the hundred best books?

On wikipedia they apparently asked several famous authors to list the best books in the world.. Looking at the list I am not a well read person at all.

thursday/friday

It has been decided that as much as possible I am going to go to the place where the physio has her "cabinet" an office of a sort with a consulting room and a small gym with equipment in order to give me a better work out. The problem is timing, so twice a week she can drop me off, but the other day C will have to pick me up, it is just a bit too far to walk back to the house. The physio manipulated the non operated leg yesterday .. she is a kinesiologist, and often she seems to make one move in minute ways. I was amazed how much the other leg was affected by her , an example…you assume the position of a lunge, holding still in the position, the physio on her knees, she puts her and behind the knee and pulls but not a lot and then pushes in the front and then with hr fingers pushes side to side.. she does this movement say 10 times in a minute.. but it kind of destabilised the old knee . Shall have to talk to her about it when she I go this morning. She has two young children and C has given her old car seats to her.. she is amazingly grateful. The snow is nearly all gone, a small snow man is the only testament. Went to the shopping centre for groceries and for me to get some money out of the banking machine. Insead of money I got a message saying I should contact my bank.. always a heart stopping message. Anyhow it turned out that I had, many years ago, made an arrangement to limit the amount of money I could remove from the bank in a day , and asking for 300 euros..exceeded the limit. I had not thought to reduce the amount I asked for.. but will next time. Gemma is writing in french an essay on the development of the romanesque style in churches. So all evening we have been buttressed with questions. As C said, the definitive development was the flying buttress, allowing for more light. Think of the Rose Window in Notre Dame in Paris. ed My friends are coming from Paris next week to visit me.. James has arranged a nice tour of Cern and lunch with the chief of research for the husband , who was a colleague of Henrys. I will be home all next week said James but then he is gone for 10 days. Now looking on line for colourful cushions, EBAY is a remarkable source.

wednesday//snow tires

Well the adults returned safe and sound. They came bearing crumpets and english bacon and tea. They devoured the curry and then James cleaned up.. hurrah. This morning it began to snow, and snowing it is. C rushed off for snow tires. They do not provide a spare tire now when you buy a new car. I find it hard to imagine. But the garage fellow told her that the latest is a tire which when it gets a flat fills up with something that allows you to drive a certain distance to a place to REPLACE the tire. The garage fellow said that this has become a great problem as very few people carry these tires. So C got the old fashioned snow tires and a canister that can be used to pump something into the flat so that she can get to a garage. I shudder to think about being in the wilds of Canada where you might have to drive a hundred miles at least to get to somewhere to have your tire replaced. The children are doing their homework in-between going out to play in the snow. Anna cannot go without being on a lead because the chickens are loose The chickens are so funny, when you go outside they rush up to you in that funny chicken walk/run, imagine that you are running with your hands tied firmly to your side.. you would waddle, well these chickens do a waddle run. The chickens are hopeful that there will be tidbits. It is still snowing hard, about 5 hours of it now but it is quite mild so as C says, when you shovel the drive it melts quickly. The new car is so far a success. All mod cons as they would say.. As James said.. here is a German owned car, assembled in Portugal, sold in England and now registered in France. Buying it is England saved them about 20,000 euros. So well worth the journey. The car has heated seats.. I must say I would hate to own a car that did not have heated seats. While living in Edmonton during the winter even tho the car was in the garage it would take a long time for it to warm up but the heated seats came on immediately and made you cosy cosy. Saxaphone lessons, english homework, french devoir.. lots happening. Costumes being readied for Carnival.

