Friday 30 May 2014

Feel-good Friday


Thursday 29 May 2014

Diary of a Dieter Week 20


start date: 22nd January 2014
start weight: 22st 13.5lbs (321 pounds)
current weight: 22st 4lbs (313 pounds)
total loss to date: 9.5lbs


Gosh, it's seven whole weeks since I lasted posted an update in my dieting diary!

To be honest, I have been hovering on the brink of giving up on the whole dieting thing; my weight has been going up and down these past few weeks and I just haven't been able to get my head in the right place to really get on with it.  But, I really like going to the group and I like the other folk who go there too.  Everyone is so friendly, and Amanda (the group leader) is such a lovely person, and really committed to helping all her members succeed in their quest to become slimmer.

And if I give up yet again, what will become of my health?  I need to do this, for the sake of both my physical and mental health ~ and also for the peace of mind of my husband and children.  I know they all worry terribly about my size and the toll it takes on my well-being.

I look at my loss of "only" 9.5 pounds, which doesn't seem much at all when one considers that I started at the group back on the 22nd January.  But nevertheless it is still a loss ~ and I need to keep reminding myself that before I joined the group, I had topped the scales at around 23 1/2 stone (329 pounds) last year.  

So, once again it's time for me to pull up my big-girl-panties and do this!    

Maya Angelou...



Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me. 

The Thursday Poem


Potted Flowers with Books IV
Eric Barjot


Gertrude's Prayer

That which is marred at birth Time shall not ment,
Nor water out of bitter well make clean;
An evil thing returneth at the end,
Or elseway walketh in our blood unseen.
Whereby the more is sorrow in certaine -
Dayspring mishandled cometh not againe.

To-bruized be that slender, sterting spray
Out of the oake's rind that should betide
A branch of girt and goodliness, straightaway
Her spring is turned on herself, and wried
And knotted like some gall or veiney wen. -
Dayspring mishandled cometh not agen.

Noontime repayeth never morning-bliss -
Sith noon to morn is incomparable;
And, so it be our dawning goth amiss,
None other after-hour serveth well.
Ah!  Jesu-Moder, pitie my oe paine -
Dayspring mishandled cometh not againe!

Rudyard Kipling
(30th December 1865 - 18th January 1936)

Wednesday 28 May 2014

What we did last Wednesday!


Yes, that's right ~ we attended a Royal Garden Party :-)  Adrian was nominated by his company for his years of service (36, to be precise!) to the rail industry.

It was a rather surreal experience; we walked through the Queen's "front door", through her house and out into her back garden!  Of course, we shared the occasion with around 10,000 other folk but it was still a special afternoon.

We weren't that close to the front of the crowd to see HM walking along the "avenue" of people waiting to be presented, but had a good view of her and Prince Philip standing at the top of the terrace steps whilst the national anthem was played.  She looked very nice in a deep lavender outfit, and Prince Philip looked very well especially considering that he had had a minor operation on his hand that morning.

As always at these royal garden parties, other members of the family were also present.  Last week this included Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and Princess Beatrice.   


After the Queen had passed along the avenue, Adrian and I strolled around the garden.  It was lovely, so peaceful, and hard to remember that we were in the heart of London.  It was very interesting to see the different people who were there, a good afternoon for people watching LOL  I had been in agonies over what to wear for the occasion, but needn't have worried in the slightest when I saw what some of the ladies had chosen!  There were also lots of folk in military uniforms, members of the clergy in their various-coloured cassocks and some folk in the national dress of their respective countries.

A once-in-a-lifetime experience and a day to remember :-)

Words on Wednesday

Alphabet Overlay 1



A journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step

Sunday 25 May 2014

The Sunday Prayer

Dove of Peace by Pablo Picasso


Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

Saturday 24 May 2014

Friday 23 May 2014

Feel-good Friday


Thursday 22 May 2014

The Thursday Poem

Potted Flowers with Books IV
Eric Barjot



I Am Not I

I am not I.
I am this one
Walking beside me whom I do not see,
Whom at times I manage to visit,
And at other times I forget.
The one who remains silent when I talk,
The one who forgives, sweet, when I hate,
The one who takes a walk when I am indoors,
The one who will remain standing when I die.

Juan Ramon Jimenez
(24th December 1881 - 29th May 1958)

translated by Robert Bly
(23rd December 1926 - )

Wednesday 21 May 2014

Words on Wednesday

Alphabet Overlay 1




We don't believe in rheumatism and true love until after the first attack...

Sunday 18 May 2014

The Sunday Prayer

Dove of Peace by Pablo Picasso


Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

Friday 16 May 2014

Feel-good Friday


Thursday 15 May 2014

The Thursday Poem



My Love Is Like To Ice

My love is like to ice, and I to fire:
How comes it then that this her cold so great
Is not dissolved through my so hot desire,
But harder grows the more I her entreat?
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
Is not allayed by her heart-frozen cold,
But that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
And feel my flames augmented manifold?
What more miraculous thing may be told,
That fire, which all things melts, should harden ice,
And ice, which is congealed with senseless cold,
Should kindle fire by wonderful device?
Such is the power of love in gentle mind,
That it can alter the course of kind.

Edmund Spenser
(c.1552 - 16th Janaury 1599)

Wednesday 14 May 2014

Words on Wednesday

Alphabet Overlay 1




Any idiot can face a crisis ~ it's day-t0-day living that wears you out!

Sunday 11 May 2014

The Sunday Prayer

Dove of Peace by Pablo Picasso

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

Friday 9 May 2014

Feel-good Friday


Thursday 8 May 2014

The Thursday Poem



The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming!  Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pittiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it 
Reel shadows of indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

William Butler Yeats
(13th June 1865 - 28th January 1939)

Wednesday 7 May 2014

Words on Wednesday

Alphabet Overlay 1



Provision for others is a fundamental responsibility of human life

Sunday 4 May 2014

The Sunday Prayer

Dove of Peace by Pablo Picasso

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.
For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.
For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

Friday 2 May 2014

Feel-good Friday


Thursday 1 May 2014

The Thursday Poem

Potted Flowers with Books IV
Eric Barjot


First they came for the Jews

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists
and I did not speak out -
because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out -
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me -
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Niemoller
(14th January 1892 - 6th March 1984)