Small Firsts Attempt to Mark Passage of Time

January. 2021. 

Now. 

I think it’s January 2021, but I mean if you’d tell it it was November 2020 I’d probably believe that too. What is there to mark the passage of time. [yes, I know, a calender]

Although my life is low key, I have done some new things recently. Low key new things, of course; we Wouldn’t want anything too dramatic or out of the ordinary to mar this barren expanse of winter months. The first happened a couple weeks ago. The others are from this week. I don’t do a lot of things I haven’t done before. I think I should do more, actually, because I’m scared of getting stuck in one place and routine that I’ll never be able to dig myself out of again.  these are such minimal accomplishments that I’m  embarrassed to share them. But I am in need of a count my blessings session, so maybe narrating these will cheer me up. Or maybe you can cheer me up by pming me or posting a comment about what new things you’ve done recently  

FaceTime with a Stranger.

Even selfies scare me, to be honest. So video calls are definitely not my friends, except if my own camera is off, or I’m talking to my family’s faces. I’m not photogenic. Maybe it’s the years of anti-camera drilling. Maybe I’m just insecure and ugly. Also *goes into tangent about current impossibly perfect photography trends that she really knows nothing about but nevertheless despises.* Whatever the reason. I don’t like being photographed by myself, or by others. Even with filters and magical lenses and *tangent continues.* Even a basic driver’s license photo is intimidating to me. Now that I’ve established all that, I don’t have much more to say. I FaceTimed  with a stranger. I’d never FaceTimed a stranger before. But  it was actually great. And maybe that will be the end of my camera related insecurities. Except it wasn’t. 

Cross Country Skiing 

You know this is quite a difficult long trail for your first time skiing. Upon arrival, I was greeted with these words by the friend who had invited me. 

Now you tell me, I thought but [surprisingly] didn’t verbalize in return. 

You mean you haven’t even gone downhill skiing?

Uh. No. I’m one of those old fashioned snowboarder people. 

Oh. 

Despite the anticlimactic beginning, the afternoon truly was magical. Snowflakes fell in sparkling showers in the meadows.  The Enchanted Forest was shadowy and lonely and mystical and aptly named. There was a fairytale cabin in a clearing and we filled it  with sarcastic chatter as we entered its wood fired cosiness. I sat daydreaming, staring through the window over a snow-curtained valley and forgot to be part of conversation when it turned less sarcastic. As to my first skiing experience ever, although the trail was long, it wasn’t too long, and the foreboding warnings didn’t come true. My skis only got tangled once and, despite decrepit ski boots, I never even got cold toes. 

Cooking More Interesting This Week 

Does anyone else end up cooking the same 10 meals over and over again because you’re boring and know you’ll like them? I’m on a mission to not be this person. I feel like it’s something I will not succeed at. But this week I did. 

I made Honduran Enchiladas one night. First time. Corn tortillas were successful. Egg on top was unexpectedly delish. Will make again. 

I made pitas that tasted good and actually sort of puffed like they were supposed to.

And then I made chicken shawarma and I was the happiest. 

Skid Steer. 

No vehicles belonging to other people were harmed in the creating of this episode. 

On a whim, I drove the business’s / brothers business’s skid steer a few weeks ago and found out how easy it was and how empowered it made me feel, and I wondered why it took me this many years to get into a skid steer. This week I drove it again, this time for a worthy work cause. And I still felt important and clever and also very nervous because I was sure the security system was being monitored by above mentioned suspicious brothers. I moved all the snow out of the compound that I was supposed to move with literally no mishaps. This is truly a feat for me: if there is a possibility for a mishap I will find it, ie Tipping my husband’s snowmobile while going the slowest speed in the history of snowmobiles, a story for another day. 

Stay tuned for more snowmobile/ atv/ skid steer related escapades. I hope I will not have any more to tell, but I fear this won’t be the case.