A Visit To Gio's Great, Great Aunt's

It's a beautiful drive up and down hills on the windy roads that lead to my Great Aunt Doris' house.

What a view. Doesn't the power line just make the photo? Actually, I like it in this photo but I usually try to leave them out. There are many, many photos I would love to take but don't because of the wires that would end up in them.

Taken from the car, just a field alongside the road. Of course most of the beautiful views were on the other side of the road and we drove home at dusk so I was unable to capture them on my camera.

Showing Aunt Doris how the two 'trucks' work. They have magnets on either end and one can pull the other just by touching them together. He also brought several other trucks in his bag of toys.

Showing Aunt Doris his Three Little Kittens (A.K.A. cat) book.

B, S, L, S

Breakfast: Local and Rainier cherries. I woke up thinking about cherries. They just didn't do it for me today though. What did was bananas (2) and blueberries. Gio is still crazy for blueberries and ate nothing else once he saw them.

Snack: Homemade pop (1 cup) and 1/2 Jennie's Macaroon. The macaroon is just honey and coconut. Very good and sweet. I had the other half last night. I bought some cherry syrup at Wegamans (my favorite store) and some Gerolsteiner Mineral Water. Mix 1/5 syrup and 4/5 mineral water and tada.... homemade cherry pop.

Lunch: Pea pods, cauliflower, zucchini, 1 slice of cucumber, and 1 scallion. Not as much as yesterday. with a smidge of the garlic hummus, some tomato hummus and mainly lemon hummus. Technically not a raw meal because of the roasted veggies in the hummus but close. i wanted something sweet so I had some cherries. They didn't do the trick so I had some dates and they seemed to work.

Snack: Had some dried fruit and nut mix. I ate it out of the bag and had more than I should have. Next time I should put it in a bowl. I have some small ones. There were so many things in the mix. I will try to name them here. Nuts, cashews and those big oval ones can't remember the name. Fruits, dates in oat flour, mango (I think could be papaya), pineapple, lots of BIG plump raisins, apricots, also some ...oh I can't remember what they're called but they are part of pumpkin seeds and they are green.

So Far Today

Breakfast: Cherries both local and Strawberry Rainer. My taster must be off again even though my allergies have been pretty good because cherries that tasted sweet yesterday were not today. Gio was not impressed with them either. Also had some blueberries. Gio could not get enough of them and had a whole container!

Snack: Tried some organic baby seedless watermelon. Not very good at all. Not sweet at all. Also tried two varieties of prunes. Eyou. Did not like the texture at all and they were not at all sweet either. Dipped a couple pieces in sugar. Gave a piece to Gio and he spit it out. Ended up having a pistachio and cashew Lara Bar. Last time I had this variety I was fantastic. This time it just didn't hit the spot :(.

Lunch: Hard to remember, I had a lot.... some cucumber, some cauliflower, some zucchini, several scallions, snow peas, and 1 red lettuce leaf. Dipped them in baba ghanouj (roasted eggplant dip), roasted garlic hummus, roasted tomato hummus, lemon dill hummus. Wasn't fond of the roasted tomato hummus. Loved the baba ghanouj. Technically this wasn't a raw meal because the baba ghanouj has sour cream, I put some chutter cheese on some of the cauliflower, and the garlic tomato, and eggplant were roasted. I tried not to dip each piece in to one of the dips so I could get a taste of the raw veggie. I didn't like the taste of the lettuce it was bitter.

Snack/Lunch

Some cherries, no sugar. Not bitter at all. They were soo good. I'm a little tired but my nose is only running sporadically. Could be my allergies are better because it rained. The allergens aren't flying around outside when it rains.

Had a breakfast bar for lunch. I was really craving it.

Just finished 2 bananas with nut butter dipped in sugar.

Breakfast

Had approximately 3 bananas dipped in sugar with mystery butter (used less nut butter and sugar than yesterday). Also had 3 grapefruit each half with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Tasted one grape... oh my are they bitter but Gio seems to like them. Go figure.

Trying Something New

I happened upon a blog called Going Bananas. It's basically about a woman who eats only raw foods. I've been reading it for awhile now and recently reading some other blogs on the same subject. I've been ready for a change for awhile now.

