Speed River reflections

[vaneramos]

The Speed River at Royal City Park, Wednesday evening


Three days at home without internet access turned out to be salutary. I returned to the gym, and visited the library twice. I read two newspapers and an article in Scientific American, "The climax of humanity"—the latest edition is devoted to discussing our chances for surviving the century. I spent an evening hour photographing the Speed River.

I had coffee with a friend who says she hates Guelph and will leave as soon as she gets a chance. I don't understand. After 22 years I still love this city, but life keeps tugging me elsewhere.

Things that keep me here: some close friends (Jon, Sylvie and Sarah, Bob), the chorus, parks, rivers and trails, easy access to everything I need, a strong arts community, liberal social policies and innovative approaches to environmental issues. Beauty. Lower housing costs than Toronto.

Toronto. I just can't stay away. Apart from my relationship with Danny, moving there would take me one hour closer to my daughters. But Marian is already flying the coop, and nobody knows where the winds of fortune will carry them these next seven years. I have no immediate intentions, but the dilemma arises whenever I contemplate a job search.







McCrae Street bridge







Goldenrod







Royal City Park

Comments

[missprune.livejournal.com]

I love the bridge photograph. What exquisite composition.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thanks, it's a gorgeous historic bridge, and I've tried to photograph it before. This is my best attempt so far.

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

hey Van do you know about this - http://www.radio-canada.ca/prixlitteraires/

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

No, thanks for passing that along. I need to start submitting more diligently.

[square-egg.livejournal.com]

Whenever I get to Guelph - about once or twice a year - I make a point of walking along that river. We've even talked of living there, because we both love it for the same reasons you do, but it's just that little bit too far from Toronto and our families. Sigh.

Incidentally, I've enjoyed your blog for some time now. Cheers!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thank you, and welcome to my journal! I notice we have some intriguing common interests, in fact I added a couple. :-)

[kwangjse.livejournal.com]

I've just spent some delightful time catching up on your journal. Your children are growing up! And I continue to be amazed by how much the area you photograph (mostly land meeting sea shots) remind me of California.

Btw, my mother had arthritis very badly, as does most of her children. I had it so bad as a young man that I still have vivid memories of nights when the pain was so bad I literally couldn't move—the worst of which came on a night in the army when I had guard duty and decided to take whatever punishment they were going to give me by laying in bed all night rather than trying to walk around. Anyway, for me at least, I found that eliminating meat from my diet helped tremendously (as did smoking pot), to the point where I haven't experienced a lot of difficulties with joints in many many years.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thank you for leaving those comments about arthritis. Are you saying that pot smoking has been beneficial? I use it only occasionally, but have considered trying it medically for the arthritis. As for meat, well, I would have a dreadful time giving that up. I'll see what a few other lifestyle changes can do. Mom also had terrible arthritis in hands as a young woman. It went away once my parents bought a dryer. Turns out her arthritis was aggravated by hanging laundry in cold weather.

I'm glad you liked my land and sea shots. I thought of you during our travels.

[kwangjse.livejournal.com]

There was a period of time when I was a young man (right after the times I mentioned where the pain was extreme) when I smoked so much pot that I was able to give up cigarettes. At that time I also gave up eating meat, which is when the arthritis went away. A few years after that I gave up smoking pot but continued a meatless diet and still had no arthritic problems. Much later in life I returned to eating meat and though the pain was never severe I did start having problems again. Then, in the past ten years, I developed fibromyalgia and started smoking pot again to help with the pain and it worked well but only while I was high. I again quit eating meat and reduced sugar and salt from my diet and once again felt as healthy as I would have wanted (no pain and plenty of energy) but since then have gone back to poor diet choices including meat, sugar and salt. Not surprisingly, pain has returned as has a lack of energy (not to mention a fat belly!)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you had fibro. I've known a few people afflicted by it, particularly my ex-wife. It's no fun, that's for sure. I tend toward an iron deficiency, so cutting out red meat would be a pretty serious consideration for me. I know vegetarians can manage, but I'm not sure I would have the discipline. There's an awful lot of conflicting information, and dietary changes that work for one person don't necessarily help another. My friend Sylvie was practically a vegetarian until she saw a naturopath who said, for her blood type, she needed certain kinds of meat, and adding them has helped alleviate depression. I have a feeling the best improvement I could make at this time would be to cut down on starchy foods (in fact I suspect I might a wheat allergy). So I need to carefully evaluate my diet for various reasons.

[kwangjse.livejournal.com]

dietary changes that work for one person don't necessarily help another.

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement, and probably should have said something to this effect in one of my earlier comments. To me, what's important is each of us figuring out what is best for ourselves and then doing it.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

...and then doing it.

There's always a catch. ;-)

[kwangjse.livejournal.com]

:-)