorous!
The craziest contrast happened at the YMCA pool. I am a dedicated pool nerd on Tuesdays and Thursdays, slowly but surely swimming a little over two kilometers 9:30 A-10:45 A. The ideal capacity for the Y pool is six, and usually that’s about how many of us show up, but Tuesday it was a madhouse! People I’d never seen before started arriving around 9:45 and lots of us had to share lanes.
That sounds like it would be more fun than swimming alone?
Sure, if it I wasn’t on an intensely targeted mission in a lane slightly narrower than my arm span. One of the lifeguards paired me with a heavily pregnant woman. I was so worried I might accidentally kick her I could barely focus!
With lots of extra swimmers and packed lanes the water gets choppy. The turbulence really slows me down. Plus my form gets sloppy which puts me in danger of pulling muscles or straining joints. I tried to be a good sport on the outside, but inside I obsessed about banging my elbows on the lane rope floats, and what to substitute for backstroke.
Happily, the pregnant women (who, I am ecstatic to report, I did not kick) only swam for twenty minutes. After she got out I doggedly swam my last several laps and called it good.
Fast forward to Thursday. I had mentally prepared to share again, and be totally gracious about it inside and out. But lucky me, and lucky all of us “regulars,” there were only six of us for a long time, and when more swimmers showed up later they were willing to wait a few minutes. Happily, I achieved the usual bliss of intense focus and watery meditation!
Spoken by someone with short hair that doesn’t need to be set on pink sponge curlers every two nights.
It’s quite a contrast between then and now, Lily, and I can empathize with your scorn. It really sucks being in ninth grade and having PE first period on those alternating weeks when girls get to use the pool. A cap can’t preserve your flowing, fluffy tresses and let’s not even talk about mascara.
I look like a raccoon for the rest of the day!
I’m glad I don’t wear makeup.
I don’t wear it anymore, 9, but in junior high and high school it was an everyday ritual. That’s a contrast that’s come full circle. Except when I have to do some kind of fairy tale queen thing. . .
And now, on to a happily anticipated contrast! It’s about the weather again. It’s been a cold, wet spring but the 10 day forecast is mostly sunny with highs in the 70s and 80s. Better still, today is the average last frost date in Walla Walla. I am determined to get more things started in the garden this weekend. But. . .
As much as I love contrast, I bet all the new plantings and me will soon long for the contrast of just one rainy day.
Things sound fun! Carry on!
Gotta find fun where you can, right? Thanks!