Another good day although less productive than my Saturday. I had a good long chat with Mum and Dad before they left at 12 but must admit to chafing slightly at the inactivity. I realise how busy I am generally now (similar to what Antonia was saying on her blog) so sitting and chatting for a couple of hours was quite difficult.
I have been trying to (gently) encourage my parents to be more active but could see that Dad wasn't going to go for a walk as the weather was very changeable in the morning. (Mum is a bit of a lost cause at the moment - she has no interest in exercising and is incredibly stubborn so that's that I'm afraid.) I was chatting to Dad about steps etc and trying to do 10,000 and it seemed to catch his interest so I dug out one of the many pedometers littering my house and passed it over. It was hilarious - he was striding round the house, counting his steps and then checking the screen to see how accurate it was. He's taken it with him so I'm sure I'll have an update as to how many he manages over the next week!!
After his heart attack and bypass op about 12 years ago he used to go for a walk every day but, in recent years, this has fallen by the wayside. He does more gardening now that Mum is less active but not much aerobic stuff. I'm hoping that the step thing and the pedometer will spark his interest and get him back to walking round the village again. He always takes Shelagh out when she stays with them! So - it's not just you lot that I bully into exercising - the next challenge will be getting Diarmuid to do something!!
D arrived home from Wales shortly after they left and told tales of his big adventure. I posted the picture of him with his dogfish 'cos he looks so proud of himself! He was tired out but couldn't resist unpacking the new garden furniture which was delivered on Saturday. It's a boy thing - he must unwrap any parcel immediately even if it won't be used for a while!
I'm really pleased with the furniture. There's a big table which extends to seat 10 easily, 8 folding armchairs with cushions and a parasol. The table and chairs are made of Acacia hardwood and the cushions and parasol are a nice shade of linen/cream. It was a fantastic deal on the internet. I'm told that garden furniture is cheap at the moment because of the terrible summer. I remember looking at this set wistfully back in April because it was well over a grand and over my budget - I got it this week for £429 including the cushions and parasol!! Bargain or what?! It'll look good in France too...
I can't WAIT to have people round for a meal/bbq in the new garden - it's so close now. We sat at the table and stared at each other while making a list of all the tidying up things which still have to be done. We then made coffees, snacks and packs up etc and had a happy half hour down by the pond. It really is nice down there - we would never have put in a pond if we hadn't employed a garden designer but we're so pleased we did - it gives us a reason to come down to the end of the garden and sit on the deck. The designer did the design and the planting plan and we have done all the work and I'm sure the garden is SO much better than if we'd economised and made it up ourselves. One of the best couple of hundred quid we've spent on the garden to be honest!
I went for a good long run in the early evening sunshine with the dog. I wasn't in the mood for big hills yesterday so ended up running up the old railway track to the dams, round the dams to a little cove called Raspberry Bay (because of all the wild raspberries that grow there - and, yes, I did have some of the late stragglers - delicious!) and then back up to a pub on the main road a few miles outside the village. It has a sunny front seating area so the dog and I sat out there and waited for D to come up and join us. I got chatting to a couple of bikers who always stop at that pub as it's on a good biker road and D told me later that he had felt a novel sensation of proprietory pride/jealousy when he walked up to see me chatting to them and clocked them checking out my backside (in tight lycra) as we left!!
We had a really good talk yesterday evening about how proud he is of me now and how happy. I tried to keep his feet on the ground a bit to say that I've not totally cracked it, that this is a long long journey but I knew he wasnt' really taking it in. He got all emotional which was really lovely for me but I'm not like that - more realistic, less emotional - I KNOW the struggles I have ahead and the likelihood (to be fair and frank) that I will regain at least some of this weight. Maybe it's our different heritages: D is a romantic Celt through and through and is totally black and white about things so he is happy and thinks this is it. I'm more hard headed and aware of the shades of grey so see the big picture stretching into the future. I really enjoyed his pleasure though and am pleased that he could take me with him and his enthusiasm.
