Summer and My Stupid Foot

If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe and Aloysius in a good temper... ― Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited

All of a sudden, it's summer. It seemed to arrive without checking with me. The solstice came and went, and I find myself in shorts and a t-shirt on a Sunday afternoon, when last weekend I was shlepping around in sweaters and sweatpants. Time flies when you're not looking.

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday to see if I could get a referral to a physiotherapist to aid in the recovery of my fractured foot. I'd been feeling really good recently: I feel like I'm getting a lot of strength back on that side. Oddly, the day I went to see the doctor, she looked down at it and said, "It looks pretty swollen. Is it painful?" And when I looked down, my foot looked like blown up water balloon: kind of puffy and smooth-looking. 

"I guess it is kinda swollen," I said. 

She ordered me to x-ray, but still gave me the referral for physio. She told me it was normal for it to be like this, but man, I was so depressed. I don't think it's still broken, but I'll find out for sure tomorrow. I think it might have been the extra few minutes on the elliptical machine at the gym that did it. It's not at all swollen today, but I'm being extra careful. Two steps forward, and a tumble back. Sigh.

I'm trying not to get trapped inside my head with the disappointment, but it's tough-going. I went to pick up my weekly veggie box from the local farm this week, and after I put it in the car, I looked up and saw this in a tree across the road:

My dream is to run again. Or at least be able to trot about a bit... maybe have a little canter around the hallways at work. It's not a big dream, but hey, when you're low, it's not hard to reach upwards.

Meanwhile, I seem to have chosen the slowest possible pattern to work on for one of the rare times I've assigned a knitting due date. Granted, I've had a busy couple of weeks at work and had to work late on a few days, which is a big switch from all the knitting time I had while I was home recovering with my stupid foot, but I really feel like each row of this pattern is a sample of an eternity. Of course, the only way to finish a knitting project is to knit (so they say). I can either get on with it or get over the idea that it'll be finished before the Tour de Fleece. We'll see, I guess:

Except I'm always easily distracted this time of year, especially with all of the fresh produce available. I spend far too much time devising interesting weekend lunches. Here's some salmon lox and scrambled eggs on an English muffin, with a touch of cream cheese and sprinkled with some fresh dill from my veggie box:

And I took advantage of another cool day yesterday to bake some pandesal. The hubby had a hankering for some hot dogs this week, and I far prefer these as hot dog buns than anything else:

And today, I decided to roast some sweet potatoes, red and yellow peppers, and red onions on the barbecue. I mixed in a can of chick peas and tossed them in a bit of olive oil and fresh basil. Lunch this week is gonna be great:

If anything, I won't starve.

I can't decide it it's better or worse that this broken foot happened this time of year. The sunshine, the flowers, and all of the nice fruit and veggies are a nice distraction, but I can't help but feel like I'm missing out on all of the outdoor stuff I want to do. This week, I'm going to go back to swimming and take it easy on the foot: lots of gentle stretching, lots of rest, and lots of elevation. I went for a walk on a trail this afternoon, and it seemed fine, but still: I don't want to mess this up.

I'm off to a pot-luck barbecue this evening. I'm bringing my world-famous hummus and some fresh veggies for dipping. Perhaps an evening of good food and good friends will be just the thing to save me from this bout of self-pity... hopefully the garlic won't put them off.

Hrm. Maybe I should have thought this through a bit more. Oh well...