Cali, I think we are supposed to be in summer but the weather has trouble deciding what season it is and as a result my garden and the local wildlife are confused. My asparagus started a month early and finished a month early, my beans are half the height they should be but the black fly are already on them. Robins, by nature fiercely territorial and solitary, are still going around in pairs but a young buzzard took cover in my apple tree this morning when he was mobbed by the rooks from the churchyard. I have just been outside and I have tomatoes on the vine. We have been warned there will be a national shortage of potatoes because of low rainfall over the last year and the spring, but mine are looking really good. I am also confused

On the question of sleep. When fasting hard I sleep well, but for about an hour less. On NFDs I occasionally wake in the night and sleep later in the morning.

FD today and again tomorrow for three in a row. Feeling good.

Good morning everyone. Cold, old Melbourne.

Quacka, I hope you survived the Great Sugar Food Temptation. Not in among the sweet things I miss, so the others would all be welcome to them (unlike that home made cannoli)
You must be getting all your cruel bad luck in a row, so you can have an easier time later on.

LJoyce, excellent work by your great niece (and her mum).

Lindsay, my shortness is all in the legs too. With my long body and long head I think I might be a bit startling. 🙂
Happy birthday to the 6 year old! I always think of the Christopher Robin poem ‘Now I am six’.
Totally agree with you about school uniforms and birthday celebrations.
Aren’t bees wonderful. I was listening to pieces of an interesting program on the radio yesterday, in my car, about hives being stolen in California. So I was thinking of you and Cali.
And Oh! That flower. Stunning! Is it scented too?

Penguin, the weather is gradually getting madder, poor thing. Your flowers sound wonderful. I had never heard of that red bishop, but when I first moved into this area (25 years ago) there were several houses with gardens grown by dedicated dahlia lovers and such huge variety, and maybe including that stunning one.

Cali, yes! I did get a better sleep last night and feel human again. A bad night seems to affect me more and more. I just gave up and had a screen time day yesterday (apart from when I went to the shops and listened to the bee program). So, even more to catch up on today. Life!

I do hope you get a better week with those difficult NFD’s. What is your strategy?

Anzac, Sydney weather and commuter troubles were on the news this morning. I hope it is much better this afternoon.

Must go and see if I can make a dent on this mess.

Accountability: B. Herb, sweet potato and ricotta frittata.
L. Poha with cauliflower and peas.
S. Tomato soup.
D. Veggie Stirfry.

Oh Thin, I’m so glad I excused myself and took my phone into a meeting room to watch the video. That is HILARIOUS and I literally laughed out loud. And to hear John Cleese doing a Yorkshire accent was so funny too. And was that what’s-his-name from the Goodies to the left of JC? I do love British humour, especially in years past. There’s nothing like it anywhere else. My favourite shows are ones like ‘Allo ‘Allo and Black Adder.

Now I understand what you and Penguin were on about with your road licking and uphill walks to school. Too funny

I haven’t seen the Monty Python sketch in years. Thanks.

Dog sitting over. Cat sitting this week. One of the neighbours is away and I am going in twice a day to feed the cat. We know each other – he hunts my garden most days, confining himself to rodents so the Robins are safe..

FD yesterday. Plenty of activity in garden, picked gooseberries. Ate 15 fruit and veg, which sounds a lot but the quantities were small. Down another pound. OH also down.

Hi everyone

FD was tough yesterday, probably because of all the desserts I ate on the weekend.
Today was all about Sunday night leftovers – not including desserts, apart from some leftover strawberry puree.

NFD Fess Up:
Breakfast pot of tea
Mid-morning: 1/2 glass of kefir with strawberry puree
Lunch: Small antipasto plate and 2 small slices of ciabatta. Small bowl of rockmelon and strawberries.
Late-afternoon: pot of tea, cheese, date-walnut log, 2 crackers
Dinner: One spoonful risotto, osso bucco, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, carrots.
Supper: hot drink – probably cocoa

Adding the strawberry puree to the kefir was amazing – I’ll definitely do that again.

