Writing

Family, fashion, and waiting for spring

/ edebock / 4 Comments

I can’t believe it’s been almost three weeks since I last published a blog post! That’s not because I haven’t been writing though. I’m going to be speaking at a ladies retreat at our church a couple of weeks from now and although I know what I want to say, I’m not a confident enough speaker to do that off the cuff, so yes, I’ve been busy writing! I’ve been asked to speak for about half an hour in the morning and another half hour in the afternoon.

Did you know that an hour of public speaking involves about 8000 words? Considering the fact that my blog posts average about 1000 words each, that’s equal to about 8 of them. I’m actually thinking that what I’m preparing for the retreat might provide material for a few posts once it’s over, but we’ll see how it goes first. 

As usual, life has been busy with other things as well. Shortly before Easter, we spent several days with our daughter’s family visiting and then helping out while she had surgery. (She’s recovering well and back to work now.) On the morning of her operation, after getting up early to see the kids off to school, I managed to slip over to the nearby mall to do a bit of shopping. I had just one thing in mind. New jeans. My old favourites, the two pairs that I wear more than anything else in my wardrobe, are definitely showing their age. It was time to find some new ones before they wore out completely. 

I knew that finding the right jeans might take awhile as I often have a hard time buying pants that fit because of my boyish figure. I’m definitely not a curvy girl and a lot of pants bag at the hips. I tried on several styles in the first store I visited, but none of them were what I was looking for. Just down the mall I found a Mark’s, a Canadian retailer that specializes in casual clothing, footwear, and industrial workwear. They carry a vast array of jeans. I had no idea where to begin, but I received the best service that I’ve experienced in any store in a very long time. The salesgirl was unhurried and totally attentive. After asking a few questions about my preferences, she directed me to shelves full of Levis and suggested that I try the 314 Straight and 315 Bootcut styles. She also wisely advised that I try one waist size smaller than usual as these shape-enhancing jeans have a lot of stretch. Although both styles fit perfectly and the super-soft denim was very comfortable, the bootcut style won out. Even if they hadn’t been on a buy one, get the second pair 50% off sale, I would have bought two pairs. 

Levi’s 315 Shaping Mid-rise Bootcut Jeans

Thankfully, the search for new jeans didn’t take as long as I thought it might. Shortly after I paid for them, my phone rang and I had to leave the mall in a hurry to pick up a grandson who wasn’t feeling well. When I arrived at the school, he looked sickly pale, but apparently it was only anxiety over Mom being in surgery. Once we got the news that she was out and all had gone well, he was fine again! 

The following day, once Mom was home and settled in, we left and headed three hours north to our youngest son’s home. His kids were on their spring break that week, so we enjoyed a few days with them as well. 

Speaking of spring, it’s been very slow coming this year. Earlier this week, there was a flock of robins in our backyard one morning, but a couple of hours later a mini blizzard dropped a couple of inches of fresh snow. Today the sun was shining and the temperature finally crept above 10ºC (50ºF). We watched thousands of snow geese fly high overhead on the way to their Arctic breeding grounds, but now I see that there’s more wet snow in the forecast! I fear that it will be a while yet before we’re out on the golf course and before I’m ready to do my seasonal wardrobe switch. 

In the meantime, I must get back to preparing for the ladies retreat.  

Schedules, rhythms, and writing

/ edebock / 2 Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot about schedules and rhythms since reading this post and watching this video earlier in the week. A schedule, as you’re already no doubt aware, is a detailed, clock and calendar-based plan with set times for tasks, activities, and events. A rhythm, on the other hand, is more flexible and better accommodates spontaneity while still maintaining some structure and routine. 

When I was teaching school, my life was very scheduled. Days were ruled by the clock and the bell. One of the greatest joys of retirement has been more freedom and flexibility. I attend church at the same time every Sunday morning and during the winter months I lead a ladies Bible study at 10 o’clock on Tuesday mornings and I bowl at 9:30 AM on Wednesdays. Other than that, unless I have a medical appointment, I’m not tied to a schedule. There is, however, a rhythm to my days.

I usually get up sometime between 7:00 and 8:00. Five days a week, from Monday to Friday, I spend about 20 minutes exercising before I leave the bedroom. Once I’m dressed for the day, I move to my den where I spend some time in prayer. Next, it’s time for breakfast and then I sit down at my computer with a cup of green tea. I read and respond to emails and messages, then read the news. I’m not really a morning person, but this rhythm or routine allows me to move into my day with ease. As I often tell hubby, mornings are meant to be approached gradually! 

