Friday, February 14, 2014
A Wild And Woolly WTC Week
This has been a wild week. Our Wilderness Training Course (WTC) has, quite frankly, taken over our lives. Who knew one little two and a half hour weekly class could create so much stress? I've barely left the house for days it seems, as Mike and I obsess over the assigned readings, the assigned homework, gathering the necessary equipment, and prepping for our second WTC trip.
First the bad: Navigation is tough, really tough! Mike and I have spent hours, and I do mean hours, on our navigation homework. We're beginning to see the light at the end of tunnel, and working with a compass and map is starting to make some sense, but I'm still struggling to put everything together in order to grasp how this will actually work out in the backcountry. There are five tests that we have to be checked off on before graduating the class - conditioning, rock climbing, snow travel, snow camp and navigation. I've already been checked of on conditioning, and I'm confident that the next three are well within my abilities, but I'm not yet confident at all about the navigation piece.
Also bad: Backpacking is expensive, at least initially. I earmarked what I thought was a reasonable amount - $2,000 - to outfit us both, and although we'll make it, it will be, literally, with just pennies to spare. Ideally we would have had many months to gather things slowly, looking for deals on both new and used items, however, the rapid pace of our class simply doesn't afford us that luxury.
As a result, we have made so many trips to REI over the last five weeks, and spent so much time talking with their enthusiastic employees that I feel like I'm majoring in WTC, and minoring in REI!
Now the good: Initially I was freaked by the idea of spending eight long, cold hours sleeping (or not!) on the hard ground. However, after attending several WTC classes that discussed proper insulation and equipment, plus testing out some surprisingly comfy sleeping pads and and sleeping bags at REI, my concerns are pretty quickly diminishing. We've spent a considerable chunk of our backpacking funds on just these two components, but in my opinion they are the make-or-break items for ensuring this hobby becomes a significant portion of our early retirement lifestyle, so I believe it will be money well spent.
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| My new 2 lb, 2 oz, 19 degree sleeping bag. Kinda cute, yes? And warm . . . really warm! |
And finally: It's pretty awesome to be learning something so new, and that we are so excited about, at the ripe old ages of 51 and 58. I can't wait for all the wonderful adventures that will soon be coming our way as a result of making this effort.
This weekend we'll be heading to Joshua Tree National Park for our first overnight WTC trip, where we'll be using and testing out all of our new equipment. I am packing Tylenol PM just in case, but have fingers crossed that I won't need it to get through the night.
In addition to seeing how sleeping on the ground as full-grown adults feels, we'll be doing some minor level rock climbing, and spending lots of time putting our newly earned navigation skills to work. If all goes well, we'll be passed on both elements. If it doesn't, well, lets just hope they don't have to send out search and rescue!
Monday, February 10, 2014
Summer Northern Plains RV Trip Preview
Drum roll please . . .
The planning for our 70-day summer RV trip, all 21 legs of it, is done! I have to say it was a significant undertaking to do the planning for both this trip and our spring southwest RV trip at pretty much the same time, but now that they are done, I can sit back and relax.
Below is an outline of where we're going, where we're be staying, and the primary attractions at each location. We'll fill in the gaps with oodles of state parks, museums, national monuments, recreation areas and historic sites, plus lots of, I hope, unique dining experiences.
Click on the links below for more information on any of the parks will be staying in. The average cost per night came in at $45.00, a bit higher than our southwest trip lodging expenses. Ironically, the most expensive parks we'll be staying in are the ones run by third party concessionaires within our national parks, which is what pushed up the per night overall cost average.
