Tag: autumn

Some Spooky Exercises for Halloween 2025
fall · fitness · motivation

Some Spooky Exercises for Halloween 2025

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Ok, so they aren’t all that spooky but I thought you might like to try one (or more!) of these themed workouts that I found recently.

You’re going to workout anyway so you might as well maximize your fun, right?

An ink drawing of a skeleton standing on a skateboard
Speaking of maximizing my fun, here’s a drawing of a skeleton on a skateboard that was part of a drawing challenge I’m doing this month.
In this still image from Kate Carmela’s YouTube short she has her arms outstretched and her feet apart while standing on a blue mat. There are some pumpkins, a lantern, and a replica of the ‘Audrey’ plant from Little Shop of Horrors in the background. The instructor is wearing all black, and has black hair that is partially pinned up in buns on the back of her head and she is smiling. Her shirt says ‘If you’ve got it, haunt it’ and her pants are deliberately ripped and shredded from just above her knee down to her ankle. In the upper left is text reading ’60s Dracula Step Out.’
In the still image from “get spooked with this Halloween dance workout“ from Kate Carmella the instructor is standing in the centre wearing black workout clothes and pretending to be scared. The background is purple with orange highlights down at the bottom. There are a variety of plants within the orange highlights kind of casting shadows on the back wall, there are bats and clouds up at the top and there’s an image of a ghostly sort of mask in the upper right hand corner.
The still image for this Halloween/Samhain yoga class for all levels by Nourished Natasha is divided in two parts. The right hand side has an orange background and black sections with the title of the video in white. The left-hand side shows the instructor back on in a black halter top and dark red leggings. She’s leaning to the right with her right hand on a block and her left hand in the air doing what seems to be an adaptation of triangle pose (there are several poses that look similar to this that I get mixed up.) in the background or a variety of esoteric Halloween props that reference tarot, fortunetelling and palmistry.
The still image for this Fun and Easy Beginner Level Chair Exercise video from OT Sara for Seniors features the instructor sitting on a chair in front of a fireplace in the daytime with some plants in the background on either side, a black cat decoration on the floor on her right and a stack of pumpkins decoration on the floor on her left. She is wearing cat ears and a top that seems to be leopard printed and black pants. She’s wearing a headset microphone and she has both of her arms up on the right hand side and I think she’s doing some sort of like cat paw motion with them.

This image from Phoenix Physical Therapy’s Instagram shows a list of activities to do in a circuit. The background is black. There are two green zombie arms reaching into the middle of the image, there were cobwebs in the upper corners and text at the top says Halloween Survival Workout. the list of activities are as follows: Zombies run! 30 seconds fast feet, flying bats – better duck 15 squats, hold very still – 30 second plank, zombies again- 30 seconds fast feet, jump over the graves -10 tuck jumps, stay low to the ground – 10 push-ups, try to sneak by – 10 walking lunges. Oh no here it goes again repeat three times.

10 activities for the 10th month
ADHD · fitness · goals · October · season transitions · self care

10 activities for the 10th month

Christine Hennebury4 Comments

I keep trying to coax myself into picking up daily or weekly activities but I keep getting thrown off and having to start over.

But instead of being hard on myself about that I’m heading in a different direction…

Maybe this is just not my season for adding daily/weekly activities but since I still feel drawn toward doing something more, I have decided to pick 10 activities to do this month.

A photo of a dog on a path strewn with autumn leaves.
Khalee looks so pensive here but I’m pretty sure she was just trying to ignore me. Image description: Khalee, a light brown medium sized dog wearing a harness facing to the left in the photo so we can only see the left side of her face and upper body. She is staring at the fallen leaves on the path ahead of here and she has her mouth opened a little

And I can do them at any time, in any order, and however I want to do them.

Here’s my list:

  • Flail along with a Zumba dance video (they won’t be flailing, just me)
  • Do a yoga video that is longer than 30 minutes
  • Do a meditation session that is longer than 10 minutes
  • Do a strength training session with exercise bands
  • Write in my journal while on the floor
  • Walk to a meeting
  • Spend at least 20 minutes stretching
  • Try a kickboxing video
  • Plant bulbs for next spring
  • Meet someone for a walk instead of for tea

I’ll do a few updates as I get things done. 

If you don’t hear from me about this, feel free to comment here and ask!

Do you have any October ideas you want to try?

Christine and the regularly-scheduled Tuesdays
fitness · martial arts

Christine and the regularly-scheduled Tuesdays

Christine Hennebury

No one in my house is going back to school.

The weather is pretty much the same as last week.

My work doesn’t change much from season to season.

So, the only sign that fall is starting is that Taekwondo started up again on Tuesday night.

I thought it would be interesting (to me at least) to write a little bit about how I felt before class and a little bit about how I felt after and see how they matched up.

