Good morning,
Ooh what a lovely bunch of posts.

Anzac, did you have a lovely day with your dad? I bet you did.

Shakespeare and music, so much more to know. Neil, how precious to think of your clarinet embodied in your wedding ring, and therefore in your family.
Penguin, it is the old music that is my favourite. But I need to look up all the pieces you mention. (I’ve already had a little go at a simple version of edi beo thu). The blowing harder might be good for my lungs! I wonder what my neighbours would think of a crumhorn.
I am a terrible singer and not confident of my ear for music, but worked hard at recorder and taught it informally to a few kids with such pleasure doing duets, so that is what I miss when playing it on my own.
But haha Thin, I have been in too many schools with too many children playing ‘London’s burning’ on plastic recorders.
One cute thing is that Miso the cat (who leaves the room in disgust if the TV is too loud) loves my playing and comes and tries to rub her face all over the recorder while I am playing, purring loudly. (ok I can hear the jokes coming).

LJoyce, hello! Hooray you clever healer you. How nice it must be to be (almost) back to normal, and able to brave even this wintery weather.
Yes lily of the valley are so beautiful and so are snowdrops (both preferable to onion weed we grew up with). For you https://images.assetsdelivery.com/compings_v2/nataljusja/nataljusja1507/nataljusja150700208.jpg

Isn’t SA doing so well, especially given that cluster that was going on. Here in Victoria we had one day of zero, and now numbers have jumped with the big increase in testing and a cluster found, but hopefully they will all be sorted easily and we will be in a position to open a little bit more.

Thin, doesn’t it make our anxiety levels settle when the government agrees with us, and yikes when they start moving too fast.

Cali, it must be hard for you sitting in the covid epicentre of the world, although, thank goodness, in a less dangerous part of the country.

And Neil, oh dear, the way people push boundaries (you give them an inch…) fingers crossed they get their act together.
We can’t help but think them ‘thick’ as per DDThin. But since I was so thick with homehelp I will hope they are similarly determined to do better next time.

Thin, I bet you enjoyed your soup. Mine turned out so well, given what a hotch potch it was. As my auntie used to say “If good things go in to it, it will taste good”. Perfectly true in this case. I even had horseradish root in it! (Just a small bit, from my garden, and not strong tasting.)

Penguin, I do so hope you and Mrs Penguin had a wonderful day off in the kind weather and heard the yellow hammer call. I had to find it on youtube and laughed when it got to the ‘cheese’.

Betsy, hasn’t it been fireworks in our state! Ah well, only a week until May 11th and hopefully we will have done so much testing by then, the next move will be clear.

What a lovely way you and Wilbur found each other.

Neil, I am so glad your son got his KFC.

Cheers everyone, I hope today is a particularly good one, and that eating lightly is easy.

https://cdn.igp.com/f_auto,q_auto,t_prodm/products/p-glass-vase-of-10-pink-lilies-with-chocolate-cake-half-kg–64081-m.jpg Yikes, how did that chocolate cake get there!

Good morning

Telehealth call with the orthopaedic surgeon has just finished. He is so happy with how the knee replacement is going he thinks that it will probably last my lifetime and not need to be replaced again (which is more normal). The big proviso with that is that I keep my weight stable and keep up my current level of fitness. When I first saw this surgeon I was 127kg and hobbling along with a walking stick – he always comments on how much I’ve improved and is always pleasantly surprised at the annual review that I’ve maintained the weight loss and activity. Unfortunately many of his patients lose weight for surgery and then put it all back on again. He said only about 5% of his patients manage to maintain weight loss after surgery. It’s actually 5 years this week since I had the knee replacement. (As I only got to my current weight the day before surgery, that means it’s also 5 years since I got down to my current weight.) I will eventually need to get the left knee done too I suspect, although the deterioration has been very slow in recent years.

I have been checking the garden most morning to see if more snail bait is required and to see if anything has grown – I refuse to donate seedlings that cost $1 each to snails and slugs. The only seedlings that seem to have increased in size is the broccolini – it’s doubled in size in 2 weeks. The cauliflower and spinach seedlings look the same and the legume seeds have only been in for a couple of days so I don’t expect to see them for a while. The purple sprouting broccoli seeds haven’t stuck their heads up above the soil yet either – I really hope they do well, I’m looking forward to that crop.

Lindsay, unlike Maxx, it appears that it’s easy to snap photos of Rosy being naughty. Looks like seedlings are out this year.
It’s unfortunate to have retirement thrust upon you. I guess if there is such a long break before there is more work you will have plenty of time to know whether you want to actually be retired or not – you can always change your mind when the students return. I assume you are still working with that one PhD student’s thesis, or has that finished too?

Cinque, thankyou so much for the extra flowers, what a bucketfull!

Thin, they opened IVF up here too when the restrictions on level 2 elective surgery were lifted. I stil had my doubts about that here, even though we have far lower infection rates than the UK.
I’m a bit surprised that WA thinks of SA as an eastern state when we are no further east than NT. I think of NT and SA as central, but I guess it’s all relative. Ive always felt we have more in common with WA as we often get forgotten by federal politicians as they concentrate on where all the people/votes are.
Not a fan of cherry pie or cherry slice I must admit – those I’ve tried were too sweet for my palate. I like a bit of sharpness in there too – rhubarb and apple is my type of pie. Although these days I just cook the fruit and have it with a dollop of plain greek yoghurt.

