January's chill

The weather prognosticators kept saying that we were going to have a very very cold winter, yet as the days sailed by we continued to experience extraordinarily warm conditions, unheard of for January in Wood Buffalo.  Heather and the boys made great progress on their growing snow fort as conditions were absolutely perfect.  Then the bottom fell.

In what seemed like an instant we went from freezing rain to welcoming an arctic cold front which make things feel like -47 at one point last week.  The sheen of ice that resulted from the pelting showers has become hard as rock and just as slippery at the entrance to the snow palace.  And just as quickly as it came, the deep freeze has retreated leaving us a thermometer that starts its day around -10C.

I feel so Canadian beginning a note to family and friends talking about the weather.  What is it that they say?  If it wasn't for the weather, 95 percent of conversations would never get started.

I've begun to get up earlier in the morning.  As Dylan and Ben get older, they need more bathroom time to get ready for their day.  I've been finding myself shut out and running later and later for work.  So now, during the week, I get up at 5:30 am.  It's no skin off my nose as my body begins to emerge from its deepest sleep well before that as I wake up and check the clock every 5 minutes or so.

This is my time to get caught up on emails, Facebook and Twitter.  I read the local paper which now gets delivered (digitally) in the middle of the night.  I do some writing and enjoy the solitary hour before Ben pops into my study for his morning hug.

As part of what will become a yearly physical, I went through a battery of tests.  Everything was 100 percent except for the ECG reading which indicated an irregularity.  A stress test followed along with another ECG to confirm the results.  Dr. Khinda says I have something called WPW (Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome), or a racing heart anomaly.  The good news is that the echocardiogram test indicated (at least according to the technician) that my heart is in perfect structural shape.  It was a weight off my mind to hear that news.  Next will be a follow-up appointment to hopefully find out that we're going to do sweet tweet about the WPW and carry on as normal.

We have some history of heart issues on my mom's side of the family, so I'm being extra cautious.  And despite the discomfort of some of the tests and procedures, especially the one that came with the snapping of the latex glove, I feel good about doing the due diligence.

As I get older, so too does Son #1.  Dylan is absolutely a teenager now, though he won't turn 13 for a few more weeks.  He's taller and hairier, his voice has dropped as has his energy at certain times of the day.  Gone are the days of showering a couple times a week, replaced by mandatory daily soaks.

It's been great to see Dylan grow into a reading machine.  He conquered yet another Harry Potter novel over the weekend and is now on to the second to last in the series.  And right out of the blue, he seems to have an expanding social circle.  He was at a friend's place on Friday and a different friend was over at the house on Sunday.  Things are changing so fast I can't keep up!

We are anxiously awaiting our Mexican trip, now a week and a half away.  We will travel together starting on February 5th to Melaque, just north of Manzanillo and south of Puerto Vallarta, and for a week the boys and I will hang out on the beach as Heather teaches yoga.  She'll stay on an extra week as the boys return to Canada on our own. We are looking forward to this authentic Mexican adventure as Melaque is a relatively small town.

I was supposed to be traveling down to the states this week, but those plans were tossed aside because of an important Council meeting and a late week visit by the premier and a bunch of ministers.  I'm happy to have stayed home, as there is more than enough travel coming up in the next while.

The painting bug that hit over Christmas has continued into the New Year with mixed results.  I quite like the one I did of boxer Mike Tyson.  In fact, Lyle Romaniuk from back home was clammering to buy it as he is a big fan.

I did one the other day that is rather interesting.  Though it resembles the late aviator and billionaire Howard Hughes, it is supposed to be Johnny Depp.

I'm so happy to report that Dad is doing pretty well, now into his second week of taking chemo pills.  That he has both the energy and the spirit to get up and out of the house on a daily basis, I am grateful.  The visit to the oncologist provided no surprises about the road ahead and a menu of options for slowing down the spread of the cancer.  Your prayers, your positive thoughts, and all your communication is making a difference.

We hope you are enjoying a good start to 2012.  We'll touch base in a couple of weeks with lots of pictures from our trip down south.

Welcome to 2012

The January sun sits so low in the sky, taunting us from a distance, spreading its rays south to north, creating dramatic shadows and striking pictures.

On cloudy days, things can be rather muted, monochromatic.  But on sunny days, like this cold and crisp New Year's Sunday, things can be wondrous.  These four magpies gathered on Norm and Sheila's little tree next door, chatting amiably in the sunshine.

