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!

Fence Post, WI, and Pix

My running is going very well, despite the first wave of summer heat and despite the challenge of finding times to run when someone else is able to watch the grands. I ran four times last week for a total of 18.5 miles. Running very early, I was able to beat the heat and avoid leaving Rose alone. I found it also started my day off on a note of success. I feel good about myself when I've run and am set up to have a good day of following my plans. If you look closely, you'd probably notice my little halo on those early morning run days!

We had a new fence put up last week. We'd had a chain link fence that was here when we moved in, but I wanted a wooden fence for a few reasons. I like the look of them, for one thing, and we're hoping they will inhibit the deer who have been feasting on our liles and hosta and many other beautiful, and apparently delicious, plants in our garden. I chose to have the solid part only four feet high because we like our neighbors and want to be able to chat face to face through the "topper." i also thought the fence would make a nice backdrop for our garden. I think the three workers were trying hard to be careful, but there were several plant casualties in the garden beds near the fence. :-( I'm hoping that most will come back next year. The workers worked through two of our hottest days. Rose and I kept them supplied with a cooler of ice water.

I lost 1.4 pounds at my WI last week. We're going to a family reunion, beach vacation on Vancouver Island in five and a half weeks. I'd love to lose 7.5 more pounds by the time we leave. The last time we were with this crowd (DH's sibs' families) I was feeling quite trim at 6 pounds above my current weight. :-)

One new recipe in the RECIPE page this week. Debby asked for the recipe for my brownies. It's there and you'll love them, but caveat emptor! They're wonderful and made from old-fashioned, read NOT health or diet-concious, ingredients!

We're aiming to take an after-dinner bike ride tonight. Rose is opting out, but can stay alone for a bit with Jay. We'll shoot for an hour long ride. I've missed riding.

If one picture is worth 1000 words, I wonder how many these two pictures are worth?

It was this picture from last Dec, posted on
FB by a friend, that brought me to my senses and
back to being serious about getting myself in shape.

Tonight, -30 pounds later, feeling good about myself.

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!

No News . . .

In this case, no news is good news!   I admit to an epic fail at my goal of posting once a week in April (sorry!), but the rest of the story is full of successes.

On the exercise front, I've passed some invisible barrier in the past couple of weeks and it's coming much more easily now.  I'm enjoying running, and yes, it's now a lot more running than walking.  I've been going out for 90 minutes a few times a week and each time, my distance increases and my pace gets faster.  I'm not trying to embark on a racing career, but I'm feeling good about being able to run, and to feel like a "real" runner, again.  My ultimate goal is to be able to run 4 or 5 miles a few times a week.  For now, while the weather is great (not too hot!)  I'm doing a little more.  Follow my running with my little Nike+ avatar at the top of the right sidebar.

My biking has also gotten better.  As the weather has gotten so much better, I'm getting in about three good rides a week.  My balance issues of last year (that followed my spine surgery) are a thing of the past (YAY!) and I'm using my road bike a lot more than my hybrid.  I'm inspired by Lori and Michele in their biking successes and working on my endurance and stamina.  I'm also scheduled to take a basic bike maintenance course so that I won't have to trudge home walking my bike if I have a flat tire or other basic problem. You can follow my biking progress in the DailyMile widget in the right sidebar.  Thanks to Michele for the idea of using DailyMile.  A few nice long bike rides and several decent runs for a total of 99 miles over the past two weeks.  YTD total miles is at 407 as of April 15!

I am continuing with my own approach of using 17DD and WW Simply Filling with good results.  I'm losing every week at my WI's and am firmly back in "wonderland" again.  I'm averaging losing about 1.3 pounds a week.  Not bad for a 60 year old!  At this rate, I hope to be at my goal weight by the time we go to the beach in August.  I'm at that happy place now, where clothes that were not fitting are now fitting well or starting to get loose!  DH has reached his WW goal weight and son Jay has lost a little over 3 pounds since February.  Neither has a weight problem, but both are in "fighting trim" now and looking quite good.

I'm trying out new recipes and continuing to make our favorites and we're eating well.  Tonight I made roasted fennel.  I took the bulb, cut it in 2/3" slices, dipped it in a mixture of one part balsamic vinegar and one part olive oil and sprinkled some parmesan cheese on the top.  I roasted it in a 400 degree oven for 20+ minutes so that it was golden brown and quite tastey.  (the original recipe called for two parts dijon mustard to be added to the mixture, but I opted out of the mustard!).