tuesday evening

Well all the activities have happened and all the chldren are home, in PJs teeth brushed etc. they are hoping that their parents will get home before they must go to bed. C phoned from Folkstone is where you get on the train with your car.. this is not the old fashioned car ferry that most of know about , but rather an amazing train which you drive you car along and when there is an open door on what is a sort of box car you drive your car in. You stay in your car and the journey lasts about 40 minutes.. and then voila you are in France. the journey from Calais is about 7 hours or so.. so I am hoping they will arrive around 2200 hrs. I made a green thai curry from scratch, going to the market on sunday I was able to find some lovely hot peppers and the rest I improvised. No lemon grass, but I ground up the skins of the lemons and the effect is rather pleasant. I have no idea whether or not they will want to eat anything after that long drive, but one thing about a chicken curry it keeps . C's friend came for Anna again and we walked up along past some old farms where the children often go to get fresh pasteurised milk and amazing cream. The little dog now is on chlorophyl pills.. and is doing fine. This is the first dog this family has ever owned so it has been a bit of a learning curve.

tuesday.. the busy day

When we went outside yesterday to walk to school a very large dog about the size of a german shepard but the colour of a grey collie dog was there.. he walked to school with us and was friendly, a long plume tail waiving about and with a grin on his face. Ciara who a few months ago would not have walked anywhere near this size of dog was fine with it , altho pretty wary..which is not necessarily a bad thing. Then a friend of C's came to walk Anna and her young Sammy up the mountain , her little 8 month old has just come into heat and this grey dog found them and the walk was difficult as of course this large dog thought he had come to heaven. I had walked so much on the Saturday that altho I walked quite a bit yesterday I did few exercises. This morning the day starts at 0600. Gemma makes herself porridge each morning and we sit in companionable silence while we both gather ourselves together. By the time I waken the twins and make their breakfast and walk them to school one feels that a good part of the day has already passed.

sunday night / monday morning

I was determined to get everyone to bed early, as I knew that my early start would feel better if they felt better. Aat the English bookstore I had bought 3 books which I said would be a surprise..so last night shortly after 7 we were all upstairs.. one of the books had a great title.. Tell me something happy, then in smaller print..before I go to bed.. It was charming and the narrator was a bunny, Ciaras favourite thing. This little book was so charming that they read it several times over Ciara read it out loud, Gemma came and listened as well. The book I bought for Naomi was called Captain Cat, about an old sailor who tho a trader who would give away treasure for a cat. This brought him ridicule but eventually fortune. Naomi read that out loud to all of us. This settled everyone down nicely by shortly after 8. For Gemma I bought a book by that author which I always find delightful., Eve Ibbotson.. about a boy and a dog.. that she read to herself. On the whole it worked and at least there was peace and quiet fairly early. Then at 0300 the dog began to bark and bark. waking everyone.. I sleep on the ground floor , the others upstairs, but even so.. a loud barking dog in a sleeping house is very noisy. I got up, of course, checking doors etc and then finally let the dog out. who just stood by the front door.. did not venture any further than the length of her body , it was very windy and rainy, I think something must have blown around, but whatever , there was not way she was going out.. so in she came, back to bed we all went and then the 0600 alarm forGemma. It has already been a long day. A friend came to walk Anna up the mountain with her 8 month old sammie.. but Anna did not want to venture without me. so we had the usual abandon and hide routine until she gave me up. I can walk to the beginning of the mountain path b ut not up it, as it is very rough and I do not have hiking boots with me.

sunday

Well J and C got off to London early the in the morning, but not before James had made up batter for crepes. We had breakfast, and then in due course I went to the market with a friend of Cs. It was nice to visit and to get fresh supply of meat, veg and cheese. There are now two places selling rotisserie chickens and they are delicious one of the things they do is roast potatoes under the turning spits and the juices from the chicken drip down on to the potatoes.. they drop very herbs like rosemary thyme and sage.. down on to the potatoes.. and you can buy small to large containers.. they are always tasty. We are now facing the sunday on slaught of visitors.. little ones.. a friend of Ciaras who is in her athletic class.. Ciara asked me what I thought they should do, I asked what does her friend like to do.. she replied.. she likes to RUN! They are now outside k jumping on the trampoline and running. she is a french friend and marvels of marvels understands my french when I speak to her .

Anna forgiven

Saturday evening/near disaster

RrJames Gemma ,Naomi and I went into Geneva it visit ab English  book store..a kitchen shop and the an exotic food floor at a Swiss store called globes.

