Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

The plan, last month, was to get back into skating after two months off. I was also looking at the reasons I didn't skate. Most were valid scheduling issues, but some, were lack of motivation because the blade was still not in the permanent aliment position so I couldn't skate fully, I was trying to take it easy/ I didn't have any goals. So I set as priority to work on the blade alignment, to skate 3 times per week and to observe my reasons for motivation/ frustration in skating.

I think there is progress in the boot fitting and blade alignment. I figured I had to tighten the boot to the point of cramping, only then I had control and the changes in blade positioning didn't feel so important. The good news is that the boots will continue to mold on my feet, so eventually I will cramp less. The bad news is that during the last visit at the bootfiter, he nicked the corner of the sole on the heel, so I'm not sure if that will collapse, or if it is already collapsed, and I think I'll have to address this now, before continuing the work on alignment. I am exhausted from working with the bootfiters, I know they are doing their best, I know my feet are not perfect... it's just wearing me out. But, as I said, there was progress, so I have to keep pushing this until eventually gets done. The less I push, the longer it will take.

I expected that the muscle conditioning (and pain) is going to be a problem, but it is honestly more unpleasant than my expectations. The lesson here, is to do my best and not take so long breaks from skating, and if I really cannot go, do some squats and lunges. I don't work out beside skating (and ballet that I also stopped doing) but I think I can make myself do 10 squats and 10 lunges.

Food was also a problem, I need more protein to help the muscle growth, and as I am almost vegan I need to get creative with recipes (and I'm starting a category of posts about food with focus on plant based protein). I also ordered some protein powder, maybe that is gonna be an easy fix or at least help a little.

Rinks... the sessions I use to skate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday at noon for adult figure skaters only, used to be very quiet, but it is suddenly heavily populated by former high level competitors. They do watch out for the rest of us, but for me it is still very distracting. I still struggle mentally because I hurt my hip (is it now 4 years ago?) because a fast skater came close to me and I got spooked and I fell. Also I cannot keep straight my patters, or my thoughts, to be honest. I went and checked up the next closest rink to me, it is the rink of the local hockey team, they usually (not consistently) have an 11am public sessions. I didn't have time to skate but as it looked quite empty, I bought 10 passes (another parenthesis here, to complain that this rink is more expensive than my home rink). I feel that after I'll have the blade set, I'll be more adaptable and I could maybe go to my home rink, for now, I need quiet sessions. And that is gonna be a challenge, as the kids' summer vacation starts, there is less ice available because the rinks offer skating camps.

Motivation...is related with all these difficulties I've mentioned and the fact that I get frustrated. Few months ago I was trying to take a balanced approach to skating in order to hopefully avoid frustration. In my mind that was "take it easy" approach, but that ended with me not skating at all. I still think I should try and avoid frustration, that goes against motivation. I'll try and take the yoga approach and observe the difficulties without judgment, and keep going gently not pushing hard. Of course, specific goals would help, like to test the adult Gold MITF, but it is difficult to work  seriously at this while I'm still playing with the blade alignment, that changes my balance each time.

I also asked few of the skaters that skated as kids and keep going what it's their motivation to keep coming back, because I know we all have the same difficulties (work, family, scheduling, finances, aging body, traveling). One said, well, I'm unhappy if I don't skate, yeap... it is true for me too. But few said that music helps a lot, especially in those moments that skating doesn't go really well. So I'm revisiting my skating music playlist and I've ordered some wireless earbuds. I tried to avoid using them because that can be a safety issue, but I see the majority of the skaters on my regular session are using the, so I'll give it a try.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

If you remember, I wasn't happy with my skating 2 months ago. I had to prepay ice for a whole month and I bought 3 sessions per week, but the slots that I've paid for, haven't worked for me. Tuesdays sessions were after a hockey camp and the ice was terrible to the point of unsafe. Fridays were better. Saturdays I was tired after Fridays. After the first week, I ended up skating only once or twice per week. I also got disappointed that I couldn't stick with my plan.

