Attila and I are having a quiet peaceful day today. The sun is shining, the temperature is cold. We have just finished a lovely lunch. Attila enjoyed the chicken noodle soup he made for himself this morning, and I enjoyed my Stone Soup that I made earlier in the week.
I have been practising intermittent fasting since last May, I only eat or drink flavoured liquids between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. This routine is quite comfortable for me now, and I prefer it. I have found that going for a brisk walk before breakfast is optimal, my energy levels are high, and early morning is my favourite time of day. My food choices are on an “eat to live” basis, cost first, nutrition second, taste and flavour come into play after those factors.
I love my breakfast. I look forward to breaking my fast each morning. I begin with a small helping of homemade applesauce, because I like it, and because there is some wisdom in the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. After my applesauce comes a glass of water with one teaspoon of psyllium husk mixed into it, which is not my favourite part of breakfast, but the beckoning last items on the menu make it go down easily. At last the highlight of the meal is reached, two Chocolate Muffins (homemade, low sodium, low fat, low sugar), and a mug of hot coffee. I eat the same breakfast every day. I look forward to the same breakfast every day.
That my breakfast does not vary is a bonus in my life. I live with so many dietary restrictions that finding food that is nutritious, and safe, and delicious, is difficult to accomplish. This breakfast ticks all the boxes.
Dinner is always an unknown. We have a collection of favoured recipes, dishes we both love, dishes that are safe, and honour all our dietary restrictions. Usually during the day we decide what we will prepare for dinner. Our pantry has all the ingredients for all of these recipes, so we can choose whatever we please from our collection, then shop in our pantry.
Since we stick to our collection of healthy recipes, we know what ingredients to keep in stock. This makes grocery shopping easy. If one of our ingredients is on sale, we stock up on it. Our weekly shopping list rarely includes items other than fresh produce and dairy, anything else we put into the cart will be on sale. There is little to no stress involved in this approach to feeding ourselves.
It was an eventful week in our little neighbourhood. On the weekend an ambulance visited one of the neighbours, we don’t know any more about the situation.
During the week we were returning from a stroll, and found a delivery being made to our house, but we were not expecting a delivery. So we stopped and talked with the driver, and found that they were having real difficulties locating the parcel recipient. Eventually they figured out it was for our neighbour, and it got to its rightful destination.
The night before last, Tuesday, we were out for a walk in the evening, after dark, and spotted a sizeable geyser of water coming out of the ground, down the street in a neighbour’s front yard. This was clearly not right.
We quickly headed home, where I found the municipal water and sewer emergency help line number, called, and was put on hold. It was less than ten minutes, but it seemed like forever, before someone answered the telephone, it was a call centre. I described the situation, where it was, gave them my name and contact information, and since there was already significant flooding in our neighbour’s yards, I stressed that it was urgent. That was at 6:35 p.m. I waited in the house, in case the emergency service called back, as they said they might, and Attila headed back up the street to see what was going on. About a half an hour had passed, with no response, when a police car came to inspect the situation, as a pedestrian on another street had flagged them down as they were passing. The police officer put in another urgent call. Shortly after that the municipal truck showed up and the process of correcting the situation began. The loud noise involved in repairing the broken water main kept me awake. We were without water until nearly midnight. The neighbour’s yards, and the road, are a mess of mud, salt, and gravel. The neighbourhood has returned to it’s usual calm.
How lucky we are to count these things as excitement!
We go for walks frequently. I wore my Keene sandals until just before Christmas. Then the snow and ice came, so I pulled out my winter boots. They have not worn well, cracking across the upper, and as I discovered the lining wore away around the heel, leaving bumpy exposed plastic. I had a deep wound in my heel by the time I returned from that first walk with the winter boots.
I switched to a 20 year old pair of winter rubber boots, that I wore when we lived at the country house. They are very loose fitting, so they did not rub on the wound on my heel. But the soles had worn down to the point where I could feel every small stone, piece of ice, piece of salt… walks were no fun at all. Then I dragged out an even older pair of leather boots, but my feet had grown wider since I had last worn them, and I developed new wounds on my feet. Desperate now, I tried wearing my running shoes, more wounds. I went back to the rubber boots.
