Mary Rose's Almond Crescents

The one recipe that family members want from me this time of year is my almond crescent recipe.  I remember Mom always looking for the recipe that most reminded her of Great-grandma Weber's recipe and when she tasted my cookies, she said she thinks that this is it.  I created this recipe from the  Heritage Cookbook's Nut Crescents supposedly of Bohemian origin.  I simply substituted almonds for walnuts and almond extract for vanilla extract.  I also upped the almond amount a bit.

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
 1 teaspoon vanilla
 2 cups flour
 1/2 cup of ground  almonds
 Powdered sugar

  Cream butter, sugar and almond extract.  Add in flour and ground almonds.  Using a heaping teaspoon of dough, shape into crescents.   Bake at 325 for 20 minutes.  Cookies should be golden brown.  When slightly cool but still warm, roll in a bowl of powdered sugar.

DOSE: The Origins of Mary Rose's Garden: My Name

Before birth my mother dedicated my life to Marie Rose Ferron, the original "Mary Rose".  As a small child in Woonsocket RI, she was asked by the bishop to pray that a heresy that was rampant in the diocese to be eliminated.  She prayed and it was gone. At age 12, she was stricken with polio and was unable to move from the neck down.  About all that she could do from that point on, was to accept her sufferings with grace and dignity, and offer her prayers to the world, for the sake of her beloved Jesus. He rewarded her with the gift of bearing the signs of his own suffering on earth- but while the suffering for the sake of the world was welcomed by this dear soul- the fame and attention that came with the suffering was not.  So she prayed to have the pain remain, but that all visible signs of the stigmata be removed- and the Lord granted her request. When my mother married, she was told by her physician that she and my father would never be able to have children.  My father had suffered from rheumatic fever as a child, so was likely to have a low sperm count, and my mother had broken her back as a child in such a way that impregnation was almost impossible.  A blessed nun gave my Mom a tiny relic of Marie Rose's bone and she began a novena to have children over and over again.  She promised Marie Rose, that if she should have the gift of children, then she would name her first daughter after her and dedicate her life to Marie Roses' memory.   I was born less than one year later.  My Mom claimed that she was told that my birth knocked her back into alignment so that more children were possible.  My mother had seven children, sixteen grandchildren, at least 10 great grandchildren (and counting) and 4 great-great grandchildren. Did my Mom keep her promise?  It turned out that Mary was my maternal grandmother's name and Rose was my grandmother's sister's name.  My father's mother was very insulted that his side of the family would not be recognized in the birth of their first child- so I was named Mary Karline (as Karline was my grandmother's name in German).  But my Mom told me the story, and I took Rose for my confirmation name and added it to all the documents except my driver's license.  Many years passed.   Then one day, I decided that I did not want to be "Mary" anymore.  Mary was the name of the child and the woman who had been a victim of family violence her whole life.  I did not want to be a victim any more, I wanted a new life and a new name.  That is why I insist on being "Mary Rose". Here is a link to the web site dedicated to Marie Rose Ferron.

Preventing School Shootings With a Smile

After last week's tragic events, President Obama went on national TV and called for more gun control. While I'm not all that adverse to a little common sense made into law, the simple truth is that nothing he proposed would have prevented that shooter from owning the guns he used.  We have to go deeper to stop school shootings.  We have to work harder to keep people from despairing to the point of losing their souls.

 A school shooter is a loner- but there are a lot of loners in the world who wouldn't hurt a fly.  Research shows us that whether or not someone resorts to deviant behaviors such as addictions, mental illness, and crime can be predicted by combinations of risk and resiliency factors.  Getting rid of the risk factors is very hard- we don't have simple ways of ending poverty or preventing interpersonal violence or addictive behavior.  Resiliency is easy.  It is about building community, organizing activities for kids, planting gardens, playing sports for fun, teaching children and convincing ourselves to strive to be our personal best.

 A school shooter is a suicide.  Preventing all of the horrible things in the mind and heart of a suicide is hard- but a lot of the suicide prevention stuff is easy- a simple thing like smiling at a stranger, or telling young people that even though they may some day feel that the world will be too much, it always gets better.  I remember a night about 35 years ago when I was in so much pain, I didn't know how I could make it through the night.  A little voice in my head told me to go to this poetry reading (which was terrible by the way- a lot of depressed women talking about the futility of existence)- but there I met a friend, Jeff Flatt, and we ended up talking for hours until I was too tired to feel any pain- and that night showed me that no matter how bad things got- it always gets better.  So the it gets better campaign is primary prevention.  So is the random acts of kindness campaign.