Last month I bought ice only Mondays and Fridays and I added an occasional Tuesday lesson at another rink. Did I have one, or did I have 2 lessons? I don't even remember. It wasn't a productive month, being that I skated only twice a week, but as I knew I coudn't expect much, at least I didn't get frustrated.

I worked mostly on MITF, trying to get closer to test the Pre Juvenile ones. I think the only thing I miss is the confidence in 3-turns. I can do them fine few session in a row, and then I don't... On the last lesson, the coach corrected my alignment, and asked me to add more speed. The speed really makes them flow. And speed is confidence.

For Ice dancing I've ran my exercises, but I haven't had corrections from my coach in ages, I don't really work on them, I mostly observe the flow and the posture. I've tried to listed to Ten Fox music (that's the dance I work on now) in just one earbud, while doing these exercises, to at least work on timing. And that worked. Even the Ten Foxed kind of worked once or twice. But I felt it asked for more speed then I was comfortable to put on the quite crowded sessions. Plus dance at speed is the thing that gets me the most tired, so I've done more then nothing but not much.

I did Freestyle consistently, but again not much as I was afraid to not aggravate the last injury, the right hip. The jumps are fine, I'm just not making them bigger at this point. I saw in the last jump lesson that I can make them bigger, so I'm not gonna worry about that now. I've hesitated to work on the loop jump because it is on the right hip, but the few I've done haven't hurt, so maybe I could have worked more on those.  I've definitely felt pain on the back spin, so I've scratched that... Meanwhile, the scratch spin is finally comfortable (I was getting dizzy after the quarantine).

I did the Figures from the first test whenever I felt tired. The forward outside and inside circles look good, I'm working at the restart of the each circle, the marks of the push have to be on top of each other... they are getting closer... Then, on the waltz eight circles, the back push after the 3-turn and the forward stroke after the back edge need to start on the same exact spots. I'll have to ask my coach if you can mark with a marker those spots to be more visible. I don't even see those spots. You need to look down for those marks without getting out of alignment.

So, last month, while I haven't skated enough to improve anything, I think I skated enough and consistently enough to consolidate the old skills.

This month I bought ice for Mondays, Wednesdays (finally they had ice on Wednesdays), Fridays at my rink, to skate on my own, and I'll have each Tuesday a lesson at another rink. The adult only ice will start only from the second week, and I'm holding my breath to be the same that it used to be, safe... But it may be not. There may be too many newcomers and they may give it a different pace. I've heard a high level freestyler signed for this ice. This is not Freestyle ice, so nobody has priority, not the lessons, not the jumps, you don't have to spin in the middle or not use the lutz corner, the music has to be in a public skate style, nobody can run their program time after time... This is ice meant for adults with a wide variety of skills, to enjoy while feeling safe (from being ran down), and being respectful to each other. But will the new people know?

Another issue that may arise is hip pain. I have an old injury at the left hip and a new one at the right... While they feel mostly fine, I'm worried if I will be able to handle skating 3 days in a row (Monday, Tuesday with my coach and Wednesday). This week was I skated like that and I have to say I felt a little pain the hips, more like tiredness but.... I'm definitely gonna be watching out.

And just one more development. I saved another kitten! He is at the point when he starts eating on his own, so while there was a couple of nights that I woke up to feed him, he should be fine from now on, and soon on his way because I've already found a home for him!

I find my self, again, not sure how to plan next month. I was writing in the last post that I hope I'll be able to "train" for progress, but after how this first days of September went, I'm not so sure I can. The problem is, that if I make it my plan to train, and then I cannot stick to the plan, I get disappointed, discouraged... Also, if I approach the skating session pushing to train, while the ice is crowded, or there are several strong skaters on ice, the ice is bad, I'm tired or I feel pain, I cannot train, and I ask for injuries... I was looking before the pandemic at having a process oriented training instead of goal oriented (passing tests) training. I thought that setting my expectations to test on a certain date, and then seeing I wasn't, made me frustrated. But what I'm seeing now is that I actually cannot plan the "process".

