A Walk in the Park

A walk in the park.

Testing house colors: Sagey siding / Ranch Acres trim / Ox Blood accent

Ground Turkey & Spinach Lasagna for dinner

To Paint a House

The house needs painting.
Around this time of year I begin dreaming of paint colors. Especially when we walk through the neighborhood and I notice several houses that appear recently painted and how fresh and pretty they look.

It will be a while before our next renovation project can begin, so in this dreamy state of mind I google exterior paint colors and find that the paint manufacturers, like Sherman Williams, have made great progress with the house painting tools on their web sites. Better Homes and Gardens has a good one as well. You can pick a house style (modern, cottage, Victorian, etc) and select from a wide palette of colors, drag and drop them on the house siding, trim, accent.

I'm going with the classic Craftsman trio of a green siding, a creamy trim and ox blood accent. I've thought about a cooler color combo, something in blues and grays, to pick up on the river rock hues, but the cool hues just don't color my dreams like the earth ones do.

My house may be a Sears kit house. It's a 1 and 1/2 story Craftsman bungalow measuring 30' wide x 50' long. Since my house was divided up into 4 rental units sometime in the 1950's, I haven't quite figured out what its original floor plan was. I don't think it's changed all that much but there just must have been a fireplace at one time and where was the stairway to the second floor? I'm going to continue my search of the online catalogues to see if I can find it.

A trip to Home Depot this afternoon yeilded us a very nice selection of colors. I got a couple of greens and creams to try out. We'll slop them on the side of the house tomorrow to see how they look. I've already put a call into my guy, Jesus, to see if he's available to take on the job. He's really busy though, and I may have to look elsewhere.

7 Weeks / 8 Pounds and Blue Skies

1.14 pounds per week.

In order to meet my goal, according to Fitday.com, I'm about a 10th of a pound off my target weight loss per week. I've been considering my daily calorie intake as either low range - 1200 calories, mid range - 1500 calories, or high range - 1800 calories, and when I'm within those parameters I'm on the loosing end of my Sunday weigh-in. And that's right where I want to be, loosing, not gaining. Yay!

After some good rain this weekend, which produced blue blue skies and snow on the mountains in the distance, we went for a long walk to the other side of Silver Lake for brunch.

There were happy flowers along the way


















and a yummy breakfast burrito of egg and charizo with Mexican potatoes.

We took the long way home stopping at Trader Joe's for some greens and stuff, then a stop at Radio Shack for a battery. 2 1/2 hours on the streets and about 5 miles distance. A stroll in the park. Next week we're thinking about hiking up Mount Hollywood behind the Griffith Park Observatory. Oooooh and a stop at Trails Cafe for pie.

Chinese Lantern Festival

I expected more elaborate lanterns to be on display for the festival, but it seemed they were being sequestered until the end of the festival parade that we didn't wait around for. Maybe next time we'll go a little later and stay for the parade. But today we had lunch at our favorite spot on Olvera Street, the El Paseo Inn .Then wondered through the festival, where we entered a building through a side-door that stood ajar, beckoning us in to try other doors off the 3 story courtyard, leading us through beautiful gutted rooms. Will saw a ladder leading up to the rooftop and promptly tackled that without pause.Back outside we see what's going on at a Chinese calligraphy demonstration. Watch some children with painted faces running with all thier might to fly their little kites. Back at the plaza the dance and music were really wonderful. Very colorful and spirited. Waiting in the wings.For their routine.

Gone in 60 Seconds

After my husband shamelessly gobbled up a whole sheet of cookie dough, he worked it off on the glider. This is him in motion as I walked in the door last night.

The interesting thing is that after talking about his great big slip and fall, whereby I counseled him not to beat himself up about it. I had a healthy dinner of Pho #17. But later that night I gobbled up 4 ozs of cheese to the tune of 456 calories. Even after we had just talked about giving in to the urges and the consequences. So I acknowledged it, and logged it, and now there is no more cheese in the house.

This weekend we'll do some walking and gliding and make bettor choices. It's a slip, not a ruination of the goal.

Here's a stationary shot of the apparatus on the backyard patio, where we like to hop on and take it for a spin.

An Unexpected Love Poem

As found on today's MSN.com Slate's anthology of classic romantic poems, I found this one particularly intriguing.

