January 8: Now that the “holidays” are over, I feel a bit like the cat in the picture. This would be understandable if I had actually had a busy agenda over 
Christmas, but that was not really the case. The extended family has an understanding that we don’t buy gifts for the adults, so the extent of my shopping was a 15 minute trip to get a toy for each of the three grandchildren. One store, in and out. I never went near a mall, and had a hard time understanding why anyone would when I saw the cars lined up on the 401 waiting to get into the parking lot for Yorkdale. It must have taken the better part of an hour just to get to the lot.
Parties, such as they were, included a family Christmas dinner with my Sister’s family and mine – always a highlight for me – and pot luck dinners with the runners, the artists and the musicians ( I use the term loosely ). There was also time with my cousin Christmas Eve and New Years Eve – which I partly remember – and a couple of lunches with friends. Not a huge agenda, yet I feel like hibernating for the rest of the Winter.
This has been helped by the fact that the temperature has been abnormally cold. It was -24C for the run on Sunday morning and consistently so cold that it is unpleasant just to go outside. It’s also made the basement cooler, so I have noticed several spiders have migrated up and are lurking in the corners trying to stay warm. I think spiders are fairly benign, so I leave them alone unless they are really being a nuisance. Then I will move them to a more appropriate spot, or outdoors if the weather is warm. It did my heart good to see that a guy in Australia burned his house down when he tried to kill a spider with a blowtorch.
Of course, it’s also the season of resolutions to exercise and diet. I am not immune. I’ve not had alcohol for the last few days, and I’m shooting to complete the month of January without it, as I have done for the last 2 years. More exercise is on the radar too, but I know from personal experience that I need to have a slot in my schedule that I can commit to working out or it will ultimately fail. With the painting class, a new sketching class, and the band all starting next week, I’m waiting a bit to see how it will all work out before I commit to heaving the weights around, or swimming.
Frankly, the thought of all these things makes me tired. I think, for now, the cat has the right idea. I’m going to sneak away and take a nap. Exercise and creative things can wait.