So, for now, the plan is to "let it be". I'll add the song on the skating play list, maybe that'll help?

New thoughts about skating for progres versus enjoynment

I had a talk with my coach. Between other things we reviewed our work together. I first hired him just to partner me for tests for dances. But I liked his way of explaining, so I continued working on dances with him, then I added moves, then Freestyle, then figures. My goal was to progress and I was skating 7 to 9 sessions a week (4 on my own, 2 private lessons and one or 2 group lessons). I've got bursts of frustration when I couldn't train as I wanted because the ice was bad, it was too crowded, or I was tired, but I was generally satisfied.

Everything changed when hurt my left hip. I starting skating less to allow the hip to heal. But even when I skated I was holding back. I was hurting when I worked on extensions (and in dance everything has extensions), on 3-turns on that hip, etc. Then, I started saving stray cats and kittens, I had some orphaned kittens that needed to be feed by bottle including during the night, so I was tired for months. Looking back, it is clear that I couldn't progress in those conditions. I also couldn't enjoy skating while I was hurting, tired. And I also was having expectations about progress and not actually progressing, so I was getting frustreted... It is also clear that I couldn't see all these, then.

I was back on a good training pace before the quarantine, but then "that" (the quarantine) happened. Hopefully I can get back, from this week, on a good schedule and skating training (skating 3 times a week plus one lesson)... for progress....

But I also want to not forget the perspective I have now, about the time I couldn't "train" because I'm sure there will be times like that again. I want to be prepared to handle those kind of times better... The first challenge I see, is to be able to acknowledge when I cannot train. If it's short term I should just accept it, not push but hang in there don't give up on "training". If it's longer term, I should forget about progress for a while, anyway I saw that after 3 months of not being on ice, the skills were still there. So I should do something else, not the same exercises that I do for testing.

This summer, for example, I kind of knew... after quarantine... the available ice was all over the city, so I couldn't  create a well paced schedule, plus I knew I'm gonna be distracted by life.... I had the intention to have program choreographed to break from the "training" just that my choreograph was out of town. I think that would have worked. With my regular coach I shifted the attention from the pattern dances and moves (that I knew I couldn't train) to freestyle. Unfortunately my ankles hurt for 2 weeks and also my "good" hip hurt after a fall. So I've ended up doing exactly what I didn't want to do... the same old exercises for dance and moves, that I do for 2 years now, that I knew I couldn't improve (skating just once or twice a week on bad or crowded Freestyle ice). I'm soo happy I'll have a program choreographed! I think I'll also have to ask for new things from my regular coach when I'll know I cannot "train".

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

At the beginning of last month I felt somehow defeated that I haven't progressed on the Ten Fox as much as I expected in the previous month. I tried and did reset my mind to get back to work at it methodically instead of pushing. On the other hand I had other things on my mind, so I don't think I could have pushed the skating even if I wanted too. Then, I haven't felt good the last two weeks because of a bad cold/ flu... I skated just twice a week and I took it easy. I know it by now, but I'm always surprised of how much more I enjoy skating when I don't push for progress. I just go and skate... But then I don't progress much, so at some point I have to get back in pushing as I do want to progress, I want it badly... The deadline for the next test sessions is in few days, I think I'll miss it again. At least I hope I can get back into pushing.

I do feel some progress on the Ten Fox. The only technical correction I was still getting was to not scrape the 3-turns. I don't scrape them anymore at low speeds and I keep drilling them by adding more speed into the one step I take before the 3-turn, then adding more steps. I think it goes better, but in the dance, I still scrape them, though maybe not so badly. Then, I still need more power and confidence to test standard track. And of course, I need to be able to don't forget I have a partner, when dancing with my partner/ coach. I'm literally embarrassed at points on how I forget he exists and I go on my own, while he is right there, arm distance. But my coach says I'm very close to testing. I hope he's right because I'm really loosing my patience. As I couldn't skate with any power during my cold (I couldn't breath), my coach taught me the Fourteen Step and the Foxtrot. I feel motivated to finish already with the Ten Fox so I can get to work on them.

