Jony, thank you! It’s snowing here! The boat is covered. Just a little more patience and you’ll be in the nineties – we’ll all be here cheering you on.

Sunday FD for me. I’m feeling a bit grumpy as the lung infection has flared back up and I recommenced antibiotics again this morning. Enough already!
I just hope the symptoms are gone by Wednesday as my infusion is due then.

Jony, I’ve failed to communicate effectively yet again. Apologies, I do tend to assume the reader knows what’s in my head. This often gets me into trouble here. Fortunately, on this occasion no offence has been taken, just a misunderstanding. My first sentence was to thank you for your description of the photo just for me in which you described the morning mist. The second sentence, was just comparing the weather here rather than attributing it to anything you’d done.

Jony, accolades however are in order for your ability to embrace this WOL so well and to recognise that it fits into life, no excuses. Planning is key I find.

I have since subscribed to imgur where before it wasn’t necessary in order to open photos. Despite now giving them details I’d prefer they didn’t have, this still hasn’t enabled me to open any photos.

LJ, hope you feel better soon. You do get a lot of lung infections.

FD here. Considering Chicken Jalfrezi. We have an ALDI conveniently located just across the footbridge from the marina. I find them the worst for enforcing social distancing and always feel very stressed when I’m in there and equally relieved to get out. I had the idea to take advantage of the proximity and go close to their closing time. Last night, we braved the 5C temps and what a treat! We almost had the place to ourselves. I can’t tell you what a relief that was to shop like ‘normal’ for the first time in 8 months.

On Tuesday, our vaccine campaign begins. As I said before, I’ll be well down the list of prioritised recipients. Nevertheless I have every confidence in the NHS to deliver. For the first time ever, I had a ‘flu vaccine last week (reluctantly). I was so impressed by the professionalism, efficiency and safety with which they conducted what was called a ‘flu clinic. I never sat down, didn’t make contact with a single other patient and was in and out via a one-way system within 3 minutes. No wonder Britons are so proud of their healthcare system. Go NHS!

Good morning,
Monday in Melbourne and a lovely day for me and my garden, with gentle sunshine after rain. (Miso the cat would prefer it to be warmer.)
Just eking out my fast by writing this before breakfast (after my Sunday fast day). I might write in a bit of a rushed way 😉

A busy weekend for me, hence no post Jony. Minded Miss 4 on Saturday, but then Miss 6 needed some grandma time on Sunday. Resting today.

Anzac, thanks for your kind thoughts. It is quite like me to struggle on fast days, sad to say, when I am tired or symptomatic or fallen off the fasting wave. Sigh.
But I have had better sleeps and yesterday wasn’t too hard. 🙂
You will be counting down the days to the weekend. I am so excited for you!

Jony your body must be just stretching out the time for you to get under 100kg so your celebration will be even more exciting. I’m betting it will be this week!
You are spot on about life throwing (lovely) events at us to test our fasting. Well it might make for an interesting conversation with your friend. Fingers crossed he doesn’t go for fish and chips, for your sake.
Thankyou for posting those lovely views. Just stunning, each one. And what a gorgeous picture of the little girl and her horse.

Thin, yes, I am being directed to a page two pages back too. And I never got straight on to the right page 497. I will (still) try to write to JJ too, so she is getting more than one report about it. At least I am able to click from 496 onto 498 without any trouble.

LJoyce, so sorry to hear that lung infection has flared up again. Have the antibiotics worked quickly again?

Thin, so glad your flu jab was safe and easy, and hoping your turn for the covid vaccine comes soon. Only a few million to give out first! Yay for the NHS.
Cheers for chicken jalfrezi and social distancing in Aldi’s. Does the internet show Aldi’s quietest time? It seems to be the first hour they are open for Aldi, and every other shop too, here.

Neil, super weekend. So sorry those stomach issues are back. Oily nuts make me wonder about gallstones. I do hope the pain has settled and the next 8 days go really well.

Well, I am off to have fresh made flatbread with tomato, roasted capsicum, olives and avocado and parsley. And coffee. What a lovely way to break a fast.

Ok, I will message JJ first.

Cheers all.

Good afternoon everyone.
It’s cool, wet and very windy here, although as I’m confined to the house at present I haven’t had to deal with it. The lung infection is still present but I noticed they were much easier to clear this morning.
Hopefully a couple more days of antibiotics will kill off those persistent bacteria as I confirmed my infusion for Wednesday evening. I probably shouldn’t have done that, but in the same text they warned me that they’d have difficulty finding another infusion time if I didn’t confirm this one – I felt railroaded into accepting the Wednesday infusion as I do not want the arthritis to flare up over Christmas.

