Summary

January is nearly over. I posted on my blog more than I thought I would, but had fun doing it. Most of my other predictions worked out better -- a birthday, an anniversary, a few bike rides and some miles on foot. I did some cooking, including making soup at least twice.  (There's some tomato cabbage soup in the refrigerator now.) We've both stayed fairly healthy, with just minor complaints.  It was warmer than normal here off and on, including today. Today was also really, really windy, so I'll take this opportunity to complain about that. I tried a bike ride to the beach, but today was a day for wind toys, not bicycles. Though the birds seemed to be enjoying it.

I bought a new pair of sunglasses yesterday, giving me an excuse for yet one more January self portrait.

I did get to Ollie's Pond a couple of times this month -- including last Sunday, when I decided it would be a shadier place to jog than my usual routes.  There were quite a few more people walking around it, bird watching and photographing the scenery, than I'm used to there.  The "Sunday effect", I imagine.

Bike miles this month fell shy of 100, but took me to the places that I wanted to go under my own power that were too far to walk or jog.

Here's one more video from the beach today.



I think the February Theme Day theme may be "umbrellas."

Early Morning, Outside

Note to self: eat something before you decide to take a 4.3 mile round trip to the beach on foot.

Apparently I am still doing self portraits.  This was taken this morning, near the beach. There was a bocce ball tournament going on there this morning. Those people seem to enjoy their sport. So much noisy enthusiasm!

Saturday seems to be a big garage sale day here. The couple reflected in the mirror asked if I was taking my own picture.  I believe my response was, "you bet."  I do like those knee length sweat pants for early morning exercise, but this view of them may change my mind.

Turtles Are Slow

This isn't a literal self portrait, but it does sort of qualify.  Mr. Turtle and I move at similar paces.  He was nibbling on some grass along the road when I was out yesterday on my bike.  He moved quite slowly, but looked pretty mean, so I kept my distance.

Today, just for a little variety, I laid out a 5K distance along my usual route, using Map My Ride. I haven't done a timed 5K since I finished my C25K class in November.  Prior to that I had timed myself a few times along a 3.1 mile route on the bike path, and never completed the distance in less than 45 minutes.  Which is fine with me, as I believe I've mentioned before.  Slow but sure, etc.  It's all weight bearing exercise at any speed.  But I was curious to see if I've gotten any faster as I've accumulated some miles over the last couple of months.

The camera comes along about every time I head out, but today this was the only time I used it  -- snapped as I was leaving the house.  I do miss my Apache Helicopter Windshield sunglasses, though.  I really thought I had a pair down here, though they weren't on my list of Florida bike gear.  I should have believed my list. Anyway, my time for the distance was 44 minutes.  Curiosity satisfied.

Winter Beach -- Photo by Nikki

No, I haven't taken leave of my senses and returned to Michigan during the worst winter weather in two or three years. My Granddaughter drove her car to the beach to check on the house after school one day last week -- before the weather there turned so suck-ee. She sent me this photo from her i-phone. Sadly, my phone is not smart enough to receive photos via text message, so she emailed it to me today. Technologically literate grandchildren are a blessing. The water levels on Lake Michigan are at an historic low. Her words were, "you've got a lot of beach."

Remember this?  Near record high water levels in 1997, before the steel sea wall went in.  There was no beach at all when we bought the house.

We just finished Skyping with OSLO and the COTU.  I got permission to use the photo, and they showed me the winter scenes outside their back door.  There was no school there today -- cold, blowing snow and icy roads, so it was probably a good decision.  OSLO related that there was a 30 car pile up near Muskegon today.  Time to hunker down.

Probably Enough of That

This is probably the last of the self portrait posts for a while.

This one is less scary than than some of the ones I've posted.  You can tell from my clothing and the flag in the reflection that it was cool and breezy here yesterday morning.  This was taken near the Hava Java Grill.

I do take an occasional bike ride, for variety's sake.  Narrow roads limit the places I'm willing to go on my bike, but Higgs Park is accessible by riding mostly neighborhood streets.  An hour or so spent outside almost every day generally improves my outlook on life.

Only One Set of Legs

I have not yet established a solid exercise plan for January, and it is half over. Having finally gotten to the mileage on foot that my doctor defines as adequate -- about 15 miles per week -- I am now trying to re-introduce biking into my schedule.  The plan works like this.  Bike one day, jog the next.  Repeat.  Re-write exercise plan.

I'm still doing the bad self portraits -- it's a different perspective from pointing the camera outward.  This one had interesting reflections in the sunglasses.  Taken earlier this week on the other side of Spring Lake.

This one was taken at my turnaround spot on an early morning wog.

I call this one the headless bike woman.  Taken at the beach yesterday.