"I love winter," I said as we walked home across the frozen river after taking in some of The Craze activities on MacDonald Island yesterday.

"I love seasons," said Heather.

As often is the case, she is absolutely right.  We have the good fortune to live in a land of seasons, all of which have their own personality, colours, sounds and smells.

We have enjoyed a great holiday, a much-needed period of rest and consolidation.  I use the latter word as I spent time consolidating my wardrobe, much of which no longer fits, and gathering my various paintings and drawings as I went through a minor creative resurgence between Christmas and New Year.

Heather was at the computer for hours and hours, consolidating her business affairs, enjoying categorizing expenses and income, arriving at a more comprehensive understanding of just how outstanding the Ananda Center for Balance is doing; it's a going concern in our community.

~

It's Monday now.  I ended up getting pleasantly distracted by a drive out to Fort McKay to pick up Dylan who sent most of his Christmas vacation time with his mom.  It has been quite awhile since I made the trek out there and I thought, with time on my hands, why not?

Syncrude at sunset, just south of Fort McKay

Dylan seems older, even after just a few days away.  He's at that age that we're all familiar with, when the boy's body begins to turn into that of a young man.  It's easy to tell that he's going to be the tall one in the family; he's almost taller than Heather already.

I also noticed that his voice has begun to get lower, as it does to most boys when they dive head first into teenagedom.  He doesn't hear it, but I'm pretty convinced that he's a different human being than he was a year ago.  It's nice to have him home.  After lots of late nights and a little sleeping in, it is time to get back into routine because school starts tomorrow.

Ben and Heather have been working on a snow fort the past few days.  They made great progress as I made the two hour round trip to pick up Dylan yesterday.  While I have a big pile of snow in the traditional spot - in the middle of the front lawn - they've been working in a non-traditional location at the end of the driveway.  This is a spot that always ends up with a gargantuan pile as a matter of course.  I haven't tested it out yet, but apparently the snow cave is big enough to fit an adult and a couple of kids.

The winter, so far, has been abnormally warm, with only a handful of days that I could say with certainty were cold.  That said, a representative from AccuWeather says that a long a bitterly cold winter lies before us, encouraging news to inspire dreams about the various places we will be traveling to in 2012.

Power and Light entertainment district, Kansas City

In late January, I will be going with a large entourage on a brief junket to Columbus, Ohio and Kansas City, Missouri.  We'll be touring a number of different arenas, stadiums and entertainment districts and meeting with the architects who will be designing some of the key new elements in our redeveloped downtown.

Melaque, Mexico

In early February, all four of us will venture down to Melaque, Mexico (south of Puerta Vallarta) where Heather will be busy expanding her yoga practice during the day and hanging out with us in a hotel along the beach in the late afternoons and evenings.  The boys and I will return home after a week as Heather will have an additional few days of study before coming home.

I'm excited about getting a more authentic Mexican experience this third time traveling down there.  Last year we learned all about all-inclusive resorts and being pampered top to bottom.  This hotel, located on the beach in this small community of 12,000, looks like it will be a great home base for our adventures and respite from the frozen north.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

As the winter begins to soften its grip in the early part of March, I will be going to my annual marketing and public relations conference being hosted this year in San Francisco.  Nice!  Renee (our Marketing Manager at Keyano College) and I will be making a presentation on social media to colleagues from across North America.  I'm a little nervous about it to be completely honest, but they say that's not necessarily bad.

Finally, and most importantly, we will head home to visit Mom and Dad, likely on the Easter weekend.  In order for that to work, a number of stars will need to align, as I'll be in the middle of rehearsals for The Farnsworth Invention.  I was excited to be offered the part of David Sarnoff and the opportunity to be in my first mainstage show since Beauty and the Beast in 2006 when much of the family gathered in Fort McMurray.

Completely unconnected, but a delightful coincidence, Ben is featured on the poster for the show.  If the Easter trip doesn't materialize, we will look for the next available opportunity to spend some quality time in Kamsack.  It'll be nice making the long drive as far removed from winter as is possible.

As I mentioned earlier, I unexpectedly began painting again over the holidays, producing four very different portraits.