Jony, we can be erratic posters. Some days we’re all busy and don’t get to post and on others everyone posts multiple times! It’s not that we’ve deserted you for other forums.
I understand that your zucchini plants will be a bit behind mine. Until a couple of years ago I lived up in the Adelaide Hills, which are much chillier than my current abode. I couldn’t even put veggie plants into the soil until late spring as it was too cold for them and somethings there was just no point even trying to grow (like eggplant and capsicum). It’s been a pleasant shock seeing how fast things grow down here.
I have everything crossed for a double digit number for this week. You are doing exceptionally well. It took me over a year to get from triple to double digits.

Neil, I’m glad the pain subsided. If it keeps reoccurring you should get checked for appendicitis. The other thing I’d be suspicious of is diverticulitis, as nuts and seeds are the main foods that triggering this. However, as you’ve said, it could just be the speed with which your bowel is functioning. Any reduction in fibre and water intake can have a negative impact.
I bet you are glad there is just a week to go.

Cinque, I’m sure you are weary today, but I suspect a weekend of granddaughter time was worth it. Hope you have a restful day. Very glad to see you have been sleeping better – so important for fatigue levels.
I got my Jane Grigson vegetable and fruit books out this morning to look for ideas for using my plentiful zucchini and rhubarb. In her section on rhubarb I actually found a recipe for rhubarb with lamb shoulder that is very similar to the one you shared with me. Hers is called “lamb khoresh with rhubarb” and is adapted from “Persian Cooking” by Nesta Ramazani. I love Jane Grigson’s turn of phrase. She wrote: “You need not admit to the rhubarb if you fear a domestic riot. Nobody would guess, though the interesting nature of the sourness might puzzle them.” While I love the glossy colourful pictures of food in most cookbooks, most of my favourite cookbook actually have none. The are just text with an occasional black ink drawing. What I find so appealing is that the two writers (Jane Grigson and Mollie Katzen) engage with the reader, they don’t just write recipes they tell stories.

Thin, I have found the the beginning and end of the supermarket opening hours are usually quietest here too. Although I can avail myself of those times without facing a northern winter!
Is it still snowing? I thought England usually got snow near the end of winter. One of my “To Do List” items is a white christmas – one of these days.

I’m quite pleased with myself. Every time I’ve been stuck at home like this I have had trouble controlling my eating, but thankfully not this time. I had scheduled a FD yesterday and went ahead with that and I have another scheduled for tomorrow. I decided today would also be strictly controlled and I plan to make a pot of zucchini soup for dinner. Despite the cold weather my appetite is surprisingly behaving with restraint.

Have a good day all.

Hello everyone from a HOT Sydney.

Quick post as am frantic at work. Only 7 more work days after today until the three week Christmas shutdown!

Neil, I echo LJ about diverticulitis as I had this diagnosed recently. It’s a pain (no pun intended) but manageable with keeping loads of fibre in your diet. I would get pain exactly where you said so my doctor first sent me for an ultrasound and when that didn’t return anything I went to a gastroenterologist who did a colonoscopy and that detected it. If you do have it, bad flare ups are treated with antibiotics but I’ve only had it that bad once.

LJ, glad your lung infection is better and sending lots of healing power so that it is ok on Wednesday. Congrats on not overeating

I had too much bread and salty foods on the weekend so back to my mindfulness and 800-1000 calorie days to try and counter the damage

Jony, we would NEVER desert this forum! As LJ said, sometimes we collectively get busy and it gets a bit quiet

Glad you FD was easier yesterday Cinque and you were able to have a better sleep.

Glad too Thin that your flu shot was efficient and risk-free

Gah, must run – am being pinged by several people on Skype.

Take care

LJ, I’m sorry to hear that the lung infection came back. I hope the antibiotics do their thing again so you can go ahead with your infusion on Wednesday. Zucchini is a great vegetable to just slice and sauté with onions, garlic and a little salt. I sometimes add some small pieces of red capsicum if I have it available, mostly just for the color. My birds like sliced raw zucchini too and have some almost every day with a few other vegetables.

Thin, good to hear that the Covid vaccine will be started there on Tuesday. Will they use the flu clinics and do it by appointment? Is there a list of when it’s available? The one they’re talking about here needs 2 shots, I think a couple weeks apart. Is the one you’re getting there the same? They still haven’t given final approval here. What we’re hearing now is “before the end of the month”.

Penguin, hope your move preparations are going well and the move date hasn’t changed again. And hope that temporary apartment you were going to look at was a good one. There always seem too be so many details that have to come together when buying and selling homes. It’s a wonder that any of us ever move house!

Cinque, glad to hear you had some granddaughter time, but I’m sure it felt like a real workout. 4 and 6 year olds have so much energy! It seems like they never stop moving. I’m sure they love being able to spend time with you again.
There seem to be a few Covid cases each day in Australia, usually under 10. Are any of them in Victoria? I know LJ mentioned a couple in SA a week or so ago. The US seems to be breaking new records every day, now including our area. We have been staying away from people other than for grocery shopping since March, so the new stay at home orders that will probably start this week in Cal won’t be very different for us. I still feel very stressed just seeing the numbers each day. California has the most cases in the country lately, but it’s a big state with over 39.5 million people, more than the population of all of Canada. On a per capita basis, California is 41 out of 50 states for the number of cases. That still doesn’t matter if hospitals get overwhelmed.

