Move-Em-Out !

Yesterday and today have been the big pack up.  What a lot of details to coordinate, good thing Charlie is cool with all that stuff, I'm not.  

I'm more like, lock the door, leave, pray it will be there when you get back, and if we forgot anything there's a Walmart on every corner.   

 

To some, that way of thinking is VERY IRRESPONSIBLE! But I put in my time, and now want to live out my years in peace, with very little material responsibility.  I'm blessed I'm married to a man that can love me with all my "nonconformity", and enjoys attending to the pesky details of life. 

Phew!  Sorry about the rant, preparations make me that way. 

Here's some pics of the end results of our PACK UP.  

OH ! Don't forget the trailer. 

 But what a great guy I have, he took us to dinner! 

All set ready to go in the morrning. 

Byefornow. 

Getting Fit

Yes, that's what I've been trying to do, tone up, lose some weight and be more conscious of my eating habits. 

In the last three years I've gained at least 15 pounds, it's probably just from slowing down and enjoying life more or more than likely it's from being 50+ and my metabolism changing a lot. Now is the time to change with my body. 

Food is my first true enjoyment, anyone that knows me will attest to the fact I have a giant sweet tooth.  So as you can imagine, having to make wiser choices as I get older is really a challenge for me.  

Off the record, while Charlie and I were out west last fall we were in the middle of nowhere and I actually had to open a sugar packet and dump it on my tongue just to feel better. Now you know why I need serious reforming. 

So I've been working on the food part of being healthy (cutting out sweets) for the last couple of months, I was hard core, it takes time.   I have tried to cut back on my portions and make better decisions when it comes to the foods I do eat and seriously cut out sugar.  

So here I am doing my plank- I'm shooting for 4 minutes, I'm getting there. 

You think it looks easy? Haw haw ! 

It is part of my hula hoop regimen. You actually have other moves that's go with it but it dose strengthen your core.  

This next shot is me practicing a move called "isolation" it's tricky, but what I like about it is it strengthans your shoulders like crazy!!! 

So there you have it, that's where my brain has been lately.  Starving and tourturing myself.  

OH, and don't forget, perparing to migrate north. 

See Ya. 

Gluten Free Biscotti ?

Yup, today I got crazy again and had a craving for a sweet treet.  So I rustled up my GF baking cookbook, and searched for a reicipe that required ingredients I still had on hand.  We are trying to use up all the stocked goods we have so we don't look like the Beverly Hillbilys going home.  But I found a reicipe that fit the bill. 

Biscotti, it's a family favorite, (my mom and me).  Charlie is a sport about all my cooking an will not mind my choice one bit.  He claims to be picky about his sweets, but he has never complained about any of the things I've whipped up.

I have started choosing GF recipes for the treets because the ingredients are not as familiar to me so it poses a bit of a mystery and puzzle.  See, I can cook have a sweet treet and a challenge too.  

So here's  the pictures to show the destruction of the kitchen and the reconstruction.  I'm not much of a great house keeper, Charlie is the main deep cleaner in our marriage, but I am a great tidier and organizer so between us we keep a nice house. 

The dinner mess was mixed in there also. 

Aha..... Doesn't that feel better?  Makes me feel better- that it's all done. 

This is the second baking, biscotti is baked in the log form first and then cut and rebaked to finish off. 

They came out really good, Charlie will surely like them. 

Just so you know we are really in Florida, I'm going to leave you with a peek at our thermometer today.  

Byefornow. 

Slow Sunday (I'm loving it)

For some reason this was a slow and relaxing Sunday, they most always are but this one felt extra relaxing and slow. 

As we sauntered down the main road leading to the temple in Casadaga, we spotted a most unusual flower climbing along a fence in front of a quaint old home.  I've only seen this flower in pictures and don't even suppose it grows in upstate NY, outside any way.  Check it out ! 

It's a Purple Passion!!!!

Isn't it just magical? It really was fascinating to look at, I could have pulled up a chair.  There was no special smell, but who needs perfume when you look that fantastic. 

I had to take a picture of this morrning glory because they remind me of the first day of school. 

Every year on the first day of school I would take a picture of my children, I would have them stand under the arbor that was covered with morrning glories by the front door.  Each time I moved I would create a morrning glory arbor to celebrate fall.  Come to think of it I even had one in lake George!  Some traditions are just in the blood. 

It's hard to imagine a morrning glory in April.  Florida is a magic land, you never know what you will see. 

Here's a sight that just says "a proper end to a slow Sunday"

Bye 

A Day At The Beach

Today was the first day we have actually gone swimming and body boarding since we got back in January.  And, what a blast we had! 

Charlie has his permit for driving the car on the beach so it is convient for us to go, no schlepping beach gear to the water, how cool is that.  Remembering when we were in Cape Cod last summer and dragging stuff a half mile in the beating heat and then lugging it back up a cliff that could be used in military boot camp drills. I'll take the car on the beach any day.  Thank you. 

The water was 74° so the website said, it was warmer than it has been, even pleasant.  We rode the waves for quite awhile and laughed and laughed, water and swimming do that to me, I get incredibly happy. 

The beach was full of families and sunworsherpers soaking up the abundant sun, sounds of surf and the general good mood of the day. 

What a nut, don't you think I would notice my hat was on backwards?  Charlie puts up with so much, he's a saint. 

Bye for now, I'm off to put more coconut oil on, my greedy sun soaked areas. 

Looking Forward

Wow, I'm so glad we are past the 24th of the month,that is the day our gigs renew and we go back to zero.  That's one thing I'm looking forward to - having unlimited internet at home. 

If I have things to look forward to when I get home I won't mind leaving here, doesn't that sound like some kind of Pollyanna thinking?  Pollyanna had the right idea, keep it positive.  

Truthfully there are a bunch of things to look forward to back in NY, a new baby, family, friends the beautiful scenery, I could go on and on.  It's mostly the drive to get back that gets old.  This time should be better, we have done it a few times now and are more familiar with routs and distances, so I will be present and just enjoy the freedom of being able to travel in a country where they let you come and go as you please.  

These are a few of the things I look forward to.

My gardens. 

The awesome rhubarb patch, I'm drooling at the thought. 

Lake George in all it's different moods. 

Shepard park, at night overlooking lake George. 

And, if I'm super extra lucky, the night blooming cirus will bloom!  There is a world of good to find wherever you are. 

Byefornow. 

ACK!!!!

KA POW!!! No blog till tomorrow!! 

I hate counting gigs :(

Soooo sad.