Although there’s less structure to the rest of my day, I usually do laundry on Tuesdays and Fridays and edit Kiva loans on Thursday mornings. We generally eat lunch between noon and 1:00 and I like to have supper on the table not later than 6:30. 

I’ve learned that there’s one thing I can’t schedule or plan with any predictability and that’s writing. For some time now, I’ve been trying to publish a blog post every Friday. Even though those posts are often written earlier in the week, I’m still finding that that feels too rigid and doesn’t always work for me. I don’t want to simply write and publish because it’s on my schedule or something that I feel I have to do. Instead, I want to write when I have something worth saying. That might be once a week, but sometimes it’s more often and sometimes less.

When I introduced my weekly Fashion Friday feature in March 2016, I was looking for a way to ensure that I wrote and published something on a regular basis, especially during those times when there wasn’t a lot else going on to write about. I’m actually amazed that it went on for as long as it did before I started to run out of ideas! Over the years, the fashion blogs that I’ve followed have either fizzled out or gone commercial, becoming what I call shopping blogs, basically advertising arms for the companies that sponsor them. Most of the bloggers that I continue to follow have a wider focus. Fashion is just one of the topics that they write about and that’s what I visualize for the future of Following Augustine. I plan to continue blogging indefinitely and I hope to include a fashion post from time to time, but I’m no longer going to try to schedule a post every Friday. I need to allow myself more flexibility. 

If you aren’t already a subscriber and want to ensure that you continue to see my posts, simply enter your email in the space provided in the column on the right and click on “Sign me up!” You will receive an email each time a new post is published. Please be assured that WordPress has a strict privacy policy and does not sell, rent, or trade personal information, including email addresses, to third parties for marketing purposes.

I’m curious about your thoughts about schedules and rhythms. Is your life more schedule oriented or does the idea of living by rhythm appeal to you? Please let me know in the comment section. 

 

 

Paper or digital?

/ edebock / 9 Comments

There was a time when I wrote everything by hand. As a university student in the early 1970s, while most of my peers were cranking out essays on manual or electric typewriters, every paper that I submitted was handwritten. It wasn’t because I didn’t know how to type. My mother had insisted that typing was a skill that every girl should have, so I had taken typing classes in high school. I just preferred to write by hand. My early freelance articles were handwritten, but I typed a final copy for submission because  that was required by most publications. Then came computers and the ease of word processing. I made the transition to writing on a keyboard and never looked back.

There are, however, some areas where I have intentionally hung onto vestiges of the past.

In a world where it seems that we’re constantly glued to screens, I still prefer a physical, paper calendar that gives me a visual overview of upcoming appointments and events. One hangs on our kitchen wall and I carry a smaller version in my purse.

I also use a simple paper planner where I write my daily to-do list. Putting pen to paper and actually writing down my intentions and placing them where I will see them multiple times throughout the day keeps me focused on accomplishing them and there’s something deeply satisfying about crossing off each item as it’s completed. Unlike digital alerts that disappear once they’re completed, a handwritten paper planner also provides a record of tasks completed and gives me a greater sense of accomplishment. Ultimately though, the best calendar or planner is the one that a person will use consistently and for me, that’s paper.

Then there’s books. When we travel, I absolutely love the convenience of the e-reader that my daughter gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago, but at home I still prefer to immerse myself in the pages of an actual, physical book.

What about you? Have you completely joined the digital world or are you like me, still a little bit old-school?

Overcoming writer’s block and wishing you a Merry Christmas!

/ edebock / 10 Comments

The blog has been silent for more than two weeks and I can’t even blame it on the busyness of the season because we’ve kept our Christmas preparations very simple this year. No, it definitely hasn’t been that.

AI describes writer’s block as “a temporary inability to produce new work or a creative slowdown, characterized by feeling stuck, lacking ideas, or finding writing difficult, often stemming from anxiety, stress, perfectionism, or burnout, not a lack of skill.”

Feeling stuck… lacking ideas… stemming from anxiety and stress? Yes, I think that probably describes exactly what’s been happening! If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you already know that I had an ablation in mid November to destroy a cancerous tumour on my liver. After a few days of brain fog, loss of appetite, and absolute exhaustion, I started to feel better and although my energy level wasn’t quite what I was used to, I was soon back to all my normal activities.

