My folks raised our family with the value of staying healthy. I wouldn’t call them extreme health nuts, but when I lived at home, you’d rarely find a soda in the house or candy on the counter. We drank water. We basically had 3 T.V. stations and an Atari, which wasn’t a real big draw day and night like some of the games these days. We ate lots and lots of fruits and veggies and exercise was a way of life. We rarely ate out – it was a huge treat. I appreciate those habits being ingrained in me. I’ve not only passed down the same to my kids, but tried to take it up a notch to pursue greater health, although I think it’s even a bigger challenge now with relatively cheap, tasty, unhealthy fast food available at every corner, our sweet tempting coffee/drink culture and far more sedentary electronic amusements to choose from. I have to intentionally seek to stay fit because in actual fact, it’s easier not to!

I don’t ‘diet’ per se because diets are bondage for me. I’ve been on so many of them for so many years that I’ve completely lost the patience for them. If I want egg nog, I’m gonna have egg nog, rather than eating 2 oranges, a pile of celery, 30 almonds, a piece of diet toast and then at midnight finally succumbing to a quart of egg nog! Ha! That was my life. Eat everything you can from the ‘yes’ list and think about the ‘no’ list all day…finally indulging in too many ‘no’s’ in a weak moment.

With the holidays upon us, cooler temps persisting – I’m making an effort to keep movin’. That’s what my dad taught me. We jogged/walked and bowled in the winter and played tennis, biked and swam in the summer. It was a natural seasonal progression. I find myself doing pretty much the same as an adult, but now in a warmer climate I get to mix up the summer stuff into winter which is a real blessing!

I was riding my bike in the park nearby this week.

Suddenly I spotted a pack of wild turkeys crossing the road…

I mischievously began to follow them…They began to run frantically – I was laughing out loud while I tried to steer my bike and shoot photos…I was having so much fun and then I realized another biker was behind me, watching the whole scene. I pedaled faster and took a sharp left to escape!

All the colors of fall are so beautiful, aren’t they?! I’m a little sad to see all the leaves disappearing. Seasons change so quickly…