gwennefarrell

Well we are getting through the closets in the condo and it is going much quicker than I thought. We are moving on to our pantry tomorrow and it might takes some time because it is quite full of all sorts of things. However, I am fairly confident that I will still have some time in the afternoon to get on my pool floatie and spend some time reading in the sun. The weather is supposed to be nice and I just haven’t done enough of being on the water.

I have gotten to the point that I just don’t understand how we got here. I’m talking about all the lies, vitrol and out and out racism that we are now seeing in society spread mainly by social media. We seem to be doing the if I post it on X/Facebook/Instagram or whatever then what I am saying must be true. Worese because you can often do it anonymously that seems to give people the absolute courage to be vile. It almost makes me cry that this is the society that we have become.

A few days ago a sitting BC MLA (she sits as an independant) posted that our Prime Minister should declare ANTIFA a terrorist organization (she also seems to be a residential school denier). I thought wait, ANTIFA is a movement, not an organization. Hell, I’m ANTIFA because I don’t agree with facism. My Dad was absolutely ANTIFA because he was a veteran of WWII and came home with both the physical and emotional injuries to prove it. Seriously, he should have been declared a terrorist? Sadly there were so many responses supporting this that I was taken aback.

I belong to a couple community groups on Facebook for the area where we live. Often times people will ask for advice or have questions about the community. The responses sometimes just make me feel ill as people spew complete hatred and quite frankly for no reason. Someone asking a question should be spat upon by social media? Why, what the hell motivates you to do this? The ones that really anger me are the ones who are anonymous which I don’t think should be allowed. Fortunately one of the groups has awesome administrators who will shut the feed down as soon as they realize what is going on (and then the haters have a tantrum because they can’t post more hate). The other one not so much and it becomes a free for all of the vitrol by some people.

I also belong to some, what should be, friendly pet pages such as My Orange Cat is a Little Shit (if you have had an orange cat you will understand). One of the group members asked for assistance because she was going away for a few days and should she send her cat to her ex with her dog or would it be better to leave the cat at home and have someone check on it daily. Now I responded positively telling her what we do the once a year we leave our cats home alone for a few day. Others did not respond well calling her names and telling her that her pets should be taken away from her. What the hell? This is supposed to be a fun page where we do things like share the antics of our orange cats and help each other out. How is it acceptable to treat someone like this over trying to do the best thing for her cat?

And the worst of course is X. I cannot believe the number of posts where people openly admit they are racists and are proud of it. I am also disguted by the return of the slur, retard. When did it become ok again to use that? Oh and god forbid that you post anything political that isn’t part of a right wing agenda. The comments become almost violent because you have a political opinion that doesn’t match someone elses. Where did the concept of while I disagree with your opinion but I respect your right to have one go?

Yes I know, I could just stay away from social media but you know what, that makes things almost problematic when I am at the condo. The positive part of social media is that you can use it almost anywhere and it can help you keep in contact with your communties. However, I am concerned that the negative aspects are taking over.

So I ask again, how did we get here? While I do know some of the answers, I don’t know all of them. I’ve decided I will keep doing what I am doing which is mainly helping people with their pets and posting awesome pictures of my pets. Having said that I will still refuse to be a bystander when I see someone abusing another person online. I think if we all started doing that maybe, just maybe, some of this would tone down.

I am so glad to be back at the condo. It’s not just our friends and the warm weather (note it is definitely not the freezing cold pool) but I am back to feeding all my cats and dogs. So many of them chase me down and want some sort of cuddles along with their treats. Even several of the feral cats will now come up to me (though still leave some distance). There’s a long legged chihuahua named Mia who literally starts vibrating and dancing when she sees me. It really makes me feel good to have all of these 4 leged friends.

So my husband and I committed to having fun our first week here (i.e. not particularly paying attention as to what we were eating or drinking). We agreed that as of yesterday it would be time to get serious about a few things. For me it was to not find excuses to avoid working out (even ran a 5k this morning after walking a 5k then did a fitness class), reduce my carbs and not have alcohol more than twice a week. For him it was to improve his eating and same with the alcohol (note he’s a work in progress when it comes to walking each day). The challenge is that it is so easy here to just go out to eat, snack on chips or sit on the back patio with a beer or tequila. However, I have come up witha plan.