Jony, I love the picture you posted of the misty morning view from your home. So beautiful!

Anzac, glad to hear you have only 7 days til your Christmas shutdown. It will be so nice for you to get away after being so busy.

Lindsay, that photo from your beach house is so beautiful and relaxing. What a nice break for you!

Neil, congrats on the new bike, but please be careful. 31km is really fast for a bike. I hope eliminating the nuts helps with your stomach issues. Are you eating enough fiber? Are beans part of the diet?

We just finished Series 1 of another Aussie show, “Janet King”. We really enjoyed it. Marta Dusseldorp, one of the lead actors in it, also had a leading role in “A Place to call Home” which we finished a couple weeks ago. I really like her.

Well time to get some sleep. Hi to everyone I didn’t mention by name. Have a great rest of your day.

P.S. No need to contact JJ Cinque, she has told me that she’s working on the problem and it may take a while. It has to do with how the programme deletes these unwanted guests that keep popping up on our thread. Please go away spammers! We have found our solution thank you.

Good morning lovelies,

I did write to JJ before breakfast yesterday and a lovely reply was the first thing I read this morning
“Hi —
Thanks! It has to do with the software getting confused by deleted spam posts. I’ll work on it — the tools the software has to do the fixes time out on the long topics so it will take a bit of custom work. Which is not a problem! It will take me a bit to do it though.
Sorry it’s misbehaving!
JJ

(As you said, Thin. Ha, I could have left it to you.)

Cali, at the moment Australia’s covid cases are all from people coming home to Australia from overseas, and they are staying in hotel quarantine when they develop it. There is one worker at hotel quarantine in Sydney who unfortunately caught it, but that is pretty well the only scenario for it to get into the community. So the whole country is feeling quite covid free, but lots of effort going into safety procedures for hotel quarantine.

Anzac, I wish you had an easy week before holidays, like the last week of the school year when we played card games and did each others hair. At this rate you will need to spend the most of your holidays just recovering. Take care.
I hope your 800 – 1000 days are winging along. You can get plenty of delicious food in under 1,000 calories, can’t you.

Ha Thin, I am similar visiting Aldi, never sure if it will be wonderful or useless. I do hope you can get a lovely haircut soon. Remember that story of the two US hairdressers who caught covid early on, but they were so careful at work they didn’t pass it on to any of their customers they looked after before they were diagnosed.

Oh dear, isn’t that quote spot on: “I don’t like the fact that my chances of survival seem to be linked to the common sense of others”

And I’m chuckling at DD’s remark.

Another stunning picture John Jony, what a wonderful life you have had (and are still having). Ooh those grams are holding on to you hard, aren’t they! I bet you do a surprisingly big jump down soon, and then you might never see the naughty noughties again.

Well I INDULGED myself yesterday. I am counting it as a feast day. I know it doesn’t sound too indulgent, but I really only need very small amount of carbs in the day. I had a couple of flatbreads for breakfast and then, with my evening soup, I had my first go at a filled flatbread to go with it (Indian stuffed roti style but a very plain filling). I put greens and some grated mozzarella sandwiched between the dough. First try rolling it out I did get a few holes but it still worked and was so delicious, it was just too much.

No indulgences today Cinque.

On that note I am off to make another cup of tea.
Except Miso the cat is on my knee, purring.
I’ll check my social media!

Bye now, and best wishes to you all

Morning all.

After cooking for a couple of days, it’s milder today and we had some rain!! How lovely to hear that patter on the roof. Checked the forecast for OH’s surprise weekend away, and the max is 21. I guess I’d better pack a jumper. So far so good with maintaining the surprise – although the little girls at the weekend kept whispering things like ‘is this the time we are all doing something special somewhere else with barbar’. The cover was also blown too when DD turned up with her springer well and truly clipped ….and the reason I’d given him for taking the dogs to the kennel was to have them clipped. Luckily OH can be pretty oblivious to what’s going on around him.

Well I’ve had a pretty painful few days. I hurt my foot while walking on the beach last Thursday and by evening it was really painful. I walked again on Friday (silly, I know) and since then I’ve hardly been able to hobble on it. I saw the doctor yesterday and had a blood test and scan and xray scheduled for later in the week. In his view, it could be arthritis, tendons/muscles in the foot pulled from stepping into soft sand holes in the lagoon, or….gout! Surely not. It seems more muscular than in the joint, and is not sore to the touch like OH’s gout, but excruciating, and the foot looks like a little balloon.

Neil, it’s not unusual for a big change in diet like you’ve had to cause some side effects. And aren’t you doing well? I think we’re all keen to know how much weight you’ll have lost when your 30 days are done.

