Bucket List

Posted on March 8, 2014 by freda

Son #2 started the train of thought that leads to things I want to do before I die. He asked me to think about creative presents that I might like for this special birthday that is fast approaching. Eventually I came up with one . . . . . .  tickets to a concert – James Blunt is coming to Scotland next month – but sadly the tickets are all sold out. A good idea foiled at the post.

Son #1 was getting involved by this stage – all to do with dog-sitting – and he referred to the “Bucket List” on my blog. It had totally slipped my mind, though there it is under the menu and is called “Things still to do.”  The trouble is that most of these require a great deal of motivation from myself. And surprisingly, quite a number have been achieved. I laughed when I read “give a home to a puppy cairn,” as said puppy is now eight years old.

This is getting me nowhere; I suspect the answer is to let things continue to simmer in the hope that an idea will pop into my head. And no, I don’t fancy a trip in a hot air balloon. The main thing is to keep enjoying this Birthday Month.

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Tempting food

Posted on March 7, 2014 by freda

B2014 HaddockandvegsThis is just to show how tempting low-cal food can be. Steamed or microwaved haddock – 100gm – together with an orange pepper, tomato slices, mushroom and onion. Total calories approx 150.

Fits very well into a 500 calorie Fast Day

Today has been a mixture of sleet, snow and howling gales. It has nearly put me off Friday night dancing but not quite. An extra incentive is the pedometer clipped to my waistband and the promise of an evening of good exercise, good company and sheer enjoyment. We spend a lot of time laughing and tying our legs and brains into knots. Much to be recommended.

Happy weekend from Dalamory, wherever you are.

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2:5 The Fast Diet

Posted on March 6, 2014 by freda

B2014 BookthefastdietThe Birthday Month seems the ideal time to start with spring-cleaning my health. Now that my blood pressure seems reasonably stable I have checked with my doctor and have her permission to have a go at the 2:5 diet which utilises intermittent fasting. The basic idea is to fast on 2 non-consecutive days each week – by “fast” that means eating 500-600 calories. Then on the other five days, eat a normal healthy diet.

My GP tells me she has a number of patients who are using this method and that they are having good results. The plan, then is to stick to this method for the whole of March and then review the situation. I’ve already been doing it for 10 days or so. Today is my 4th Fast day and I can honestly say that though it is quite rigorous it is doable. I am sticking to 500 calories on Mondays and Thursdays, and trying not to go too mad on the ordinary days.

It is worth reading up on the method and the scientific reasoning behind it. I have long admired TV’s Dr Michael Mosley – he is someone whose work I trust. And besides that he has a nice smile and bedside manner! I first heard of the Fasting approach from my hairdresser – she has lost around 20lbs over 3 months and is looking much the better for it. Her encouragement started my quest for information.

Along with the food restrictions I am trying to exercise a bit more and have dusted off a pedometer that was lying neglected in a drawer. Hence the number of steps etc in the previous post. My weight increased when I retired, and it has been a struggle to keep it just under the obese section in the BMI scale. So it is clear I need to try something to shock my system into behaving itself. I guess I just enjoy the wrong kinds of food and chronic ailments make it hard to get fit. Dancing is good exercise because there is someone else to help prop you up. But that is only one evening a week.

I know that some people lose weight when they don’t want to – I don’t want to be a diet bore, I just want to get into a more sensible frame of mind where I can enjoy food and yet not beat myself up about being a chubby person. Encouraging comments please.

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Statistics and a riddle

Posted on March 5, 2014 by freda

If I give you some statistics, can you guess the latest ploy for the Birthday Month?

Steps Monday – 3259
Steps Tuesday – 1206

Weight: – you don’t expect me to tell you that do you?

Monday calories: 500
Thursday calories: 500

Blood Pressure – More normal than it has been since Christmas

Clue – How many days are in the week?

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Watching TV

Posted on March 4, 2014 by freda

Confession time – I really enjoy watching television. Perhaps I should qualify that and say that I enjoy watching certain things on tv – the box being what the box is nowadays I can usually find something to watch either live, on catchup or something previously recorded. As hobbies go, it is a relatively easy and harmless entertainment. Some people might think it is too passive, and I do agree that it can be a panacea after a busy day, simply to switch on and watch mindlessly. In actual fact I am more disciplined than that.

For a start, the tv set is not usually switched on until after 6pm – either after dinner, or on the odd really lazy day with something like chicken in a basket in front of the news. I love documentaries and even like the occasional reality programme – not all that many of the latter, there has to be a quirkiness or other kind of link to my own life. I also love films and detective stories and anything medical. Most television is acceptable in the sense that it makes a good background to crocheting prayer squares for a blanket to be used by charities wherever there is an urgent need. I’ve blogged about this before here and there is a picture here.

