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Hi MITM - sounds like you are having a fairly horrible winter too - with Bracken. The last couple of days has actually been sunny and quite nice here in the East of England - however, I believe that the storms are back tonight and the poor people in Somerset are unlikely to get any relief any time soon.
well today I had my first decent days diet and exercise since I can't remember when and came in well under my target for the day. Ate well and properly - lovely roast chicken and salad for supper ( no bread) and a glass of water, followed by a weight watchers yoghurt (dessert recipe - really yummy). I also went swimming first thing then took Mum up to Aldeburgh as it was a nice day and we walked along the prom towards Thorpeness and back - although it was very windy on the way back so Mum got back in the car while I walked a little further. Then I came home and had a break before going for a massage. Last night was choir so off I went out again last night. Had a good rehearsal and was very pleased with the racket I was making especially in the Hummel which has some very high and tricky passages in the Gloria (and for that matter in the Agnus Dei and the Sanctus - actually it looks simple but its actually very tricky and I've been practicing hard at home).
I'm going in for a trial day at work on Thursday - can't say I'm looking forward to it.
Today I'm having lunch with a work colleague then going for a ride this afternoon. Hopefully it will stay reasonable until I get out there and back!
How is everyone else? its been a little quiet on here lately.
take care all
PB0 -
Argg! I had just spent 2o minutes here when inexplicably everything disappeared so I'm not sure how much I'll get back to tonight.
And I have been a bit quiet lately but hope to be a little more consistent as I always do better when I am consistently logging in.
PB, it is good to read that you have had a good day with the diet and exercise and are looking forward to a ride. You are certainly keeping active with everything including the choir and still making time for your Mom. I think some of my problem at the moment is that I am not able to get about as much as I should. I had a nice chat today with the stable owner who phoned to update me on my horse as again I haven't been out for awhile. He is doing fine and apparently is the only one who is not acting up because of this weather here. He is being ridden once a week or twice by a young woman who lives quite near the stable and who worked there in the summer when off from university. She is extremely nice and kind and would treats my horse very well (the stable owner asked me if I would like this woman to ride for me)but there is still apart of me that feels sad that I can't be the one riding. In line with MITM's plan of doing jobs while housebound, I have tried to do likewise. One job has left me with quite a sore back however. I have cork flooring in the kitchen/dining room and periodically it has to be conditioned. This involves cleaning on the hands and knees with a special cleaner and then conditioning with a wax like conditioner that also has to be put on the same way. I put on two coats of the conditioner because of Nellie and have now had quite a sore back for the past couple of days; however, I hope to get in some proper exercise tomorrow. MITM, I feel as if you and I are in a contest for the worst winter ever! Calling in the army certainly gives you some cred; we've have school closings this year too and have broken records for coldest days in Jan. and another storm is predicted for tomorrow; thankfully I don't have to travel anywhere. I do hope you are able to do your flight to England, MITM. I did manage yesterday to get out and get my hair cut ( it was over two weeks overdue) and I felt much better for getting it done. It made me think that if money were no object, I think I would have a hair stylist who would keep my hair perfectly in the style everyday, the way some of the television presenters on the news look- you never look at them and think, she is ready for a trim! May I suggest this as a
QOTW (we've not had one for awhile); what indulgence would you have if money were no object that would make you feel good everyday?0 -
That's easy for me Bracken - I'd have a swimming pool at home and swim every day! No problem with bad weather cos it will be indoors and it will be warm! Oh well I can dream.
Had a lovely ride in the end and then went to a quiz with a friend - we came last - I don't think I've ever done that - but the questions were tricky and my team members were all drunk - I was the designated driver- good way of avoiding drinking more than I should. still it was fun. A relaxing day today and then to work tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be too bad. The plan is to ride again early on Friday morning but it may be raining hard then.
I don't know what it is but I quite often come on here start writing a long post and then for no obvious reason it disappears completely mid sentence.
Had to laugh last night when I got home - Mum and Dad were ready for bed and Dad told me that Mum had put the cats to bed - they have beds in the kitchen - however, Bentley was standing staring at me from the living room. He obviously walks through closed doors - cats are clever like that!
