01 Thursday Feb 2018
Posted in 365project
Tags
365project, a dog's life, dog, paws, photoaday, Travel, walking
This sleeping pup’s paws have been on hikes, swims, chased frisbees and squirrels. She has been to 14 states & Canada. In her 16 years I think she’s put at least a million miles on these paws. I love how the pads are different colors and how soft the fur around them is. Since she pesters me every morning to wake me up, I play with her paws to wake her up. Turn about is fair play!
#365project #photoaday #amillionmiles
11 Tuesday Aug 2015
Posted in photo challenge
As I’ve mentioned many times, I love my walks. And I love seeing hearts in unexpected places.
Y’all have a happy day! ❤️
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Beneath Your Feet.”
25 Saturday Apr 2015
Posted in just a thought
Tags
I know it has been ages since I have posted and it hasn’t been for lack of wanting, thinking, or trying. I’ve started no less than a dozen posts and just haven’t found the right words, the right feeling, or the right mood.
This morning, that changed. Clearly, since I’m here. I’ve mentioned before how hard this move has been, but today I woke feeling like the old Lula; motivated and creative. I’ve got a pot of soup simmering on the stove and other ingredients sitting at the ready for the next project.
I have moved, yet again, since we were last together. Pipes bursting in a freeze forced that on me, but it really was for the best. I now live on the edge of a ginormous park where Coe and I walk several times daily. We have a new boarder, unlike the last unwanted roomies, this one is a delightful change. She also has at least one bun in the oven and living in a little bird house on my patio.
Ginger kitty isn’t happy she has been banished from our patio for awhile, but she’ll get over it.
I’ll soon be posting a collage of photos from the last few months (MONTHS?!!). I’ve been going through and sorting them. A few great gems- food, new friends, holidays, snow, family, and a wedding…
Enjoy your beautiful weekend, wherever it may find you. Coe and I are off for our first walk of the day.
13 Friday Apr 2012
Posted in baking
Tags
baking, candied lemon peel, humor, lemon zest, scones, sugar, walking
I make no bones about working 2 jobs and going 90mph through life. As the saying goes, a rolling stone gathers no moss, but I figure that also holds true to germs and cooties as well. I stay healthy by getting 8 winks a night, a good diet, and lots of walking.
Well, the cosmos tried to throw me under a bus this week by tearing a muscle in my leg. I am naturally a very brisk walker and I was just handed a speeding ticket. This week I’m getting lapped by old ladies with walkers.
Doctor said no crutches needed, just go slow and take it easy, but this sucks. It took me the full cycle of the cross walk to cross the street. I don’t even have a good story to tell. I wasn’t dancing naked on a bar or even skipping through a field of daisies. I stepped off a ladder. I’m glad I have a sense of humor about life.
I can’t walk, but I can still stand in the kitchen and make something yummy. One of the things I’ve been finding as I’ve been experimenting with scone and muffin recipes is the flavors aren’t very strong. As a cook, I can look at a recipe and know I need to add more, but deciphering that in a baking recipe is taking me a bit of learning.
I’ve tried a lemon ginger scone a few times with not much success. But I think I’m almost there. In my next attempt I’m adding both candied ginger and candied lemon peel. I want to know I’m eating lemon and ginger.
Again I sought google’s vast offering of recipes and found many, but the one that struck my eye was another local gal, Luna Cafe. Sounded like she had experimented and read the same recipes I had found, so why reinvent the wheel. I chose well.
While the recipe seems a bit step-heavy (blanch 3 times?!), it was well worth it. The result is a bright lemon flavor with no bitterness. The one thing I did differently from her is that I used a vegetable peeler to remove the peel and I got very little pith.
We go through a lot of lemons at the still and I’ll be making a more concerted effort to save the peels because this will now be a staple in my kitchen. Stay tuned for my Lemon Ginger Scones.
13 Monday Feb 2012
Posted in transit rant
This is not what I was going to write about today. But this morning’s bus ride was a little more than I could bear.
Monday morning. I am (& I think most of us are) slow to wake up. I get on the bus at the beginning of the line and I have the bus to myself and get to pick my favorite seat. I’m don’t hog the seat. My bag is in my lap so someone can sit next to me. I read news and blogs or listen to music.
At the hour I catch the bus, we are all professionals and are clean and freshly pressed. The homeless and drunks are still snugly tucked wherever they’ve hidden for the night. Generally, whoever sits next to you isn’t offensive.
This morning an older gentleman sits down next to me. He’s not small but not really larger than average. But he doesn’t just sit down next to me, he snuggles in and takes up as much of his seat AND mine as he can. I wiggle in the extra 1/4″ I have to try and get away from him but the wall of the bus prevents me from going too far. Everything touches. I can’t move an iota w/o jabbing my elbow in his rib.
So distracted by his presence I finally put my reading down. This morning the bus is extra packed. It’s usually pretty full on a good day, but I consider this an extra opportunity to watch the people and their experience.
Which then make me wonder if he was a social scientist and was this his experiment to see how long it would take me to move or shift and squirm? His experiment was a rousing success for him. Dismal failure for me.
I don’t generally have too much of an issue w personal space until you fucking treat me like Santa and sit on my lap and expect me to share my seat.
I generally love my bus time. A quiet time for reading or zoning out. I honestly have never sat as close to a DATE as this strange man sat next to me. MAYBE that’s why I can’t get a date?! I need to sit on more strange men. Thought to ponder.
This entire experience has shadowed my day. My normal work day is spent answering stupid questions from stupid people. I’m told I am kind and genial and patient. I talk like I’m teaching kindergarten. Because I kinda am. I finally got a good, hearty laugh in with a customer when I clarified I understood their ridiculous question and they heard how absurd it actually sounded. That shook most of the strange man cooties off until I just walked out of the building for my lunchtime walk and left my sandwich sitting on my desk. Stupid old man.