Neil, I bet you were a popular Dad, taking the belated KFC birthday dinner home.
How are you managing the home schooling when both you and your wife are at work – or are the kids able to work without alone without nagging?

Hello to everyone else I haven’t mentioned.

After bragging about being healthy again my lungs worse this morning. More congestion, but no sign of infection there yet. I suspect that will some though and I’ll need a second course of antibiotics. I’m feeling a little grumpy about that. I tried to do a lung percussion treatment on myself this morning but I can’t reach far enough down my back to get to the lower lobes of the lungs, which is where the trouble is.

Take care all.

Good afternoon from a windy, chilly Sydney.

My focus on eating well below my TDEE last week had a good result – 400g down. I will do the same this week. I’m really not in the head space to fast so this is the next best thing.

LJ, the funniest thing ever – I was reading your post about how Maxx seems to be well behaved in most photos when I heard his frantic tip-tapping in the kitchen accompanied by a few excited grunts. Uh oh….this always signals that a crime is being committed and sure enough I sprinted out to find a wagging tail disappearing out the back door with a precious roll of paper towel in the burglars mouth. This is not the first time and the photo below shows some of his prowess early on in lockdown when paper towels were impossible to get. Sigh
http://imgur.com/gallery/XzKA6k9

I’m glad you are feeling better but sorry to read that you have regressed today. Take it easy as you don’t want to go any further backwards. And great news about how well your knee replacement is going too. Whoo hoo!

Lunch with Dad yesterday was great and I think he enjoyed the paella. I don’t think he had ever had mussels before as he wasn’t too sure how to eat them. OH had to show him. He was full of stories about his trip to the country and he always enjoys telling a story. Or several. Dozen. LOL

Lindsay I really do need to vacuum every day as otherwise there are tumbleweeds of fur flying around. But I just don’t have time and I’m a lazy housekeeper. I laughed at the thought of Rosy chewing the fronds – I have a picture of Maxx from about a year ago where he somehow managed to drag a massive palm frond in through the back door. He had strewn bits of it everywhere and I caught the funniest face – he looked like was saying “what? This mess? Wasn’t me!”. I tried to upload it in Imgur but it wasn’t in my ‘gallery’ i guess because it is too old.

I will be thinking of you on Wednesday x 2 Penguin. Best of luck and many healing thoughts winging their way across the ocean. Such interesting posts! You have such diverse and wonderful hobbies and cleverness.

Aren’t we a musical bunch? I took Piano lessons from age 5 – 17 and did lots of exams. Like you Thin, my sibling (sister) got all the musical genes as she sings like an angel and can play the piano beautifully. I wasn’t that good but it is nice to have a skill like this as it can really help after a stressful day. On our holiday OH and I made a vow that I would start playing again and he would learn the guitar. Hmm. Not happening just yet.

Cinque, I laughed and laughed at ‘far out brussel sprout’. It brought back memories. I think you should open your windows wide and let your neighbours enjoy your recorder sessions. I hope you were able to get to the shops today

Betsy – what a nice story about how you came to get Wilbur. How awful that his original owners rejected him. How can you have a pet for 3 years and THEN decide it isn’t for you? Thankfully, however, Wilbur found a fairy Godmother to give him a wonderful life 🙂

OK back to my evil spreadsheet. On top of that I have to deliver some training to 6 new business people tomorrow. How to do that over Skype without being able to see their faces will be tricky. I’ve prepared my powerpoint so now fingers crossed I can get the information across successfully.

Take care

Good evening all.

It’s been a challenging FD and I’ve definitely ended up in the 600s, but that’s ok. I fasted Saturday and today was just a bit too soon. On the plus side I went for a walk in the sun this afternoon and my steps are already up to 8500 today and should be a bit more by bedtime – by far the best I’ve managed for over a week.

I decided to mix some eucalyptus essential oil into pawpaw ointment and apply it to my back over the area where my lungs are (the pawpaw wasn’t needed, but the ointment is a very similar texture to Vicks chest rub). My breathing has actually improved, so I’m hoping I won’t need a second course of antibiotics. In case you are wondering how I managed to reach those areas – my trick is a long handled wooden spoon. I have one which was set aside for applying things like tiger balm or voltaren gel to those hard to reach spots, I just apply it to the back of the spoon and then reach around and rub it in. It doesn’t get rubbed in quite as thoroughly as doing it by hand but it does a pretty good job – and explains why one of my bathroom drawers contains a wooden spoon – so I never mix it up with those used for cooking.

Anzac, well done on getting on top of your eating while working from home – a new skill developed. Given that only a few months ago you were confining all your low cal days to being in the office, that will give you so much more flexibility.
How lovely that you had a proper catch up with your dad. I suspect that did both of you the world of good.
You do realise that a photo of chewed paper towel doesn’t prove a certain fur baby was the culprit.

Thin, the only fresh cherry dessert I’ve made that I liked, was a cheese and cherry strudel. The mild sourness of the cream cheese really helped – and that I didn’t add a lot sugar.
Does the easing of restrictions make it any easier for you to head to Wales as you originally intended? Or are some of the locks still closed?
I saw an interesting documentary a few nights ago on the construction of some of the canals. They showed the first 5 lock ever built, with each rising by 12 feet. It was really useful, because I’ve seen your photos on the blog, but having a birds eye view of the lock system gives me a much clearer idea. We have locks on the River Murray too, but they are much larger and operated by professionals that know what they are doing – and are as much about limiting how much water each section of the river is allowed to have as they are about letting boats through.

