Hi, fasting-me. I am full of cold, but thinking I need to dose myself and still go to dud it out. We’ve had no snow yet – so different to last year of course, my gorgeous American snow boots will guarantee no snow, so they can’t be worn.

We’ve booked our flights for Philadelphia in March, so hoping for a lovely Princeton spring – NOT a repeat of last year. I don’t do well for food in the States at all, in fact I usually come back under bottom wriggle room.

I bet your weight will be fine tomorrow. There’s often a lag.

It will happen, P. Just the usual frustrating lag.

I concur with -10 not qualifying for mild, Fasting!

Still cooking here, daytime highs will be 28 for the rest of the stay, and over-nights 22-23 🙁 . Back home by Saturday to water my garden.

Lucky you, Poll. I had to give up community choir singing, a few years ago, when my voice dropped below alto! Curse those hormones.
I’m feeling pleased today. I had to have a growth removed a couple of weeks ago. Got the all clear today. 😊😊😊

FM, I wear triple focal glasses normally, but bought some cheap single focal to play the piano. Easier to look up and down.
Just Wikied ‘polar vortices ‘. Yes, they move above both poles. Clockwise down south, anti clockwise up your way. Our thin ozone layer is above this and what causes increased UV exposure/skin cancer in the southern climes. 😎😡 Very hot day (34+) predicted here today.
Still battling with Christmas excess, but controlling it. 😉😉P

Am now in losing mode and hope it stays with me. Currently below Target but not yet Sleek. Tomorrow will be Book Group at the home of one of our famous bakers. Oh dear. Simple supper to follow with ODH. Will have to behave myself.
Speaking of ODH, he isn’t sleeping well either — just like Pol and Barata. Is it a mid-Winter/mid-Summer thing? Wicked cold here, as we would say. -13 C this morning, tho the temperature rose during the day.
Cold weather will continue for a while yet — no ‘January thaw’ for now.

I’m sleeping appalling. I’m beginning to grab hours any time I can. I’ve even done things like rearranging fridge magnets in the middle of the night rather than toss and turn and further disturb Mr P. 😐

Ladies who aren’t sleeping – if you haven’t already tried it buy Melatonin from the chemist. It’s the sleep hormone, sold over the counter. Works well for me.
Good news on the health front Purple!
Barbara, I’d love to see/hear Dr M!

Morning, all. Another having sleeping problems here – alternate nights it seems! I’m coughing like an old Rhondda sheep at night. It’s strangely warm, too. I got up one night and, mindful of not using a screen, started Michelle Obama’s book. PVE, my tai chi teacher advised taking a single antihistamine table. In fact, I did last night and slept through.

Barata, you’re so lucky to have your grandson with you for a while. The temperature there sounds perfect now. And very glad your garden survived.

Re specs, I wear varifocals, anyway. I’ve found myself singing bits that I remembered from the session and I think the leader will be giving out the new music on Monday. I should be ok as I feel better and won’t be sharing.

Pol. 🙋🏼
Weight is fine, although varying within the wriggle room.

Barata, you did realise auto correct thinks you should be BARBARA 😂

Polly I used the antihistamine to good effect when I was working and HAD to sleep!

Wish I could report all good on the weight front, but it’s not! 😂Highest I’ve been for months and months and it’s all down to me and poor choices 😔

I’ve got a terrible appetite today for some reason. Going to bed now, 10pm to avoid temptation.

Fasting today: Cheesy Baked Eggs this morning, with apple slices. Maltese Spinach-Tuna Pie for dinner. At least my version of it. Great flavors.
Still cold today. ODH suggests dinner out tomorrow. Ok.
Sleep well, everybody.

Yes, Pol, we have 2 meals a day. But egg breakfasts are reserved for Fast Days. Good luck with that tooth. Our dentist sees a tooth that’s crumbling, we go right to a crown. As for choir, that’s how I always learned the part — by listening to the neighboring 2nd sopranos. What piece[s] are you working on?

Must confess to eating a lot today. Not in volume, but in calories. Lovely sandwich for dinner — italian meat [capicolla], cream cheese, arugula, and ‘truffle paste’ which is mushrooms, oil, olives, and truffles. Couldn’t eat the whole thing, but it had a lot of fat. Then ice cream for dessert. It was fun.

Pol, Andrew Lloyd Webber [must be Welsh, right?] writes tricky musical scores, but lovely. Won’t you feel good when you’ve mastered it. Good for you on your lower weight! My scales couldn’t make up their mind today: either minus 7 POUNDS or minus 4/10 pound. Did you like the new Mary Poppins?