Virgin, UTZion River Resort
- Zion National Park
- River Tubing
Park City, UT
Park City RV Resort
- Hiking
- Mountain Biking
Jackson Hole, WY
The Virginian Lodge RV Resort
- Hiking
- Jackson Hole Rodeo
- Cowboy Cookout
Grand Teton, WY
Colter Bay Village RV Park
- Grand Teton National Park
- Snake River Float Trip
Yellowstone Lake, WY
Yellowstone Fishing Bridge RV Resort
- Yellowstone National Park
Cody, WY
Cody KOA- Buffalo Bill State Park
- Buffalo Bill Center of the West
- Museum of the Plains Indians
Casper, WY
Casper KOA
- Covered wagon trek & cook-out
- Ft. Casper Historic Site
Custer, SD
Beaver Lake Campground
- Mt. Rushmore National Memorial
- Wind Cave National Park
- Crazy Horse National Monument- Jewel Cave National Monument
Interior, SD
Badlands/White River KOA
- Badlands National Park
Medora, ND
Medora Campground
- Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Great Falls, MT
Dick's RV Park
- Layover enroute to next stopSt. Mary, MT
St. Mary/E Glacier KOA
- Glacier National Park (East side)
W. Glacier, MT
Glacier Campground
- Glacier National Park (West side)
Coeur D'Alene, ID
River Walk RV Park
- Hiking
- Biking
Walla, Walla, WA
RV Resort Four Seasons
- Wine tasting
White Salmon, WA
Bridge RV Park Campground
- The Dalles
- Mt. Hood
- Columbia River
Bend, OR
Scandia RV Park
- Hiking
- Mountain Biking
- Newberry Volcanic National Monument
Ashland, OR
Emigrant Lake County Park
- Ashland Shakespeare Festival
Redwoods National Park, CA
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
- Hiking
- Tree of Mystery
Cloverdale, CA
Cloverdale/Healdsburg KOA
- Wine tasting
Big Sur, CA
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
- Hiking
- Ocean kayaking
Home
I'm so excited to kick off both of these trips come mid-April! Fortunately, we have lots and lots to keep us busy here at home in the meantime, otherwise I suspect the wait would be torture.
Speaking of which; we're off to Joshua Tree National Park this weekend for our first overnight camping trip with our wilderness training class. Stay tuned, as I'm expecting it to be quite the experience. We'll be doing navigation 'noodling' which I think may be synonymous with "Ha! You're lost, so good luck finding your way back!"
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Spring Southwest RV Trip Preview
It recently occurred to me that our upcoming 45-day spring RV trip is going to get here before I know it, given how frantic life is currently. Between our Wilderness Training class, our many ongoing 'normal' activities, plus the upcoming eight weeks of computer classes I'm preparing to teach at our Lifelong Learning program, time is racing by. So, I've been hard at work since Monday nailing down the final details of our trip, which I'm happy to share here in the event others have interest in any of the places we'll be visiting.
I utilized MapQuest and my national parks book collection to determine what places we should visit, RVParkReviews to determine where we should stay, TripAdvisor to determine what we should do, and Yelp to determine where we should eat. I then transferred everything to a series of worksheets that I'll print out and keep with me. We utilize WiFi as we go, but it can be intermittent depending on where are, and I've learned that it's always a good plan to have paper backups.
Having done all that, I'm very, very excited about what we'll be seeing and doing on this trip. Below are some of the highlights, including links to the parks where we'll be staying. Average lodging cost per night is coming in at $38, with most places affording full hookups, WiFi, laundry and swimming pool, plus spas and fitness centers in some locations. We'll be very comfortable!
Spring 45-Day Southwest RV Trip Itinerary
Tucson, AZ
Catalina State Park
- Saguaro National Park
Las Cruces, NM
Las Cruces KOA
- Old Mesilla Village
- White Sands Missile Range
- Dripping Springs Natural Area
Carlsbad, NM
Carlsbad RV Park
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Roswell, NM
Red Barn RV Park
- Roswell UFO Tour
Albuquerque, NM
Albuquerque North/Bernalillo KOA
- International Hot Air Balloon Museum
- Petroglyph National Monument
- Sandia Peak Tramway
- Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
Los Suenos RV Park- Georgia O'Keefe Museum
- Bandelier National Monument
- Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument
- Pecos National Historical Site
- Llama trekking along the Rio Grande
Holbrook, AZ
Holbrook/Petrified Forest KOA
- Petrified Forest National Park
Sedona, AZ
Rancho Sedona RV Park
- Backcountry jeep tour
- Slide Rock State Park
- Flagstaff day trip
Las Vegas, NV
Oasis RV Park
- Sun, fun, and lounging by the pool
- Cirque du Soleil's 'One' at Mandalay Bay
- Red Rocks State Park
Paso Robles, CA,
Wine Country RV Resort
- Great Western Bike Rally
- Wine tastingMorro Bay, CA
Morro Bay State Park
- Hiking
- Kayaking
Home
If you recall, last summer I was regretting that I hadn't put more time into planning each leg of our Pacific Northwest trip, because it left me scrambling to plan out our itinerary each time we relocated to a new area. Lesson learned, I've been plotting out a detailed itinerary, which has allowed me to plan activities to maximize both our time and money. By doing the research ahead of time, I've been able to take advantage of many free and discounted activities I've found, working them into our plans as it makes sense.
