It’s no secret that I love to take pictures of the sky. Ever changing, it fascinates me. Though I love a blue, blue sky with fluffy white clouds, I also love what I call moody skies. Monday was a moody skies day.
It looks like it’s going to storm, doesn’t it? It never happened. The sky kept shifting, changing, throwing a spotlight on certain buildings while others were in shadow. It was amazing. Part of the sky was full of dark clouds. Part of it was a beautiful blue.
Maybe I could make a name for myself as The Sky Photographer. All skies, all the time. What do you think?
These were shot with my iPhone, which has turned out to be very handy for those times I don’t want to lug my Canon around.
I’m dieting, my friends. I want to lose about twenty pounds. Maybe more. No more sweets (it’s been four days without them.) More exercise. A small salad for lunch. No more ice cream. You’d be proud of me – it sits in the freezer, untouched. I’m not especially enamored of the aging process, but why make it harder by carrying around extra weight?
For most of my life I was tall and thin and could eat anything. In fact, I was so thin that one of my professors in grad school asked me if I was anorexic. Uh….no. But I was forced to exercise in that program, there were lots of movement classes and pilates (before they became all the rage) and I was as toned as I was ever going to be. Until I hit my fifties, I could pretty much eat anything I wanted without gaining a pound.
Those days are over. So I’m going to be mindful about what I eat. I’m going to walk more. I don’t kid myself that I will go to the gym, because I won’t. But walking? Yes.
On my walk through the park the other day, I gathered some natural beauty for the apartment:
The trees are beginning to change around here, ever so slightly. There is a nip in the air. The nights are cooler. Summer, I don’t want you to leave, but apparently you are going to whether I like it or not.
Happy Wednesday.
Talk about hitting the nail. I also need to lose about 20lbs. I used to figure skate competitively for millions of years and somehow my metabolism was just fine, then late 40s and bam! It’s so not good. I’ve been walking down to the beach and back up the hill and now need to make that an everyday routine. It’s helping. That and yoga and a bit less food. Good luck with it Claudia. :)
Thanks, Veronica! I’m getting ready to go take a walk right this minute!
Claudia,I like you am trying to hold on to summer with all my might! I just don’t have the power! Judy A-
Me either, Judy!
Beautiful pictures. I love looking at the clouds. They are just amazing. Oh dieting……it’s so hard. I think you look good already.
Well, thank you, Debby, but it’s around my middle and hips and some of it has to go!
You caught some nice reflections on that golden building. What is it that song says “I’ve seen the clouds from both sides now”.
Weight is a huge problem for me.
Catch you tomorrow.
Smiles to you.
Linda
By Joni Mitchell, Linda. One of my favorites.
Claudia!!! 20lbs is way too much…You’ll just look older!!
Go easy.. Now I could afford to loose 20 lbs…Our metabolism is not our friend as we age..
No, it’s not. I’m tall, so the weight is a little easier to hide, but believe me, I need to lose it! I lost weight after my gall bladder surgery 2 years ago and I looked better! Unfortunately, I’ve gained it all back.
I too am a walker and try to walk every evening; tried a gym once and totally hated it! Why exercise inside a stuffy room when you can be outdoors with fresh air and scenery. Good luck with your 20 lb challenge, but allow yourself a few treats occasionally!!
Exercising in a gym bores me, Jen, and I fear I’m not disciplined enough to keep it up! I’d rather walk and notice everything around me.
I love stormy skies with dark gray clouds with the sun bouncing off the gray
Me too!
Good luck to you Claudia..losing weight is a losing battle for me..I have no will power..Clouds are amazing wonders to me!
Will power is hard for me, too, Nancy. I told Don that we have to help each other with this battle!
I love nature’s colors…especially a moody sky as you call it. It is more difficult to lose weight as we age…I’ve cut out a lot of gluten, and that seems to help. I need to lose 30 lbs. or so too. As far as this aging thing goes…don’t really care for the side effects! ;)
Me either, Donna! Me either!
Gorgeous skies – I like the moody ones just as much as the sunny ones. And moody is what we’re getting around here these days.
I hear you about being very thin and then POOF, the weight fairy (or devil) visits. I look at my body and wonder what happened. It’s all around the middle. Part of aging, I guess. But I’m fighting back. I rarely eat simple carbs and walk every day. Gyms bore me, like you, I prefer to look at the world around me as I walk. It would be fun to go on a walk with you.
Keeping weight off is a way of life.
It seems to be, Lorrie. I didn’t realize just how good I had it when I was younger!
These are really beautiful pictures of the clouds…some of them really do look like they’d bring rain.
Hubby will be back to the gym in a few weeks after the okay from his doctor and I suppose I will trot along with. I am so inactive during the winter months, I have no excuse. It sounds like you get a lot of exercise walking in Hartford and I know it has to be so pretty this time of year!
XO,
Jane
That’s our problem, too, Jane. We really become slugs in the winter. We have no sidewalks around our house and our road is busy, so we tend to back off walking and that’s not good!