I’m utterly exhausted and sore tonight as I spent several hours trying to dig up clay soil in the garden this afternoon. I’ll have dinner shortly and a very early night.

Hi all

I’d just like to start by saying thank you for all the congrats and bouquets etc. I am actually quite pleased to see that 69+ figure as in ancient times (about 35 years ago) it used to be my trigger weight to get my act together. However, I know that I will probably hover for a while around 69/70 and my scales are so old, it’s hard to tell accurately what the reading is.

Anzac. Quite a relief to have Maxx organised, you will be able to enjoy your holiday so much more. Your work situation sound horrendous, is this what you were warned about when you went for the job. I’m glad you are hanging in there. Your chicken salad must have compensated for the pizza lunch. And your weekend was good too, give yourself a pat on the back. Now we are in the van, Bobby sometimes needs a 3am walk and it is very hard to get out of a cozy bed and take him out, knowing it’s freezing outside and I will probably not get back to sleep quickly but better than the alternative. I hope the storms didn’t affect you too badly. We heard about more today but no issues inland where we were.

Penguin. Your grand dog visit sounded very pleasant. And all that wild life right in your garden. What is a slow worm? You need to explain. You’re right, not too many kids would walk 5k to school now, although my two probably walked 3k to secondary school and didn’t complain. Temperatures between 20 and 30 are the ideal range, that’s why Autumn is do good here. My OH would have been in heaven if he had seen those Spitfires, he is really interested in anything to do with WW2 aircraft. Any screen use at a dinner table is so rude unless it’s for showing photos of grandkids. Can I add to the cute sign stories. In a coffee shop in Tennessee ‘ Unruly children will be given a double shot of coffee and a puppy’ and to add to the dog stories, dog friendly caravan parks are becoming much more common here. One place has a sign ‘ Dogs don’t steal the toilet paper, have loud parties and leave bottles everywhere. If your dog recommends you then you can stay.’ Your garden sounds lovely, productive and pretty. In one of Bill Bryson’s books he spends a bit of time on how words are used in U.K. and USA. Some of the words dated back to the Pilgrims and have kept the meaning in US but have changed in UK, we certainly have a living language.

LJ. How many people were you feeding your Italian meal, I hope it was a small army. Yes, dessert is the killer, that cannoli sounds wonderful. I think I would have done exactly the same. What a lovely gift from your Miss 5, she is already into the family tradition of showing affection with food. You don’t stand a chance, but you were very strong to get it into the freezer so quickly. What is going into your garden, is thus for vegies or flowers. Before I started 5-2 I was getting quite creative with mashed potato, using up little bits of cheese, leftover dips, dukkah etc which reduced waste and added flavour. I’ve virtually given up potato but I can see that if I make it a small percentage of a vegie mash, I can still eat it and get lots of other vegies too.

Betsy. Although BMI ratings are getting slammed at the moment, the fact is that the less you weigh, the better it is and I remember how great I felt when I hit that milestone and could proudly say I was overweight. Keeping that in mind should be a powerful incentive when those temptations rise.

Lindsay. Well done on losing your holiday gains. I am a bit puzzled at this height discussion. I used to be 165cm and considered myself medium height, Anzac at 170cm I would think of as a bit above average. To my amazement, since I started on 5-2, I have discovered I have dropped to 162.5 and I still don’t see myself as short. Do you mix with really tall people? It’s funny that there has to be a special garment for girls. One of my GD wears skorts and the other has a skirt but it has pants incorporated. We just wore dresses or shorts. I don’t think either school has long pants for girls so they wear leggings with their dresses, not nearly as warm as pants. Rant perfectly understandable. Sounds like Miss 3 isn’t hard to please. Glad the weekend went well and your flower looks wonderful. Does each flower last, or do you get a new one every day?

