I picked grapefruits right out of the trees! Every morning Merle made each of us a bowl of fresh fruit: grapefruit, oranges, grapes, strawberries, bananas, apples…it was yummy.
We went to a giant flea market, and I saw Flea Market Elvis. I also saw Fiber Optic Jesus.
I saw a lot of unusual birds, like this turkey-duck guy. (Edit: I just googled him: he’s a Muscovy Duck and his favourite food is mosquitos.)
I saw woodpeckers too.
I hung out with Lola, aka Lola Granola, Loly Guacamole Girl, and Pooper.
I lay in the sun and read books by the pool. I saw a woman with legs that looked like she stole them from an elephant. They were big and grey and deeply wrinkled. The rest of her looked normal though. I didn’t take a picture.
Deb saw a woman wearing support hose over top of her bathing suit. She didn’t take a picture.
People-watching by the pool made me realize some things. Mostly everybody was old, and a lot of those old bodies tell cautionary tales about posture, weight and ageing. I should work out more.
I went to the beach. It was spring break so mostly everybody was young. I should work out more.
We did some shopping too, but I didn’t take pictures of us shopping. I don’t normally like shopping because everything costs more than it’s worth. But I have to admit shopping is a lot more fun when things are reasonably priced. Among other things, I stocked up on running clothes. I got singlets for $7 that would have cost $40 here.
I meant to take a picture of Deb’s shoes. She packed six pairs of shoes for a seven day vacation! (“I cut back,” she said, “because last time I brought too many shoes with me.”)
Mostly I just relaxed and enjoyed the good company, good food, good weather and the change of scenery, all of which was exactly what I needed.
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I was just thinking about old people and posture (and personal training of course) when I watched Gary Player at the Masters (on tv) yesterday. He needs to work on his rhomboids and trapezoid and probably the latissimus dorsi and Now. I do a lot of back muscle work because I want to keep my posture right up until the day I die. No dowager’s hump for me!
I just looked him up and he is only 73. You gotta work the back more than the front, which gets enough work on its own with daily living.
I LOVE Muscovy ducks!!! They are so strange looking and friendly. Willa had a pair in Chelsea.
I have horrible posture from all the baby carrying I do…and my breasts are too heavy – I wish I had light fluffy breasts. I worry about the dowager hump thing too.
Julia, I have an appointment at Good Life Fitness Centre on Monday. I think I’m going to join.
MM – the heavy breasts could be because you’ve been breastfeeding non-stop for seven years. Maybe once Sprout weans himself you’ll have light fluffy breasts again.
I hadn’t even thought to worry about a Dowagers Hump. Thanks, I’ll add it to my list.
I like The GoodLife gym but the quality of trainers there is a little uneven. When I joined years ago, there was no hard sell on thousands of dollars of trainer sessions but apparently now there is. They’ll tell you you can’t achieve your goals without X number of sessions and in a way, that is sort of true. You could tell them you just want to see if you even like trainers and only get a couple of sessions. I like the group classes. I never thought I would but now that I know how to do some of them (like the Body Flow and Body Pump), I find the one hour commitment to a class is perfect. And the group classes are included in your membership – you don’t pay extra for them. Or you could sign up for a 6 week thing like I did (called “Boot Camp”) which gives you a small group session once a week with a trainer. Anyway, there are options. Let me know if you need any help – I’ll even come to a group class with you!
One of the benefits of being an old lady hermit is that you can’t see your dowager’s hump, and nobody tells you about it because they are all too polite.