The new year has arrived and we’re settling into the winter routine. I’m feeling pretty good for this time of year, I guess I finally found the right combination of vitamin D, activity and rest. I’m working out at full weight, and actually went out biking five days in a row last week in a spell of mild weather. I used to think fifty degrees was about as cold as I’d feel comfortable riding, but I got some gloves and a warmer base layer and now I’m good down into the forties. Today it was thirty-five when I got up and I thought I’d try that, but by mid-morning it started snowing and the temperature dropped. Ah well, maybe that means we can go skiing soon!
We also got out ice skating this weekend, which was fun except for the rink was rather crowded and people were skating in all directions, making collision avoidance a nonstop concern, with very few chances to get up to a good speed. We’re gonna check out the other rinks around here to see what they’re like. In other fitness news, Jeannie has decided she wants to run a 7k race in April and asked me if I wanted to join her. So we’re gonna figure out how to start training for that.
I’m back to work and off to a good start. Meanwhile at home I’m trying to beat back a long list of random tasks and new project, after slacking off for the holidays. Making steady progress and checking things off one by one. A big one we need to do a big round of organizing the house and throwing things away. This was set into motion when Jeannie asked me to into my closet and pull out some old legos for her to used in the toyland town she set up neat the Christmas tree. Things got jumbled up and there was no way to put everything back and make it fit, so there you go. One thing leads to another since we only have so much closet space.
As is tradition, we’re watching The Lord of the Rings movies again. I’m also re-reading the books, which I haven’t done since the aughts (I used to read it once per decade, but skipped the teens cuz I was busy). This time around I’m appreciating how much the filmmakers actually drew from the book in terms of dialogue and plot details, even if things were generally sharpened up and condensed for the movie. Also remembering how much lore and backstory there is, and how many songs in the book that got cut. So far my favorite was the one Frodo sings at the inn in Bree, an epic retelling of the classic Hey Diddle Diddle.
Also deep into some new music projects. More on that soon, I swear, but it will take more than one post to explain it all.