All this took a lot so walking, stair climbing and descending g..we went I to the old town..all up hill. But u know the addGe what goes up must go. Down.

F

Inally after ,a little cafe break,,Gemm had strudel!!  Etc we made out way home..about 1730

No reply at home....finally Gemma called on her cell to C's cell,a all we cld hear was.  Oh. No repeatedly, finally a tearful C tells us that the dog has disappeared up into the forest I e Jura.  She had let Anna off the lead....something she does often now, Anna obviously saw something, C said she was creeping around in the long grass slowly. Normal for her...maybe a mouse. But suddenly disappeared Fortunately it was near An isolated house

Also there was a landmark..and rarely enasasosugrh there was someone in the house...C left her phone #. After two hours the man called..she was by the house, but would not come into the house , nor would she let the man touch her...she just. Circled around. Looking for C....stand this is usual modus operandi !!!!!!returning to where she last saw  her person,,,which of course is usually me but C has replaced

Me.

/so we have a tired house

saturday jan25

Well I put up a birthday date to remember on my reminder on the computer .. the bday was for someone on the west coast of Canada and at 0900 here in France I got a blinking light telling me at this exact time my friend had just had his birthday.. so it was spot on for seconds past midnight of the 25th. These big numbers really give a sense of importance to ones life.. a milestone.. a reminder that one has to get on with ones life. Last year the islanders threw me a marvellous party, half way into the decade it was and now I have to take my own advice and get on with life. This is early saturday morning and the hurly burly of this household is revving up.. three are going skiing this morning, another is making a costume for Carnival which is Feb7 and a large event here, but obviously not to rival Rio deJaneiro. The dog has been walked, the bakery visited, breakfast porridge, eggs all made and consumed. A little child spent the night and is now involved with a complicated board game. There is a shopping list to prepare as C and J leave tomorrow morning for London UK and I am in sole charge and Monday the only shops near by are closed. I am not allowed to drive their cars, it is not that I am not able but that the cars are insured and licenced for only C and J. I watched on IplayerBBC a swedish/danish serial. It was a police vs eco alert nasty people. They were murdering people to make a point about environmental issues. BUT the interesting thing I learned.. and maybe all of the rest of the world knew this, that there is now a huge complicated bridge joining up Denmark and Sweden. The city of Malmo is the Swedish point. The bridge leads to an island and then there is tunnelling . It looks like an engineering feat of great magnitude. It was open to the public in the year 2000.

Friday

Something new today ,went to the cabinet.  (Think of saying. Cab  /bin/nay).     Itis just a little too far to walk. To,and. Had let jMes take the cRd,fortunately

HrfriendwSvreeNdzhedro e

Wedidslivhtlydifferentexer izes in lauding sorking with a large rubber ball shaped like a huge hour glSs,

It gave interesting dimension to the e recuses.  The physio is an expert I ki eseology...the practice. Of very small movements.  So while my heel was resting o thence tre of the hour glass and telling me to keep very still she moved the object back dn forth in small degrees.. She does a wflot a of these things...I do a lunge,,hold it ..while she pushes at the front side and back of the knee while I must stay. Dry still

Home again..Cand twins have gone skiing, 

ThursdAy

Well I am going to try. And make. Nachos with hamburger etc

Will see if the. Children like them

Today is another music day.  Piano teacher comes to the house and all three have an half hour lesson each.  if James is home he also has. Lesson.   He is learning

 A Beethoven minuet

Forbidden to drink or eat in the. Living roo m!!!!have to protect. The new furniture. It is. appreciation night at the English school so c and. J r away for the early part of.   The evenin

I am sorry to all. Y readers. I wondered if I was boring you. But several say no. So I shall continue.   Errors and all

New sofas photos

The new sofa r very cimfortabletolieom and.ooknicewebougjt sheep ski toprotectthearmsandalso because they are white and fluffy they look a bit like the dog