Neil, the kids will be wishing for Dads name based exercise routines at this rate. At least you know they won’t fall behind with 2 teachers on the task. I meant to ask too – how is your mum progressing?

Cinque, I’m trying to channel your bread making skills tonight. I finally decided to make bread as I’m running short. I have made a biga to ferment overnight and will add the other ingredients tomorrow and see how it goes. A recipie I haven’t made before, which is always risky. The difficulty will be not cutting it until it’s cooled. But, I have a cunning plan – remove a handful of dough before shaping the loaf and make a single bread roll as well. Then have something to eat while still hot. The big loaf has a chance of survival that way.

Have a good evening everyone. Hope those of you fasting enjoy your dinner.

Hi everyone

Weigh in tomorrow so I’m having a smaller eating day today. I took some of my home made muesli for lunch and I’ve just had a coffee before that so far. Tonight we’ve got some eggplant that I’ll have to come up with something to cook with that for dinner tonight.

Ljoyce, my mother is making great progress, she’s a lot slower than she used to be but she’s walking pretty well now, and apart from a few mental blips with forgetting some words or using the wrong names, her speech is much better. She has an appointment with the physio later to determine whether she’ll be allowed to drive again.

Thin, I think I’ve said it before but the canal life sounds awesome. I was wondering if there are any floating bars/restaurants on the canals? We went for a holiday on the West Coast in October and one cool thing was on the lake we stayed at there was a couple of flat barge-type boats that had been fitted out as a mini bar/restaurant so they could move around the few little towns that were on the lake. That seemed like such a good idea.

Well I’ll be back tomorrow for my weigh-in so I’ll see you all then.

Morning all.
Whoo hoo…..14:10, 800 cals yesterday, and I’m down 1.1 kilos. OK, it’s a lot of water weight, but I’ll take a loss. It’s just what I needed to get me motivated and moving.

I agree with Anzac, Thin. I love your watery tales. I don’t think there’s one of us who wouldn’t crowd on to your narrow boat, given the opportunity.

LJ you asked about the PhD editing. Yes, I’m still at it. But really it was a favour – paid, but a favour nevertheless. I wouldn’t want to do too many …solitary, intensive work, and I miss the human contact I get when I am on campus.

Betsy I am always shocked when people abandon pets. They are for life – or should be.

Oh Anzac….Maxx is still a work in progress isn’t he. Rosy’s favourites are the chux washing up cloth, and the sponge thing with the scrubber on the back. We have two under the sink. OH opens the cupboard to get to the rubbish bin, and if he leaves it open a second too long, she sneaks in and whips one out. I came out this morning to find my chux in tatters, and bits of chewed sponge all over the kitchen. But, she can be good, as this pic shows.
https://imgur.com/2AABk8L

Neil, so good to hear that your Mum is doing well….it was a particularly tough time to have a medical episode, and great she is recovering so well.

Cinque, I haven’t seen you this morning. Are you well?

OH and I are about to go out to forage for vegetables. My butcher, bless him, is delivering tomorrow, and I want to make a big pot of beef and vegetables (my low carb favourite), but i can’t get eggplant or zucchini at Woolies on line. So, we’ll venture forth. There’s a fruit shop in a nearby suburb that opens on to some parking bays in a little suburban shopping precinct, so that should keep us away from too many people. I do worry, because OH has COPD, so we are being super careful. I use just a small amount of shin beef, with any and all leftover vegetables put in the big deep electric frypan, with a couple of tins of tomatoes and a scoop of harissa paste and slow cook it for hours. OH prefers grills, but will have it one night, and then another night I use it to stuff capsicum.

Anzac I’m contemplating one of those robot vacuums to keep our floors clean. We have pale pale grey/blue polished concrete, so every crumb shows. My DS bought one yesterday and sent us a video of its ‘maiden voyage’ and so far, it’s been a success. Don’t know what Rose will make of it ….she goes beserk when I use the dyson stick (but not the vacuum, interestingly).

LJ, what a delight you must be to your surgeon. As you say, people lose weight for surgery, then it piles back on again. Doctors must love people like you, who have the discipline to lose it, then keep it off. How much have you lost, since you were at your heaviest (if it’s not a rude question – ignore me if you don’t want to say).

Ok that’s me done for the moment. Can I finish off by saying I feel really good about being back on the horse. I am going downhill at a great rate of knots ….. My hair needs cutting, my eyebrows have faded into insignificance, and I haven’t seen my toenails in an unpolished state in decades. So, being slimmer will more than compensate.

Have a wonderful day.

Good afternoon,
It has taken me a while to get to this post as I went veggie shopping this morning. Lindsay, your post echoed what was happening in my house: a paucity of vegetables leading to too much eating of non vegetables! I got to my favourite vegetable shop and bought SO MUCH, but I am very pleased I did and made a lovely pan of tender Tuscan kale with mushrooms and garlic to have with my toast for breakfast, after I got home. Yum.

Oh crikey, I have so much! 🌶🌽🥕🍋🍆🍅🍠 And I am needing to rest more at the moment, which is frustrating, but not as frustrating as being crook from not resting enough. Hoping to start off some beet kvass this afternoon, and make spanakopita with the beetleaves and kale, and prepare the pumpkin to make pumpkin pasties tomorrow. Then my freezer will be full, and the fridge things should all squeeze in. Lovely.

So I am curled up on the sofa writing this on my iPad (which counts as resting). I’m a bit worried about losing it, so I will do multiple posts.

