Beating the Heat

Record breaking heat today, tomorrow, and Sunday, then a "cold front" coming
with temps only in the high 80s!

The huge storm that hit here a week ago took out many trees, including this grand
old specimin that we guess was 300 years old and maybe 10-12 feet in diameter.

The storm hit here around 11 last Friday night.  Immediately knocked out power (and AC).  Laura had just flown in from Seattle to spend the weekend before flying home with Rose on Monday.  We decided to leave the house in favor

of an air-conditioned nice hotel with a pool to enjoy the weekend together.  We headed north and, despite many inquries, didn't find a hotel with rooms and power until we got to Wilmington, Delaware (about 2+ hours north of here).  There was visible storm damage (downed trees all along I95) until well north of Baltimore.  Many hotels that 

we tried did not have power.  Our own power didn't come back until Sunday and we were without Cox service (phone, Internet, TV) until Monday night.  There are people we know who are still without power.  We want underground wires if and when we buy another house!  We were very lucky.  Just branches blown from neighboring trees in our yard.  

Johnny and Jack fill the bird feeders, staying in the shade of the umbrella and the crape myrtle.

Laura models star bubble blowing techniques.

It's so hot and humid out during the day that our outside playtime (bubble-blowing and playing on the slip and slide) usually takes place before 10.  We tried the playground one morning, but despite the shade, the swings and slides were much to hot for comfort.

Rose must take after her mom, some pretty good bubble production going on.

The house seems empty without Rose's cheery presence.  Ella and Jack miss her a lot, too.  They were always "up" for any game or activity she suggested and she did a great job a big-sister.  A nice change for Rose, the youngest of 3 in her family.  Rose got better and better on the bike when she was here.  We stayed a while Saturday morning after the storm, hoping that the power might come back on, and went on a 13 mile ride through the neighborhoods.  She was a trooper, never complained and was as interested in seeing the storm damage as we were.  We did have to maneuver around downed power lines and walk our bikes around big downed trees, but we had a good ride.

Jack and Ella were more interested in catching bubbles on their bubble wands.

One of the many trees down across my running path.  I run very early in the morning.
Notice the very long shadows and the pinkish-hue of the sunshine--there was an old poem that my mother shared with me once that mentioned "rosy-fingered dawn." She was buried at Arlington 19 years ago, today.

I've kept up with the running and biking, despite the weather.  I get out to run by 6.  It was 84 degrees at six this morning!  DH and I went for a nice bike ride on Independance Day, mid-morning to noon.  It's a little cooler biking because we use mostly shaded paths and the bike generates a little "personal-breeze."  We also take two large bottles of ice water and stop to drink it half way through.  We don't need to stop, but the water break is good.  And yes, Mom, I always slather on lots of sunblock.  Funny to think that when I was growing up people used sun-tan lotion to get a tan!

The Slip and Slide got a good workout.  I love Jack's expression--he loves it, but it's
cold and the water is getting on his body.  The slip and slide left a 20X5 foot swath of
dead yellow grass after our 2 hour play session.  A knife to the heart of lawn-tender DH.

Anybody have any ideas about how to prevent the yellow dead grass under the slip and slide?  It really is annoying, but the children love it so.  Our best slip and slide area (shaded and sloped) is smack dab in the middle of the back yard.

My brand new running shoes (Nike Vomero 7).  I love the color
and my first run in them, this morning, felt like I was running
on clouds.

Shelley wrote about her new running socks.  She said they'd make
her run faster.  Mine are a different brand, but it's true!  I thought
the pink color might deter any house-sharing sock snatchers!! (Hi
sweetheart, ti amo!)

I lost .4 at my WI last week.  WW was closed on the 4th, so I'll expect big things next Wednesday. 

My new-found refreshing summer drink.  Lemon Ginger Green Tea iced-tea.
I make a large pot of it in the morning and finish it by dinner time.

Stay cool!

Photo Story

We had a great time hosting a tea party for FIL's 90th birthday.  He lives in Wilmington, NC and we and all our progeny (kids, in-law kids, and grands) went there to help him celebrate.  Daughter Laura made this beautiful cake and it was possibly the best cake I've ever eaten.  Awesome.  I tried to limit myself, but suspect that this cake was largely responsible for the 2 pound gain my scale reported the day after the party!  (fortunately gone within a few days)

The grands (12, 10, 8, 4, and 2) worked on this banner and we think it turned out wonderfully well.