The great Greek poet Constantine Cavafy finds an unexpected, passionate image for love in "The Bandaged Shoulder." Here it is as translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard:










THE BANDAGED SHOULDER

He said he'd hurt himself against a wall or had fallen down.
But there was probably some other reason
for the wounded, the bandaged shoulder.

With a rather abrupt gesture,
as he reached for a shelf to bring down
some photographs he wanted to look at,
the bandage came undone and a little blood ran.

I did it up again, taking my time
over the binding; he wasn't in pain
and I liked looking at the blood.
It was a thing of my love, that blood.

When he left, I found, in front of his chair,
a bloody rag, part of the dressing,
a rag to be thrown straight into the garbage;
and I put it to my lips
and kept it there a long while—
the blood of love against my lips.

Love of Mine

So, thank you, love of mine
For being so tender and kind
Now all our dreams will come true
Because you love me and I love you

Mushroom, Barley & Swiss Chard Soup

Out of the L. A. Times Food Section, I found another winning soup recipe. Modified of course for my taste and time frame. I didn't make the from-scratch-mushroom-stock, I used Organics brand vegetable broth, enhanced with a variety of additional herbs.

Ingredients for 4 to 6 servings:
3 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup pearl barley
6 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup baby bella mushrooms, trimmed & sliced
1 tablespoon salt
1 bunch Swiss chard, trimmed and coarsely chopped
2 turnips, peeled and cut into half-inch cubes

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a tall 8 quart stockpot over medium-high heat. Add carrots and celery and saute until tender but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir in the barley and stock. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cover. Cook 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in medium nonstick skillet until hot. Add the mushrooms and saute until lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Add the salt, Swiss chard, turnips and sauteed mushrooms to the stockpot. Bring soup to a simmer, cover and cook 30 minutes.

Per serving:
139 calories
5 grams fat
0 grams cholesterol
534 mg. sodium
21 grams carbohydrates
3 grams protein

Spent time in and out of the kitchen for most of the day dicing and coarsely chopping vegetables for said soup, doing laundry, listening to music, talking to Mom, sitting outside in the sun, watering the garden, folding clothes, prepping for tax filing. All with a deliciously warm breeze blowing in.

I picked up a great cd "Women of Latin America" full of Spanish guitar and the lyrical sounds of this type of music. It's produced by Putumayo World Music and it has been my soundtrack for today. As the day winds down and the cats begin wondering back inside all dirty from rolling in the dirt (Bink), or wet from running through the sprinkler (Pumpkin), I notice the days are getting longer and the garden needs some tending. The birds are in the big tree outside the library window, tossing their discarded berries to the ground. Jiggy's the last one in, I hear my husband saying his name at the back door screen. Jiggy. Jiggy. When he strolls in he'll flop and roll on the kitchen floor.

Fearless After 40

That's the heading on MORE magazine's February 2006 issue. I sent in one of those introductory offer cards with a 2-years-for-the-price-of-1 option. It is, after all, celebrating my age group. From the Table of contents:

• On the Cover
• MORE Now
• MORE Style
• Work & Money
• People & Places
• Body & Mind
• Attitude

Except for the blazing BOTOX ads, I found a lot interesting in it's pages. A piece called "Making Peace with Food" hit home. By Lily Collett and Laura Fraser, it's about Lilly Collett and Laura Fraser's struggles with weight and finally finding solutions, though radically different from each other's, to their own eating issues.

(I've actually read Laura Fraser's book "An Italian Affair", described as both travelogue and memoir, and I loved it. I recognized her face from the article in MORE so I pulled the book from my shelf to confirm it was her.)Laura's story: "I Eat for Pleasure". Struggling with her weight throughout her childhood and into adulthood, Laura has "done it by completely abandoning all diets, scales and calculations about calories or carbohydrates in favor of internal control". She says "Sure I'd be 15 pound thinner if I forbade myself red wine and chocolate, but life is too short." Her eating habits are "the result of a long studied process of learning to feed myself in a way that nurtures my body and soul."

She used a book meant for parents to teach their kids how to eat - How to Get Your Kid to Eat...but Not Too Much - Create a healthy food environment and schedule regular meals, and within that framework make decisions.

"I no longer binge on handfuls of granola, hunks of cheese and Hostess Fruit Pies, there's no urgency to finish something now before I go on a diet - I'll have another opportunity for a piece of dark-chocolate tomorrow".

