I’ve never thought of joining any kind of club, sports or social. Maybe I should see what there is in my area. It would be great to meet some new people.

and it disappeared a second time! I will try just once more:

re Girls on the Run, we’ve had a fabulous start! 20 girls have joined and it was a great first meeting on Tuesday. There are so many girls here who need the confidence building that this program offers! I forgot to play my girl power playlist at our first meeting, so it is coming today!

I have always been a hugger at school, and that will never change! I spent half an hour comforting a sobbing second-grader yesterday. Poor little, he takes off from the classroom when there is something he doesn’t like. He does it so quietly that sometimes the adults don’t notice. Very scary and unsafe. I think it is mostly an issue of immaturity, but the school tried to keep him at the early childhood center for another year, and the same in first grade but the parents would not agree to it. We all need hugs sometimes.

Fasting today, easy again because of being busy, so all good. Have a great day, everyone. It is almost the weekend!!

Jojo, I’m sorry to hear that you won’t be able to do any exercise for a while, and that it will alter your holiday plans, but think how wonderful it will be not to have any pain. I can’t lie on a sunbed and read for days either, so I understand how you feel. Would it not be possible to reschedule the yoga retreat for a time when you are able to participate? I guess even if you can’t play bowls you’ll be able to enjoy the social side of things.

I hope you enjoyed the Bounty bar, I am jealous as they are one of my favourites, not that I’ve eaten one for a couple of years at least.

Hi jojo,

You and your daughter are each having a rough ride. Sadly, the best way to deal with a kid in desperate distress isn’t on the PGCE syllabus. No wonder she is reduced to tears. She has one huge advantage though. Her mum’s a teacher who has only recently retired and therefore is still up to speed on all the vagaries of the classroom. I’m sure between you you will find a solution. Have no senior staff at the school stepped in yet? It doesn’t seem fair to leave a probationer to cope unsupported from above. However, it must help to have teaching assitants on board.

Sorry, too, that the doc didn’t come up with the goods and worse, suggested you cancel a long-awaited and well-deserved holiday. You could understand if you were off to do some extreme sport like Alpine bungee-jumping, but surely yoga is therapeutic. You are right to ignore his advice.

On the brighter side, it’s good to hear that it’s more than pints you are pulling. 🙂 Annoying though, when some of these admirers turn out to be playing away.

Thanks for the encouragement re the dissertation, I’m now about a third of the way through the first draft, which is pretty well on schedule. I’m hoping to have it fully drafted about 4-5 days before the deadline so I have time to put it into shape, so that all the right notes are in the right order. 🙂

Blueberries are best food for overall Brain health, but DHA. Foods. Is the way to go hands down. Even if you don’t go gluten free, at least add DHA , and know the DHA foods what they are at the grocery.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-000140000000000000000-w.html

This link will enlighten. You as to which foods are super DHA foods and which ones you’ll have to eat a lot of. The thing to remember is DHA best uptake is from animal .

Hint. Walnut! In salads and porridge , or oatmeal.

Oat meal and oat bran is gluten free

One-liners by Famous People

☺”…but I also can’t prove that mushrooms could not be intergalactic spaceships spying on us.” ―Daniel Dennett

☺”He who angers you conquers you.” ―Elizabeth Kenny

☺”If you’re going through Hell, keep going.” ―Sir Winston Churchill

☺”Do one thing every day that scares you.” ―Eleanor Roosevelt

☺”Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” ―Helen Keller

☺”Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” ―Mary Oliver

☺”If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” ―Mario Andretti

☺”Life is not having been told that the man has just waxed the floor.” ―Ogden Nash

☺”I never forget a face, but in your case I’d be glad to make an exception.” ―Groucho Marx

☺”My wife sent her photograph to the Lonely Hearts Club. They sent it back saying they weren’t that lonely.” ―Les Dawson

☺”Chopsticks are one of the reasons the Chinese never invented custard.” ―Spike Milligan

☺”Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little.” ―Gore Vidal

☺”I saw that show, 50 Things To Do Before You Die. I would have thought the obvious one was “Shout For Help”.” ―Jimmy Carr

☺”I have kleptomania. But when it gets bad, I take something for it.” ―Ken Dodd

☺”I think football would become an even better game if someone could invent a ball that kicks back.” ―Eric Morecambe

☺”Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” ―Mark Twain

☺”I wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup.” ―Jerry Seinfeld

☺”War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” ―Ambrose Bierce

☺”Trying is the first step towards failure.” ―Homer Simpson

☺”My Dad used to say ‘always fight fire with fire’, which is probably why he got thrown out of the fire brigade.” ―Peter Kay