Neil. You have a lovely country but your weather sounds too cold for comfort. No wonder Queen Lizzie is so old, she has so many birthdays. We don’t celebrate until next weekend and I don’t think all the states are the same.

Quakka. Must be the season for pumpkin soup. I just made a really tasty one with lots of cumin, turmeric and chilli flakes which OH is having for his FD lunch and I will have to wait for a NFD. Those cakes did look nice and I noticed they were cut into quarters, does that mean you have samples of them all? Well done on your FD. I agree about all the measuring etc, it can be quite surprising the actual cal count when you do, particularly vegetable based soups.

Thin. Thanks so much for that video link. I knew what you and penguin were referring to but hadn’t heard that skit for years and I didn’t know who the actors were. A stat studded group.

Cinque. Your poor sleeping continues. Are you still depriving yourself of caffeine to try and improve it? Is there anything else that might be contributing? I really sympathise with you. Try and keep warm now that the cold has hit. One thing I have found is that I need to make sure my feet are warm in bed so really good socks and right now, I have a heat pack doing the job. It seems to make a big difference.

Cali. I can see a big rise in sales of dark chocolate in your area, not often something we enjoy gets a health tick. Sorry to hear that you have been having trouble sleeping too, sounds like your brain doesn’t want to switch off. I have that sometimes, of course I spend a lot of time (like now) on my iPad and that is supposed to be bad for melatonin levels. Hot chocolate or camomile tea sometimes helps. The only time I have come across your word was in The Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan opera) where it was used by a very pompous character who wanted to impress the Emperor.

Currently in Tamworth (Country Music capital of Australia). Not my taste in music and that’s not why we came here. Quite chilly but no wind or rain so easy to rug up. There is a town south of here called Nundle which has a working woollen mill which I am looking forward to visiting and there is some sort of horse event here which showcases riding skills and other rural specialities like working dog trials. Being a city slicker I haven’t seen anything like this before and I think we will find it interesting. The driving is relatively easy, we try and keep each day to about 300k and I have built up my long distance driving muscles over time. OH and I have been together over 50 years and I can’t imagine handing over the steering wheel to anyone else on a regular basis. The hard part is backing the van into the site, sometimes quite small or surrounded by other vans and OH is very good at working out how to do that while I am happy to be the puppet following orders. We have a few more cold days and nights coming but we will be in Queensland next week and should start to feel warmer. I’m counting on you Lindsay to look after that for me.

Oops! Not May, June. Maybe need to head for bed! 🙂

On my phone, so a short one.

Klondi a slow worm is a small legless lizard. About 40 cm long and the thickness of my middle finger. Sometimes shorter because when under threat they shed their tail as a distraction. They are quite rare now but when I was child every country boy had one in his pocket.

Good morning, another very wet and very cold day in Sydney

LJ, I’m so sorry to hear you are aching and I hope an early night last night has helped. How are you feeling today?

Betsy, I keep saying ‘May’ instead of June as my brain simply refuses to acknowledge how fast the time is going.

Klondi, your trip is sound amazing and I bet you are looking forward to some hopefully warmer weather in QLD. It must be freezing where you are in Tamworth

Weight continues to stubbornly refuse to budge much but I know if I persist it will suddenly drop. I have another #*#*#*# UTI – probably brought on by stress – so that isn’t helping. Last day of workshops today -and only half a day apparently – so hooray to that

I also have a decent lunch break today so I can finally get back into my walking. If it is still raining I can walk underground around the Queen Victoria Building. I also intend to WFH on Friday and that means four days at home so therefore at least four really big hilly walks. I simply can’t wait. The weather is supposed to be perfect from tomorrow for at least a week – around 19-22 with lots of sunshine. Bliss. The forecast for next Tuesday is 25! I’m guessing that will change.

Maxx and OH ventured out for a walk today despite the rain as we couldn’t keep him cooped up for a second day in a row. He is a very active teenage LARGE dog so he needs plenty of exercise of course. The walk report was encouraging as he was pretty well behaved and he enjoyed a big towelling down when they got home.

