Earth Day 2013

Earth Day 2013, a beautiful sunny warm spring day here in Central Illinois.  I spent the morning on my deck, grouting small mosaics that some of the women at the NCC Women's retreat made this past weekend.

I love me some women's retreat weekend!

I spent the afternoon running a few errands, then enjoying a short visit to a used book store.  Where I found "The Facts on File Dictionary of CLICHES"  (second edition.)  It's delightful and full of useless information about the origin of clichés. 

Because it is Earth Day, I looked under E to see if there were any clichés involving the word Earth.  Indeed!!  There is a cliché originally from Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940, which is...

"But did thee feel the earth move?"

  Really, Ernest?!  That is over the top. 

On Earth Day here is a sad message on our state of affairs in 2013:

Random Facts

Fact number one:
I worked so hard to get a pair of pantyhose on this morning that I broke into a sweat. 

Fact two:
I just got a new Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM to those in the know.)  I have a little sensor just under the skin of my ample tummy and a receiver that I wear like a pager.  It tells me my (approximate) blood sugar all the time.  I will change the sensor weekly.  It has an alarm if my blood sugar gets too high or too low.

Fact three:
On the CGM I can enter "events"  like eating carbs, taking insulin, or exercise.  Exercise is listed as light, moderate, or intensive.

Fact four:
I think the pantyhose episode counts as at least 5 minutes of intensive working out.

Fact five:
I saw a barn owl yesterday while hiking at Parklands.  No photos of the bird, but here are a couple photos of things I did see on my hike (60 minutes of moderate exercise).

Some kind of puffer-necked bird?

 

Not much greenery yet unless you get down on the ground and look very closely.

 

River nymphs must be sculpting.

 

 

Find the snail shell in this picture...squint...oh there it is!

Fact six:  I love Parklands. 

Fact seven:  Removing pantyhose counts only as 4 seconds of no exercise at all, unless that deep exhalation of relief can be included.  Then it's about 30 seconds of moderate joy.

Fact eight:  That's all folks!