Sizzling Summer Sunday and Questions

S

St. Augustine Lighthouse - St. Augustine, FL

January, 2010

Today's picture is in honor of my dear friend, Jack, who died this past Friday afternoon of a massive heart attack.  Thank you so much for your kind comments in response to Friday's post.  They meant a lot to me and came in quickly at a time I was reeling from the news.  Jack and I shared a common passion for lighthouses.  Following his retirement, he began painting pictures of lighthouses and had given me two of his paintings.  I took this picture of the St. Augustine lighthouse last January. He recently mentioned to me that he had begun painting it for me.  

I loved reading your comments following Thursday's post.   If you haven't weighed in on the subject of losing weight while still young, I'd love for you to go back and add your two cent's worth.  It was extremely encouraging to me that there were some who have not found weight loss to become more difficult as they enjoy birthdays (wasn't that subtle???).  I'm more determined than ever and am tweaking my plan which I hope might jumpstart my body back into loss mode.  

I haven't done such a stellar job with my goals during the Freedom Challenge, but have learned two things:  1) I enjoy being part of a challenge, so will try to always be participating in one, and 2) I'm going to do a better job of setting goals that are practical for me rather than goals that sound good at the time.  If Mr. B laughs raucously when I tell him a goal I've set, it might be wise for me to rethink that goal!!!  I'm sad that the Freedom Challenge has only one week remaining, but I plan to join the Summer Diet Focus which runs through early September.  

We had a great time last evening at the 60-acre farm of some new friends.  It was just exactly what we both needed after such a stressful couple of days.  Yesterday morning, we made our farmer's market run and drove straight to Mr. B's parent's house to help out with some things there.  Then we went to spend a couple of hours with Jack's widow, Ruth.  Yes, a quiet evening watching the moon rise over the mountains from the porch swing of a log cabin with no sound other than the frogs and the birds was EXACTLY what we needed.  A reminder to be thankful for the gift of friendship and the gift of life.  This couple are healthy eaters through and through - I knew eating at their home would present NO problems sticking to my eating plan.  We had a delicious dinner, but the quiet fellowship in the tranquil setting was perfect.  

I have three questions I'd like to throw out for feedback   I am now over two months into this blogging thing, so am probably about to pass the point of being able to call myself a "newbie."  Decided I better get these questions asked and answered.  Hope you all don't mind telling me how you do things.  I'd really appreciate it.

1)  This is a very specific blogger question.  I've asked it on the blogger help page, the forum and via "googling" but can't get any response.   There is a discrepancy in the number of followers on my dashboard versus the number showing on the main page of my blog.  It isn't many, but I was just curious if anyone else shows different numbers and if they have any idea why? 

2)  I have asked this question before, but it was very early on, so I'd appreciate opinions from those who've started reading since the first time I asked.   What are your personal philosophies regarding opening up your blog to people (friends, relatives, co-workers, etc.) that you know?  When I posed this question the first time,  I got responses ranging from "absolutely no one knows about it" to "everyone knows."   I still have told no one other than Mr. B, about this blog.  The problem is, there are some people, with whom I share this never-ending weight loss drama, that might find it encouraging or simply enjoy reading along.  But in doing so, do I jeopardize my freedom to write with complete openness and honesty?  Please share with me the way in which you've handled this particular issue with your own blog.  (Those of you that answered this question earlier, don't worry about answering again unless something has changed.  I remember who you are and really appreciated your responses at that time.)

3)  Lastly, a question about how you read blog updates.  I already have a lot of blogs to read and am getting ready to set a personal goal for myself that will involve even more (how's that for a teaser???).  Not only do I thoroughly enjoy reading every last one of them, but they are a huge encouragement, I enjoy adding comments and I get lots of great ideas about food, recipes, products, etc.  Sounds familiar to all of you, doesn't it?  Do most of you subscribe to a feed, so the blogs you want to keep up with come directly to you?  Do you read them in Google reader?   Do you depend on your sidebar to show you what's been updated?   Are there other creative ways you've discovered that I haven't??  Sometimes, I end up feeling very disorganized and like everyone but me probably has a great "system" for keeping up to date with their blog reading. 

I'm wondering if I should have asked these questions one at a time on separate days, but no, I've got things I'd rather write about than housekeeping type stuff!!  So, if you don't mind, give me some feedback about how you do things.

Yes, it's a sizzling summer Sunday in East Tennessee and in a moment of senility, I agreed to go pick okra at 6:30 this evening.   Perhaps that adventure should be tomorrow's picture!   NOT!!