Did You Ever Have to Make up Your Mind?

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a little couplet  in A Child's Garden of Verses that is probably familiar to you:  "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."  Even as a child, I recognized that the word should left some doubt as to whether we all were actually as happy as kings.   And if we're not as happy as kings, why not?  (Assuming for the time being that most kings are happy.)

I think maybe it's  that "number of things" part of the deal. Too many choices. Have you ever dashed into the store to buy peaches, for example?  If you go in August, you're likely to be faced with choices that will slow you down on your errand:   white or yellow?  donut shape or round?  local or imported?  organic or not?  seconds or "perfect"?  pre-bagged or choose your own?  regular price or on special?  And that's just peaches.  Don't even think about getting out of the store quickly if you have to navigate the aisle that has allergy medicines, or nail polish!  Sometimes life would be much simpler if there weren't so many choices.

The Lovin' Spoonful's 60's hit Did You Ever Have to Make up Your Mind was one of the songs on my playlist during my run this morning.   It's a great song to run to.  A nice beat and fun lyrics.  The guy finds a girl he likes, but his affections are easily swayed when he meets other girls.   Pretty simplistic.  But my mind was on free rein and the chorus made me think of the potluck dinner we had at our house last night.

Cammy wrote a great  post about potlucks last week.  She's so right.  Potlucks are fun, but potluck fare is seldom synonymous with healthy eating. We grilled burgers and provided an assortment of diet and regular sodas as well as iced water and coffee.  Our guests brought potluck for the rest.  I used to love potlucks.  It seemed a guilt-free way to end up with chips, burgers, jello salad, marshmallow salad, potato salad, pasta salad, and at least a small serving of each dessert on offer.  You don't want to offend anybody by not choosing the thing that they brought.  Last night as the hostess, I actually did have that feeling.  I put a tiny serving of each food on my plate.  It filled the entire plate.  It did not look appetizing.  I've grown accustomed to the colorful, healthy look of less processed, fresh fruits and vegetables.   I think every single salad had mayonnaise dressing.  There were no green salads.  The most appealing side dish was a huge platter of glass noodles that a Filipina friend made.  I had my burger sans bun--garnished with lettuce and tomatoes.  I did take a few bites of the other things, but, happily, found myself busy doing hostess things--finding more spoons, greeting latecomers, starting the coffee, and putting birthday candles in one of the cakes. I was able to scrape my plate into the trash and enjoy a cup of coffee for dessert.  Too many choices.  And, in terms of my Plan, not so many great choices.

I like black and white choices.  A bright line between a good choice and a poor choice.  Life, well, my life anyway, doesn't give us only black and white choices.  I try hard to make the choices in my house mostly good choices.  Sometimes, though, I need to exercise my choice muscle.  It's a muscle that needs a little more toning up.  I gave that muscle a little workout today, crushing and tossing a big, unopened bag of chips that got left behind.

This morning's run was mostly walking.  My hip was still a little sore (probably from all that floor scrubbing on Friday), so I went the distance (4 miles), but just ran a little.  It was a beautiful day.  There were so many butterflies out today--it must have been the optimum temperature for them.  One of the bald eagles was perched right next to the eagle nest.  The sweet autumn clematis has started to bloom and greeted me with a lovely spicy scent as I went by the blossoms.  I didn't run a lot, but I did work on my posture and tried to keep remembering to walk with my head up, shoulders back and tummy in.  It makes me feel taller and slimmer to stand up straight.

Patrick,  here's a picture of a snazzy pedal, like the ones I got for my bike.  My special bike shoes clip into the pedal and provide a more efficient ride. The  shoe being attached to the pedal means you get not only the downward push on the pedal action driving the bike, but also the  upward pull action.


Tonight I chose what to have for dinner.  We had baked fish, whole wheat couscous w/ mint and dried apricot, zucchini, and mango/avocado salsa. Yum. I made dinner early so that we were able to start our bike ride earlier.  We rode for 80 minutes and added a couple of miles to our usual route.  It felt good.  (but the Hill was still there--maybe it had something to do with having "run" this morning).  Oh, and this time, I didn't fall off of my bike.  Not even once!