Starting another trip around the sun

Himself and i both have birthdays in August, and we celebrated that fact on
31 August by going to a restaurant that is turning out to be one of our favourites. For starters, it's owned and run by a hockey teammate, and i like to support local businesses. For another, the food is divine and the service very good or excellent. It's a spendy place, so the budget doesn't allow us to go often but for special occasions, it's the first place we think of now.

So, we glammed up and went. Himself had a filet mignon covered with chunks of roquefort and i had a flat iron steak doused in black pepper. Both had a red wine sauce. I chose to order from the prix fixe menu and we split the appetizer of duck pâté that was accompanied by a yummy chutney and cornichons or little sour pickles. I had a salad as well, and for dessert, we both opted for soufflés; H went with the grand mariner while i chose the raspberry.

Our original plan had been to sail for much of the day and attend a contradance that evening, but the day before i thought it better to have the nice dinner instead of the dance. The weathermen got it wrong, and the day was overcast enough with small craft advisories, so we stayed on shore. The first of September proved to be an unbelieveably gorgeous day, so we went sailing then.

Today is rainy, again defying the forecast of "partly cloudy," so i am catching up on blog reading and email. Tomorrow's a holiday here, and if the weather permits, i see sailing in my future. If the weather stay fickle, then i shall look at the list of to-do items around the house and see if the list can be a bit shorter by day's end.

I always liked having a summer birthday as it meant not having to go to school or move my birthday celebration to the weekend nearest The Day. But, there's also some melancholy having it the last day of August. For many, that signals The End of Summer, and there's a lingering sadness. The sun seems to set much sooner all of a sudden, although it's been happening minutes at a time since Solstice.

Before the rain started in earnesttoday, the sun overcame the early morning clouds, and Himself and i walked the breakwater, which offers magnificent views.

I find the time around my birthday a good time to reassess and plan what i'd like to do or change in the upcoming year. My exercise regime has been curiously absent much of the summer, and i want to see what i can do to reinstate it. Hockey season will be upon me in two months, and now in my fifties, i can't expect to be in tip-top shape by being a couch potato until two weeks before the season and train like mad in fourteen days to achieve peak condition. I'd still like to hike Offa's Dyke at some point, and being the all-or-nothing sort of person that i am, i want to do all 177 miles. Practicing by hiking around here will do me a world of good. Himself and i trained for a year before we went on our second trip to Grand Canyon. The first trip, we thought we were in good shape, and we were, but not in good enough shape to hike very much there. To be fair, we live at sea level, and hadn't taken the mile plus elevation into consideration. We enjoyed enough of what we saw that first trip to know a second was most definitely in order, and that we needed to take our training seriously.

We lived in what was rapidly approaching suburbia, although when we first arrived there it was rural. Some people gawped as we wandered the streets with backpacks loaded with iron weights, others laughed and pointed. We didn't care because we had a plan and were on a mission. A page out of Noah's book, i guess. The training paid handsome rewards indeed for we hiked a longer trail than we had first thought we'd do, and we weren't sorry. Sore next day? Absolutely, but not sorry. It's still our longest hike to date, 16.8 miles.

I've been looking at my Life List, which is what i've called it ever since i can remember, and long before the movie The Bucket List ever hit the scene. Offa's Dyke has been a recent addition to the list. Most of the long-time ones have been crossed off because i've been able to do them. I still haven't made it to Australia (long time list item) or Antarctica (on the list for the last 20 years or so), and some i have graciously retired because of time and circumstance (e.g., wanting to work on submarines. They didn't take women when i was young enough, and now i'm also too fat as well as too old). Shrug. I do currently own a boat and am learning to sail it. I love kayaking. I'm back on the coast where i belong. I knit a pair of socks and several pairs of mittens. I've had a chance to work on a schooner, which i took and loved. Which i might take again should the opportunity present. I've learned to can some food.

In looking back over my Life List, it's an almagation of the mundane and exotic. Some of it is intensely personal while other items like the travel destinations are open for discussion.

Everyone in the household is napping at the moment but me. I think they may be onto something. Perhaps i need to add "Take more naps" to the list.