These are the world's best brownies.  The recipe was my grandmother's.  I made and froze 4 batches of these and never had even one until the birthday party.  Um, they might have also contributed to that 2 pounds.  But they're all gone now. :-)

We put son John in charge of the helium balloon kit.  He got them blown up and the kids were delighted to find places to attach them around the party room. (We had reserved the poolside party room at FIL's condo complex.)  Granddaughter Ella is eying the platter of scones as she looks for a place to tie her balloons.

Grandson Ben is a talented chess player.  His opponent was in his mid 90s, has played chess for decades and was surprised to lose 4 out of 5 games to a 10 year old.

After the party, the children gathered up all the balloons and took them outside.  No, they didn't let them go, they had fun popping them and disposed of them in the trash.

Laura gave the grands a push on this neat swing in a large Wilmington park (Greenfield Park).  They climbed trees (live oaks, I think), enjoyed the Spanish moss, saw an alligator in the lake, caught a small box turtle, and collected some large pine cones for future art projects.

DH and I love being surrounded by our gang of grandchildren.  We love each and every one!

More smiles!

Grandson Jack (almost 3) gets up close and personal with the little box turtle.  He waited patiently for it to come out of its shell and chortled when it scuttled into the water.

Granddaughter Jeannine scrambled right up this live oak.

We brought granddaughter Rose (8) back to Virginia with us.  We took her up to Lancaster County PA to a play about Jonah at the Sight & Sound theater there.  We drove through beautiful countryside and saw a dozen horse drawn vehicles.  There were also horses powering the farm machinery.  

The play was so well done.  It was a musical and the staging, special effects, and costuming were every bit as good as at plays I've seen in NY and at the Kennedy Center.  It was a fun day.

Rose loves to shop.  Here she is modelling an outfit we found at Kohl's.  Gotta love those 75% off racks!

Can you spot the dog in this picture??  I seem to be the only one in my family who has noticed the dog who is always out in this yard in our neighborhood.  Here's my photographic proof.  Remember, you can click on the picture to enlarge.

My new favorite meal.  Tish's Eggplant Parmesan .  I made up this recipe with what I had on hand one night and it's a definite keeper.  (lean ground turkey, lots of veggies, grilled eggplant, fresh mozzarella).  Only 275 calories per serving.  The recipe is in the RECIPE page in the sidebar to the right.

My little Nike+ is not reporting my running right now because the Nike+ site is being renovated.  But I'm doing really well with the running.  I ran 5 times last week, averaging just under 4.5 miles per run.  I'm running farther and faster which makes things better as I can allow an hour for transportation to and from plus the run rather than the hour and three quarters it took me for the same run a month and a half ago. I've been getting up early to accomplish my run before Rose wakes up and the other grands arrive.  The weather has been wonderful recently, but I noticed that the 90s and even a 100 degree day are in the 5 day forecast.

I'm not biking as much as I'd like now.  Mostly because Rose is not yet a confident biker and we don't leave her alone.  We'll get back to our long after-dinner rides in a few weeks.

I'm continuing to lose at my weigh-in's.  I'm down over 30 pounds since Christmas.  Happy days.  I've had some great "closet shopping" sessions and reclaimed some cute outfits that hadn't seen the light of day for over a year and a half.  I still have 23 pounds to lose to achieve my WW goal, but I feel confident that I'll get there.

Today is DH's and my 39th anniversary.  No big celebrations today, but we are very thankful for our wonderful life together.  We're hoping to get in a bike holiday weekend next month.  Maybe that will be our celebration!

Soup's On

It feels like winter here, today.  There's a possibility of snow flurries and the temperature is in the low 30s.  It's soup weather!  I love soup weather and soup.  I've made three soups recently that I'd like to share with you.

The other day I made Classic Chicken Soup with Noodles a WW recipe that's become a favorite in our house.  I add a cup of sliced mushrooms and some frozen corn (about 1 cup), but it's deelish either way.  I actually made two pots of soup because it's really just as easy to make two as it is to make one.  I took the other pot to son Johnny's house.

My mainstay, go-to soup, that has been a favorite since before we had children (38 years!) is hamburger soup.  I should really think up some other name for it, because it's hearty, healthy, delicious, and filling.  It's also very forgiving.  You can substitute just about anything.  My own changes depending upon what veggies I have on hand and what the season is.  What stays the same is its deliciousness!  The recipe will be at the end of this post.