A school shooter is a mass murderer.  I once noted that I had a lot of the same trauma history as a serial killer.  I even retreated into a fantasy reality like they did.  But the big difference between us was the content of that fantasy.  While they obsessively read about violence, I read the Bobbsey Twins and Cherry Ames.  In my fantasy world, I lived in a perfect world of people helping other people- the first Mary Rose's Garden!  In reality, although I didn't notice it then, I lived in a community where people stressed the value of mutual interdependence.  I lived in a town where the librarian engaged children who came to visit and pointed them in good directions.  Mine pointed me to a series of biographies about famous people.  We cannot underestimate the value of such little things- Girl Scouts,crafts in the park, swimming lessons, a pool with life guards. Everything we do that connects us helps- and everything we do that disconnects us may deepen someone's wounds.  It's not something for politicians- it's something for each of us.

So that is my answer to preventing school shootings- start with every kid and do what you can to help them build positive experiences, end with smiling at strangers and random acts of kindness.  You never know where it will lead or what horror you may prevent.  Simple but essential things.  It all starts with a smile.

Working on My First Half Marathon

Wanted to do Lynn Gray's Take the First Step Running College this summer, but 

a) I'm not running

b) couldn't find anyone to walk at my pace through the course

c) hurt one knee and the other one was in pain too.

But I was stuck with needing to train for the Myakka River Half Marathon - which means build up my distance and get my speed up to a 20 minute mile over that distance.  Luckily I remembered that rundisney.com had a training plan for the Wine and Dine Half-Marathon, so I looked it up and discovered that if I followed it and added 14 days to the date on the schedule, then I would finish exactly on time!  Woo! Hoo!

In addition, by following the beginner regime, I now had a routine that I could manage with Claudia Dold, who was willing to be my walking partner but didn't have a lot of time during the week.  Best of all, here was a plan where I'd be taking it easy for a few weeks while my knees got back into shape- so we're trying it and we'll see how it goes.  

So now my goal is to get to Myakka and finish with a 20 minute mile, then focus on the  getting my time down to a 16 minute mile for the Gasparilla Distance Classic.  Hopefully, I'll get to the Boston Marathon in the next few years, but not trying to get to the Clearwater Distance Classic any finish with anything close to a Boston Marathon Qualifying time- maybe in 2017- so I'd get to Boston in my 65th year, rather than for my 65th birthday (Boston Marathon is always 2 weeks before my birthday).

Other races on my schedule: The entire Miles for Minds series and Trot Through The Terrace 10K (which has now become just a prep race for Myakka).  

Fitness for last week included:

Thursday morning:1.36 mile walk in 36:13 minutes (26'30" pace)

Friday morning: 30 minutes of water aerobics, 3 flights of stairs, 1.38 miles of walking and 38 active minutes.

Saturday morning: 30 minutes of gardening (only counted as 10 active minutes) and 1.28 miles of walking.

Sunday morning: 2.39 mile walk in 1:02:46 (26'13" pace)- counted as 62 active minutes- total for the day was 3.3 miles and 8,333 steps!

Monday morning:  Rest.  Total for the day was 2,137 steps and 1.65 miles.

Tuesday morning: 1.43 mile walk with Claudia in 33:34 (23'22" pace).  For the day had 60 active minutes, 3 flights of stairs and 3,43 miles.

Wednesday morning: 30 minutes of water aerobics

and this morning: 1.27 mile walk in 30:30 minutes (24'00" pace at 77 degrees)

More good stuff to come!

 .

Miles for Moffitt- May 7, 2015 5K in 1:11:29 (not last).  Trained with the Miles for Moffitt Training Clinic with Lynn Gray- highly recommended!

Progress on This Path

This is the view along the river where I'm taking my Temple Terrace walks!

So much for daily updates!
Now, I'm aiming to update once a week.
It's important to document progress on this path.
I.m learning so much that will be helpful to others who want to get in tip top shape.