Take care all and I hope you get to ride soon Bracken
PB0 -
No extra charge for the large dream, PB. Why not add a pool keeper to maintain it too. That has always been the drawback to pools for me. Well, the storm came as predicted and with it lots of snow making it difficult to get Nellie to the back yard. On top of that I had a very upset stomach today- reflux and irritable bowels on overdrive. However, I am wondering if I have found the cause. For the past two nights, I have had fresh asparagus as part of my dinner and I ate good portions as it is so healthy and low calorie. I haven't had it for awhile though so it is 'new' to my digestion. I looked it up on the internet and found that it is one of the foods to avoid if you have problems with gas/bloat. I was amazed to find that it is in the same veg family as leeks, garlic, and brussel sprouts, all of which bother me- garlic in particular is like poison. It is very frustrating as I like all these vegs and they are all so healthy. I'll try an introduce a little asparagus again but in very small amounts. The upshot has been that I have not been able to exercise today but at least feel that I know what went wrong.
One of the jobs I've ben doing while so housebound is going through some previous food logs, of which I have several. I'm getting rid of them but before I did so I went through because they often had little notes of daily happenings, particularly exercise and riding. So I made some notes. I should be a real journaler as I don't seem to have a great memory! The other thing I did was look at my eating notes and tried to see if there were any patterns, to see if I can learn anything to go forward better. One thing that is quickly obvious is the role of sweets. The logs show me that everyday I seem to have something sweet, even if it is a day when I am well within 1200 cals. The logged days are nearly always relatively good days; I have a bad habit of not logging at all if I go right off the rails! It has been good to see that I have long stretches of consistently. The gaps speak out even in their silence! ( I am well aware that a couple of bad days take more than a couple of good days to compensate for!). However, my plan is to focus on cutting added sugar from my diet as much as possible. It is becoming quite worrisome to me. Just yesterday there was an article in the Globe and a piece on tv about the excess sugar being a significant risk factor for heart disease. The recommendation is that one should keep added sugar in foods (not the natural sugar in fruits or veg) to no more than 20-25g per day. I know that a single serving of an ice cream that I've bought has 28g. in a half cup. Yikes! It is amazing how quickly the little bits add up too - 4 g. in some ketchup on my poached eggs, then another 4g. on the cod at dinner. Oh well, as Beck would say.
Must try and get Nellie again. Regards all.0 -
Evening Crackers
I've just finished work for the night. I'm having to put in the extra hours this week to get the orders done before I hopefully depart on Saturday for England. Hope your day back at work went okay PB?
Well Bracken, I was thinking about your question today whilst finishing off my doors (only stage 1; the stripping is now completed) and I decided upon my very own 'Jillian' as in personal trainer would be my indulgence! However I don't think I'd want her or him (!!) every day. But I imagine I might exercise more often if I had someone arriving on my doorstep to push me. Jillian and I have not met in over a week again! But I've done plenty of snow clearing instead....
Is LMV back tomorrow? That's a whole month doesn't time fly and yet I've lost next to nothing whilst LMV has been gone!!!! I shall need to get that new DVD for when I return ready for the next 'Shredders' challenge! I may not have the personal trainer but at least we have LMV to encourage us on!!!0 -
Hello all. A better day for me here finally in regards to exercise. I did 3 miles on the treadmill and made a start with my Pilates dvd. The exercises are very different from Jillian's which I think will be good for me because they will give me an alternative. The total workout is 51 minutes but can be divided into 2. I thought this was plenty to make some attempt at so I'll see how I feel tomorrow- perhaps it will take a few times before a really get a sense of how much it is working me. After yesterday's storm, the snowbanks on my street are so wide and high that I don't know where we are going to put any more snow- not to mention the mess it will all be once it starts melting. That will not happen soon as the next week is going to be very cold- tomorrow -30C with the wind chill factor.
MITM, I think I might trade in my fantasy indulgence for yours- yes, a great personal trainer would be the ticket. I hope you have finished your work without ending up totally exhausted and that you'll get off to England without incident. PB, I hope your return to work went ok. Checking in tonight, I see the return of LMV. Looking forward to hearing about Australia when you have had a chance to get over your jet lag. BM, good to see you are reporting your logging. Hope there is some relief from your recent health problems.
