Observations on a Walk

This past week has been quite a week in many ways.  It started out with an 8 1/2 mile (13.6km) walk with my brother.  It was a gorgeous day and we decided a good hill walk on the East side of the lake would be our route.  We had not walked it together this summer but we have in past summers gone a few times.  The day was gorgeous.  The next day I decided that I would do a West Side of the lake hill walk by myself.  It was, once again, a beautiful day.  As I was walking up the hill I noticed a little lady and her child on the side of the path.  I had to stop and take a picture.  She looks all dressed up and about to go out for an afternoon of visiting.  I was enchanted.  I do not know what kind of mushroom she is although I have looked her up.

During my search for information I came upon some interesting facts about mushrooms.  We love to cook with mushrooms.  John has a delicious recipe for a mushroom spaghetti sauce that has many different kinds of mushrooms incorporated into it.  Mushrooms can be substituted for meat in lots of recipes and I certainly prefer them to tofu.  My cousin loves chanterelles and is knowledgeable enough about picking them that she goes into her woods to get them for her dinner table.  Some studies show that mushrooms can be useful as an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.  Mushrooms may also help reduce blood pressure, moderate blood sugar, reduce cholesterol, enhance the immune system, reduce stress and help in fighting many types of cancer.  So, next time you are at the vegetable stand or the market, pick up some mushrooms and add them to your favorite recipe.

When we walk, Wyke is often able to run free which brings about it’s own ramifications.  He loves mud and smelly things to roll in.  While doing our hill walk he discovered cow manure and was enchanted – I WAS NOT!

Walking, walking and more Walking

I continued my walking the rest of the week.  I think I was on a mission of some sort.  I know that because of the illness with our kitten that I was feeling a lot of stress and one of the best ways for me to deal with stress is to get out and walk especially long, hilly walks.  After Monday and Tuesday, I did a 5.8 mile walk on Wednesday, my regular walk on Thursday and then another West Side hill walk on Friday with my daughter Katie.  We then had good friends arrive with their two golden retrievers and we walked almost 10 miles with them Saturday and Sunday.  My grand total for the week was 41.88 miles or 67.39km.  That is an absolute first for me.  It was a terrific week of walking and believe it or not I can’t wait to get out there again this week.  My monthly goal of 100 miles is within sight as I am at 95.8 with a week to go.  The weather doesn’t look very good for the coming week so there may be a rest day in there.

Fun with Goldens

We have had a wonderful weekend with our friends from Connecticut.  They arrived with their two Golden Retrievers and Wyke thought he was in heaven.  One of the dogs is a year and half old and the other is eight.  Both have lots of energy and LOVE the water as does Wyke.  They walked and ran and swam and played ball, chewed on bones, wrestled and then slept.  While out for one of our walks we ran into Millie who is a good friend of Wyke’s and is the one who loves to wallow in the mud along with him whenever we go for a walk together.  I love to see the difference in the colors of these goldens.  Wyke is the whitest, then Millie, then Ellie and finally Kiara.  They all just loved each other.  It was such fun to have them here for a visit and we hope they will come back soon.

Speaking of love, occasionally we get a picture of Libby when she is in camp – most of the time they are out on trip but stop for a day or two at base camp to re-outfit and perhaps have a shower.  While in camp Libby made friends with the camp Golden Retriever and we got a picture of them.

Great Food and Company

We cooked some great meals and enjoyed eating outside for dinner one night and inside the other.  Pete is a wonderful cook and prepared a delicious meal for us on Saturday night.  He made one of the best shrimp kabobs I have ever had using the Blood Orange Olive Oil, that I got from Olive the Above prior to departure from South Carolina, along with Dijon mustard and some Balsamic vinegar as a marinade.  Give it a try it is delicious.

I am now four weeks without vino and feeling pretty darn good.  Might be another reason I walked so much this week.  Anyway, I do enjoy the .5 beer which is basically alcohol free and occasionally the low alcohol Canadian 67 which is pretty good.  Sleeping well and obviously have lots of energy if I managed to walk as much as I did this past week.  One thing I have noticed is that I seem to be eating more and actually enjoying the food.  However, I have also been letting myself have some dessert which really isn’t such a great idea but I sure did enjoy that pie!!!

Furbaby Update

Ups and downs this week.  We took Immy to a specialty veterinarian on Monday supposedly for an ultra-sound of her chest.  Somehow we managed to actually go to the wrong clinic at first which was rather upsetting but eventually after some trial and error we found the right place.  The doctor was very nice and said she was going to take some fluid out of Immy’s chest before she did the ultra-sound.  She came back after doing that and said it wasn’t worth doing the ultra-sound because the fluid was cloudy which meant it wasn’t heart related and therefore not worth doing the test.  She sent the sample off to a lab and the result came back on Thursday that Immy has Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP).  It is a terrible disease and at this point in time fatal.  There are some trials in the states that look promising and perhaps sometime in the future it will no longer be fatal.  Our vet in South Carolina was going to try and find out some more information for us and a good friend in Tennessee is also trying for us.  In the meantime, she is home with us and so far is doing well but we have been told it won’t last.  She has been her old self ever since Monday so she has had a good week.  She is eating and interested in all around her, enjoys her sister and sleeping in the sun and loves her treats.  We are giving her diuretics to keep the fluid down but otherwise nothing else except love.  Thank you for all your kind words, they are so very much appreciated.

Recipe of the Week

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