Hi New8 - thanks for the recipe - good idea!

Hello all. And a belated birthday wish to you, New82 and thanks. Our birthdays are really close but quite a difference in the years for sure. But I am glad we are meeting here with some common interests and struggles. I sympathize with your concerns about your daughter's behaviour. I'm sure it is particularly difficult with a first or only child trying to figure out what is to be expected and how to react. I had an enjoyable birthday with a lovely barbeque at one of my brother's home and in the company of several of my other siblings. Earlier in the day I got in a good walk, a short bike ride, and a ride on my horse. All the exercise was probably undone by the rhubarb cobbler cake (proudly made by a 13 year old niece) and a generous serving of ice-cream for dessert. My cousin who lives in the Beaworthy area of England called for a nice chat too. And, my birthday will be celebrated again next week as the stable owner is taking me and another woman I ride with to lunch to celebrate our July birthdays. We have continued to have violent heavy thunderstorms until today but I feel I should not complain as there are areas in Canada much worse off. I do not know how much of our news would make the U.K. press but there has been very destructive flooding in the Calgary area with many homes destroyed, the zoo decimated and out of commission until Nov., and many people still not allowed to return to the area of their homes. A brother who lives near Calgary but far enough east to escape damage has done some volunteering with his wife and daughter in High River to help clean up from the flood damage. Parts of Toronto were heavily flooded in the past week by a storm that dumped the most rainfall ever recorded. There were pictures of folks being rescued from a commuter rain by police in boats. Then, of course, every day there is still news of the terrible runaway train accident which has wiped out the centre of a small Quebec town with 60 feared dead from the fires and explosions from the gas the trains were carrying. The raspberry crop here seems to have liked the rains. Yesterday I picked 6 pints and they were lovely berries. However, I may not be able to get any local cherries. The farmer where I pick told me she can't get any local cherries as all the ripe ones have split open because of so much rain. Last year there was no local cherry crop because of a later frost. You have to feel sorry for the farmers. Their livelihood can be very uncertain. One thing farmers can be certain of, unfortunately, is that callous people will drop off kittens on their property. Last week two were found on the Thursday near the stable door. There was concern that there could be more as litters are typically larger. Wouldn't you know it, on the Sunday one of the family's daughters heard a sound near the road and a third kitten was found, bedraggled with a bloody ear from some effort to attack it likely. The family are all animal lovers and the kittens are now being well looked after.

well I made it into the sea today - Yeaaaay. It was freezio. The sun shine was lovely though this afternoon after a chilly cloudy morning. Have eaten too much although the rot only set in this evening when we had an early supper of lovely wholemeal bread and three different kinds of bread, with a fig compote....... Just kept on eating - irresistible especially with a nice glass off cold white wine. Tomorrow is meant to be hotter although if we go to the coast it will be considerably cooler. I think we will go into Woodbridge though for a wander round Adnams and lunch - then BBQ in the evening for 9........:laugh:

Hi MITM

The beaches were as crowded today as I've seen them in a long time - but no they aren't usually as crowded as the South Coast - its a lot 'softer' there. And my supper was Wholemeal bread with three different kinds of cheese - I just re-read and realised I wrote 3 different kinds of bread. Ooops. The brie was wondering around the house on its own it was so ripe..... All gone now though. Friends leave tomorrow morning so will be back to normal then.
Have eaten far too much and now feeling slightly full - into the gym tomorrow evening me thinks.....

Hello all. We are in the midst of a July heatwave here, with no relief in sight for several more days- temps of 32C with a feel of 40Cwith the humidity. Now it is 31C by 9 in the morning and it doesn't cool down much at night. It has made it difficult to do as much walking. I have to choose what activity I'll do in the coolest period between 7-9 a.m. Today I did get a mile walk in and then went raspberry picking again for the freezer. It was impossibly hot by 10 so I left then with my 4 pints. Yesterday I took Nellie to the vets for her spay operation at 8 a.m. so that took up the cool part. Nellie did well with the operation but it really has taken a lot out of her. She will be confined to barracks for the next 2-3 days with only outdoors for 'pees.' She has to wear a large plastic cone over her head so she won't disturb her incision. Sunday the barn owner put our schooling lesson to an early morning time too and even then it was hot so we only did a couple of jumps at a time. LMV, I so understand about summer and the difficulties of maintaining a diet consistently. It would seem at first that summer is a great time to diet but I find with the weather and more socializing that it is in fact not so. This week my birthday continues as the stable owner is taking me and another boarder with a July birthday out for lunch which should nicely undo the bit of walking I've managed during the week in the heat. It is also too hot now for the horses so no riding for a few days. Guests are lovely to have, LMV, but I can imagine you feeling as if you are running a B&B. A friend in Kelona, British Columbia two summers ago had 42 days of visitors, several at a time too. I'm sure you'll hang in enough, LMV, that you'll be able to focus more as guest season winds down. Your visit to the fair shows what you can do! New82, you sound like a really serious gardener- cabbages no less. My back garden is very shady so I can't grow vegs. However, this year my brother made me a portable veg garden. It is like a flower box, about four feet high on wheels, and made of wood, and has a planter tray about 3 1/2 by 5 feet. I have some very nice cherry tomatoes growing, beans, chard and several kinds of lettuce as well as miniature carrots. I've really enjoyed having fresh lettuce at hand. (please excuse me if I mentioned this before as now I am getting a feeling I may have) . PB, I am imagining how nice it would be to cool off in your sea. Must leave now. I'm going to meet a riding friend and we'll hose our horses down with cold water and let then graze a little as a respite from their stalls- too hot and too many bugs and flies for them to be in their field for long either.

