It’s been a big weekend. Friday was ANZAC Day. I don’t know if non-Australians are aware of this holiday, but basically we remind ourselves of what a bunch of tools we were, back in WW I, invading Turkey and basically getting our arses kicked for our trouble, that war sucks, and that the people who have gone to war for us really deserved a whole lot better.

It’s also my mum’s birthday.

It was an odd ANZAC Day for me. Again, very Australian reference, but HMAS Sydney was lost off the West Australian coast during WWII and there were no survivors. Mum had 4 brothers and all of them were in the war, but only Ray, who was on the Sydney, didn’t come back. It was one of those stupid, tragic stories: Ray was actually stationed on HMAS Perth, but went AWL with a friend. He was collected by the Military Police and returned to the RAN, and the next ship along happened to be the Sydney. A couple of weeks ago, the wreck of the Sydney was finally located. Yeah, it’s been that long. My only other relative who didn’t return from the second world war was Dad’s father. He was a prisoner on the Burma Railway, and like so many, died. Starvation? Injuries? Sheer mistreatment? Who knows.

Anyway, on to more cheerful thoughts.

We had a great breakfast with 8 of us sitting round the table. Radio Boy made it down from Bega for the long weekend and was there to wish his grandma a happy birthday, and Poss and BF were there as well. We had bowls and bowls of fresh fruit and I made my special fruit salad dressing. It goes like this: yoghourt (I use Greek style, no low fat for me!) some protein powder, some flax seed oil, honey (I use Manuka), ground up nuts (brazils, macadamias, almonds and walnuts) and finely ground seeds (flax, sunflower and pepitas). The dressing was a big hit, so I didn’t mention to anyone that it was good for them. We also had bacon and eggs and raisin toast (I love our bread machine) and Beloved had the coffee machine earning its keep all morning. I felt so full and good, I didn’t even need to have any lunch. I’m going for low GI food and slow release food so that I can fill up and not have to worry about being hungry for a long time. Lunch is always my worst meal, it’s boring and I can never think of what to have.

My morning meditation sessions are becoming a bit more of a challenge since we actually got some weather this weekend. Yesterday was cool and this morning I was out there in 5º and a breeze and rain. Not that I got very rained on, since the balcony does have a roof, but I was cool. Of course there is no rule that says I have to do this out of doors or naked, it’s just how I like to be. I feel cooled down for the day. As if this is a way of dealing with my menopausal heat. When I came inside, my skin was pleasanty chilled and my hands were still warmer than Beloved’s, even though he was snugged up in a fleecy and wearing his hat. Funny that, isn’t it? He was always the strong, warm male and I was always the shivering female. (I have a thyroid disorder which makes me susceptible to the cold) but now the roles are reversed. A sign of age, I guess.

The pond is going really great. It was losing water at one stage, but Beloved fixed that with a bit of silicone. Unfortunately, I’m very sad to report that the fish are not doing so well. It’s been very dry, you see, and the kookaburras have cleaned up all the skinks they could find, and the ground is too hard for yabbies

who have dug themselves in to wait for rain, so the kookas have picked on my fish. Especially my poor rainbow fish.

sigh. Well, I guess they are called kingfishers for a reason.

Thank you everyone for your kind comments on my blog. I am enjoying writing it so much and I do feel that it’s helping to keep me in focus as I make these changes that I hope will lead to a permanent, healthy weightloss.

And so the small changes continue, but the importance is that they are CHANGES. I even got a new operating system for my computer. I’ve gone from a Tiger to a Leopard.

And my spots have changed. Even if only a little bit.