🍞🥖🍞Must mention LJoyce’s bread though! Sending so many good wishes. My current loaf is a really good one so I hope that means I am passing on good vibes. And not cutting it til it was cold means the texture is beautiful! (My last loaf, I succumbed and ate a small crust while it was still warm, and even though I stood it on the cut side, it shrunk and dried. Not worth it!) 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻you can resist the temptation.
My bread doesn’t look like the emojis though!

Lindsay, Rosy is beautiful! So regal and shiny. I can’t believe she would ever do anything wrong. Ahem. Yay yay yay to the 1.1 kilos GONE 🙂

LJ, I’m trying to imagine a past life where I could leave something edible on the floor. No way now, His Hairiness would snuffle it up in nano seconds

Neil, so glad your Mum is improving. That is the best news ever

Sorry you need to rest Cinque, but I’m sure your lovely array of veges will last until you can do what needs to be done

We’re having a Goan pork curry from the freezer tonight. I make it with tomatoes, lots of spices and some yoghurt and lean pork fillet. It is very tasty and good for a busy weeknight.

Third post, hope I fit a lot in as i had better not leave spanakopita prep much longer.

Big cheers to everyone losing weight, or not putting on weight! I am feeling a bit pot bellied so I am going up a gear. It is much easier with so much veg, a little stew tonight, and lots of veg accompaniments.

Thin it is always good to hear about your world, including squirrels! Isn’t soup marvellous, especially fast day soups. I’ll fast tomorrow, and I do hope I make miso soup..I’ve run out of yuba and for some reason that has put me off. But I bought chicken breast today and I will have a bit of that in it.

Neil, it is great to hear how well your mum is going, and how wonderful that your parents can take the kids. You said Mrs Neilithic is a nurse, I think, I hope she is also finding it much easier now.
Fingers crossed for a good weigh in tomorrow, and a delicious eggplant meal tonight! ( I have three big eggplants that just need to wait a day or two for me to get to them!)

Anzac, what a wonderful catch up with your dad, and ooh yum, good food and stories.
I’m so looking forward to a proper visit with my daughter. I will feel much safer than last time I visited, when covid19 cases were doubling every three days and we hadn’t yet gone to restrictions.

Big pats to cheeky Maxx, but I hope he grows out of destroying your precious toilet paper. Happy piano playing and big cheers that you are able to eat below your TDEE! I bet it feels great. Hope the training went well.

LJoyce your bread looks wonderful! Oh those gorgeous seeds. Will you wake up in the morning and realise you can have some for breakfast? Best feeling.
The kombucha looks great too! I am so keen to hear how it goes. Especially (selfishly) how sweet and easy it is and whether I might try it after all.

Yikes, now the sun has almost set. Must do the spanakopita! See you tomorrow. 🌷🌷🌷

Hi everyone. Lots of posts, so I can’t respond to them all.

Re Wilbur, yes, he is so friendly, so hard to imagine why he’d be dumped. I was fairly sure he’d either been dumped or somehow wandered off as it was possible to see where he’d worn a collar. I really think the problem was that he hadn’t been desexed. Maybe the owners couldn’t afford it? Well, he has his forever home with me, and I’m glad to have him, so his story has ended well. Glad the Havanese’ story also ended well, thin. How sad to just be in a cage all the time!

Thin, I find all the boating stories that you share fascinating – so foreign to life here, that they’re really interesting. Keep them coming.

LJoyce, delicious-looking bread . You are SO talented!

Actually, everyone is so talented. My cooking is of the most basic, this will do, variety. I blame it on being on my own, but considering LJoyce and Cinque’s cooking exploits, that really doesn’t wash, does it?!

LindsayL and Anzac65, you both have beautiful dogs. I’m not sure about a robovac, now I’ve read Cinque’s horror story. Not sure it would be practical for my place anyway, unless I clear more floor space. Actually, I do have to buy a new vacuum cleaner. I had a good one, a gift given when I moved in here, but I managed to destroy one of the wheels not so long ago, so for the interim I bought a really cheap one at K-Mart. Not good. It has a 2400W motor, but just doesn’t pick up the cat fur. I keep meaning to buy one using my Flybuys points, but it hasn’t happened yet. It will soon, though, as the floor is starting to need a really good clean.

Neilithicman, yay for a KFC birthday lunch. Good that your mother is doing so much better, too. Have fun back at work. Sounds like your boys will feel like they’re back at school, too, with two retired teaching grandparents supervising them. Wonder if the “grandparent” or the “teacher” will reign?

LJoyce and Cinque – keep well. It’s really important at this time that we in the older age range, especially with other factors involved, really focus on sleeping, eating and exercising sensibly.

So, stay well, all. Goodnight. Oh, by the way, I’ve finally taken off the 10 kg that I regained later last year, so it’s all down from here.

Gosh Neil, that can’t be right. Why not weigh again tomorrow, and see if it was just one of those weight up/weight down days that we all have from time to time? But…it is great you have set a trigger point. My experience with weight gain is that it creeps up ….and a kilo or two quickly can turn into 5 or 6, if it’s not dealt with quickly

I really feel happy with where I am at the moment. Well, not my weight, obviously, but certainly that I am back on this WOL. It is of course only day three, but I feel I have my resolve back. I weighed again this morning (I’m a daily girl), and I was down another .4, which motivates me.