And now that this trip has been pretty much put to bed, I'm moving on to our 70-day summer RV trip, which will take us through the grasslands and badlands of the northern plain states.
And now that this trip has been pretty much put to bed, I'm moving on to our 70-day summer RV trip, which will take us through the grasslands and badlands of the northern plain states.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
A Fabulous February Start - Bagging Santiago Peak
That's the Santiago Peak marker above. Not terribly impressive as peak markers go, but still a major feat to be able to see it and take a photo in person. It took us 8 miles and 4,000 feet of elevation gain to reach 5,689 ft Santiago Peak, the highest point in Orange Country, while carrying 20 pound backpacks, then another 8 miles to return to our start point.
At 16 miles roundtrip, that's our longest day hike ever.
What a day, and what an output of energy it took. Our day started bright and early at 3:30 AM, as our alarms went off and we climbed out of our warm bed. I think I've previously mentioned that this is always my least favorite part of any endurance activity, but once I suck it up and toss back the covers, it's pretty much all good going forward.
We dressed in our already-laid out hiking layers, went downstairs to re-check our already-loaded backpacks, filled our water bladders, poured hot coffee into travel mugs, picked up our sack breakfast and lunch, and left for the 40 minute drive to the initial starting point. There, along with the other 27 people in our WTC class, we grouped together and got into several high clearance vehicles for the very bumpy ride to the trail head. Seriously, the dirt road we had to drive up was rutted, muddy, and about as bad as I've ever been on. And so much fun.
We were parked and gathered together in front of the trail head by 6:30 AM, ready to listen to some last minute instructions from our leader Edd . . .
. . . plus one quick, "Hi guys, look where we are!" photo before taking off:
So how did it go? Well, it went 1) great, then 2) not so great, then 3) great again!
Great
We hiked for seven miles, continuously gaining elevation, and stopping every mile or so to utilize our compass and trail map to ascertain where we were. Learning to locate true north, take a bearing on a landmark, then use both to determine where we were on our trail maps was challenging. If I had to take a test today I'd probably fail navigation, but I'm making progress, and we still have many weeks to go, so I'm optimistic I'll nail it eventually.
Not So Great
At the start of mile eight, which, ironically, was almost the easiest part of the hike as we followed a dirt road for the last mile to the peak, I bonked.
What is bonking exactly? Here's a definition from Active.com:
What Causes a Bonk? A bonk can be described as total glycogen depletion from the muscles and liver. Glycogen is the primary fuel source for endurance athletes. This severe glycogen depletion does not occur during short duration, high intensity efforts, rather it occurs during continuous exercise at some 70- to 85-percent of VO2 max that is sustained for periods of more than about two hours.
Great Again!
Shots from the peak, which was colder and windier than expected at a brisk 36 degrees. Not something we experience very often here in temperate Orange County, California.
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| Yeah, I made it! |
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| We shared the peak with these radio towers, which provide radio coverage for most of S. California. |
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| The views looking out in the other direction were a bit more dramatic. |
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| Apparently I wasn't the only one in the group that struggled to reach the peak! |
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| Cold, but happy to have made it. |
And book it he did. Seriously, we descended so rapidly that most of us in the front group (yep, I was in the front group with the 20-somethings on the way down) had to jog to keep up. While wearing 20 pound backpacks mind you.
