Good evening everyone. Happy Mother’s Day to the mothers on our forum.

Cinque, thanks for the picture. I got a real kick out of it. As a progress report, today I am only 0.9 kg over my BMI 30 goal. It’s getting closer.
Hope you were able to catch up with your grandkids today, even if only via social media/ zoom/ Skype, whatever. You, too, LJoyce.

LJoyce, re the positive Covid-19 case in SA – the test picks up even dead virus left in the nose, etc. The person concerned no longer had an active case of Covid-19, though he may have been asked to self-isolate for 14 days anyway, as a precaution.

Nice of you to miss me, LJoyce; I’ve just had a break from the computer for a few days. Needed to rest my eyes. And no, the bibliography is not progressing as well as I’d hoped. Sigh! Can’t settle to a place at home where I can work easily. May end up in my garage room, as somewhere separate from the house (it has a desk and a reverse cycle AC, so wouldn’t be too cold or uncomfortable). I just have to talk myself into taking everything out there!

Interesting re TKJ replacement comments. I sympathise with it all, having suffered a knee dislocation in a bicycle accident when in China. Think bottom half of the leg (from the knee down) sticking out at a 30 degree angle from the rest of the leg. The lower leg bone came completely out of the knee socket. It hurt. It hurt even more to have someone put it back in without any form of painkiller or anaesthesia, just a few people holding me down. I was repatriated home for total knee reconstruction surgery, but was fortunate enough to get through with plaster then intensive physio and exercise – think around 2 hours of knee exercises each and every day, in 3 lots, for more than 3 months. Without me doing that, I’d have had a non-functional knee.
So – TKJ replacement: you absolutely HAVE to be diligent in doing your exercises. My knee allows me around 128 degrees of bend. I can kneel but not sit back on the knee.
I saw a specialist recently about the knee after my doctor freaked out at a baseline MRI I had done early last year, and he basically said that that you only progress to an op. when function or pain become more than is tolerable. He said the state of my knee would definitely warrant surgery, but if function and pain levels are okay (which they are) to hold it off for as long as possible. The older you can be when you have the surgery, the more likely it is that a redo won’t be necessary.
So, GDayfromSA, re your husband’s knee, only progress to surgery when he absolutely has to, and he has to be ready to work his heart out to get the most function back post-surgery.

LindsayL, what a beautiful face your Rosy has (as has Maxx, Anzac65, I’m not making distinctions) but what a mischief with the slippers. Your poor slip-on Ugg slipper. I presume you had to wash it??
Good that the new microwave fits okay.

Thin, congrats on a successful published article, with only a minor typo inserted. You will become famous among your canalling “colleagues??”. Not sure what the right word is. Great that the solar panels are working so well.

Penguin, sounds like you’re in for a slightly longer haul than you expected. I hope it goes well. Are you thinking of downsizing but staying in the same area? You seem to get such enjoyment out of your wanders around the local sights, but it would certainly be easier to have a smaller garden area to look after.

Neilithicman, great you were able to get back on the bike and headed out for a while. What have the scales been saying to you?

No more news, can’t remember anything else to answer, sorry. Hoping that tomorrow Victoria’s restrictions will be slightly eased. We’ve been in a worse situation than central or western states/ territory.

Keep well, keep safe everyone!

A distinct change in the weather today. Yesterday was sunny, 22 C. Today overcast, 10 C with a wind out of the Arctic so it seemed colder. What my Grandmother would have called “a lazy wind” – can’t be bothered to go round you so it goes straight through you. Fortunately it wasn’t too bad first thing so I got in an hour of digging. The heavy gardening is now done so it will only be pottering about when I start the chemo. This afternoon we sneaked out for a walk, apart from hospital only my second time past the gate in eight weeks. The village was deserted, so up the road, round the Churchyard and back again. Nothing ghoulish about going round the Churchyard. It has a really good view across to the Welsh hills.

