It'Sauna Get Hot - #2

#80 - “. . been sick enough to die a few times now without modern medicine’s intervention, and I’ve escaped injuries that I might not have.

Welcome! - I’m glad you are here. 

It'Sauna Get Hot - #2 

Well, I got out to see folks during the holidays but for the most part, it was quiet around here. Just the way I like it. 

And with the holidays gone, I want my routine back. It does lend itself to getting things done. 

I’ve been going out for more walks as of late. Not casual strolling but walking with purpose.   I’m not sure where the motivation is coming from, but I’ll take it. I’m surprised that I'm getting out in the colder weather at all. 

A nearby park has a two-mile loop with some steep hills. I used to run there. After my knee replacement, my Doc said, “No more running!”  

Ha! No. Running was not the cause of the replacement. But it didn’t help - I overtrained. It brought an end to my running habit. I do jog a bit. Just to keep those running muscles from wasting away. I hope.  

Doc said I could play tennis. I don’t play tennis. And tennis seems harder on the knees than running. 

After thirty minutes, maybe an hour, I drive to the sauna. It’s a couple of miles away. 

The sauna has become a habit. A good one. I can close my eyes and almost sleep.  

That is, when it is not loaded with people and conversation. Some days are like that. 

There are several languages spoken. It is quite a mix. I wonder what they’re talking about. I can only tell the mood of their talk. 

There is also English. That I get.  

Here are a few things I overheard and saw in the sauna the last few weeks.  

There were half a dozen people in the sauna when I got there.  

Engaged in talk was an attractive woman, maybe thirty, and a young man, maybe twenty. I thought she may be Filipino. He may have been as well.  

She had a very pretty voice. She was flirting with him.   

He said he worked construction and was off that day because of the rain. He showed her pictures on his cell of the work he was doing. 

She was quick. 

She asked if he “would be interested in doing some repair work around her house.” 

He was hooked. He said he’d “be glad to come over and check it out.” She gave him her address. She reeled him in. 

She said she needed to take a break from the heat and walked out. He followed her.  

Two fellows across the room eyed them as they exited and spoke to themselves while smiling. I smiled, too. 

A few minutes later, she walked back in, and he soon followed. They sat much closer to each other.  

It brings another smile as I think back - oh those were the days. 

They talked some more, having a good time.  

Then they left again. And it was quiet. 

I caught the tail end of a lighthearted talk between a jovial older gentleman and a couple of less old men. I thought at the time that the older fellow was a teacher. 

“. . been sick enough to die a few times now without modern medicine’s intervention, and I’ve escaped injuries that I might not have.  

“I believed I had a purpose, having been saved so many times. More than luck. 

“I worked different jobs all my life, but at heart, I am a painter. I have yet to drink from the silver cup. A few accolades at best. They don’t pay the bills.  

“Maybe I don’t try hard enough. Maybe my art is not good enough. Maybe God doesn’t want it for me, as if renown and compensation are not the goal.  Maybe, maybe. Who knows? 

“But, what is for me!? - The painting itself, my friends. It stirs my soul. It makes me happy to be alive.” 

He got pretty deep there but he did sound happy. Like he’d found his purpose. 

I wish I’d heard the beginning of the conversation. I missed something. I wanted to say something to him but didn’t want to interrupt them.  

They continued talking about painting oils and brushes for different techniques. 

Three guys came in talking and the mood of the room changed. 

Painter and friends left soon thereafter. I hoped I’d see him again. I would like to see his paintings. 

I topped out at thirty minutes in the sauna and headed for the jacuzzi. 

I was talking with Avi, a fellow I met a few weeks previous. He was almost as often at the sauna as I was. 

He had a cool job. He was retired but worked weekends as a waiter on “The Hornblower”, a dining and party boat that cruises San Francisco Bay.  

It takes in the sights; with the city of San Francisco as the main show. They go under the Golden Gate Bridge.  

That’s the turnaround point. Just beyond that are strong currents where the ocean meets the bay. 

A man, about fifty, came in and sat across the sauna. He started talking to the fellow next to him.  

They were just far enough away that I couldn’t hear but bits of what it was they were talking about.  

He left the sauna after a few minutes. 

Avi told me that the guy was a BSer. He had had talks with him, and he added a new story each time. 

He said the guy told him that, “He had been subpoenaed to testify in one of the ‘big’ cases now going through the federal courts. And he had spent a lot of time in the middle east. And he had been chased out of D.C. and was now in some kind of witness protection program. He had to put off his testimony because he had had a mild stroke and he fell, and he broke a few ribs. And he couldn’t speak for a while till his ribs set up.” 

Avi wanted no more of his talk and didn’t encourage interaction.  

The fellow got to talking to me a couple of times. He told me of his stroke and fall and broken ribs and how his lawyer bills were getting so high because of the trial.  

The stroke didn’t affect his speech or his thinking. Only his walking. But he is getting better. Instead of the elevator, he can take the stairs to the sauna. He does work with the weights some. 

He’s a nice guy, tells a convincing story. He sure has a slew of them. Could really bend your ear. 

But I don’t believe him.  

Maybe his stroke did trip up his thinking.  

A couple more things before I bring this post in for a landing. 

Politics and note-worthy news items of the day come up often. Maybe next time. 

And - people bring their cellphones into the sauna. That’s not good. The heat and sweat can ruin them.  

For me, the sauna is another opportunity to separate myself from the cell, if just for a while. 

That’s it for now. Hope you enjoyed these stories. I liked the painter. 

I’m off to the sauna.  

Until we meet again - take care!

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See you next week, my friends.  :)