I'll leave you with one picture from the past few weeks.  None of me, I was the photographer.  I'll try to  do better about getting myself in the picture next time.

DH and Ella, who has finally learned to smile for the camera!

Have you ever thought that you couldn't lose weight after a "certain age?"

Out of the Box

I was standing in line at the grocery the other day idly comparing my cart full of stuff to a cart in the next line over.  I confess I felt a little prideful.  My cart was brimming with good, good-for-you things.  Beets, cabbage, carrots, apples, kumquats, carrots, fresh ginger, greek yogurt, mayer lemons, chicken, tilapia, olive oil.  The other cart, when I really looked at it, seemed to be filled with boxes.  Hamburger helper, jello, cereal, frozen waffles, pasta, pizza mix.  Some people come out of the closet.  I have come out of the box.  I buy very few processed foods any more.  That's a good thing.

On the weight loss front, I've kept up my streak!  I've lost at my last eight weigh-ins and, with the help of the 17DD, I've lost 13.6 pounds from my 2012 high.  What's working for me now is to stick with the basic Cycle I from Saturday to Tuesday and then to relax to WW Core (Simply Filling) with some of the extra weekly points thrown in from Wednesday through Friday.  Strangely enough, I find it easier to stick to the more restricted diet on the weekend.  This is probably because DH is very supportive and trying to whittle off a few pounds to get back to his WW lifetime goal (he's lost about 10 and is just a couple of pounds away).  I'm gradually learning how to enjoy the "extras" without going overboard.  It helps me when I know that I can enjoy popcorn or a dessert or brown rice once in a while.  Or cookies.   I made my sister's killer Oatmeal Cookie recipe yesterday, but changed it just a bit to make it a little more figure-friendly. I took a big plate of them to our Bible Study (they usually get grapes or pineapple from me, and it was fun to bake for a change).  Those were all  eaten and when we got home, I noticed that Jay had put all the rest into a tin box.  I sent those with him to work today.  Of the whole batch I just had 3--not bad.

Sweet and Sour Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

You might notice that I have a new recipe page that you can link to in the right column.  A few of you had expressed interest in my Stuffed Cabbage recipe.  I remade it and wrote things down.  I based it on a recipe for Sweet and Sour Cabbage rolls from Eating Well, but I made some changes to suit my tastes and requirements.  They were dee-lish.  I also put a recipe for roasted parsnips and carrots there.  Talk about tastey!  And good for you.  Try these. (oh and I just added the Oatmeal Cookie recipe . . .)

The penny finally dropped (love that expression!) and I now know that I can use my trusty little ipod nano 6th gen to record my runs on nike+ without messing with the nike+ kit.  You might notice that my little nike+ avatar in the sidebar is running again.  Yay!  I'm mostly walking so far, but the distances are getting better and the running bits are getting longer.

Virginia Bluebells

Like many of you. we're having an early spring.  I was surprised to find that my Virginia bluebells were in full bloom yesterday.  We're about 2 or 3 weeks ahead of last year's season.  I've spent a few hours doing spring clean up stuff in the garden, but I need to push myself to get out there soon to finish up, because I think the awful hot humid days when it's not fun to do heavy garden work are galloping toward us.

Oh and we had our first after-supper bike ride of the season last weekend.  I love this.

Mileage report: with the increased running and a few bike rides I'm adding 46 miles for the past two weeks. YTD 222 miles.

I am washing my hands about 60 times a day and doing lots of hot water loads in the washing machine in an effort to avoid the nasty little virus that is plaguing my little grandchildren.  Jack and Ella and their parents have been trading it back and forth for the past couple of weeks.  Hm, I think I'll go wash my hands again. . . .

Have you come out of the box??

Halo polishing

I'm starting this day off with a little halo polishing.  Yes, I biked 15 miles on Saturday, and yes I was pretty darn good about avoiding all the tempting goodies baddies at the potluck last night, but that's not why.  It's not even because I'm feeling really good about being on plan and losing weight.  Here's why I'm sporting that sparkly halo:

Do you remember the great coke disaster at our house from last May?--the time that our son Jay left not one, but several cans of diet A&W in our two freezers which subsequently exploded and left huge ugly messes in both freezers?  Well today, after I dropped off the children at preschool, I cleaned the garage freezer from top to bottom.  I took everything out and scrubbed all the surfaces with vinegar water.  I threw out freezer-burned rejects and got rid of a few things that were woefully past their expiry dates (would you believe 2003!).  The freezer is now restocked, organized, and sparkling clean.  I can attest  to the fact that there are no kamikaze coke cans anywhere in there, too.