I worked very little at the MITF Pre-Juvenile exercises, and I haven't work at all on Freestyle. I just haven't had the time, skating just twice a week, one time being the lesson...

I had few weeks, during the last few months, when I skated four times a week: Monday, when I have my lesson too, Wednesday and Friday as I usually do, plus an extra lesson on Thursday and to be sure I'm warmed I skated on the studio rink before the lesson. It felt good... I would hope I could skate Monday trough Friday. On Tuesdays there is some really empty package ice time, while kids are still in school. That would give me lots of space o practice dance. I would have to be careful to take it easy on Wednesday so I can still skate on Thursday (not be too tired) as it is the only other day besides Monday when my coach is at my rink and I could have a lesson. I really like the pace of my skating when I have two lessons a week, as I was doing two years ago, before I hurt my hip, but of course, I need practice time on my own... For every half hour private lesson, my coach recommends two hours of practice on my own and it feels about right. But today is Tuesday and I'm not feeling up for skating, so hopefully I'll skate Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and add Tuesdays from the next week.

About my other activities, I was telling you that I help alley cats for few years now, but last year it got more intense. Toward the end of the year I figured out how to consistently work with one organization to get the friendly ones adopted. I still have to figure out how to consistently spay/ neuter those that are less friendly. And here is the blog I started to tell their story: https://alleycatstales.blogspot.com/

Stretching with cats and mid month update

As the last blog was about feeling "overstretched" mentally because of me being involved in too many activities, well the cats mostly... it's just fitting to tell you what just happened while stretching with the cats.

Because my hip bothered me for a long while, I'm trying to care for it as much as I can. I'm really bad at doing strengthening exercises systematically. I do them now and then, plus I take once a week ballet. But, I do stretch each time after skating and I feel it makes a big difference. I stretch the quads, calves, IT band and mostly the hips, trough twists, so the tense muscles will relax. At home I roll. So it's no stretching with the cats, it's rolling with the cats. I have this big foam tube and I roll on it. Then I have different size balls and other "torturing devices" to help me get into the smaller muscles and press them to relax. The one I use the most is a tennis ball. But you know how cats and balls are a natural match. So I really have to hide mine, otherwise I never find them when I need them. The cats have their own ball-toys. Well, as I was rolling on the tennis ball on the rug, my phone rang and I've got up to get it. I went back to sit on the rug and roll, while talking, only that my tennis ball was nowhere to be found. It took them like 5 second to steal it from me... So that's how stretching with cats goes... always...

I'll continue with the cats, just shortly, as this is a skating blog... I'm working in setting a blog about alley cats, I hope that will help me put my thoughts together, so I can help them more. I'm still fiddling with both the design and the concept of the blog, because I want it to be more then a diary. I'll share the blog title as soon as I feel I've it right.

Now, the skating... I think it was good at the beginning of the month, then I've got frustrated by not making the progress I wanted on the dance 3-turns and I pushed too hard both physically and mentally. As a result my hip started to hurt and I've got my mind stuck in a negative state. So last week I tried to reset, skate without a purpose, or even not skate if I didn't feel like I really wanted to. I keep trying to get a balance between training for progress while enjoying the process, and I'm not finding it. I found that taking breaks form training helps a little. I feel mentally better now, but let's see how it's gonna translate on ice.

The dropped 3-turn definitely got better, I would even dare to say good, when I do them slowly. When I go faster into them I still skid, but not as badly as before. I was complaining to my coach about maybe feeling scared when having more speed and he asked if I felt is the velocity that scares me or the quickness. Good question... I wasn't differentiating between the two, and I thought is the velocity, but now I find it's actually the quickness. And it's not even fear, it's more that I'm not quick enough to find the right alignment over the hip when I go faster. So, as my coach says, I need to drill it, for that alignment (that I have when moving slower, because I have the time to think about it) to became muscle memory. I also feel confused about the timing of it, I'm so busy aligning I'm waiting to feel that alignment and there is just no way I can also think about putting it on a count. Back to work then...

