THE MAN WITH THE MERCEDES

I remember pulling up next to his car at the town’s only stoplight. He was going to make a left, probably heading over to the branch he was building for the bank where I worked. I’d met him a few times when the company he owned expanded the printout storage room for our computer department.

I just knew him as “the man with the Mercedes.” He knew me as “that blond girl in the basement.”

When I pulled next to him he smiled and waved, and I said to myself, “too bad, he’s married.” Little did I know that between the time he’d worked in our basement computer department, to that time at the light, he filed for a divorce. When the new branch finally opened, both of us were at the festivities. We got to talking there and, as they say, we connected. Tomorrow, forty-five later, we’re still connected.

IT'S A TOUGH LIFE...

Singapore is a bustling place - notice all the ships out there.

...but someone has to do it.  I keep saying that to our son. He's traveling for the Bank of America. This time, again, to Singapore. During the business week, he stays at a hotel near the office, which is near the beaches. The last weekend of the trip, he moves right into town and sets himself up in a balcony room overlooking the street route of the weekend's Formula One race. He is an avid F1 fan, and whenever and wherever he can, he'll parlay a trip with a race. He doesn't need a ticket to this particular race - he'll sit on the balcony, watch the action, and listen in on a transmission of the race action.

He really likes Singapore, it's clean, efficient, and the climate agrees with him. Above all, he enjoys the food. From the every-day to the exotic, the food choices are phenomenal. Take this morning's breakfast. Well, you can take it, I'm not so sure. He calls it the Singapore Breakfast Boo-fay.

It's a buffet, so obviously he chose the items. I don't know what that white stuff is, but I do recognize eggs, a steamed bun, probably some smoked salmon, a rice dish, a roll, perhaps some duck meat and - egad! - a duck's head. I meant to ask him if he ate that. Aw, come on! These days, restaurants no longer decorate the plate with a sprig of parsley, but, in Singapore, evidently, you can decorate your plate with a duck. I'll pass on that one. 

IT'S BACK!

I subscribe to Prime Women - primewomen.com. This morning I was pleased to see a rerun of the article I wrote for them. It's Old Wive's Tales: The Many Myths About Women Over Fifty.   As I am well, well over fifty, I do know a thing or two about the topic.

However, what really held my interest this morning was a very interesting article on Exercising to Lose Weight? This one is very timely for me. As it says - "Stop. It doesn't work!" I can attest to that too. As you may have gathered from some of my recent posts, I recently found out that both my knees are bone-on-bone.  I've had knee and leg problems and pains for over twenty years, so I thought it was just part of an old condition. Who knew? The surgeons at OrthoCarolina have parameter for when they'll do replacement surgery. You must be below a certain Body Mass Index. I am below that threshold, but I was advised that I'd be a lot more comfortable, and have a lot less problems, if I lost some weight first. O.K. I'm on it!

So - in just over three months, I've lost 16 pounds. Slow but sure. My BMI has come down two points. If the cortisone shots keep working for me as well as they do, I should be able to go the distance.

What am I doing? I started out again, counting the old, original Weight Watchers Points. Recording them gets tedious after a while. But I do know which foods carry the lowest points, so now I just guesstimate them, and it's working. I think my halo might be on straight, because I don't often go overboard. It just may be that instead of just deciding to lose weight, I have a specific goal: new knees, no pain. I think it can be done.  I'll keep you posted.

THE WHEELS ON THE BUS GO ROUND AND ROUND

And my mind was going round and round last night.  I'm fortunate in that I had cortisone shots in my bone-on-bone knees yesterday, so my time in bed was very comfortable. I'm delighted that I could be comfortable because for some strange reason, I could not get to sleep. I did try my usual trick of rehashing the story I read on Kindle just before bed - no luck.  I don't suffer from insomnia, so I'm not trouble by an occasional sleepless night. I just go with the flow of ideas.

As it happens, I had a very productive night. I keep a journal and lighted pen in the bookcase beside my bed. Last night, on and off, I wrote one whole page of random ideas.  Some for the house, some recipes I wanted to find, some things I want to order online, and many ideas for the community magazine. So far today, I've manged to cross quite a number of them off the list.

And, very unusual for me, no ear-worm went round and round in my mind. That would have been the pits. It was a silent night.

IF WISHES WERE HORSES...

Just something that I wish had come true – A week ago, on Friday, August 30, OnThisDay.com sent this note of a medieval-age date in history:

1146  European leaders outlaw crossbow, intending to end war for all time.  

Nice try, guys.