Tuesday 7 May 2013

Bill Mason - Waterwalker



Here's a beautiful, sleepy little film of one man, his canoe, nature and his art. I doubt many of you will watch the full hour and a half, but i did and i felt better for it. Here's a link to the full film Waterwalker and here's a link to more about Bill Mason and his other films with the National Film Board of Canada. He was mentioned by Ray Mears on one of his shows i was watching. Ray was building a birch bark canoe (beautiful things). It was late but i stayed up to see the full process. I figured it didn't matter how late i stayed up, i would still wake up exhausted regardless. I've always woke up feeling shattered ( i think)... but about 4 years ago it all seemed much worse, so i went to the doctors, then a specialist who diagnosed (figured, guessed...whatever) that i was suffering from Fibromyalgia, part of the Chronic Fatigue/ME thing. Anyway, I've no plans to turn this blog into a Fibromyalgia forum! but i will say this, it's a pain in the ass!... well, mostly my legs. Basically I'm knackered most of the time. My brain feels foggy, like I'm not quite connected to the World. On 3 separate occasions i have been talking to someone and asked their name, only to be told i know them already!! Along with this my legs and feet 'fizz', tingle and feel like pins and needles. It's like having aching muscles that feel totally fatigued, but with nerves that are alive and buzzing. my legs also have severely tender areas, not good when your 5 and 6 year olds are climbing over them, digging their knees in. I also feel too drained to do the whole chasing them thing, being the monster, so you feel like a crappy Dad too. Great. I've not mentioned this all before, so thought I'd actually touch on it. If anyone has any experience of it, or is suffering with it, do leave a comment. I think of trying other things, but where to start?... and who to give your cash to first in the alternative medicine world? In the meantime I just pop the pill, which doesn't really help, but does seem to keep my lowest point a little bit higher than it used to be. Too many pills out there though and it's all going out into the systems, water supply etc, not a good thing. I know that. Anyway, back to canoes... i really want to get in one! I don't know why canoes have popped up on my radar, but I'm going with it. I always wanted to go in a canoe, or little boats when i was a kid, but never actually did. Now i live by the sea and i see folk out there canoeing (or kayaking) along, seems like a nice thing to do. I want to connect with the sea, i live right near it, but i don't swim in it... so i may as well paddle on it! There is a canoe club in town that i might look into, but if anyone knows of someone in Hastings that might like to help me out, just let me know! I'll see where it leads over the year ahead. This post has gone on too long now, so i'll leave it there. I hope you find time to watch some of Bill Mason. Oh, and i hope that your legs are alright : )

6 comments:

  1. Definitely going to look into this, I'm sure I'll be thinking of home all the while.

    I dated a girl that had Fibromyalgia and definitely do not wish it upon anyone. Here's hoping for a miracle cure to pop up soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Scott, so sorry you suffer with this. I first heard the term fibromyalgia a little over 10 years ago. A young girl I was helping had it. Before that, I never heard mention of it, never knew anyone with it. Now you hear it all the time. I wonder what in our environment has brought this on? Has it always been around and just recently got a name? Not saying that this is connected, but I was having the brain fog and the tiredness all day and some of the tingling. Since we got rid of the smart meter, the tiredness and fog has gone, the tingling, I think is due to a pinched nerve, but the other symptoms that went unexplained, are gone now. I hope you can find a more natural solution, the pills often just cause other symptoms...
    re: canoes, yes get one! Gerry and I paddled for years, it's a cheap vacation and a whole lot of fun. We took our canoe out west one year and paddled all over Wyoming and Montana. I'll never forget those times. We sold both of our boats when we started moving around, but are really thinking of getting one again. Go for it! Should at least make you forget the pain for a bit :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. PS: I didn't mean to imply that fibromyalgia is caused by something environmentally, I'm just hyper sensitive to that right now. I went and looked it up, and it has been around for a very long time, just got a real name in the early '90's which would be when I first heard of it.
    Also, since I started juicing and stopped buying processed foods I am better too.
    feel better! eat your veg :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Brandon, thanks for the comment i hope all's good with you. Did you keep doing that work through Simon?... i must email and catch up soon.

    Tracey, thanks as ever for such thoughtful comments, always much appreciated. It does seem to be one of those catch-all illnesses for all those mystery complaints. I wish we had a smart meter and i could just get rid of it. I attribute a lot of it to shingles which i suffered with twice. the second time was just the soles of my feet and i think that has done the nerve damgage to my legs. That was shortly before it all got worse, so i figure the link is good. I've never been able to sell a Doc on this theory though. Not that it would change anything!
    I'm trying to be pro-active and keep going, i think the canoe thing is me following some random things and listening to them, following where it goes. I'm doing this more these days, following that Universe whisper "come this way". I think i'm going to try some acupuncture, just for the hell of sticking needles in these legs... fire with fire! I do eat a fair amount of the good stuff. I make all meals from scratch, using very little processed food. I'd love to get a blendtec blender for juices, smoothies, ice cream! I know Lloyd Kahn thinks highly of them.
    http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/blendtec-blendergreen-smoothies.html
    The cost is a problem right now, ha! but i may start with a lesser juicer. I would happily fill my face with veg and fruit all day. What machine do you use, is it a pain to clean out? Anyway, thanks Tracey. let's see how it all goes this year. I'd love to feel half 'normal'.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Im in England, and a big mason fan, and have a red prospector in royalex, which i regularly go out in.
    Im 40 and was diagnosed with pulm.sarc. a few years back, and I know exactly what you mean by a lack of energy, extreme fatigue, and brain fog. Its a daily struggle, and there's no answers, so you just end up in a kind of limbo.
    Great thing about a canoe, is you can go at your own pace, and its relaxing, and not an energetic pastime. Go for it, if you can. It will take you to some beautiful places.

    Best, Dave.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Dave. Great to have you drop by, sorry to hear about the pulm.sarc. We just don't need this shit do we. Nice canoe. I've not got any nearer to scratching that itch. I did have a basic lesson on the sea, but that was locked into a kayak, with bad helmet and vest, felt overpacked and definitely not free! I think it's definitely a nice open canoe on the waterways for me. I still enjoyed the kayak experience, didn't ache too bad for the couple of hours struggle and the capsize rolls didn't freak me out... all plus points in my book! Appreciate the comment.

      Delete