Overstretched, not physically

I wanted to say overextended, but couldn't help myself to play the words game, and use something actually connected with skating...

I have many things going on and I'm processing few unexpected things that happened.  I wrote in the summer a post about my other passions. I love arts, and I paint. While I'm not making a living out of it, I am a selling artist and I do want to maintain my skills. Plus, have I mentioned I love art? So I do love and want to paint. When I started skating seriously I reorganized my weekly schedule allowing time to still create and go out to shows and expositions.

But then the stray and feral cats came my way... I love animals. These are sweet, innocents souls that are in a bad situation. How can I not help? Slowly but surely this took away more and more time, money and while I love helping them, there is a lot of pain that I feel handling them everyday. I'm feeding 12 colonies and take in kittens and friendly cats and find places for them. I've tried very hard all last year to organize this endeavor. I won't go into it, it's a too long of a story. I'll say that I feel I gathered some knowledge to, maybe, be able to organize the cat rescue this coming year... And I'm overwhelmed by the amount of work I know lies ahead.

I was contacted recently by a family acquaintance, business guy, that has a cousin, a lawyer experienced in non profits and fund raising. He wanted the three of us to start a non profit and split the money... I didn't know how to finish the conversation quickly enough. I tried not to think about it but I woke up at 5 am and couldn't go back to sleep. I talked in the morning with a good friend that is involved in business and she wasn't shocked. That also shocked me... She said that it's a known fact that non profits are run inefficiently or worse, inappropriately. She made the good point that at least I wouldn't had to worry about the nonprofit doing something illegal as one of the partners wound had been a lawyer. Then I talked with a friend that was involved occasionally with  animals help organizations. And she had the same angry reaction I had. She said that non profits like that, sooner or later are sniffed out but  the damage that they do is huge, as more and more people that would want to help with donations, don't know whom to trust and end up not helping anymore or giving to big non profits. And the bigger the non profits, the more inefficient they become. So, I want to start a new blog (about the alley cats) and start raising awareness, educating about options, and hopefully raise some funds too. I enjoy writing this blog about skating. Writing about alley cats I suspect it's gonna be painful.

The biggest help one can do for the feral cat population is TNR (Trap Neuter Release). That's the only thing that will curve the problem. And there are people that do only that. They don't even try to feed. They don't try to adopt the friendly ones. I still have to figure out how to best TNR myself. The animal care organizations have discounts, but they also have rules (each different), some of them making it impossible for me to follow.

A very good thing  happened last year, I was able to finally figure out, after months of dancing back and forth, the adoption process of one of the biggest organization that helps cats in the area. They take in friendly stray cats. They took from me and got adopted 7 cats at the end of the last year and 4 this month. Half of them were living with me for a while, and while I've tried to never think at them as my cats, I'm missing them badly. I'm very happy but it also feels like I'm grieving...

The last four cats that got adopted were living in room that was once my art studio. So now I've got to clean it, and theoretically  be able to paint again. Guess what, I've got sad looking back at these last two years I haven't painted. Then I've got sadder realizing that, realistically I still won't have time to paint in the coming future.

In regards with the cats, another big frustration and disappointment was actually seeing how inefficient the animal care organizations are.

Now, my skating... It's mostly good, really. I've just had a little setback as my hip started to hurt again after few months of being pain free. But I feel better already. I overworked my hip with the dance 3-turn. I have to fix the 3-turn before testing the Ten Fox. But I think I've got so worked out about it because I was distracted by all this other things. I've learned again and again, that my skating activity is more efficient and pleasant, when I get into a rhythm. Pushing too hard and allowing myself to get frustrated, gets me out of the rhythm and actually does more harm then good. And it also takes from my enjoyment, and then affects my motivation.

Mid month update

Many updates to the plan for this month...