Betsy, great you’ve shed the gain from last year. I love that it’s a ‘by the way’ at the end of your post. You would be forgiven for shouting it from the rooftops 🙂

My vege buying yesterday was a huge success. All the low carb ones that I haven’t been able to buy much of through the online shopping. Aubergine, zucchini, tomatoes , rocket, broccoli, little cucumbers, mushrooms, capsicum. And because it’s just the two of us, last night I cooked the mushrooms with some wonderful plump Australian garlic, and then for good measure, added more to the grilled chicken . I must say it felt good, choosing my own vegetables in an actual shop. I felt safe, too. A big notice in the store asked customers to use a plastic bag to pick up produce, and cartons were stacked out from the check-out, to keep the distance between the sales assistant and customers.

LJ your bread looks amazing. Such control, not eating the crust. Thank you for for answering my question about how much weight you’d lost. Almost half your body weight. What an inspiration you are. And if your body as found it’s ideal weight, even though you’d prefer a few kilos less, you’d have to ask yourself if it is worth the constant battle. I have no idea of your age, but I was on the Heart Foundation website this morning looking at my BMI, and noticed that they are now saying that for people over 70, a BMI of 22-26 is fine.
Haha Anzac. Rosy do nothing wrong? She just whipped past me with one of OH’s hotel slippers in her mouth, out to bury it under the banana trees (which she has just about uprooted, btw). Last night at the park she ‘borrowed’ a small child’s soft toy, and did victory laps with it, while the little girl cried, and our pals from the park tried to catch her, despite my telling them it’s the chase she’s after. So round and round they went, and Rosy was in doggy heaven. (It was returned, undamaged, after she tired of the game).

What about that alpaca LJ? Not your usual pet!

Cinque, are you seeing your daughter and granddaughters now? My little girls (and daughter) come occasionally and we sit in the carport at a safe distance, but no cuddles, no contact. We also visit our son, but because the 2 year old just doesn’t understand social distancing, they learn over the verandah and we stand on the drive. It is the thing about all of this that I find the most difficult, like most people I suspect.

OK thesis calls, and as I am still doing 14:10 I can get in a couple of hours before I cook breakfast.

Penguin, best wishes today.

I may weigh myself again tomorrow because my ipod wasn’t working this morning so I couldn’t get the full body analysis, just the weight. It’s started working again now so I’ll try again tomorrow. But it still is a wakeup call to be sitting over that 90 kilo mark. I have been a little lax in my eating during lockdown with a lot more baking, carb filled snacks and sugar sneaking in that I wasn’t eating before lockdown. I haven’t been out for a ride for 5 days either because my wife is working from the office this week so I’ve been taking the car in rather than the bike and it’s too dark by the time we finish to go for an evening ride.

I’m really pleased that my local fishmonger and butcher are open for click and collect orders now under level 3 so I will be able to get some decent meat and fish rather than the shitty overpriced, water-filled meat that they try to pass off in the supermarket.

Good afternoon everyone.

I should be entering references in my doctorate bibliography, but any excuse! It’s called avoidance 🙂 . Besides, writing to all of you is far more enjoyable.

LJoyce, I think your last post crossed with mine – love the picture of the alpaca being taken for a walk, and your bread sounds yum!

Neilithicman, I echo everyone else’s comments – you can’t have gone up so much, so quickly. Carbs will cause extra water retention, and so does salt, so cutting back down on those should lead to an immediate drop again in your weight. On the other hand, it’s a good warning sign to you, that you can’t relax too much. I did it last year, and see where that got me! You must be missing being able to ride your bike, too. Hope you can get in a couple of good rides over the coming weekend.

LindsayL, wonderful that your weight is on the downward trail again. That is so encouraging.

Anzac65, big kudos for the two presentations that went well – great that the bosses liked what you’ve been working on, and are impressed with your “evil” spreadsheet.

Cinque, hope you’ve been enjoying all your vegetables.

Enthusiasm? Well, when I am officially “overweight” instead of “obese”, you’ll definitely hear about it, but I feel like I wasted more than 6 months, so can’t drum up a lot of enthusiasm. Wait till the weight starts dropping a bit further – another 2.1 kgs, and I’ll be (temporarily) rapt at a BMI of 30. Then the goalposts will shift to a BMI of 25, but let’s get to 30 first.

Okay, enough. Keep well all.

Hi thin. Just finished a 1 hour 20 minute chat. Normally this is face to face but because of Covid they emailed me all of the info and two slide shows last night to go through first. It is going to take longer than I thought – I only knew about the first 11 weeks, but after that they are going to send my scans off for a second opinion and start doing it all again so I will be in chemo until mid October. This is a nuisance because I have been learning Norwegian to take OH to Norway this summer and we intended to move house fairly soon. The good news is that compared with chemo I have seen family have in the past, this looks very civilised.

Congratulations Anzac to get through your tough meetings, and get such a great response to your work. How satisfying, particularly with so little interaction or guidance. Mmmm, Maxx and Rosy together? What could possibly go wrong with that? Last night I kicked my slipper off to cool down a bit ..and when I went to slide it back on, it was gone! – a good one too… ugg brand, but a slip-on not boots. So this morning we found it, up under the banana trees (well in the hole at the base of the trees) Wouldn’t you know last night was the first time we’d had rain in ages. But how could you not love a face like this?
https://imgur.com/gu2XLRv

My scales loved me again this morning ….another .4 down, and blood sugar back down too. I know the weight loss will stop with a jolt soon, but that is 1.9 since I started on Monday. I’d bought a nice shirt before I went to NZ, but didn’t pack it, and when I tried it on at the weekend it was tight across the stomach! So, it is going to be my measure. Once it hangs nicely, I’ll know it’s no longer water but real loss.

