Joy in Where You Live

For my friends in the frozen north I send a vision of my mid-February business trip:

The song, "TEXAS" says: "Heat and blue sky, a road that goes forever."
This state is indeed large, though not so hot in February.

Driving home through
Pouring chill rain and cracking thunder
We see black cattle on rolling green pastures
Stretching to a horizon dotted with majestic oaks,
Windmills, red barns, horses, and oil pumps,
Rock fences, cactus, deer, and yard-chickens,
Drought-dead trees and flooding streams,
Sandhill cranes, snow geese, and longhorns.
And on this narrow road, 18-wheelers,
Pickup trucks, and Harleys.
We pass small town antique stores,
Palm trees, bare willows in fog,
White-barked sycamores lining wide rivers.

Home again on the coastal plain we are
Greeted by pink roses blooming, doves cooing,
Warm humidity, three over-wintering hummingbirds,
And, by nuzzling deep, the scent of kitty tummy just washed.

"They got big long roads out there,
Warm winds blowin'...
Texas--the only place to be."

[Quoted passages by Chris Rea]

Joy in losing weight

Yes, it is painful to watch the person at the table with you pigging out on lots of yummy stuff when you are on a diet. I crave artisan bread smothered in whipped butter....

But! This extreme diet I've been on for the last five months has me down two clothing sizes AND feeling a lot better about myself.

Dieting and exercise are worth the effort. The secret to surviving the other person slurping the yummies in front of you is to look at that person's waist line. Odds are, that will cheer you :)