One of the kittens I took in, didn't make it. I'm terribly sad. I'm not gonna go into details. I'll say that I did the best I could, but I wish I could have done more.

The skating goes reasonably well. I still skate only 3 times per week and I work equally on everything, as planned, so as I said, I don't expect much progress.  I still start with a little Freestyle. Then I do the moves  without thinking  to make them ready to test. My private lessons, as always when I don't ask for something else, went towards Ice Dancing. My coach is primary an Ice Dancing coach so that's were he goes. But I have no complains, I actually felt progress in Ice Dancing! We've started to partner the Ten Fox!

I've registered to a Freestyle group class, starting next week. It is Freestyle 4 on USFSA not ISI that I was doing until now. It works on the same things the Loop Jump, Sit Spin and Back Spirals. So I'll get help on those, and also it will add an extra skating session per week but an easy one, because in the group classes there is some lost time and the class is just 45 minutes to start with. But that is not even the reason I registered to it.

The reason is that that rink (not my home rink), has an annual production of the Nutcracker in December, and I wanted to be in it. The requirement is to be registered in their group classes. I'm very excited about it, because I love ballet in general, I also love winter and "that time of the year". But it's a big time commitment. I plan to enjoy every second of it! That is a new thing for me, skating for my own enjoyment, that I first mentioned here. And because I lost my regular private lesson this week, due to Columbus day scheduling, I also planed a lesson with the new coach that works with me towards skating for my own enjoyment. I mentioned my first lesson with him in the plan for this month.

There is more... That is Figures. That is the old style tracings that were done in the past including in competitions. They are not popular anymore but they are the foundation for the skating edges. A friend told me she is doing them at a certain rink and it would be easier to keep using that time slot if more people would join in. It is too far away from me and not fitting my schedule, but it made me think that the Figures are easy on the body so I can add skating time to my 3 days of skating I do now, without being afraid I hurt my hip...  I asked my coach about figures and he teaches them. He also said that there is no way he can teach all (Ice Dancing, Moves, some Freestyle and Figures) with one lesson per week so I would have to add one more.


Feels like a lot, but I think I will be able to enjoy it all for this next two months (until the show), IF I don't expect and push for progress.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I wrote a post in the summer about my other passions, besides skating. One of them is helping alley cats. My skating plan for last month got derailed by 3 orphaned kittens, 3 weeks old, needing assistance. That is bottle feeding every 3-4 hours, including during the night. They are doing fine!

The skating wasn't much  for first 2 weeks of the last month, when I've got the kittens, I was just too tired. Then, as they started to sleep trough the night, I've followed the skating plan from last month to build up my skating (muscles, balance and stamina). And it didn't go to well... I was slow, stiff and nothing I've tried to do worked. But then, finally, this week I've got my soft knees back... I'm not daring to hope that it will be just smooth sailing from now on, but at least I know I can still get better, because, honestly, I was kind of giving up hope.

I've started my sessions with a short warm up. Then I did Freestyle not moves, as I used to do. I did two to five jumps of each, trying to maintain and gain more confidence on the Waltz Jump and Salcow, improving the Toe Loop that I can do but it is hesitant, and trying to get the Loop back. I didn't work with my coach on them, there is just not enough time. Then I did few spins of each (scratch, back and some idea of a sit). Next were the Moves, but as I said I couldn't get myself to put power into them. I've also became impatient with the 3-turns. Then, I've run dance exercise and the Ten Fox. The one little piece of bad news is that I "feel" my hip, meaning I had some pain that I hope is just building the muscles not the old injury acting up.

On the week my skating didn't go well I didn't get to see my regular coach and I've asked another coach for a lesson towards learning to "skate for my own enjoyment". I wrote about that idea last month and during the summer. I didn't get into competing, there are no adults at my level that I know and compete. The only way to motivate myself was trough following progress and testing. When that doesn't go well I get frustrated. Anyhow I always wanted the artistic part of the skating, the self expression and emotional involvement. And I'm soo relieved that the new coach understood what I wanted and had a plan. We did simple exercises involving the whole body and the "soul". That's exactly what I wanted. I wrote about my desire to involve my soul in a post in the summer, but I didn't mention it to my new coach. I was quite surprised he went there, and pleased. I'll continue working with him but not on a consistent way.