Christopher Hitchens

Steve Jobs

Wilfred Grandjamb

Leonard Cohen

This "rediscovery" prompted me to begin the process of gathering an online archive of my various drawing and paintings located here at our house and in some of your homes scattered across the country.
If you happen to have one of my works on your wall, I would be forever grateful if you could snap a picture and send me a digital copy (russell@russellthomas.ca).  The archive of paintings and drawings is slowly growing here.

On a final note, I visualize two things for 2012.  First, a sense of peace, balance and happiness for you.  Second, healing and health for my dad.

Happy New Year!

Holiday Hello

Every year, usually two weeks before Christmas, I gather up my energies and begin designing our Holiday Hello.  We began this tradition in 2006 as our Christmas card to friends and family near and far.

For you, it is a snapshot of our lives: what we did, what we're doing, and a slight sprinkle of what we're going to do.  For us, it has become a chronicle of sorts, a 4-page history of our year.

As I begin to put together the Holiday Hello, I search for appropriate pictures to include; I never feel like I have enough.  Do you ever feel that way?  Sure, we have large clusters of pictures around significant events like birthdays, summer vacation and trips, but we have a dearth of images from regular life.  We hope you enjoy scanning the faces and the smiles.

What struck me the most was that 2011 was a year of travel.  We once again returned to beautiful Mexico, I attended a conference in Philadelphia, Heather spent time expanding her yoga horizons in California, the two of us joined Claude and Tiffany for an unforgettable weekend in New York City (which we LOVED!), and we did a grand driving tour in August going from the Crowsnest Pass through Montana and up into Saskatchewan.

As you look back at the covers of the Holiday Hello from the past few years you see the boys growing up.  Ben seemed to really sprout in 2011.  Dylan discovered the joy of reading and of having a peach fuzz mustache.  Ben is now older than Dylan was in 2006 when we started this annual tradition.

Heather is healthier than ever and I am a shadow of my former self.  Her business is prospering, my jobs still inspire and challenge.  Life is good.

Click here to read the 2011 Holiday Hello

From all of us to all of you, the best of the season, and our hopes that you have a prosperous, healthy and happy New Year.

Hope soars

I had an overwhelming feeling of despair and despondency the day we found out the results of Dad's surgery.  It didn't hit immediately, but after about ten minutes of processing what we had just heard, wave after wave of grief started to slap up against my heart.

Two things happened that soothed my sadness.  First of all, Marcel sent an email that offered a bright ray of hope, saying that Dad has a better than average chance of beating the cancer as he has taken such extraordinary care of himself over his years.  (Marcel is my first cousin, a family physician from Ontario)  Secondly, I started to feel more optimistic when Dad emerged from the anesthetic fog, looking and sounding more like himself.

It ended up being the first time all my brothers and sisters had been together since the Doré reunion in Vernon about 5 years ago.  It was an unfortunate circumstance for a long overdue get together, but it was still nice to catch-up, re-connect.

Lisa, Mom and Dad the day after the surgery

Being home for this important transition in Mom and Dad's life was important.  It felt right to drop everything on a dime and dash back to Kamsack.

I've been back in Fort McMurray for a full week now, after a 3250 kilometre round trip, enough time to catch up on over one thousand emails, phone messages and issues that never stop.  After several hours today of reviewing, filing and deleting, I should be caught up.

While Dad's health challenges absorbed much of November, the month was book-ended by two wonderful events.  Heather and I attended the annual Keyano College Foundation Gala to start things off, enjoying our community's most spectacular party with twelve hundred guests.  Frankly, I think Heather was perfectly radiant that evening, more stunning than ever.  Her health has been amazing in recent months as you can probably see from the glow of her cheeks.

Baby Giroux born on November 30, 2011

I was on my way to the annual Student Awards celebration at the college to close out the month as Claude and Tiffany made their way to the hospital in North Vancouver.  While I began announcing the names of the recipients, beautiful Baby Giroux (no name selected yet) popped into the world, a girl, as both Heather and I predicted quite assuredly just a few days earlier.  Mother and baby are doing well, with Tiffany's Mom up in support from northern California.

Sunrise on November 27, 2011

Winter has settled in Wood Buffalo after Chinook winds blew threw the province last week, even this far north.

Getting ready to turn on The Lights of Christmas to start the parade

Ben and I rode the municipal float in the annual Santa Claus Parade to officially kick-off the holiday season.  It was a mild evening in the great scheme of things, but sitting on a metal park bench on a flat bed with the cold wind blowing proved to be a chilling experience.  Ben was a trooper though, and after we got him into the warm environs of the car, his private parts thawed quickly.

