Updates

I thought you would want to know that I have seen the beautiful, legless lady with her scotty dog on board her scooter, back on the trail.  Also the little, old,white haired lady with the nervous poodle was out walking again.  Maybe it was the winter weather that kept them in, but I'm glad to see that they are doing  as well as everand were ready with their  smiles that always encourage me on. 

By the way, the pizza made with the Rhodes frozen rolls turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.  Since they were multigrain rolls, the crust had added texture to it, making it interesting.  I used 7 rolls for a 2 to 3 person pizza.  I put them on a sprayed plate and covered them with a sprayed piece of plastic wrap.  I left them all day and they were well raised by late afternoon.  Then, I rolled them out.  You can make them as thin as you want.  This time I let the crust be a little thicker than I usually make it.  I like to make my own pizza so I can be in control of what's on it and this is good when you don't have time to mess with homemade dough.
Nice that it was abit overcast this morning, allowing me to get some much needed yard work down after my run, of course.  Now I have just the right amount of time left to dig into my painting.

If I could be so lucky

I went to visit a 103 year old lady at a nursing home today. I was feeling really tired before I went and looking forward to a brief nap in the afternoon.She is positively one of the most incredible people I have known. Even though  she is mostly deaf and can hardly see to identify anyone, she has a really sharp mind and delightful sense of humor.  Her legs have pretty well given out on her now and even though she knows this will be her last home probably, she is as sweet and kind and thoughtful as ever. We had a lovely conversation which I regretted we had to end when she got visitors. I hope to keep her in front of me as the example  to follow as I age.

It is interesting how conversation with a delightful person, a short nap and inspiration with my watercolor painting can revitalize me so quickly.  Such an easy but great formula that should be repeated daily, I think.
My those birds have been noisy.  Mating season is in full swing.  Will be with the gators, too. Hmm

No, not ready for that!

My daughter suggested that I put some of my art work on my blog for the world to see.  Well, I went to the Citrus Co. Watercolor exhibit today so that I could get some tips from viewing the professionals work.  I saw some very inspirational work and some rather mediocre work, too.  What I learned the most from viewing other's work is how not ready I am to show my work. So if anyone is dying to see my progress they will just have to wait a lot longer, it appears. 
Michael's sister's 9 year old grandson was with us over night.  He found an app on his i pod for an alarm clock so that he could get up this morning and run with me.  Well, I resigned myself to not getting a very good workout in and I wasn't wrong. Kids have fast bursts then burnout quickly. I told him I was slow, but steady, so if he wanted to run ahead that was fine with me. He barely made it home after a couple of miles walk run, even with the short cut we took.  Kids talk a good talk, but can't usually walk the walk(or run in this case). 
I'm making a pizza for dinner using the dough from frozen dinner rolls.  Hope it turns out ok since I haven't tried that before.  Sure beats kneading dough for 6 minutes, if it works.  Good upper arm workout, though.  Sure need that.

Florida weather is back!

We're seeing some great Florida weather this week.  Just watch us start complaining, tho, when it gets much warmer than this.  Need to get the kayaks out, it has been so long.  I want to get back out on the gulf soon before all of the manatees are gone back out to sea. 

I usually get my inspiration out on the trail during my morning runs, but lately nothing has come to me.  Thought I should still do an update.  I have been so engrossed in my painting that I resent anything that prevents me from getting my paints out each day(I save my afternoons for that after all of my required duties are done.  I've been watching some videos that really inspire me and show various techniques to try.  Love it, love it, love it!

I told Michael I would run a 5k race in March.  I'm in a new age group, so maybe my past competition has dropped out because of age and I won't look too bad.  Suzie, the over 75er, really shows me up, tho. I hate to say that once I beat her because she had a leg injury.  I had to stifle my gladness. I really meant her no ill and know that was a race I didn't deserve to win.

That reminds me of the down hill ski slalom I won in Garmish, Germany.  The gal who was better than I had to drop out because her son had been hurt the day before while skiing.  I felt pretty undeserving when I went up to claim my medal.  Especially since everyone knew I wasn't the best, too.