I agree with all of you…our metabolism works against us as we get older. Most days I think my body has turned against me (in a sense it has, I have psoriasis arthritis) …while on the one hand certain exercises make me feel better… on the other I’m physically drained and don’t have the energy to exercise. Losing weight is a never ending battle here…and then there is no will power!
I hope you are successful in losing what you need to feel better. I’m curious, how long have you been vegetarian? (or vegan…I can’t remember) I think I always had it in my mind that people of that lifestyle choice we ALL THIN. Weird, I know. Enlighten me! :)
Pat
Not if you eat sweets! And calorie laden desserts! And put a lot of butter on things. You can be a vegetarian and still eat fattening things. Vegans, who eliminate all animal products, seem to be the thin ones.
I’ve haven’t had red meat in almost 25 years. I haven’t had fish or chicken in about 8 years. I did it in degrees, Pat.
All skies? All the time? WONDERFUL idea. I have saved SO many photos of the skies that I’ve had to create a separate folder for them on my Mac. Love to just “page” through them and marvel at the sights. And I like the stormy ones every bit as well as the azure blue, cotton-puff cloud ones. I think God made the skies so beautiful that we just wouldn’t be able to doubt there was a Heaven. Happy Wednesday, everyone!
I love the 3rd moody sky photograph the best and your salad looks yummy! I need to lose about 30 pounds! I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted and most of my life I was labeled too skinny. Boy have I gained the weight! Not enough movement and way too many sweets. I tried weight watchers for a month and said I’m not paying them loads of money and playing the points game. I think it’s just watching the types of foods that I eat, not snacking on junk and more movement. I have a beautiful bike that I bought a couple of years ago so I need to get on that and ride. I walk everyday but not briskly enough to call it exercise.
My very favorite thing is moody skies! I love the grays, the rain, the wind. Beautiful! I loved your photos. Good luck on the diet, I have found it so difficult. I was always so thin because I smoked so much. I quit smoking 22 years ago, but realized I only substituted food. I could stand to lose at lease 50 pounds. So darn hard. Good luck!!!
Love the pictures of the sky. Beautiful. Moody sky says it perfectly.
I have been walking almost every morning for about 25 years. My weight has not changed much as I have aged, but I find that my body has shifted. I now wonder, “Where did that come from?” I just told my husband I wish Lay’s potato chips were on the bottom of the food pyramid. Hang in there, Claudia!
I love cloud pictures…I take a lot of pictures of the sky, too (as evidenced last week on my FB page, lol). I need to lose 20-25 lbs. myself. So much harder to lose and keep the weight off once you hit 50! I take a weekly yoga class, do yoga at home, and walk a mile every day, though I know I need to do more. I also need to incorporate weight lifting into my routine; very important as we age to help keep our bones strong. As for the eating, salads are great, but hope you’re getting enough protein. What do you eat for breakfast? Plain Greek yogurt is wonderful…add your own fresh fruit, some raw nuts, some good granola (Trader Joes has a good selection) if you want, and some natural sweetener, such as honey.
Wow!! That’s impressive!!–no sweets for four loooooog days! You just have to do it for “just today”– every day. Once, when I was
young, we had no sugar in our house for over a year. And I was a serious sugar addict. Wish I hadn’t allowed it to creep back into my life. Hope you continue to do so well on your diet.
I am so very thankful your tree is okay. That was really a big concern. I still hurt for you willow. If I could, I’d send you a very big
(80’tall) hickory tree that’s in our woods. Hope the thought counts.
jane in tx
I am always interested in the sky, especially cloudy skies. I never saw anything like this before http://voices.yahoo.com/photos/unusual-cloud-formations-shocked-dayton-ohio-10258059.html?cat=58 Even the newpaper and TV news reported on how unusual they were. I was so glad I had my camera with me. I love your photos, especially the one with the “blue tower” of clear sky.
Hi Claudia
Those are uplifting photos – amazing what great images the smart phone camera takes.
I love the reflections on the top one.
I’m trying to lose weight at the mo too!
I was always tall and thin too – I don’t know how I let those kilos creep up on me….
I’ve been lazy over the winter months (in New Zealand) but now it’s Spring so I’m back walking again.
I’ll keep in touch to see how you’re getting on!
I’ve done a post for “A Favorite Thing” tomorrow just in case !!!
Hugs
Shane
Claudia, I’m so glad I came back to this post instead of commenting on the more recent ones. I feel like I have a blogging buddy in these trying-to-lose-weight days! I don’t feel so lonely now. All of those autumn baking pictures being pinned on Pinterest, I can’t let myself look at them. I have dug out my old MFK Fisher books trying to spark more of an interest in soups and salads and fish dishes. Trying to focus on lovely things I can fix instead of what I can’t.
Do you eat most of your meals in the apartment there? I know I have many times your 20 pounds to lose and truthfully probably never will but believe that if I just stay on this eating plan that I will keep losing until I get to the point where I have to deprive myself too much to lose more. (Let’s just say that my metabolic system is 10 years older than yours! So it is hard but better late than never, I try to tell myself.)
Also, love the nature items you’re “decorating” with. See, I told you that you do decorate for the seasons!
Dewena