One of the things I love about driving to Osoyoos is seeing the changing scenery as we move towards the desert. (Osoyoos is a strange mix, having both desert and lush fruit-growing areas.) I try to snap pictures as we go, but most of them get discarded due to my unique knack of snapping just as a telephone pole jumps into the shot! (Not to mention the bugs accumulating on the windows.) Come along on the road trip and check out the view… no telephone poles in these shots!

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And finally, we arrived at the destination.

A little slice of paradise. Of course, the first family activity we did was COVID cleaning… washed all the dishes and wiped down all the hard surfaces. Didn’t look to me like the cleaning staff had done much of that.

Sunday did not have an auspicious start. I went to wake my son up and give him his medication, only to find that he had forgotten to bring it! He takes Concerta to enable him to function and feel normal despite ADHD. With this drug being a listed narcotic, in normal times the pharmacy would not have been able to help. Luckily, COVID rules meant that they were able to sell us a 7-day supply without a doctor’s visit and new prescription. Crisis averted.

Next, I went to take a shower. I’ve been having a lot of trouble walking, standing, sitting, or in fact being in any position you can imagine. It all stems, apparently, from spraining my ankles badly two years ago. Always too busy, I put off physiotherapy until about a month ago, when I found that I couldn’t even bend my right leg across my left to put my socks on anymore! The problem seems mainly to be the muscles around and near my right hip joint, and (stupid as it seems) I am now relearning how to stand and walk and go downstairs without favouring my right side. Some weeks the physio is great; others leave me almost unable to move for three days.

Anyway, back to the shower. I grabbed gently onto the shower curtain to steady myself as I lifted my right leg over the edge of the bath. Down came the whole rail and curtain! Turns out that they had just rigged up something using only one fixed end and the other being a repurposed shower head jammed (lightly) against a piece of rubber and then against the wall. Could have been worse. A few years ago, I got out of the shower here and opened the cabinet, only to have it come down on me! There I was, standing naked, not being able to let go of the cabinet that was about to fall on my head. My husband was out getting groceries. And it’s not like I could have called the handyman to come up when I was wearing nothing but my birthday suit! When my husband finally came through the door, I frantically yelled for him. His first reaction was annoyance because he had just come in and had his hands full … until he saw my predicament and ran to help! So, yeah… could have been worse.

In other news, did you know that Sunday, July 5 was National Workaholics Day? I found this out around 7 hours into my 12-hour on-vacation workday! Apparently, that is NOT how I was supposed to celebrate. According to Forbes, “You can celebrate National Workaholics Day by remembering that a full life outside of work is the best predictor of a positive, successful career. A full personal life acts as a psychological buffer and neutralizes job stress and recharges you with the energy to get back in the saddle.”  Okay, I’ll do that later. (And therein lies the problem.) This bit of the article sounded particularly familiar:

“Self-care is at the bottom of your list. Your job trumps everything. You pay little attention to your physical or mental health, which progressively go downhill. Nutrition, restorative rest and exercise are unimportant. When coping mechanisms such as chain-smoking, caffeine abuse and compulsive eating are added to the scenario, your health further deteriorates. When serious symptoms such as headaches or heart and gastrointestinal problems crop up, you don’t have time to go to your doctor. Although you know in the back of your mind there’s a problem, your denial rules and you convince yourself to ignore it.”

Yes, that would be me. On the other hand, how can you not do the work when others are relying on what you have to complete? When the work just keeps piling up? When the demands don’t stop? Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to change it. I’m not sure changing jobs would help, as I think a lot of it is to do with me not having boundaries. And of course there is the whole problem of golden handcuffs.

In any case, I have fully put aside my work until we get home. I spent yesterday on the beach in 31 C (88 F) sunshine, reading and drinking Smirnoff Ice over ice. (Funny, I only drink that on the beach. A bit of a tradition.) The lake was a bit cold on getting in, but great once the shock was gone — and so wonderful to be able to walk weightlessly with no pain.

Today is a little cooler at 23 C (73 F), but still sunny and warmer than it’s been back home. I think it was around 13 C (55 F) when we left on Saturday. We’re going to skip the beach today and do a bit of a winery tour. With COVID, it’s reservation only. We have lunch at Tinhorn Creek at 1:15, tastings at Burrowing Owl at 3:10, and more tastings at Stoneboat at 4:00. Time to stock up on our favourites for home!