It was fun. A bit tough, yes, but fun. The only issue was one of the gals in the group took a swan dive just before we reached the cars. It scared the heck out of me as I watched her go down, because her arms got caught under her body leaving her with absolutely nothing to break her fall. There was a collective holding of breath until she popped up smiling, dirt all over her face, and in her teeth, announcing she was fine.
After that, it was an easy, bumpy drive back down to our cars, followed by a group pizza fest at a nearby restaurant.
Surprisingly, I feel pretty darn good this morning, and Mike and I will be heading over to a nearby trail shortly to do a five mile easy trek so I can continue breaking in my new boots.
And although it made me laugh at the time, yesterday, as we were finishing up, one of the young guys turned to one of the gals that was sprawled on the ground, exhausted, and called out "Hey, you can rest when you're dead!"
It's possible that truer words have never been spoken.
Friday, January 31, 2014
The Impact of Exercise On Weight . . . Mine At Least!
I was fooling around on SparkPeople this morning, the really terrific, free, online site I've been using to track my exercise and food as I continue to work on losing those last few pounds, and ending up creating some charts which I found to be very interesting.
Chart One
The first line of the chart below shows the number of calories I can take in if I wish to continue losing about 1.5 pounds a week, based on no exercise whatsoever. Somewhere between 1200-1550 a day, which is pretty austere.
The second line of the chart shows how many calories I burned today at the gym.
The last line shows the impact those calories I burned exercising have on my total caloric intake for the day. I have to say I like the total calories displayed in the last line a whole lot more than the calories displayed in the first!
Chart One
The first line of the chart below shows the number of calories I can take in if I wish to continue losing about 1.5 pounds a week, based on no exercise whatsoever. Somewhere between 1200-1550 a day, which is pretty austere.
The second line of the chart shows how many calories I burned today at the gym.
The last line shows the impact those calories I burned exercising have on my total caloric intake for the day. I have to say I like the total calories displayed in the last line a whole lot more than the calories displayed in the first!
Chart Two
Chart two shows what will happen once I hit my goal weight and switch to maintenance. At that point, it appears I'll be able to increase my daily caloric intake by about 100 calories a day.
Not as much as I would have hoped!
Once I thought about it, however, it actually made sense. I'd gained roughly six pounds a year for the last three years, 18 in total, which breaks out to just 57 excess calories a day.
Chart Three
This was the chart that put me back in my happy place. On days like tomorrow, when I'm going to be hiking 15 miles, plus gaining elevation, plus carrying a 20 pound backpack, thus burning some 2600+ calories, I'll pretty much have license to eat whatever I want.
The moral of this story? I may not be able to do anything about my baseline metabolism, but exercise really does make everything a whole lot better!
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| Who says 51 is over the hill?!? |
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Being Creative, Nutritious and Economical In The Kitchen
I love trying out new recipes, and it's a rare week that I don't work at least one new item into my weekly menu. Aside from being fun and allowing me to believe that maybe I really am creative, it's extremely economical as well - our weekly grocery spend continues to come in around $80.00 for two as we head into year three of our early retirement. And although there have been a few notable exceptions over the years, everything generally ends up tasting considerably better than if it had been purchased ready-made.
Here are a few of the more interesting things that came out of my kitchen this week -
Wheat Berry Salad with Feta Cheese
This Cooking Light recipe actually called for goat cheese, but I am so not a fan, so I used lowfat feta instead. This was my first time cooking with wheat berries, and the hardest part was simply remembering to start them soaking in the morning since it takes a full eight hours to do so, followed by an hour on the stove, then a final 30 minutes cooling them down. Putting the salad together after that was a snap. I served it with some of my homemade, toasted potato bread and it was delish.
