Woodshedding and Solitude

This morning at 5AM the wind was howling. It sounded like ocean waves crashing down my street. I got up, made coffee and looked at the news. I broke my rule. Agitated, my smarter self took me out jogging with Lily to Edgewater Drive. I stopped and said hi to neighbors and picked up trash blowing in the wind. This is the kind of day where if you smile you get sand in your teeth. Sinus hell from juniper cedar pollen again but thank God for the drugs: half a tablet of diphenhydramine antihistamine, one decongestant and one generic Excedrin. It works right away if I have food in my stomach, catch it in time and drink lots of water. Otherwise nausea and pain all day.

I am thinking about the term woodshedding. We had the financial crisis which sent us into hibernation without heat food or visiting friends for 8 years. Now we have political crisis and I am retreating again. I retreat to practice my music, writing, running, painting and swimming.

My classical music is playing. I hung my laundry on the boiler-room clothesline.

I made a spinach and mushroom red onion avocado burrito, for breakfast.

My husband and friends and pets are healthy.

I realize I spend 22 of my 24 hours in solitude. Solitude in the City with pets and sidewalk friends is not as painful as true solitude.

wood·shed
ˈwo͝odˌSHed/
verb
gerund or present participle: woodshedding

informal
practice a musical instrument.
"he's off woodshedding again"

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Urban Dictionary: woodshedding
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woodshedding
meaning to practice or hone skills, particularly musical skills. the origin is from the fact that for purposes of privacy people would go to their woodshed to practice ...
Woodshedding & The Jazz Tradition by Paul Klemperer
www.bigapplejazz.com/woodshedding.html
Woodshedding is the nuts-and-bolts part of jazz, the place where you work out the techniques that form the foundation of your improvisational ability. The term woodshedding in jazz means more than just practicing.
Woodshedding Law and Legal Definition | USLegal, Inc.
https://definitions.uslegal.com/w/woodshedding/
The term 'woodshedding ' refers to the instruction that is given to a witness in order to make him/her respond to one party's favor. In woodshedding , the witness ...
Woodshedding - definition of woodshedding by The Free Dictionary
www.thefreedictionary.com/woodshedding
wood·shed·ded, wood·shed·ding, wood·sheds Slang. To practice on a musical instrument. Idioms: take (someone) to the woodshed. To reprimand or punish (someone).