Then, two weeks ago, I noticed signs that something wasn’t quite right. Blood tests showed that my liver enzymes were seriously elevated. I wasn’t in pain and I had no obvious signs of infection, so the cause was a mystery. That led to more blood tests, two unplanned trips to the city, a CT scan, a FibroScan (similar to an ultrasound), and two consultations with a very nice hepatologist (liver specialist). In a health care setting where it often takes months for a person to get a scan or see a specialist, I was amazed at how fast all of this happened and of course, my mind went to all kinds of worse case scenarios. Thankfully, to make a long story short, there is no sign of anything wrong with my liver and the specialist is convinced that what we’re seeing is simply effects of the tumour that was burned dying off. As a precaution, I’ll be having weekly blood tests until things return to normal.

Anytime the blog is silent for this length of time, I start to feel like I’m letting my regular readers down and I also know that some of you start to worry. Now that I’ve made myself sit down and write this, hopefully the creative juices will begin to flow again and I’ll get back into my regular routine of posting every Friday. Probably not this week though as we’ll be spending time with family and hope you will be too.

Living as far north as we do, I’m always delighted when the winter solstice arrives and we can begin looking forward to the days getting longer again. I admit to being a little jealous when our oldest son, who lives in North Vancouver, sent me photos of roses in bloom earlier this week! We had a blizzard on Wednesday, so we’re living in a very white world right now. This is what Christmas looks like to me though!

Wherever you’re celebrating this season and whether you have a white Christmas or not, I hope you’re warmed by the love of family and friends and I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Why I write about fashion

/ edebock / 7 Comments

logo-by-samLately, especially on weeks like this one when writer’s block seems to have set in and I have a hard time thinking of a topic for Friday’s post, I’ve been pondering why it is that I choose to write about fashion. After all, I was the awkward teen with zero fashion sense who, even when I stretched my babysitting and allowance dollars to buy what the “in” girls were wearing, felt self-consciously out of place and wanted to fade into the background. Fashion just wasn’t my thing and I certainly had no idea back then that there was such a thing as personal style or style adjectives. 

It wasn’t until about 15 years ago when fashion blogging became popular, that I began to take an interest in the topic. In those days, it was mainly seen as a hobby, a way for fashion enthusiasts to share their thoughts and ideas with the world. Eventually, after following several of these blogs for awhile, I found myself looking for a topic that would keep my blog active when I didn’t have anything more exciting (aka travel) to write about. Why not try my hand at fashion, I thought, and Fashion Friday was born!

With the passage of time, fashion blogging has changed. Some of the blogs that I originally followed eventually disappeared, but as others became more visible and gained a greater following, opportunities to monetize arose. Advertisers and brands began to recognize the value of these voices and reached out to engage with them. At first, popular bloggers were offered free merchandise in exchange for positive reviews, but as time went by they started to earn commission on items that were purchased through links on their blogs. Some even saw this as an opportunity to make fashion blogging a full-time career.  

I’ve never had any desire to move in that direction. I’m still very firmly in the blogging as a hobby camp and the more I see, the happier I am to stay there. One of the bloggers that I’ve been following for many years recently wrote about the fact that she never buys any clothing for herself that she can’t link to on her blog. As a result, her personal style has taken a hit and where she once found joy in fashion, she no longer does. On a recent trip, she visited several local boutiques and had the opportunity to buy some unique pieces, but didn’t because she couldn’t earn income from them. How sad! Others lament the fact that they no longer feel free to be their authentic selves. Instead they’ve created an image that they need to keep up and, in some cases, it’s taking a toll on their mental and emotional health. 

So why do I continue to write about fashion? I sometimes wonder if it isn’t a bit narcissistic, but I try to avoid too many “look at me” posts by also delving into a variety of fashion related topics like sustainability and shopping ethically. I’ve learned a lot about the fashion industry, but also about myself. I’ve figured out what my personal style is. I know what I want my clothing to say about me and I’ve chosen the appropriate adjectives to help me build the right wardrobe. These are the kinds of things that I want to share with you, my readers. After all, connecting with other women with a common interest and being part of this community has been the best part of writing about fashion! That’s really what keeps me doing this. 

Throughout the summer, however, I will be indulging some of my other passions… camping, hiking, kayaking, and visiting with family. I have no more medical appointments until the middle of August and I intend to take full advantage of that! For significant periods of time, I will be without internet access. I’ll blog when and where I’m able, but it will be sporadic and there will be some weeks when Fashion Friday doesn’t appear. Don’t go away though. It will be back!   

 

Sixteen years of blogging!

/ edebock / 15 Comments

I published my very first blog post sixteen years ago today! It was also the shortest post I’ve ever written; a brief message announcing that hubby and I had just accepted positions teaching conversational English in Japan. The blog was meant to share that year-long adventure with friends, family and anyone else who might be interested. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that it would still be alive and well sixteen years later!