"It turns out that my sense of what I should eat has led me to a diet that is mainly composed of fresh fruit and vegetables, high-quality proteins, whole grains and olive oil - simple and delicious."

Lily's Story" "I eat by the rules". Also struggling with her weight throughout her childhood and into adulthood. At school kids "laughed at my funny clothes and my funny accent. Food was the nest I made, the place I hid."

"Like so many American women, adept at periodic self-deprivation as well, I lost the initiative ability to simply nourish this human body, giving it just enough - no more, no less." After the weight came off she'd "get a new boyfriend...and go back to eating whenever I was hungry, or bored, or anxious, or angry, or shy, or lonely, or at loose ends, or couldn't find the cap to the soy sauce."

"I don't trust my spontaneity and intuition. Even when I don't feel hungry, and even when I feel ravenous, I eat everything in those three weighed and measured meals....As I weigh and measure my food, I learn to weigh and measure my life...Because I no longer worry that I'll eat too much, I'm no longer afraid to savor what I do eat."

I see both of these women's stories in me, because I love to cook and know what I need to do, I can trust my instincts and nourish my body and soul with the meals I'm now preparing. I also know that I need structure in my life, so I use Fitday.com as a tool to help keep me on track, and I bought a kitchen scale to make sure I'm eating and recording my food accurately.

My tendency is to eat when I can't find the cap to the soy sauce. I recognize that. Now my therapy comes in the preparation, not from mindlessly eating that 5 slices of full-fat cheese. I will be most content if I'm healthy and normal and can indulge in chocolate and cheese in moderation.

Now it's time I go out and put in 15 minutes on the Glider, take a shower, and get ready to go on a date with my husband. I'm only up to 547 calories today, and I'm about to go burn off about 130 of those, so there's room for some luxury at dinner tonight. Yay!

A Half Pound Lost

Looking forward. To the weekend ahead, to time with my husband, to the joys of my animals, going out on Saturday night, having coffee and cooking in the kitchen. What a bunch of joys to come. Little joys to be sure. I feel that as long as I have joy in my life then I’m doing it right.

I’m not always happy; I’ve certainly known my share of trouble, heartache, loss, anger, frustration, disappointment, loneliness. But I know enough about myself now to know that I have choices. And if there is something in my life that's bringing me down, I’ll take action to change it. It may not always be in my control to make it happen as soon as I may want it to, but I’ll get there, and what I do to get me there is sometimes enough, because then I know there’s something better up ahead.

I’ve successfully achieved a certain amount of comfort in my life with the right balance of adventure. And I don’t take these comforts or adventures lightly. It has taken effort and sacrifice and hard work to get there sometimes. And sometimes they appear effortlessly by just letting things happen and trusting my instincts. It’s life after all. Good, bad, beautiful, ugly. The highs, the lows and all the good stuff in between.
I’m not sure what led me to this stream of thought tonight. Maybe it’s because of the changes I’ve made and that I’ve really been able to stay on track with this whole eating better and exercise routine. And I am NOT dieting. That word is a set up for failure, and this is not that. I am struggling, as I knew I would. It’s not easy. But I’ll continue in this direction, the right direction, and see what the scales tell me this week. It’s been nearly five weeks now and as of last Sunday I’ve lost 5 pounds, which is ok, and healthy, I know. But man, another 3 pound loss, or even 2 pound loss week would really be great.

We’ll see what happens Sunday when I hit the scale. And if it’s another ½ pound it’s a ½ pound lost.

A Toast, to The Ambassador

Thursday night Will and I hob nobbed at the H.M.S. Bounty and adjoining Gaylord lobby to raise a glass in honor of the glory days of the great Ambassador Hotel. I've worked across the street from the Ambassador for eight years and have watched its demolition from my 12th floor vantage point.

The red carpet was out and the press along side it. We arrived shortly after 7:00 pm, grabbed a couple of complimentary drinks, made our way to the Blogger's table and ate appetizer of stuffed mushrooms, coconut shrimp, and lobster cocktail on endive.

At the bar, not too put out by the whole to-do, sat the Bounty's old timers drinking and watching Jeopardy.

We met the dear Carlyn Frank Benjamin who was featured in the L.A. Times article about her life growing up at the Ambassador. She lived with her family on the second floor of the Rincon bungalow from when the hotel opened in 1921 through 1938. Her Father was the hotel manager and Grandfather the hotel company's V. P.

