July Happenings

Hi all!  Long time no write.  Sorry!  

Things are going well.  I celebrated my 61st birthday this month and feel just fine.  I used to think 61 sounded old, but one's perspective changes.  Actually, with my weight loss and exercise program, I actually feel younger than I did several years ago when I weighed much more and exercised much less.

We had a great trip to New York City a couple of weeks ago.  DH was involved with a conference, but I was free to explore and enjoy myself.  Highlights were a repeat visit to The Cloisters (one of my favorite places in NYC), an 8.2 mile run around Central Park (!!),  shopping (nice to have some of those 12P dresses fit!), and Pinkberry!  I first read about Pinkberry (non-fat frozen yogurt) on Debby's blog.  Lo and behold, there was a Pinkberry four doors from our hotel.  Let's just say I'm hooked!  Thank goodness my closest one is 30 minutes from here!

Part of the lovely walk through Tyron Park on my way to visit The Cloisters when I was in NYC. Doesn't this look like something out of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?

The last bit of the walk to The Cloisters (that tower in the background is part of it).  The Hudson River is directly on the left.

This is one of the cloisters.  It is planted with a medieval garden and each plant is marked.  I got some ideas for my garden here.

I asked one of the other visitors to snap my picture.  That's the Hudson River in the background.

I was out having lunch in a restaurant by myself last week and discovered something.  I looked over the appetizers and found a good looking salad (Caprese, one of my favorites) that I thought I would eat for lunch.  Then I was tempted by the lunch salads and thought I'd just order both--salads, right?  That couldn't be too far off the mark.  Well, besides the expense, the calories did add up, so I decided to use my tendency to procrastinate to my benefit.  I ordered the appetizer and decided to defer the decision on the lunch salad.  By the time I'd finished the Caprese, I was content and didn't order the other salad.  SCORE!  Who knew that I could turn one of my bad habits to work to my advantage?!  

DH and I have been enjoying our bike riding.  Yesterday and the week before that we ate early and took an after dinner ride to Fort Hunt Park.  There is a Sunday evening concert series there all summer and we enjoyed the music while we rode the mile+ loops around the park.  In the middle we zipped over to the Mount Vernon bike path and rode to Mount Vernon and back along the river just before sunset.  B-E-A-utiful!  Last week's ride was 20 miles and last night we added a bit more and got up to 23+ miles.  

Ella playing dress-up after I allowed her to rummage in my scarf drawer!

Jack was not amenable to having his photo taken, but he said something cute as I was putting him down for his nap the other day.  I had refused some final request (I think it was a third story) and he looked at me with his big blue eyes and said, "If I was Amie and you were Jack I would read another story to you!"  So do you think he got the third story??   Youbetcha!  

One of several red lobelias (cardinal flower) that I planted this year.  My camera was not quick enough to accurately catch the hummingbird (see the blur?), but this plant sure attracts them.  They ignore my feeder now, in favor of these alluring red plants.  This plant is about four feet tall.

Of course the birds all disappeared when I went outside with my camera, but we usually have at least three or four on each feeder (plus the hummers on the lobelia, beneath).  The pink and white are spider flower, or cleome, and are descendants of those that my grandfather used to have in his garden when I was growing up.  They seed themselves and are quite striking.

Where I spend a lot of time every week.  This is the Long Bridge on the Mount Vernon Trail, alongside the Mount Vernon Parkway.  I love this part.  This was early morning (~7 a.m.) about a week ago.  There is a marshy part on either side and a small river that passes under the center part.  I like it best at super high tide.

These are some of the pretty plants I've seen lately.  The flower is a large hibiscus type and I've seen them in gardens.  I've also noticed at least one plant that had dark pink flowers. They definitely like very wet soil as they were in the marshy part.  Anybody know what kind they are?

Lots of "Art Time" these days while Jack is napping in the afternoons. Lke most four year olds, Ella loves all things "princess" and this crown was an immediate hit.

I keep track of my running and biking on Daily Mile.  This chart shows the combined distance for the past 26 weeks.  I'm not trying to set any records, nor am I training for a race, but I'm finding it pretty comfortable to run 4-5 miles three times a week and to bike 12-20 miles three times a week.  Not charted is my twice weekly trip to the gym where I do resistance weights for about 45 minutes.  

All this activity and following a WW/17DD approach to my eating has yielded a good weight loss.  This chart is from Dec 6, 2010 until the present.  My father died on the 6th and I spent an entire year gaining weight.  Finally, in the past few days, I've gotten below that weight again.  And I will definitely  lose more.  I'm going to reach my goal this time and stay there.

A couple posts ago I had expressed a hope that I could lose 7.5 pounds before we left for a family reunion at the end of this week.  Well, guess what?!  As of this morning my daily WI shows me down 7 from that day and I still have 5 days until we go to drop the last half pound.  I will be down ~13 pounds from our last family reunion there.  Did I mention this is a beach holiday?  Yes, I'm going to feel great!

I took a chance on a flat of Costco peaches the other day.  YUM!  I love peaches.  I had to let them soften for a couple of days, but these are super.  

What's your favorite summer produce?

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!