Good Morning everyone

Sorry for my absence and thank you to those who have asked after me. I’ve just quickly read all the posts and I AM going to put up a post this time. I just haven’t managed to write one for various reasons so today is the day. Best hurry as it’s just past 11am and it will be afternoon before I know it which means I will have to change my greeting to “Good Afternoon”

Work was hectic last week as we decided it was a good time to do a stocktake as there is not much stock coming in and so I am not very busy in my job. We have two stores so I spent two consecutive days scanning stock. I’m glad it’s over and our stock is now more accurate. It’s helpful when you are trying to find a certain pair of shoes in amongst 10 000 other pairs!

You may remember I have been having this weird throat thing since I started to recover from the flu I had several weeks ago. I returned to the doctor last week and she has now sent me for a scan called a barium swallow, which I am getting done tomorrow.The doc said if it doesn’t show anything the next step is a gastroscopy which I will have to wait for as the hospitals are not doing them at the moment.

As a result of the ‘weird throat thing’ (I’m calling it that because I have no idea what it is) I haven’t been fasting. It seems to be worse when I am fasting so I thought I would give it a break. The last time I fasted was Monday two weeks ago and by the afternoon I felt so bad that as soon as I got home I ate everything in sight! I think it helped 😉
I have been exercising a lot so have managed not to put on any weight and I can feel my body changing shape already. Having said all that, today I am on a fast day. At the same time I stopped fasting, I also stopped taking my Armaforce and olive leaf extract so I want to see if anything has changed and if I can manage a fast day again. Fingers crossed.

LJ, that bread! It looked so yummy and I laughed when you said you will have to mind not to trip over it when you had it down on the floor. I have been making sourdough for a few weeks now and I have two funny stories to tell you all, both happened on the weekend. So I have a very vigorous starter (which I will have to give a name to as it seems this is the thing to do) which continues to grow even in our very cold fridge with the lid clamped down tight on the jar it is in. I pulled it out on Saturday and gave it a feed and left it out so I could make bread on Sunday. We went to the beach on Saturday afternoon and when we came back the starter had overflowed and was dripping down the side of the jar. A bit of a mess really. My mother in law and I had only been joking earlier in the week about my starter and how I might wake up one morning and it will have grown right up the hall and into our bedroom!
Then yesterday I mixed up the bread and put it in the sun to rise. I moved it around the house as the sun moved and then early in the afternoon I put it on the back deck on one of our chairs, covered with a tea towel and faced it towards the sun. About half an hour later I heard an exclamation from OH who had gone and sat on it! LOL He just pulled the seat over as it was the one with the most sun (funnily enough, ha ha)and sat down without looking. I laughed and laughed. I should have taken a photo of my now flat bread but I was too busy laughing. It was easily remedied with a series of folds and some more time to rise.
I am still learning all about this sourdough experience and I can tell you, there is a lot to learn! One important thing? Don’t leave your loaf where it can be sat on 😉

This post has been all about me. Sorry.

I have been thinking of and missing you all. I miss your posts and photos and just being in this friendly supportive community. I hope you are all staying well.
Look after yourselves and stay positive. XX

PS. I think we are going to go up to see my parents on the weekend! I am sooooo happy.

Funny card Cinque. Sorry about your bad day yesterday. I hope you have a wonderful day today to make up for it. Great that the heater works so well.

I was hungry all day and, as Penguin said, it was a gloomy old day with a constant wind termed ‘fresh’ here. We lit the fire and hunkered down playing chess and reading novels until about 5.30pm when we decided we should go for a walk regardless. It wasn’t so bad once we got out there but I was back in thermals, beannie and a coat when, the day before, I’d been in shorts painting the boat. A modest 500g loss but I’m not surprised as I drank tea and coffee with milk throughout day. 57kg so all is well and there will be no cherry pie this week (or ever again with luck).

LJ, how did your FD go?

Quacka, good luck with those tests and have fun with your parents.

P.S. Lindsay, that Kenny Rogers thing was so long ago that I only have the physical photo and that’s not with me. Basically, it happened because I’d run down the aisle to take photos near the stage, a photographer had run out of film (shows how long ago it was) and asked me to borrow my camera in return for accompanying him backstage. He took a photo of me and Kenny in his dressing room with a sort of ensuite thing in the background.

