Playground Fun
When was the last time you went to the playground and used the equipment there rather than just watch your grandchild or grandchildren play? I had the opportunity to do just that very thing along with a number of my neighbors, as Part 2 of a workshop on Dynamic Aging given by our yoga teacher Carol Morrissey. I had no clue what to expect. Part 1 was indoors and we spent time talking about shoes and our feet and then practiced walking on 2 x 4’s and soft bolsters. Part 2 was outside. We actually spent time walking on 2 x 4’s again but this time they were raised at one end on a yoga block. If you made it to the end then it acted like a seesaw and the longer part of the 2 x 4 went up in the air and the shorter end went down. First I learned that it was easier to walk barefoot on the board. I was really scared that if I got to the end of the 2 x 4 the board would flip up in the air and bonk someone on the head. It did not. It actually was a very controlled rock down and then the trick was to rock back up again. It took a few tries but eventually it was pretty easy to do. Confidence! Next we played a form of four square throwing different sized and weights of balls at each other while standing on the 2 x 4’s that were now in a square shape. This brought about lots of laughs. Next we practiced swinging on the crepe myrtles. In this case, our feet were on the ground, hands on the tree at about shoulder height, knees bent and we swayed back and forth. It felt really good actually. I was then given an opportunity to actually climb the tree and I did but was laughing pretty hard and my hat fell off. Then we were off to the jungle gym part of the playground and there we climbed on ropes and something that looks like a ladder on a boat, and finally the monkey bars. Feet still on the ground, knees bent and we hung from the bars working our shoulders. It was totally great. So, so surprised to learn what I can do, not what I can’t do. Such a positive and fun way to spend a couple of hours. I plan to go back and do some of the things we did on my own. Perhaps I will bring John along, safety first!!!
Cooking and More Cooking
I received a call from my daughter who is traveling for work and in Las Vegas for a few days. Her sitter’s mother had died and she needed help with her daughter. Grandmother to the rescue. Well who doesn’t need a break at the end of January anyway? Off to the frozen north I went. From door to door it was nine hours. I was very impressed. Good flights, no delays, short stop-over in Philadelphia, little planes that were very comfortable, and great service at rental car place. Arrived here and my 12 year old grand daughter had washed the sheets and changed the bed for me. What a blessing she is. She made the bed perfectly. She won’t make her own bed but she did a great job on mine.
While here for a few days I wondered what I would do to keep busy during the day while she was at school. Don’t know why I wondered at all. Not only do I have more projects going such as finishing up my presentation for my course but also websites that I manage and need to update, my walking program as in getting ready for the race, and then there is cooking. Why not make a big batch of a bunch of things to put in the freezer so my daughter and grand daughter have some quick standby meals when their lives get frantically busy. So off to the store I went and made a big beef stew with, as Libby requested, lots of carrots, potatoes and celery, but I also made a huge batch of my favorite Vegetable Soup, Big Batch Adventist Soup by Blue Zones. Along with that, I also made Vegetable broth from the leftover veggie peelings and it is yummy. So, being up in the snow belt isn’t so bad when you are cozy in the farm house with a big fire going in the wood stove with wood you gathered from the barn in the dark of dawn and the smells of good things on the stove.
This Week’s Race
It was cold. I had never been to Tybee Island before although I have heard about it mostly on the weather. The race that I participated in this weekend was on Tybee Island and was sponsored by Critz Auto who gives proceeds from the run to local non-profits that support education and healthy life styles. It was a very early morning race starting at 7AM so we went out the night before. It is approximately and hour and a half from where we live. Not just around the corner. As it turned out our hotel was actually at the start and also the finish of the race. This turned out to be a good thing as we both slept in til 6:30 but since we were a minute from the start we were there in plenty of time.
Our dinner the night before was outstanding as we ate at a local spot called the Tybee Island Fish Camp. It was a total surprise. We came upon it through a little research and despite its very unassuming outside found it to be absolutely charming inside. The food was prepared to order and was melt in your mouth delicious. We had Oysters Pulaski which were baked with Bacon, Andouille Sausage, Collards, Jalapeño and Panko , Blue Crab Cake and Mussels. Some of the best I have ever eaten. The Blue Crab was served with trout roe which I had never eaten before but I found it to be quite good and by the way, I have never eaten oysters before either so this was quite a dining introduction for me. My cousin, Anne McCaffrey went with me and while she is way faster (1hr 20 min) than I am (1 hr 32 min) was good enough to snap a few pictures as I crossed the finish line. Thank you Anne.
My training for the run suffered some this week because I was up in the frozen north and spent two days on airplanes and one day in a car driving to Canada and back so that left only three days to walk. I drove to Canada to see my good friends and to have a wonderful lunch with them. So glad I went and had a good catch up with all. So despite being in planes and a car, it was fine and I felt really good out there. I did laugh at the results as I came in 288 out of 320 females but most of them were running and they were considerably younger than I was. I saw a lot of SCAD t-shirts out there passing me by. SCAD is the Savannah College of Art and Design and they are all over Savannah. New buildings going up all the time and renovations of old buildings too. The students are very fast runners. I think both divisions were won by students from the college.
A Recipe to Try
Sweet Potato Muffins from Healthy Holistic Living
Ingredients
1 small organic sweet potato, roasted (1 cup, packed)
3 organic free-range eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup of organic canned coconut milk
2 tablespoons of organic olive oil
½ cup of pure organic maple syrup
1 cup of organic brown rice flour
¼ cup of organic coconut flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon of ground cloves
⅛ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
Directions
Pre-heat your oven to 400 ℉ and lightly oil a 12-hole muffin tray.
When the oven reaches the right temperature, poke holes in your sweet potato and place it on the middle rack of the oven to cook for about 60 minutes, or until it is very soft. Once it’s cooked, remove it from the oven and let it cool.
Once the sweet potato is cool enough to handle, scrape the flesh from the skin and place the pulp in a mixing bowl. You can discard the skin, or eat it as a quick snack. The skin is actually packed with a lot of the same vitamins as the rest of the sweet potato.
Add the olive oil, coconut milk, and maple syrup to the sweet potato and mix until it creates a smooth mixture. In a separate bowl, mix your dry ingredients together until well combined. Pour the dry ingredients into the rest of the sweet potato and combine until everything is uniform.
Pour the batter into the muffin pan, filling the spaces until ¾ of the way full. Place them on the middle rack and cook for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife in inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