Spinach Sundried Tomato Pizza With Feta
Another Cooking Light recipe, which includes instructions for making the pizza crust, sauce, and toppings all from scratch. I'm particularly proud of the way the pizza crust turned out - soft and airy. Nicely, the pizza crust recipe calls for utilizing a stand up mixer fitted with a bread dough hook for the majority of the kneading process, with just a couple of minutes of hand kneading at the end. I followed the pizza crust and pizza sauce recipes verbatim, but modified the pizza toppings slightly - I substituted feta for goat cheese (I really do not like goat cheese!), left off the ricotta and used some mozzarella I hand on hand instead, and added sun dried tomatoes. Almost everything tastes better with sun dried tomatoes I think!
Grilled Pepper and Onion Calzones
I used leftover pizza dough and pizza sauce from the above recipe as starter ingredients in this final Cooking Light recipe, substituting mushrooms for the sausage called for in the recipe. Unfortunately, I'm going to need to cheat and use the online photo, since I forgot to take a photo of this before we dug in.
This Sunset recipe is a super easy, super delicious, low sugar refrigerator jam that I make whenever berries go on sale. Recently I picked up blackberries on sale at Sprouts for $0.77 per 6 oz package. I used 3 and 1/3 packages, which when added to the cost of the rest of the ingredients, came to a total of $3.44 for 36 oz of jam, or $0.09 per oz*. I normally spend $2.79 for 15.2 oz of Trader Joe's low sugar jam, which at $0.18 per oz, is twice as expensive as homemade. And nowhere near as tasty!
Click here for my Low Sugar Strawberry Raspberry Jam and Click here for my Low Sugar Spiced Plum Jam, which I alternate between depending on what's on sale at Sprouts.
*I didn't include the cost of the canning jars, because I've been reusing them for years to make this jam.
Dried Cherry and Almond Biscotti
OK, so this is my one, token, non-nutritious item for the week. This recipe, from Food Network's Anne Burrell, is relatively easy to make as well. I added some white chocolate chips to the recipe, which I think pair well with the dried cherries and almonds. This recipe makes about three dozen cookies, all of which go immediately into my freezer for safe keeping. If you make them for yourself you'll quickly discover why . . . they are far too yummy to leave just lying around asking to be eaten!
Also on the menu, but not photographed:
- Cooking Light's Bowtie pasta with tomato, feta, cucumber and capers. I substituted cucumber for the grapes listed in the recipe. Grapes just seemed odd to me given the other ingredients in this recipe!
- Vegetarian enchiladas: whole wheat tortillas, vegetarian refried beans, sliced black olives, canned green chiles, and some shredded lowfat cheddar cheese. Fill, roll, place seam side down in pan, cover with enchilada sauce of choice, and bake for 30 minutes uncovered at 350.
So there you have it . . . some creative, economical, mostly nutritious recipes from my kitchen to yours!
Here are a few of the more interesting things that came out of my kitchen this week -
Wheat Berry Salad with Feta Cheese
This Cooking Light recipe actually called for goat cheese, but I am so not a fan, so I used lowfat feta instead. This was my first time cooking with wheat berries, and the hardest part was simply remembering to start them soaking in the morning since it takes a full eight hours to do so, followed by an hour on the stove, then a final 30 minutes cooling them down. Putting the salad together after that was a snap. I served it with some of my homemade, toasted potato bread and it was delish.
Spinach Sundried Tomato Pizza With Feta
Another Cooking Light recipe, which includes instructions for making the pizza crust, sauce, and toppings all from scratch. I'm particularly proud of the way the pizza crust turned out - soft and airy. Nicely, the pizza crust recipe calls for utilizing a stand up mixer fitted with a bread dough hook for the majority of the kneading process, with just a couple of minutes of hand kneading at the end. I followed the pizza crust and pizza sauce recipes verbatim, but modified the pizza toppings slightly - I substituted feta for goat cheese (I really do not like goat cheese!), left off the ricotta and used some mozzarella I hand on hand instead, and added sun dried tomatoes. Almost everything tastes better with sun dried tomatoes I think!
