The first two photos are of us -
1) me & my SIL
2) my DD & me at the bottom of the pyramid in the Louvre

3) The third photo is of a cave dwelling in the southern France rock mountains of Languedoc. Villages were here from prehistoric times until the 16th century. There are now several sites reconstructed from archeological digs that you can roam around.

4) The fourth photo (on its side) is of a hill town (in the same rock mountains as is the cave dwelling). The hill town is a fully-functioning residential area with hotels, restaurants, and residences.

Lynn

Hi there all.....My gosh those are more great pictures Lynn....what a treat to have them pop up. Being back in Bucks County must be strange. Stay warm.

DS just sent local weather report. He is up in the Poconos and am still shivering reading it. But hey supposed to hit us bad tonight and worse tomorrow night. Teens tomorrow. They made strawberry plant popsycles last night.....don't know if they can do 3 nights in a row.

I did it. I swore I wouldn't but it was too sweet to past up. I got one new above the ear hearing aide. My hearing aides have maxed out and it's been a struggle for over a year. They are so expensive that I kept putting off. I can not hear fire or police sirens without them. Anyway went in for cleaning and annual hearing check. They had another customer order two and then turn down one. They offered me this one for 50%.(brand new) And I wore it home. They plug you into the cp and program exactly what you need. I can hear!

After that big treat I better be good. No snacking. Yes, I'm cooking and baking. Have the ham salad, egg salad and chicken salad made. Have the chocolate cake with dried cherries cooling and the articoke dip made. Won't make the sand wiches until morning. Have to pack the bags and get everything ready to load in am. I can't believe am caught up. Left at 9am for nail saloon and the hearing test and everyone was late but me.

Well, back to the kitchen and packing....Karen3

Hi. Just a quick run though this evening.

Lynn, those cave dwellings are amazing. I wonder if they are damp?

Lillyyong, I'm a calorie counter so I eat what ever I want in moderation. I had chocolate cream pie today but only a small piece. I do have to be careful though about things like potato chips and cookies, etc because I can't do moderation with those foods.

I ate well and exercised today so I feel good about myself this evening. Take care and I'll catch you all later.

They were not at all damp when we were there. However, it was a clear, sunny day. The rock mountains were white, looked like limestone.

Lynn

I'm off to the dermatologist for my 3-month check-up. Thought you might enjoy this quote -

"A person who wants to, will find a way.
A person who doesn't, will find an excuse."


Check back later.

Lynn

Good Morning all,

Burrr.. it's cold here. I think the high was 7 yesterday. Curling up by the fireplace is for warmth now!!!

Lynn, thanks for the pictures. Thanks to you and Cat I've seen lots of things I would otherwise never have gotten the chance to see.

Karen3, do you use those new hearing aids like my grandpa did? he would turn them off when he didn't want to hear something. We never knew when he had them turned on!

Lillyong, I'm a calorie counter too. We're all on different diets, but I think most diets work if you stick with them. The idea is to find a diet that you can stay on for a long time. With calorie counting i can have anything I want, I just have to account for it. I do try to eat healthy though.

Isabella, I have problems with some foods too. They are not allowed in my house!! if they aren't here I can't eat them!!! Know your enemy.

Bobbi, Thanks for the recipes. I get tired of eating the same old thing all the time. I don't especially like cook books. Half the things in there are not worth making! Give me something someone has tried.

Freda

Another below zero this morning, yesterday with wind chills it was 49 below zero and today's the same.

This recipe below was taken off the Sparks page, they also posted one for Banana Oatmeal cookies. They had a dozen or so reviews and everyone loved the cookies. I was going to make them this morning but Bruce ate the last banana.
I don't usually post anything unless I've tried it or it's a no brainer like the recipe below for Banana Pancakes. I would tweak it, replace the white flour for Whole Wheat. I'll post the Banana Oatmeal cookies later in the week after I've tried them.
Everyone have a great Friday and be careful over the week-end. The whole country seems to be cold and let's not make it an excuse to stay in and eat comfort foods.