The title, Following Augustine, no longer fits the blog as well as it did in those early days, but since it’s what I’ve been known as in the blogosphere for more than a decade and a half, I hesitate to consider changing it. You can read about why I originally chose the title here.

Though I probably already had neuroendocrine cancer (NETS) when the blog was born, I didn’t know about it until several years later. When I finally received a correct diagnosis, blogging became a helpful way to process what was happening and to share the journey with friends and family. I also use the blog to raise awareness of NETS. I’m sure that this will continue to happen as I’ve recently become a member of a newly formed Advocacy Advisory Board that will report to the board of directors of the Canadian Neuroendocrine Tumour Society (CNETS).

When I started the blog, writing about fashion was the farthest thing from my mind. Several years ago, however, I starting following several fashion blogs and began to develop a greater interest in the topic. It was then that I decided to add the weekly Fashion Friday feature. At times, I find it a challenge to come up with a new fashion related topic every week, but it’s been a great way to connect with other women and to ensure that I post something at least once a week. Fashion Friday has a fairly small, but loyal following of interested readers, so I as long as I can continue to think of engaging content, I plan to keep the feature going.

As an avid reader, it was my passion for books that prompted me to add the latest feature to the blog, a monthly book review that first appeared at the beginning of February this year.

I refer to Following Augustine as a lifestyle, travel, and fashion blog, but in recent years, there hasn’t been as much travel content as I would have liked. First, the pandemic and then a number of other health issues, both mine and hubby’s, have limited our ability to spend as much time away from home as we would like, but our brand new ten year passports arrived in yesterday’s mail and we hope to be able to put them to good use in the future. If that happens, the blog will once again chronicle our wanderings.

Following Augustine will probably continue to undergo changes from time to time, but at this point, I don’t see it coming to an end anytime soon. Over the past sixteen years, I’ve published over 1400 posts and I expect that I’ll continue adding to that number until I’m no longer able!

3224919

Living my cancer life out loud

/ edebock / 6 Comments

This post was inspired by an interesting discussion that took place awhile ago on one of the online neuroendocrine cancer patient groups that I’m a member of. It started with a younger patient asking for advice about when to tell the person she was going on a first date with about her cancer. I was surprised to learn that most of the patients who responded to her question had told very few people outside their immediate families about their diagnosis. I’m quite the opposite. Though I’m naturally an introvert, I’ve been living my cancer journey out loud since the very first day I heard that fateful C word!

In the summer of 2013, when my doctor called and told me that I had cancer, I’m sure that I was in shock. One of the first things I did was sit down and make a list of who I needed to call and then I started. I called our pastor, several close friends, and of course, our family. Just three days later, I wrote the blog post that shared my diagnosis with the rest of the world. At that time, we didn’t even know what kind of cancer I had. I shared that news a couple of weeks later in this post.

Why? Why did I choose to share my diagnosis so openly?

Learning that you have cancer is overwhelming and I knew that this wasn’t something I could handle on my own. As a Christian, my first instinct was to call the people I knew would pray for me. Without realizing it, I was beginning to build an invaluable support system that would make the journey so much easier.

There were two reasons for sharing my diagnosis on the blog. Writing helps me process things and boy did I need to process! Since I’d already been blogging for several years, that seemed like the logical place to start writing about what I was going through. Secondly, posting updates on the blog was an easy way to communicate what was happening with our large extended family and with friends who are literally spread around the world. It meant that I didn’t have to repeat myself over and over again which would have been mentally and emotionally exhausting.

As time went by, however, sharing my journey openly and online also became a way to educate people about neuroendocrine cancer. Ten years ago, NETS was considered a rare cancer, but the number of people diagnosed with this type of tumour has been increasing over the years and it’s no longer fair to say that it’s rare. Sadly, however, it’s still not well-known, so education and advocacy are extremely important. Like any other cancer, early detection means more likelihood of successful treatment and long-term survival. Family doctors need to know that when a patient presents with symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, shortness of breath, wheezing, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, and/or flushing, neuroendocrine cancer is a possibility. Patients need to know that when their symptoms persist after a more common diagnosis is made, they need to persevere until they get a correct one. It could be NETS. Patients with neuroendocrine cancer, particularly the newly diagnosed, need to know that there is hope. More research is needed to find better treatments and ultimately a cure. Until these things happens, I’ll continue living my cancer life out loud!