There’s that saying something about idle hands are the devil’s playground. I believe that in terms of if you don’t have anything to do, that’s when you get into trouble. Keeping that in mind I decided what will help keep us on the right path would be to find things for us to do. So I made a list of things we could do around the condo each day. We also have all sorts of board games that we can play to keep ourselves occupied. Finally we both have several books we want to read so we are committing time for that as well.

Today it was clean the windows. I know this doesn’t sound like much but trust me, we have very large windows. There are 2 sets in the front that are battered by the wind and rain and therefore can be quite filthy. The ones at the back off each bedroom are more protected but are much more challenging to clean because of their locations and size (these are huge patio doors). Still we went to it today and after several hours those windows are sparkling clean.

I am a firm believer that our tasks should not be more than a few hours each day. After all, we are here to get some relaxation and socilization as well. Remember, even with these tasks I am working out 4 hours a day and still have clients to deal with. Instead, I have broken all of the tasks down to which area of the condo to work on. For example, tomorrow will be reorganizing the closets/cupboards in both bedrooms. Thursday we are going to clean out and organize the cupboards and drawers. After that we are on to the pantry and eventually the kitchen cabinets which will likely take a couple days because I want to wash the exteriors. Trust me I am confident that when all of that is complete I will be able to find more for us to do.

I’m good with keeping us busy the next 4+ weeks. I want to normalize that when we come down here it is not an excuse to just sit around and let ourselves go. Rather, I want to make it so coming down here improves us and that is exactly what I think is likely to happen.

I was out on my usual walk this morning and having a great time feeding all the kitties. Today was the first time on this trip that I think I fed almost all of them. Then I got to the dreaded corner and there he was, the aggressive coati. Now coatis normally hang out in packs but not this guy, he’s always on his own. I’ve run into him before and he scares the crap out of me. This morning he snuck up on me and was only about a foot away when I saw him. I was holding one of my water bottles at the time so immediately threw it at him. That distracted him long enough that I was able to pull the marshmallows out of my pocket and throw them to the opposite side of the street. He of course went chasing after them allowing me to grab my water bottle and run as quickly as possible to around the corner. Then I saw something coming up to me out of the corner of my eye and I let out a little scream. Turns out it was the ginger from my trio of cats. He got a big handful of treats because I was so relieved.

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, I find them to be pointless. Instead, I set goals for myself. And as always I set goals that are achievable and positive. They are pretty simple, at least 3 runs per week, online classes 5 times a week while at the condo, minimum 2 hours of walking/running daily, less alcohol, reducing carbs and back to working on my Spanish every day. Ok, that seems to be a lot but really, it isn’t. What I also need to do is going back to journaling everything because the way my brain works is I need to see it written down so that I can track and analyze what I have done. That’s what helps me keep accountable.

I also always use the start of the year to both reflect on what I have done during the previous year and what I want to do in the coming year. Last year I did a lot of traveling both to the condo as well as doing a cruise and a trip to a convention where I got to do a few days of touring around our Provincial capital. I’m proud of the volunteer work that I did as I know it makes such a difference. I think what I really appreciated was having 3 full weeks on my own at the condo. I haven’t been on my own anywhere in the past few years so this was kind of a mental break.

This coming year is going to look almost the same when it comes to trips to the condo. The game plan is my sister and I spend 3 weeks here in April (that was also last year’s plan until she fell and broke her kneecap hence me spending time here on my own) and then the regular trips here with my husband. I look forward to continuing my volunteer work and am hoping to pick up a little more contract projects. I only got 1 trip to the lake last season so this year I am hoping to get up there as much as possible.

There is 1 big thing that is happening this year. As a matter of fact, it occurs a week today, I turn 60. I’m having a bit of a problem with reconciling that number to how I feel which is definitely not 60. Then I have to ask myself, what does 60 feel like? Well if it is that I’m fortunate to have a life in which I feel happy and secure, my life has been like that for a while now. I enjoy my semi-retirement, am fortunate to have more than 1 recreational properties and I have a great network of friends. I guess that means bring on 60, I’m ok with it.