Hi to everyone else, have a great day

Klondi, what a lovely, lovely post. Very interesting reading, and so nice you’ve responded to us all.
BTW, Miss 3 isn’t hard to please at all. As long as she was colouring in the Apple on the top of my MacBook, she was as happy as Larry (sigh). I didn’t notice until I picked it up to rush out the house to work yesterday.

I think I’ve always thought of myself as short because my much taller brothers used to call me short stuff. I’ve always worn heels to compensate, though less so now. I did buy 3 terrific pairs of boots in the sales in Scotland in January…Clarks, stylish, with a padded insert and a mid-heel. I wore a pair yesterday for the first time and lasted the whole day without a twinge.

Betsy how good that you are looking to the future and how to maintain. I seem such a long way off that. I think that you will find your sweet spot, as others on this site seem to have done, and with the one FD a week, it will work for you.

Congratulations Neil – what a downward spiral you’re on! Do you think you’ll enjoy the gym?

Calif I don’t hear ‘verisimilitude’ used in everyday life, but occasionally in literary reviews. I used to think it meant truth, but on looking it up, it seems it’s appearance of truth. A subtle difference.

Cinque, thank you, thank you for the reference to AA Milne’s Now I am Six. I had read that to my children, and it had totally slipped my mind for my little grand-daughter. Her party is on Saturday (just family … there are eight little cousins of similar age), and I am off to the shops later this morning to see if I can buy the book. If not, there’s always the Book Depository.

How are the workshops going Anzac? Sound like hell. Odd approach, for the facilitator to scream and embarrass people – not exactly a good strategy for getting the best out of the team. Very hard to stick to a food plan when you’re locked in a room for days on end….good for you for doing your utmost.

Thin I read about your bridge in awe – I don’t have a clue what it is about, except that it requires superior brain power with perhaps a touch of guile???

Sorry I missed the bee program Cinque – I’m guessing Radio National? My bee mentor said bees are flown in from all over the US to fertilise the almond trees when they blossom – but many don’t make it home because they don’t like the relocation. Now Victoria is doing the same thing. Some enterprising growers are building up hives among the trees, to let nature take its course. Long may it do so.

My flowering cactus doesn’t have much perfume Cali, Cinque – unlike the gorgeous gardenias, which along with roses are my absolute favourites. But when I went out to smell a flower, a swarm of the tiny native bees were deep within.

Non-fast day today – my OH is taking me to lunch, after a trip to the Greek grocer to get olives, cheese, coffee and the like.

Penguin I’m still reading the Diet Myth and finding it fascinating and already, behaviour changing – although I do quibble with some of the author’s sweeping non-diet related statements. For example, he claims that Chinese women no longer know how to cook (just not true), and that the Chinese don’t eat many vegetables any more – also not true. He also made a statement that 50% of Australian Indigenous men die before they are 45. The actual statistic is shocking enough – their life expectancy is 10 years less than non-Indigenous Australians…it didn’t need exaggeration. Where were his editors?

I am loving reading your posts about where you live, and your life there Penguin. So nice to see you posting again, regularly.

OK, time to shut up shop and get the day underway. Sunny and cool in Brisbane – perfect for a nice outing, wedged between work days. I did 11 hours yesterday, and was shattered by the time I got home, but OH had cooked!!! The bliss of arriving home to a nice meal.

Happy day all

Good morning everyone, what a lot of great, interesting posts.

Thin, I had a nice quip re the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, to indicate that I knew exactly what you were talking about, in the post that went to the ether. I grew up on all those shows.

Quacka, no wonder Mr Quacka, and your work mate, loved that soup. Just the thing for this weather. Good luck with the mid year stock!

Penguin, excellent plant variety intake, great variety in small amount seems to be the key. And hooray for that downward trajectory.
Oh dear, MacDonald meetings.