Boris outlined his cautious plan to exit lock down last night on TV but, of course, it’s not feasible to go into the sort of detail that each individual sector requires during a 15 minute public address. More will be done in parliament today. Naturally, the critics can only pounce on the negative which I find so tiresome. I know we have to keep govts accountable but the constant need to criticise and blame just gets weary.

Evening all, well my fast day was mostly forced temptation free followed by 2 hours of immense temptation. I dropped my bag on the way into work today and my glass lunch container shattered, so all my work day I had to survive on a flat white, two cups of black tea and a hot chocolate. But when I got home my wife’s mother had dropped off half a birthday cake, a container of Jalebi, and a half kilo chocolate Easter bunny. I couldn’t resist all of it but I restricted myself to a couple of jalebi, a small piece of cake and a square inch of the bunny while I was cooking our chilli beans for dinner.

I haven’t been weighing myself this week but I’ll definitely be down on my weigh in on Wednesday because I’ve got a colonoscopy tomorrow the day before my weigh-in, and before I get it they have to empty everything out. That should account for a kilo or so. 😕🥺

Turn, it’s lovely to have you back. I wonder who else is lurking out there.

Neil, you seem to do a look of cooking. If I had an Indian spouse, they’d definitely be doing all the cooking, he he. Good luck with the colonoscopy. Is there a history?

Lindsay, what a kind teacher.

Good morning. Brr it is cold outside.

Quacka, hello, hello! Thanks so much for your post. And good news that you are feeling well, although fingers crossed they can sort out that throat problem.
Congratulations that you maintained your weight while you had to give yourself a break from fasting. I do hope yesterday went well and you feel great this morning.
Woohoo no new cases for NSW today! Milestone!
I am so, so happy you will get to visit your patents this weekend.
What a vigorous dough! My niece calls her’s Bread Pitt, haha.

Lindsay, spelling chaos yesterday. I wrote nobbling instead of nibbling. Hmm, I was nobbling myself rather. I didn’t notice your mistakes, only mine!
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/49/f3/43/49f3435070d26e2c1c013bd144c95d7e.jpg
Congratulations on your good work for your health!

What a lovely teacher for your little grade 2er. That will hold her in good stead, and hearing about it made my day.

Ooh those pesky garden pests, and how devastating to lose passionfruits!

Thin, kudos for your good fast day in spite of the cold. I am feeling much better and even went for a walk yesterday. Just a short one as I have to build up slowly but I might try two short ones today (around the block). Such a pleasure to be able to walk around the block. 🙂

Oh dear, I am seeing lots of jokes in the media about the UK’s 51 page plan, but hopefully it is getting clearer for you all.

Good news here, inspite of a last flurry (hopefully) of tests showing up positive. I get to visit my daughter tomorrow, and realising this is probably as coronavirus safe it will be for the foreseeable future, I am going to make the most of it. I said I would be there at 8am!

Neil, what a disaster of a day, healthy foodwise! You handled it admirably. Best wishes that all goes well with your colonoscopy today.

Turn, such a treat to see your post and hear that all is well.
Hmm, I wonder what end goal you will find to keep you motivated. I think birthdays are mine as encroaching age makes me want to be in peak health (as much as possible) to deal with encroaching decline. Ooh and vanity too, ie clothes I want to wear.

‘Laser wind’ is a good name. I can remember when I was little and I was so thrown when my aunty called it a ‘lazy wind’. I could get the joke, that it was too lazy to go around, and went straight through, but it just did my mind in that it was so laser like and the very opposite of my idea of lazy which is basically to give up at the first sign of resistance. It was one of the phrases that fueled my fascination with language.

Well, time to put my coat on and go for that first little walk. I had a lovely sensible eating day yesterday, and another one planned for today. Sending best wishes to everyone to enjoy and make the most of this precious day.

Hi all

Well done on the loss Anzac, I’m hoping for a nice big loss this week too when I weigh in tomorrow. No it wasn’t my birthday, it was my little nephew’s second birthday and we weren’t able to go to his party so my ever so helpful mother-in-law decided to drop off a big swag of the party food to us. Luckily my boys are making it disappear while I’m at work to save me from myself.