The third soup I want to share today is a new one.  Coconut Curry Kale Soup.  I even love the name.  A hint of sweet, a hint of spice, and some good-for-you stuff.   I read about it on Debby's blog (Debby Weighs In) and she got it from Helen (Doing a 180).  I added about 1/2 cup of frozen corn kernels and substituted 1 can of white beans for the chick peas.  Mine looks pinker than the picture Helen had, but it's great either way.   I made it a lunch time today and had some kale left over from the bunch I picked up at Whole Foods, so, during the last 10 minutes of cooking, I made kale chips to go with my soup.  (tear kale into chip size pieces.  spread it out on a silpad or pam-sprayed cookie sheet, bake at 400 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.  the kale will turn crispy but shd still retain some green.  sprinkle with salt to taste.  DH and I devoured an entire big bunch of kale before dinner one night, the first time I made this.)

Not too much happening in the garden over the winter except for the daphne.  It's one of the earliest bloomers and ours is covered with beautiful, dark-pink buds.  When they bloom, the flower has a heavenly sweet fragrance.

Daphne bud, mid January

The bush is covered with buds.

The buds bloom to white fragrant flowers (pic from last year).

One more comfort on a winter's day.  I think I'd mentioned that Laura gave me wool socks for Christmas.  I was able to find more at my local Costco.  They are toasty warm.  It's amazing how wool is so much warmer than cotton or synthetic fabrics.   Also, the 12 new, energy-efficient windows we put in are making a big difference in keeping our house warm.  We have two heating systems.  The upstairs rooms used to get quite cool in the winter, but since we installed the new windows, our thermostat doesn't trigger, because the temperature stays about 69 degrees. No more drafty windows.

And no more mishaps with the pedometer to report!  I'm trying to develop good habits about storing and using it.

I LOVE the new "reply" button in the comments section.  If you ask me a question in your comment, please check back.  I'll try to answer you.

Oh, I lost one pound at my WI on Wednesday.  That's two weeks in a row that I've lost.  I'm striving to be a trend-setter!

Be good, enjoy the season, and make some soup!

Hamburger Soup  (core)

1 pounds ground beef   (93% fat free)

2 cans diced tomatoes  (use fire roasted)

1 can tomato sauce

4 cans water

3 carrots–sliced

1 can frozen corn (or canned—rinsed drained)

1 cup frozen green beans  (or canned—rinsed drained) 

1 can rinsed black beans (optional, usually I omit)

celery–3 or four ribs chopped

onion–1 large chopped

barley about 1/4 cup

2 or 3 bouillon cubes, vegetable or chicken (I like the Knorr brand)

salt and pepper to taste

Makes about 10 generous servings.

I start this just after church for Sunday supper.  Brown the beef (and drain if beef is not lean) add onion, celery cans of tomatoes and sauce and about half of the water.  Simmer for a few hours, then add vegetables and barley.  Add more water as needed if soup boils down too much Simmer for 1-2 hours more.  Great first day and even better the next.  This is the “can” way from things you may have on your shelf.  You can substitute fresh or frozen vegetables for any of the canned.  I particularly like to add zucchini slices, fresh sliced mushrooms or fresh green beans–added about 1 ½ hours before serving.

This is the day!

I really like that children's song based on Psalm 118:24.  This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.  That's what I'm going to do doing today.

I got up early (for a Saturday) to let in the guy who's installing the last of our energy efficient windows.  The rest of the job was finished in early December, but they ordered one window the wrong size, so it's going in right now.  We're expecting unseasonably warm weather today, but let me tell you, at 7:30  this morning it was too cold to stay toasty-warm in the house with a large window-sized hole in the wall.  Thank goodness for the snugly wool socks my Laura gave me for Christmas!

Guess what DH and I are going to do today!  Here's a hint:   You got it.  We're going to take advantage of the great weather (near 60 is the predicted high) and go for a bike ride.  And I'm going to ride my "Pearlie."  DH gave me a road bike for Xmas last year, but with the winter weather and then my surgery in March,  I've only ridden it three times.  I mostly rode my hybrid bike this year because the road bike has the rider lean over the handle bars more and I was leery of stressing my neck where I had the surgery.  Now, though, I'm ready to ride Pearlie again.

I'm feeling good on the WW front.  I bought three 24 oz BPA-free water bottles at Costco yesterday.  I'm drinking 60+ oz of water a day and tracking my eating on the WW site.  Morning weight augers a happy face at my Wednesday WI.