Cali, shopping is such a good strategy. Hope to do that this afternoon with op shops and library.
I know that I have read verisimilitude (and heard it in The Mikado, I realise Klondi), but I don’t think I have ever said it. What a great word it is though! I might practice saying it so I am ready when it is called for 😉 .

LJoyce, hooray for getting through that fast day, discovering kefir and strawberry puree, and getting that clay soil worked. I hope today is an easy one.

Klondi, what a ripper of a post.
I believe I have scientifically proven that my coffee intake wasn’t effecting my sleep so I’m very happily drinking it again. I decided to give myself two coffee free days a week, on my fast days. But I think I will bail today if home help wants coffee. I am longing for one.
Cold feet is one of my symptoms so this time of year I go to bed with a hot waterbottle AND a big heat bag. Very snuggly and I don’t think I would sleep at all without something to warm my feet.
Can you believe that Miso the cat likes to snuggle up between my hot water bottle and my feet? Such a shocking habit in such a sweet little cat!
What a great team you and Mr Klondi make! And lovely to think you will both come back from your trip lighter and healthier than you left.

Betsy, yes, ‘cool’ is a nice Australian understatement for the weather, but it is nice to have a break from the rain. Aren’t the months galloping past!

Anzac, you poor thing. The UTI means inflammation so your dear body needs to hold extra water to deal with it. Don’t expect to lose lots of weight this week. Enjoy your walk. Glad Maxx got his. Lucky we are waterproof!
Keep on keeping on!

Lindsay. Oh no that colouring in! It would have seemed such a good idea at the time. I hope Miss 6 enjoys the poem. I know several off by heart and have been reciting the hoppity poem to Miss 4 who has just mastered hopping.

Don’t your boots sound fab.
The bee program was so interesting. It was an American production but I have no idea what program it was on. I think it was this: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/06/27/534128664/beekeepers-feel-the-sting-of-california-s-giant-beehive-heist
Lovely to hear of the tiny native bees enjoying the heart of the flower together.
Hooray for Mr Lindsay having a meal for you after such a big day.

Neil I bet you are one of the unusual people who actually get their money’s worth out of a gym membership.

My accountability went well yesterday. I had a veggie pot pie instead of the stirfry. I did have a couple of peanut butter on vita wheat after it, which weren’t needed. Note to self.
Today is fast day. Same as it ever was.

Cheers all. Intesha, keen to hear how you are going. Rosy Posy, how are you? Merry, sending good wishes.

I just read an article that explores the idea that BMI ranges should be different for men and women.

It’s quite long winded, but the conclusion is that based on average muscle mass and what body fat percentages are considered overweight for men and women (33% for women, 25% for men) that the BMI for the threshold of being overweight should remain 25 for women, but be 27.2 for men.

I’ve plugged that into a reverse BMI calculator and the BMI 27.2 figure for me is pretty close to my goal weight. It comes out at 86.2 kilograms. I’m still aiming for 90 kilos, but once I get there I might reassess, I may try for 80-85 kilos if I feel that it would be healthy to get there.

That would be a very cheeky brain Quacka. I do hope it gets easier through the day.

Home Help did want a coffee. Yay! ( I didn’t mention that I saw her draining her previous, takeaway, coffee as she was getting out of the car. I understood completely. )

You can do this Quacka, just another couple of hours. Think about how good you will feel and how good your dinner will taste…..

You and I need to get new jobs in a place where there isn’t constant temptation!

Cinque, nothing like a trip to the op shop, especially when you find good things. Have you tried decaf coffee? I rarely drink coffee with caffeine anymore. I usually buy French Roast or other dark roasted coffee beans. I do like caffeine but I seem to be more sensitive to it as I get older. If you find a good brand of decaf it’s often hard to tell the difference except that you don’t get that kick that you do from the caffeine.