The colonoscopy came back all clear thank goodness. One of the questions the doctor asked me was whether I had lost any weight recently, I told him yes but it was planned. When he asked how much I had lost I told him and he and the nurse looked stunned. The nurse was saying “but you look so trim and you don’t even have any saggy skin” That made me feel almost as good as a clean bill of health from the colonoscopy. Of course when they asked how I had done it I took great glee in spreading the joy of this way of life.

Well back to work have a great day everyone, and I’ll see you tomorrow with my weigh-in

Good evening all.

Lovely to read all your newsy posts.

Quacka, I sympathise re your “weird” throat, as mine has been sore on and off since last September. It improved for a while, but has been bothersome for some weeks now. I’m carefully ignoring the advice to get tested for Covid-19 if you have a sore throat, as this has been hanging around for so long. Reluctantly, I think I’ll have to have it followed up next time I see my doctor. The last consultation, when I had the flu injection, was awkward, as it was by phone when I was outside the doctor’s surgery waiting in my car, and then I just went into the surgery for the injection. I forgot to mention the throat. There’s always next time.
It may well be that yours is related to some stomach reflux, which it sounds like they’re testing for.
Your description of your flattened bread gave me a chuckle. Glad it could be salvaged.

Neilithicman, also sympathise with you enforced restrained eating day then the evening blowout. Oops. Kind of your mother-in-law, but food you can do without. Great that the boys are scoffing it down. Good news re the colonoscopy. That’s a relief. How are the scales going?

Penguin, downsizing, moving closer to family, but staying in your local area sounds a really sensible plan. Hope you find a suitable residence. Will you start looking soon, or wait until after your treatment?

Cinque, chuckled over the card you posted. So sorry to read that the CFS has been playing up more lately – does it get worse as the weather becomes colder? Anyway, it’s a good thing that the new heater is working properly so you can stay warm inside. Enjoy your visit with the grandkids.

LindsayL, well done with the weight loss – great progress. All the exercise you get trying to tire Rosy out probably helps, too. What a thoughtful teacher your grade 2 granddaughter has!

Turnabout, good to hear from you. What a lovely idea – to be able to follow the sun. If I recall correctly, Auckland is known to never get really warm in summer, but to have a really mild winter, yes? And it’s not nearly as windy as Wellington. But you mentioned going further north – is the weather there also mild?

Anzac65, yay for a movement down on the scales, and yes, a steady loss will get you to your goal. Better than yo-yoing.

Thin, from your comment, you like Indian food? I can’t cope with the curries, or anything spicy, which explains why my cooking tends to be so plain.

News from me is that when the new heating ducts were being installed, the guys told me there’s water under the unit, some mould and even some toadstools growing. It’s now being checked out via my insurance company, but apparently while they will fix any damage, I have to repair any cause of the damage which is found. So, a plumber came today to inspect the area – he didn’t actually go under the house, but looked at the drainage down the driveway, and apparently both grates into which water is supposed to flow don’t actually go anywhere, i.e., they’re not connected to the storm water drainage system, so water is probably gathering underground and then moving under my house. The result is likely to be that nothing will be covered by the insurance company (one positive – I won’t lose my discount for making a claim), and I’ll have to employ a plumber to fix the problem. It’s all under concrete, so could be a major job.

None of that is settled yet. I have to wait to hear from my home insurance company first, then move on from there. It’s a bother, but on the other hand, better to fix it sooner rather than later, so there’s a positive in that, too.

Goodnight all.

Betsy, I did a drive by on the current front runner on my way back from hospital this morning. OH will take me in for chemo tomorrow and we’ll both do a drive by on the way back. When it comes to viewings she will do them. When we have viewings here I will hide in the outbuildings. I have to avoid contact with non-medical people. It is going to be tricky, but we will try do do the move and the chemo at the same time.

Neil, I share your desire for a hair cut. Mine is normally short and gets cut about once a month, it hasn’t been done for two months and because of the combination of chemo and Covid it won’t be done for at least another three months. It looks as though I may have to let OH have a go, the alternative being some sort of pony tail, which really isn’t me!

Good afternoon, cloudy and cool here today

Oh dear Cinque, what a bummer about your car battery. They always seem to go at the most inconvenient time. I hope the RACV turn up soon and you can go and see your family.