Laura made applesauce during our Christmas vacation.  Amazingly easy, fast, delicious, AND fills the house with a wonderful aroma.  Here's the recipe:

Core and slice 10 Fuji Apples (Laura uses a mixture of several varieties) (one of those apple corer thingamajigs works well.  No need to peel the apple.
Fill a large pan with 1 inch of water. Bring water to a boil. Put apples in pan, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Blend apples until desired consistency.  (I use my new immersion blender!--Cuisinart Smart Stick SB 77)
Add cinnamon (optional).
Serve warm or cold.
Oh, and ZERO WW points!

I'm making pork tenderloin tonight and Laura's applesauce is definitely on the menu.

See you soon, I'm going to get moving and continue rejoicing and being glad in this day!
(Tish is my nickname.  I love knowing that Tish, Tisha, and Ticia (as I spell it) mean "glad." I think my parents did well in naming me.)

Perfect 10

As If 

Mr. B and Sharon

What a great day!  Biked to Mount Vernon with Sharon and Mr. B today.  Perfect weather, perfect company, perfect route, and perfect destination.   Our ride was about 16 miles round trip, including lots of hills. We parked the bikes and toured Mount Vernon when we got there.  Here's a picture taken along the Potomac River on our way. Nice snacks of almonds and dried apricots and plenty of water.  We toured the house, explored many of the trails on the grounds, and went through the new Education center.  One of the highlights was the film of Washington's military career that included a couple snowfalls on the audience.  We also enjoyed the long DOWNhill parts on the ride home!







Thanks to my daughter, Laura, I've found a new weight loss tool that is really fun and quite interesting.  Laura has lost about 20 pounds in the past couple of months by using this site:  caloriecount.com 
You enter a bit about yourself (weight, height, age) and then enter your food and exercise each day and it analyses your nutrition.  I really like seeing how well I'm doing on filling my nutritional needs.  I do take a daily vitamin, but I'm interested in filling those needs with things that I eat.  Here are a few of the charts it had for me after I entered today's food.

Check it out!

Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe

My oldest child was born on a Wednesday and I decided the day she was born that the old saying quoted in today's post title is full of malarky.  Our Laura has always been overflowing with joy and happiness and optimism.  So no Woeful Wednesdays in our household. Today was no exception.


I didn't sleep well last night.  We made an offer on a very nice house that we want to buy as an investment.  We offered, they countered, and we counter-countered yesterday, ending up with the ball in their court at 10 pm last night.  I  was thinking about all this, a little excited,  a bit anxious about my WI today, and generally just not sleepy, so I got up and read for a couple of hours.  Then I went back upstairs, still not sleepy, and tried on clothes in my closet for about 40 minutes.  I found a few nice "new" outfits that fit again and finally went back to bed at 5 am.  I woke up about 8, had my usual un-frosted mini-wheats, a sliced peach, and skim milk breakfast.  I ran along the river (and Sharon, the trail you described is exactly where I love to run) for about 50 minutes.   When I got back from the run, I got an e-mail from DH letting me know that the sellers accepted our offer on their house!  We gave them a generous time to find and purchase a new home, so we probably won't close for three or four months, but I'm already itching to get in and start working to get it in tip top shape so we can rent it out.  The house is actually in very nice shape, but I want to put my own stamp on things like paint colors and landscaping.

At the end of yesterday's post (in very small print) I wrote that I do believe in magic.   Not really magic, per se, but in happy endings, in optimistic outcomes, and in miracles.   My belief was rewarded today at my WI.  I was down two sticks o' butter!   Take that, Paula Deen!  I'll work hard not to take this as some validation of out of control chocolate indulgences.  I've lost 7 of the 12 pounds I set as my goal in the Summer Diet Buddies Challenge (see red box link in right sidebar). I've got just 4 more weeks to lose the remaining 5 pounds, but, maybe, without the excess chocolate baggage, I can do it.  I definitely like seeing the number on the scale go down, feeling slimmer,wearing clothes with smaller numbers on the labels, and being able to exercise and feel fit.


I'm a dyed in the wool optimist.  How about you?   Do you focus on the positive accomplishments or on the length of the journey still to come.