☺”The people voting for the Oscars are so old. I haven’t seen one Academy Award voter with a tampon in her purse.” ―Joan Rivers

☺”Starbucks says they are going to start putting religious quotes on cups. The very first one will say, ‘Jesus! This cup is expensive!'” ―Conan O’Brien

☺”I had to stop drinking, cause I got tired of waking up in my car driving 90.” ―Richard Pryor

☺”I don’t worry about terrorism. I was married for two years.” ―Sam Kinison

☺”I’m on a whiskey diet…I’ve lost three days already.” ―Tommy Cooper

☺’It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” ―Woody Allen

☺”The worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades” ―Demetri Martin

☺”Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.” ―Bill Cosby

☺”I have a lot of growing up to do. I realized that the other day inside my fort.” ―Zach Galifianakis

☺”Reality continues to ruin my life.” ―Bill Watterson

☺”Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.” ―Voltaire

☺”Puberty is a phase… fifteen years of rejection is a lifestyle.” ―Sue Kolinsky

☺”If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z; work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.” ―Albert Einstein

☺”Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.” ―Bill Watterson

☺”If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.” ―Edith Wharton

☺”In spite of the cost of living, it’s still popular.” ―Kathleen Norris

☺Sam: “How’s life treating you Norm?”
Norm: “Like it caught me sleeping with its wife.” ―George Wendt

☺”I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there.” ―Herb Caen

☺”Digestion is the great secret of life.” ―(Sydney) Smith’s Secret

☺”I’ve developed a new philosophy… I’m only going to dread one day at a time.” ―Charley Brown

☺”If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which he has inflicted on men, he would kill himself.” ―Alexandre Dumas

☺”Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” ―Albert Einstein

☺”I’m the kind of guy who will have nothing all my life and then they’ll discover oil while they’re digging my grave.” ―George Gobel

☺”Don’t take life too seriously, you won’t get out alive.”

☺”I used to have a handle on life, and then it broke.”

☺”It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.”

☺”Don’t marry the person you want to live with, marry the one you cannot live without… but whatever you do, you’ll regret it later.”

☺”Regular naps prevent old age… especially if you take them while driving.”

☺”A child’s greatest period of growth is the month after you’ve purchased new school uniforms.”

☺”Forgiveness is giving up my right to hate you for hurting me.”

☺”My wife and I always compromise. I admit I’m wrong and she agrees with me.”

☺”Saving is the best thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you.”

☺”Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me alone!”

☺”I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.”

☺”Don’t worry about what people think, they don’t do it very often.”

☺”Early to bed, early to rise ensures a healthy, dull demise.”

☺”How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?”

☺”Smoking kills. If you’re killed, you’ve lost a very important part of your life.”

☺ “Women need to cry. And they won’t do it alone unless they know you can hear them.”

☺ “Women do not know anything about cars. ‘Oil-stick, oil doesn’t stick?’ ”

☺ “Women will make three right-hand turns to avoid making one left-hand turn.”

☺ “The good girls keep the diaries the bad girls never have the time.”

☺ “I always thought that if I were popular, I must be doing something wrong.”

☺ “Unfortunately, sometimes people don’t hear you until you scream.”

☺”Ladies first. Pretty ladies sooner.”

☺ “The idea of strictly minding our own business is moldy rubbish. Who could be so selfish?”

☺”When he is late for dinner and I know he must be either having an affair or lying dead in the street, I always hope he’s dead.”

☺”Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses; women for their strengths.”

☺”There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.”

☺”Few women admit their age. Few men act theirs.”

These witty one-liners may be funny, sensitive or just plain silly. But, I bet you must have enjoyed reading each line. One of my favorite one-liners also stands true when you are trying to make someone laugh, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.’

Good morning all fasttrackers, a quick check in before going to the shops for food.

Jojo what a (literal and metaphorical) pain about your hip and trip. Hope something positive comes out of the mess.

SAMM I nearly wet my pants laughing at your jokes. Some real gems there.

Scales of deceit at work again, showing 0.6kg gain from yesterday, despite virtuous fast day. 🙁

Just keeping on keeping on … Spring is definitely in the air here so it’s hard to stay down for long.

Happy Friday all.

SAMM:

Your one liners are great. Thank You!

Hi Jojo
Hope the blue nail polish wowed them!