Oh no Betsy, the water problem sounds bad and expensive. I hope you can get something from insurance after all…fingers crossed.

Neil and Penguin – I think you should embrace your inner hippy and grow your hair! I think male pony tails are very endearing (best word I could come up lol)

Good luck with the house sale and move Penguin. What an awful lot you have on your plate right now.

And gosh those evil scales indeed Neil – as said by Cinque. You certainly don’t deserve it but it does show that weight goes on so much more quickly than it comes off

LJ – are you ok?

Lindsay, these pups. Maxx’s newest thing is barking whenever we try to have a game of darts. OH set the board up outside of the back door and now even if in a deep coma Maxx jumps up at the sound of the first dart thumping into the board and runs outside and jumps around in front of the dart thrower. Then it is too dangerous to throw a dart in case it richochet’s off and into the dog. If you close him inside he barks and barks and this is too much for OH’s poor crook ear so we have to let him out. So I am practising calm by standing next to him at the open back door and if he sits and watches OH throw the darts he gets a treat. It is working….slowly.

We will get there. Someone said yesterday “Oh yes, labs, they mature at around 6 years old”. Sigh

Hi all, hope you’re doing well.

LJoyce, so sorry to read that the pernicious lung infection just doesn’t want to loose its hold. Hope the antibiotics work this time round.

Penguin, sounds like you may be trying to take on a lot with both moving AND chemo. If you’ve seen one you both like, that sounds really positive, though. And maybe start sorting some of your possessions ready for discard, as you’ll be downsizing? You can shove the boxes in the shed so the house isn’t untidy for the inspections.

Re the hair, is your chemo the type that makes you lose your hair? Mine was, for breast cancer. That would be “hey presto, haircut problem solved 🙂 .
I usually have short hair, because it’s curly, so am getting very close to desperation stage with mine, too. I’ve cut the front myself, but can’t do the top. I will HAVE to find an open hairdresser’s soon.

Neilithicman, brakes on, now. Please don’t go down my route of last year, where I rationalised each creep of a kilo up, till I ended with a gain of 10 kilos and almost no clothes that fit (I’d thrown out my “fat” clothes during the year).

Anzac65, I’m not optimistic re getting anything from the insurance company, as I was very clearly told at the beginning, as an example – if your toilet were to leak, we would clean up the water damage, but you’d have to get the toilet fixed yourself. Anyway, we’ll see what happens. No communication back form them yet.
I love reading your Maxx stories. Sounds like you have the darts training in hand.

Cinque, hope you were able to get a new car battery and go see your little treasures. They would have been longing to see you as much as you’ve been to see them.

Goodnight all.

How are you feeling after the chemo Penguin. I don’t know much about the different types of chemo, but I’ve had a friend go through chemo for breast cancer and she said that she felt pretty unwell and didn’t feel like eating much afterwards anyway. Hers was the type that made her hair fall out, and afterwards her hair grew in all curly when it was straight before the chemo. Best of luck with yours, I hope it goes well.

I’m pleased that I get to have a haircut today, well if the queues aren’t too long. I heard some barbers opened their doors at midnight when the restrictions officially ended and they still had queues at 3am. I’m also going to head across to my gym to see what their restrictions are going to be like during level 2. I’ve enjoyed my cycling and I’ll probably still go for rides in the weekend, but it’s getting a bit dark and dewy in the mornings and evenings for me to be confident of riding safely, and it won’t be long before the frosts start making it even more dangerous. So I’m going to start heading back to the gym at lunchtimes to do my exercise.

Have a great day everyone

Well I was hoping to get a haircut today, but the queue was out the door, down the street and around the corner…looks like I’ll have to wait a while longer. I did get in to sign back up to the gym though, the couple that run it are super happy to be able to open again.

Hi everyone

Oh Cinque, I nearly choked on my coffee when I opened that hilarious picture of the penguin. I now have a mental image of you Penguin looking a bit like that. I tried to find a similar picture of a Kiwi for Neil but gave up. I do very much like the OBTAA acronym and will use it from now on if you don’t mind.