Here’s what I had to say beforehand:

My dobok is ready.

A white martial arts uniform laid out flat with a martial arts black belt laid on top of it.
I do have dobok pants, they just looked strange when I laid them out flat so I took the photo without them. Image description: my dobok top – a long white shirt with black trim and two logos on the upper left – laid flat with my black belt laid on top of it.

And I’m ready…ish.

My brain is ready to go but even though I practiced a bit over the summer my body will probably be a bit rusty.

Luckily, after over 13 years of training, I know that the key to getting back into the swing of things is to just work through the rustiness until my muscles remember what to do.

Basically, they just need to be reminded of the things they already know.

Fortunately, being in my dobok and lined up with the other students in our training space will give my muscles the nudge they need to do what I have trained them to do.

And it’s such a great feeling when everything ‘clicks’ again.

*****

And here are my thoughts afterwards:

Oh, it’s so good to be back!

It was great to see everyone again and it feels strange to realize that two months have passed. (Sure, two months is not all that long but I’m used to seeing my TKD friends weekly.)

And it was wonderful to work our way slowly through the patterns, gently reminding our muscles that they know these movements, they know what comes next.

I felt competent and focused and purposeful, step by step, movement by movement, reminding myself of the skills I have built over all these years of training.

And while it has only been two months since I stood in that space practicing on that way, that’s enough time for your conscious mind to lose track of the details of those feelings.

It felt really good to revisit those details.

And moving slowly through those patterns on the first day felt like we were warming up for the year of training ahead. Slow deliberate movement, reinforcing skills, getting ourselves ready for what comes next.

And, like I predicted, it was a great feeling when things ‘clicked’ again.

Look how happy I looked after class!

A woman in a martial arts uniform laughing
Not my most flattering look but my friend Kevin made me laugh when he took this one and it matches the spirit of our class last night. Image description – Me in my white dobok with my hair pulled back by a green cloth band. I’m wearing glasses and I’m laughing with my eyes all scrunched up. I look kind of sweaty but that’s to be expected at a martial arts class.

Christine’s Meditative Afternoon
fitness · habits · meditation · nature · October

Christine’s Meditative Afternoon

Christine Hennebury2 Comments

The Thanksgiving holiday gave me the opportunity to have a nice, slow start to my week on Monday.

I took Khalee for a walk and, even though it was windy, I took time to tune into my surroundings, noticing how the leaves have changed (or fallen), how the river noises are quieter, and how everything smells a little different right now.

A light haired dog on a green leash. Shadows from the dog and her owner are being cast on nearby grass.
It was kind of windy today but Khalee and I still enjoyed our walk. Image description: a photo of a light-haired medium-sized dog on a green leash is facing away from the camera while standing on a gravel path next to some grass. My shadow and Khalee’s are visible on the grass. Because it is late afternoon in autumn, the sun is low so our shadows are VERY long and we look disproportionately tall.

When I came home, I took down the load of clothes I had hung earlier. (It was a fine day on clothes, as the saying goes.) This task can be pretty mundane (or even boring) but today it was routine in a good way – repetitive actions with positive results.

A line of laundry in the late afternoon autumn sunlight
The repeated actions of hanging (and taking down) laundry) are meditative in their own way. Image description: a line of laundry hanging in my yard on a late autumn afternoon. The sun is shining through leaves so there are patches of sun and shadow The clothesline stretches from my patio to my shed so aside from the laundry, the photo shows some potted plants, a lawn chair with a red pillow, my patio rail, and some trees and my red-painted shed in the background.

As I turned with my basket of clean clothes, I noticed how inviting my swing looked and I remembered how much I enjoyed meditating while sitting there cross-legged the other day.

An outdoor shot of a hammock and a large round swing hanging from trees in the corner of a backyard. The grass in front of the trees is covered in brown leaves.
Two of my favourite parts of my backyard. Image description: a photo of one corner of my yard where my brown and orange hammock hangs from two trees and a round swing with green trim hangs from one of the branches. My wooden fence is one background and my (still green!) grass is littered with crunchy brown leaves.

So I decided to meditate there again today.

An outdoor shot of a woman (from the shoulders up) in her backyard.
No, I’m not actually meditating here, obviously. I was trying to use the back camera on my phone and took umpteen photos, each more bizarre looking than the last, and I fluked into this one. I decided to roll with it. Image description: an outdoor photo of me in my backyard. I am sitting on a round swing but it’s not visible in the photo. I am wearing a blue fleece jacket, my light brown hair is pulled back from my face in a cloth band, and my eyes are closed. I am smirking and I’m wearing one headphone. Grass, trees, my fence, (and part of my orange and brown hammock) are visible in the background.

And that brings me to 51 days of meditation in a row.

When I opened the Insight Timer app today, it offered this very appropriate quote for how I felt at the end of my meditative afternoon:


Mental health is not a destination,
but a process. It’s about how you
drive, not where you’re going.