184.2

Thank You

When I opened my blog today, I was greeted by an award from Michele (Ruminations and Uncovering:  Toward a New Me).  Thank you, Michele!  Not only did I discover a new friend with whom I have a lot in common, but now I have a topic for today's post!  Here are the rules for the Versitile Blogger Award:

1.  Thank the person who gave you the award

2.  Share seven things about yourself

3.  Nominate 15 newly discovered blogs

4. Let your nominees know about the award.

Okay, 7 more things you might be interested in knowing about me . . .

1.  I love cookbooks.  I collect them and have since I was a teenager.   Lately though, I've gotten a little more selective about my cookbooks.   I like to have a beautiful color picture of the food for each recipe.  I also want to have the nutritional information at the end of the recipe.  And, of course, there's the food.  I want food that fits my life plan of eating.  I have multiple cookbooks from Cooking Light, Eating Well, Weight Watchers and Williams Sonoma.  Then there's the index--I want a really good index.  The WW cookbooks, which I love, used to have terrible indexes.  They've gotten a little better.  I use the index to circle the recipes I love.  If I want to make roasted red potatoes with rosemary, say, I'll end up flipping to the index of several cookbooks to find the recipe I want.  I've started getting rid of cookbooks that don't meet my needs.  I've probably given 60 of them away over the past year.  I try to copy my favorite go-to recipes to my computer as my friends and family often want the recipes for foods I make.  

2.  I'm the youngest of four kids.  Even though my older brother is 10 years older, my sister is 7 years older,  and my younger older brother is 3 years older,  since I became an adult I've always felt older then all of them.  Older in a good way.  Older as in wiser, more responsible, more in touch with the ways of the world.  

3.  I like to run.  I prefer running alone.  I like to set my own pace and not be slowing someone else down.  I like listening to my playlist (60s classic love songs with some classical mixed in), but if I'm with someone else, I feel like we should chat.  The best thing about running with someone else is the added impetus to get out the door, but, it can also be a bad thing if that other person convinces me to wimp out of going when I sorta really felt like going.  

4.  The only recipe I know absolutely by heart is the recipe for my mom's brownies.  The best brownies in the world.  I used to make them at least once a week.   Actually, it's been about six months since I've made them and maybe I'd better take a peek at that recipe before I make them again.  They're only for very special occasions now and only when there'll be enough folks around to get a sensible brownie/person ratio.  Gone are the bad old days of making a batch, nibbling all day, and then making a replacement batch so no one realized that I ate the whole thing.  (Unless, of course you consulted Mr. Scale--he realized it.)

5.  Our oldest, Laura, is a wunderkind.  She learned to read when she was two.  She was very shy.  She's beautiful.  She chose her college partially based on the caliber of their Ultimate Frisbee program (she went to Stanford).  She and her husband live near Seattle.  She is a children's librarian, but has chosen to homeschool her three children.  This is a picture of Laura with her youngest.

6.  I'm a chronic re-reader.  I read a lot.  I usually have a CD book in my car, an audiobook on my ipod, a paperback in my purse, and at least two books (a novel and a non-fiction book) by my bed.  I love to discover new authors  (M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raison series,  Dana Stabenow's Liam Campbell series, and Adriana Trigiani are among recent finds) and I tear through all their books until I'm waiting impatiently for the next one.  I love historic fiction.    My all time favorite book is Here Be Dragons (Sharon K. Penman).  I have reread this one at least once a year since I discovered it in 1985.  A library patron kept recommending it to me and finally put a copy on my desk.  I was put off by the title (I don't care for fantasy), but I decided to read 50 pages to give it a try. I was totally hooked.  It's not fantasy.  Anyway, I re-read this often and love it.  Other books I re-read are Gabaldon's Outlander series, Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series, Francine River's A Voice in the Wind series.  All really well written.  BTW, for that book in my purse, it's usually a re-read.  A paperback of one of my favorites so it's easy to get right into it when I have just a bit of "found" time.

7.  It sounds like a cliche, but I knew the very day I met him, that I wanted to marry DH.  We met our senior year in college, at a birthday party for a mutual friend.  We were singing and he was standing near me.  He complimented me on my voice and we started talking.  He called me that night (just as I was telling my roommate about him) and invited me to go dancing in Sausilito the next day.  That was January 27, 1973.  He proposed in April and we were married the day after graduation.  Thirty seven years and counting.

Hmmm, 15 Newly Discovered Blogs--I'm going to fail this one.   If you haven't gotten this award yet, please consider yourself awarded!

Just curious, what's your favorite novel?