Friday 17 April week 4

Bike ride to Ryan road is 7km. It was good to get back on the bike. I listed the red Dunlop Lakeside bike on Gumtree for $20 to cover the $15 I spent on new tubes.

Thursday activities

I have been thinking of changing my Thursday activities.
When I first came to Toowoomba, it was a stay-at-home day, then in 2006 I started going to Tai Chi with Michael at the RSL. We went to Oxygen Cafe after this for morning tea together and it was a pleasant morning out.
I think it was mid 2008 when Ann asked me to come to Energise Fitball class at USQ which commenced at 11 am, so this cut into the morning tea section of my Tai chi activity. I found the fitball class with Natasha very enjoyable.
After visiting Andrew in Sydney in July 2009, I decided to get back into lap swimming and joined U3A to go to Harristown High pool with Ann at 7.45 am. It was a bit of a rush to go to Tai Chi after it, and now being a member of U3A, I decided to change to Scottish County Dancing in Hume Street at 9.30. From this I would rush off to USQ at 11, getting home around 12.30.
Eventually the council funding for Fitball ran out and classes stopped in mid 2010?
In May 2010,  I hurt my knee while bushwalking and had a couple of months break while I had it refurbished and regained my fitness, so dancing was put on hold. I was ready for a break anyway, so I was back to just swimming from 7.45 to 8.45 am on Thursdays.
My friends at Fitball and dancing had convinced me to try Energise yoga at the PCYC on Wednesdays until it also ran out in September 2011.
In February this year, my friend Neil offered a class in bird identification at U3A so I again deferred dancing while I did this for a term. I went back in term 3, having been away for much of term 2, and now feel that they do not need me to support numbers as the group is going well.
Judy and Graham have been going out to Crows Nest Nursery for the past couple of years as volunteers on Thursday mornings and she asked me if I could come as it is in need of more support. While I have always been interested in learning more of nursery work, it always seemed a long way to go and I had all the above activities, but in my current frame of mind, I decided to drop even my swimming [which would be more pleasant out of doors at this time of year] and go out, getting a lift with them this week.
I really enjoyed it. And I can bring home some plants for my efforts at potting and maintenance. So I will continue.
Now to find an alternate time for swimming.

The third age

July has been a month of change and renewal for me. Early in the month we had a cousins get-together in Sydney which was most enjoyable. It prompted me to do more photo scanning and distribution and I am looking forward to receiving more photos as a result of it.
I also enjoyed swimming laps with Andrew and realised that I was over the Thursday morning coffee thing after Tai chi.
I had started Energise fitball classes on Thursdays after Tai chi and found myself really energised.
So I revisited the issue of lap swimming which had been in abeyance for several years - unused swim passes which I finally accepted were out of date.
Despite a full year membership of U3A for less than six months, I decided to join friends at Thursday morning aqua aerobics at Harristown High indoor 25m pool. I am able to do about 20 laps before the class begins at 8 am then another lot in the 15 minutes following the class. This is a solid 1 hour workout which I am really enjoying. It may get more crowded as summer approaches.
I guess I did not have to give up Tai chi but I realised that I needed a break as we are no longer being taught.
I then found the gap between swimming and fitball was too long, so I have started Scottish Country Dancing. This is quite energetic and fun. It also uses the mind and fills a gap in my life since we left Mareeba.
I am quite tired on Thursday afternoons and have been reading a novel since I let go of daily Sudoku puzzles.
We have a new player at Friday morning tennis and she does this dancing class and also Chamber Singers on Friday after tennis.
This was another activity on my wish-list, so I have joined that too. It really uses the mind and I am enjoying the challenge of reading manuscript, watching the conductor and trying to sing. The piano has been dusted off to assist, so I also get back to this activity which has also gnawed at me in recent years.
Dick is busy with golf so it is a good time to dive in at the deep end.

Tennis

The rats have been scurrying around the court this morning - it must be ten years since we enjoyed a set of singles together. I was down 0-5 but managed to get my act together to get back to 4-6. My body got quite excited by the release of endorphins.
Let's hope we can make this a regular thing.