What was a lovely surprise last year was when someone sent me a beautifully crafted shawl with a letter enclosed explaining that this was designed and knitted for me with prayers specially for me. It sits on my “prayer seat” in the study and I am grateful for feeling included in this way. Especially if I am feeling a bit down.

Television viewing has been brought up to date nowadays at Dalamory with the advent of the ipad. I usually have it sitting beside me; it is amazing how many times I have cause to pick it up to do a search – sometimes to check dates of an event, or to see how old an actor is. There is the whole wealth of knowledge at my fingertips. I don’t even have to get off my chair. . . . . .. . . unless I’ve left the ipad in the other room of course.

What do you do when viewing tv?
Do you even like tv?

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A clear desk

Posted on March 3, 2014 by freda

A clear desk is something that usually pleases me greatly. The photo of today’s desk is not bad – except for all the things lurking in the trays. I estimate there is nearly a week of tidying up work to do. Still . . . . . . the only way to deal with it is one item at a time. That is something I learnt long ago.

What’s your desk space like?

B2014 Cleardesk

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Iona Community

Posted on March 2, 2014 by freda

With all the violence and military movements we need to remember to share the need for Prayers for Peace more and more.

This is the Iona Community’s Universal Prayer for Peace.

Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth.
Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our lives, our world, our universe.
Peace, peace, peace.

Related articles across the web

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Plant bookcase

Posted on March 1, 2014 by freda

Since Christmas I have re-organised the dining-end bookcase to display plants. As well as getting a fair bit of light and the occasional glimpse of sun, the display cheers things up. The only imperative is that HBTW has to take control of them, I tend to overdo the watering.

B2014 CrocusesThese crocuses are sunny in themselves. We found a source of inexpensive potted bulbs last year at this time and kept on replacing them until the shop ran out. Last year’s rested  plants are now coming up in the garden.

So this counts as the first of the Birthday Month treats. It is a wonderful feeling now that March is actually here. I am definitely a March baby – it’s great. Happy nearly Spring to you and yours.

We all need to enjoy a few treats now and then. Go for it.

 

Here is the whole bookcase display.

B2014 Plantbookcasefeb

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The Birthday Month

Posted on February 28, 2014 by freda

This is the last day before my Birthday Month, and of course it is a special BM . . . .. ..  it is my 70th Birthday Month. When I was a child it took me quite a number of years to grasp the concept of age and ageing – after all my Mother was old and she was in her twenties. However in time I started to understand that old and older were relative terms. Granny T was old and jolly, yet she was still in her fifties. Grandpa T died when he was 56 and Gramps C similarly died before he was sixty. That generation after WWII had a hard time of it.

70 seemed a long way away. Now that I am nearly there it is strange what has happened. 70 is the new 50 one of my friends keeps telling me. That’s all very well, but supposing you have genes that don’t age well. In truth, 70 does seem quite young. 80 feels old; but then old age is always ten years older than you are yourself. It’s all about perspective.

What do you think?

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The Notebook

Posted on February 27, 2014 by freda

Or maybe it should be Tabor’s Notebook – she posts here and today is expressing many of the same thoughts and problems that I have. I shall be drifting off to sleep or dozing in the chair with Misty on my knee and all of a sudden an idea to develop for my blog pops into my head.  Then I wake up some time later with all thoughts of a said post having gone out of my mind.

So – I have a small notebook which sits beside my computer usually, and I jot down a few words hoping to be able to expand them into a blogworthy post at some stage. I suppose it is a bit like being a columnist in a newspaper, they have to find a topic at regular intervals and in their case it must be something newsworthy that will inform or entertain or enthuse hundreds of thousands of people. Some bloggers do have that kind of readership but for many of us it is a case of a few hundred hits each week and the knowledge that one’s family and friends may well keep up.

One of the things that amuses me greatly is the way that real life and blog-life kind of cross over.  For example, someone says on the phone, I was reading your blog – are you feeling a bit down? Or another might suggest a topic – sometimes that works and at others it doesn’t. It all depends on whether our minds are in tandem at any given time. In general I think that writing the blog is good for me. At least, as long as I don’t let it become a chore or a burden. The caveat is that I always have to be able to simply share a photograph or a thought or a poem or a prayer. It is not always imperative to be terrible erudite or worthy.  As for those who say, Why don’t you write. . . . . . ? I do sometimes say and Why don’t you write . . . . . .?  But to be honest it is not everyone’s favourite thing to do.

For interest’s sake here are some items sitting in my notebook waiting to be turned into blog posts:

  1. The fast diet – the secret of intermittent fasting
  2. Redacting scripture – South Pacific versus the Bible
  3. The Art of Photography Assessment 1
  4. Driving licence and becoming 70

Any other ideas?

 

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