The Visible Woman...October 6, 2003

The day felt strange with things interrupted, two excursions to do errands, looking through stuff and deciding where to put it and...I even found a frog hopping around the guest bedroom. How weird is that?

We were going through the water aerobics class. We've gotten to know the drill. A lot of stuff like jumping jacks, opposite hand to heel front, twist. Then going around the pool with mostly legs sitting on the noodle (this is deep water but we use floats and, I found, it's easier to get exercise as instructed using them). It seems the going around the pool always stops with 'flutter kick straight down.' But before we got to the tread water and using the styrofoam dumbbells to exercise arms and pike for abs, the thunder roared. The woman (Betty) who is a ex-lifeguard and Red Cross volunteer called a halt to the class then. Some vultures circled high in the sky and my dad joked that they were waiting for fried people. I'm taking this class so my dad will take it.

So, only thirty minutes of water aerobics. I made up for it in the gym by exercising pretty hard. It feels like more exercise in the gym. Than in the water. But it's weird to start the water thing and get interrupted.

At home, I messed with the tedious task of going through and sorting lots of stuff, trying to to plan to live in the house without the master bed/bath. I've come up with a plan that allows us to avoid renting a storage unit. I hope anyway. I seemed to be lost in the tedium of a bunch of mostly sad and useless possessions that I can't bring myself to get rid of.

And then I saw the frog. I went into the guest room (which also now houses luggage, a large library of books and a display of various collectibles) to put something in the drawers I'll use when we are displaced and sleeping in there on the sleeper sofa. Something moving caught my eye. A frog???

I caught the frog under a trash can, deftly (yeah, right) transferred him to a box and closed the lid while I took him outdoors. How did he get in? Did Chalow bring him in to play? I should have taken his picture but I was too suprised to think about it.

A couple of times FFP came down and ask me to do errands. On one excursion I stopped by the Project Transitions thrift store with two heavy, bulging shopping bags of miscelleneous stuff. I can safely say that I got rid of more than I acquired today although two books did arrive from Amazon.

Finally, it was time to get ready to go out. The hosts for the party have an opulent house, all done up in stuff from some period that competes with chateaus in France. I have been to the house before so I'm beyond being impressed about it. I make my usual comment about the lovely pair (yes, pair) of antique pianos. I mutter to a friend, who lives in a pretty impressive, although not 'Louis the something' home herself, a comment that is no less funny for having been uttered by me to someone else: "If I had a library, it would have books in it." The library has shelves and two levels with a circular staircase to the balcony. But it has very few books. Some expensive and fragile-looking collectibles, though.

It was a strange and disjointed day. When the usual people ask me what I was doing in retirement I said 'nothing' but it felt awfully busy. I didn't mention that I even found a frog.

Monday, October 6, 2003

A Journal from Austin, Texas. A Project of LBFFP Stealth Publishing.
food	reading	writing	time	exercise	health and mood

