Can someone tell me how it got to be the end of October already? Halloween has snuck up on me like one of its goblins in the night. I still have my summer bird houses sitting on the front porch. October is always a hectic month. It’s the month to get everything done before snow flies. I remember building our barn in October many years ago. We had all summer, but being procrastinators, it didn’t get done until the leaves had fallen and winter threatened to freeze the ground solid. No barns this year. Just dentist appointments, eye doctor appointments, skin doctor appointments (my freckles are all just freckles this year…YAY). Make sure the body is functioning sufficiently well to make it through another winter. A few appointments didn’t fit in October, so early November has turned into an overflow. But I hope to have a fairly clear appointment book for the bulk of next month. I don’t much like cold weather. I shall miss my outdoor walks. I’m saving my pennies to buy a treadmill so I don...

As I have mentioned in a few previous posts, I’ve been walking in an effort to lose some weight and get back in shape. I’m happy to announce that I have reached my goal weight. Total pounds lost: 16. That’s since late March. Not too shabby. Of course, the problem now becomes KEEPING them off. I’m no longer in the strict phase of the Best Life Diet. Now I’m onto maintenance. I’m pretty sure the key to it (besides staying away from large bags of Lindor Truffles) is walking. My spring walks on the farm soon came to a halt when I started picking quantities of ticks from my scalp. I switched to walking on the bike trails around the area. But I found this to be…well…BORING. Walk out fifteen minutes, walk back fifteen minutes. My solution? Variety. I still walk the Montour Trail some days. But I’ve found some portions of the trail to be more aesthetically pleasing than others. And I’ve discovered other places to walk. So I’m starting a series of posts here about my favorite (and less-than-fav...

I must say, I really enjoyed my day at the Bridgewater Bookfest even if a good part of my time was spent chasing flyers and business cards that blew away. We had some rather breezy conditions, but nothing with enough oomph to rearrange the tents. And it was the last weekend of the Three Rivers Arts Festival during which we are notorious for some wicked weather. My table was set up next to a food booth selling hot dogs and Haluski. Have I mentioned my diet ? I’m in the midst of Phase Two. The really strict phase. The phase where all food (especially the greasy, nasty stuff) smells fantastic. But I behaved myself and brought my own lunch, which I actually ate. I handed out a lot of brochures and flyers and business cards. Those that didn’t blow away, at least. I talked about Pennwriters and the 2009 conference. I hope a few of the people I spoke with will follow-up and join. For several hours of the day I had company at my booth. New Pennwriters member Lisa Spahr came to assist me and to...

In one day’s time, we have slipped out of my favorite time of year to my less-than-favorite time of year. I love spring. I love the freshness of reborn trees, the smell of locus blooms floating on a warm breeze. I love taking walks, riding Admiral or my bike. In the spring. Yesterday, the western Pennsylvania summer sauna arrived. We put in the window air conditioners. The sounds of birdsong drifting through the screen has been replaced with the mechanical rumble of AC. I can’t breathe the air because I didn’t come with factory equipped gills. I’ve lost a total of 14 pounds since my rude encounter with the scales early this spring. But when the soggy, sultry heat of summer hits, I tend to want to do nothing. Or less than nothing if possible. I need to get some cardio in today, but I know it will be torture. Okay, my whining spree is over. I finished (FINALLY) chapter three of my current WIP this week. It’s been like pulling teeth, getting these opening three chapters complete. But I’m...

I’ve been sitting here trying to decide what to write about today. There’s been a little of this going on and a little of that. Enough to keep me hopping, but no one thing really jumps out as a blog topic. So I thought I’d give you a sampling of everything. I met with my critique group yesterday and they gave the thumbs-up to my re-write of Chapter One. So except for a few minor fixes, I can focus on tinkering with Chapter Two now. My goal, by the way, is to have the first three chapters done before we leave for Williamsburg. Mom is doing well. We go back to the surgeon for another post-op check on Tuesday and he will likely once again give her the go-ahead to use her cane. I confess to being a little gun shy about this. Last time he OK’d her using the cane, one week later, she dislocated again. Of course, things are different this time. Or at least I keep telling myself that. My recovery from gum graft surgery went much easier this time around. I was feeling better after a week instea...

I stepped on the scale yesterday for the first time in quite a while. The number that stared up at me was a number I had never seen on my scale before. I knew it was going to be bad, but I never expected THAT. If you think I’m going to fess up to what that number was, you have a stranger sense of humor than I do. I blame part of it on the fact that I’m trying to put some meat on my mom’s bony frame, but it’s me that’s gaining the weight. The other part of the problem is that I’ve been eating too much and exercising too little. Big surprise. I do have an easy (albeit painful) solution to some of the excess poundage. I am scheduled for yet another gum graft surgery in a couple of weeks. As a result, I will be on an involuntary fast for a week or two. I think I dropped seven pounds in two weeks last year during the recovery. If there is anything good about gum graft surgery, it’s that it does double as an effective weight-loss program. However, seven pounds isn’t going to put me in the pl...