Oh Betsy, bibliographies! I sympathise. You will feel good when it’s done.

I laughed at your advice to LJ, Thin. I am sure LJ you’ll do this for Thin and me, just to satisfy our need to round out that already very impressive number!

Penguin I am sorry your treatment will go on longer than you expected, but good to get it started and to have an end date, even though it is longer than expected. I’m not sure that international travel will be back on the agenda any time soon – maybe Europe will be different from Australia. Where are you planning to move to?

Here, the NZ PM and ours are talking about opening the borders….but not for other destinations

Neil, I’d give anything to be back in NZ….but will holiday at home first. Our island is still closed off to all but permanent residents (quite right – a large Indigenous community which is particularly vulnerable), but we are thinking Tasmania first. Who knows. Just a dream at this moment.

The only good thing about the isolation is that now I am back into this WOL, I can sustain it until I reach my goal. In the past, I’d do really well, but then head off on holiday overseas, which we do every 3 months, come back a couple of kilos heavier, dilly dally for a little while, then start again before the cycle repeated itself. At least now, knowing I’ll be home until probably Christmas at the earliest, will give me a chance to get down to where I want to be, uninterrupted. How’s that for looking on the bright side?

How are you today Cinque – getting your zing back. How nice, your productive garden sounds. All I have at the moment are some herbs, and ripening tomatoes, and the diabetes plant. I am watching the tomatoes like a hawk. Rosy seemed to think they were some sort of attached ball, but I dissuaded her pretty quickly.

OK, off to buy a new microwave online. OH was given a $500 visa voucher for his covid advertising, so I’ll use that. I have to do a little jiggle with the door lock on my current one, which makes me feel that perhaps it’s not as safe as it should be.

Cali, how are things in the States? Hope you are doing ok.

Have a good day everyone.

Good morning all, cloudy but mild today. It is going to be 24 and a glorious 27 tomorrow. Our last little glimpse of summer as Sunday is topping out at 18. Brrr. Seeing that Winter is only 3 weeks away I guess we should be feeling lucky it is still so mild

I just ate my breakfast banana bran muffin slowly and mindfully and it was delicious. Accompanied with a nice black coffee and a side of labrador. He doesn’t beg but instead sits at the end of the table where you can just see his melting brown eyes silently pleading for a crumb.

Thanks for the kind words about my work. It was such a relief to get positive feedback. When you work on your own you always have some element of doubt about the quality and content so it is vital to get fresh eyes on it when you can.

Ohhhh…the drug that is slipper. Both my and OH’s Ugg slippers have been remodelled but at least we can still wear them. OH lost one brand new slipper (but it was still wearable – kind of), one brown boot (completely chewed) and one black boot (completely chewed) when his nibs discovered he could paw open the sliding door on the shoe cupboard when he was about 6 months old. However yes Lindsay, one would not be human if you could stay cranky at that gorgeous little face.

Yay Neil- and I really like how philosophical you are. You will easily lose the 1.5 kilos

LJ, I meant to comment on the alpaca. What the? On a farm yes but in a small backyard? I feel that is a little cruel. Very funny and unusual though

So glad your home help experience was so much better this time Cinque and how lovely to wake up to a clean house, a post FD lightness and vegetables all sorted out. Yay!

Thanks for checking in Penguin and I’m so sorry your treatment is going out to October. But so glad to hear it will be a little more gentle than you potentially thought. Please keep us up to date on your progress

Betsy, we will all cheer with you when that next 2.1 is gone.

Well, I started with ‘good morning’ because I started writing this post at 9.30 and here it is 12.20 and I’m only just finishing! I had lots of inconsiderate interruptions from work 🙂

Have a great day

Good afternoon everybody.

I managed to get out and walk the sunshine this morning. We have a cold wet week forecast, so sunshine might be in short supply around here for a while.

Thin, regarding my weight loss not being a nice round number, all I can say is that I’m trying. Because my weight fluctuates in the 75-78 range it means my weight loss fluctuates from 49-52kg. I seem to have a few good days where my eating is very controlled followed by a bad one that sets me back. But you know I never give up.
Hope those alpacas are interesting to watch.

Lindsay, yes that’s a lovely face. I was thinking about a caption for that photo – maybe: haven’t you finished that cuppa yet, I want to play.
Glad those scales are behaving kindly.

Anzac, it must be bran muffin season. I’m glad yours hit the spot – it is hard to stop at one though I find. I made a small batch a couple of weeks ago as I had some dried peaches and nectarines that needed to be used. I also had one for brunch and then froze the rest. I have a recipie that uses lots of bran, no added fats and as I use mostly stevia I can eliminate the sugar too, so a relatively healthy bran muffin. Still feels like a treat though.

Penguin, very happy to hear that the information provided was so thorough. I hope you respond well to the treatment.

Betsy, I commiserate on the bibliography, what a long boring task that is.
Congratuations on getting that gained weight off. You have tackled that with such determination. I really hope your weight continues to drop so you can get into new and lower territory.

Cinque, I have cabbage moths attacking my brassica seedlings. Because I don’t want to put poisons on the plants I chased one around the garden with the fry spray the other day. I must have looked like idiot!

Neil, I’m not at all surprised to to find that most of that gain was extra water. Good too that you have already made good progress in getting rid of it.