Regards.0 -
Hi All - well the day at work went OK. I was a bit anxious about it but I kept it low key- kept my phone on do not disturb and didn't engage in anything too controversial. I spent a lot of the day catching up with the team and going through nearly 400 emails that the girls had left in my inbox. They had dealt with quite a lot but as Julie said to me 'I didn't realise the weekly inbox was important' - so I have to do some trawling through those to see if there is anything of importance that I have missed. Two partners were in so they popped in to chat but the other two were on leave and I have a salaried GP on sick leave too - today is going to be a nightmare as she won't be in and there is no one to do the on call - they'll just have to share it. In the end I did almost a normal day - 9.30am - 4.30pm without a lunch break as such so it wasn't too bad. Am seeing GP tomorrow morning and going in on Mon/Tues/Thurs next week and probably the following week too - then we'll see how it goes from there!
Supposed to be riding this morning but its currently bucketing down so not sure what will happen. Need to text Maria and see.
Well done Bracken - although from your posts I think you do better on your exercise than you give yourself credit for! I think here in the UK we'd be delighted if there was a cold dry spell - the whole of Somerset now seems to be under water with no sign of an end to the rain. There are people in tears every night on the tv = watching their businesses slowly go to rack and ruin all because successive 'townie' governments haven't understood the need to dredge the *kitten* and rivers. There is just no where for the water to go. My friend in Bordeaux is also finding herself threatened by flood waters due to the storms.
Have woken up this morning with another head cold and sore throat - bother! I'm supposed to be doing an Evensong on Sunday afternoon in Ipswich.
Well hope all is well with the rest of the crackers - speak soon
PB0 -
Evening Crackers!
Well I may have been a little hard on myself, it's been just over a month since I started back on my way of healthy eating and I've lost 4 of the 6 pounds I gained over Christmas.
The good thing about stats (like you Bracken I have records of my weight, measurements and comments going back years!) I can actually see that I'm doing far better than this time last year, when it took me 2 months to get this far! Plus I've lost 2 inches from my waist, stomach and tummy button and an inch off my hips and thighs and that's with more snow clearing than Jillian!!
Not sure how I will do in England but I'm back in my tight cords that's a first since Christmas and I'm taking my pedometer. My plan is not to gain more than 2 pounds... I can but try! And then on my return it's back to serious business and Jillian, that's assuming I can get back in the door. This weather is relentless, we are due another metre of snow on Tuesday so the husband is up clearing the snow from the roof.... I will be thinking of you Bracken!
Well Crackers be good and I shall catch up on the 24th.0 -
MITM, it looks like you may not read this until your return but I'll say congrats anyway on doing so well in dealing with the Christmas gain but more so it is evident that you are making longer lasting changes. I'm glad you have at least got some benefit from the snow- those measurements are impressive. PB, glad you were are to survive your day back at work. There seems to be extreme weather in so many places. We have had news of England's flooding on tv and last weekend, I phoned a friend in Marlowe. She was telling me about the incessant rain and spoke of the damage it was doing. I continue virtually housebound with the cold. I managed to do 2 1/2 miles on the treadmill today though and did part of the Pilates tape- the exercises give me a whole different perspective of aspects of my lack of fitness! The miles on the treadmill count for nought in terms of the demands of these new moves. However, I am going to try to persist as I think they will improve both flexibility and strength and hope to intersperse them with my other efforts. I haven't given up on the Nordic track but I am really behind as the Olympics have now started! Regards all.0
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Hi all,
Apologies for being absent and short post.....
Bracken, have written a few lines to you on other circle post x
MITM, Sorry I missed wishing you a safe journey, but hope you have a wonderful time with your daughter .x
LMV, Hope the jet lag isn't getting you down! x
PB, hope all is well? x
Saffy, am thinking of you x
A short post as this is my first day upright since Saturday. I have had ? food poisoning (I think). We have narrowed it down to potatoes I had Saturday whilst out. I was assured they were vegetarian, but now believe they were cooked in animal fat. I have not had these same symptoms since eating "vegetarian" gravy an aunt had made in the pan she cooked the meat in!! All I can say is thank goodness our apartment is small and the bed is only yards away from the en-suite! Also, I would have never been able to fly if it had happened this time next week. Unbelievably I have not lost any weight. I have however been able to sip ice-cold milk since yesterday morning and that is full of sugar here so am blaming it on that!
