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!

Moment of Repose

The view from the porch.  

This was a small post I composed last week. I had some connection problems with my macbook so didn't get this posted.  I'll post again in a couple days with a recap of recent events.


Hi all! I'm sitting on the porch of the beach house we rented enjoying the night falling, the sound of the waves and the wonderful evening breeze. We got here this afternoon, I made supper, went for a quick run on the beach, and then DH's dad came over for supper. The fellas have all gone off to find an ice cream place, but I opted to hold down the fort, instead. Our daughter, Laura, and her family shd get here in the next hour or so. They live near Seattle, and we haven't seen them since Xmas. johnny's family (our neighbors in Alexandria) will arrive tomorrow. We're looking forward to a fun family time! DH'S dad turns 90 on Saturday and we'll host a tea party for around 35 people. I'm pretty well prepared and determined to enjoy the family time and not stress! Here's a picture of the birthday boy taken right after supper.

Almost 90!

 Just had phone calls from Laura and Tobey and both families expect to arrive tonight around 1 AM. A few hours late for the Seattle gang and one day early for thecAlexandrians! Joy. We love our kids! It's only about 10 now, DH and I may go down for a "midnight" swim in the surf while we wait for them. He's driving his dad home now. He did all the driving today, 6 hours, so maybe he'll want to nap instead. We'll see. Lost .2 at my WI yesterday.

 We had company, a nephew and his family from Atlanta, for two days this week. We did a bit of sightseeing in DC, Washington National Cathedral, and the went for a bike ride. The two children, 10 and 8, we're troopers and did the 13 mile ride with no complaints. We took along a picnic lunch and let them play in the park for a while.

 We left this morning about 30 minutes after they did. Our cooler was loaded up with things for the party and so was the trunk of the car. Usually I bring all my diet friendly things along, but this time we stopped at Harris Teeter as we came into town. I made eggplant parmesan for supper. Yum. Hoping to keep up with my running while we're here. I might try to see if we can borrow bikes from one of the local cousins, I brought along my biking gear.