It's great to be out doors again

It was great to be able to do my painting out on the lanai again, it has been so long since it has been warm enough.  There is such a difference in the quality of the natural light out there. Not that my art work is any better, but at least I can see what I'm doing better.  The rest just takes time.  There is just nothing more invigorating than sitting out there painting,while listening to the birds sing about how happy they are that we put seed out for them and water in the bird bath. It doesn't take much to make me content with life.  I don't need a trip to a mall or a fancy meal, just me, my paints and birds. Ahh!

God Knows

God knows us better than we could ever know ourselves and he knows of the frustration with which I have spoken and of which he would also express, I'm sure.  If we would only do things right the first time we would save him and ourselves alot of grief and frustration in our life in the first place.  That is all I'm saying about that topic.

Michael is working on getting back his mojo and adding miles to his runs each day.  I think he is also planning to make up for the races he missed, too.

I had my art class today so no run this morning.   But, I did get in a good 5 miler yesterday with yoga, etc. added on for good measure.  The more I learn in my art classes the more I discover I need to learn. Practice, practice, practice. I'm looking forward next week to the Watercolor Society's show at Homassa where I can see how all of the professionals do it.  I should learn alot from seeing all of their techniques.  It will be very humbling I'm sure.

I'm just wondering

We started out for a bike ride since Michael said the gas bubble in his eye is pretty well gone. As the weather has its way as usual, it started to rain by the time we got to the trail. So we headed back home with the intent to go out this afternoon.  But the weather won again.  So it was a great day to catch up on my painting .  I'm working on perfecting my row boats and their coming along.  Of course, I keep doing the same one over and over again so it should.

Michael finally, after 4 weeks 5 days, started back running today, in the rain.  He was ecstatic and scheduling all kinds of races for the year ahead.

I'm just wondering about something.  I know God got the seed of the avocado too big, but I think he got something else backward, too.  Knowing humans as he does, I would have thought he would have given us hindsight before foresight.  Life would sure be easier for us and we sure wouldn't make the mistakes we make.  And we sure would be better at being better humans. Just a thought.

My friend turns 70

My girl friend turned 70 today, putting her up here with the rest of us gals around here.  So, I baked her a birthday cake to celebrate.  I have to say that it is a much more complicated task to bake a cake for people our age.  I made a small chocolate cake that is low fat for Tommy, low sugar for Jim and low salt for Michael.  Sounds pretty tasteless doesn't it?  I figure you can put in alittle less sugar and get away with it.  And a receipe with canola oil instead of butter and a tad less salt should do it. We'll see what the reviews are like.

I ran my 5 miler today, but so far no yoga. Just haven't had time yet to relax and zone out. Michael still sees the bubble in his eye, so not running yet.  He did walk on the trail tho, so he's gearing up. 

What will be my legacy?

I helped out with a funeral on Sunday of a 61 year old man who died from a lengthy battle with cancer.  He had been a high school teacher and coach. There were about 500 people there and you could tell from all of the comments that he impacted many young lives and was very well regarded by everyone who knew him.  I was really impressed with the life he led.  Wish I could say my life has even had a fraction of that impact on the world.  Little late thinking about that now.

I've had plenty of exercise recently, between traipsing around the Wild Life Park, Disney and running 4 to 5 miles a few days with some yoga to polish it all off.  But, I guess with  ice cream several times this week, I'm not doing very well at meeting my goal of shedding 5 pounds. I appreciate the confidence my daughter has in me that I'll reach my goal, tho.

It seems that we just don't  want things as much as we say we do.  We say we want to lose weight or get into shape or eat healthier, etc.  But, I guess if we really believed what we say we do we would actually do it.  And if we don't do it we just really aren't motivated that much or really care that much.  So why do we put up the pretenses  and why don't we just save our breath and not lie to ourselves?  Just wondering what the pay off is.