Your feasty day sounds pretty delish Cinque ….some days are just like that, and it’s good to just go with it when the mood takes you.

Jony a great pic of Lake Tekapo….OH and I holidayed there with a brother and SIL in March this year. Here’s the view from our holiday house https://imgur.com/a/jScDewU Such a beautiful place.
I was a journo too, before I moved to academia. OH too….he was my chief of staff when I started my cadetship at the ABC. My DD too is a journalist…in the genes.

Thin I saw something on TV last night about the vaccine arriving in the UK, but can only be distributed through hospitals at the moment, because it arrives (I think) in doses of 700, and requires a level of refrigeration that nursing homes don’t have. I guess these logistical things will be sorted out quite quickly, now it has been delivered and is ready to go.

Thin/Cinque I found Aldi pretty useless when they first set up here, but increasingly I am doing more of my shopping there. Some pretty random things, that’s for sure, but I have noticed how much Australian produce they are selling, which is a good thing. I was so disappointed to find my favourite washing machine liquid was made in China – so many wasted air miles – so have switched to Aldi’s, which was recommended by Choice (Australian consumers’ assn) and is Australian made. Aldi’s bread is half the price of the expensive whole grains I was buying elsewhere, and at 5.8 grams, much more fibre than the heavily promoted ‘healthy’ ones. (Their chocolate is also pretty good – but I’ll keep that secret if you will).

Not long now Anzac, to your holidays. Feeling calmer about leaving Maxx this time? I was so anxious to leave Rose, but they really do love it don’t they?

LJ sorry about the infection coming back again – you have had a rough trot with health lately.

Calif, hope things will start to calm for you soon too. Again, such a troubling year. Looking forward to a nice family Christmas?

We are having DD & DS and their families this year ….just the 10 of us which will be lovely. I must get on with shopping. I asked Miss 4 what she’d like from us this Christmas, and after a moment’s thought she said she really had everything she needed, thank you. When we asked the 2 year old what she wanted, she replied ‘my birthday’ which I am taking to mean that she wants presents. Sweet children.

must fly – off to the butcher on the other side of the river to stock up on Rosy’s food. After her turning her snout up at all the more expensive cuts, it turns out her absolutely favourite is the $7.99 offcuts from a bulk butcher. It’s quite fatty, but a lot of good meat too, and my girl sure needs the calories.

good day all.

https://imgur.com/wzqfO4I

Ooops! When I posted that pic from inside the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo, I meant to include an outside shot so you can see what it looks like. The stone kirk appears very old but was actually opened in 1935. It’s interdenominational an is incredibly popular for weddings because of the picturesque church and surrounding scenery. When my wedding was under way we had tourists trying to bust the door open so they could come inside for a look. Our “bouncer” firmly suggested they stay outside.

Good morning from a lovely day in Melbourne,

Thinking of Lindsay with your sore foot, and Betsy in what I hope isn’t a vortex of stress eating, but just some choppy sea that you will get through better than this time last year.

Penguin, are you readying for your last treatment? Is the house packed? Are you holding up? So many good thoughts and wishes hurtling over to you for your Wednesday, I have a whole field of flowers for you: https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/56a16947f62777972f2fe29b/master/w_3888,h_2592,c_limit/fields-of-flowers-01.jpg

Neil, you are in your last week of the Whole30 and hopefully no pain.

Lindsay so glad the heat let up.
I hope your foot pain is easing. I’m going for tendons/muscles since that seems so likely from walking on sand, and should heal nicely. Fingers crossed. It must make everything so tricky… I’ll go for muscles as that will heal more quickly than tendon damage. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/04/7f/aa/047faa9baf058efe225668684d70d4a9.jpg

Yay for Rosy loving those cheap offcuts. I laughed, noting whiskas packets that contained offal were cheaper. Hate offal myself, but Miso the cat likes it fine.

Yes my little feasty indulgence was delicious and hasn’t made me cross with myself. Just another lesson I need to stick in my brain!

LJoyce you are right that it was a cross between a paratha and gozleme.

May those good signs be even better for you this morning, and breathing easy. Is it infusion day today? Sending best wishes.

Jony, what an excellent bouncer you had at your wedding!

Betsy, ofcourse we missed you, and lots of good wishes have been wending their way to you as you grapple with those transcripts, and the plumbing. Hooray, the plumbing is done and dusted…. done anyway, haha.
Ooh it is awful to read of the permanent damage you have from those foot sprains.

I hope you have some great transcribing done for Thursday and that your process for managing the day just keeps getting better and healthier. Get over rough ground as best you can (yes my metaphor has jumped out of the choppy sea) and the timer on for stretching and exercise breaks.
I hope you can post more.