– NOAM SHPANCER, PHD

I liked how, today, I have ‘driven’ myself calm instead of driving myself around the proverbial bend.

Wishing you all ease for the week ahead. Please try not to cram 5 days of work into a 4 day week. 💚⭐️

Walking To Catch Up
fitness · nature · walking

Walking To Catch Up

Christine Hennebury1 Comment

I think I am developing a new Sunday habit – a walking chat.

Or maybe a chatting walk?

Either way, I’m having a great time catching up with friends while we walk along various trails in my community (and near by.)

A selfie - I’m sitting in the driver’s seat in my car wearing sunglasses, a black  baseball cap, and a blue fleece jacked with a Fastsigns logo. The sign is shining on the lower part of my face and I’m smirking.
I always bring my smirk on a walk. You know, just in case. Image description: A selfie – I’m sitting in the driver’s seat in my car wearing sunglasses, a black  baseball cap, and a blue fleece jacked with a Fastsigns logo. The sign is shining on the lower part of my face and I’m smirking.

In the Before Times, I probably would have just waited until we could swing a time to sit down together in someone’s house or a cafe and we’d catch up on each other’s lives while we snacked and drank tea.

I’m still strongly pro-snack (and pro-tea) but here in the During Times I don’t find it as relaxing to be in cafes or even in other people’s homes. I’ve met a few people for tea – sometimes on patios and sometimes inside – but I’ve also missed seeing a lot of people who I would normally catch up with in person every few months.

Recently, my friend Elaine wanted to bounce a few ideas off of me and I was about to suggest that we meet on Zoom on Sunday morning when I impulsively suggested that we meet for a walk instead.

As I was starting out on my ideas walk with Elaine that Sunday, my cousin Sheri, who I haven’t seen in ages, texted me about walking with her later that day. I jumped at the chance for two walks and two chats and I really had a relaxing, connected-feeling Sunday as a result.

This past week, my friend Sandy and I realized that we had gone too long without a chat and decided that this Sunday, we would take our conversation on the road. (Ok, so it was actually a path but it had the same effect.)

We did an hour’s walk and crammed in about 3 hours of conversation. I suspect that anyone overhearing us thought we were on fast- forward 😉

And, once again, my Sunday found me feeling relaxed and connected.

Two people's shadows among the shadows of leaves on a gravel pathway. There are fallen leaves among the gravel and there is a patch of greenery on the upper left side.
Sandy and I are VERY shadowy figures indeed. Please note that Sandy is not that much taller than me nor does she have a triangular head. Shadows can be deceiving. Image description: Our shadows among the shadows of leaves on a gravel pathway. There are fallen leaves among the gravel and there is a patch of greenery on the upper left side.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’d still love to cozy into a chair with my hands wrapped around a cup of tea and have in-depth conversation but right now those conversations aren’t as relaxing as they once were. I get distracted by the ambient anxiety of living in our Covid-world.

And Zoom chats are good but they can’t fully replace being in someone’s comforting and invigorating presence.

Walking to catch up is the perfect solution for me. I get to have a bit more movement in my day, I get to actually SEE my friends and, we get to have the sort of wandering and satisfying conversations you can really only have in-person. 

I’m definitely making plans to do this regularly and catch up with everyone I have been missing. 

Who’s up for a walk next Sunday?

A wide gravel path with trees and grass on both sides is in partial sunlight. A park bench painted in rainbow/Pride colours can be seen ahead on the right side.
This not the road less travelled, it’s the path we took! Image description: a wide gravel path with trees and grass on both sides is in partial sunlight. A park bench painted in rainbow/Pride colours can be seen ahead on the right side.
cycling

Spring there, Autumn here. Sigh.

Sam B

Happens every Autumn.

I shared what I thought was a good news story yesterday. Higher than normal fall temperatures expected. Yay! Right?

Not so much, judging by my friends’ responses.

Alberta friends had reason to complain. It’s snowing there. See here. And more expected. See Alberta Snowfall: Four things you should know for Monday.

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But my Ontario friends? It was all anticipatory dread. Fall we all agreed is a perfectly lovely season. I love fall riding. See why I think fall riding is perfect for beginners. The colours are perfect. It’s not too hot. People are fit but mostly no one is training for any big races.

fall light I think what people are afraid of is what’s to come after fall: months of snow and cold. I’m trying not to think about it too much.

It’s especially tough for me. After a couple of sabbaticals in Australia and New Zealand I’ve got lots of cycling friends in the southern hemisphere. For them, it’s the start of spring and the beginning of the serious racing and training season. My Facebook newsfeed is full of posts and announcements about spring riding. I’m jealous!

The only thing I don’t miss about riding in Australia are the swooping magpies.

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Thanks Lee for this one.