I’m surprised that so many of you had seen the word “verisimilitude” before. Even OH says he sees it occasionally. It’s the kind of word I would remember if I had read it. To me it looks like it should be the name of a bug with lots and lots of legs, perhaps related to the centipede. “I’m sorry I’m late, but my cat was chasing a verisimilitude and I had to catch it in a jar and put it outside.”

Anzac, I Googled that Queen Victoria Building you mentioned. What a gorgeous place! Is it close to where you work?

Neil, good idea about joining a club close to work. The convenient location will mean you’ll be tempted to go there more. And congrats for moving even closer to goal 3!

Penguin, I’m still reading The Diet Myth. I’ve been spending too much time bingeing on that “Chernobyl” tv show. But we finished watching the 6th and final episode today, so back to my reading.

An interesting link, from ABC Science

https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2019-05-30/highly-processed-food-and-disease-risk-food-labels/11153774?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=%5bspecialist_sfmc_04_06_19_science%5d%3a125&user_id=ec7ec6cca2e925a533d638eaa5930a0150d95548d0b6a636cb81ec4a60556435&WT.tsrc=email&WT.mc_id=Email%7c%5bspecialist_sfmc_04_06_19_science%5d%7c125story_3_headline

Great article Lindsay, I shared it on another thread and on my YamDaisy fb page too.
I’m trying to write and eat my miso soup at the same time. Haha, I had better stop writing. See you tomorrow.

Hi all, workout went well today. I thought I was bike ready, but 40 minutes on a real exercise bike just showed me how woefully inadequate the resistance on my bike at home is, and therefore how bike un-ready I am.

Lindsay- I used to get wicked leg cramps as a teen. They can be caused by lack of magnesium or potassium.

Hi everyone, checking in before I do some computer work. My first FD800 for the week today ballooned into about 1000-1100 cals, but better than a full eating day.

Thin, I agree about the exercise levels – I originally put myself at light exercise, debating whether to be light or moderate. I tend to walk vigorously about 40-50 minutes each day, as my fitbit can attest, and do some floor exercises and light weight work 5 times a week. Everything gets recorded in an exercise diary which I’ve kept for the past several years so I know when I’m slacking, and so far this year I’ve been very consistent. But, whether it can be called moderate? I just flipped at the thought of having to keep to little over 1300 calories permanently. But, I have to remember that calorie needs reduce with age (sigh!). In the past, I’ve been very much a stress eater, or eating for the extra energy to keep going when I really should have stopped. Now I don’t have the stress of work it’s much easier to control my eating, which is a good thing.

Neilithicman, you are doing so well, you’re a sterling example of the potential for success embodied in this WOL. Have fun at the gym!

LindsayL, I was interested in your comments about beehives being welcomed into almond plantations. My uncle and cousin used to keep bees (I think my cousin still does) near Sawtell, and always asked the farmers to warn them when they were intending to spray their fruit trees, so the beehives could be moved to safer locations. What you’re suggesting seems to be the opposite, and seems a really good change.

Okay, got to go. Happy days everyone!

Neil, although mine is now 25, I am not convinced by BMI. It was originally devised to measure populations for insurance purposes, not individuals and the group who provided the original sample population were of Anglo Saxon ancestry, in their middle years and office workers. It doesn’t work well for other ethnic groups or anyone with much muscle. Even the backs in the All Blacks would score as obese. When I was in the RAF it was briefly used as a fitness assessment until we realised that the clerks were passing and the armourers, who do heavy lifting, were not. Agree about magnesium for cramps. – a mag supplement cured mine. My gym is about 6 miles away. It has the advantage of being very quiet on a weekday. It has a social life all of it’s own. I have been working out with the same people for the 16 years of my membership. I never see them anywhere else and in some cases still don’t know their names, but we encourage each other.

Cali, word of the day “crepuscular”. From my bird recognition book – active in twilight, dawn and dusk. Sounded familiar but I had to check.

