It was a bit chilly stepping into the sea today and I thought briefly about a paddle instead but womaned up and slid into the water. The temperature had dropped during the night and a cooler and frantic wind had been blowing all day from inland out over the sea. It probably has a name - all winds in Provence have names but I only know the sirocco and the mistral and it wasn't either of those as there was no desert sand and no heat.
The post-swim 'sit and dry off and scribble in my notebook' spell was punctuated by me telling a woman that dogs weren't allowed on the beach. It takes me some courage and effort to complain in a foreign language and I don't like being an enjoyment-squasher but a big bouncy black lab and soft sand and little kids playing on it don't work together. And there's a panneau on the promenade that distinctly has a picture of a wolfy thing with a red line across it.
I watch a little boy leaving the beach with his parents. He stops to fill up his Crocs with sand.
Monday 18 July 2011
Hello!
I'm a late joiner. I'm going to be doing 30 days of creative writing -- an hour a day writing a play. That's quite a hectic schedule but perhaps it will kickstart me. I'll post an excerpt when I can.
David
David
Going crackers.
Hello!
I thought I'd better check-in before a week passed between bread-free posts.
This week is starting with a slight re-think. My original idea had been to ditch the bread AND sugar from my life for 30 days. Once I'd allowed myself to be slightly less ambitious and bring sugar back in (for reasons previously explained), I spiralled into a carb-meltdown as I found solace in a pantry of bread-substitutes: pastry, cakes, crackers, crumbles, biscuits. The list could (and does) go on...
Added to this, my very own Friday failure at the curry house, when I conveniently forgot that Naan happens to be bread whilst ordering my usual*.
So. This week I'm going to be cutting back on the carbs (the bread ban remains) and making a conscious effort to include at least one or two of my 5-a-day in each meal. (Not to get too graphic but there was a point, last week, where I thought I might be needing to pop to France and join in one of Lynne's stormy swims to get my dose of fibre for the day).
Now, to catch up with everyone else's experiences so far...
*in that I have no imagination in Indian restaurants, not that I am a frequent visitor. Well, not that frequent anyway.
I thought I'd better check-in before a week passed between bread-free posts.
This week is starting with a slight re-think. My original idea had been to ditch the bread AND sugar from my life for 30 days. Once I'd allowed myself to be slightly less ambitious and bring sugar back in (for reasons previously explained), I spiralled into a carb-meltdown as I found solace in a pantry of bread-substitutes: pastry, cakes, crackers, crumbles, biscuits. The list could (and does) go on...
Added to this, my very own Friday failure at the curry house, when I conveniently forgot that Naan happens to be bread whilst ordering my usual*.
So. This week I'm going to be cutting back on the carbs (the bread ban remains) and making a conscious effort to include at least one or two of my 5-a-day in each meal. (Not to get too graphic but there was a point, last week, where I thought I might be needing to pop to France and join in one of Lynne's stormy swims to get my dose of fibre for the day).
Now, to catch up with everyone else's experiences so far...
*in that I have no imagination in Indian restaurants, not that I am a frequent visitor. Well, not that frequent anyway.
Mother
She has been sitting on these branches for weeks, protecting her really cute little babies (who are born now). Every morning, I'd have breakfast and we'd stare at each other for 10 minutes. This is 'mother'.This one is for forgotten Sunday. Today's photo will be with you shortly.
Where did my inspiration go?
I've lost my drive for this project. Quick! Someone inspire me! I did get 30 minutes of photo work done yesterday on a gift for one of my Cub Scouts who is leaving, so that is good, I guess, but it wasn't really organizing, and overall my photos are no more organized than they were the day before.
That leaves me with today, when I've really enjoyed spending time with my family instead, and now I need to make lunches and get organized for tomorrow. I might be able to make it happen tonight, but right now... I'm not so enthusiastic. I think I made my typical mistake of overdoing it on the first few days. *sigh*
Edit: OK, I managed to get my 30 minutes in. I finished captioning and tagging April, 2011 (including my 40th birthday party). Here's a picture of me at the party in my prom dress (don't blame me... I went to prom in the 80's). The party was an 80's party... and what better to wear than my authentic 80's prom dress? I switched to a Madonna outfit later on, though; I could barely breathe in the prom dress.
That leaves me with today, when I've really enjoyed spending time with my family instead, and now I need to make lunches and get organized for tomorrow. I might be able to make it happen tonight, but right now... I'm not so enthusiastic. I think I made my typical mistake of overdoing it on the first few days. *sigh*
Edit: OK, I managed to get my 30 minutes in. I finished captioning and tagging April, 2011 (including my 40th birthday party). Here's a picture of me at the party in my prom dress (don't blame me... I went to prom in the 80's). The party was an 80's party... and what better to wear than my authentic 80's prom dress? I switched to a Madonna outfit later on, though; I could barely breathe in the prom dress.
One Down, Plus A Quandary
finished "Room" early this morning over breakfast coffee. the Sunday paper had to wait. this afternoon, i started on my next book, "Winter's Bone". progress (on the reading challenge, anyway).
the quandary in the subject line refers to a discussion a friend and i had about what constitutes "read an actual book for 30 minutes a day". should that be 30 minutes straight through or can it be 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there. it came up because, on saturday, i was interrupted by a phone call 10 minutes into my read. i finished up with 20 minutes later. i'm thinking that it counts. the real crux of the challenge here is more along the lines of reading something of substance...i.e., an actual book...versus attaining a zen reading mode for 30 minutes. i got the impression she disagreed. hmmm...
have been doing okay on the organize and purge challenge as well. okay, okay, some of my 'organizing' is actually moving piles of stuff into more centralized and controllable piles, without actually organizing. but that gives me space to do more organizing, so i'm counting it.