No group of photos is complete without the dog

wednesday jan 22

every once in a while I think.. maybe I should stop writing in this blog and then I get a nice cheery email from someone who says.. love reading your blog and catching up what so .. the new sofas came.. one a love seat and one a large comfy easy to put your feet on sofa.. two men came and with seemingly no effot carried them up then c sat on the big one a noticed a klunk sound.. we thought that a spring had broken, but no.. so she phoned the shop and they are sending out their experts to adjust.. they are SOFA ENGINEERS!!!!!! whats in a name eh. Wednesday.. and saxophone lessons.. last week the barracuda of a teacher sent Gemma and Naomi home in tears.. but it seems to work as they worked much harder and this time had a good , non screamed at.. lesson. Catriona and James leave on Sunday morning for 2 nights 3 days.. C is lining up lots of people to drive and to be t my beck and call if necessary. They are going to pick up a 7 seater volkswagan b us///suitable for all of us to travel around in.. right now if we all go the 4 people crowd illegally into the back seat. Great curry this evening made my C.. and James made something for dipping in the puppadums… brinjal chutney mixed liberally with yoghurt.. it was delicious.

monday jan 20th.. nearly 2 months to the day of the operation

Went shopping in Ikea today.. we must have walked miles.. or so it seems.. so I am obviously in increasingly good shape. The people who were buying the new sofas came and decided not to take them.. so we are scurrying around looking for a home for them, the neighbours are coming over , they have bought a new house and have a lot of space and are looking for furniture.. so maybe. Never the less the new ones come on wednesday James is in Valencia giving a lecture. He left this morning at 5. the weather when he arrived was very sunny, on the med, plus 15.. nice. All the children have a long day.. leaving early and not getting home until after 6 pm.. mad rush to get all homework done and a decent meal. Tomorrow is another mad day.. Sarah is NOT coming to meet me when I arrive in Vancouver. We both think that the logistics of winter travel are such that we just may not meet up. Last year at this time I was delayed two days due to winter storms in Germany. The previous year to that I was delayed also by weather in Germany. Another time I was diverted to Amsterdam and did not get home for another 24 hours.. so better not try and coordinate. Sarah herself was two days getting home from her journey here, not that our weather has been bad , but the weather in Canada has been formidable. Will show you some photos of the unwanted sofas.. do you know that they call them canapé in french…and now is the month of the canapé lit!!!! an

Recovering

we all just might survive.  Here is a heartwarming

  Photo of contented dog in her very expensive dog bed, mTerial goods r more expensive here 

friday late in the day

well no doubt stepping on the scale after this would show a positive in the negative.. if you see what I mean. This thing is still going on… The children had a good ski, and now Gemma is off for orchestra, one of the twins i gong for a sleep over and Iam walking the halls trying to get to a receptacle on time.. If this a twenty four hour thing.. will that mean that I should be on the mend by tomorrow early. I took a gravel now, one of the ones I had for the dog.. having just had an upchuck I thought there was a chance of it staying with me.. do you really want to know all this….??probably not.. but as this is a sort of diary .. ??

friday jan 17

o m g.. woke up with the :runs" and then violent vomiting.. something I ate.. horrible feeling… horrible horrible. James came home mid morning saying he felt green also.. is in bed.. there is something going round which the french call a Gastro.. what ever it is it is awful. Have just made a little chicken broth.. hope it stays down. C and the girls are off skiing for the afternoon.. and as the weather has turned cold there is lots of snow on the JURA. Not so dizzy this time.. immersed I'm gripping books..

wednesday 15 jan/2014, not Ulysses but even the dog was excited.