After a walk in the fresh air my head is in a much better place. I’m certain the afternoon will be great!
07 Tuesday Feb 2012
Tags
apps, coconut creamer, eating healthy, exercise, IMapMyRUN, Lose It!, lunchtime, noodle bowl, snacks, walking
Dear Diary, It’s me Lula… I feel I need to balance all the pork and bacon I talk about with how I really eat during the week. I have a fairly firm weekday dining plan. I don’t call it a diet. I eat real food in moderation. Truth be told I eat all day. But a few bites here and a few bites there that add up to quite a bit.
Here’s my boring weekday plan:
Today I started with a cup of coffee with coconut creamer and a Morning Glory Muffin
mid-morning snack a banana and half a pbj
lunch started with half a turkey sandwich
I went on a 2.3 mile walk
when I got back I had the other half of my turkey sandwich
afternoon snack was an apple
3:30 or 4ish I had the other half of my pbj
Optional snacks I keep in my desk just in case include raw almonds, mixed nuts, goldfish and oatmeal.
Boring. I know. I warned you.
Dinner on the other hand… I want to call bull on all the people who say they can’t cook a good healthy fresh dinner during the week. Tonight was a little bit of an experiment, but it worked great and is a fair representation of a weeknight dinner for me.
I’m into bowls. Burrito bowls, noodle bowls, rice bowls, bento bowls.
Tonight was my twist on a noodle bowl
Grill a boneless, skinless chicken thigh and chop up. While the chicken is grilling, cook pasta. Instead of buckwheat or soba noodles as are more traditional, I use whole wheat spaghetti. Still a noodle. when the pasta is about 2/3 done, throw chopped broccoli and cabbage in the pot for the last minute to 1 1/2 and drain. Toss everything with the ginger miso dressing. Healthy noodle bowl.
Monday and Wednesday are the hardest for me since I am trying to have a snack late enough in the day before my evening exercise class without it being too close to class. Tuesdays and Thursday don’t always have that extra pbj so I can have a glass on wine with dinner. It’s all about balance. Of course you’ve seen how I eat on the weekends. You know there is nothing off limits!
A coworker recently asked what my favorite apps are. 2 of my favorites are Lose It! and iMapmyRUN. I use both of these with great frequency. Start IMapmyRUN when you start your walk or jog and it tracks your route, counts calories, and keeps your pace. It’s neat to see how I improve. I had no idea how fast I jogged. I thought I was a pretty slow jogger since I hate jogging. Lose It keeps track of what you eat and how many calories you’ve burned or earned. I don’t do it daily, just when I feel like I’ve gotten really far off track and need a little refocusing.
I hate how the media tells us we are supposed to obsess over our weight and how we look and how we dress. I eat and exercise to feel good. and truth be told I exercise so I can eat more. Exercise should be a positive part of our lives. To make our days better. I certainly know I feel MUCH better on the days I exercise. My lunchtime walks are the source of my sanity during the day. The days I don’t get out, I am not a happy camper.
Did you notice anything was missing? Dairy. The last couple of weeks, I’ve been laying off the dairy. I tend to go overboard with diary, so I’m taking a break. When I’m on dairy my breakfast is Bob’s Red Mill Muesli with a half a cup of non-fat greek yogurt.
Ok. enough boring food talk. What do your weekday meals look like and how do you find balance?
01 Wednesday Feb 2012
Posted in photography, wordless wednesday
Tags
bridges, geese, photography, Portland, public art, rock garden, trees, walking
18 Friday Nov 2011
Again with the bananas…
Good fuel that comes wrapped in it’s own packaging, how can you go wrong?! When Kristin and I go on our morning walks she like to kick my ass with these hills, one in particular. She eats breakfast as soon as her eyes pop open. I have to work my way to breakfast, it takes me a few hours some days. So, on the mornings we walk, I put a banana in my pocket.
A few nutrition facts about our beloved banana courtesy of the Chiquita Banana folks:
Bananas contain 20% of the Daily Value of Vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 contributes to red blood cell formation, the reduction of fatigue and transporting iron through the body.
Bananas contain 15% of the Daily Value of Vitamin C. Vitamin C contributes to the reduction of fatigue; helps develop and maintain skin, bones, cartilage, blood vessels, gums and teeth, while reducing free radicals and protecting cells from oxidative damage.
Bananas contain 13% of the Daily Value of Potassium. Potassium helps maintain a normal blood pressure (already within normal limits) and muscle function.
A single serving (one medium-sized Chiquita banana) also contains 12% of the daily-recommended dietary fiber intake for a normal adult. Fiber has been shown to improve digestive function.
ok, enough boring stuff. Now the juicy stuff…
When I had a sleepover last weekend with the boys (Get your minds out of the gutter! remember- I’m Auntie Gayle) I made a gluten free peanut butter banana muffin. YUM!
I started with Pamela’s Gluten Free Baking Mix, much cheaper and easier than sourcing a dozen different gluten free flours. As my norm, I started with the recipe on the bag and just winged it from there.
1 1/2 cups Pamela’s Baking mix
1/4+ cup water
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sugar in the raw
1 banana (I’d use more next time)
1/4(ish) cup peanut butter (M said it needed more- I agree)
the recipe calls for nuts, but there was one in the group that didn’t like nuts, so I left them out. But if this were just for me I’d add the 1/4 cup it suggested, if not more.
I, of course, got a shrug and they’re ok. But word trickled back to me that they actually got rave reviews. Good thing, cause I liked ’em and will be making them again, though next time I’ll probably add chocolate chips!
I’m going to leave you with a little ditty to remind you about the greatness of the banana.