Back off to bed now, will be up later to hopefully walk the dog, not too far though! lol x
Wishing you all a safe and happy week, BM x x
PS, from what I am hearing and seeing on TV I may need a water plane to land next week. Dreadful flooding! Hope you have all been spared the worse.0 -
Hi Bailey - yes I've warned my Hampshire friends that when they return from NZ in a few weeks time the may need a boat to get home rather than a taxi! Its pretty awful for much of Southern England and especially Somerset and Dorset - but here in the East we have escaped the worst - although several friends with horses have no pasture as its currently Lakeland. Still we are told that the forecast is slightly better for next week - after we have months worth of rainfall dumped on us (again) today and Friday! This really is beginning to look like a major humanitarian (and animal) disaster - with many farmers fearing that they will never be able to restart their farms and many animals drowning. In the towns the sewers are overloaded too so its bad where ever and whatever your circumstances. I am extremely lucky! Well away from water of any kind and quite high up (for Suffolk!).
I am doing OK personally although I am currently suffering from a second bug in two weeks - this one has been vicious. Work continues to be very challenging and I can't say I'm finding it easy to cope but I'll hang on in there. Haven't been able to ride and all plans for the weekend were cancelled as I was so poorly - including both singing and riding so feeling very unhealthy too. Mum and Dad are still here so eating has been challenging as well - Mum's spotty **** is irresistible I'm afraid and theres far too much sweet stuff lying around. With no attempt at exercise of any kind I'm feeling distinctly podgy and reluctant to even think about getting on the scales. Hopefully, they will go home at the end of the week and I can get back to normal. Whatever that is! My friend Elisabeth has had her second hip op and, apart from a few problems with blood pressure to begin with, she is home and doing well. I'm hoping to visit next week so we can make some initial plans about a holiday later in the year - although at this stage I don't think she will be ready to commit to anything to far away. Still she seemed very upbeat when I spoke to her on the phone last night - which is fabulous!
well that's about it for now - hopefully I will regain my mojo very soon and get back to my weight loss with vigour!
take care all - wherever you are!
PB x0 -
Hello Crackers,
I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get around to posting. We were really busy over the week-end and then on Monday, despite having felt fine until then, we both suddenly seemed to suffer from jet lag and felt absolutely exhausted. I had no energy to do anything and had a very early night and slept right through until my alarm went off the next morning. We're gradually getting back to normal now.
I haven't read all the posts on this thread thoroughly but I've looked through them enough to get the gist of what's been going on. We all seem to be suffering severe weather conditions of one sort or another, be it heat or cold, rain or snow. Health issues seem to be prevalent as well. Best wishes to all in the health trials and tribulations. BM I sympathise with your predicament. I had fibroids and I remember how washed out and anaemic I was during that time. I had a hysterectomy which pretty much sorted everything out so I'm so sorry that this isn't an option for you. PB, I'm pleased to hear that you feel strong enough to start back at work, but like BM said, I would urge you not to do too much too soon. Bracken, I hope you and Nellie aren't going too stir crazy cooped up in the house and that your foot is recovering well. Feet are funny things, we don't generally give them a lot of attention but we certainly realize how much we rely on them when there is a problem! MITM, I assume you are safely in the UK with your daughter. I'm sorry to hear that she and her aunt are not as compatible as they might be. Might your brother be able to step in and help or would that be beyond him? It sounds like some kind of mediation is needed to help them understand each other although that would probably be hard for a 15 year old to deal with.