This past week we visited the city, and I went to a shoe department to look at walking shoes and boots. After trying on many pairs in the women’s department, I was discouraged, all of them fit poorly, and had significant pressure points, no matter what the size. So I headed to the men’s department, and the second pair of boots I tried on there were perfect. Now I can walk without pain, and without developing any new wounds on my feet.
After taking down the Christmas tree, we decided to rearrange the furniture in the living/dining area. It has been a big job, emptying laden cabinets so as to move them, with no handy place for the contents that were removed. Finally we are almost finished the process, and are very happy with our new arrangement. Today Attila put up the last of the artwork on the walls.
Ginger, who suffered through the introduction of a Christmas Tree, the removal of the said tree, the daily chaos of moving furniture, and the commotion of mounting pictures on the walls, is exhausted. He is sleeping quietly now, grateful that his humans have finished their insane activities.
Worldly
Weather
-6°C
Date: 12:00 PM EST Thursday 9 January 2025
Condition: Mainly Sunny
Pressure: 101.6 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: -6.4°C
Dew point: -14.6°C
Humidity: 52%
Wind: W 24 km/h
Wind Chill: -14
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
It is not much for its beauty that makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanates from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.
Robert Louis Stevenson
1850 – 1894
I find it the same with old people.
I tend to two different breakfasts. The usual starts with one almond caramel Kind bar, and maybe some chocolate flavored crackers or some apple slices. Then two eggs, fried, with rice cakes. The other features the first snack and then a oatmeal granola cereal,with slivered almonds, raisins and blueberries (if we have them), Kind brand. (The other granolas have tiny irritating seeds that are not ‘kind’ to my innards.)
I’m glad you found shoes that fit.
I love steel-cut oatmeal made from scratch during the winter. Sometimes I add a little butter or strawberry preserves. It’s both filling and delicious. So far we’re having a cold winter as opposed to a snowy winter.:)
Sandy, I love oatmeal too. We have large flake oats, but I haven’t tried steel -cut oats, something to look forward to. The muffins I make have 1 cup of large flake oats in them, 1 cup of whole wheat flour, and 1/4 cup ground flax seed, the large flake oats help the muffins to be chewy and delicious.
Our winter is similar to yours, not a snowy winter so far, and cold.
Joan, your breakfast menus sound delicious! I LOVE eggs, but have to cut cholesterol way down, so they are a treat only. I had them for Christmas and New Year’s morning breakfasts, and on my birthday as well.
I was really disappointed with the offerings of women’s footwear. My feet were challenging to fit before, and getting harder as I get older. The boots I found in the men’s department, were unisex (according to the Keen web site), but not offered in the women’s department. Next time I need footwear I will start in the men’s department.
Grrrr! Lost a long post again. It happened when the editor tried to help me correct a misspelling. I’ll be back later.
Well, after a few months of intestinal blockages, my menu is even smaller than yours, Maggie. Right now I’m having problems with almost everything but bread, butter, pho broth, cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups, shrimp, scallops, ham, regular pasta and noodles and a few other things. Even cooked veggies are a problem, except maybe mashed potatoes. I need to set up a way to start adding in foods but it’s really a problem. (And another problem, throwing out more food than usual because it sits in the fridge too long.)
You interested me in looking at men’s shoes, Maggie. The widest part of my foot is at the toes, and that kind of shoe is often hard to find in women’s shoes.
Teri, how awful, sorry to hear you are going through that. Goodness, so many restrictions, it sounds like a very difficult diet to develop. I wonder if smoothies would be appropriate for this issue, depending on what is in them.
My feet are widest at the base of the big toe, relatively thick, and I have a very high arch. The brand Keene footwear seems to fit me very well, the boot I found was a Keene, described as a unisex item on their website, but only offered in the men’s shoe department. I have worn Keene sandals as work sandals for years, and find them very comfortable. They are wide, and provide a lot of room for the toes.