Well this is an exciting day. First of all got an email with advice that my eldest goddaughter has been captured on camera while meditating.. this looks marvellous, but not at all like herself. Then James is home full of enthusiasm for Tanzania and the K climb. He has a certificate which shows that he has successfully reached the summit, the name of the summit, the time .. they arrive in time for the sunrise, hence they walk in the dark, from midnight to dawn reaching the peak about 0610. He said on the route up they walked a zig sag path up a slippery but frozen scree slope, but on the way down they ran down the scree for about a kilometre. This being Wednesday there are math tutoring and saxophone lessons.. .I am making the cassolet and to my dismay the garlic sausage C bought has no garlic.. it is not a pleasant tasting sausage.. it is funny that the French , on the whole , do not make great sausage. They need some east europeans to set up a butcher shop. Coming from the prairies, garlic sausage is part of your kitchen supply. When C come to BC she always buys a garlic sausage, saying that she just cannot find the same thing in France. Anyhow, the dish has lots of garlic clove added and the confit is always interesting. It is now cooking in the oven on a low temp for nearly 3 hours.

tuesday early morning.. feeling better.. have energy

I woke early this morning .. about 0500 and realised that with the time difference I could with an easy mind call home.. so did. It was so nice to talk to V this morning. Then I decided to fix my iPhone.. I had opened it the other day and there was a message saying something about running out of memory.. so I shut down a few things and in the process lost all my phone contacts.. I knew they had to exist somewhere .. found then of course on the computer and this morning in a burst of energy managed to sync the contacts from the computer to my iPhone. hurrah. By 0630 this house was humming with activity.. I am usually just drinking tea in bed.. or if lucky.. coffee.. but today was up.. C has rushed to the store to get supplies to make crepes.. the school is having a sale of crepes and she promised to make a bunch.. twins are up.. one is playing the saxophone, another the piano.. and then the usual scurry.. is all the homework packed away.. Am waiting for the kitchen to clear in about an hour so that I can get the soaking dried white beans on to boil to continue the work for the cassolet. N has brought down the scale, at my request, so the ugly truth of how much I have regained is to be met. Have been eating potatoes, having an Irish husband, potatoes were usually part of every meal, obviously with a few exceptions. one does get accustomed. Well that was rather good news.. have not gained anything.. so my rings revolving around my fingers is obviously a good indicator.

Monday jan 13 2014///Osteopath

Well the visit to the Osteopath was as usual a wonderful experience. For an hour you are are gently handled.. Zxel is his name and I have been going to him off and on for several years. C often takes her children as well as herself and others He has has had 8 years of training in the UK.. speaks therefore lovely english.. and has a successful practice. I just wish we had someone as competent in Victoria. There is one person listen in the yellow pages who is a MD plus an Osteopath. I have not been to visit this person. anyow.. I guess I was very tense ,, muscles all bunched up and with gentle fingers he undid a lot of that. He also relaxed my operated knee so that is no longer is so terrible painful..but as he said.. that pain will come and go as I work it . We picked up Gemma who is still coughing terribly badly. I am taking cold fx.. reckoning that I do not need to catch what ever it is. Read Sandys summing up on the questions.. so well answered and so well written. Weather has returned to winter here.. zero and rain/sleet.. so no more easy walking .

sunday 12 january/new pain

Well this is the day C usually goes to the market and buys the weeks supply of meat etc I am planning t0 make a cassolet for the mountain comber.. but as I was working at the stove a terrible sharp pain invaded right into the middle of the knee operated cap. It was quite awful. I stopped what I was doing immediately,got ice.. put leg up and wondered what what was happening Catriona was off for a long walk with the dog and friends and the children were with me and I was planning to have dinner on the table when she came home.. but I abandoned all thought of that and got on to the internet to check what might be the cause. I probably over did it yesterday.. too many stairs were climbed.. too long on the bike, too many walks.. knew my leg was very tired and I was icing it saturday ight.. but this new pain was something els.e I am to go to the Osteopath tomorrow .. he is a marvellous person and usually fixes any back aches I may get.. and so am hoping that he will be able to figure something out. Meanwhile I am staying pretty still, icing.. leg and back on the pain killers.. had been off them for a few days. will keep you all up to date. the poor physio will be upset as she keeps warning me to go slowly.