So to all of you reading this, may 2026 bring you all that you wish for. I hope you all are happy and healthy and reach the goals you have set for the year.

My apologies that I didn’t post on Saturday but things were a bit hectic. We were preparing for our trip to Playa del Carmen and had a lot to do. Fortunately a neighbour had offered to take us to the airport for 5am on the 28th. Unfortunately we found out the plane was delayed for an hour, and then another 1/2 hour and then another 20 minutes. This was due to far too many planes arriving at the Cancun airport. While we had to cancel our food delivery, we were able to keep our friend who was picking going to be waiting for us up to date so he didn’t have to wait at the airport for too long.

When I was working I traveled a lot. Seriously, I mean I flew minimum 75k miles each year. I was always in the elite category which often meant I got awesome upgrades. But the thing is, I hated flying mainly due to turbulence which I am convinced would crash the plane. I had a co-worker one time try to explain to me what turbulence was as she used to be a flight attendant. The problem with that is, when you have flying anxiety rationale information does not help you in any way.

I have to say as I don’t fly anywhere near as much now it seems to have cause my anxiety to signicantly increase. I literally start shaking when the plane bumps even a little. While my husband will do things like hold my hand, nothing seemed to alleviate my anxiety. But now, I have found a relief.

The first thing I did was find some awesome stats on turbulence. If you know me you also know I am a numbers person. Things like statisics actually give me comfort. So here are some I now focus on, in the history of flying only 60 people have ever been injured because of turbulence. Even I am hesitant to calculate how many people have ever actually flown and what percentage have been injure but I know it is an exponentially insiginficant amount. The other thing I do (and it is each time I fly and hit turbulence) is look up what you can do to relieve the anxiety. A few things that work well for me are finding a calming mantra such as ‘I am safe and secure’ or ‘the plane doesn’t know it’s turbulent, it just knows how to fly’ (the latter is a quote from a pilot who told us that on an extremely turbulent flight from Toronto to Vancouver). I also do some deep breathing and focus on pressing my feet against the floow which makes things more stable.

There is nothing wrong with having anxiety flying, apparently 40% of flyers are anxious when there is turbulence. The important thing is to find something that helps calm that anxiety. I don’t think I will ever stop being a nervous flyer, I think I will just successfully find some things to deal with the anxiety.

This won’t be a long post but it will be heartfelt. This is our 2nd Christmas without our little brother but it’s ok. It’s ok because last night I got to talk to a really good friend who told me her and her daughter have read about my struggles on FaceBook. She said everytime they saw my comments about my brother they would talk about their own struggles with grief. She told me how happy she was that I was so open about talking about it. She also reminded me how much her and her daughter had loved my brother, he was family to them.

Yeah, that sounds a bit maudlin for Christmas but you what, it actually isn’t. Yes, I wish he was here, yes I miss him but for some reason I am now embracing just having memories of him. More importantly, I just really appreciate those that are here with me.

And so on this Christmas Day I thank all of you for being a part of my life. I truly look forward to the memories we will all make together over the coming years. By kind to one another, look after one another and in general just be a good person.

Merry Christmas to one and all!

My usual instructor at my fitness classes is away on vacation. She’s been instructing 4 of the 5 classes that I take during the week and so I am pretty used to the structure. The one she doesn’t instruct is on Thursdays when we do a strength class with a different instructor and that class is usually pretty brutal. So, guess who did the classes Wed/Thur/Fri this week? Yep, the Thursday instructor. Let me just say, three consecutive days of her classes just about killed me. Fortunately there are breaks this week because of the holidays and I am so grateful I don’t have to put myself through that again.

I was looking at memories on Facebook today and realized normally this time of year I post some reflections of things I appreciate from the outgoing year. In looking back I didn’t post last year which would have been due to struggling through the my 1st Christmas without my little brother. I guess that is understandable but I decided I needed to get back into reflecting the good things from 2025.