Ribbon Symbol

From self-conscious to self-confident

/ edebock / 2 Comments

Logo by SamHere I am more than half way through a Friday and I haven’t written a Fashion Friday post yet. To tell you the truth, I didn’t think there’d be one today. I usually try to write these posts earlier in the week and have them ready to publish on Friday morning, but this week was a hectic one. I was only home for two and a half days between pre Christmas visits with two of our offspring and their families. I didn’t have time to do any research or even a photo shoot.

The first piece of advice that is usually given to an aspiring writer is to write what you know. Thinking about that this morning, I asked myself why I write about fashion. I have no formal training or experience in the industry. It’s not even a topic that interested me until late in life. So, why fashion? Why these weekly posts? 

When I discovered that an item of clothing or an outfit can change how you feel about yourself, I went from self-conscious to self-confident and that’s something that I wanted to share with my readers. 

640306b81f53514565c1386e14c3a91b

If how we look on the outside makes us feel good on the inside, then it’s important to choose what we wear with intention. Think about what you’re wearing right now. How does it make you feel? Fashion is a form of expression and we all deserve to express ourselves in ways that make us feel confident and joyful. Since we’re all unique that will look different for each of us. For specifics on how to dress with confidence check this post from last month. 

With Christmas just around the corner and plans being made to spend the holiday with another branch of the family, time to write and to explore the topic of fashion might be limited, but I’ll do my best to keep up and to have something to share with you each week. For now, though, there’s a grandbaby to play with and a couple more coming home from school in just a little while. 

Gram & Mikayla 2

 

 

Sometimes I just have to write

/ edebock / 6 Comments

Sometimes I just have to write. I don’t know why, but something in me tells me that I need to. My fingers hover over the keyboard wondering how to begin. Sometimes the words flow and other times, my mind is blank. What could I possibly have to say that anyone would want to read? At times like those, I usually resist the urge and try to find something else to do, but this time I decided to simply start. Where this is going, I really don’t know!

Although I love to lose myself in a good novel, I’m  not a writer of fiction. I never have been. I’ve tried dabbling in it once or twice, but it clearly wasn’t my forte. Neither am I a poet. No, though nonfiction seems somehow less exciting, it’s what I do.

Scripture tells us that we’re made in the image of a creative God. As such, I believe that we all have the innate ability to be creative. I create with words. What do you create with?

I have a friend who is an avid quilter. She creates works of art with fabric and many of her quilts bring comfort to people living with cancer. (see Victoria’s Quilts Canada or Victoria’s Quilts USA) Another friend is an artist in the kitchen creating culinary masterpieces and a cousin is a songwriter. My daughter knits and crochets everything from sweaters and slippers to teddy bears and stuffed animals. Some people are artists in the traditional sense creating drawings, paintings, or sculptures. Others design and build with wood. Still others create online games and programs.

Releasing creativity, whatever form it takes, can be therapeutic. It can help people resolve issues as well as develop and manage behaviours and feelings, reduce stress, and improve self-esteem and awareness. There are things that I can’t write about, or at least I can’t publish, because they would be hurtful to people that I care deeply about or because they’re not my stories to tell. Writing about my cancer, however, especially in the early days, helped me process and better accept and understand what was happening. Some cancer centres even offer art therapy classes to their patients.

We all have gifts and passions. I’m thankful that I found mine a long time ago. Even as a child, I enjoyed writing reports for school. As a university student, I much preferred essays to exams. By the time I graduated, I knew that even though teaching was my chosen profession, writing would also be part of my future. Of course, there was no internet back then. I did a bit of freelance writing, selling a few articles to small publications, but it was retirement and the advent of blogging that really opened the door to writing for sheer enjoyment. To date, I’ve published over 1300 posts. Together they’d equal the length of an average novel!

The only problem with not knowing where this post was going is not knowing how it should end, so I’ll simply finish with a couple of quotes from science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov.

isaacasimov1

isaacasimov11

Taking time to recharge

/ edebock / 3 Comments

Do-not-be-afraid-to-disappear-600x600

I ran across this recently and it resonated with me as it describes what I’m planning to do over the next little while. I won’t disappear completely, but I won’t be spending as much time as usual on social media and I probably won’t be blogging very regularly. Over the next 6 to 8 weeks I’ll be spending lots of time camping, hiking, and paddling quiet waters; time away from my keyboard and often far from internet connection.

Writing is who I am. It’s what I do. To me, it’s almost as important as breathing, but spending time in nature is one of the ways that I recharge my batteries and perhaps in the silence I’ll find some new things to write about.

If you subscribe to the blog, you’ll receive notification by email whenever I do post something new. If you’re not already a subscriber, simply enter your email address in the space to the right and click on “Sign me up!”