I minded Miss 4 yesterday, picking her up from kinder. Her sister has now finished her assessments for Autism Spectrum. Today I tidy and tomorrow I am minding Miss 4 again while my daughter gets her long planned tattoo. It is small but artistic and will take a few hours.

So it is housework fast day. I’d better make the most of the energy I have this morning. Best wishes everyone. It is cleaning, not eating, for me today!

Cheers all.

Good morning everyone.

The lung infection is still barely there, but I’m going ahead with the infusion this evening regardless. There’s always a risk that it will make the infection flare up again, but I’ll cross my fingers and hope.

Betsy, of course we missed you. It sounds like the pressure continues from your supervisors. Hopefully they will let up a bit near christmas.
Excellent to see that the big plumbing job has finally finished.
I am the same with my foot – I tore ligaments in my left foot twice and it’s remained larger that other ankle for decades.

Neil and John, how wonderful that you get to do the same bike ride in your beautiful part of the world. If you have time to take a photo of the lovely scenery we’d be happy to see it.

Take care all.

https://imgur.com/a1OSEJS

Kia ora, whanau (whanau is family)

Today’s pic I took in remote Danseys Pass, well inland from Dunedin. I know it well, as my grandad owned the pub on the Naseby side. Aged just 3 I used to sit on the bar and drink red beer! Well, I thought it was beer but it was actually raspberry. It must have been a tough place for my grandmother to operate in, as it didn’t have electricity – all cooking for guests done on the coal range. And she was a great cook.

Neil – great to hear you’re finally coming out for an AOK bike ride, even if it’s on our farewell outing. You will find climbing 300m on Castlewood Rd on an LPB (leg powered bike) a wee bit different to driving up, but I’m sure you can do it. We might wait for you at the top. When you run a bike group and numbers dwindle, you quickly pull the pin. The reason is the rise of e-bike numbers and the subsequent antipathy from LPB riders. No use pushing shite uphill with a rake! Of course I have plans for a new AOK group, this time a midweek group for all ages. I’ve been running AOK (Across Otago Kneebuilder) events and group rides since 1999. Our biggest ride took 300 people around Otago over 3 days.

LJoyce – thanks for the encouragement on being stuck in the Noughties. I’m getting so paranoid I had a mini fast day today, before tomorrow’s true FD. I’ll probably gain! I must reveal I ate roasted butterflied leg lamb and roast veges tonight, which is probably not ideal diet chow. Ironically, my BH couldn’t chew her lamb because of a tooth problem – bugger!

LyndsayL – great to hear you stayed at our former mountain home, Lake Tekapo! And that you’re an ex-journo. Now I know why you’re such a great person! If you’re ever in Dunedin, look me up and we’ll have a coffee and a carrot.

Oh well, off to do some pushups, pulldowns and belt-tightening in prep for tomorrow’s FD.

Keep on shrinking!

Good morning,
I had a good day yesterday and got a lot done, but I’m having one of those ‘grasshopper that has just hit the windscreen’ kind of mornings. I am hoping my coffee will get me into form for looking after the dear little one today.

Neil, it is extraordinary how sweet everything tastes! My head practically explodes with the sugar hit from a bit of roasted kumara, these days. And even my long rise whole grain bread tastes so sweet I can’t really imagine how I used to put honey or jam on it.

LJoyce, I hope your day after infusion is an easy one.

Betsy, rocking it! 2 days, 2 posts. I hope you had a lovely celebration with your prayer group.
My daughter showed me the sketch for her tattoo, it involves a cat and a little astronaut, and the sketch had no colour, just black lines, but I didn’t check with her if that is exactly how it will be. The design is still being tweaked but it looks beautiful and she is planning to have it near her elbow, so she will get to look at it easily.

Jony, that spaceship crash is sure to feature on Doctor Who sometime!
Ha, re the raspberry lemonade. How cool you would have felt with that. Kudos to your grandma, and I bet her cooking was so appreciated.

Well, my coffee was wonderful, and now I am going to move slowly and steadily and drink lots of water, and maybe even get some pasta dough made so I can show Miss 4 the pasta machine.

Best wishes everyone, I hope today is a good day for you.

Hello everyone, quick post as I’m very busy finishing up work before our 4 day weekend up at the Hunter Valley

Today is my birthday! 55 years young 🙂 and the weather is lovely – sunny and 27 today. That’s the end of the good weather news sadly. For the entire four days, the Hunter Valley is 19-20 degrees with strong cold winds and lots of rain. That is winter weather here! BOO HOO. Oh well, instead of pool time we are taking DVD’s, CD’s and a pack of cards for in-between outings.

Then only four days next week then three weeks off!

Glad your lung infection has abated and your infusion went well LJ and good for you for avoiding overeating when you had all that temptation there. Your baking sounds delicious

So sorry you are having a grasshopper day Cinque. Take it easy and I hope Miss 4 just wants gentle plays today.

Ouch, your poor foot Lindsay. Hope it is feeling better and so glad your heatwave is over.