We’re having a lovely warm Spring day here and I’m enjoying the smells from the garden, lavender, camellias, prunus, apricot blossoms. 🙂

Came back from holidays about 3 kgs heavier, and then lost 2 kgs in the first few days at home on my normal fasting regime. My first fast was 19 hours long, and my body loved it. Sadly, I indulged in wheat products during my last two weeks of holidays, and they really do not agree with me. You would think I would learn. 🙂

All the best on your holidays. Bay 🙂

Re spring, hermaj, my little 4 year old granddaughter wandered into my garden this afternoon, spied a little pink azalea flowering and said “I LOVE Spring”. Such joy! P

Hi jojo,

Love the sound of the bordello. As you say, the blue nail varnish was very appropriate.

Enjoy the Cockney night. Would love to be there to hear an evening of my ‘mother tongue’- but avoiding jellied eels at all costs.

Any Old Iron, My Ol’ Man Sez Foller the Van, Just Like the Ivy, the list goes on. I know ’em all. With parents and grandparents from Beffnal Green, Clapton and ‘Ackney, how could I not?. Have a great weekend.

Too funny, Hermaj & Purple! My younger son had an inexplicable Brooklyn accent when he was about 4!
Jojo, I am doing fine, but not in a diet sense! Yesterday turned into a carb fest from the start! I am chalking it up to lack of sleep, which I know triggers the cravings for sweets & other carbs for me. Started with a donut, sampled a little leftover cake at work, half a bagel, cheese crackers. At least I ate salads for lunch and dinner! Before dinner was another story. Hubby and I went out for our usual Friday night reconnect, but we tried a different restaurant where they serve a big basket of hot from the oven chewy garlic focaccia. I almost always skip bread in restaurants, but last night I chose to dig in. I won’t say that I couldn’t resist…I was perfectly conscious of what I was choosing and doing. It was absolutely delicious, and I will be making up for it with a fast today and semi-fast tomorrow. Slept for 12 hours last night, woke up feeling super-human!
Have a great weekend, all!

Hi ply,

For one moment I thought, how come a little Aussie boy would have a Brooklyn accent? Then I remembered you are in the USA. I had a quick look at the girls on the run link which took me to North Carolina. Is that where you are?

On our US trip two years ago we stayed first in Asheville with it’s wonderful art deco architecture. We also had the worst and one of the best meals of the trip there. Then we moved on to Old Salem for a day or two. More beautiful but very different architecture, lovely food and lovely people.

To get from one to the other we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway with Blue Grass on the car stereo. When I ws thinking it doesn’t get much better than this, suddenly it did, when a young bear crossed the road ahead of us – close enough to see but not close enough to be in danger.

You ARE only human Ply….mmmm….delicious bread! This is a way of life, not a gaol/jail sentence. We do the Friday night reconnect thing too. Excellent. Enjoy your weekend. P

You can do it, Amazon!

I try to make my infrequent calorie splurges worth it., and last night was.

Purple, because of our work schedules, my husband and I do not see each other (awake) from Sunday afternoon until Friday night, so we definitely need the reconnect!

ply,

It was in Boston where I took my first step on American soil in 2000. A great start to a month-long trip that took us through New England in October when the fall colours more than lived up to the hype and eventually took us to NYC which, big city girl that I am, I fell instantly in love with.

In Boston, we stayed in a B&B in Charlestown, fell in love with the Back Bay neighbourhood and noted that there were so many squirrels on Boston Common they almost constituted an ethnic minority.

As I said, like you, I’m a city girl. I love to visit and stay for short spells in the countryside, but more at home in a big city.

I have relatives in Charlestown, Hermaj. We live in a suburb, but city enough for me. Looking out the windows at nothing but trees, it feels like the country, which satisfies hubby. Not far from the sea, which is always nice!
My kids live in Cambridge, so we get to visit quite a bit.

Sheer coincidence. Soon after our exchange about things Bostonian, I got a swift email from my niece-in-law, mum of Chairman Eddie mentioned in my post to Purple earlier today, sitting at Heathrow waiting to fly to your fair city for a conference.

We are also in the suburbs but it can take as little as 25 minutes on the tain or underground to get to the centre of the city. I remember how, from our terrace at the Charlestown b&b, the view across gardens and backs of houses, probably built at the tail end of the 19th century, the view was very much like you would get in some of our leafier London suburbs and we felt immediately at home.This was 14 years ago and since then I’m pleased to say our own part of North London has got a lot leafier.

This is what I love about the FD forum. No one minds if you go a bit off-topic. Today we’ve talked about all the Bs – Brooklyn accents, Boston and bears – not to mention the bordello where jojo dined last night wearing her blue nail varnish.

Sounds like a great night jojo
Don’t you love the way someone can have a night out in London and someone else in Sydney can read the vivid description and enjoy it too? Words are so much more powerful than images.
Btw hermaj, I was with you in the car listening to Blue Grass. Fabulous! Thanks guys. P