Earlier this week it was great to see Ben win a Student of the Month award at his school.  When his name was called he jumped up and ran to the front to accept his certificate from the Principal and congratulations from his brother, who was in the receiving line in his role as Vice President of the Student Council of Dr. Clark School.  Dylan must be enjoying the responsibility because he's already starting to talk about running for President next year.

Heather came back from our Edmonton trip with her little car jammed with new shelving from IKEA for her yoga studio.  She has spent the better part of a week putting them all together and creating a vibrant and compelling display of her line of retail products.  Sales starting picking up almost immediately, as presentation is everything.  There is no question that she is maximizing the use of the limited amount of space that she has in the basement.  It looks very impressive.

I live a very transparent life as I'm sure you know.  To look back and recall the events of a certain month, all I really need to do is go to my blog website and read to remember.

With several of my Council colleagues at the KD Gala

The post that was the most read in November and the 6th most read of the past two years is Cameron's Story.  During the Kraft Dinner Gala in support of our Centre of Hope a few weeks ago, a homeless drug addict shared his story.  It's worth a read if you have a few minutes.

For Greg, Kristina, Maggie and others interested in drama I would suggest reading about our Legion Blues experience.  We enjoyed a most amazing live HOME theatre performance that we'll never forget.

With Kenny Shields at the pre-Gala reception

I wrote about meeting Kenny Shields, lead singer of Streetheart and the uncle of two boys that I babysat in Kamsack back in about 1982. The band was in Fort McMurray to perform at Gala.

Finally, I waxed eloquent about our former Farnsworth boat anchor, otherwise known as our 100-pound television that was replaced last week by a 42" flat screen early Christmas present.

Dad out for a walk the day after surgery

When you are staring up at a daunting mountain face, it is so easy to give up, to acquiesce to the fear, to stop the journey forward.  Dad came out of his surgery and instantly started to find his first foothold, starting to tackle his mountain.  When the nurses asked him to wiggle his feet, he wiggled his feet.  When they asked him to walk, he walked. When they told him that the cancer had spread to his liver, he wanted to get home to start reading up on the liver, and what he could do to get better.

I hate to use the word fighter, as I don't want characterize this journey as a battle, but Dad is giving it everything he's got.  Hope soars, courage reigns.

We are so grateful for all the prayers, kind wishes, and every form of connectivity offered, from phone calls and visits to Facebook posts and email messages.  I can't speak for Dad, but I sense that he has been uplifted by the outpouring of kindness and love.

Halloween Eve

Sunrise on Demers Drive on October 30, 2011

Procrastination is the mother of invention, at least that's what I'll keep telling myself as I avoid putting together a conference session I'm delivering on Thursday in Edmonton.  I tend to ruminate on these kind of things till the last possible moment, waiting for inspiration for strike.  This is the title of the subject of my presentation:

SOCIAL MEDIA AND POST-SECONDARIES – BE NOT AFRAID:  Traditional media usage is declining at an unparalleled rate as social media channels explode in terms of total participation and “hours tuned”. However, organizations of all kinds, including most post-secondary institutions, still focus the bulk of their time and financial resources on that ever-shrinking traditional piece of the media pie (some say traditional media has fallen to below 15%). Why do you need to hop on the social media fan bus? Because, as former Alberta Energy Minister Murray Smith sagely said: “if you want to go duck hunting, you need to go where the ducks are.” This session will illustrate the power and potential of building your social media presence, and provide a compelling argument why choosing not to do is no longer an option.

Sounds exciting, yes?

So as my brain simmers in the background, seeking a path to go down on this social media adventure, I'll write a Wood Buffalo Update.

I hopped on the scale this morning, as I've been doing quite regularly since August 27th when I started my Ideal Protein journey, thanks to the inspiration provided by Warren, Cindy and others.  What I saw surprised me, as I have dipped underneath the low water mark that I thought had been achieved 8 days ago.  Don't get me wrong, there's no complaint in my observation.  I'm in Phase 3 of the program, less than a week away from the finish line, eating a gargantuan breakfast on a daily basis, but not putting the weight back on.  Life is good.

What do I mean when I say "gargantuan" breakfast?  How does two eggs, three strips of bacon, half a grapefruit, and two toasts with butter sound?  Yummy!