Our holiday in Australia is already feeling like a dim and distant memory, but it was fantastic to feel the sun on our backs. There were so many highlights. We started in Melbourne seeing our friends. I was so excited to be reunited with my lovely friend who I hadn't seen for 2 years and 3 months. There were tears at the airport and the lovely prospect of a month together. In the first few days there were walks on the beach, visiting wineries on the beautiful Mornington peninsular, trips around two beautiful gardens in the Dardenangs and a fantastic day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground watching Australia v England. The cricket wasn't up to much but the atmosphere was electric. Chris and I then flew to the Red Centre which we thoroughly enjoyed. Uluru (Ayers Rock) is a truly spiritual place and we did the sunrise and sunset tours. Sunrise was particularly magical. We also did a cultural walk with an Aborigine around the base who told us some of the stories which explain the marking on the Rock in their culture. Mata Njuta (The Olgas) are also spectacular and we walked up a gorge which was beautiful. It was in the 40 's there, but it's a dry heat which is bearable. We flew from there to Sydney and spent three nights there. We splashed out on a hotel with a view of Circular Quay and the Opera House which was spectacular. The tour of the Opera House was a real highlight, it's an amazing building with an interesting history and you also get to see whatever rehearsals are going on at the time you are there. The weather was sublime and we spent a lot of time in the Botanical gardens and of course the obligatory boat tour of the harbour. Back to Melbourne for the week - end with our friends and we got tickets for the Rod Laver Arena at the Australian tennis open. We saw the Canadian Eugenie Bouchard beat an Australian and Wawrinka who went on the win it. I love tennis so
I really enjoyed that. We then hired a car and set off to drive The Great Ocean Road. Totally amazing scenery. We will definitely do that again and allow more time to explore. We were lucky enough to see a koala bear in the road. He was strolling down the road and sat down by our car before wandering off. I didn't realize what an unusual experience this was as they spend about 22 hours a day asleep. Most Australians told us they had never seen that. (Will continue in a second post in case
I lose this)0 -
Back again.
We took the car on the ferry to Kangaroo Island. We hired a beach house there and had a sublime three days. We did a private wildlife tour and saw sea lions, eagles, iguanas, seals, koalas, kangaroos and wallabies (amongst other things) all in the wild. The scenery in the Flinders Chase National Park is stunning with unusual rick formations caused by erosion like The Remarkable Rocks and Admiral's Arch. Absolutely gorgeous. We went to a lavender farm as well with thousands of lavenders in blooms which smelt fantastic. They have all sorts of lavender products and we had afternoon tea there - lavender scones with lavender jelly and cream. It was delicious and I was delighted to discover that Lavendula angustifolia 'Hidcote' (which I planted 8 of in my garden last summer) is one of the culinary varieties so I shall experiment with making scones in the summer. We then had a couple of days in Adelaide where they have a fantastic indoor produce market. It was a great place to keep cool as the temperature soared above 40 degrees there again. I found some organic Welsh cheddar there selling for 78 Australian dollars a kilo!! After Adelaide we flew back to Melbourne and had the final week of our holiday with our friends exploring the city and their local area. It was a truly wonderful holiday and we need to start saving to go back again. My husband who had never been there before absolutely loved it. It was such a shock to go from wearing skimpy sundresses to complete wet weather wear though. As I write this it us blowing a gale and pouring with rain AGAIN. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see how distressed people are at listing their homes and belongings in the floods. There are areas of land in our vicinity which I have never seen waterlogged before. We are okay at the moment but it is very worrying to hear another 4 inches of rain us due to fall this week alone.
Food wise I wasn't too bad on holiday but we did have quite a lot of wine. I put on 4lbs so it could have been worse. I've struggled to think about what I'm eating since I've got home and there have been a few cakes consumed in coffee shops which
I must knock on the head! We are eating mostly vegetarian food for February which I'm really enjoying.
