5 minutes on ship , sheep, back up beans

There is a saying in Cleveland ,and likely every northern US city, “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes, it will change”

So I very much liked a sunny (but cold weekend), a few days without snow and our lawn is once again green. Several squirrels were playing in our back yard, Alla saw a red robin there.

Well that was 5 minutes ago, snow has started again and I almost see no grass, in a few minutes more, it will be all white.

 

To redeem my previous sins (also known as Dieting) I am continuing to eat sheep food. Spinach once more, but I got baby spinach leaves this time, which makes it lambs food, I guess.

 

Watched pirate radio which is a nice film on the alternative movie scale, same goes for the king of Scotland, both older films.

 

If you like Adam Sandler movies- don’t miss ‘Just go with it’, I wasn’t much thrilled to see it  since Jenifer Aniston movies are usually boring, and she usually plays herself, same role. But this one was up there on the funny silly romantic comedy genera. Please don’t watch ‘the edge of love’, OMG  so bad.

 

We went to Dina’s for dinner last weekend and since I was on a diet I actually planned on taking lambs food for backup and I also offered to take green beans. It is one thing to eat them, but to actually take them as back up??? I must be losing my mind. Not that I lack food there, the problem is that there is too much; I settled for some pastry like dish with meat inside + a whole fish!!! , avoided the schnitzel (which I like and the rice), ate some candy (see why I needed back up leaves?). but its better since usually I would eat those + the schnitzels.

 

When a tree falls in the wood, does it makes a sound? What about when a tree falls in your back yard, what sound does that make?; a spruce (Brosh) tree feel down from the heavy ice on it, now we have to figure out what to do with it, try to re-plant it or cut it up for fire wood (we don’t have a wood fire place…). We did not hear it.

 

Today was one of the most beautiful winter days. It snowed a bit on Saturday, then rained a bit, and froze again quickly, so everything is full with ice, including our tree. Now a day later, the sun came out again (still below freezing weather) and it shines on the ice making amazing light effects of glint and sparkle, out back yard was incredible just before sun down. So we took a little hike in our nearby park. We took a route not commonly taken and the trail was completely covered by the snow; so our foot prints were the 1^st on the trail, it makes it feel like we are discovering a new area (though we are following a map), the tiny creek is half frozen half flowing and it looks amazing. I would send photos , but the camera battery which is fully charged, was not in the camera at the time, and the odd thing is that I was not in charge of this fiasco.

 

That is it for now all I have to do this week is finish, taxes, expenses, Vermont ski trip plans , mammoth cave plans, ny and Washington plans, and perhaps start planning the summer trip; Iceland is back on top of the list, but you know, wait five minutes, the plan will change..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the atrocities of the gathering storm and a tuna surprise

At some point in the past I wrote about the wheel of time, a book series I was reading for years and the author had died before finishing it. Last year they release another book in the series by another writer, I purchased it then and decided to read it now (I actually read quite a lot lately, and I always get more books when I visit Israel, so still the number of unread books remain above 90). So I open the book of almost 800 pages and prepare myself for the historical series ending and read the forward; usually there is a prolog, strange; anyway they start by recalling the dead Mr. Jordan and then without remorse they say that they decided to split the last book into three thirds (which is better than three quarters). I was in shock, this series will never end!!! This new author said he is about to finish the second third. Well I heard that before from the last guy! I want to see his medical portfolio. So now I read the gathering storm , book 12 of the only true never ending story.

 

On a lighter note , I went food shopping lately, not an unusual event by my new found chef texted me a shopping list of the following items; dill, russet potatoes and 10-12 ounces of tuna in oil (not water).

