She was extraordinary.

I heard that she just came off from playing "King Lear." Well, that is what the woman she played reminded me of. There was a logical transition from the dispossessed king to this woman, ruling her bedchamber. A great play, a great role, a great actress.

I feel lucky for having seen this.

Yes, Jackson was a phenomenal success in Lear. She must be, what, early 80s? Just checked, she's 81. About a decade older than Helen Mirren. There are some great older women actors about.

I have just had a mammoth salad for lunch which was very nice indeed. I bought some chicory (endive) to have in it and that made all the difference. Also featured dolce verde lettuce, salmon, cc and grated carrot. Plus French dressing made by me yesterday in quantity, and now stored in fridge. I am trying the Precision Nutrition thing of eating different veg. I think I've been through most of the choice in this area about a million times but there are one or two (more expensive, of course!) things I could buy.

I'm hoping to do an abbreviated workout this afternoon at home. It's not my best time but it will be short and fairly straightforward. Got to keep the show on the road.

Birchie What does endive taste like? Is it bitter?

Dagmar :dizzy:

Yes, Dagmar, it is. You eat it with other things in a mixed salad and it adds a little surprise. Radicchio does the same thing. Unfortunately, the endive I bought was fairly bland (probably because of the time of year - not good for salad crops) although it did make a difference to the salad. Have a google and see what you think. Try it out.

It's a complicated day here trying to work out travel and transport questions. The sun's shining, though, so that helps. I've eaten a huge lunch, though, so that feels less good.

150.4 this morning, finally making progress again. Next week I'm gone on a business trip all week, so we'll see what I manage to do food-wise. I'm also catching a cold. :P Not my day I guess!

Good job, Jessica! Colds are no fun and I hope yours will quickly be gone. Business trips are tough on a healthy diet, but just do the best you can.

I had five good food days in a row so far this week, which is much better than I've been managing. My weight has not dropped to 125, so I will try to keep myself motivated.

Good for you Alice on the 5 days in a row! I find it difficult not to cave after 3 days.

Dagmar :cheer2:

Saturday morning at 160.2.

I thought this past week might be easier because the angry Group Vice President had calmed down, and my manager was also calmer. But no.

I lost Wednesday morning to jury duty. Still, I was fortunate-- we never even got to the step in the process where they'd question us in voir dire. The case that we'd been pulled for settled in chambers, and we were released with certificates of service after about an hour of sitting around.

I had meetings, so many meetings, mostly around this content migration that I'm facilitating. My company acquired several other companies last year, including a big one nearly our own size. All the content on their websites has to be migrated over to our website. No two companies use the same processes or platforms or style guides or formats to create their content, and naturally, they're not compatible with ours. So it's a huge manual undertaking to move several thousand items through our systems to our central website, and to make them accessible to the right clients.

At the same time, my company has to release a lot of products to make more money to pay for these acquisitions & justify them to Wall Street. And new products mean new content. So I am assisting with the prototype creation and piloting and review in QA environment.

Also I'm trying to hire a new person and shift around resources to support the new products.

This has never been an easy place to work, but once, it was easier than it is now.

I'm at 159.9.

I'm going to another play. Think of this as theater therapy, what I've been engaging in on weekends. It helps me to look beyond my job and the corporate world to go to plays.

This one will be the first part of "Angels in America." When I first moved downstate to get my master's degree in creative writing, the first production of this play was running. But as a poor grad student, I couldn't afford a ticket. One of my mentors in the writing program was good friends with Tony Kushner. Now I can afford a ticket but am estranged from the community of poets & novelists that I was once immersed in. That was the tradeoff.

Did my monthly weigh-in. 137.8 lbs. Just sneaked in at the top of my "winter range". All the birthdays and all the comfort eating due to my injury are done. The diet pop is gone. All good!

Dagmar :dancer:

Dagmar and Alice's conversation about 'good food days in a row' has made me think that I could have a go at counting these. At present I have no idea.

Good morning. Or afternoon, I guess. I'm still rolling along over here. More or less. :)

Today doesn't count as a good food day. I slipped up late morning. I usually manage to avoid this particular thing but I was two hours later today, and two hours more jaded. Anyway, I enjoyed it so that's not too bad.

Going home now (end of the day) and I'll do an abbreviated workout. I'm looking forward to that.

How's your grandfather, Shannon?

Birchie - he is home from the hospital with a pulmonary drain in that home health has to come drain a few times a week. He has what appears to be a somewhat decreased will to live and isn't taking care of my grandmother (she has dementia) like he should, so we are about to have to address their living circumstances, I believe. My mom went back to work yesterday after being out on FMLA leave since 1/8, we have to find some way to help her out, too. She is overwhelmed with all of it.

Oh Shannon, that is all very hard. Very best wishes to you all. Could he put in some seeds in a pot on the windowsill? My mother grew chives, coriander, basil like that a few years ago after her brother died. She didn't say so directly but I think it helped. She said she liked to see green things grow. That overwhelmed feeling is so horrible. I've found taking (thought out) action really helps, if it's possible to. You'll be on the road, I'm sure. I'll think of you when I'm on the road (actually on the train) to my mother's on Monday.