Monday Musings

What a mixed weekend it was! Amy was in town and that's always wonderful! But my desktop comptuer got sick again that's a downer.

How can someone be so lucky and fortunate and then be thrown into a tailspin over something so unimportant. I'm thinking I just got discombobulated and I'm having trouble righting myself.

I knew I was blessed to have so much resolve and focus on my fitness and weight loss efforts but now it's slipping away and I'm not sure why. I know I bent some of my own rules this weekend but I should be able to do that and go on. Is that how we fall off the weight loss wagon? By starting to do everything halfway or do we start doing things halfway because our resolve is ebbing? I wish I knew the answer and I wish I could get back in the groove.

I had some beer over the weekend but I'm going to do that in my life. We went out to eat at Olive Garden and, as I found out when I got home, even their best choices aren't real good ones when you're trying to LOSE weight. But I intend to go to Olive Garden sometimes in my life. Amy and I went to Qdoba Friday night and I got two of my favorite meals - naked burritos with black beans, chicken, cilantro rice, and a little queso. I've been doing this every week though for about three weeks and I got away with it. (By the way, one of the meals goes into the refrigerator for later in the week.)

Was it the combination of all these no noes that knocked me for a loop? I'm starting to cheat on my Hostess cakes and I haven't been as disciplined in other areas as I wanted to be. I'm walking everyday but I'm not achieving the miles walked that I told myself I'd do. Ugh! I just hope I can find my way out of this before it's too late.

Then, to top it off, when I walked at Striebel Pond last night it felt terribly lonely and desolate. There was not a swan in sight. Not one. I've never been there when there wasn't at least one on site but people have told me that it's happened before. I guess I'll have to wait and see if they come back.

I started my walk right after an unexpected thunderstorm and the clouds reflected the turbulence that was still in the area.

All too soon the sun was slipping below the horizon and it was getting dark even earlier than I expected because of the cloud cover.

So, I tried to quicken my tired step to get as many miles in as possible before I had to pack it in due to darkness. As I rounded the southeast corner, I came upon a woman (about my age) pacing back and forth and looking distressed. It turned out that there was a turtle on the walking path and she didn't know what to do about it. I did though. I took pictures. It was too dark to not use the flash but just the same (after missing two turtle photographing opportunities this summer), I was determined to capture his beautiful countenance. Or something.

While I clicked away, the other woman fretted about how to get him off the path. In my mind, he should get off the path the same way he got on. Finally she agreed and we ended up walking together for about the next mile. It was really nice to have someone to walk with and the dark isn't nearly as intimidating when you have company. Plus time goes much faster with a partner. I'm going to have to find a way to get Mr. Right out there every night.

Perhaps I'll run into her again someday. In the meantime, I'll try to get out of my funk and get out to Striebel Pond early enough to avoid the dark and I'll look forward to the hoped for reappearance of the swan family.