a little of this, a little of that

….., A little Peaks of Otter while it’s still in the not-THAT-distant past. I keep swearing to myself that I’m going to write more often. Hahahahaha! I also keep waiting so long that I forget all those tremendously fascinating things that I was intending to write about. And it’s not that I’ve been busy. What HAVE I been doing?!? Who knows! Maybe I’ve been reading more — since getting the Kindle I have been going kind of, ummmm, nuts downloading stuff. Lots of free stuff, but some new and not-free too. I think I’m going to have to set myself a monthly budget limit. Just in recent days I’ve downloaded Going Away Shoes (short stories by Jill McCorkle, a southern writer I like), Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, (not sure why now, I think I read a review somewhere and it sounded interesting), Call and Response and A Short History of A Small Place by TR Pearson (and yes I have them both as real books but A Short History of a Small Place is one of my all time favorite novels ever and Call and Response was cheap), Because of Winn Dixie (even more Southern writing, also on sale for like $2), Death of a Dentist which is one of the apparently 12,987 novels MC Beaton has written about  the Scottish policeman Hamish Macbeth, that were the basis for the British TV series which stared Robert Carlyle as Hamish Macbeth (there were THREE seasons?!? I could swear we just saw two – – and the second one was kind of disappointing, although the first was wonderful).

And Fast Food Nation and Food Inc because I watched Food Inc a few weeks ago. And, duuuude, I think I may officially be a vegetarian now. Not that I was much of a meat-eater previously, and certainly not that I thought the raising and processing of cattle and chickens for food was all humane and stuff, but…just watch Food Inc. Seriously. It’s horrifying. It’s beyond horrifying. It took me three days to watch it. I’ve sworn off anything that’s not organic and small-farm and free-range, and I actually haven’t eaten- or wanted- any meat at all in the several weeks since seeing it. I was already verging on vegetarianism so it’s not been any hardship. And after watching Food Inc, I don’t have the slightest desire for fast food either. I have felt pretty hypocritical for years, being such a big animal lover yet eating meat, but I WAS raised on a farm. A teeny farm, but still a farm. And we ate a LOT of meat. The fact that I eat so little now is quite an achievement after the way I was raised. 

Oh, and I also read The Help. I could not put it down. It’s REALLY good. It was so good that last Sunday I decided to do something I NEVER EVER do – I actually went to the theater, and saw the movie. In a case of extremely good timing, I finished the book right before leaving to go see the movie. I used to go to the theater all the time – I loved going to see movies- but since the arrival of videos and DVDs I’ve pretty much stopped going. I saw Alice in the theater a year and a half ago, and before that I think it was a Harry Potter that we saw with my SIL and nephew at Thanksgiving, back when he was young enough to want to go to Harry Potter at Thanksgiving, and during that streak of years where they’d come out at Thanksgiving. He’s 21 now so that’s been quite some time back. Anyhow, it was fun going to the theater to see a movie, but I also think I won’t be doing that again anytime soon. It cost TWENTY DOLLARS for a ticket, a "small" drink (which was more like half a gallon — it lasted the entire movie) and a small popcorn. And I went at 4:00, which used to be the matinee, but apparently there is only one now and that’s at 1:00. I didn’t decide I was going in time to make that one. At least there weren’t many people there, and no one yakked on their cellphones. Ironically, I was the only one I saw on the phone, and that was because it ran WAY later than I thought and Baker B called me twice. But I had my phone in my pocket on vibrate and rushed to the lobby before answering it. 

ANYHOW, the movie was very good too, but I did like the book a lot better. The book was much more complicated, of course. I’d recommend them both, though. 

And now I’m going to post some Peaks of Otter pictures, since despite it being just 12:30, I’m falling asleep over the computer. I have been doing a very bizarre thing these past few weeks — bizarre for me, at least. I have been getting up half an hour early and doing the 30 Day Shred DVD. That one Jillian Michaels put out, the Biggest Loser Coach. I’ve had it forEVER, probably a year and a half, and used to do it sporadically, but never did do it for long. Certainly not for 30 days. And even more certainly not first thing in the morning, the minute I get up, because if there is one thing I am NOT, it’s a morning person. I have never in my life been able to exercise in the morning. Yet for the past two weeks I have done this video every single day BEFORE WORK, and one day on the weekend. (The first weekend I skipped Sunday because we got up and immediately started staining the deck, and last weekend I went to Asheville Saturday morning.)

It’s a very intensive workout, that’s just 20 minutes long. More like 30 with the warm up and cool down and switches between exercise, but 20 minutes of actual strenuous exercise – cardio, abs and weights.  There are three levels, and I’ve finally advanced to the second one. Annoyingly, I have failed to lose 20 pounds a week, but I immediately felt about 5000 percent better. I have not been cranky, I have not been depressed, and I have not been shoving sugar and fat into my mouth. And this week I’ve also been walking after work, because I missed walking and had plenty of energy to do it. And today Baker B and I went on a hike – which I will have to post pictures of later since he took me to an abandoned campsite he found out in the middle of the woods. 

My point being that I’m falling asleep because I’ve actually been goingto bed a little earlier, even on the weekends when I’ve always stayed up insanely late, for no real reason other than I’m a night-owl. But apparently it’s possible for even me to keep semi-normal hours. I’m still shocked that I can get up that much earlier on a work day and NOT MIND, and then go to bed earlier on the weekend and NOT MIND, and even get up a little earlier on the weekend, and NOT MIND—- and do strenuous exercise FIRST THING… and not only not mind it, but actually kind of LOOK FORWARD to it. Or at least not try to talk myself out of it. So far I’ve not tried to get out of it even once. And I’ve done it for over two weeks — it was two weeks on Thursday. Obviously I’ve been taken over by aliens. 

OKAY, I AM going to post Peaks of Otter Pictures now. Really, I am. 

Peaks of Otter is on the Parkway, not far from Roanoke. I went with Cousin J, her husband, and their two boys. Nobody could decide what they wanted to do, and everyone kind of went different directions on Sunday. The wedding wasn’t until six that evening, so we had lots of time. Baker B didn’t feel very well -he had a bad cold- so he didn’t go with us. I was sorry we all split up, but it was really nice to spend some time with J. 

We rode a bus up to the top, but there was still probably a half-mile walk to the VERY top. 

This is looking down at the lodge, by the lake. Cousin J and the boys came to visit us a couple of years ago, and on the way back they spent a night at the lodge. Their family used to camp at Peaks of Otter when we were kids, so I’ve always had a fascination with it. I’d never been until now, oddly. 

It’s VERY rocky. 

The boys are mountain goats. 

Cousin J seemed very happy. 

Cousin J’s husband hiked up — she was kind of worried about him because he doesn’t do THAT much hiking,and it was a rough, straight-up hike. It was supposed to take an hour and a half, and he appeared after 45 minutes. We were VERY impressed. The boys both hiked back down with him. We rode the bus. 

There was a neat little stone cabin on top. I don’t know what it was. It was empty inside. Some kind of camp, I imagine. 

And that’s where we were, from the lodge…. waaaaaaaaaaaaay up there on that peak. We went down to the lodge searching for lunch, but it was packed so we ended up driving back to Roanoke and eating at a Sonic. Perhaps my last fast food burger!