Hope you all had a good weekend and have a good diet week.
I have been trying to (gently) encourage my parents to be more active but could see that Dad wasn't going to go for a walk as the weather was very changeable in the morning. (Mum is a bit of a lost cause at the moment - she has no interest in exercising and is incredibly stubborn so that's that I'm afraid.) I was chatting to Dad about steps etc and trying to do 10,000 and it seemed to catch his interest so I dug out one of the many pedometers littering my house and passed it over. It was hilarious - he was striding round the house, counting his steps and then checking the screen to see how accurate it was. He's taken it with him so I'm sure I'll have an update as to how many he manages over the next week!!
After his heart attack and bypass op about 12 years ago he used to go for a walk every day but, in recent years, this has fallen by the wayside. He does more gardening now that Mum is less active but not much aerobic stuff. I'm hoping that the step thing and the pedometer will spark his interest and get him back to walking round the village again. He always takes Shelagh out when she stays with them! So - it's not just you lot that I bully into exercising - the next challenge will be getting Diarmuid to do something!!
D arrived home from Wales shortly after they left and told tales of his big adventure. I posted the picture of him with his dogfish 'cos he looks so proud of himself! He was tired out but couldn't resist unpacking the new garden furniture which was delivered on Saturday. It's a boy thing - he must unwrap any parcel immediately even if it won't be used for a while!
I'm really pleased with the furniture. There's a big table which extends to seat 10 easily, 8 folding armchairs with cushions and a parasol. The table and chairs are made of Acacia hardwood and the cushions and parasol are a nice shade of linen/cream. It was a fantastic deal on the internet. I'm told that garden furniture is cheap at the moment because of the terrible summer. I remember looking at this set wistfully back in April because it was well over a grand and over my budget - I got it this week for £429 including the cushions and parasol!! Bargain or what?! It'll look good in France too...
I can't WAIT to have people round for a meal/bbq in the new garden - it's so close now. We sat at the table and stared at each other while making a list of all the tidying up things which still have to be done. We then made coffees, snacks and packs up etc and had a happy half hour down by the pond. It really is nice down there - we would never have put in a pond if we hadn't employed a garden designer but we're so pleased we did - it gives us a reason to come down to the end of the garden and sit on the deck. The designer did the design and the planting plan and we have done all the work and I'm sure the garden is SO much better than if we'd economised and made it up ourselves. One of the best couple of hundred quid we've spent on the garden to be honest!
I went for a good long run in the early evening sunshine with the dog. I wasn't in the mood for big hills yesterday so ended up running up the old railway track to the dams, round the dams to a little cove called Raspberry Bay (because of all the wild raspberries that grow there - and, yes, I did have some of the late stragglers - delicious!) and then back up to a pub on the main road a few miles outside the village. It has a sunny front seating area so the dog and I sat out there and waited for D to come up and join us. I got chatting to a couple of bikers who always stop at that pub as it's on a good biker road and D told me later that he had felt a novel sensation of proprietory pride/jealousy when he walked up to see me chatting to them and clocked them checking out my backside (in tight lycra) as we left!!
We had a really good talk yesterday evening about how proud he is of me now and how happy. I tried to keep his feet on the ground a bit to say that I've not totally cracked it, that this is a long long journey but I knew he wasnt' really taking it in. He got all emotional which was really lovely for me but I'm not like that - more realistic, less emotional - I KNOW the struggles I have ahead and the likelihood (to be fair and frank) that I will regain at least some of this weight. Maybe it's our different heritages: D is a romantic Celt through and through and is totally black and white about things so he is happy and thinks this is it. I'm more hard headed and aware of the shades of grey so see the big picture stretching into the future. I really enjoyed his pleasure though and am pleased that he could take me with him and his enthusiasm.
Hope you all had a good weekend and have a good diet week.
No comments:
Post a Comment