Lynn...I love this quote, I copy/pasted it for my 5 lb.s challenge thread. I'm still waiting for a review of all the yummy foods you ate that was different from what Americans eat.

Hi Bobbi,

Other than fantastic croissants, cheeses, wines, chocolates, bread, pastries, coffee, and crepes, the French cooking was out-of-this-world. Only unusual food I ate was truffles. Maybe because of a cold I had throughout the trip, I couldn't taste much with them. Certainly not enough to pay for them.

Lynn

Dermatologist burned off a little bump between my eye and bridge of my nose. It's sore, but he did not think it is cancer. Looks like I'm OK for another 3 months.

Are any of you on this Spring Pants Challenge?

Bobbi, what's the 5 lbs challenge?

Lynn

Photo 1 - My DD & SIL with bronze statues of geese in Sarlat. This is the area for goose foie gras.

Photo 2 - View from my window in one of the hill towns.

Photo 3 - The 3 Kings having a parade through Carcassone Cite on Jan. 5th.

Photo 4 - Some of the towers of the castle in Carcassone

Lynn

PS - please let me know when you've had enough!

Hi all . . .

We warmed up to a balmy -25C / -10F today; at least it was sunny.

New furniture finally got delivered and set up. Think I'm going to love it once I get a few more things done (new window treatments, for example) and once I find everything.

The felines know they hate it -- cats are terrible about change of any kind -- but will no doubt get over it soon.

Keep warm, everybody . . .

Have a great weekend and stay warm ladies. Check with you on Monday.

Evening all....the dragging sound you hear as my tail....It was a busy day. Had 22 tables and turned out to be one of the nicest bridge games I have directed. Players were polite to each other and me! They inhaled the food. The cake was eaten to the last crumb. usually am cleaning up all afternoon...but they ate everything and I was packed to go by 1:30. Left cookies, crackers and chips for snacking. Got home and had it posted online in 6minutes. First try! Friends had called and we met for dinner out. So here it is 8pm and I am sitting quiet for first time in 13hrs. Even stayed OP at dinner...had broiled waahoo....OMG was that wonderful.

Lynn...keep on posting. I love peeking at your snap shots. Thank you.

Freda...my kids always accused me of having "selective hearing". Couldn't hear them whine, but always heard them planning mischief. Love this new aide. So comfortable to wear. Bet when summer comes will be better than the old one. I had sweat so much a couple of time that the battery shorted out....wild sound believe me.

Lillyoung...I am using the South Beach diet. I have been on it so long it is now just my normal way of eating. I have tried every diet ever created. This is the first diet that has really become a way of life. Funny someone asked me about the cake I baked and I had to really think the last time I had a piece of cake...about 2 yrs ago.

Gotta go turn on pool filter....frost tonight....Karen3

Good morning Everyone,

Brrrrr - freezing here in the semi-northeast. The day after I got home, I did a lot of good-food shopping/cooking (butternut squash soup, stir-fry broccoli with almonds and raisins, sesame ginger pork chops, hummus, blueberry cheesecake parfaits). It has paid off. So far this week (Tues-Sat), I have lost 5 lbs. I've been to the gym everyday & worked my time up from 10 min on Tuesday to 60 min today.

It has felt good to be back on track and get rid of most of the weight I gained on vacation.

Check back later,

Lynn

Good Morning . . .

Trust me, the temperature is not getting higher the farther north and east you travel, LYNN.

Once again, we have nice sunshine though. According to the current forecast today and tomorrow will probably be the end of our deep freeze situation. By monday we will be looking at rising temperatures and another six inches of new snow coming on Monday night. I'm not sure which one is preferable. Guess I'll brave the cold to enjoy the sun and take myself off to town this afternoon.

I'm still tweaking the furniture arrangement and moving small things from place to place. Of course this could go on for days yet. The cats seem to have accepted the new stuff enough to climb over it instead of taking the long way around as they were doing yesterday.

Have a good afternoon, everybody . . . try to stay warm in the cold stuff.