Must go so more on that next post. Stay warm ( or cool) and safe all
xx0 -
LMV, I have really enjoyed your account of your trip. You have made me picture very well what you saw and for a some minutes it took me away from the snow outside my window. You certainly worked in a lot during your time there. How fortunate you were to see so much wildlife. I think you've also done very well weight-wise for such a long holiday. All that activity surely will mean you'll easily jump back into your usual exercise routines. I personally can't imagine going about in 40 degrees above temperatures. Here we have had a lot of news about the ongoing rains and flooding in large parts of the UK. That expected 4 inches of rain is a tremendous amount at one time. I hope you will stay ok. PB, a shame you are having to fight another virus, definitely not what you need with all your external issues. I am still basically housebound by weather but at least I can do some exercise. Today I did 3.36 miles on the treadmill and also did the Nordic track. I spent a lot of the morning cooking to try and help my youngest sister. She had a bad day yesterday. She was driving to see our sister-in-law who has been released from the hospital and a deer jumped in front of her vehicle suddenly. She could not avoid it. The deer probably died and my sister's vehicle suffered over a $1000 damage, not to mention the anguish my sister felt at the whole incident. Fortunately no one was hurt; these animal collisions often cause deadly accidents. I tried to help out by making her a large pot of chicken rice soup with lots of veg so that she would not have to cook when she finished work. I also made a baked rice pudding which she and her children really like. My sister's husband works a regular 3-11 pm shift so she has all the parenting duties of their three children during the week. Well, I can smell my own soup cooking so it is time to leave for dinner. Regards.0
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Quick post as I am having the dreaded pedi/manicure in a little while.
LMV, Absolutely loved hearing of your Oz adventures. It all sounds amazing. (Brilliant how good your weight is too!). I had to smile at your shock over the organic Welsh cheese, I was actually thinking that $78 was quite cheap for that over here! lol x I am ashamed to say that even living this close to Australia I have never been. We keep on saying we will, but like everything else it's finding time. Any holidays we have are spent in the UK with the children. Maybe one day...... (please tell us more re your travels!!)
I must have been away with the fairies booking my trip home. Firstly I put the wrong travel dates on my insurance. Horrendously expensive over here and a nightmare to change. Now today I have had a reminder for my hire car and on checking it have somehow managed to book to pick it up over a hundred miles from the airport!!!! I have to wait until later and hope it can be sorted out when the UK Hertz office opens. Otherwise I have to cancel, lose money on that too and then rebook at a more expensive rate. What really worries me though, is that I believe everything happens in threes. I am now waiting for the next bad thing, which hopefully will NOT happen on the plane! It's absolutely no wonder my family dislike travelling with me so much. I definitely add to the stress of it all!
Hope all the Crackers are doing OK and that you all have a fab weekend.
Take care, BM x x0 -
Bracken I hope you are OK? The weather forecast says that Canada has just been treated to another 'giant' storm. Its been pretty windy here last night and wet but its dry now and the wind is dying down. They are forecasting tomorrow to be a better day which I hope it will be as I'm hoping I will, at last, be well enough to ride. Although throat still sore, nose still bunged and voice still squeaky I do actually 'feel' better! This has been going on for well over a week now - absolutely ridiculous!
PB0 -
Hello Crackers,
Bracken, I echo PB's thoughts as I too have seen the reports of a huge snow dump in North America and Canada. It looks like Quebec and Newfoundland have been the worst hit but I hope you are safe and well where you are.
BM - it is so easy to make mistakes when booking online. Just before we left for Auatralia my husband was looking through my file with all the reservations and confirmations and said "it all looks great apart from the Adelaide flight" and when I checked I had booked it for 29 December instead of 29 January. The 29 December was long gone so couldn't change it, I just had to rebook it. It definitely pays to have someone double check things! When are you leaving and have you still got my number? If you get a chance, I'm still up for a coffee in Abergavenny.
PB, sorry you've been so poorly and hope you are fighting fit again soon
It was another wild night here, but thankfully we don't seem to have suffered any damage. Two people lost their lives last night though which is a dreadful tragedy. When will it end? It's raining again now as I write this.
Have you been enjoying the Winter Olympics Bracken? I see that Canada are doing well. I am loving it and Team GB got a gold yesterday when Lizzie Yarnold won the skeleton. It's quite amazing that we manage to do so well in this event when we don't even have a track in the UK for them to practice on!
Well I'm going to have a quiet day today and hunker down in front of the fire with my knitting.
Lots of love to all
xx
ps husband made me the most delicious tomato and mozzarella risotto last night. Absolutely loving vegetarian month0 -
Finally got out of the house for a couple of hours today. Felt so much better for a walk along the front at Felixstowe - mind you it was blowing fit to bust and plenty of trees down in various places. But we seem to have escaped the very worst unlike so many. As LMV notes some deaths due to the weather which is tragic.
