Just ambling along

The shingles rash is better than it was a couple of weeks ago, but it's in no hurry to go away entirely.  For all this past week there was a spot of vague pain, and now that's been replaced by an annoying itch.  To repeat what I've been saying since this started, I'm grateful that my case is not as bad as I hear other people's are.  But it's having a negative impact on my mood nevertheless.  Each morning I wake up to find the pain and/or itch hasn't gone away, and I think, "Sigh... one more day of living with this."

I've been fully functional in spite of it, working in my shop, attending to household chores, taking care of my pets, and, of course, paddling my boat.  I've been saying that my plan for this month is to keep things easy, but I had a couple of sessions in the boat last week that were not so easy at all.  The weather continued to be sunny and unseasonably warm, so when opportunities to surf presented themselves, I felt I should go for it.  Both Thursday and yesterday I paddled to the mouth of the harbor to find barge rigs coming upriver from the old bridges south of downtown.  Unlike the rigs I'd seen the week before, these were generating huge waves--so big that I was a little skittish as I paddled out to get on them.  I let the biggest ones get away and settled for a few decent rides on smaller ones.  While doing so I tried to work on my leaning and bracing, though no one ride was long enough for me to feel like I was accomplishing something.  But maybe I was.

Last night a system of thunderstorms moved through, with cooler air behind it.  Today's high temperature stayed below 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and an overnight low below 50 degrees seems likely tonight.  When I went down to the river this morning it was about 62 degrees with a gusty northwest wind blowing.  I stayed in the harbor and allowed myself an easy paddle at last, though "easy" might not be the best term for it.  I focused hard on taking good strokes and linking my upper-body rotation with my leg drive, and after 40 minutes of that I felt plenty taxed.

For more information on what this blog is about, click here.