I also met another woman, Shirley Huntley, who's husband was the house photographer from the mid-60's through the 70's. There with her son, Bob Huntley, they had a display of photos from the day with the likes of Joey Bishop.

It was very nice to meet Mike Schneider from Franklin Avenue (I've been contributing photos of the demolition to his Ambassador site) along with many other bloggers. It's always so interesting to meet the folks who's blogs you read. Like finally meeting the person behind the voice on the phone.

At the end of the night, I checked in with Ramon, perched proudly at the end of the bar he used to tend, and congratulated him on a successful evening. He takes good care of his customers and he opened his place up to us tonight.

Must be Nut Season

A walk this morning from home to the Hollywood Farmer's Market for Kiwi and Mango turns up mostly greens and nuts.

We found one enchanting nut on the corner of Sunset Boulevard with a boombox and rudimentary wind-instrument doing a little jig. Today in a colorful Pirate ensemble. I've seen him before but this morning as we apprached from down the block I readied my camera to get a photo. He was quite obliging and as we continued on our way he carried on with his jig.

We walked at about a 3 mph pace which took us around 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to the Farmer's Market. Alas, once there I found not a Kiwi or Mango in sight so we loaded up on sweet little Tangerines, fresh Romaine and other greens. Then hopped the #2 bus home.

With my Kiwi and Mango crave unfulfilled I make a trip to the A-Grocery Warehouse and take care of business, and drop a couple of young coconuts in the basket for Will.

Will had a monster drop in weight for his Sunday morning weigh-in. Me, not so much. But a half pound is still a half pound less than I weighed last Sunday. I know I'm on the right track and I'll try not to let it get to me. It's always been a battle and I shouldn't think it'll be any less a battle now. I'm not making excuses, I just have to keep at it. And I know exercise is a big part of the weight loss equation, but after my normal 10-hour work day is done I'm done in.

So until I can find the right balance between work and working out, I'm restricted to the weekends, and glad that there are places to walk to all around me, and my Husband to share the days with.

A Pioneer's Spirit

My Grandma is a woman with a pioneer'’s spirit, as is my Mom who took to the road with her husband, Lorne after retiring early, selling the house and trading in the whole kit and caboodle for a motor home and wide open spaces. My Grandma up and sold her house in Northern California where the conifers grow dense and tall, and moved to Northern Montana, up near Glacier National Park to the small town of Troy, where my Uncle lives close by.

Last week I received a parcel posted from Troy MT containing a wildlife photo book and a card from Grandma. Turns out the photographer is her neighbor there in Troy. Don, with his wife Tess, own the property next door. The beautiful book she sent me is also autographed, a wonderful touch. I hope to say hey to the Jones' when we visit my Grandma and Uncle in July.

Along with my Grandma's adventurous nature she has a very engaging way about her. She shines and sparkles and cries joyfully. Leaving me a message on the answering machine when I married Will, she was laughing /crying as she spoke, letting me know she was thinking of me. I called her back and she said to me that she remembered the day she married Grandpa. My Grandpa is gone now. He rests along the shady path on the bank of the great Sacramento River where he loved to fish. Will and I went back there during our Thanksgiving trip in 2004 to tackle the Castle Craggs. We lost the daylight before reaching the summit, but I got to say a silent hello to Grandpa as we passed the river on our way to the Brown Trout Cafe.

I look forward to the trip to Montana in the summer. To hitting the road and seeing what there is beyond my borders. I don'’t know what we'’ll see, but I know it'’ll be great. I know I'’ll not have seen nearly enough of what there is to see. But there will be future travels beyond our borders. Thankfully that pioneer spirit lies in me. And something along the way is bound to make my cry joyfully.

A Trip to A-Grocery Warehouse

The morning started slow with the sun finding its way into the bedroom and the animals finding their way onto the bed. Cats are hissing and growling, well, not cats, just one cat. Bink. He sleeps in the bed with us, his cat head resting on the pillow. Motor going. Still isn't quite used to the other cats' need to get in his space. And the bed is his territory. His safe place. On it or under it. It's his.

Once up my husband and I talk over coffee about the plans for the day. We want to get a good walk in. I need to get to a book store (and I have a 15% off coupon for Border's). I'd like to go to A-Grocery Warehouse in Echo Park for some Snow Peas.

