I’m Thankful for Laughter
I’m Thankful for Family
For the Beautiful world we live in, I give Thanks
For Friends and Fun, Thank you
I’m Thankful that I’m not a turkey
https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/efacademyblog/top-10-thanksgiving-traditions-in-the-us/
It doesn’t feel like Christmas this year. The parties and holiday spirit just doesn’t seem to be here. I think it’s because we’ve spend almost a full year locked down. I didn’t even send Christmas cards this year. Oh I made them up and put them together ready to send but then I never got around to addressing them and putting them in the mail. Do I send them late, an after Christmas wish or save them for next year? In case I decide to save them, here’s my Christmas wishes to all.
Busch Gardens – Santa
I’m happy to be saying good bye to 2020. It wasn’t bad enough that we’ve spent most of the year in quarantine but we lost my beloved sister -in -law, Robin.
And I lost another piece of my heart when my furry feline companion of 19 years crossed the rainbow bridge in March.
Rocky’s spirit lives on in his namesake, Balboa. Rocky was named after Rocky Balboa from the Rocky movies. When I adopted Balboa I decided to keep his name. It just seemed to be the right thing to do.
So now I have Banner and Balboa to brighten up my days.
Banner & Balboa 2020
So with two kittens (Banner 6 months & Balboa 4 months) in the house I decided to skip the Christmas tree this year. Then I found a cat tree that looks like a plant, maybe not a pine tree but at least a tree. The tree is a hit. Both cats tear around and through it.
I wanted to have a picture of before and after. A picture of the cat tree and then a picture of it decorated as a Christmas tree. I figured if I used plastic ornaments the cats could play and not hurt anything. Wrong! I never got the lights on before Banner got them in his mouth and snapped the wire right in half.
So we have the tree but no decorations… this year. Just wait you guys, 2021 will be a different year!
All or nothing, Feast or Famine, that’s the best way, the only way to describe my life. It’s crazy really. I go years, years , I say, without a chance in ____(well you know) of ever meeting any of my idols and then BAM! 3 at once. How am I supposed to swing that?
Remember that post a couple of weeks ago when I told you to pick 5 people -living or dead- that you would like to spend an evening with? I shared my top 5 choices choices at that time.
I met Dr. Skomal on Thursday September 26 at his appearance on Cape Cod. I figured that was it for the year. I mean really are personal appearances in the area for any of these gentlemen common? I think not but I was in for a surprise.
I was still walking on air from seeing Dr. Skomel when I heard that Neil Degrasse -Tyson was making an appearance in Medford MA on Monday Oct, 21. He’ll be speaking at the Chevalier Theater. I checked his tour schedule and that’s the only Massachusetts stop in his whole tour! So now I have a decision to make. I have a vacation on the books and will be spending money for that. Who knows when or if he’ll be back in the area! Do I spring for a ticket? Decisions, decisions!
Josh Gates is a Massachusetts native son but does he do appearances here? Nope , never so what were the odds that he’d have his first ever Massachusetts appearance on Sunday October 20? That’s the day before the Neil Degrasse- Tyson appearance! That’s also the last day of my vacation. My plan is to be on a plane coming back to Massachusetts. How am I supposed to be in 2 places at once? Like I said, feast or famine. Now I just need to find out that Seth Shostak and Dr Kaku have appearances too to really push me over the top!
Everybody has been really quiet lately but I’m sure you have ideas about this dilemma. Faced with a chance to see appearances by any of your top 5 what would you do? Would you spend the money for the tickets even though its one right after the other or would you cross your fingers and hope they’ll come back to Massachusetts again in your lifetime? Please share your thoughts.
One of the hardest things about trying to lose weight is the daily weigh in. Did I or didn’t I lose. If the scale goes the wrong way it’s such a let down. But when those few ounces slide off its cause for celebration! Too often that celebration is allowing a forbidden food. Then I spend the next day wondering why the number on the scale went up.
My Doctor wouldn’t sign the medical release so I could join Awaken 180 , a popular weight loss program. I’ve tried Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. I thought NutriSystem was way too expensive for a packaged food program. Tried it on my own by eating Lean Cuisine. That didn’t work out. I tried supplements like Apple Cider. All of them provided some weight loss but it never stayed off. So my Doctor started pushing gastric by-pass surgery. I know many people who have had this surgery and quite successfully but after serious consideration I decided it just wasn’t for me. So my Doctor gave me a book to read. The End of Overeating by Dr. David A. Kessler. So boring. I can’t read a chapter without falling asleep. I need something different or I’ll be fat forever.
NOOMNoom, Noom Noom Noom…makes me think of zoom, zoom zoom. A little car just speeding along. I don’t know how long NOOM has been around but it’s a little different. Nothing is off limits. Its all psychology based. I admit I am skeptical but nothing else has worked so why not give it a try? I got my Fitbit first to try to get myself moving and added NOOM a couple of weeks later. Between the two I’m been plugging along. Some success some back sliding. Like I said last week, I’m not ready to say what my weight is right now but I am ready to share the results so far.
Sept 26, 2019
Its time to bring you guys into the loop. I began the struggle (this time) on September 13. As of my weigh in this morning, Oct 5, I am down 2 lbs exactly. Whew! There were so many times it was two steps forward one step back or sometimes 3 steps back that I wasn’t sure what this morning would bring. Now I’ve got a definitive goal in mind for next week. To keep this momentum going!
Oct 4, 2019
My first exposure to that title, Shark Man, was Thursday night. I was back on Cape Cod but not to go “Sharkin”. This time I was there to listen to a presentation by Dr. Greg Skomel aka The Shark Man! I’m not sure when I first heard of Dr. Skomel but by the time I saw him on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week his name was quite familiar to me. In fact when I was challenged to pick 5 people dead or alive, that I would like to spend an evening with, Dr. Skomel was on my list. The rest of my list were Neil Degrasse- Tyson, astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer SETI institute, Dr. Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, futurist, and last but not least Josh Gates, cable TV host and adventurer. He also has a degree in archaeology so I guess I’m still sticking to the science theme.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever get to meet any of the other people on my list but I can tell you that they will have tough shoes to fill!
Living With White SharksDr. Skomal’s talk was about living with white sharks, a very timely topic for Cape Cod. Greg is assigned to the Martha’s Vineyard Research Station. Can we all say Jaws? I’d been told that he was very charismatic and it was quickly clear that this was true. His spotter pilot was sitting in the same row as I was. Before the evening even got started Greg came over to shake his hand and welcome him to his talk. Once the presentation got underway there was quite a bit of good natured banter back and forth between them especially when Greg showed a clip of an “Air Jaws” right under his feet on the pulpit. You could hear the pilot’s voice telling him there was a shark right below and then wham! That got everyone’s attention! That was the way evening went. It was an intimate setting as there was only room for about 150 people. It was a full house. There were lots of oooh, ahhh and wows in between the more dry scientific stuff.
Greg started the evening off by asking how many people had been to a presentation of his before and most of the room had been. I was one of the few newbies. By the end of the evening I could see why. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more opportunities to hear him speak.