Peas are starting to fill out - yummy. Potatoes taste absolutely perfect. Can't see any courgettes or tomatoes yet although plenty of flowers....

Hello all. LMV, your last post is very insightful and I can certainly apply it to myself. I think you have worked your way through the issue very well. I totally understand how you would feel having put on a few pounds but I think you were very smart to put it into perspective and trying on those outfits and seeing that while they might have been a bit more snug, it was not as if you had suddenly jumped up three sizes. Perspective, realizing that the fat feeling has a large part to do with attitude, and knowing that you are exercising and generally eating more healthy, I think will set you up for long term success rather than just short term. You have not objectively put on that much weight and yet you felt fat and for a while despondent. I think it is a good thing that you are somewhat concerned and are taking some action by tracking food and continuing to garden (your gardens sound lovely but clearly a lot of work has been done) and you're maintaining your committment to the 5k (your heat wave has been well reported here recently). It sounds to me as if you have made the shift to thinking of that thinner self as your real self (I believe Beck talks about that) All this is a mark of success. It has bothered me to put weight on and off recently but I am trying to consider that I have had a history of letting a lot of weight pile up and allowed myself to slip into denial and then of course, negativity which can be a real struggle to pull out of. I think I have had some success in thinking that my thinner self is my real self, even if my thinner self is not an ideal weight at the moment. I hope I am not being confusing here!)So I would say you are handling it well and you have helped me get a better perspective. I am sure you will soon find a time when you can really prioritize losing a chunk of weight again. Here we are still in stifling heat (33C, humidex 42C again today) but I managed to get a 2 mile walk in this morning and a 15 minute bike ride- Nellie walked a little over 1/2 mile. We are promised some relief from this weather this weekend. I can't wait.

Good advice MITM which I shall try to follow....

LMV, once again, I feel your pain! lol x x Just a few days ago I was dreading going home to the UK fat again. I even went online and ordered a good few dresses, tops and a pair of jeans from Hobbs in a size 18 and was going to leave my 16's here. However.....I tried on "the dress" that was my target for this time last year and it slid on!! it is admittedly tighter on the bottom (my huge problem area((literally!)), some spanx would help there! lol x) but it gave me a bit of a boost so instead of just eating/drinking my way out of the rot, I have been extra careful with diet and my walking. I also remembered the first twice we went home for August I was struggling in a size 20, so although it's been a long time happening I am definitely in a much better place. You are so right in how far we have all come. Bracken/LMV always good advice. PB, you are so brave swimming in the cold sea!! New8 poor Daisy! it must have been such a fright for you. As we all know children are so remarkably quick. When I worked in A&E I seem to remember a steady stream of children coming through the unit who had ate allsorts of weird and wonderful things, and even more who were very good at "hiding" whatever they could either up their nose or in their ears! (My daughter was particularly excellent at what she could fit in her ear!!). These things happen no matter how vigilant we are. Bless her, I hope she is much better soon, and hopefully won't be tasting anything new for a while! x x I have already been out for my walk this morning as it is going to be another hot day here it is 34 now (early am) with a heat index of 40 so it will be too hot to walk later. Bracken, as you say, it is the humidity which drains you. I find it worse than the heat. Hopefully you will have cooler weather soon. I have been watching the news re the UK weather, amazing!! I hate it say it though, but I hope it will be cooler there too when I get home! I just love being home and breathing fresh air! x x Wishing everyone a happy Sunday, BM x x

We're all mad! I tried on THE pencil skirt yesterday and of course it still fitted!!! But in my silly head I was doubting if it would..... until it slipped on!!! Twentytwo weeks until Christmas (ha!) so come on Crackers, keep it together we can ALL do it!!