The sea was certainly high and lots of sand flying around but finished off with a hot chocolate in the little ice cream co café and thoroughly enjoyed. Daren't get on the scales though - Mum and Dad's visit, coinciding with feeling ill means I have not only comfort ate but been somewhat force fed too - I only hope I can get back on track once they go home and I am hopefully feeling better. I can't believe I've still got a sore throat! Will be riding tomorrow morning though.
take care all
PB0 -
Hello all.
PB, the storm you mention thankfully passed us by but hit regions of Canada east of me very badly and hit parts of the U.S. hard, including some southern states that don't usually get that type of weather- Georgia, for one, was hit very hard. There is a lot of concern about losses of fruit and veg, which is bad news on top of news from California where there is the worst drought in 250 years. Fruit and veg prices are expected to rise sharply as a result. I also heard that there were 750,000 people in the U.S. without hydro as a result of the storm. We have been fortunate in my area not to have had any outages of hydro or heat as a result of the bad weather. That said, our weather continues very cold, day after day below the normal lows for the region, and snow flurries expected tonight, tomorrow and Monday which will again make it difficult getting out and about. I saw more footage of UK flooding yesterday, including an item of Harry and William helping with sandbagging. The amount of water is incredible in those hard hit places so again the world seems to be askew. Hope your ride goes well.
LMV, I have watched more of the Olympics than I usually do, partly because of being so housebound. I particularly enjoyed the slope style skiing where the two Canadian sisters won gold and silver and their older sister finished 12th. They were much interviewed here, of course, and I was so impressed with what a close family they seem to be- the gold medal sister talked mostly about how great it was to medal with her sister and gave a lot of credit to the eldest sister who had been instrumental in getting her involved in the first place. I can hardly believe those flips and jumps they do. I was aware that GB got gold in skeleton and Britain's strength in that sport was referenced in the commentaries. It is interesting how certain countries will do well in one particular sport. I have old friends who are originally from Holland and they are very focused and thrilled to see the Dutch victories in the speedskating. Canada being more of a winter sports country, there is a lot of hype about the games- sometimes it seems to me the expectations are simply too high. So many other countries are putting a lot of focus on the games too. The Japanese mens' skater who won gold and beat our very good Patrick Chan is coached by a Canadian skater and former Olympic medalist.
PM, hope you get your travel plans sorted. travelling today can be so stressful.
I had a nice visit with my youngest sister today. I had made a rather simple chocolate pudding for her and her daughters yesterday but she was unable to get it then. She is very health conscious and tries to not have a lot of sugary desserts so I made the pud instead of giving them some Valentine's candy. I checked the internet recipes but ended up modifying and was very pleased with the result- I cut the sugar quite significantly but it still tasted sweet enough. (my sister pronounced her taster excellent). I also used baker's unsweetened chocolate as well as cocoa which seemed to give it a richer flavour. Both my sister and I still talk about the chocolate pud our grandma made when we were children so my pud has a lot to live up to!
Today I managed 3 miles on the treadmill and did the upper/lower body tone sections of Jillian.
Hoping all are well and keeping heads above water, either literally or metaphorically. Regards.0 -
Hi Bracken - yes the world does seem to be at the mercy of unusual weather at present. hopefully, things will improve for everyone soon. they are forecasting a bit less vicious weather for the next few days here - although still some rain - but not a months worth in a few days coupled with high winds so hopefully everyone will get a chance to do some clearing up.
I went for a short ride this morning which was lovely -t he sun is shining although there is still quite a cold wind and the snowdrops etc are all coming out and my front garden is full of crocuses and daffodils and I have one violet in bloom. Trees are coming out in blossom too so hopefully we won't have any sharp frosts now - but I guess we probably will.
Mum and Dad just left for home and I must admit the house feels wonderfully quiet already. I suppose the fact that I have felt so ill all the time they have been here hasn't helped but I'm really quite relieved. They are lovely and I'm grateful to have them but this wasn't the best time for me to have visitors.
I'm hoping that once I get through this week I will be able to get back to some proper exercise but the plan is to at least get back on the straight and narrow food wise.
take care all and speak soon
PB0
