Friend of Julie: Parties and Pelicans

It turns out, I don't have Internet access at the house I'm staying at, so I'll write and then posts my blogs on my way home. I also can't upload images to the blog from my iPad or iPhone, so I'll add photos when I get home. I'll have to find a way to add photos when I'm traveling or find a better blog system. I also noticed there are no paragraph breaks in my last entry I'm not sure what's up with that either.

I have a few hours to myself (well Carl's mother-in-law is here, but at age 92 and a half, Rita is pretty quiet). My brother Carl and his wife Arlene went off to run errands at Home Depot and Walmart. I opted to stay home and blog, even though I'm not sure when I'll be able to post; Internet access isn't set up yet.

It's 11 am and I'm sitting on the patio, in the shade, listening to the gurgling of the pool a few feet away, pools of fish jumping, and watching pelicans and other birds fly along the canal. It's too late for breakfast, the birds feed on the canal fish early morning and are done by 9 am. Each day has had a great start: a 2.2 mile walk with my brother, cooking breakfast for all of us, and then enjoying our coffee and eggs watching the birds successfully pilferage for breakfast. Then we're ready for a full-day of planned and unplanned activities.

The patio (or as they refer to it in the Hawaiian island "lanai", is completely screened in; locally they refer to this as a cage. It seems an odd concept to me, but it really keeps the bugs out and a neighbor who came for drinks last night told stories of birds getting into her house after a hurricane took down the cage screen. She really started to panic when she saw a Pelican looking in the house with serious determination; screens were replaced the next day. I've a few photos to add here in a few days.

My first morning here, I stocked up on foods to meet my needs, as the kitchen was full of processed things I no loner eat. I share my food along the way, but I needed to make sure my nutritional needs were met, so I bought a whole chicken, mayo, ham, cheese, coleslaw, lots of lemons and limes for my vodka tonic and plain drinking water, eggs, half and half, fresh corn, cukes, and a few other veggies. Grapefruit is growing in the yard, and since I'm not having any, I am enjoying using the hand juicer I bought them and making fresh squeezed grapefruit juice for them. I like the juicer so much, I'm going to get me one when I return home. I'll add a photo here when I have that feature option.

For breakfast this morning, I browned up small round sausages in one pan and made English style eggs in another. I chopped up a portion of a red pepper and as it cooked slightly, whisked 6 eggs with a fork, added small pieces of Swiss cheese, add the eggs to the peppers and then spooned the mixture until everything was cooked.

Early this morning, I read a blog by Michael Hyatt "How a shift in your vocabulary can instantly change your attitude" (12/12/11). He talks about the power of words and the I impact words have on others and on us. For example, we talk about things we have to do, rather than saying we get to do something. For me, it feels better to say "I get to exercise" rather than "I have to exercise". When I say "I have to do something" it feels more like a punishment than a good thing; exercise is not a punishment. The real punishment is not being able to exercise. I was happy for this reminder, to stay positive: I get to exercise! I'm especially grateful that while I'm here in Florida for the week, I get to exercise every morning with Carl, who only a few weeks ago finished chemo and radiation to treat a squamouscell cancer in his neck.

We've had a couple of small parties, which reinforced my decision to bring in healthy foods, and there are more visitors at the house as I type; it's almost 3:30 pm. I asked to borrow the car and made a run to Barnes and Noble for Internet access and because it's getting really hot today and I can't stand the heat. If I stayed home, I fear I would have gone to bed for a few hours, it's cooler in my bedroom and I wouldn't have to hold back on my urge to fall asleep. Tonight we go to friends for a holiday party and we were ask see to only bring ourselves. I have food options at home to fall back on if they don't have healthy option, but I suspect they will have good choices for me.

Time to get back on the road. As I said, I 'll keep writing and post when I can.

Are you doing well at getting through the holiday parties?