Vibram FiveFingers

I don’t remember the first time I saw or heard about Vibram FiveFingers, the “shoes” that are like going barefoot. The first time I remember seeing them I already knew what they were; it was in Whole Foods, on a guy who must have been around 18. Soon thereafter, a friend was wearing them, another friend had some on order, and I was just finding out that the sketchers I bought made my hips feel worse.

I have a hip problem. Still not sure what it is; I had surgery to correct femoral-acetabular impingement on both hips. The problem is, that didn’t correct the pain I still have, mostly when sitting. I also get twinges if I move the wrong way, which is what those sketchers made me do. So I decided to try the Vibrams.

My husband and I went to REI to try them on. I had them bring nearly every women’s pair they had in the 40-42 range as I attempted to find the right pair. I highly recommend doing the same. I’m certainly no expert, but my limited experience indicates that not all Vibrams are the same, and you may find one that fits and feels better than another model of the same exact size. I ended up with KSOs, women’s size 41, after returning the size 42. I finally got it right.

I wore them around the house the first evening and they felt fine; a little odd in a place or two, most notably on the left pinkie toe. I cut my toenail and that seemed to resolve it. Overall they felt good. So I decided that this, my first weekend with them, I would wear them all weekend and see what happened. This morning I went to the grocery store as usual. The right felt GREAT. The left… the 2nd toe felt as if it weren’t extending fully. But as much as I tried to feel whether that pocket was too short, I couldn’t. As I went on, they began to feel better.

The only negative is that the ground is HARD. Vibrams don’t have really thick soles; that would defeat the purpose. They do have a model for rougher terrain, but the KSOs I have are pretty slim; enough to protect your feet, but not much cushioning. I am not sure how long I’d be able to walk on them. But getting home to our wall-to-wall carpeting, suddenly my left 2nd toe felt fine and I was feeling pretty good. So maybe it just takes some getting used to. After all, it is an extremely different experience from a regular shoe.

 

Going for hummingbirds again

I’ve decided to try for hummingbirds again. It’s a big risk, on my balcony. I’ve finally succeeded in staving off most of the ants. Got rid of plants they liked, spread DE everywhere they congregate and around flowerpot bases, crush them whenever I see them. I recently discovered a huge aphid nursery on my mandevilla, which they didn’t bother at all last year. But this year, a valiant attempt was made to establish a big one… putting all their eggs in one basket, in other words. They were ugly little orange things, just covering stems here and there. I cut off the worst stems and then combed the whole plant, rubbing and squishing the orange nasties whenever I came across them. Haven’t seen them since that day, and the ants backed off too.

Bwaaahaha!

But I bought a new hummingbird feeder because I so enjoyed the hummingbirds in years past. It’s one that doesn’t drip and it has a built-in ant moat. I know the ants are going to smell it, and I’m deluding myself. Somehow they will get to it. But a tiny part of me believes and so I’m the Little Engine That Could.

No hummingbirds yet, but I think it’s early in the season yet.

Happy summer solstice by the way!

 

Resurrected

I somehow totally forgot about blogging for over a year. The only reason that it came up is because I had a new bird visit my balcony and I had to remember where I was keeping that list, and it turned out, it was online, in a blog.

If you think my blog completely dull and irrelevant, you’d be right. Well, it’s not toally irrelevant. The reason I started at all was the same reason I built my first website: to learn how to do it. Unfortunately I don’t really have a lot to say, or at least, the blog is just not a good fit for my thoughts and opinions. Or rather how I like to express them.

When I first considered getting on Facebook or MySpace, I really thought it was a way for our narcissistic society to talk about themselves. And it does provide that outlet. But now that I have been on Facebook for a couple years, I really like the ability to stay in touch–on a daily basis–with friends from all over the world. It’s like things you might talk to a neighbor about over the fence. Sure, it can be mundane and trivial, especially to others, but it’s those relationships and what I get out of them that is valuable to me. Hopefully I contribute something too.

You also find those people, just as you do in real life, that you particularly connect with. High school class mates (and some who went to my high school but I never knew!) I knew but didn’t hang out with back then, I find myself speaking to frequently, and enjoy reading their status updates and looking at their vacation pictures and helping them vote for their favorite animal shelter or band. Others that I was good friends with I may not mingle with as much. Funny, but just like real life; some friendships ebb and others flow. As your life changes, so do your relationships.

So back to the blog: I stopped blogging largely because I had nothing to say, but I’m starting up again despite that. I never really kept a diary because it seemed so pointless. I talk to myself all the time, do I really need to write to myself as well? I mean, we’re together constantly. A blog gives me a diary format, but its visibility to the public makes it seems less pointless. However, I am no longer going to be worried about being mundane. My point here isn’t to entertain. In fact, it’s not even to reflect or share. It’s actually that there are some things, like a bird who visits the balcony, that I’d like to record for the future.

My garden, my cats, my birds, my husband, my cooking adventures, my interest in nutrition and how our society eats, my weight-loss saga, my exercise, my FAI surgeries, my neices and nephews, my Mom and step-father, my Dad and step-mother, my neighborhood, my friends, my job, my 2nd job, my charity work… these are things I have no interest in putting onto Facebook. For some reason that doesn’t feel appropriate. But here it’s okay, just stuff I want to record. It’s okay if people read it. It’s fine if they don’t; I certainly won’t be publicizing it.

Boring maybe even to me in the future, but at least it’ll be there in case I wonder: has this bird visited before? Was it 2 years ago or 3?

And maybe good night-time reading for an insomniac.

 

Morning people get the short end of the stick…

I am a morning person, no doubt about it. Back in April we took a 2-week vacation to Italy. I decided to stay up late (hardly optional when dinner starts at 9:00 pm), and sleep in. Two days after we arrived, I was waking up by 6:00 am everyday. Totally unfair since I was sitting at the dinner table like a zombie at 10:00 pm, just when things start getting lively.

 

Recycling water filters (oh yeah, and why carry bottled water up to your apartment?)

We’re pretty diligent at home about water bottles. We don’t buy bottled water anymore — the waste is atrocious. Plus, why carry all that water up four flights of stairs? This alone is a great “living in an apartment” tip – water is delivered to your house already! It comes out of the kitchen and bathroom taps!

 

A lazy weekend

We have a pool at our condo. We don’t use it every weekend but it sure is nice to have. It’s pretty quiet and peaceful. This weekend the weather was so nice, just sitting outside was pleasant. Not bad for August in DC. Of course, it’s been cool enough that the pool water is cold… to me anyway.

 

House guests

Living in a rather small apartment makes having house guests difficult sometimes. We only have one bedroom, which we relinquish to our guests so they can be more comfortable. Our master bedroom only has a half-bath, though, so everyone has to bathe in the one full bath.

 

Our new succulents

A couple weeks ago we went to Brookside Gardens to see a National Capital Cactus & Succulent Society show. We have a very sunny windowsill on which cacti and succulents thrive, so we’ve gotten interested in them, and since the event was free, we figured we couldn’t go wrong.

 

Hummingbirds and hawks

When I first set out to learn how to blog (such as it is), it was dedicated solely to birds. I’m not a fanatic, but I enjoy bird-watching. I enjoy feeding them too, so they come to me. When we were thinking about buying our condo, I thought long and hard about it in light of one rule: no bird feeders on balconies.

 

Another thing that sets us apart from the norm…

We don’t have children. We don’t plan to. Some say it’s selfish not to. Whatever. It astounds me that some people think the only way to contribute positively to the world is to have children. Really? You think your little gifts from God are contributing positively to the world? I’m pretty sure that we’d all have been better of without those who become child molesters and serial killers.