a visible frog in case today's visitor wants to start his own journal...I was too stupid to take a picture of the guy after I captured him and took him outside	I even found a frog The day felt strange with things interrupted, two excursions to do errands, looking through stuff and deciding where to put it and...I even found a frog hopping around the guest bedroom. How weird is that? We were going through the water aerobics class. We've gotten to know the drill. A lot of stuff like jumping jacks, opposite hand to heel front, twist. Then going around the pool with mostly legs sitting on the noodle (this is deep water but we use floats and, I found, it's easier to get exercise as instructed using them). It seems the going around the pool always stops with 'flutter kick straight down.' But before we got to the tread water and using the styrofoam dumbbells to exercise arms and pike for abs, the thunder roared. The woman (Betty) who is a ex-lifeguard and Red Cross volunteer called a halt to the class then. Some vultures circled high in the sky and my dad joked that they were waiting for fried people. I'm taking this class so my dad will take it. So, only thirty minutes of water aerobics. I made up for it in the gym by exercising pretty hard. It feels like more exercise in the gym. Than in the water. But it's weird to start the water thing and get interrupted. At home, I messed with the tedious task of going through and sorting lots of stuff, trying to to plan to live in the house without the master bed/bath. I've come up with a plan that allows us to avoid renting a storage unit. I hope anyway. I seemed to be lost in the tedium of a bunch of mostly sad and useless possessions that I can't bring myself to get rid of. And then I saw the frog. I went into the guest room (which also now houses luggage, a large library of books and a display of various collectibles) to put something in the drawers I'll use when we are displaced and sleeping in there on the sleeper sofa. Something moving caught my eye. A frog??? I caught the frog under a trash can, deftly (yeah, right) transferred him to a box and closed the lid while I took him outdoors. How did he get in? Did Chalow bring him in to play? I should have taken his picture but I was too suprised to think about it. A couple of times FFP came down and ask me to do errands. On one excursion I stopped by the Project Transitions thrift store with two heavy, bulging shopping bags of miscelleneous stuff. I can safely say that I got rid of more than I acquired today although two books did arrive from Amazon. Finally, it was time to get ready to go out. The hosts for the party have an opulent house, all done up in stuff from some period that competes with chateaus in France. I have been to the house before so I'm beyond being impressed about it. I make my usual comment about the lovely pair (yes, pair) of antique pianos. I mutter to a friend, who lives in a pretty impressive, although not 'Louis the something' home herself, a comment that is no less funny for having been uttered by me to someone else: "If I had a library, it would have books in it." The library has shelves and two levels with a circular staircase to the balcony. But it has very few books. Some expensive and fragile-looking collectibles, though. It was a strange and disjointed day. When the usual people ask me what I was doing in retirement I said 'nothing' but it felt awfully busy. I didn't mention that I even found a frog.
JUST TYPING A frog. A lot of stuff. Useless. But too valuable and too full of sentiment to toss.
		Food Diary. *breakfast* bowl of Puffins with 2% milk and a banana *lunch* spinach salad with cottage cheese, cheese, zuchinni, broccoli, sunflower sprouts, carrots, green onions, Martin Brothers garlic Ranch 5.5 ounce can of Spicy V-8 *snacks barbeque lowfat soy chips (yummy) and hot tofu dip (also yummy) dinner* various hors d'ouevres like ceviche and cheese-stuffed peppers and a dinner with chicken roulade and vegies and a tostado with tasty stuff and the equiv of about 2 1/2 glasses of wine (red, if you must now, some Syrah and some Zin) At least there were healthy things included. I've started reading labels anyway. Soy products are supposed to be good for you. Hey...I read the other day that cottage cheese wasn't as good a source of calcium as other stuff. Who knew? ANd I'm right to avoid sodas...they interfere with calcium absorption because of the fizzy stuff. Caffeine with meals interferes with iron aborption...that I knew. So a coke with a meal can add 150 calories and rob you of calcium and iron. Anyway...what I'm going to try to do is eat more stuff that's good for you like vegie juice, spinach, bananas, ceviche and not worry too much and, of course, not drink so much. But we had a Knights of the Vine event. How are you going to avoid alcohol in such a case?
		Time flies.... I thought I might go to the club befor water aerobics but, of course, I didn't. I stayed up too late. When water aerobics was interrupted by the threat of lightning I went into the club and didn't get home until about eleven. There were TV guys here then. I seemed to spend a lot of the day moving little things from place to place in a quest to control the stuff that must get out of the way of the remodel. It's very tedious deciding what to do with stuff and getting it moved. I also went out twice to run errands (bank, P.O; client office, thrift store, P.O., Central Market).

		Reading. almost finished Two Sides of the Beach by Edmund Blandford. Picking next book is tough. Read some of the papers.
		Just this journal. I'm going to write when I get the house ready for remodel. Yeah, right. Or write.
		Exercise one half hour water aerobics (interrupted by the threat of lightning) thirty-two minutes on recumbent bicycle Lower body exercises some abs thirty-two minutes on recumbent bicycle
	.	104/62 66 (before coffee) Feel strong today. Mood is pretty good, too.