I managed to miss A A Milne as a child, as did my kids and grand kids. Not sure why. In similar style, perhaps, on Valentine’s Day I bought OH “When I am old I shall wear purple”. Unlike my previous effort of a slim volume of Shakespeare’s love sonnets it was well received. For some reason Rupert Bear is now echoing around my brain.

Lindsay, got your article twice, via Cinque and the Science thread as well. Interesting,

The day was spent in the garden, so by late afternoon an ice cream seemed like a good idea. A Pernod before supper, actually more than one, was a bit of a disappointment. I keep it for putting into fish soups but for drinking I prefer Pastis. Some swine had drunk it all.

Gah! I’m watching the cricket and NZ were cruising against Bangladesh, but 3 stupid shots and now it’s squeaky bum time.

Good morning,
I need to be quick again as I need to head off through peak hour traffic to pick up Miss 2 for some grandma time. But it is lovely to have yesterday’s fast day done and dusted.

Interesting points about BMI. I guess BMI has to be a blunt tool, to work fairly well for the whole range of people. This time I am contra-Neil-and-Penguin, I am close to the bottom of my BMI range and yet still have extra belly and other unfortunate floppy bits. But it is an impressive guide, given the whole population. Just not to be taken as the only measure.
Waist measurement is similar. Another good tool, taken in context.
It is weird judging our weight in a population where so many people are overweight. I am fascinated when looking at footage of the sixties and fifties, what a different physical picture we see of the population.

Quacka, so glad you made it through yesterday! What a gorgeous looking soup!

My miso soup was a little bit different to usual as I was brave enough to use the bonito flakes for the first time. I seeped some in the soup (rather than the usual way of using them to prepare broth). I thought I had been too tentative and couldn’t even taste the difference, but then this gentle smokey, savoury fishiness came through and it was heaven.

Congratulations on reassessing the cakes away from their first pretty presentation and delight. Such a good move.

Cali, I love how you knew I was op shopping, even though I forgot to clarify.
Right now I am celebrating that I can enjoy the caffeine, but isn’t it a relief that they have found a much better way to decaffeinate, it was throat stripper when it first came in!

Haha re verisimilitude, and eep with Penguin’s new word “crepuscular”. It sounds awful, and yet such a beautiful meaning.
Penguin, frost! Eep!

Lindsay, good news re your blood pressure. I do hope working your way off the medication goes well. Woohoo indeed!
And what a lovely day.

Neil, I hope you are not suffering today after that workout. All power to you.

Betsy, that assessment of activity is tricky. Another guesstimate. I think of myself as so sedentary, but I move about a lot more (most days 😉 ) than people who are stuck at their desks for long hours. You do a great range of exercises.

Klondi, what surprise your walking lights must be to strangers. Haha.
So true with the floor puzzles. My activity level must be mostly correlated with the amount of time I am with the littlies.
A clever way of writing responses! I think each of us uses a different way to read and write on this forum!

Goodness, I think I will have to wait until I pick up my granddaughter to have breakfast. Well that will make it an even better fast.
Best wishes everyone for this day.

Accountability: Home made wholemeal English muffin with mushrooms for breakfast.
Pumpkin risotto and Brussels sprouts for lunch
Soup for snack, if needed
Last veggie pot pie for dinner. Plus a mug of cocoa.

Good morning, the sun is shining again – hooray

I have to be quick as I have to get stuck into something asap. I just wanted to say that the scales have finally crept down and back into the 85’s! 85.8 this morning. This is my trampoline weight but not this time

Ironically I caved and had some proper bread yesterday AND a tiny bit of potato with dinner. Hmmm.

Have a great day all, I hope I can pop back for a bigger catchup later

Cali, I have never heard of that ‘v’ word (too lazy to go back and figure out how to spell it!). I do work just down the road from the Queen Victoria Building and yes it is awesome. I love wandering around it and my favourite shop – Victoria’s Basement – is there. It is a mad cave of all things household – think piles and piles of lovely crockery, shelves and walls of kitchen gadgets, tables full of lovely place mats/table cloths/coasters – disorganised chaos and I could spend an entire day in there.