None of today's self portraits were acceptable, so here's an update on my hydration issues.  The hydration belt is uncomfortable -- warm and sweaty.  So I'm trying a handheld bottle -- it came with a smaller water bottle that is curved more to fit my hand.  I wanted more water this morning, so I used it with the water bottle that came with the hydration belt.  The jury is still out. Also taken near the beach, but I was there on foot today.

Ollie's Pond

This space serves as a photo journal for me -- it's surprising how often I check it for details of past events. Today was my first trip to Ollie's Pond this year, so I felt the need to record it here.  OPP, as I've been known to call it, hasn't changed since my last visit in March of last year -- it is still a noisy place, full of birds in full chirp.

I was reading a new blog this morning, a link off of Alaska Jill's blog, and her topic for the day was "the year in bad self-portraits."  I've been known to indulge in a bad self-portrait now and again, and it sounded like it could be fun.  I took about 10 or so, and this one is the least bad of the lot, in my opinion.

It was an attempt to make it look like it wasn't a self portrait.  Artsy, or something.  And honestly, until I loaded this photo onto my computer, I was unaware that my helmet had the word "vigor" on the side of it.  How is that possible?

It was my longest ride so far this trip, though not impressive by historical standards.  I haven't been working much on bicycle specific fitness, so it was a pleasant surprise that I got that far (and back) without much difficulty.

A Slight Break from my Break

I've enjoyed TT's posts the last few days, enough so that I'm motivated to put a few photos on my blog today. The first one is from a bike ride to the Kiwanis Park early this week.

One foggy morning -- maybe yesterday -- I biked to the beach fairly early and thought the effect of the low hanging fog at the horizon was interesting.

At one point I considered taking a water aerobics class down here at the pool at the Port Charlotte Beach, mostly as a way of meeting some people who -- theoretically -- exercise regularly.  My anti-social tendencies won out in the end, but the water aerobics class was well attended this morning.  (Taken on a 4.5 mile slog this morning.)

This was also taken this morning.  It looks like interesting work, but I wouldn't want to be wearing waders in the current weather pattern.  (Warm and humid.)

I got a little dehydrated during my time outside this morning.  Bicycles have water bottle holders.  How does one manage to stay hydrated while jogging?

The Village Shrinks

My favorite part of the holiday season is always the amount of family time that we can squeeze into it. Having OSLO and the COTU here for a week was great. It was raining on the way to the airport Friday morning, and I told them that Florida was crying because they were leaving. There was no rain, and no tears on Thursday, though. Somehow we had missed one of our traditional stops -- a visit to Punta Gorda's waterfront park.

It's always fun to recreate an old photo. I have an earlier version of the one below on my refrigerator in Holland, taken about 6 years ago.

The banyan tree is still a favorite place to explore.

We got text messages from them after they had safely landed in Grand Rapids.  Another winter trip successfully navigated.  They have the weekend to settle in before school resumes for the teenagers and OSLO's day care business starts back up.  I think that old adage from Wizard of Oz probably applies here -- there's no place like home.

I'll be joining the other bloggers in taking a break from blogging for a while.  Here's what I would have blogged about, had I blogged.  Next week is a wedding anniversary. It's a really big number.  Almost scary. The following week is JB's birthday, also a really big number.  26 more than the first one.  Neither number has a zero at the end, so  they aren't designated as significant.  It will be too warm some days, too cold on others, it will rain now and then and it will usually be too windy.  I would have complained about it all.  I will do some slogging, and a little bit of biking.  Ollie's Pond Park will likely be visited, hopefully by bicycle.  Napping will occur.  I'll do some cooking and we'll eat out quite a bit.  Reading will take up some time -- I've started a new detective series.  Book one was pretty good, now I have to order book two.  Food will continue to be an obsession.  With luck, we'll both stay healthy. It's a familiar routine, and a comfortable one.  But I really can't get excited about blogging about it, yet again.  Fade to black.

Something Different Every Day

Time flies. With just one full day left of their visit to Florida, we've done most of the traditional things.

The first couple of days that they were here were cold by Florida standards, including one morning when OSLO and I walked up to the Hava Java Grill before the temperature even hit 50.

The hot tub has gotten quite a bit of use, usually in the evening after we were done with the day's activities.  We saw the movie "Lincoln" on New Year's Eve, getting home in plenty of time for the night owls to watch the ball drop at midnight.

The last few days have been warmer, and we've spent some time at the beach in Port Charlotte, the Wildlife Center in Punta Gorda, and of course -- Ponce de Leon Park.

When there was nothing else going on, OSLO and the G'Daughter could usually be found soaking up some sun on the dock.

Today we finally squeezed in a trip to Gasparilla Island.  We had a late lunch at the South Beach Grill and the visitors got to spend some time looking for shells and wandering along the Gulf beach.   Other than the fact that we've spent an unbelievable amount of time shopping, it has been a pretty good week.