FD for me and so far it’s going well. Hope everyone else is having an easy day.

Good morning, all present and correct today. Good to hear everyone’s news. Except Penguin’s. But, goodness, on the move again? You’ve always made your home and environs sound so perfect – except perhaps the flooding. At least, with so many previous moves, you won’t have as much ‘stuff’ as we did after 26 years in one home. OH is doing his best to fill the boat with ‘stuff’.

Lindsay, gorgeous photo. I was absent when you first got Rosie and missed out on her earlier antics. She looks very sweet. Good job being back on track.

Neil, I’ve found after several years of ‘maintenance’ that the new body will absorb the occasional indulgence. Occasional being the operative word. For me, continuing with 5:2 well into maintenance allowed me to have a restaurant meal now and again. I’m very strict with my daily weighing and responding to the numbers though. This doesn’t work for everyone. I do it because I can’t trust myself otherwise and it appeals to my need to adhere to the rules. I replaced a food addiction with a fast addiction. Case in point – cherry pie damage has been repaired and I’m still on 6:1.

The thing to remember is that it’s so much easier to deal with an excess kilo than to let things slide and start from that depressing high point again. I’m not suggesting that applies to you by any means. As you said, you felt hungry shortly after the fast food indulgence so it wasn’t worth it anyway. We have to do these things sometimes just to remind ourselves.

LJ, it’s OK, I was only joshing with you. Yes thanks, solar panel installed with a Smart App upgrade allowing us to get an immediate reading on our phones while adjusting the panel position to the twists and turns of the canal. And it was a beautiful, sunny day. At 8pm on our first evening, sun still not set, batteries were reading 104% which they’ve never shown before. This will make life easier and reduce our impact on the environment and the peace of the canal. I still think a horse would be better.

Ooops, gotta go. Hello Cinque, Betsy and Anzac.

Cinque, so touching, Miss 5’s schoolwork. How sweet she is. Tall and crafty – a great description for her mum. And silly and hairy …so cute. I am guessing you are the playfulloving one….a wonderful description.

It’s a cool morning here in Brisbane – especially at 5am when madam woke us up. The new microwave is being delivered shortly. I am concerned it will be too big for the spot. The 32L one I wanted would have been a good fit, but wasn’t in stock so I got the 27L, and didn’t check the measurements until after I bought it and it seems bigger. Time will tell. Actually I rarely endorse commercial suppliers but I have to say Appliances Online is a great store. Not only do they install new appliances, but they remove the old ones. And they’ll take our old huge fridge downstairs which we’d kept when we bought a new one in 2012 … I was very happy to pay for its removal, but no, they will do it for free. Amazing.

My scales this morning stayed exactly where they were yesterday but that’s okay. I was right on 800 for the day, and that included a gin and no sugar tonic. In the past if I’ve stuck one day, it moves the next, when I’m following the program. I cooked a great big pot of veges with some meat, with greens added at the last moment. …tonight I’ll use the remainder to stuff capsicum.
https://imgur.com/a/d5IsKwW

Thin how clever with the panels. Any hints on how I can find your blog? I’d love to read it.

Quiet morning so far with posts … Cinque, are you okay? Anzac, head in a spreadsheet? LJ more baking? Neil, cycling to work? Cali, Penguin, lost in a different timezone? Betsy, how’s the bibliography? Missing our other posters … Crazy, Quacka, G’day, Intesha, Merry, Minka

LJ you are so kind, taking time to explain the knee replacement issue. I love the way you give each query on this forum your full and undivided attention. I’ve not had the surgery, but watched my dear friend go through, and endorse 100 percent what you said about rehab. She stuck to her physio program religiously, and apart from a small hiccup when she had to go back to get her knee physically bent back (under another general), she regain full movement and flexibility. She says now she forgets she even had the op.

I don’t think, by the way, you are silly to stress about covid-19. I don’t think we know enough about it yet. I was shocked – absolutely shocked – to see the PM’s 3 point plan today still stopped international travel (right, I think) but is considering allowing international students to come. Money doesn’t talk, it screams! How ridiculous. We can’t go overseas in case we get sick, but we can bring people from countries with the virus to Australia. I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable being back on campus in a few months.

Quacka our posts crossed. How tedious, those job applications. So process driven. I think since the pay office became human resource management, we are all burdened with the extra bureaucracy and ‘make work’ procedures. I know in my work, the HR department no longer just looks after pay and leave, but seems to be able to pop its nose into many of our work. Heresy, probably, so I hope I’m not offending anyone.

And the good news – the microwave went into its slot perfectly. And the funny thing is – it’s pretty much the same as the old one. A little smaller, perhaps, but same design, features.

OK back to my editing. Only 3 pages to go to finish Chapter 3 …and then only 4 to go, before I start the whole process again. My student is nota native English speaker, so some of the writing takes a little deciphering. How amazing though, to write a PhD dissertation in a second language.