Speech with the climbers

One of the hardest things they have done, lack of oxygen, means little sleep etc. but done now and they are back in civilization .....so to speak...onto some safaris

Home Wednesday

QI am making a cassoulet to celebrate,,, C ordered all sorts of    stuff from the butcher for it she will pick it up at the market tomorrow morning

Stuffed mushrooms this evening... Made duxelles for the stuffing...nice to feel useful

All week I had a stomach bug...shades of Wendy...dizzy and had to stay 

Pretty close to home

Náomi knitting a scarf

saturday

We are all in a state of joy over the successful climb of James and his friend to Mnt Kilimanjaro  We are now planning a celebratory dinner when he returns mid week.
The children have been doing homework but the hardest worker  is Naimo who seeing me knitting decided to take it up again.. I taught her a few years ago , at her request, but she really was a bit too young but how she is going gang busters on a scarf.
The weather here is still warm but not as yesterday.  Being on Emergency services I got the note saying that the west coast is in for nasty winds.
Gemma has a terrible nasty cough and altho she was to go to a music camp and she made her best effort to get there when she ran to catch her ride she doubled up with coughing and so gave up and I bundled her into bed with hot water bottles on her chest.. my sure cure of nasty coughs.

We are listing to Bach while Naomi knits, C has gone for a walk with the dog.  A peaceful saturday afternoon.

friday early

Have received some interesting emails from people I do not usually hear from.. it was so nice.
Yesterday the day was spring .. very confusing to birds and flowers.. plus 15.. and my heavy winter duvet was thrown off by me in the middle of the night, unfortunately on top of the dog who sleeps beside by bed ..I threw it off while semi asleep forgetting her..there was a scrabbling noise and then clitter of dog foot steps..poor dog.

Catriona took her out for a long walk and she rolled in something horrible.. phone call from C saying be prepared.. C did not want to take her to school with her smelling to high heaven.. but honestly when she arrived at the house , she really was not bad.. her favourite rolling material is wet horse  and on Piers she comes back into the house delighted with herself  and has to be into the shower quickly.

We keep an avid eye on James, the web site for his kilimanjaro climb is very good.  He and his friend will reach the summit sometime today.. we received a photo of him , sitting at table with friend and fluffy.. a stuffed dog of his daughters..amongst the debris.

The children want a samoyed stuffed dog.. impossible to find.. the few available look really odd.  Surely someone could manufacture one which actually resembles a sam.

wednesday 8 jan 2014

Yesterday the physio came and set up a tougher regime for me. She is determined that I shall return to Canada in very good state.
We spent quite a lot of time bending my knee (both) backward and in such a manner that the upper leg muscles were all brought into play.  She wants these muscles to become extra strong so that I can go up and down stairs without the use of the cane.

We did go up the stairs with out the cane and using both feet.. so to speak.. i.e. not just going up a step with the so called good leg, but alternately.  Coming down is bit more tricky as there is a lot of pressure on the legs .

We then walked over high boots, so that it was like climbing over a series of stiles.

Then a few more things.  I was quite tired at the end of it and when C and I went off shopping I fell asleep in the car.. and every time there after.

We keep up to date with James hike on the mountain.  He seems quite happy and is being blessed with good weather.  If he had gone a few days earlier there was nothing but snow and rain .

The school year will be different next year.  Instead of the long days.. and only going to school for 4 days.. they will go every day of the week, cutting off 45 minutes from the day, and only a half day on wednesday.
When we lived in France in 1972 the day free was thursday and then they went to school saturday morning.

The flights in Canada have been cancelled I gather, so Sarah is happy as she was to fly to Calgary for a meeting and then return the same day.

Saxophone lessons today.. and it is a balmy plus 15.

monday jan 6 2014 visit to surgeon

Well this is , presumably my last visit to the surgeon who did the deed.  We arrived in Lyon at the Clinic de Sauvegarde at about 1020  were met once again by our english speaking guide who is a miracle worker for parking and taking us around.
We waited with the great unwashed for X-rays.. tell me why the X-ray techs are always tiny little women..
then with copies of X-rays in hand we walked out of one building into another and waited for a small while until we  say Dr Demay.
He is such a nice nice nice man.. honestly you could not have anyone more thorough and apparently patient.  We reviewed the op, he showed me and C the actual prothesis and the patella.  He examined the x- rays and compared them with the ones taken shortly after the op.  Then he examined the actual
surgical site.  Exclaimed at my ability to bend my knee easily to 110 degrees and said keep working on increasing that angle.  He thought the scar was fine. The prothesis was in place as it should be.