I really don't like the idea of starving myself or always counting calories. Eating mainly healthy foods and staying away from most preservatives, artificial colors, hydrogenated oils, and recently high fructose corn syrup has become quite normal. I have upped the amount of veggies I eat and am in the process of switching to whole grain pasta (still have some semolina pastas in the cupboard). I decided to give raw meals a try for breakfast and usually lunch.

The switch for breakfast should be easy because Gio usually eats fresh fruit then. I didn't used to eat any and give it all to him because fresh organic fruit is so expensive. I would just eat a breakfast bar ($0.99 each). Then I started eating around the core of the apples and pears I cut up for him, nibble on a few grapes, stuff like that. Today I got to thinking "Hey some cuts of meat go for over $10lb and I'm feeling guilty about buying more fruit that isn't usually half that price per pound." Normally though I don't buy meat that is more than $4lb unless it's organic.

Last night after the fireworks I bought Organic Golden Delicious apples $6.33 ($1.75lb), red cherries $15.81 (2.99lb), organic cherries $14.97 ($4.99lb), organic grapefruit $6,99($1.75lb), organic nectarines $5.99 ($2.99lb), and organic bananas $5.06 ($0.69lb) from Wegmans. There are still very sour organic grapes and 2 melons here at home.

Today was day one. Everything I ate of course was shared with Gio. For breakfast I had about 1/2 of a pound of cherries dipped in sugar. My allergies have been not horrible but definitely there so my taster was off and they tasted sour so that's why I dipped them in sugar. Gio also had yogurt and whole wheat macaroni with sausage, egg, and cheese. For lunch I had three or for bananas dipped in sugar with mystery butter and more cherries. The cherries didn't taste as sour so I only dipped the sour ones in sugar. As a snack I had a little over a pound of organic cherries. I took a nap and when I woke up my nose wasn't running and I felt great. Ended up at Taco Bell for dinner. It was good but I kept thinking about those cherries. Weird because I usually crave restaurant food. Awhile after getting home I had about 15 cherries.

When doing dishes today I noticed there weren't as many dishes. Yay :). I figure if I end up staying with this I may end up saving money on dish soap, hot water, electricity (cooking), and bottled water. I ate a melon for lunch a few times recently and noticed I wasn't as thirsty as I usually am. I like that fresh fruit for the most part is travel ready. When we're out and on the go I can just fill a bag with fruit and eat it on the go. I also like that I don't have to feel guilty for eating too much fruit or eating too much in general. From what I've read, most people who start out eating all their meals this way eat under 2000 calories a day and are not hungry. Looking forward to this new journey.

On The Road

I'm always saying when we're going somewhere "look at that. I wish I could take a picture." Well, I decided to try taking pictures as we're whizzing down the road. Here are 2 of them. I am surprised that they turned out so well.

Abuelo's "Truck"

Gio has a book that has a truck that is the same color and looks a bit like this mower and whenever he sees it, he points and says "Ahbobo!"

"Garden" Views

Here are some uncropped shots of "my weed free garden" across the street.

Checked Out By A Chick

I thought this little chick popping up to see me was just the cutest. The chicks are really growing fast. Their Mom is taking them all over now, not just around the garden.

Pollinators

I followed this bumble bee as he buzzed from flower to flower. Their buzzz is surprisingly loud. He's a bit hard to see but he's in the center of the picture on the purple flower.

A moth or butterfly (not sure which) stops for a rest. There were a lot of them fluttering around the milkweed.

It's All Happenin' Out Here In The Country

I tell my Mom that all the time. What happens in my daily life will hopefully never be on the nightly news but it seems something interesting happens almost everyday.

Today I decided to take a few outside pics. I noticed the milkweeds were in bloom. "They attract Monarch Butterflies," as I thought this one flew by and landed on a milkweed plant a short distance away. I decided to walk through the "weeds" to get a close up shot before it few away. Well before I knew it there was a loud squawk and a loud flapping of wings not far in front of me. Apparently I had gotten too close to a hiding ring neck pheasant. Needless to say I never got the shot of the Monarch.

This happened one other time, the pheasant was almost in the exact same spot, when I was out for a walk with Fancy and the baby. I saw him hiding so when he decided to fly away I wasn't quite as startled.

Little Helper

Gio bringing the basket of strawberries to his Dad.

A Field Of Dreams?

So many strawberries, so little time.

Strawberry Picking

Gio enjoyed eating strawberries while we picked them. It was hot but breezy and our sun hats kept blowing off.