We did miss you Betsy and how lovely to hear from you. I hope you had a lovely time with your prayer group.

Jony, awesome pictures. I do love your country and lived there (Windy Wellington) for almost 2 years which is where I met my hubby. I brought him home to my parents when we were approaching the second winter and I realised I just couldn’t go through another one. Brrrrr…..and that wind – diabolical.

Only 2 days to go Neil! Hasn’t that month gone quickly? All kudos to you as it couldn’t have been easy with that level of restriction. What are you looking forward to the most?

Cali, every day the news out of the USA is more and more bleak and devastating. I can’t believe that people are still protesting about being forced to wear masks. I even heard one idiot woman say that masks make you more likely to catch it. WHAT? Honestly, don’t they care about anyone other than themselves? Rant over…sorry…

Thin, I was having an online chat with my nephew this morning and he said it is freezing over there. Stay warm! Your chicken Jalfrezi sounds nice, do you have a recipe?

I’ve strayed from my 800-1000 calories this week so will get through the weekend and hit it hard from next week.

Take care all

Happy Birthday Anzac
Hope you have a fabulous break in the Hunter Valley.
It might be cold – but that’s just as excuse to taste a few nice reds!

Good evening all.

Managed a controlled eat at the evening celebration yesterday, then came home and ate ice-cream. Duh! Met a friend for lunch today – Chinese food, so chicken, cashews and vegetables with rice, and a jack fruit smoothie. Very nice, but I still ate normally at dinnertime. I really need to avoid food until as late as possible in the day. Planning a FD tomorrow. First in a while, so hope it goes well.

LJoyce, glad the infusion went well, and the lung infection is under control. Mini-pavlovas? I’d be like your grand-nephew, eating 2-3 in a sitting. Darned sweet tooth!

Happy belated birthday, Anzac65! 55 years young, and becoming more beautiful with every year 🙂 Hope you have a lovely break away, despite the cool weather.

Cinque, sorry you were feeling “ordinary” today, but hope grandma duty perked you up.

G’DayfromSA, congrats in having a “graduate” in the family, even if only from primary school. Will being at high school mean a further distance to travel?
What a pain about losing the internet for so long, and it putting your studies behind. Very annoying.
The way the kids are playing sounds very like me with my brother and lots of friends during the summer – water everywhere!

jonykiwi, hope you have a great bike ride at the weekend.

Neilithicman, nearly there. Isn’t it interesting how the taste buds change?!
No Christmas presents yet? Are you one of those people who leave it till almost the last minute? (Says me with pride, who had virtually finished all my Christmas shopping by the end of November 🙂 . Really, it’s just that I don’t like the crowds).

Only one more eating “event” now until Christmas day, so maybe I can actually lose some of what I’ve gained in the next couple of weeks. Wouldn’t that be luverly 🙂

https://imgur.com/nQXgrvn

Kia ora, everyone! Well I’ve been and gone and dunnit! I told the scales this morning I’d do a Basil Fawlty on them (remember when he flogged his Morris 1100 with a big tree branch when it refused to start?) if they didn’t give me an agreeable figure, so they meekly obliged with a 99.7kg. Maybe it was the mini FD on Wed, before yesterday’s official FD, that helped. Now I’ve got 3 days of normal eating – make that overeating, as we’re having an early Xmas/birthday party for elder daughter at our place tonight, as they’re away over Xmas. I think I’ll just nibble on a couple of lettuce leaves. And I have to go out a grab another bottle of Asti now!

Neil – looking forward to meeting you finally tomorrow. I’ll look for the skinny bloke eating a Moro bar and gagging on the extreme sweetness. You’re a little bit astray with your estimate of how long I took to climb imposing Castlewood Rd – it was 17min, not 7! Not even a Mustang 5.0 would get up there in 7min. And I’ve changed the ride course because of the rain and Karetai Track will no longer feature, so we’ll be chasing you on the big downhill to Centre Rd tomorrow. See you there!

Anzac – hearty congrats on your birthday. You don’t look a day over 39! No doubt you’ll get lots of hate mail over your less than complimentary assessment of Wellington weather. They breed them tough up there. They don’t have ordinary skin, they have oilskin. Good for the rain and wind!

Ka kite, folks
John

Jony, congratulations! Well done, Hip, hip hurray! Don’t blow it now! I’m very excited that you and Neil will be meeting up. So much in common. When I lived in Perth, I met several of the contributors to this thread for coffee and walks. It was great fun putting faces and real names to usernames – never as I’d imagined. It’s killing me that I can’t see your photos. When I have more time, I’ll investigate the imgur issues further. I have fond memories of Lake Tekapo. Like almost every inch of NZ, stunning beauty.

I’ve been reading the posts but haven’t had time to comment and, as usual, I’ve all but forgotten who said what. Just briefly then:

Happy Happy Happy belated Birthday Anzac for the 10th! Where were you this time last year? I can’t remember which country.