I hope the chemo isn’t too brutal Penguin but sadly I’m sure that isn’t possible. It must be nice to hear that you are at your slim peak and there isn’t any need to lose any more. I want to know how that feels and I WILL.

So very sorry to hear you are unwell again with the dratted lung infection LJ. Please get better soon.

Your plumbing issues are contagious Betsy. Ours is all jammed up today and OH is trying to fix it but I think a plumber may be needed. I washed some new sheets and the washing machine spewed water all over the laundry floor because of it. Drats

Lindsay, oh dear you will need to get the nipping ‘nipped in the bud’. It’s like Maxx’s jumping up; if they do it to the wrong person they could complain to the council and we could get a fine or worse. Maxx can now (mostly) watch us play darts without jumping around in front of us so we have made good ground there. The jumping up? Not an inch. The only thing that stops him is the nose halter and he hates it so we will only use it when dog training resumes. Otherwise we keep him on the leash at all times when people are around so when he leaps OH can stop him making contact. We can see lots of improvement elsewhere too: his recall is much much better and we do a lot of sit/stay’s every day in the park. We go early so we can usually let him off the leash for a run too which is great because it really tires the poor petal out.

Here he is all sleepy (and yes the cushion is ‘posed’)
http://imgur.com/gallery/0aAwgWG

Our next travel plans are to our favourite adults-only resort in Fiji. I don’t think anywhere outside of NZ and the Pacific Islands will be on the cards for years sadly.

Ok back to ES (evil spreadsheet). Take care everyone

Hi everyone. The past couple of weeks have been full of stress eating and “kreeping kilos”. Now I’m back to fasting properly and started back again on Monday. Tomorrow will be my second FD of the week. Just have to get it off again as I can feel it in my knees and hips. I need to do more walking too, even if it’s just around the house.

Penguin, glad to hear you got the first chemo session out of the way. I hope you’re not feeling bad from it. There are so many good drugs to deal with it these days. Moving to a new house could be tough when your energy is low, but it might also be a good diversion.

Cinque, sorry to hear you’ve been crook. Glad you were able to visit with your daughter and grandies though. I hope it wasn’t too tiring. Loved that pic of the colorful penguin. (Was that actually a penguin?)

LJ, I’m sorry to hear the lung thing came back. I hope it’s getting better now. That alpaca must have been a surprise to see walking down the street! It was definitely cute and looked pretty tame.

Thin, you kissed Kenny Rogers in a toilet? I did see your later explanation about the camera and film. 😁 Too bad you don’t have the photo with you.

It seems like all of our countries and doing some limited opening up from the stay in place orders. Australia and NZ numbers are so low that it should be manageable. Here the numbers are still so high, but Trump is pushing for people to get back to work to try to improve the economy, which is a mess right now. Each state makes its own rules and schedule. The county I live in has had 60 cases of covid and no deaths so far. But the state has had 72,905 confirmed cases and 2966 deaths. Most of those are in Southern California, but every county still has a lot of cases. And while your countries seem to be cooperative about staying home, I’m sure you’ve seen all the protests on the news in Calif and some of the other states about the lockdowns being unconstitutional, etc. A few small restaurants in nearby towns just decided they were going to open a couple weeks ago and the sheriff isn’t enforcing the quarantine. No distancing or masks. It’s just crazy. It’s too bad the virus can take so long to show itself because if they do catch it, they go around infecting others. Completely irresponsible. There’s a reason the US has close to a third of the covid cases in the world.

My sister, who lives here with us cut my hair a week or so ago and did a very nice job, even though she’s never cut hair before. It was just getting too long and tangly after shampooing. It’s growing in white rather than gray, so it isn’t too noticeable against the blond. Maybe I’ll let it go all white. Will have to see how it looks when more grows out. I cut OH’s hair on Sunday. I never cut hair before either, but just followed the lines of the way it was cut before and I think it looks just like it does when the hairdresser cuts it. My sis is talking about me maybe cutting hers on the weekend. Good thing we all have easy styles!

Well, I’ll have to catch up with everyone else in the next couple of days. It took me a long time to catch up on all of your posts and now it’s getting late. Take care and stay safe.

Loved that Rockhopper. I’ll be there soon. So the next question is where can I get some yellow dye?