Hello everyone, happy Friday – the weekend is here so i have closed my evil spreadsheet so it can have a rest (and so can I)

G’day, I do feel your pain about job applications. As a contractor I am often sending them in and you are correct – and it is as rude as anything – they rarely get back to you if you are unsuccessful. It is soul destroying. I really really hope something comes up very soon. Well done for maintaining too – it would be so easy to give in and give up but you haven’t. Fabbo

We had a late burst of summer today – 27 degrees! It is 4.25pm and I’m sitting here with all the windows open in a sleeveless top. Unheard of with winter a mere 3 weeks away. One more nice day then another cold front will hit

I think my terrible jokes are rubbing off on OH. He took Maxx for his afternoon walk and I took the chance to run the vacuum over the floor because if he is here, Maxx likes to follow me and get in the way. Mr Curious. Anyway one of the little wheels flew off so I showed OH when he got home to see if you could fix it. He started singing “You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel”. I think we all know the song. Oh dear

That editing sounds like a very hard job Lindsay but yes, I am impressed that your student can do his dissertation in another language

I think you are wise to worry about infection LJ. That new case in SA was a worry for sure. Look at those poor countries like Italy, UK and USA; if we were to let it get out of hand we would be like that so everyone needs to be extremely cautious and vigilant

Hi everyone else, I must dash and start dinner prep. My turn tonight. I’m doing a pepper crusted pork loin with zucchini and some pasta. Take care

Good morning,
Cold and rainy here on this Melbourne Saturday morning.

Lovely 27c Anzac! Enjoy your well earned weekend!

Hm muffin makers I have been looking at some savoury muffins in my recipe books. I might try some! I made my pumpkin pasties, basically steamed spiced pumpkin in a pastry shell. Very good. I’ve frozen most of them, so I’m on to another veggie bake today, the eggplants want to be used up!

LJoyce, I hope you have beaten the cabbage butterflies! The paper butterflies I blutak’d around my garden got mostly washed away in the last rain and the cabbage butterflies came back. But the plants are mostly winning (touch wood).

Hi Thin, good rave. Interesting how an ‘occasional’ treat can be a few times a week, or a few times a year.
Impressive batteries! Call them Dobbin and Ned and consider them easy to feed (thanks solar panels) 😀 😀

Gday, so good to hear from you. I do feel your pain with those terrible job applications. (The terrible process mostly led me to only go for jobs I had a really good chance of getting, even when I had to live on peanutbutter and silverbbeet sandwiches in the meantime.) I’ve got my fingers crossed that a wonderful, well paid job comes along for you soon.
Big congratulations on keeping your weight steady while life has been in such flux. And with the added temptations of bread and port. Well done putting your foot down on things that are not good for you.
You don’t mention your health, so I have my fingers crossed it has been improving. I hope the fencing got done efficiently and that you and Mr Gday (and DD) are all spending the weekend feeling very pleased with yourselves.

Lindsay, hello and yes, such fun to see the family through Miss 5’s eyes. My daughter is taller than me, and much taller than Miss 5, but not very tall in the scheme of things, so that one made us laugh. She is very crafty though! And their oma is their other grandma, who is living with them at the moment. (I’m jealous).

Hooray the microwave fit!

Doesn’t your pot look good! And snap! I had stuffed capsicum for my evening meal yesterday. I have found that I can easily make just one or two in my tiny pressure cooker. Yum.

LJoyce, wasn’t that coronavirus case in SA weird, and so sad to break the wonderful run of days with no cases. It will be of such interest to those who are studying the virus. And so helpful when they have a clearer idea of when and how much people who test positive are contagious.

Hi Penguin, and a shout out to everyone else.

Day before fast day for me. I hope I can make it a fasty mcfastface one. But I can definitely make today a good veggie eating day! Eggplants, here I come.

Cheers all

Good evening all, hope your weekend is going well.

Thin, it’s time you ditched writing polite articles for the boating magazine and started writing a tell all book! Kissing singers in toilets, really!

Penguin, the kneeling issue is common. I can’t do that either, although my surgeon has told me to never kneel on the artificial knee joint if I can help it. I wasn’t sure if that was universal or personal advice. It does mean I have a very weird way of getting up from a yoga mat – it was enough to have people starting when I used to go to the local gym.

Anzac, I think your hubby’s song was fabulous spot of humour – it certain made me giggle. Did he manage it fix it, or just serenade it?

Cinque, yes I want to know what you did with eggplant too – I have the last one I picked still sitting in the crisper waiting for inspiration.

Lindsay, how wonderful that the new microwave fit. I always think i much easier to get one with similar functions as the previous. With some of them it’s like learning a new language! I end up getting rather frustrated when I can’t find a quick way to do something that should be simple.

My second NFD today, which has thankfully been a lot more sensible that yesterday when I couldn’t seem to stop eating. I have leftover cooked carrots, beans and broccoli for dinner and I’m baking a jacket potato and loin lamb chops in the airfryer to go with those. It took me all day to decide what I felt like for dinner, but the lamb chops won.
FD tomorrow. I’ll be joining Cinque and any other Sunday fasters.

Hi LJ. Not really for a combination of reasons. My energy levels are low these days and I had worked in the garden so by late afternoon/evening I wasn’t interested in doing very much. Also, because of my impending chemo and the Covid risk I am in very serious isolation. I don’t think there was much happening here anyway. Street party type festivities are mainly an urban event.

I was born in 1944 so don’t remember VE day. VE day and VJ day brought some re-assurance to families like ours, but the really important day was when Dad got home, in our case late 1946. He was earlier than many, lots of “hostilities only” volunteers found the expression meaningless – some were stuck In India for years after the war so VE and VJ days were never important.

Good morning

Just wanted to say happy Mother’s Day to all who are mums. Hope you are all having a good day.

Betsy are you ok? I just noticed you’ve been absent a few days when you usually post every evening.

I’m fasting today as there’s no Mother’s Day feast here. Enjoy your day everyone