Stevie Szabad, Author

For a month that started with Winter in Canada still sending snow flurries – (bizarre sight to awaken to – condo landscaping efforts begun; overnight sprinklers in freezing temps turning leafless shrubs into gorgeous morning sunlit icicle clumps) – May is ending with a heat wave and signs of life for this author. Yes, I’m calling myself an author again. After months of doing, well, nothing, I’m ending our late spring month with some actual plans and hope for living again.

Successes. And lessons.

I actually went shopping for more than potatoes, milk, and wine. I bought summer T-shirts in person (no try-ons, everyone masked up).

I didn’t gain any quarantine pounds, despite an increase in junk food and afternoon cocktail hours added to the nightly wine routine (yes, I’m in the polling numbers for increased alcohol consumption during lockdown. Don’t fret, I’m already cutting back.)

I feel physically pretty good. I walk more now. Condo gym is still closed, but the online fitness videos have kept the legs in shape, maybe even better than before – lunges really are the answer. I still miss swimming, but can eagerly anticipate it again rather than decry its loss. Sleeping hasn’t been a problem (thanks to nightly wine?) Skin and health are good (thanks to less restaurant food?) I both crave the restaurants again, and worry that I’ve learned a lesson about how unhealthy that habit can be.

Speaking of habits : money. Who knew how much we spent on restaurants, until we couldn’t anymore. Yikes. And the Casino. Uh-oh. There’s some lessons in forced lifestyle change, for sure.

But the best, best thing that happened in May, for me, was the reopening of (some) bookstores, especially those that carry my own humble creations. Yes, Ottawa Indigo stores with outside entrances not only reopened, but some even returned my inquiries and have accepted deliveries of my new book, “First We Eat. Food, Life, and More Stories” by Michele Sabad. No author signings are permitted yet, (darn, it’s a favourite activity in my marketing – I love meeting my readers), but at least local readers can actually pick up the book now. (And if you aren’t local to the National Capital region here in Canada, check out my Amazon listings.)

All in all, May has ended on a high, but there’s still uphill to go. The summer beckons. I really must get out west to visit family there, but travel, even road trip travel, is still unsure. Summer festivals, a staple in my usual life, are not on tap this summer. Our curling club has not planned for the fall season. I guess we’ll all wait to see what June brings.