We’re due for our 1st Big Snow on Sunday — 12-20″ they say. That, of course, is the day our friends are coming over to celebrate at my birthday dinner. These hardy New Englanders know how to drive in snow, so the show should go on… Will your family in Princeton be getting snow from this storm?

PVE, are you still sleeping better? Is NZ having the same heatwave as Australia? Sounds awful. We might be cold up here, but we can snuggle in and sleep.

Carolan, back to buckling down again, eh? Sometimes one can binge to to ill effect, and then one issuing virtuous and the weight still goes up! No understanding of that.

Barata, how does your garden grow? You mentioned grass in your yard. There’s a push in drought-ridden parts of the US to get rid of lawns. Not so bad in Northern new England yet, tho the grass did die back the other year. last summer was so rainy it caused more mushrooms to come up than most people had ever seen. No telling what this year will bring.

Have a good weekend, whatever your weather brings.

P’s right, Fasting – I’m the Kiwi. Having endured 30ish degrees while we were in Australia, it’s a relief to come back to normal conditions. 20 degrees, drizzle and gales today, but that’s Wellington. I can do without the thrills of the heatwave kind! We will be getting some of Aussie’s left-over heatwave, but here it turns to conditions of a different kind. As we are a long, narrow country, sitting across the Roaring 40s, it takes many forms depending on location.

I have a rampant self-sown pumpkin, but as the veggie garden is tucked against the house there is limited sunshine. Last year was the first I could harvest tomatoes, the year before it was green tomato relish! Mostly winter vegetables thrive in my plot.

When we lived in the US (Pennsylvania) the neighbours sprayed their lawns religiously, but must have cursed us, as tenants and having no interest in creating weed-free lawns. Much like our section here, where we are surrounded by non-gardeners! 🙁 The lawn is a constant with Kiwi homes – we live in a pluvial country, after all!

I am so looking forward to our prospective move north (news flash!). We are now seriously looking at relocating to the Bay of Islands region, closer to family, warmer, I want a boat for fishing, anyone welcome to visit! Wellington was always a temporary stop.

I hope so, P. But Mr B grew up being fed fish all year – his parents were avid fishers – so he feels a bit over it. But while I am the chief cook… 🙂

You’ll find Brissy cooler than Adelaide, I believe Carol.
I keep chipping away at my weight, then it bounces back up. All within a small margin, but above my upper limit. So, I’m with you on how you feel. It seems we have all crept up a bit. Have we loosened the reigns a bit too much, become complacent, bored with our regemin? Who knows? But, in reality, we are all still well within our healthy range. P

PVE, you’re post came in while I was typing, I think. I do worry about loosening the reins, especially since OH is always keen to undermine me or tell me I can treat myself! I bought us a little Pastis de Nata yesterday, he didn’t want one, so I eat the two!

I am surprised that Adelaide is hotter than Brisbane!

Pol.

Aw, flipping heck! I’ve noticed an horrendous typo on my last post – thanks to autocorrect and not proof-reading, I have the glaring ‘you’re post’. 😳😳😳

Any treats will be for St Dwynwen’s Day on 25th January, the welsh patron saint of lovers, fasting-me.

Carolann and Purple, I was shocked to see how hot it is in Australia this summer, I love the heat, but once over 30 it’s no longer a pleasure.

Weight doing ok. Both Sues couldn’t make it choir last night. OH was surprised that I intended to go ‘on my own’, but I did and I think I’ve made a bit of progress! I remembered my reading specs, so coukd read the words. Ironically, I struggled to hear the leader. It’s made me aware of how much I’m lip-reading! They’re a friendly lot. I knew one woman as a parent and one woman actually came to our quiz last Friday. I really enjoyed it and the time flew. Not keen on the drive in the dark, though.

Pol.

PVE, no auto-correct when writing here! “amother rin of very hot ones’? Actually it did auto-correct as I tried to type that. Isn’t technology ‘fun’ ?? We had our son sit down with us and our computers as he patiently, so it seemed, worked through our technical issues. Thank goodness for the young ‘uns.

0 F this morning, that’s -17.7 C. The red squirrel is out for seeds as are the chickadees. We are warmed by the wood stoves. Bright sun today should give us some solar gain, and tomorrow the temps should rise a bit.

yes, PVE, the ‘well-designed house’ of the past does not respond so well to these new extremes. Last summer by the sea we had to keep the aircon running for days AND nights. Couldn’t hear the waves on the shore with the windows closed.

