Food Blogging

Shedding Light on the Scourge of Dieting...

Methuselah ate what he found on his plate,
And never, as people do now,
Did he note the amount of the calorie count.
He ate it because it was chow.
He wasn’t disturbed as at dinner he sat,
Devouring a roast or a pie,
To think it was lacking in granular fat
Or a couple of vitamins shy.

He cheerfully chewed each species of food,
Unmindful of troubles or fears
Lest his health might be hurt by some fancy dessert,
And he lived over 900 years.

I like food. And food likes me. Unfortunately, over the years, I failed to account for my changing lifestyle, my aging metabolism, etc., and food liked me so much that more and more of it seemed to stick around on my body until my 42" chest became 48" (sometimes more) and my 34" waist became 42".. or more, and 235# stared me in the face whenever I dared torture the bathroom scales.

A couple of years ago, that changed. Someone introduced me to the idea of adding a particular 150 calorie food bar and a mild one-mile walk to my day, and the result has been a blessing. Now:

From clinically obese on a BMI (Body Mass Index) to normal. (All it took was 50# staying off.)
42" chest
36" waist
Baggy Pants Posterior Syndrome™
NO PAIN IN MY KNEES!!!

I still love food (last night was Green Chicken Casserole and "Mexican" beans, leaf lettuce salad, ice cream—not "diet frozen dessert"—and a few "gummis" for an additional sweet kick). But now, food is nicer to me.

Diets are for fat people. Since I didn't want to stay fat, it's kinda good I didn't diet, eh?

Lose the diet. Gain health.

Just walk outside

Is it an early Spring or is it me?

If this is Global Warming™, then thank God for it. Last summer seemed particularly mild. This winter, the mildest I have seen around here in all the years we've lived in America's Third World County. I happen to like cold weather (on can always layer on more clothing; a certain minumum is required in hot weather... *heh*), but my wife, primarily because of PPS, cannot handle extremes of heat and cold, so the weather of the last year has been really helpful there.

Benefits?

Look at those crocuses peeking out early!

Trees are budding! (OK, that means allergens, but there are non-drug ways to handle that!)

Almost shirtsleeve weather pretty much from mid-January on (apart from a little early light frost before sunrise).

Dogs eating less!! (They are outside dogs and need more food in cold weather; I'm a tightwad. Therefore, less eating, less dogfood purchases, happy tightwad. *heh*)

Winter birds joined by other, more "Spring" birds picking birdfood off the deck rail (giving joy to me, the dogs, and the cats watching through the french doors).

Did I mention trees budding? The hils behind our house are turning green again—in February!

Sure, there's the possibility of a late freeze and some snow as late as March, but it's seeming more and more like this Winter is going down as one of the most (climactically) pleasant in memory.

What's the downside of Global Warming™? Well, the doom and gloom crowd (who only a few years ago were predicting a new ice age) would have us believe that mass starvation and economic depression, etc., are the most likely outcomes. Pull the other one. During the last global warming period, Vikings were farming Greenland. Right. That land of ice and snow was a net exporter of farming goods a thoudand years ago. The warming of that time produced such bumper crops in northern Europe that population boomed in response (and yes, rat population boomed as well and so did the bubonic plague—things we know how to deal with, now).

So, regardless of the doom and gloom crowd, I say if this is global warming, bring it on!

"Oh, what a beautiful mornin',
Oh, what a beautiful day.
I got a beautiful feelin'
Ev'rything's goin' my way..."

Don't miss it this year...

Dydd Gwyl Ddewi (St David's Day), in honor of the other Celtic saint

For the life of me, I can't understand why Patrick is so honored (though mostly in the breech, as it were) and David so seemingly forgotten—at least outside of Wales. Ah, maybe that's it: the Irish, so unsuccessful in their own land, have huge swarms of folk in this, the most media-stricken land on the globe, and so Patrick just gets too much press.

"...Saint David, or Dewi Sant, as he is known in the Welsh language, is the patron saint of Wales. He was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop, who lived in the sixth century. During his life, he was the archbishop of Wales, and he was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain."from Saint David and Saint David's Day

If I can find it, I'll also post a short hymn I wrote considering the likes of Sts David and Patrick, tune name: DEWI SANT.

So grab yourself a leek or a daffodil to wear and be ready.