Before thinking of what to do next month I have to accept that I still have to restrict my skating schedule to 3 times a week to allow the hip to have rest days. I also have to accept that I HAVE TO DO the off ice strengthening exercises consistently.

Even when I was skating 6 sessions a week I felt I needed to prioritize whatever I wanted to push for improvement and test. I cannot decide now, with only 3 skating sessions per week, if I should push something (moves, dance or Freestyle) or continue on working all of them expecting slow(er) progress. My desire and what logically made sense to me always, was to work on everything. My coach also supports this. But, in the past I've just felt that I've did better on focusing on something specific. That of course could change, so maybe I should give a try to balancing working on Moves, Freestyle and Ice Dancing. Interestingly when I was telling my coach that I was puzzled how two weeks ago I couldn't make myself skate well even if I was rested and not hurting, he mentioned somehow, I don't remember the exact words, that I was maybe "too eager". Working on everything would mean giving up on the idea of testing the moves at the end of this month. I am so "eager" to test them!  I felt almost ready to test them before hurting my hip (that was a  year and a half ago). Then I felt really ready to test them at the beginning of the summer, when I've registered to test and found out two days before the test day that I couldn't because of some scheduling error.


It seams I don't have a plan for this month. Work a little at everything and enjoy!

My other passions

When I started writing the blog I knew I eventually would want to share my other activities beside skating. I think most of the people look at these kind of activities as hobbies. I look at them more like passions.

Taken chronologically, from when I was a child I loved nature and animals, and to this day I'm passionate about green living and animal welfare. Then, in my teens my big love was fashion and I've learn to saw and later studied fashion design in parallel with my "real" studies. As I matured I discovered art. I love music (classical and pop), I love dance (ballet and all the others forms) and I love the decorative fine art (painting, sculpture, glass art, ceramics). My biggest love may be the snow and skiing. And you know I love skating...

Of course there is not enough time to emerge myself in all I mentioned. I find that at different points some activities take over. For the last 2 years skating was my main priority. And I literally arranged my weekly schedule around the ice rink schedule.

I'm helping the ally cats for a while now (probably 10 years). I've inherited from a neighbor that moved away a colony registered with the city. A nonprofit foundation organizes these colonies care, they help with the food and offer assistance for TNR (trap, neuter, return). This would eventually curb the number of feral cats and also would make the existing ones less aggressive. Last summer I've encounter two lost kittens (3, 4 weeks old) that I've brought in and bottle fed every 3 hours at first. It wasn't easy. Even harder was to see that the kittens cared by their mothers disappeared one by one.So this year, when I've seen a pregnant cat, I tried to take her in. Some of my friends adopted some kittens :) One friend help with some medical bills. One friend started to do what I'm doing. The nonprofit non kill shelter takes the kittens after they've reach 2 months and puts them for adoption. It is sooo hard to let them go, but I know it is the only way to have space to help others.

I mentioned last week that I've went to an outdoor concert and some art exhibition. In the summer I like the outdoor concerts a lot. A lot of the classical music was inspired by nature, and to me makes sense to be listened in the nature. This year, I really don't have the time to go that much. With work, errands and skating I'm away from home too much. The kittens need lot's of time...

I still occasionally sew, mostly for myself, but I've just made  a skating skirt for a friend that used to borrow mine for tests. Now she is moving away so she needs her own. I've also made a new (shorter) skirt for my moves test, the one that I didn't get to test.

The one think that I didn't get to do in 2 years now, is paint. I paint in watercolors and I am a selling artist. But as everything, it takes a lot of time for learning the technique, figuring out materials, finding inspiration. Plus that one room that I used as my studio is now some of the cats room.

I cannot do it all, but I love it all!