Quacka, Cali, LJ. Cinque. Are we all getting old? The rest must be getting cabin-fever by now.

Neil, my daughter had breast cancer, the chemo was very aggressive and she was not comfortable. Early days to comment but my chemo is no problem so far. I have some pills to take every day so that may change. They have said that after the first half of my treatment they put me on the more aggressive.

I have some experience of plumbing problems but I have never met Kenny Rogers in there. My favourite restaurant in Madeira has an old photograph of Sophia Lauren, fully clothed with cap at rakish angle, on the wall in the gents. I assume there is an equivalent in the ladies.

Ha really? I heard that some barbers opened as soon as they were able to, at Midnight on Wednesday and they had queues down the road. I went out at my lunch hour and managed to get mine done. It wasn’t too bad, there were only about 7 or 8 people waiting and they had 3 barbers working so they got through them pretty quick. The queues just looked bad because they weren’t allowing people to wait inside the barber shop.

I’ve started tracking my food again after two rather concerning weigh-ins in a row, and I just noticed how low my protein intake has fallen. My diet seems to have crept from mostly fat and protein with some lighter carbs to mostly carbs and fats with some protein. Not a good mix. I’ll try and keep tracking my food over the next month so I can make sure that I’m keeping my protein levels up and keeping my carb levels in check.

Good morning everyone,

Neil, I’m glad you’ve got your welcome haircut. Penguin, maybe you have some saffron in the house to get that groovy rockhopper penguin look, haha.

Yikes, let’s hope three plumbing problems is the group limit!

Well, I had a good fast day, except I think I’ve let my ‘milk in cuppas’ content creep up too much, so I will see if I can do better on Sunday.

Lindsay, what a great resolution to buy locally. I’m inspired. My sister does very well with produce, through her farmers market mostly, but I am hampered by less mobility and less money. However I happily accepted paying more for some things during this time of restrictions, so I will channel that to make more Australian-made choices.
Hooray for grandchildren time!

Oh goodness Anzac, there is lots of OBTAA another at your place. Is the ES still expanding?

Maxx is looking just gorgeous and even looking grown up. Extra pats for dart safety.

Quacka, so sorry to hear you have acid reflux, I suppose it could be worse, and I am glad it isn’t, but it is always hard to have a chronic issue that might need longterm lifestyle changes to manage it. Fingers crossed yours is easily managed, now you know what to do, and that it will settle down quickly, and yes, go away!

It is Friday today, are you all set to visit your dad on the weekend? Sending so many good wishes.

Cali, so good to see you here! But so sorry for your horrible two weeks, well done turning it around and fasting again this week. Your hips and knees will love you. You can do it!
It is so hard to look after your health when your country is facing such a challenge. I am guessing that is still making life difficult for you. If only we could do more to help. Ah well, looking after our own health makes a great contribution to the country, especially the health system, so you are doing your bit.

Hooray for your haircuts, have fun mowing your sister, Edward Scissorhands!

Must run now, it is my turn to set up the Friday zoom meeting with my sisters. Sending good wishes to all.

Oooh, Cinque and Anzac, what lovely cheery posts to delight in.
Commiserations Anzac, both for the water woes, and the complexity of the spreadsheet. Your talent, of course, is (a) getting it to that point (I’m so impressed), but (b) knowing when to pull back.

I checked the relaxations for Queensland and we can take a day trip only to the island at this point. Fine, I thought, I’ll book a barge and we can have a lovely day. OH can mow, we can take Rosemarie for a gallop on the beach, far from the madding crowd, and fulfill the 60 day insurance void quandary. Yikes. Cheapest we could get, return, for 5 hours over there. was $180. Price gouging…..usually it is under $100.

Full restrictions are lifted in June, so we will go over for a week.

Back to you know what…..have a great weekend all.

Afternoon all.

Well today was heaven! It was first weekend of level 2 restrictions so I got up at 7am and went for a big ride over the peninsula. There was a beautiful bright orange sunrise when I left and although it was pretty cold (there was the first frost of the year in the valley) it turned into a lovely calm sunny day once the sun rose.