Breakfast like a king. Lunch like a prince. Supper as a pauper.  That's the long-term plan for me, with the exception of one day a week when it is "mandatory" to have whatever I like!  That delightful direction comes into play next Sunday.

My progression from plump to trim

While the east coast of the USA gets hammered by an early season snowstorm, we in the north have been spared from the dreaded white stuff.  The good weather is helping out all our friends who are trying to get as much road work in as possible before the finality of winter.  Our new 5-lane bridge opened up earlier this week, the largest in Alberta in terms of deck size.  Unfortunately, we won't feel the blessings of this new structure as concurrent with its opening came the closing of the two original bridges.  One will get resurfaced and the other will get a significant makeover.  It'll be a number of years before all 9 lanes of the three bridges are fully functional.

With Councillor Scott on the new bridge moments before it opened

We welcomed the new Premier to Fort McMurray on Thursday.  It was nice to meet her in person and spend time with many of her ministers.  It turns out that Alison Redford is a contemporary of Therese Koturbush, originally from Kamsack, my hometown - they are old friends from law school.

While I go from function to function in these heady days of autumn, Heather remains busy with the many prongs of her practise: yoga lessons, reiki, baby massage, therapeutic massage, yoga teacher training, craniosacral therapy (the newest offering) and probably more that I've forgotten.  Today she is teaching teachers.

Dylan is enjoying his first weeks as Vice President of Dr. Clark School's student council.  They had their first dance of the year which he described as being "crazy".  I'm not exactly sure what that means, but as long as the phone doesn't ring with a panicked principal on the other end, I won't worry about it.

Ben has enjoyed the first months of being in Cub Scouts.  Trying to fit things in has been challenge, but Leader Andrew Thorne has been enormously helpful in picking Ben up on those days that prove impossible to manage for Heather and I.  He is prodigiously working on his Artist badge and several others as he approaches his investiture this Thursday.  The Cub Scout promise, motto and law rolls out of his brain, across his tongue and out his mouth without hesitation.  We are proud of his efforts.

Tomorrow is Halloween.  Dylan will haunt the neighborhood with his 3D zombie outfit while Ben will scare the kiddies with his scream face.

We hope you have a spooky spectacular day tomorrow!

Thanksgiving 2011

Sitting by the river yesterday, I could feel winter's grip off in this distance as the soft breeze cut through to the bones in my fingers, making them slightly numb. Fishing in the fall has a very different feel to it and is a rather solitary endeavor as I was the only one with a pole in my hand. It was sure beautiful though, with a bright blue sky,and the leaves of the forest turned to their late fall colours.

I snapped a picture of the eastern point of MacDonald Island, just across the channel from my favourite angling spot on the other side of the confluence of the Snye and Clearwater.

Later that evening, after having bought a couple of cheap stretched canvases from Walmart, both Ben and I decided to paint a picture. I chose to attempt a landscape of that picturesque scene. It turned out pretty good, good enough to give to Heather in thanksgiving for all she is and does. Of course, giving it to her in person was an impossibility, as she had just arrived in Revelstoke, on route to Vancouver with our friend Tiffany. So, I posted a picture of it to Facebook, which allowed her to see it right away. She liked it, she really, really liked it, as was once said on the famous television commercial for Life cereal.

As Heather is driving to the wet coast and Dylan is spending the weekend with his grandma Patsy, Ben and I are on our own. It's been great to spend time outside raking leaves and getting the yard ready for the winter. Although, it was baffling me why Ben was acting so skittish, absolutely petrified of the lone wasp meandering near the roof of the shed in the back. Unbeknownst to me, he was stung on the ear last weekend when Neil and Susan were in town, helping out with turning over the compost bins in the back.

The day before I had been focusing on the big bin where I compost grass clippings and leaves. It's a simple system that I built many years ago - dump the grass and leaves in all year and harvest the rich soil in the fall. I opened the front of the entrapment, unscrewing the one side and swinging it open thanks to the hinges I had put on the other. I began raking the top fresh layer to get at the rich black loam below when all of a sudden a wasp appeared, followed by another, then three, then too many to count. I backed off in hurry, realizing that I'd hit a nest.

By the following day, I had successfully extracted their honeycomb home, going at it late at night and early in the morning when it was cooler and the rascals were dormant. I thought I got them all, but obviously one decided to linger and give Ben an earful. Ouch!