the big problem has been the sleep thing. i'm trying to get a full 7 hours of sleep a night, with the add on that, on 'school nights' (sunday-thursday before work days), i get in bed by 11pm. i've been doing okay (with a few misses of 10 minutes or so) with the 11pm bedtime, but finding it hard to stay asleep for 7 hours. it's like my body has gotten used to 5-6 hour nights. but, again, think that's part of the challenge.
and, no, i decided not to pick the Mr. Roger's book referred to in my last post. it just got too technical and confusing, so had to set it aside. oh well...
the quandary in the subject line refers to a discussion a friend and i had about what constitutes "read an actual book for 30 minutes a day". should that be 30 minutes straight through or can it be 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there. it came up because, on saturday, i was interrupted by a phone call 10 minutes into my read. i finished up with 20 minutes later. i'm thinking that it counts. the real crux of the challenge here is more along the lines of reading something of substance...i.e., an actual book...versus attaining a zen reading mode for 30 minutes. i got the impression she disagreed. hmmm...
have been doing okay on the organize and purge challenge as well. okay, okay, some of my 'organizing' is actually moving piles of stuff into more centralized and controllable piles, without actually organizing. but that gives me space to do more organizing, so i'm counting it.
the big problem has been the sleep thing. i'm trying to get a full 7 hours of sleep a night, with the add on that, on 'school nights' (sunday-thursday before work days), i get in bed by 11pm. i've been doing okay (with a few misses of 10 minutes or so) with the 11pm bedtime, but finding it hard to stay asleep for 7 hours. it's like my body has gotten used to 5-6 hour nights. but, again, think that's part of the challenge.
and, no, i decided not to pick the Mr. Roger's book referred to in my last post. it just got too technical and confusing, so had to set it aside. oh well...
Diez cosas sobre mi fin de semana
Aquí está un viejo truco de blogging. Cuando tú no sabés cual quieres escribir, te haces una lista.
Diez cosas sobre de mi fin de semana. Uno de ellos no es cierto. ¿Puedes adivinar cual es la mentira?
1. Tuve un fin de semana fantástico. No creo que Rebekah Brooks puedo decir el mismo.
2. Anoche, fui a un club en mi barrio al que nunca había estado. Yo había oído mucho sobre él, y no fue lo que me esperaba en absoluto. Voy a ir allí de nuevo.
3. Una tarde de lluvia es para dormir, y me aproveché de eso. Tomé el mejor siesta hoy.
4. Hice dos nuevos vídeos en iMovie, y estoy muy contento con mi trabajo.
5. Fui a Casita dos veces esta fin de semana, para tequila con verdidas. Ambos veces, no tomé ninguna de tequila. ;-(. Anoche, estaba cerrado para una fiesta privada. Esta noche, llegabamos diez minutos tan tarde y, otra vez, lo estaba cerrado. Grrr.
6. Yo sé la receta por verditas, pero ¿quíen quiere hacerlo en casa cuando és más facíl (y más divertido) para beber al bar?
7. Salí corriendo (fuera, trés millas) hoy por primera vez en mucho tiempo. Yo era un poco rápido de lo que pensé sería, y me sentí bien al no estar en la caminadora.
8. A pesar de mi quejándose de todo mi trabajo la otra día, tengo un montón hecho este fin de semana y se sienten bien al respecto.
9. Una de mis estudiantes favoritos ha vuelto a Londres y me gusta mucho que voy a pasar las las siguientes cuatro semanas con ella.
10. Dicho esto, me voy a echar de menos el tipo brasileño que he estado enseñando. Él es increíble. Me siento muy afortunado - yo siempre (bueno, casi siempre) tener el mejor estudiantes 1-2-1.
Creo que voy a acostarse antes de 2am esta noche. Esto es un milagro, en verdad.
Y, hablando del verdad, ¿cual de lo anterior no es la verdad?
Diez cosas sobre de mi fin de semana. Uno de ellos no es cierto. ¿Puedes adivinar cual es la mentira?
1. Tuve un fin de semana fantástico. No creo que Rebekah Brooks puedo decir el mismo.
2. Anoche, fui a un club en mi barrio al que nunca había estado. Yo había oído mucho sobre él, y no fue lo que me esperaba en absoluto. Voy a ir allí de nuevo.
3. Una tarde de lluvia es para dormir, y me aproveché de eso. Tomé el mejor siesta hoy.
4. Hice dos nuevos vídeos en iMovie, y estoy muy contento con mi trabajo.
5. Fui a Casita dos veces esta fin de semana, para tequila con verdidas. Ambos veces, no tomé ninguna de tequila. ;-(. Anoche, estaba cerrado para una fiesta privada. Esta noche, llegabamos diez minutos tan tarde y, otra vez, lo estaba cerrado. Grrr.
6. Yo sé la receta por verditas, pero ¿quíen quiere hacerlo en casa cuando és más facíl (y más divertido) para beber al bar?
7. Salí corriendo (fuera, trés millas) hoy por primera vez en mucho tiempo. Yo era un poco rápido de lo que pensé sería, y me sentí bien al no estar en la caminadora.
8. A pesar de mi quejándose de todo mi trabajo la otra día, tengo un montón hecho este fin de semana y se sienten bien al respecto.
9. Una de mis estudiantes favoritos ha vuelto a Londres y me gusta mucho que voy a pasar las las siguientes cuatro semanas con ella.
10. Dicho esto, me voy a echar de menos el tipo brasileño que he estado enseñando. Él es increíble. Me siento muy afortunado - yo siempre (bueno, casi siempre) tener el mejor estudiantes 1-2-1.
Creo que voy a acostarse antes de 2am esta noche. Esto es un milagro, en verdad.
Y, hablando del verdad, ¿cual de lo anterior no es la verdad?
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