Huge congrats Quacka, I knew you would get through it.

Lindsay, I have suffered muscle cramps all my life – it must be hereditary as my Dad is the same. Bananas are great and so is tonic water for the quinine. I also have tablets called ‘Cramp Eze’ for when they just won’t shift. I too can make like a bullet out of bed when one hits; especially when they are in the calf. OUCH! It sounds like you had a lovely day yesterday, culminating in a nice meal cooked by your OH.

Penguin – frost in Summer? Huh? I hope your garden survives. That was so funny about the Paris Town Hall – the French sound so very quirky and I am very much looking forward to spending a week there leading up to (and including) Christmas. My French is coming along slowly….very slowly…..but I hope to be able to get around with a bit more ease than if we had zero language at all. Hubby is going gang busters with his Italian; it is so ironic….he has never read a book in his life and didn’t do any languages at school but he has such a good ear for them. I did French, German, Indonesian and Latin in the first 2 years of High School then carried Indonesian on for another 2 years. I also studied German whilst working at Dresdner Bank in the 90’s. I am more than an avid reader. BUT – as sods law would have it – as an older adult I struggle with languages now. Hubby and I both studied Spanish when we went to Mexico and mine was appalling and Hubby managed to sound like a bleeping native.

I have no idea what you look like of course Penguin, but with your wonderful way with words I now have a picture of a towering, broad (but slim of course), possibly a little disquieting bloke with an accent like those on Thin’s 4 Yorkshire Men video, a gardening trowel in hand, a clutch of leafy veges in the other, a dog at his side looking up quizzically as you quote Shakespeare to your friends and ending with a very dry but very funny story. I hope that isn’t too rude?

Neil, phew, NZ survived against Bangladesh. My life would not be worth living had they lost. Hubby is a cricket tragic (as well as a Rugby tragic and, nowadays, a Rugby League tragic for his precious Warriors)

Klondi, I agree with your thoughts about this forum. There are always so many interesting conversations going on and I look forward every day to what might be coming up next.

Cinque, enjoy Grandma day and thanks for the info about the UTI. It never occurred to me that the inflammation might be causing me to plateau. The antibiotics are doing their thing and it is clearing up quite quickly for a change.

Betsy, I think you are doing an admirable amount of exercise each day. It leaves mine for dead. I’m lucky to get a 30 minutes walk in during the week and if I’m not being lazy pants about 40-50 minutes hilly walks on the weekend plus our walks with Maxx (which are of course very stop and start).

I hope you had a nice walk Thin as yes, I heard on the news this morning that Perth is about to be hit by a cold change with lots of rain and, in fact, some weather warnings. I hope it isn’t too awful

Ok so much for getting stuck into my task for today. I couldn’t concentrate until I had read and responded to as many posts as possible. Just love this forum 

Brilliant walk thanks Anzac, crimson sunrise, spectacular although slightly spooky on the pitch black river path with just the reflection from the city lights on the river. Who knew so many joggers ran before daylight? Well done reaching 85k! Yippee. Down you go …..

Klond, I read that your OH was wearing a flashing collar until I got to the leash part. You’ve given me some ideas though ….. Thanks for asking about the neighbours. They have retreated indoors thankfully. We only have to hear them coming and going now. They have a souped up jeep thing that apparently needs revving for 30 minutes before and after the actual trip. It is pure bliss compared to summer though.

Quacka, well done to you too – I didn’t lose any weight after my FD yesterday either. Sometimes I drop 700g, sometimes I don’t. I thought of you last night while watching, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” which had never appealed to me before as I’m not a romcom fan. DD and I wanted something mindless and I admit it was quite amusing. Some of the things you’ve said about food came up which made me chuckle. That poor non-Greek groom!

I’ve run out of time again. Have a fabulous day all.