Weight loss, paint drying, and a sailing ship

The sun has been shining in Christchurch today ... maybe summer will arrive after all! I went for my 30 min walk today, this time on city sreets so I could deliver a pile of booklets to the library .. free books for people to read about the Christchurch Writers Trail put together by the local Society of Authors.

I've decided to blog just every couple of days re my diabetes, as lets face it, this will be a long (ish) journey as I move toward better health coupled witha  lower weight - it will be boring enough for me at times let alone fro readers .. sort ot like watching paint dry perhaps.

Thats it for this week, off for weekend as I have a Wellintonian down for a while and we will be having fun doing other things rather than tweeting, bloging or writing travel stories.  Now, to find a picture to decorate my page - if you want to read more go over to http://kiwitravelwriter.wordpress.com/ and read some travel pieces. And then, check out my webpage http://kiwitravelwriter.com/ and see what else you can  find there!

I take the wheel of an old sailing ship the Spirit of NZ in Akaroa harbour - this reminds me I must do a photo  blog re yachts I've sailed on

Note my 'Say no to War' top bought in Malaysia when I signed up to support 'Malaysians for Peace.'

just another little slice in the life of the kiwitravelwriter

I waited for my Discover Chch at the tram stop in the square - the tram is all dressed up for Christmas

Well it's about a week since my diagnosis of diabetes and subsequent decision to get healthy and loose weight in public, mostly I think I have been on track (the test wiil come when I step on the scales tommorrow)

I have become more aware of what goes in my mouth .. well not so much 'what' but how much: and of course I've upped my walking. Did my regular track this am and although it was the same amount my dodgy pedometer says it was .3 of a kilometre longer. I WAS ALSO ONE MINUTE FASTER!

Excuse the caps - I didn't mean to shout, but when I look at them it seems appropriate to leave them there for that sentence.

Well nothing really to report today .. just want to be in the habit of thinking about my day and health each evening and this focuses my mind, so ciao until tomorrow.

"wait for me' calls one of the tourists on the Hassle-free tour

and so the days go on

Well another day over and another day of ups and downs ... my nutrition intake was good but no excersise! I also had a great facebook message from a woman who lost a lot of weight and had her diabetes symptons disappear.

Maybe I can do double excersise tomorrow?

Anyone would think I was made of sugar and spice and all things nice and would have melted if I'd gone out in the rain. I know that's not true  -  more rain predicted for tomorrow.

Today has been spent on the couch, laptop on my lap and sorting out the story and photos about Kaikoura Wilderness Walks and talking to an editor about it.  I think I have sold it overseas but will wait for absolute comfirmation before I tell you where. As my dad told me "there's many a slip betweeet the cup and the lip"

Tommorrow I'm off out with a  local award winning Christchurch company  HassleFree Tours .. I have done their LotR tour ( see my blog on it here) and tommorrow I'm taking the Discover Christchurch tour.. so more to follow.

health issues continued

(Scroll down to read previous posts re the kiwitravelwriter and diabetes)

Well, here is is the end of another day and I'm not grumpy. YAY!

I sprung out of bed after a good nights sleep, had my fav breakfast ( avocado and tomato on wholegrain toast) along with my usual black coffee ... made in a French press ... and was soon out for a morning walk. I  walked, half city streets and half Hagley Park, alongside the the Avon river for 35 mins. i will do the same route each day for a week and hope to reduce the time - I'll then add more distance then repeat the procedure.

Then, oxygyn and endorphins coursing through my body, I wrote a book review that's been siting in my 'to do list' for a month or two, attended to some Soc of Authors business, visited my mother, picked broad beans and silver beet from my little, but productive and organic, garden. And now, its time to get a meal ready - not bad for day five of my diagnosis and determination to get healthy at last.

Hanmer Springs NZ

 Its been very easy to fool myself. for years i have reamined the same weight, do lots of walking ( and I live in on the thrid floor of an appartment block with  no lift/elevator) and walk around my city a lot - howver to be healthy it seems I need to do extra, actual excersise.  So that's todays check in - thanks for the support you have been sending via facebook, and twitter - and a few on this blog. kia ora to you all!

Diabetes day three and Doctors are throwing water balloons!

(Scroll down to see previous posts re this topic)

Well its a wild and windy day here in Christchurch - one of our east coast's nor'wester - when the wind rushes over the Southern Alps, drops it's rain on the West Coast to allow the rain forrest to grow, then sweeps  dryly and warmly over the Canterbury Plains and drives many people mad. As someone who is often mad anyway, I actually  love this signature wind for us Cantabrians.

Whats this got to do with me and my health issues? well nothing really, except as part of a battery of tests I have been having over the past few months, I had to go to the hospital for an abominal scan - not easy with a full bladder - and I can confirm I am not pregnant. Whew. That's a relief.

But back to the Drs and their water balloons. As I left, a bevy of Drs and Nurses in various outfits, tinsel, cowboy hats, white over-alls, brightly coloured tights also left, heading over the bridge and heading towards 'the boatsheds' obviously something was about to happen, so I waited on the bridge. Also waiting there - and along the bank - were some child patients.

Soon,  along came the flotilla of colourful canoes, and those waiting on the bridge threw water balloons ... the paddlers were throwing them at their collegues too. It seems this was a charity event to raise funds for the childrens wards.

Before I continue, may I have a curmudgeonly moment. As someone who always picks up plastic on the beach, it concerns me that these broken balloons are now heading seaward and one at least will not doubt contribute to a mammals death.

So, diabetes day 3 has gone well. My pedometer has arrived so I can now tell how far I walk (despite being a writer, I do have a high incidental level of movement) and will set it up tonight ready to be attached to this obese body in the morning - well not to my body per se, but to the waist band of whatever I wear tommorrow.

Food wise I've done well, not hungry, and have eaten well - i'm looking forward to the chicken and kumera ( sweet pototo) and salad meal I plan on havong soon.

Thanks to the people who have supported and encouraged me via Twitter, Facebook, and this blog ... knowing you are on the sidelines cheering me on is really great. You are stars :)

A distinctly kiwi sign - at the Wellngton Zoo