Skip to main content

Merry Monday - Family Day

heart-462873_640I almost wrote the title of this blog post as "Merry Christmas". My brain may be a little tired today after a long weekend filled with training and libations...

Friday began with finishing my packing. I had a chat with a nice older lady who lives in my building, then picked up a friend. We grabbed some food items and a gift for our beautiful Montreal hostess before heading out of town. The drive was an easy one and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. We reached our destination and it wasn't long before we were having a delicious meal with Black Forest Cupcake wine, St. Germain liqueur, and homemade Limoncello.

I had a little trouble sleeping on Friday. It's hard for me to sleep around other people and especially in strange beds.

Saturday brought an early rise, a quick shower, and a tasty breakfast before heading over to Concordia's Loyola campus to train. We had a brief break in the morning and lunch. Other than those, training was near constant with only short stoppages to listen instead of performing exercises and kata. Our warmup was over an hour long. We were all happy to reach dinner at Kanda where we gorged on sushi and sake. So much sake. Black & Gold from Gekkeikan is still my favourite thus far. After dinner, a group of us visited with the senseis while having tea and chocolate treats. I seem to be one of the few I know that don't yet own an iron tea set. Something to remedy in the future.

I slept excellently on Saturday and didn't wake up until 6:30 when I had to pee, but couldn't bring myself to move due to the protests of my upper body.

On Sunday we had a half day of training in the morning. I couldn't make it through the full period and watched from the sidelines as my shoulder and elbow couldn't handle the weight of my aluminum or my wooden sword anymore. I saw a lot of little things I have been doing wrong and I am going to work on correcting them.

Following training, we went back to our hostess' place for lunch and conversation before making our way back to Ottawa. But my weekend didn't end there.

Shortly before arriving in Ottawa, my friends asked me to come visit and play card games. I was happy to see them on this family day weekend and get to read their son a story. It was the perfect ending to the family weekend as I got to spend time with some of my martial arts family and one of my oldest friends and his family who are like my Ottawa family.

Robaxxacet helped loosen the knot in my shoulder and let me sleep pain-free.

Speaking of family, I didn't get to see my own this weekend. My aunt is very ill and expected to pass away at any time. She told my dad that she didn't care if he was at her funeral and wanted him to come see her before she passes because after she will just be a body. So my 73-year-old dad took a trip on the bus to see his sister. They thought it was best I not travel up there given that it is winter and it is an area of Northern Quebec best accessed by first traveling to North Bay as it is in the Temiscamingue region.

Now, I best call my mother because Family Day falls on her birthday this year. She is 74 today!

Salut,
R~

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Gauntlet That Was October

I had a lot of things happen in October. I watched Frankenstein in the cemetery with friends. I had tea with a friend. I started a new sport: curling. This is really fun and I'm enjoying the level of activity it provides and all the strategic elements. I'll do a separate post on it soon. Unfortunately, soon after my first game, I came down with Covid and so did the friend who I had tea with, so I think we both caught it at the place we went to. That wasn't fun. I already posted about that. I was fortunate to be free of it in time to attend Can-Con where I took in lots of panels, saw some of the wonderful writer community, bought many new books, and volunteered to help out in the rooms. The following weekend, I went to the livestream for Danielle Allard's new album release, followed by the in person release. As part of this, she has a 6 video series that releases every Sunday on her YouTube at 1:15 PM EDT. Video number 2, Falling Into Place, is one that I feel fortunate

Under Siege

My city is under attack. I wish I was being facetious.  The so-called "freedom" convoy is here and so far this is what has transpired: 1. They parked on the war memorial. These people who call themselves patriots. This is where the Unknown Soldier rests. This is where Corporal Nathan Cirullo lost his life in October of 2014. The cars were towed, but who knows what actual repercussions they will face. 2. Later, when asked to move away from memorial, one stood and jumped on the tomb itself while others cheered.  3. Despite having port-a-potties provided for by the mayor, they've been defecating on Parliament Hill, in snowbanks, and on streets nearby.  4. Flags being flown include the Confederate flag of the United States, Trump flags, the Quebec equivalent to the Confederate flag, upside down Canada flags, regular Canada flags, Fuck Trudeau flags, libertarian flags, and ones adorned with swastikas. Yeah, this is totally about freedom rather than racism, white su

December 2023 Holidays

The drive to North Bay was pretty smooth until I was 30 minutes away and ran out of windshield washer fluid. That was the first time that ever happened to me. Luckily, about 10-15 minutes later, there was one last gas station where I could fix that. Since it's my busy season, I worked the mornings and took the afternoons and evenings to spend with family and friends. My brother stopped by with a special gift, a new ornament for the tree. My mom loved ceramic Christmas trees, so it's a perfect way to keep her with us at Christmas. His friend, Fawn, helped him get it made. She has a YouTube channel you can check out here: https://youtube.com/@thethriftyfawn After that, I visited friends in the slightly rural part of Callander, Ontario. We were having a lovely time catching up and then the evening had a surprise in store. Someone in the area had hit a small deer with their vehicle. My friend's dad skinned and gutted it in around -20C (due to the windchill) weather.