Grilled Pepper and Onion Calzones
I used leftover pizza dough and pizza sauce from the above recipe as starter ingredients in this final Cooking Light recipe, substituting mushrooms for the sausage called for in the recipe. Unfortunately, I'm going to need to cheat and use the online photo, since I forgot to take a photo of this before we dug in.
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| Photo courtesy of www.CookingLight.com |
This Sunset recipe is a super easy, super delicious, low sugar refrigerator jam that I make whenever berries go on sale. Recently I picked up blackberries on sale at Sprouts for $0.77 per 6 oz package. I used 3 and 1/3 packages, which when added to the cost of the rest of the ingredients, came to a total of $3.44 for 36 oz of jam, or $0.09 per oz*. I normally spend $2.79 for 15.2 oz of Trader Joe's low sugar jam, which at $0.18 per oz, is twice as expensive as homemade. And nowhere near as tasty!
Click here for my Low Sugar Strawberry Raspberry Jam and Click here for my Low Sugar Spiced Plum Jam, which I alternate between depending on what's on sale at Sprouts.
*I didn't include the cost of the canning jars, because I've been reusing them for years to make this jam.
Dried Cherry and Almond Biscotti
OK, so this is my one, token, non-nutritious item for the week. This recipe, from Food Network's Anne Burrell, is relatively easy to make as well. I added some white chocolate chips to the recipe, which I think pair well with the dried cherries and almonds. This recipe makes about three dozen cookies, all of which go immediately into my freezer for safe keeping. If you make them for yourself you'll quickly discover why . . . they are far too yummy to leave just lying around asking to be eaten!
Also on the menu, but not photographed:
- Cooking Light's Bowtie pasta with tomato, feta, cucumber and capers. I substituted cucumber for the grapes listed in the recipe. Grapes just seemed odd to me given the other ingredients in this recipe!
- Vegetarian enchiladas: whole wheat tortillas, vegetarian refried beans, sliced black olives, canned green chiles, and some shredded lowfat cheddar cheese. Fill, roll, place seam side down in pan, cover with enchilada sauce of choice, and bake for 30 minutes uncovered at 350.
- I also serve a big crunchy salad with almost every meal, add a slice of toasted or grilled bread for Mike, plus big glasses of ice water for us both.
So there you have it . . . some creative, economical, mostly nutritious recipes from my kitchen to yours!
Weight loss update: Down another pound this week, for a total of 12 pounds lost, with another six to go before I hit my goal. Photos once that occurs you can be sure!
Sugar note update: Although it may seem counter-intuitive to make things like biscotti when I'm in the process of losing weight, it's really not as long as I manage my intake. I allow myself 150 - 200 calories a day of treats. :-)
Sugar note update: Although it may seem counter-intuitive to make things like biscotti when I'm in the process of losing weight, it's really not as long as I manage my intake. I allow myself 150 - 200 calories a day of treats. :-)
Monday, January 27, 2014
And Finally She Rested!
One of the things that makes me deeply joyous is to push my physical limits. I sincerely enjoy the experience as I'm doing it, but I may be more addicted to the way I feel afterward . . . sort of like slow moving molasses. It's the most wonderful sensation, and I can only go so many days without it before I start to go a little crazy.
Because of the upcoming physical demands of our Wilderness Training Course (WTC); one 12-14 mile, 3000 ft elevation gaining hike, one cross-country hike that will include 2nd and 3rd class rock climbing/scrabbling, one snow traveling hike, and two nights/three days of snow backpacking; we've been upping our physical conditioning significantly. I started working out on the Stairmaster last week, and am already able to stay on for 45 minutes at a decent level, which I'm really pleased about. I'm also adding resistance each time I strength training, and yesterday we were able to knock off a 40 mile bicycle ride without too much effort, even after about six weeks of being off of our bikes.
Today's goal was to complete our normal 12 mile Monday hike with the addition of WTC-load approved backpacks. Per our WTC class, WTC-load approved meant we were carrying the ten essentials in addition to our normal day hiking items: three liters of water, a compass, map, extra backup emergency food, all necessary insulation layers of clothing, including heavy fleece jacket and rain gear, waterproof matches, a back up fire starter, gloves and glove liners, a knit hat, headlamp, pocket knife, duct tape, and a whistle. Plus extra boots - I'm breaking in a new pair and needed to change into my old boots a few miles in, in order to avoid bruising my feet or bones by forcing them to try and acclimate to the new, stiffer and heavier boots, too quickly.
