Love and food and a movie title

 My computer keeps reminding me I haven't done a blog re 'my life in the day of a newly diagnosed diabetic' so to make my electronic memory shut up I'm reproducing this letter to the charactor in the movie 'Shirley Valentine.' the blog should have been entitled "I like to eat food that reflects the place I'm at' but that can wait until tommorrow - after all, it's weigh-in day so should have something to report! - here is the letter:
"Dear Shirley Valentine, Greece is not the only island with places in which to fall in love . . . with life. I could have stayed longer but other places beckon and this was a nice interlude along the way. Okay, more than nice. Research for my writing I could call it, justify it. But I won't. It was, 'why not?' Good for the ego too. But Shirley, I have to tell you - different races, religions and different islands, same talk. No surprise really, is it. Our stories are so similar - I didn't leave a husband at home but once I arrived at this island, maybe with your story in mind, after all parts of our lives followed similar paths.

White sands, blue skies, charming restaurant / resort owner and voila! Late one night, a knock on my door. Are you awake? Blah blah lady, only talk, blah, blah, friends, blah, blah, I never did this before, blah, blah, I don't know what's happening to me, blah, blah. And so the story goes - you fill in the gaps, I know you know the words 'they' say.

I just smiled and enjoyed myself knowing tomorrow or the day after or next week I'd stay ciao and carry on my journey. Islands are seductive. So my soul sister, I too fell in love, again, with life, on an island - A great way to start a New Year."

PS these birds fell in love too: in love with freedom when they were released.

weigh in day!

Not such an impressive loss this week - as to be expected. Still 400 grams is nearly a pound if I remember my old weight measuments correctly so I'll take it. The weight watchers leader tells me the average weekly loss is between 300 and 500g.

As I write I'm watching a 'Survivor' type programme ... now that's a way to loose weight quickly .. not that I would learn any good eating habits. An island off the Sth East of peninsula Malaysia is the setting for a European survivor programme ... called Robinson Island on the TV show as I recall... and I stayed there once for a wbaout fours days: it was almost survivor for me too and I bailed out after 4 days (had planned on a week's solo R&R) as I was absolutely chewed to pieces by sandflies and couldn't wait to find a phamacy to get some anti-histamine cream.

Still as I have often said, "I put on weight in India" - perhaps I'd do the same on a survivor island. So for now I'll stick to the WW plan of healthy eating, the slow and steady and healthy way to loose this unwanted weight.

photographers gather to record the hatching of an endangered bird

Diabetic day 14 and I'm doing ok!

The old band rotunda is now a restaurant: Christchurch

No blog last night as I was out eating at Wagamama ... as delicious as ever.

Tommorrow I will find out if I am eating as well as I think I have - its weigh-in day - so more will be revealed in my next blog.

Not much to talk about,  so go check out my blog (HERE) about the most famous one-legged kiwi in the world and the zoo hospital where you could stand and watch the animals be treated -- yes , even operations.

And come back tomorrow  for the big reveal!

feeling good!

Well today had my first weigh-in after a week of working on loosing weight and so improve my health status: I have lost 1.8 kg.

Guess if I keep doing what I've been doing I'll keep getting the results which is a good thought. what was not such a good thought was when I worked out what my weight would be ( in the old stones and pounds of my youth) when I  have lost 10% of my current weight I was shocked. Still THAT heavy! I thought if I got rid of ten percent of my body weight that would be all I have to do. I would be svelte, diabetes-symptoms-free and full of the joys of life. Now I know what it is in stones/lbs I also know I wont be svelte. so back to concentrating on my immdeiate goal -- loose 5%, then focus on the next goal, and then the next.

I'm a great believer in just doing todays challenges today, and need to remember to stay in the now, and day, with this weight loss and increased health goal journey I'm on.

Another kiwi who reached his goals - Sir Ed Hillary gazes up to Aorangi-Mt Cook in NZ's South Island.

So thats it for now, its good to to have a successful 7 days behind me, and tommorrow I start it all again.