Patting Myself On the Back

Because I'm wearing jeans I haven't been able to wear in a few years.  Yay, me!  And the vest I put on this evening is quite a bit roomier.  Hooray!  I've been concentrating on eating WW meals and tracking what I eat each day since I've been sheltering at home and it's really paying off.  I went back through my Bullet Journal pages since March 16th and I've lost 12.5# since then.  I'm amazed.  I don't think I look all that much different but when these jeans were easy to close this morning I felt so proud.

I took my huge list to the grocery this morning and spent an hour getting everything on it, including weed killer to spray on the jillion thistles that are growing in my lawn.  It felt so luxurious to be in the grocery, like a special treat.  I wasn't as anxious this time since I read an article by an immunologist who explained how the virus is transmitted.  He said that a solo trip to the store is pretty low risk if you're careful, and I was.  It's time for another Investment Cooking spree and today's recipe was Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls which is ground turkey, tomatoes, onions, and cabbage stew.  I'll make a different recipe on each of the next three days and then I'll have suppers for the month.  That sure simplifies cooking-for-one every day which I wouldn't do, or at least wouldn't do well.




The red-tailed hawk swooped by this morning and landed in the tree again to survey the bird buffet.  He didn't stay long but long enough that all of the birdies suddenly went into hiding and long enough for me to snap one photo.




You can tell that I've been feeding birds in the same place for years because this starling and sparrow were in the pit that the birds and squirrels have dug under the feeder looking for fallen seeds.  There's enough seed in there that's spilled over the years that they're below ground level.  I should probably fill it in and make them start over.  Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.



Sundown tonight was all pastels on the horizon.







11 May--Barbara Malcolm, Tropical Obsession.

They came to Bonaire because Jack had read something about the island in a magazine or heard about it from one of his cronies as a place with casinos. There were casinos on the island, it was true, but they did not open until eight in the evening and were not hard core, high rolling casinos like Vegas or the Bahamas or even Aruba. Bonaire’s casinos were more like casinos-lite, but Jack went anyway.

Jack came back late from the casino. Mona had stayed home saying she was not feeling well, but she really needed a night off from being Jack's arm candy. Jack insisted that she not go to bed before he got home on those nights that she did not go with him, and she was certain that he stayed out later and later looking for a reason to yell at her. She was determined not to give him a reason and would doze as soon as he left, even setting an alarm so she would not sleep too long if she was extra tired.  She would be sitting quietly reading or on the patio watching the stars and listening to the waves when he rolled in.

Most nights she went along to the casino. At least there were other people in the place to look at and maybe to talk to. She would stand beside Jack's chair as he played blackjack, his favorite game, making sure he had a fresh drink at hand, but as the evening got later, she would lean over and whisper, "my feet hurt."  He would flap his hand at her as if she were a pesky fly. That was her signal that she was free to find a seat. Most nights there was at least one other wife or girlfriend in the same predicament so the women would sit together drinking coffee or soda waiting for their own personal high roller to be ready to leave.

Even in the Plaza Casino, the fanciest casino in the swankiest resort on the island, Mona felt overdressed. She had asked Jack, begged really, if she could buy more appropriate clothes to wear.

He said, "Hell no. I am not paying for you to run around here looking like I can’t afford to dress you nice.  You got plenty of nice things, wear ‘em." 

Mona knew very well that as soon as Jack started talking like an old black and white movie gangster the discussion was over and she had lost.

That trip to the grocery today made me feel almost normal which was such a relief.  And I just learned from a knitting friend that I can order plants online from a local greenhouse and pick them up curbside so I'll be able to get the garden going next week.  Yay!
--Barbara