Apparently though, cleaning out the freezer doesn't rack up a lot of points on the pedometer.  I may see if I can add even more sparkle to my halo by doing a Walk Away the Pounds dvd  to reach 10K steps while the kids are napping.

For your viewing pleasure.  A couple of pictures from our Christmas vacation to Texas.

Christmas Eve in west Texas (near Marfa)

Some of the lovely sights on a walk around Town Lake in Austin

Oh, and I joined a challenge to go 1000 miles in 2012.  Reporting in with 39 miles for last week (14 walking, 15 biking).


Have you been polishing your halo lately?

Have a great day!

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.)

Bike Holiday Report

We had a great time on our bike holiday.  We checked in early at our hotel, stowed our goodies in the fridge and then drove out to the W&OD trail's starting point in Purcellville, VA.  We found the trail-side car park with no problem (thanks little Garmie) and parked at mile 45.  We started biking about 3 pm.  DH had estimated that our hotel was near mile marker 30 so we had plenty of time.  The weather was gorgeous--about 80 degrees.  Because we got a jump on the weekend (DH took Friday off), we had the trail mostly to ourselves.

Most of the time, DH was ahead of me.  He's much faster and likes to sprint.  I go along and enjoy and he circles back to make contact every five minutes or so.  However far I go, he goes twice as far!  That's okay.  I take pictures and like to enjoy the scenery and my thoughts.  Same as running--I almost prefer by myself.  In this, picture, though, DH is behind me.  I took the picture over my shoulder.

 We saw some beautiful scenery on our ride.  Purcellville is out in the country, almost to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.  We had a nice downhill for about the first 10 miles.  There were nice long stretches where I put my bike in the highest gear and enjoyed the breeze.  I like the picture of the yellow flowers (ragweed, I think).  I like to think I was flying by so fast that the flowers are in a blur.  I also like the thistle flowers--reminds me of Wales, one of my favorite places to visit. I took that picture at a water stop.

We also saw lots of horses (lots of "horse country" in Virginia), some palatial "chateaux" dotting the rolling hillsides, and lots of cows.

The Washington and Old Dominion is a fantastic trail.  Paved the entire way, a minimum of road crossings, fairly flat  (I LOVE flat), and well signed.  Every cross street was signed, available water is signed, and there are lots of interesting information markers about the local history and the interesting flora and fauna one might encounter.   DH's estimate of the distance for the first day was short by about 7 or 8 miles, so we had a good 23 miles.  Oh and DH turned back about 18 miles in and went back ( UP that hill I enjoyed going down the first 10 miles) and got the car.  I got first chance at the shower and fancied up for our dinner out.  We went to Outback and eschewed the mega-point cheesefries and blooming onion kind of options for a nice 6 oz steak , a salad, and a sweet potato.  We stopped at a Safeway and picked up individual Baskin Robbins ice creams for a dessert splurge.  Yeah, we painted the town red! :-)

We ended up doing exactly half of the trail the first day.  We were going to do an equal distance on Saturday but were rained out by un-predicted severe thunder storms that flew through the area in the morning.  We had coffee (skinny latte for me) at a local Starbucks and enjoyed reading the newspaper in a leisurely fashion, hoping to outlast the storm, but that was not to be.          

 We came home and I was able to wave my magic wand and come up with this yummy salad for lunch.  In WW all the greens and fruit are pretty much point free.  This one just cost us 3 points for the chicken, 2 points for the olive oil in the vinaigrette, 1 points for the toasted pine nuts, and 2 points for a bit of chopped avocado. 

I'm still feeling quite strong about staying OP.  Five days, is that a streak yet??  I'm tracking my WW points  (love the iPad!) and trying out lots of new recipes.  If you have an iPad or iPhone, be sure and download the WW Kitchen Helper App.  Great recipes and a wonderful search ingredients and they find a recipe feature.  Also will transfer the points to your tracker with the click of a button.

Hope you are having a great weekend, too.  It's not over yet!