The News From Here

July is old news and August is arriving.  With clouds and 30% chance of rain.  This summer has been quite odd.  Global Warming?  Who knows.  50's and 60's over night but that's the good news (good sleeping) but the days???? Endless humidity.  Sticky clothing.  Mosquitos.  And more mosquitos.

I tend to be tethered to the potting bench in the greenhouse (110 degrees) or out in the perennial yard in the sun, heat, bees and mosquitos.  My clothing is usually quite damp and I am often covered in a fine layer of dirt.  The work freezer, on good days, has popsicle sticks.  On VERY good days, the mango ones.

My X-rays showed nothing.  My record for having "nothing wrong with me" even though things hurt continues.  I have given up.  Still planning to see the foot doctor (first visit was cancelled by the doctor) eventually.  Perhaps Thursday.

The 1200/1500 calorie diet continues.  If my scale is accurate I have now lost six pounds.  Some days I eat less and some days more.  My thoughts on the process, this time around, is that the days will average themselves out.  My doctor was kind enough to say 1200/1500 the last time I visited her.  If any of you, reading this, have done this sort of diet, you know that eating 1200 a day is very difficult. Salads mostly.  Add any meats and you are way over.

I did find a nice fat free organic plain Greek yogurt at the grocery.  120 calories for a full cup.  And it is thick, smooth and good tasting.  A nice change from the plain full fat Cabot I have been eating (340c) for more than a year.  My no carb lifestyle haunts me.  In order to stay under 1200, I have been skipping lunch on days I start work at 7:30.  I do eat lunch on the days I work until 6 pm.  Usually yogurt and fruit.  But in the "old days" it was always a very big green salad with some sort of protein.

This morning I sliced two gallon sized bags of yellow squash and one very large zucchini.  The yellow will be fried down to a mahogany mess and eaten with white rice and a side of chicken.  The zucchini will be made into a Mark Bittman frittata.  Lots of veg and 2 eggs which I enjoy eating cold.

The garden is producing a great deal of squash right now.  I picked and ate three Early Girl tomatoes yesterday and they were wonderful.  My pole beans are 8 inches tall.  I need to pull my yellow onions out and dry them.  My chard seeds have sprouted and the plants are 3 inches tall.  I have a total of 5 turnips and need to think of a way to eat them.  My cabbages are "heading" up.  The kale looks good.
Lots of big fat green peppers on the plants but I like waiting until they turn red.  Jalapeños are getting fat.  Carrots (yes!!! I have successfully grown carrots this year) are looking great.

We were gifted expired seed packets at work and I selected okra to try to grow next summer.  I also got onion seeds to start over the winter in addition to the usual seeds I plant each year.

The days at work are long, hot and quite boring.  Things will pick up as the fall mums arrive and before we know it--it will be Christmas.  That's just the way it goes.  Seems to take FOREVER for summer to get here and then, whoosh! it's all over.

The (even as small as 6 pounds) weight loss, has allowed me to dip into the storage boxes of smaller sized 20 cent pants.  And, it means the pants I was wearing already are now looser.  So, happy days here in the wardrobe department.  I think a 10 pound loss translates to one size but I could be mistaken.  Anyone out there know?

I promise no more diet talk in the coming three months.  It's boring and no one really cares.  Not even me.