LJ, glad the infusion went OK.

Welcome back Betsy. You asked me a question which I’ve since forgotten. I think it was whether we were now in the marina and the answer is yes. Glad all that plumbing mess is behind you.

GDSA, congratulations to miss D.

Lindsay, sorry about injuring your foot. I have visions of vast white sandy beaches so I’m wondering how that could have happened especially as you’re abstaining from alcohol (mostly). he he.

Cinque, I hope you’ve recovered from the not so great morning.

A blow about the Queensland vaccine being scrapped. I’m assuming all must be going extremely well with the vaccine administering here since there’s virtually no mention of it on the news. Two developments concerning our potential Canary Islands trip, one being that it’s now being added to the list of self-isolation countries on return to UK and the other that self-isolation is being shortened from 14 to 10 days. I think one can make that even shorter by paying for a covid test privately £65-120.

I’ve made it to Friday alcohol free.

Saturday morning in sunny Melbourne. I have watered the garden, had a lovely breakfast (poached chicken and lettuce on toast, yum) and am sitting down to catch up with all you lovely people before I do some more pottering around.

Jony, woot! https://cdn5.vectorstock.com/i/1000×1000/55/94/grand-prize-win-gold-badges-vector-13655594.jpg

Lindsay best wishes for a wonderful weekend. Happy Birthday to Mr Lindsay! https://www.expresspartysupplies.com.au/image/cache/300×300/251015/happy-birthday-blue-birthday-cake-boys-fabric-hat-head-accessorie.jpg

I am so, so sorry to hear about that arthritis and bursitis. I have several friends and relatives suffering from bursitis in hip and/or shoulder, but yikes how awful to have it in your foot! My sisters tip (she has it in her hip) is to get ice on it as soon as it might flare up. The earlier the better. I suppose you need the pain to die down before you start being able to avoid it flaring up. I do hope it eases.

I can show a picture of my daughter’s tattoo, it is a line tattoo, this is just after it was done so the clear dressing is on it https://imgur.com/a/HERDQFu

Anzac, I hope the weather is a bit friendlier than expected, but there is something to be said for being away from home and just doing plenty of nothing. Enjoy every minute.

LJoyce, hooray your infusion was so easily done and dusted.
I do hope your social eating went well.

Hi Gday! Oh dear a fortnight is a long time without the internet. I am so glad it is fixed now.
Is your trim figure without losing grams due to all that wonderful exercise you are doing? Lovely.
Goodness it will be a big change to have a high school girl. End of an era. What a lovely celebration of it she had with her friends.

Betsy, that is what I do! I come home after a social event and want to eat to help me wind down. In fact it is so bad with me that I am best off not eating socially (or having as little as I can get away with) and having a healthy meal ready for me when I get home.

Yes, you can lose those extra grams you have put on with the festive eating, and enjoy doing it! A lovely Christmas gift to yourself. All power to you.

Neil, Jony, best wishes for a great ride!

Jony, eep that explosive story about your grandfather.

Thin, yes, it was a blow to hear they were shelving the Qld vaccine. So glad to hear all is going well with the roll out in the UK, and that the two people who had a severe allergic response had their epipens with them.

Yay for that alcohol free week, hoping you are feeling trim, taut and terrific.

I had a lovely time with Miss 4 and we did make pasta (slight mishap as she grabbed the cut fettucine and it all squished together). She was a great help turning the pasta machine handle and setting the rollers to higher numbers each time we made it thinner.
And goodness me, doesn’t home made pasta taste fantastic. Having small amounts with meals since we had to leave it here to dry.

A big day yesterday as I had to do my HIIT skip for my cardiovascuar health and start off my sweet potato fly (you might have to look it up 😉 ) as I had all the ingredients ready. But on top of that my iron died and before buying a new one I went to the trouble of asking my goodkarma network in case someone had a perfectly good one they weren’t using. Yes. Went and picked it up. Turns out it was badly scorched. I tried to clean it but had to give up and go and buy a new one anyway. I was SO pissed off I left the group! Haha.

While I was still angry about that wasted morning, I lost my remote control and couldn’t find it for two hours, during which time the TV was stuck on too loud (no controls on the box). It waited until I had searched the most ridiculous places and looked up how to buy a new one before it re-materialised.

But with a working iron and a working tv I felt very happy with life. Ironed lots of summer clothes (while watching tv) with a nice meditation on how good it is to be healthy and slender.

And writing this has hopefully got me past the dangerous thinking of how much I would just love another piece of chicken and lettuce on toast, and I am all set to do some three-things-at-a-time pottering until my 2pm meal.

