Spinning Chaos into Cocoons

 Ovidia--every other Tuesday

I’ve not been able to plan today’s post, I’m afraid. Things have been piling up. Mostly good things but still things that threaten to spin out of control. This is a quick ‘Hello, I’m still alive and I hope you all are too’ post. Maybe acknowledging the overwhelm will make it more whelmable? 

Part of this is because I’ve returned to the theatre with two projects after a long break. One piece is a re-staging of Hitting (On) Women (which was the last thing I wrote before switching to fiction) but the other is a new piece, meaning there’s been lots more re-writing and adapting in between rehearsals… which have been really interesting. I’m so impressed by how much has changed in theatre in the last ten years. 

We had to get a new refrigerator when our old faithful gave up the ghost (and the repairman apologised profusely that they no longer carried replacement parts for our model) and we were amazed by the advances in fridges… but that was nothing compared to how professional, how versatile, how young today’s theatre people are!

 Here’s some of the cast experimenting with projecting images they draw live on stage.

Plus I’ve just got my author copies on the next book and I’m almost too distracted to be thrilled. Almost. I am thrilled. Just too tired to jump up and down! 

Their arrival was joyfully celebrated with frozen margaritas, though!

Unfortunately, the more pressing reason why I can’t jump up and down is, I’ve bunged up my knees. 

I was trying to learn to do a pick-up on two feet backwards in tap class. That’s kind of like flapping your front taps under you and jumping backwards, not that I was managing to do that. I must have done something to my knees because though I was fine in class, my knees were in agony the next day and now, four weeks later, I’m still having trouble walking.

I’ll be walking fine then get a sharp pain in one of my knees as a warning that the leg is going to give way under me. Is it time to start thinking of myself as an old person with painful knees? I’m not ready for that yet!

Because of this, I've been off yoga for weeks now, which means the rest of me isn’t feeling very good either. And it's pretty much scuppered my Giro d’Italia challenge (to ride my stationary bike 30 min/ day in front of the tele showing the race live).

But I’m still walking—albeit very slowly. One benefit is, slowing down lets me notice more things: like the number of parasites/ saprophytes some of these trees are supporting

or a leaf on the ground, with a great many more up there where it came from,

 

Also, looking at these stairs and thinking I can’t make it up so it’s lucky for me there’s an alternative longer but very nice walk on a gradual slope… with seats along the way.

If this is a foretaste of old age, writing this has made me realise it’s really not so bad. But I’m hoping it’s just a phase I’m passing through. I’ll be using this time to cocoon a little while following the standard instructions to sleep more, move more, drink more water and eat less... no dance, no yoga, no cycling for two weeks, and I hope by the time I'm back on here I'll also be back to normal!

Growth and change are always painful, right? But not as painful as stagnation. I hope you’re all hanging on!