It’s such a nice ride over the peninsula and round the harbour that I stayed out 3 hours. I was listening to the tui and bellbirds singing while I rode and spotted a couple of large schools of fish and plenty of native birds and even a flock of peacocks on one guys lifestyle block.

We’re going round to visit my siblings this afternoon and we’ve got some friends coming over for some cards this evening.

How I missed this!

It’s been a busy week of locks. I read the posts but couldn’t reply. I wanted to answer some things.

Betsy, yes I love Indian food and I believe Neil’s wife is Indian.

Penguin, I was thinking of you on Wednesday anyway and then we passed a boat called The Tipsy Penguin. Have you and Neil considered electric clippers? That Polish hairdresser did me a great favour in November shearing my head. I went five months without the need for a cut. Looks bad now but I’m past caring. Pleased that your chemo got off to a good start.

Sorry for all the plumbing disasters Anzac and everyone.

LJ, thanks for checking in, hope you start feeling better.

CalifD, glad to hear from you. Lock-down may well be unconstitutional but where’s the sense of civic duty? Well, let them go out en masse and develop the herd immunity for us if indeed it exists. Natural selection. Our lockdown was eased from Wednesday and already the R number has gone up from between 0.5 and 0.9, to between 0.7 and 1.0. It’s not hard to see where this is going.

Neil and penguin, it’s great to shout out about 5:2 especially to medics.

Cinque, you want a reminder about why we’re here? It’s to improve our health and longevity. There’s no point surviving this mess if we’re going to be overweight, depressed and entrenched in bad habits when we emerge. Just do it! You know you can. See you here tomorrow for a great, fasty FD.

Good morning,

Another gorgeous morning, cold and crisp in my part of Melbourne, and warming into a beautiful day.

Yes, it is Sunday fast day, nice and fasty Thin, fasting on until you can wake up and join in 🙂

Thanks for you bracing words, I read them in the fragile time after my evening meal and before my brain accepts I have eaten enough. A nice counterbalance to the way I have been eyeing those knitted winter dresses I’ve pulled out of the clothes chest, they like to hug my belly. Health and vanity, carrot and stick!

LJoyce, thinking of you and realising that I have been remiss in sending you bunches of flowers. This time I will keep them coming for several days after you have recovered, to help the recovery stick. Here is a big one to start you off: https://thypix.com/wp-content/uploads/beautiful-flower-bouquets-88.jpg

Neil, what a glorious day! Your heart and soul and body and scales will all love it.

Turnabout, so lovely to read your catch up. A birthday is a good deadline to aim for. I bet you will do it! You will be a lovely weight and can get your glad rags on feeling even more gorgeous that you are right now.

I’m also glad I decided to grow my hair out, it just gets easier and easier. Hoping for lots of rain on the North Island, though. Is your winter generally wetter than summer?

Penguin, isn’t Rick Stein a treat. I’ve seen that ‘barge in France’ series and loved it. And I’ve just finished enjoying his ‘Venice to Istanbul’ one.

I’m feeling a lot better today and planning to get to HammerBarn (Bluey joke) this morning to get stakes for my broadbeans and a couple of other bits and pieces.

I’ve had my morning cuppas so today’s challenge is to have no milk for the rest of the day. I can do it!

Sending best wishes that your day is a good one.

Cinque, I’ve arrived. So pleased you’re having a good day. I just have 9 hours to wait for my Mexican Chicken Soup….. Long hair would also be good to manage. It’s the in between previously styled hair that’s tricky I think.

Betsy, yes it was, I was not joking when I said I was sheared. I didn’t remove my beannie all through Christmas. I looked like a pixie.

Penguin, that was a Dutch barge. Friends of ours from Perth are living on one in Burgundy now. The canals and locks are generally too narrow for cruising them here so they’re more common in France. Ours is the poor cousin but we can go anywhere on the English and Welsh waterways.

We’re booked to go through a big tunnel tomorrow morning. It should be quite an adventure. Today will be spent painting the boat. We’re moored outside the tunnel on the opposite side of the towpath on a beautiful stretch of lawn. Social distancing may be a thing of the past. Yesterday, there were hoards of cyclists and walkers on the towpath but only two people decided to pass on our side.