Off to pick some leaves from the garden before they wilt in the sun.
Best wishes all, enjoy this precious day.

https://imgur.com/a/xAXzE75

Neil and I finally met today when he brought his new road bike along for our final AOK Wanderers ride in Dunedin. It was a very windy day and I opted for a more sheltered ride along Dunedin’s Town Belt. We’re pictured in the Dunedin Botanic Garden, where we adjourned for afternoon coffee. More in my next post.

Success! I couldn’t get around the imgur problems without doing my head in but had the idea to log into the forum on my phone and presto! I am now caught up with jony’s super images. Stunning photo of the Good Shepherd church, brought back happy memories of Tekapo. What a super place to get married. I was also excited to see the photo of you and Neil. You both look great. My OH is a geography major and loves pointing out geological features. We saw schist rock formations on a walk in the Malverns this summer. And Lindsay, that’s some view from your holiday home. Sorry about your foot diagnosis, bummer.

LJ, we were having that conversation about whether it was necessary to self-isolate from an overseas trip if you’ve been vaccinated just this morning. There are no plans to give recipients any physical documentation so proof would probably have to be at one’s own expense in the form of testing. Self-isolating on the boat is easy as we can be self-sufficient for four weeks – except for water but we need not come into contact with anyone else while filling – and we’d already decided that we’d stock up on food products before leaving even before this new ruling as things can change in an instant and we wouldn’t want to burden anyone else just so we could have a holiday.

The thing I hadn’t realised about self-isolating though was that exercise is not allowed. A bit harsh not to let us off the boat in the country to go for a walk when you haven’t even tested positive I’d have thought. The Travel Gods are definitely against us though. OH’s misplaced visa was finally resent after nearly three months missing. But the courier tracker says ‘delivered’ last Thursday – and it wasn’t.

Cinque, next time you lose the remote, unplug the TV at the mains!

Morning,

That’s a good idea Thin, although I’ve never really struggled with gaining weight at Christmas, even when I was fat, because that’s usually the time that I get to do active stuff outside, it’s when I’m back at work chained to my desk afterwards that I used to gain. In fact last year was the only time I’d gained weight over the period because we went to Fiji and my wife’s relatives kept feeding me starchy stuff like rice and roti.

Ljoyce, I hope you have a good time looking after the kids and you come through the social events unscathed. The good point of doing my whole30 programme at this time of year is that it’s pretty hard for me to overeat. We had a big Church Christmas lunch yesterday and all I could eat was the roast chicken and salad, and since most other people were loading up their plates with all the stuff I couldn’t eat I had as much of it as I could eat. I ended up have a couple of big pieces of chicken and two plates of salad.

Well 2 more days to go on the programme and then I’ll be able to introduce foods, it’s legumes including peanuts and soy on day 1, but I already think I know what was causing me issues. I avoided nuts for a couple of days after the last splurge I had on them, then I ate a couple of handfuls of cashews and almonds yesterday and I’m feeling some of the old symptoms, just a litte though, so pretty sure it is nuts that don’t agree with me when I eat too many of them.

It’s my wife’s and my anniversary today, 18 years of married bliss. We’re planning on getting some food from a nice south-east asian restaurant and heading to the Botanic gardens to eat it, but the wind has been really bad for the last 3 or 4 days so we’ll have to see what it’s like this evening.

Have a great one everyone, and I’ll see you on Wednesday for the big weigh-in.

Good morning,

Neil and Mrs Neil, Happy Anniversary! https://www.shaadidukaan.com/vogue/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/wedding-Feature-Image.jpg

Heat, skipping and maybe a little bit too much childminding made my weekend hard and I jettisoned my precious fast day as it needed more resolve than I could master. I got over rough ground as lightly as possible, and while we have a couple more hot days, I can just cruise and make frugal eating my high priority. I’m aiming for some Fast800 days but I don’t think today will be one. It might be close though!

I’ve got someone working on the plumbing right by my back door. Cutting through concrete and other loud activities. So excuse me if I am distracted!

Wonderful picture of Neil and John!

LJoyce, I hope you had an excellent weekend and are ready to face the social eating of the next two weeks.

Haha, no I couldn’t blame Miso the cat for the missing remote control, thank goodness I don’t have a dog that could chew it.
Thin, yes, haha, I was getting close to the wall option.

Super fast day and alcohol free week, Thin (I did the latter too 😉 woot! the one bonus of being alcohol intolerant.)
Good memories of the Silly Season Challenges too.

Neil, excellent to see the Whole30 end in sight and an interesting week or so to follow. It does sound like nuts are the ones causing trouble.
If it is because of phytates in them, you might find them fine if you soak them.

Rae, so good to hear from you, and with such great weight loss to tell us about. Brilliant! And lovely tweaking! That’s the trick.
I’m glad your knee is healing and that you are managing to do an excellent amount of exercise.
I hope you are surviving the rain up there!

Well, the drill is going full bore, but the second it is finished I am in the kitchen to make coffee. And even though it is hot here, I am going to make a big pot of nourishing soup.

Best wishes everyone