Not true

Disclaimer:  The following pictures do not depict the Peak District as it currently appears. 

(In that the pictures show a warm, sunny environment and it is currently grey, chilly and extremely windy.)

These were taken on a walk with Kerry a couple of Saturdays ago.  We met up at Shatton and walked through this beautiful, flowery meadow along the river to Hathersage.  Buttercups and blue  skies were the order of the the day

The grass was a bit long and tangley for the dogs' liking as it prevents them running fast and chasing swallows but at least not many sheep filled fields so they didn't have to be on the lead for too long.

We stopped for a swim in the river (when I say "we" I mean we all stopped but only Shelagh actually swam of course).

What a strange spring/early summer we are having.  As spring was so very late, the usual order for flowering is all upside down.   Everything is blooming at the same time.  The hawthorn blossom is very late and now coincides with the buttercups and cow parsley.  It is making for a stunning season which (just about) makes up for its late arrival.

Pungent wild garlic on the riverbank.

And bluebells too!  Talk about topsy turvy.

We stopped for a mini picnic near The Plough pub outside Hathersage.

Then climbed the steep hill to head back.  This is the view back towards Hathersage.

And this is looking forward towards Win Hill (on the left) and Bamford Edge (on the right).

We walked through a lovely, shady beech and bluebell wood.

Enjoying the views.

We are watched closely as we pass and mother sheep and her healthy looking offspring.

This one doesn't need shearing, its fleece has just peeled off!

The stunning Offerton Hall.

This week has been tricky.  I have been tightening up on my food and drink but my weight has lagged behind (and, presumably, previous excesses have caught up with me together with water retention) so that, although I have been hoping for good results on the scales, the opposite has been true and my weight has jumped massively.

I'm not going to report the actual number because I KNOW that it is artificially inflated by TOTM issues and I just don't want to say it out loud if you know what I mean.  I felt as though I'd swallowed a football for a couple of days and was horribly uncomfortable.

I managed to keep the faith and stick to my guns however and so I'm hoping that normal service will be resumed soon.  That said, normal service at the moment is pretty woeful.  And it  Is. Going. To. Change.  I have had enough of this crap. What am I waiting for?  Until I've put all the weight I dropped back on and more??  No.  I'm not going to repeat that tired old pattern.  This year is going to be different.

I'm particularly buoyed by the fact that we are talking about next year's holiday.  Given that it doesn't look like we're going to have a holiday away this year due to Richard's captain's year and our upcoming house buying/decorating we're aiming to have our first holiday abroad together next year.  It's not certain yet but we'll probably be going to Malaysia.  My brother and his wife have moved over there and it would be nice to visit them and use their swanky pad in KL as a base for at least part of the time.

I do not want to be a fattie out there in the world of tiny, skinny Asian women.  I want to feel sleek and fit into nice summer clothes.  We'll probably be going this time next year so I have 12 months to drop 3 stone!  It's gonna happen peeps, mark my words.

We were over in Lincolnshire at my parents' for a 60th birthday party.  My niece and nephew Laila and Lachlan were there too en route from Canada to Malaysia for the summer so we had a brilliant catch up on what they've been up to and a good laugh.  They are nice kids. 

Lachlan, the lucky git, has, as I may have mentioned, just spent 2 semesters on a tall ship sailing from Istanbul, through the Med to Lisbon, Morocco, Tenerife, across the Atlantic to Brazil, then back over to the Ascension Islands, Cape Town, Namibia, St Helena, the Caribbean and up the eastern coast of the US and Canada back to its home port of Lunenberg in Nova Scotia.  What an amazing trip!  Receiving the email updates and facebook pictures has been driving me wild with jealousy for the last 10 months and, having spoken to him about it this weekend, it was even better than it sounds!

Laila has finished her degree and, after her summer in Malaysia, will be heading out to Calgary to find work in the oilfields there.  She is missing her boyfriend but excited about the future ahead of her. 

Talking to them was fun but made me feel old and a little staid to be honest.  I have spent the last couple of years hunkering down emotionally, financially and in life terms.  Perhaps I need to stretch my wings a bit and set my sights slightly higher now.  I'm not talking about major life changes or anything, just opening my mind up a bit and setting my targets at a realistic level.  I'm not in crisis mode anymore but after 2 and half years in crisis mode, it is hard to let that mindset go.  It is time to try.

So, that leaves me working towards the positive in both my life and my weight/fitness.  Which is a pretty big statement.  So, rather than leave it at that, which is quite unmanageable, I'm going to close with a mini target like I used to do in days gone by:

Tomorrow, I'm going to go swimming or running and I'm going to follow the SWTOMG plan to the letter. Okay, chimp?!