So what do I appreciate from this year? As always my husband, sister and all of our pets. But I also appreciate the awesome neighbourhood that we live in. And, our friends whether that be our coffee group or those we met through our walking club (trust me those ladies are no longer a volunteer gig, we are all really close now). But I also have friends that I have met through work, the labour movement and volunteering. Two of my work friends I have known for more than 35 years and I was so happy we got to get together for lunch this past week.

I am also really appreciative of the volunteer groups I am involved with. Imagine having the privilege of making a difference in the lives of others. The seniors’ resource centre where I do things such as the tax clinic, senior walking group (see comments above about that group) and facilitating the caregiver support group makes me proud of my volunteer work. But perhaps most of all, Elderdogs Canada without whom many seniors would not be able to keeep their dogs and when those seniors no longer can safely care for their dogs I get to help find the dogs a perfect new home. Just today I received an amazing text thanking me for finding a temporary foster for a dog whose owner was being placed in hospice (she passed yesterday but a relative is keeping the dog). Receiving a message like that makes the work I do so worth it.

Typing this I see that I do have a lot to appreciate and I am glad I took the time to reflect on this past year. I’m hoping I have just as much to appreciate next year.

I’ve been wearing my flashing reflective vest for weeks now but all of a sudden this past week everyone seem to be noticing it. I wear it on mornings where I am walking extremely early and I know the walk won’t finish before the sun comes up. I’ve had people stop me so that they can look at it (it flashes both front and back), where I got it and to tell me how smart I was to be wearing. I’m hoping some of these people decide to get one as well as it is just one more way to keep ourselves safe.

Yesterday in southern BC we had an atmospheric river. If you have never heard of it it means an unbelievable amount of rain pretty much each hour. But I was determined, I wanted to get in 30 km outdoor walking yesterday. And so I came up with a plan in which I would walk in certain increments, come home to rest and change into dry clothes if necessary and grab some protein to eat. The 2nd 10 km walk would be done while on my phone for a Zoom meeting and I would be splitting the final 2 5 km walks by doing a Zoom meeting on my laptop. I thought it was a good plan and mentally prepared myself for it.

I want to be clear, it was terrible! Within 2 blocks of home I was on a street that had large puddles so when cars came by I was sprayed with water. That meant within about 5 minutes of walking I was already soaked. I got down to the street that takes me to the promenade and there were places along the sidewalk that had massive puddles that you could only navigate by walking through them. The west side of the promenade was no better. Yes, I walked most of that 10 km with soaking wet feet.

After that 1st 10 km I rushed to change into dry clothes, shoes and socks. I then put my clothes in the dryer then turned on the gas fireplace and put my shoes and orthotics in front of the heat in hopes that they would be dry in time for the next shift. I quickly gobbled down a low sugar protein bar and headed out for the 2nd 10 km walk but this time I had to log onto the Zoom meeting which I worried would not keep me engaged during the walk but it actually did. Needless to say when I got home from that walk it was the same process.

Then out for a 5 km walk. This time my husband gave me his rain jacket as my waterproof jacket was soaked through (you can’t imagine the amount of water it had been pelted with at this point). However, for this walk the rain was just teeming from the sky making it difficult to even see. Rivers were running down the sidewalks so again soaking wet feet. By time I was home I was again wet through so yet another changes of clothes and footwear. I did a quick Zoom meeting and then back out for that last 5 km brining me to a total of 30 km in the rain

Let me assure you, 30 km is hard in a day but it is beyond difficult in this type of weather. Many suggested I give myself a break and either use the treadmill (not an option as this is an outdoor walking challenge) or cut back on the amount of walking. I refused to do those things, I was determined to keep myself on track and complete my 30 km for the day and I did. I will admit, I was exhausted by the end of it to the point that I almost didn’t attend a Christmas dinner event but I sucked it up and went.

Where does that leave me? Well, my goal was 300 km for the month by tomorrow. I scaled back to only 20 km today and right now I am sitting at 304.8 km and since I am going on an outdoor excursion this afternoon I’m pretty sure I will be well over 305 km by the end of the day.

Nope, even that atmospheric river couldn’t stop me.