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| The ice cooler in the background stayed behind, but pretty much everything else went with me! |
After all that, my backpack weighed in at 18 pounds, as did Mike's. I was also using walking poles for the first time, which I knew would add an additional level of exertion, and I was wearing my brand new leather boots for the first part of the hike, so I was more than a little nervous as we headed off.
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| Cool as a cucumber Mike |
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| More than a bit nervous me. |
As we headed out of the parking lot and up the first hill, I quickly realized we weren't in Kansas anymore! Carrying 18 extra pounds while climbing was a lot, lot harder than climbing with my normal day hiking load of just water and food. As we crested the hill I honestly wondered if I'd be able to finish. But, fortunately, what I forgot was that that first hill comes right at the beginning, meaning my heart rate was working overtime to get up to speed, and once it got to that 70%-80% exertion level, starting right around the start of mile two, I actually felt fine, and stayed fine for pretty much the rest of the hike.
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| Where our hike took us today. |
I will say, though I was very happy when we started on mile eleven, our last. And even happier when we started down the last hill and I saw our car waiting for us below. And finally taking off that heavy backpack once we reached the car? Absolute bliss!
The reward for putting out so much effort, about 1,600 calories per my best guess, is that I feel no need to justify not moving for the remainder of the day. All I've pretty much done since we got back home is shower, eat, nap, eat a bit more, read, watch a little TV, and work on this blog.
Tomorrow morning I'll likely be back to being full of energy and a desire to be productive, but for right now I'm thoroughly enjoying my well earned rest.
"When you do that which is hard, life becomes very easy."
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One of life's pleasures is being creative. I think it's great that you immediately took what you learned in class and tried it with potato bread! When I was working and didn't have much time for creative endeavors, I used creative problem solving as my outlet. And there is the opportunity for creativty in the simplest of things like how you decorate the mantle for Christmas or how you set the table for a dinner party. I also enjoy the challenges of being creative in re-purposing things I already have. Enjoy your molasses bread. I need to dig out my James Beard cookbook and think about baking some bread with a winter storm about to hit the Midwest...
ReplyYes, yes yes. EVERYONE is creative. I say that as an artist-creativity is not about drawing and painting or making scrapbook pages. Creativity is about the fun stuff you do, the stuff you do to make use of what you have, you name it. Good for you on the potato bread.
ReplyCreativity is a great thing - as long as one doesn't disrupt the workflow or organization of the kitchen in our household! While Tamara was creatively setting out last night to bake bread from scratch (which I will attest to was delicious!), I tried something a bit more mundane....changing the way that I do a routine task like washing dishes. Instead of having the clean dishes ending up on one side of the sink, I reversed it and put them on the other side. Once done, I leave them to dry until the morning when they're put away. I also tried humming to myself while doing the dishes to see how that would make me 'feel". I was really trying to push my limits in tapping into my creative genius that I had heard about in our morning class! I felt quite good when I was done and left the kitchen full of clean dishes on the other side of the sink. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought about the impact of having those dishes left in a place that is often used for food preparation and with the unexpected baking experiment last night, there was a sudden need for space that was now full of clean dishes. My "creativity" generated a bit of disruption/chaos for Tamara - perhaps a good thing for both of us as got another chance to explore being outside of our comfort zones but definitely one that left us laughing at ourselves as we "explored" both the opportunities and results of our creative genius. Fast forward 24 hours....I'm back at the drawing board looking for other ways to be creative and will keep to the tried and true system that we have developed over years of practice when doing dishes! Stay tune as our retirement journey continues!!!
ReplyI never thought that using up a leftover in the way you did for the potato bread was using my creativity but now I do! And I think I am fairly good at doing that. So thanks, Tamara, for reminding me! Rosy
Reply