I go to the giant evil (more commonly known as the giant eagle) supermarket and begin to buy stuff for my ongoing diet, so I get oranges, bananas, carrots and more. I stop by the leafy vegetables are and look for dill, and I can’t find it . it’s not a big deal since I never liked dill, but I know cheffi likes it and I spot a since that says anice. I recall cheffi looked for it not long ago for some dish (she is on a cooking frenzy lately and tries all sorts of interesting food), so I got the anice lettuce. I moved to potatoes and couldn’t find Russet , and got some brand called restaurant potatoes, assuming it can’t be that bad. I moved to the tuna isle and most of the tuna was in water (just like at sea), and they didn’t have a lot of gulf of Mexico tuna. First of all, I couldn’t find a 10-12 ounces of tuna, for some reason, they only have a specific amount inside the cans, so I looked around and found a 12 ounces can, but in all the search I didn’t quite double check that this was tuna in oil. I got some more water, pasta and olive spread. I noticed honey mustard sauce which I like and replaced it in the last seconds with Wasabi Dijon mustard sauce. I use the sauce for spinach. Yes , this is not a lie, I actually started to eat spinach. I , myself, un chorused, threaten, with no body’s help actually decided on my own accord to purchase a bag of spinach leaves and I am eating them with such for the last few days. I also reveal that I tried (and manage to enjoy green beans for the 2^nd time) and I am still alive to tell about it.

 

I live the giant evil place and go to my car which is parked real close (well its 9 pm so the lot is empty), but the cart drop box is not close, so what would George say? I get home and display my catch of the day.

 

The dill, what can you do, it wasn’t there, but the rest…

Well apparently anice is not what I got, I got something that looks like a lettuce, and not the star shaped red bad tasting fruit or whatever it is. I goggled anice lettuce to redeem myself and got plenty of hits, I felt well redeemed for a second till I looked closer at the back stabbing Google page; it showed images of ‘A Nice lettuce’, that’s it I am switching to bing (well no, that search engine is crap)

No surprise to find that the tuna was 12 ounces but a water tuna, so now I am 0 for 3. But the luck of the day is that the restaurant potatoes is actually russet potatoes (it’s says so on the bag , as a minor heading), so I had luck but no brains.

Below is a photo of a nice lettuce

 

The wasabi sauce I got was the same exact bottle to a similar sauce I got a few days before, now I have two bottles, but I ate the spinach with it, not bad.

 

On a different subject, I didn’t react well to my grandmother passing, it hit me hard, like it did my brothers and my mom, for me the effect was a complete shutdown of all myself bettering activities, since the stroke in November I stopped learning Russian, I stopped going to the gym, do my much needed physical therapy, I gained way too much weight, I stopped having fun. A similar period happened to me about 10 years ago, when also my grandmother got sick (similar weight gain effect to an all time high) It took me a few years to recover then, and now that I am slightly more mature, I manage to hold myself and try to recover in less time. So I am kind of over my gloomy period, started to be active again, signed up for another closer gym, spend money on myself (not a thing I usually do) by getting a soccer channel on the internet to enjoy some games, returned to reading, and doing a serious diet(hence the spinach etc), three weeks have gone by and I am handling strong, I have lots of plans and its time I execute.

I will be doing small events , going back to organizing, which always gets me very active and for some reason brings me energy, returning to Russian studies is right around the corner. Well no need to reveal all my secrets, but I feel myself renewed and ready for anything.

 

I also resumed another activity I used to do a lot as a teen ager and later in life as well. Dungeons and dragons. I always kept this activity a secret since I felt it made me officially a geek. Well I am, but not officially. So it’s time to leave the closet. I now play twice a week (for the last month or so). What I like about it, or what I liked about the 2 years I played in Israel is that I got to be a part of the story, I actually wrote a part of our adventure but never finished writing it, and that is the part I like most, inventing the story line. So true, my current group does not have the best story line, but it’s a fun group, I have fun and I can now try to find a group with a story behind it. If you played it, you may know what I mean, if not, well you should try.

 

More activities will come , I am sure. With me it’s all a wheel of time, when I am active, I am active in all fronts, when I am not I totally become lazy and depressed (there must be a known syndrome about it), so now its active again, and hoping I will remain active, I have several goals, I am late on meeting them but I am back on track.

 

Let make it official, on my 28^th birth day I announced in front of my family in a restaurant that I would lose such and such weight by my 30^th birthday. I did, I was quite skinny.  A year later I started gaining, so by 35 . (yes 35 L is only 14 months away, I will go back to the weight I had the day my grandmother had her almost fatal virus attack (my first traumatic night). I weighted 84kg and was in great shape a month before (this was when I torn my thigh muscle). Not sure how much I weigh now, but I have a ton to lose (love the word game), I would announce to you in person, but it’s harder now. Now the goal is set, let the spinach begin.