Food, Art, Joy, and Ants,

Food Sanity At Last???

Once again, Kathy has posted something that I feel the need to share. I suggest going to her blog to read the entire article. This is her prelude to it:

Many of us follow or have followed Weight Watcher Flex or Core Plans and have wondered
at some of the guidelines set forth by them. I have even known some
bloggers...ahem...who have wondered if some of the "rules" are arbitrary or even
self-serving in that they might promote certain WW products. But after reading the
following list, I'm ready to give them a pass on at least a couple of the guidelines. I subscribed to the Meatless Monday newsletter quite some time ago and have found it to be
a great source of current news on nutrition and a couple of new recipes each week. You can
go here to subscribe yourself: Meatless Monday

I have found myself making intelligent choices about what I eat in the last several days. Am I finally developing a sane attitude in my relationship with food? If so, I can think of nothing that has led to this. On Saturday, I went with a friend to The City to see the Chihuly exhibit at the
de Young museum. We lunched at the on-site restaurant. I had a grilled chicken sandwich and neither knifed off the guacamole on it nor counted points for the rest of the day. On Sunday, another points free day, Matt and I went to a new local restaurant that serves, according to their own description, "gourmet Indian and Nepalese Food." The naan was exceptional and I ate it freely. My entree was Kashmiri Pilau, a chicken dish from the Punjab which also included fresh spinach and an exceptional sauce that was seasoned with fenugreek, fennel, onions and garlic. I also ordered Basmati rice made with whole spices, garlic, cashew, almonds, raisins, and fried onions with coriander. This got mostly doggy bagged 'cause I was scarfing up on the naan instead. The progress report on my restaurant adventures is that neither of them led to later undisciplined eating. On Monday, Matt brought an extra bagel in case I wanted to eat it. That racked up my third point free and binge free day. I opted not to count points yesterday and my self discipline continued. I almost feel as if I've undergone hypnosis or had a surgical attitude transplant. I'm feeling as if I'm already at goal weight and, with an appropriate attitude and intelligent food decisions, I'm in the process of getting external reality to match mental image. I'll continue to go to Weight Watchers and will be looking at making food choices that are consistent with a modified Core plan.


The Arlene Collection:

I was going to post some of the photos I took of Dale Chihuly's fabulous glass work, but have already spent way way to much time at the computer. I would recommend going to his web site to see the spectacular pieces and compositions that he and his team have created. Since the de Young has not yet seen fit to offer me an exhibition, I am posting some pictures (best seen by clicking on them) of some glass fusing that I've done recently. Though they may look flat in the photos, all of them are bowls or plates. Glass fusing involves melting pieces of glass together in a kiln. It is a different form of glass art than glass blowing which is what Dale Chihuly does. In other words, Mr. Chihuly and I are not in competition.






































































































An Exceptional Day:

I had one of those rare days yesterday when everything seems to go right and everyone seems to be going out of their way to be friendly. I don't know what constellations need to line up and what friendly spirits need to be holding what evil ones at bay for this to happen.

Among yesterday's errands was a Home Depot purchase of some plants. As I walked down the aisles with my coleus (coleuses?? coleii??) filled shopping cart, a passing woman glanced down at them and smiled. It was a private smile and, for a brief moment, I had the sense of it having weight. I experienced it gently dropping into my shopping cart. This made me happy and, as I write this, I find myself smiling.

Critters That Need Killing:

As anyone who has read this blog with any regularity knows, I am a critter lover. At this point, I even go out of my way (mostly) to put outdoors those foolish spiders who have chosen to make my home theirs. (Not your kind of spider, Spider, if you are reading this.)

Ants have fascinated me for a number of years. Fascination aside, they come as a gang ready to party. The only way to put my foot down on this, is to put my food down on them.

On Friday night, as I was making salad, I saw a dark object on the floor which, when I kicked it aside, dispersed into an ant scatter. The ants were too numerous to wipe out with some well-placed stomping and insecticide use seemed to be unwise given my current activity. I regretted causing the ants to scatter and considered how to get them to bunch up again. A small heap of sugar failed at this, but the honey that I followed it with had them coming from all corners to party. After which they drowned in the honey. After which (and after dinner) all hope of life for them was dashed with insecticide. After which, still fascinated by ants, I took these pictures (which are best seen by clicking on them to make it larger and therefore even more fascinating).