Thursday, June 26, 2025

I Survive To Write Again , Cooking and Swimming - My Life in a Nutshell

I survived the first week of LJ Idol, and am progressing to week 2. I just got the assignment this morning. This one will take a bit of thought, and squeezing writing time out will (as always) be challenging, but I suppose that's part of the fun of the competition. And what a competition! I've got some truly stellar writers that I'm going against here. Everything has to click into place for me to get far this time. 




Week one is now behind me and I'm staring at the prompt 
for Week 2. *sigh* It's never easy to squeeze Idol into 
my schedule, but I at least have to give it my best attempt. 
My fellow writers and friends deserve a quality story 
from me. Now ... what to write???



I made a HUGE batch of my baked fruit yesterday. I bought eight pears and eight apples, and added a large bag of green grapes to the mix. I've never made a batch quite this large before. It took a while to get everything cut up and prepped, and my two professional-grade baking sheets were solidly heaped. I added an extra 10 minutes to the cook time to make sure everything got thoroughly baked through. I have a stuffed side on my side of the refrigerator now! Yippee - LOL. 




I love my baked fruit. I have one container's worth for 
my breakfast every day. This latest batch had 8 apples, 
8 pears, and a large bag of grapes, along with chopped 
nuts and, of course, maple syrup and spices. I adore my 
baked fruit, and usually make enough to take me through 
1-2 weeks. 



It was wonderful to catch up with Aearwen yesterday. Life circumstances sometimes get in the way of our usual Wednesday afternoon chat, but we finally managed to link up again. We don't talk about anything earthshaking - far from it. But it's a grounding for me - a chance to reach out to a friend and share a bit of this and that. Circumstances sometimes cause us to postpone a week, or sometimes two or three, but we always get back to our schedule again. We've been chatting every Wednesday afternoon for many years now and it's always one of the high points in my week. 




I had a lovely conversation with Aearwen yesterday 
afternoon. We've been chatting on Wednesday 
afternoons for several years now. We've gone through 
a lot of life together in those chats. We've never met 
in person, and I'm not sure we ever will. But I 
count her as one of my close friends. 



So, I've got a little actual, real, computer work that I still have to do before heading over to the pool. It's going to be a VERY cold dash in and out today - low 60's for our outside temps. Once I'm in the water and moving, it won't be as bad, but I'm already dreading the in/out. Out lifeguard, Beth, actually wears one of those computerized heated vests underneath her lifeguard jacket. I don't blame her at all. She's out there for hours at a stretch and if it's cold, that's not fun. 




We all love the length of the outdoor pool - that Olympic 
size makes for a great workout. But ... on days like today, 
we're not fans of the run to the water and the run out of the 
water back into the building. That hot shower after my swim 
will be VERY welcome today - LOL. 



Have a truly excellent Thursday. Tomorrow I'll be back on the treadmill and I'll be hoping that our outdoor temperatures are closer to what the end of June and early July actually should be. Enjoy your day, spread some joy wherever you go and Slava Ukraini. 



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