Polly, glad you are enjoying choir so much. Our Bell Choir feels the same way — nine jolly older women who wouldn’t give it up, no matter how much their husbands suggest that standing for 2 hours makes their knees/hips/wrists/shoulders/backs hurt. Average age of the group = 76 or so.
Thanks for mentioning St Dwynwen. I shall have to look him up!

hooray for yesterday’s Fast!! Weight this morning is just where it should be. Amazing, after what I ate over the weekend, with the wine thrown in too. With the appetizers [Gougeres], my husband uncorked some “Cremant de Bourgogne”, the sparkling wine of Burgundy. Excellent! both the white and the rose. Then there were 3 Pinot Noirs and one Chardonnay, all from Burgundy. I sampled them each.

Very sorry for those of you in the hot places. Seems our temperatures are ‘antipodal’ too — to the extreme. i hope there are no lasting ecological problems after such high heat. Do cities and towns provide ‘cooling centers’ as they do in the US? In 2002 there was a heat wave in the US and hundreds of people died in Chicago and New York City. Since then steps have been taken to prevent that.
Of course people are dying here in the cold as well. Men having heart attacks while shoveling snow; toddlers and the elderly wandering off. Tragic.

I was so interested to read about the study in Wales about pre-diabetic people who followed the 800-calorie Blood Sugar Diet. Great results, showing that MM’s idea really works.

Took the tree down and un-decorated the house from Christmas. Room looks so bare. Guests last weekend were so happy to see the tree still up.

Colonoscopy planned for Tuesday morning. Reduced fiber dinner tonight [cheese pizza in from of the fire], very low fiber tomorrow all day, then clear liquids on Monday. Am curious to see how this affects my weight — unless I drink my weight in water/juice.

Happy Weekend.

I’ve had 2 colonoscopies and found I certainly felt ‘lighter 😂’ after. I didn’t weigh though. I think I was just so glad to get through it and start eating morally again ie fibre.

Agree Purple, important to have the checks.

Morning. Fascinating to read about the temperature extremes! We moan about the UK weather, but I’m glad we don’t have -17 or the heatwaves of Australia. Today is just above zero, with a biting cold wind. Last week’s snow has all melted, but more is forecast on Tuesday (nothing by F_me’s standards though!).

My weight is STILL over a kg up on pre Christmas weight. That’s well withing my original 5:2 target though so I’m not too despondent. And my clothes still fit 😀

I am very moral 😂 but thought I had typed ‘normal’ 😂. Well spotted Polly! This Kondo you speak of – is that the Japanese lady that shows you how to stop hoarding and store your stuff neatly?

Everybody talks about the weather, but no one can do anything about it. We are in for more COLD weather in the next few days, along with some snow.

Kondo is so cute and perky! I watched the beginning of Episode 1, and may continue. But the British Baking Show calls to me more. And Broadchurch.

Good fortitude, Polly, at the party. I’m one of the few people I know who hopes to live a long life. 100+ sounds good. Of course one wants to be healthy too. Part of the reason we Fast, right? Thanks for the info on the Virgin Saint of Wales. I still haven’t looked her up.

PVE, its because of stories like that of your Dad that we should all do this regularly. Every 10 years is the norm here, but I’m on the every 3 years ’cause last time they found a polyp. My father had polyps too, so they watch me. All to the good.

Carolann, eating fiber is indeed the moral thing to do. Also eating Calcium and Protein. Lunch on Tuesday with The Girls will be very welcome, but I’ll have to make sure I have the wine WITH the meal rather than before it, since I will have a VERY empty stomach.

Have a great week of Fasting and Living Well.

I’d never heard of the Japanese lady until I came up to Brisbane to babysit the grandkids. My daughter showed me the children’s drawers and said they were keeping them tidy since she had introduced this new system ie Japanese lady. DIL watches on Netflix which we don’t have but I see she has a few videos on YouTube I’ll watch when I go back home. Seems everyone else knew about her except me lol

Fastingme, I got very excited at the mention of broadChurch! We get a lot of BBC tv in Australia and it’s been very lack lustre pickings lately.

Polly I often struggle with social situations where the food just keeps on coming. I find it hard to keep tabs on how much I’m actually eating and more difficult to resist when it’s constantly on offer.

I also understand your disappointment. We have a small window of opportunity to speak to our Canadian family and am always disheartened when for some reason we miss the FaceTime call.

I agree Purple, nothing as beautiful as the world we live in and we often don’t appreciate it enough – too caught up in the rat race of consumerism.