I'm not sure there is such a thing but ... I suspect I'm fog burned. "The squire" and I have been on holiday on the Texas Gulf coast and it seems that every time we go to a beach, the fog rolls in.
My arthritis doesn't like the dampness but it certainly is easier to to take some discomfort when it's 25 degrees Celsius ... as opposed to -25 degrees Celsius, as I hear they've been getting at home on my country mile.
Here's a "selfie" of us on the pier at Rockport beach, our favourite of the several beaches we've visited so far. Although this next photo, taken on another beach on a day when we had a few hours of sunshine, shows a pretty nice experience also:
We decided that we like Rockport best because it's quieter and has much more bird life. I did really enjoy the thunder and roar of the surf at some of the other beaches but after a while, I found the wind and the constant noise became less than relaxing.
Another activity we've really enjoyed this trip is checking out local brew house restaurants. It's a chance to try a new beer or two and to have excellent, reasonably priced meals. And, whenever he can, "the squire" buys himself a T-shirt or a hat from the place to commemorate the experience.
I've been relaxing by reading, my favourite activity that I never seem to get enough time for anymore. We discovered the Half Price Bookstore in Corpus Christie where I found a whole series by one of my favourite authors. So every minute I get, I'm reading ... and loving it. This is my idea of a good holiday!
Today we were in Rockport again and, apart from a half an hour of sunshine, we had fog and cloud the whole time we were on the beach. Tonight we're relaxing in our hotel room and a glance in the mirror confirmed that my skin not only feels red; it is a little red. That's what I get for reading and forgetting to apply sunscreen: fog burn!
I've just recently earned the professional designation of certified counsellor. But not for lack of procrastinating. The professional association that I belong to as a psychotherapist has a program of continuing education, tracking client hours, and recording supervision time that would eventually have earned me the status of certified counsellor.
I've been pretty sure for quite a while that, in my more than ten years working full time in the profession, I had amassed enough credits on all fronts to qualify. But, oh my goodness, what a lot of paperwork, formulaic calculations, and soliciting of references was required to complete the process. And so, being a procrastinator by nature, I did what I do best. I kept going to workshops and supervisor meetings and continued working many hours each week and ... putting off completing those steps to claim my certification status.
I would probably have played the avoidance game for years yet but suddenly the playing field changed. Licensing of psychotherapists and related professionals is making its way into Canada and that means those of us who wish to keep practicing have to make sure that we'll be accepted when the time comes. That time is coming closer but I was still hoping not to have to "jump through those hoops" if I could avoid them.
Perhaps the licensing won't be in place before I want to retire, I kept thinking hopefully. Then I decided that if licensing becomes mandatory, I would retire. Of course, I knew that to consider giving up a career that I love and seems perfectly suited to my talents just because I don't like paperwork and administrative tasks seemed ... well, immature.
And then, out of the blue, my professional association, recognizing that many of us were qualified but hadn't chosen to go through the red tape (at least I wasn't the only one), offered us an opportunity to put the whole package together in a way that seemed to take much less time and effort and looked much less complicated than the regular process. I may be a procrastinator but I'm a smart one and I knew a good thing when it appeared.
Of course, it turned out to be a little more effort than it looked on paper but overall, it was relatively quick and painless. In only three weeks I had the required references, organized the numbers, wrote the reflective career assessment paper required and mailed the whole thing away. It was about ten days later that I received confirmation that I had been accepted, having more than the number of hours required in all areas of assessment and some very generous references from colleagues and my supervisor.
And so, I've learned a dubious lesson; procrastination sometimes pays off!
Oh, my, it's February 3 and winter feels like it's going to go on forever. I always get cabin fever in February. The days are a little longer; the daylight has a slant of spring to it ... and it's still -20 degrees Celsius outside with windchills taking us down closer to -34... and that's only the day time!
My whole being longs to go for walks with the dogs on my sandy country mile. My mobility issues make it almost impossible to walk on ice and that's what we've had on our road since early November. My eyes are aching for the sight of baby green leaves and those dappled shade spots that are created when the spring sun seeks its path through those new leaves. But instead, all I see is this:
It's hard to believe there's sand and grass under all that snow. There is such a thing as too much white! Really, all I'm asking for is this:
When you're waiting for a day like the one we had in the photo above, it doesn't matter what the calendar tells us about the number of days in each month; February is the longest month of the year!