It's been a busy stretch of time since the last Wood Buffalo Update, as it always tends to be in the first few months of the academic year. The evening following my last post I donned a tuxedo and assumed my role as a celebrity waiter for the annual Harvest of Hope fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society.

This is an event where guests buy play money (for a charitable tax receipt) and tip their servers for doing all the things they should be doing and some things they really shouldn't. I kept it pretty much on the straight and narrow this year, but many of my colleagues got a little funky and raised a lot of money, over $270,000 by the end of the shenanigans.

To be honest, my focus was on the first ballot of the Alberta PC leadership vote, the results of which were trickling out at the same time. In between courses I was carefully watching Twitter for the latest news. The front runner, Gary Mar, didn't garner quite enough votes to take it on the first round which set up a second trip to the polls on October 1. This time, only the candidates with the three highest vote counts would be on the ballot.

I was at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association convention in the days leading up to the second vote, getting a chance to see two of the three finalists in action: Gary Mar and Doug Horner. Unfortunately, the third contender, Alison Redford, couldn't be there as her mother had tragically died and she needed to focus on the family.

It was closing in on 1 am on the night of the vote when I finally gave in to my fatigue and went to bed. At that point Gary Mar was up by almost 4,000 votes with only two polling stations left to report. As he didn't achieve the required 50% + 1 to win, and as it was a preferential vote (you had to pick both a first and second choice), the second choice of the third place candidate would be added to the final results.

In the end, and well after 2 am, it was announced that Alberta would have her first female Premier, barely creeping over the 50% mark on the strength of the supporters of third place finisher Doug Horner.

While I was sitting in the airport in Calgary waiting to catch my flight home following the convention, Dylan tried to call to let me know the results of a different election.  He was up against several candidates for the position of Vice President of the Student Council at Dr. Clark School. Unfortunately, I couldn't pick up as I was in the middle of something, so he sent me a text message with the news that he had won.

As I looked at the words, my eyes (and heart) swelled with pride. I called him back right away and loved hearing the excitement and exuberance in his voice. "A chip off the old block," wrote somebody on Facebook.

It's been a good stretch for Dylan as moves into his pubescent teenage years. He heralded the arrival of his first pimple a few weeks back, got elected to student government, and received excellent results from his recent gait analysis at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton.

Beth Watkins called from the Syncrude Centre for Motion and Balance to give us the news.

"Dr. Dulai is really happy with how things are looking," she shared. "There are so many positive changes I can't begin to list them all."

As Dylan basks in success and manliness (that's a funny looking word), Heather is overflowing with health, happiness and inspiration. She enjoyed a transformative craniosacral therapy course in Edmonton last weekend, developing an additional discipline to add to her menu of wellness offerings. The Ananda Center for Balance is truly thriving offering services ranging from deep meditation to baby massage and many things in between. Heather is delighted in being able to do "her joy" for a living, making it feel more like an avocation.

Ben, apart from battling the bees, is doing great. He continues to spontaneously create, spending hours focused on delivering a particular idea in his head to paper. This homemade guitar was a collaborative effort.

As a creature who operates in phases, his bent of late is on All-Hallows-Even - as it was originally called - or, Halloween for the masses. We have made several trips to the ghoulish emporium in the mall run by Bill and Suzanne Rockwell to select his accouterments for October 31st. He is going as "Ghost Face" this year, a costume that comes complete a pump that will cause fake blood to ooze from the mask. Frightful!

I'm heading into Week 7 of my Ideal Protein life-change. As of Saturday I was down 23 pounds and feeling great.  Barb - my coach - is thrilled with the results and in fact, was rather perplexed that I had done so well in my fourth week.

"We've never had someone do so well in Week Four," she said. "For my own benefit, let's get you on the big scale to see what we see."

The "big scale" is one that customers pay extra to use. I chose to go with the no-cost normal weigh scale as I didn't feel the need to follow every nuance of my body changes. That said, she put me on it and discovered that no matter which way you are looking at it I was in the healthy range across the board.

After a month on the program, depending on the setting, my body was at the metabolic age of between a 29 and 36 year old. I don't know what any of these readings mean - she told me but I've since forgotten - but it's all good news.

The windows of the Escape are frosted over this morning as the sun creeps up on the day. An additional injection of cold will help the lingering leaves on the trees make their final descent to the forest floor, another step closer to the inevitable first snowfall just a few weeks away.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!