Saint David's Day is March 1.

Hugs

God's way of telling you He's there

Well, hugs aren't the only way, of course. And "hugs" don't always mean someone wrapping their arms around you... physically. (Hang on; I know where I'm going with this. Really. *s*)

Remember Psalm 27:10? "Even though your parents forsake you, the Lord will recieve you."

Every friend fails us sometime. Aquaintances and associates—sometimes representing themselves as friends—stab us in the back with malicious gossip and outright slander all the time (you think not? Just wait). Even spouses betray each other and parents and children have fallings out. And at last, those most likely to stand by us "to the bitter end" die and "forsake" us. My wife's parents "left" her more than a decade ago (12yrs/16yrs). Mine are on that cusp of leaving.

Relationships fail.

Except.

"I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5)

Now, that's a hug.

Good News for Frustrated, Burned-Out Übermoms (and dads, too)

Kick back; chill out

This is just a little freaky. In the car with Mrs. Wonderful (she's my claim to the Mr. Wonderful title: I took her title on an honorary basis) yesterday, I channeled James Lileks and Muffy Mead-Ferro. *huh?!?* Yep. Got all soap-boxy on over-scheduled, super-pampered kids and the parents who bring them up to be spoiled brats who think the world and everyone in it owe them happiness.

So, how is this a bright spot? See Lileks' Bleat post, yesterday. (Go ahead, run his bandwidth usage up. *heh*) As a mostly work-from-home dad, Lileks makes some cogent observations, including this one:

"... I live in a world of moms, and their sense of ingenuity and amusement are a constant source of delight. I remember asking one mom how she dealt with all the tiny plastic pieces of Polly Pocket clothing that clutter the play room.

She rolled her eyes and grinned and made a back-and-forth motion with her hand. Hoover them up and move along."

Chill. The perfect is the enemy of the good (or as Lileks put it, "... the perfect is the enemy of the fun.").

And Muffy Mead-Ferro? Here's one Muffy with her head on straight. Author of "Confessions of a Slacker Mom," Muffy has her priporities in order:

“A lot of woman call it selfish unless you’re constantly putting your kids’ needs first. But I think that’s just bogus.”

Relax: kids are healthier if their every whim is NOT catered to, if their life is NOT filled with constant mini-vanning from one special activity after another. C'mon, now. How many of us grew up playing in the back yard after school? Cub Scouts or Brownies (back in the days when those organizations weren't overwhelmed by the ACLU and NOW and were just fun afternoon activities once a week in a neighbor's back yard or house) were OK. Maybe children's choirs at church. Some kids played in community-sponsored or church-sponsored sports or did things ocassionally at a pre-ACLU YMCA.

But all those things were preipheral, way back in the bad old days. More common were things like playing "500" out in the neighborhood street or making (not buying) and flying kites, right in one's own neighborhood. Doing chores around the house and yard. Homework often done before dinner and a relaxing evening.

Chill out. Take it easy. Let kids just be kids, explore their world as kids, have fun (or not) as they use their own creativity and resoueces. help out, but back off and enjoy along with them. Ferrying kids from one frenetic activity to the next isn't a life: it's just another job.

Chill out.

You'll smile, too

Hey! Homer: lookin' fine!

Check out Manolo, "The Shoe Blogger" —he's really much more...

If you don't smile, I'll eat my shoes. (No, not really. That'd be sick. :-)

"Don't Blink"—A Meditation on Psalm 27:10

Just what you need, today and every day

Over at "A Likely Story" you'll find this reassuring thought.

"Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up." Ps 27:10

"Don't Blink"

Just go read it.

One candle...

...passing light to another candle, passing light...

On the heels of the triumph of Iraqi voters last Sunday, I came across this "old news" from late January:

Afganistan Deploys Relief Mission to Indonesia

Say again? Yep, that's right. Afganistan. Imagine with me that the Taliban were still in power and sent a relief mission. Can't do it? Neither can I, and it's easy to see why. Such an act by the Taliban would strain credulity to the point of rupturing the very fabric of the universe... But a free and democratic Afganistan? Well, they learned their responsibilities from the most generous of models.

Afganistan Deploys Relief Mission to Indonesia

Let that roll around in your mind for a while. Seems the light from that "city set on a hill" President Bush referred to once is setting a few more candles alight.