Tuesday Trailin' (Two Birds)

Good Evening, Awesome Lady,

Today was a big trail day, as you probably saw on FB. I had been to Santa Susana State Park before, last Fall I think, but this time I wanted to try a different entrance (or "trailhead" as they call them), so I started a mile further down from the one I went to last time. Both trails are nice, but from what I have seen there is not much shade in the whole park. The pic I got was taken in one of the few shady spots I could find. Anyway, it was getting pretty hot out there, so I hiked back to the car and drove over to Limekiln Canyon, about 3 miles away. All the spots I go to in the Santa Susanas, from Garden Of The Gods, to El Scorpion, to Limekiln, Devil and Aliso Canyons are all within about 5 miles of each other. Corriganville is a bit farther, about 12 miles away, and Placerita is about 15 miles. But anyway, I drove back to Limekiln and there was plenty of shade in there. I went in from the North trailhead this time, and it was a nice hike so I went a mile in and then back.

So, between the two trails I already got 3 miles in today. That means I have it easy tonight! :)

I actually drove to a third trail, between Santa Susana Park and Limekiln, called Lilac Lane trail. It's located up in those rocky hills you see in some of my pics (those are the Santa Susanas), and it looks like an awesome trail with a lot of scenery. The only problem is that, never having been there before, I didn't know where to park. It's not exactly like regular city streets up there, and I wanted to be sure I wasn't parking on anyone's private property, so I'll go back to that one when I can find out that info.

Anyway, now I'm all Trailed Out! For the moment, anyway. I will try to find more for tomorrow morn, when Pearl is at Reseda Women's Club.

I hope you are enjoying the first day of July, always a great month. I saw The Oatmeal's post, and you know, I was always the same way. Most of my life I had to sort of make myself eat a piece of fruit. I didn't dislike any particular fruit, it's just that I always preferred spicy food and crunchier stuff. Fruit is sweet, but like everybody else, my sweet tooth was driven by cravings for refined sugar products: candy bars, donuts, pastries, ice cream.

Especially ice cream. :)

But then, when I started to change over to the No Fun Diet, little by little over a period of about the last five years, I wanted to get as much refined sugar out of my diet as possible, and I did a mind-over-matter deal on that, and it unfortunately worked!

So, as much as I love candy bars, etc. (and I ate enough in my life to fund a company), I don't eat too many sugary things any more. My diet is supposed to be healthy, and that specifically means No Fun, so candy and cake and ice cream are disqualified (except for the proverbial "Once In A Great While").

But what about fruit? Is fruit No Fun? I figured it was. And it was also sugary.......well, sort of. But all kidding aside, the problem was that I just had never craved the stuff as an adult (and when you're are kid you kind of don't know any better, and even then most kids will still trade an apple for a cookie at lunchtime).

I never craved the stuff, but I knew it was good for me, and it has unrefined, natural sugar, which metabolises more slowly (so no crash-and-burn), and I knew, now that I was on the No Fun diet for real, that I should start eating fruit on a daily basis, so.......about two years ago I did the old mind-over-matter thing again, and I started forcing myself to eat fruit every day. It wasn't a torture, because fruit is pleasant, but if you don't crave it you know what I mean.

Anyway, I had already been eating blueberries with my oatmeal every morning, so I started having a banana as part of my lunch (potassium), and little by little I have started mixing in apples and oranges, and once in a while some peaches and pears. For a nice, sugary rush, I like to have about 3 or 4 dates. Gross when you're a kid (dates or figs) but delicious when you're an adult! Yep, dates are like the candy of the No Fun diet.

So nowdays, I went from never eating any fruit two years ago (and much of my adult life) to having about a half cup of blueberries every morn, and my banana at lunchtime, my dates at teatime, and then an apple or orange maybe three times a week, whenever the mood hits me.

And, lots and lots of watermelon in the Summer. Watermelon is the ice cream of fruit!

Now in your case, since you are twenty-one, you can still get away without eating any fruit for a while, probably for many years, in fact. But, if you can train (meaning "force") yourself to eat some once in a while, it might surprise you and become a regular part of your diet. That's what happened to me, anyway, after years of living basically on chips and salsa. :)

Well, that's enough rambling from me for the moment. I get to take it easy for most of the evening, and then later I will go out and finish a measly two miles (a piece of cake, to continue the sugar metaphor).

And then I will be back at the usual time. I Love You, my Baby.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

11:25pm : Listening to the Handel, played with beautiful understatement by Alicia de Larrocha who was one of my Dad's favorites. I loved the picture you posted earlier, from Wisconsin Wildlife Photographers. That's Us, symbolised in nature. You know, while I was at Santa Susana, two red-tail hawks flew over and landed in a tree that I was trying to photograph. I got distracted because I wanted to now photograph them, and of course they flew off within seconds of landing. I would love to capture some hawks close up, and also I would love to especially capture some butterflies in flight, in one of the shadowy tree coves I like to photograph. Ultimately I will need an SLR with telephoto lens for stuff like that, but for the moment I am having fun with my little Panasonic.

Tomorrow I will go out again because Pearl has a crafts meeting. Not sure where yet, but I will know as I go.

You will be coming along, you know. I take you with me on all my trips.

And everywhere I go.

But especially when I go someplace magical, and I go to those places a lot.

More and more and more, since I met you. 

I Love You, Elizabeth. I will see you in the morning and we will have a wonderful day.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)