We decide to cover two-in-one and walk to the A-Grocery Warehouse. It's a good 2.5 mile loop. The winds are calm and the sun is warm. We come upon a man loaded down with balloons and cotton candy making his way on to Sunset from a side street about a mile from Echo Park, his destination.

As he turns off the boulevard we continue on to our destination, A-Grocery Warehouse. The last time I was there it was to find the Galangal root that is essential to making Tom Ka Gai soup, a Thai coconut milk and chicken soup.

Today my desire was less exotic, Snow Peas. I've had a yen for them lately and wanted to stock up for the week. After wandering up and down the narrow isles for a bit, squeezing in between carts and people that just stay put when you say "excuse me", we then wound our way out to the produce section by way of the fish counter.

Will also picked up a nice young coconut that, when home and trying to penetrate its thick husk, he ended up resorting to power tools, drilling a straw sized hole into its top to get to the juice, then using a hammer and chisel to crack it open for the tender meat inside (they made it look so easy on the beach in Zanzibar, slicing the top off with a machete).

We did make it to borders and bagged us some books. Also stopped in at Bed, Bath and Beyond where I picked up a nifty new chef's knife, a skillet and a kitchen scale.
On that note, we have both been doing very well with our resolve to control our weight and lose some weight, and have both lost 4 pounds each. Yay!

Some Trick of Time and Memory

I'm deep into A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve. Although my husband read Shreve's Sea Glass, which he thoroughly hated, I am drawn to her writing and the fact that she weaves historical events into her work, either writing in the period or floating between the past and present.

Where as Sea Glass begins on the cusp of the Great Depression, A Wedding in December takes place in the present, and through one character's musings chronicles the events of another December morning in Halifax, Nova Scotia, when the WWI French munitions ship, Mont Blanc, collides with the Norwegian vessel, Imo. The result is the largest man made explosion in history, that is until the atomic bomb.

This story within the story is as richly populated with engaging characters as the main story. They take place in the same month, and when snow begins to fall in one, so it does in the other. So beautifully written and told. Ahh, I love a good book.

"Very weird." Harrison said. "There's some trick of time and memory at work here that I haven't quite figured out yet."

Tree Ferries and Lemonade Elfs

Last week it rained buckets and the wind kicked up so we had to forgo our planned hike. Today we made up for it. But first Will scoured the block for abandoned Christmas trees as inevitably the less aware individuals on the planet think the tree ferrie must come along and magically their discarded trees disappear from our city's sidewalks. So he loaded up the truck with our tree, and 4 more collected from the street, and off we went to the Zoo parking lot to have them turned into mulch.Then it was off to Fern Dell for our hike up to the Observatory (which we also did last year at about this same time). A beautiful clear blue day, the sun warm on my skin and the scent of pine on the breeze, and my baby at my side. Fern Dell starts out sweet enough but as you come out of the meandering path along the stream and up onto the hillside it becomes a fairly quick but steep 500’ elevation gain. All told about a 2.5 miler (according to the Garmin Forerunner thingy that my husband has which reveals such things).At the end of our hike we took a drive up the road to see that the renovation is still underway and we can’t get anywhere near the observatory as of yet. We talked of coming back and doing the popular Mount Hollywood trail in the early early morning, catching the sunrise (and beating the crowds).Back at the bottom of the hill we made a stop at the Trail Café where we had fresh made lemonade, made by this adorably elf-ish young man, and a very tasty hummus wrap with feta, calamata olives and cucumber. And, although tasty, for as petite as the wraps were I think the $6 price tag was a little too much. But that won’t keep me from coming back the next time and giving one of their pies a try.

On the Road to the Goal

Today is the first day of my resolve to gain control of my weight, beginning with food choices and portion size. For example, instead of a toasted bagel and cream cheese or an english muffin and butter for my morning snack at work, I had a small apple and some craisins.

Then, while doing some work online, I come across a site called fitday.com that upon investigation looked like it would be a good tool to assist me in my endeavor. Plus, signing up for a web account is free. So once home from work I set about the set up of my account, including age, height, and weight (agh!). Then I entered my goal and the timeframe in which I want to reach my goal. So far it is all very doable. Based on the figures that I entered I need to lose about 1.17 pounds a week to reach my goal by 07/01/06.

I know I'll never be the shape I was in my 20's,
but I still have some curves, and besides that's not really the goal. The goal is to be healthy, and comfortable in my body. To get my body moving, which it longs to do, if my mind could only remember how good it feels when it does.