Brussels Confidential

Pain in the leg

I spent the bulk of Saturday upside down. Think downward facing dog or sun power plough or whatever position a la yoga. Well, not exactly yoga - yard work.

Saturday I bought a lawn mower - a fancy push mower - which - oddly was more expensive than some electric models - but didn't require 14 other parts (sold separately) to operate. I mowed the lawn - not the best job admittedly - who knew there was an adjustable knob for grass length? Let's just say - it's Marine cut in some places, a bit Woodstock -y in others.

Anyway - after mowing, I realised the border had to be done. I was not going to splash out again for a weed whacker. NO way. Scissors worked just fine thank you. Hunched over, I snipped my way around the edge a few times trying to get the ends even with the centre. Once that was done, it hardly seemed right to ignore the weeds in the raised bed on the side - Or to ignore the weeds in the cobblestone cracks. Thought I might as well trim the boxwoods also. So I bent down and snatched up weeds here and there and slowly made my way around the whole garden.

OK - I do cardio aerobics or metabolism booster aerobics at least 5 times per week now (yes, I do). And I do yoga at least 2 times a week. I have played a softball catcher for upwards of 11 years - scrunched down in a squat in the heat. I have lived in Europe for 6 years - walked all over the place and done stairs stairs stairs. I have done other activities I would consider to be quite strenuous and semi double jointed with no issues afterwards. So how come I can barely walk after 4 hours of yard work? So crazy!

Of course, because I was in pain - I had to have a mini crisis that required that I move around and strain myself.

That silly bird got stuck in my garden again. As usual, Bunny Dog found him first. (In which case I have to get him outta there fast - not that Bunny Dog is blood thirsty or anything - he's just curious...) I really think it's the same bird I've 'rescued' several times before - and transplanted to the park down the road. It's got to be. Same wonky wings, same inability to steer, same little chirp, same size, same colour - everything. Same 'mother' bird chirping at me - full volume from the tree-top next door.

The little guy can't get any height when he flies and once he gets in to my garden, he can't get enough height to get over the walls - even taking off from the far end of the yard is not enough. He flies really well at waist height, but that's it. After several attempts - I enlisted the help of my neighbour to capture the little guy and put him in the 'bird box' that Bunny Dog and I keep in a drawer in the front hallway for just this occasion. Bunny Dog is relegated to the windowsill inside during this operation. He would just make things more difficult. He's trying to 'protect me' from the bird of course, but would also try to 'tooth' it a bit just to check out it's bird-y texture - as I said - he's curious like that.

Once the bird was in the box, Bunny Dog and I walked to the park a few blocks away. I released him in to a wooded section filled with medium level trees and plenty of branches. He flew a little higher than usual and landed on a solid branch. There, done. Like a wounded soldier whose strained weary muscled have no rest, I hobbled home again. My legs even more exhausted from the excitement.

This morning I woke to less pain, but still noticeable discomfort. Now thinking I have some strange virus which is attacking my nervous system. No - it's just Monday. Sometimes Mondays feel like that

Bunny Dog and I went for his morning walk at 6:30 - me hobbling a bit, him running and prancing and playing in the expanse of green under the big oak trees. Bunny Dog finished his morning routine and came along side to slip his head in to his leash - and guess what? The darned bird landed right at our feet. Now - to explain how weird this is - we were about 200 yards from where I let the bird go free. And frankly, I didn't have a hope that this tiny guy would make it much past a few hours in the park. Here he was - 9 hours later, having survived the night. Landing right at our feet. How do you like that??

I looked around, there were plenty of other walkers and dogs about - why did the darned bird land in front of us? Bunny Dog shook his head at me and sighed.

Well, it's some sort of sign innit?? But I ain't taking the damned bird back home. I ain't.

OK - if we see the bird again - if it clearly presents itself to us again, I will do something. I am not sure what I will do, but I promise to do something.

Anyway - getting towards the end of Monday - will go home and do a toned down version of my work-out so as not to re-injure myself. Tonight Bunny Dog and I will go to the other park to be safe...


PS - Thanks to MvdG and ST for a lovely evening on Friday - we know how to laugh when we are together don't we?

posted by Brussels Confidential @ 1:35 PM