Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist)

Hi! What kind of a week have you had? I should mind my manners and offer you a cup of coffee or tea if you’d prefer. I’m having peppermint. I’ll do my best not to make you a cup like I made yesterday. I forgot to remove my husband’s coffee pod from the machine so my tea ended up part coffee, part peppermint. It smelt like a stale ash tray and tasted worse but I had to drink it. It will teach me to pay more attention to the one I make for you.

If we “Were having Coffee” I would of course have to fill you in on Muffin’s progress.She is getting bigger and better behaved. When she puts my hand in her mouth she tends to roll it around rather than chomping down with full force. We haven’t been that successful with the legs although I learnt at puppy school on Thursday that you get an old tea towel, put a knot in the end and whenever she tries to bite the leg area or hang from your trousers gently swing it in front of her face. It does work. She lets go and grabs the knot. The idea then is to drop the tea towel immediately so it doesn’t turn into a game of tug of war. That was the best thing to learn and has made my legs appreciate her that much more. She is learning quickly – she comes and sits. She will drop to a down position but only with a treat in hand. She is so good at sitting that when we go for a walk often that is all she will do. Consequently she gets carried a lot of the way. Toilet training – well we won’t talk about that this week. We all have to have a weakness. A short video to bore (you were warned) any that aren’t Muffin fans. My husband is struggling but Bundy has been successful in letting her know who is boss. She loves running at his side but those sharp little teeth don’t seem to come out that often.

If we “were having coffee” I’d tell you how sad I was at the events in Paris today. My heart goes out to those victims, their families, Paris and the world. These people are nothing but monsters. I’d tell you of my fears that reprisal attacks will be carried out on ordinary moslems  who also would find the actions carried out in Paris abhorent. The thought of that makes me sadder still. How can we stop these fanatics who do monstrous acts claiming it is in the name of religion. It isn’t anything to do with religion. It is pure thuggery and we just don’t know how to deal with it.

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If we “were having coffee” I would also tell you that I had a non paleo meal last night. We went to a birthday party at an Italian Restaurant. The rain poured down but it was a fun night. However, for the first time in I don’t know how long I had a pizza, and chocolate cake. The first sugar I have had in months and the first flour as well apart from a total of 4 sour dough little rolls and they were spread out over months. I know it could be psychological but I can feel it this morning. My mouth tastes yuk, I didn’t sleep well and my stomach feels full and bloated. I’m now  convinced that I will stay on this diet for good. I made a lovely lemon slice the other day that whether you are paleo or not I think you would like. In a blender chop up a cup of almonds, then add 1/2 cup dates, zest of 2 lemons, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 cup shredded coconut. Press in a tin. Put in the fridge. Yummy.

The Rain Comes Down © irene waters 2015

Finally, if we “were having coffee” I’d be asking you for tips on motivation. How do you get lost passion back or is when it is gone it is simply that gone. When I talk passion I’m referring to that for a project. In my case the editing of my exegesis. This is the final run before it is submitted. In the last three weeks I have managed to get from page 20 to page 26. I have a headache at just the thought of working on it. I probably should just take a holiday. I should also be preparing my powerpoint for the conference I am presenting at in Melbourne but for someone who is normally prepared and practiced for these events I haven’t even looked at it despite being petrified at presenting this particular paper.

Anyway, talking about it makes me think I should go and do it. Hope you all have a good week. Thanks to Diana for hosting our coffee and there are others who’d like to meet you so pop over to meet them,