We then discussed the OTHER knee.  He looked at the X-rays of the right knee.. taken a few months before , he said it would not be necessary to have MRI done as it , altho not as serious as the other knee was afflicted in a similar way.  The patella was not involved tho.

He said to  wait at least 6 months before considering any action on the right knee..and wondered if some of the shots available wld help if the physio did not help .  The durolane shots in Canada, are not covered by health care and cost 300 each, in France they are not covered either but cost 200 euros for a set of three.
The maximum you may receive are 3 shots, as after that I think they are not effective.

So feeling relieved and happy we offered to take our translator out to lunch and went to a lovely fish restaurant.. for scallops st jacques .. ( coquilles st Jaques) followed by a coffee gourmand which meant
a demi tasse coffee, with two small similar sized dishes of creme brûlée, vanilla with choc sauce and almond cake.. a great dessert.

We have just arrived home, it is about 4 pm having left at 0830.  What a wonderful daughter I have.

We took the dog with us and when we were in the restaurant the waiters could see her in the car and told us to bring her in.. which of course we did.. they brought her a container, marked dog, with water and everyone made a great fuss of her.  I shall miss taking her to restaurants in Canada.. she smooths the way to lots of positive attention.  Even the chef popped out for a second.

new years resolutions

I rejoined a brain training organisation called Lumosity , they sent me, and no doubt all their members a great thing about adding a habit to your existing habit.. and in the process keeping ones resolve to change something for 2014.  I have copied it here.

3 steps for building positive habits

Start small A tiny habit is easier to stick to. Do you resolve to exercise more often this year? Start with just 10 pushups a day or a short jog around the neighborhood — something so quick that there’s no excuse not to do it. Once a habit begins to feel natural, increase the amount of time or effort you spend.

Fit new habits together with existing habits Choose a habit that’s already second nature, then schedule your new habit immediately after. Think about your own days: what existing habits can be extended or transformed? If you’ve resolved to read more, place a book next to your cup of morning coffee. If you intend to brush up on a new language, stick vocabulary cards into your gym bag and take advantage of that post-workout jolt of energy. Existing habits can be a seamless gateway to new activities.

Practice makes perfect You’ll probably need a few nudges before your resolution truly becomes second nature. Create checkpoints to help you stay on track: enlist a friend to keep you honest, set alarms throughout the day, or mark your successes on a calendar. The more regularly you practice your new activity, the more quickly it’ll become a part of your life.

January 5th 2014

The week with my eldest daughter and her child passed all too quickly.  They left this morning at 0500, to the despair of the twins who wanted to be awake to give them a last large hug good bye.  Gabriela kept saying she did not want to leave so we presume that means that she had a good time despite the weather of the past few days.
Last night a storm swept through the valley, the shutters banged  so loud that I could not sleep and not wanting to go out into the howling gale just put up with them.  But this morning it had blown itself out and we have blazing sunshine, much snow on the Jura  and it is gorgeous.  Unfortunately our travellers will not see it, but by now will be flying out of Amsterdam for the at least 10 hour flight home.

I have kept up, as much as possible with the notice board reports re the discord in the island and have for the first time decided to add a comment.  Probably a useless thing to do.

My stationary bike is being put to good use but the seat is terrible unforgiving and if anything drives me away from that exercise it  is the numb bum.. as they say.  I probably should get biking pants with those inner lined bottom protectors.

Off tomorrow early for the last visit with the surgeon.

Dog well hugged

HAPPY NEW. YEAR S. TO ALl French knees readers

Do nuts not usual shape

New Years fun stuff

Charades