Let me follow me Facebook texts and follow the process.
At the start of February, I was following #TeamIvanka's training strategy- substituting walking for running and Zumba for cross-training.  This worked very well for a while.
February 2nd- did 1.33 miles in 30 minutes.
February 6th- had a check up at Curves where I lost 2.5 pounds but 7.5 inches in the month of January.
February 15th- did 1.81 miles in 50 minutes.
March 1st- did 2.07 miles in 57 minutes.
March 12th- joined Miles for Moffitt 8 week training program.

Several things I learned right off the bat:
1) Needed a really good walking shoe- one designed for my weight and gait.
2) Needed to improve my form- found that when I was walking correctly, could walk faster for short periods of time without pain.  Also could walk longer distances.
3) Found that I needed compression wear for support on my knees and to minimize swelling in my lower legs.
4) Found that I really needed to work on my breathing- a lot.
5) And because I wanted to track my HR, my routes, and my time- and I needed my hands free- I needed to get a smart watch- after a little searching- got a Fitbit Surge and it has become an invaluable tool.  Better than the watch is the app.  Without the app- the watch wouldn't be anywhere near as helpful or useful.  Only thing I don't like is that it is hard to give progress reports on Facebook- have to do cuts of screen shots to update folks on my time and distance.

Some highlights:
March 22nd: 2.4 miles in 59:02 minutes- out for 30 minutes and back in 29 minutes- longest walk to date.
March 29th: 2.6 miles in 62 minutes- this time added hills to the course and added speed up the hills due to my hills training class.
This is the week that I got over-ambitious on the hills workout and re-introduced pain to my legs.  From this point on, a long walk-run can cause tingling in my shins and my knees were weaker.  Started to really focus on stretching and RICE- rest, ice, compression, elevation.  Time started to slow down...
April 5th: 2.32 miles in 62 minutes
April 12th: 4.02 miles in 1 hours, 51 minutes.  This surprised me a lot.  We went from walking for an hour to 4 miles.  This may not have been a stretch for some- but I needed to double my distance.  Made the walk but this finished me for the rest of the day!
April 18th: Color Me Rad 5K- finished in 1 hour and 10 minutes.  Surge said it was only 2,86 miles but the 24 minute mile was the fastest time in weeks- being in a race might have helped-but I was also walking on flat ground for the first time in weeks.
Which brings me to Sunday: 4 miles in 1 Hour- 50 minutes.  Exact same time- but this time after icing my legs on the way home (Carrying gel packs in a cooler to my walks- strap them to my legs to save recovery time- those leg weight straps were finally good for something!).  After I came home did my mild curve stretches and after a while did some foam roller massaging- and legs were as good as new!  (Except today my knees were weak and couldn't get down the stairs without holding on to both handrails).

So many things to talk about!  But we'll leave those for other days and try to give you an update every week on Sunday evening.

This to come:
Miles for Moffitt 5K- May 9th.
Miles for Minds- August
Trot Thru the Terrace 10K- Nov 14th
Possibly Linda Gray's Running College 1st and 2nd semesters- if she gets 2 or 3 more cardio-walk students.
That's all for now.  Lots of things to catch up on and people, places, and things to credit in the coming weeks.

Walking Around FMHI at Lunch

Note: This was written 1/30/15.  Since I want to document my progress, am publishing it now!

Yesterday, the goal listed on Ivanka Trumps Half Marathon Plan was to run for 45 minutes.  As last night was a Zumba night (30 minutes of aerobics), I decided to add a 15 minute walk at lunch to my routine.  It was a great decision.  Thirty years ago, I used to go for a walk around FMHI just to clear my head and decide where to go with my analyses and got into trouble for 'being weird'.  But yesterday, I encountered three pairs of walkers on their lunch breaks doing the same thing but all going in the direction opposite mine.  Turns out that the loop around FMHI is now a designated walking trail on the USF Wellness Walking Trails, so it's not weird any more!  Not that I would have minded being weird- I'm used to it - maybe even proud of it- because it means that I blaze my own trails.  And walking around with my IPad to get my Walkmeter app to track the walk was definitely different.

It was a great way to spend 15 minutes.  It still clears my head and it was a great day to walk.  Started the walk going down the stairs normally.  Can't tell you how happy that makes me!  If you ever get to the point, that you can't walk down the stairs like a normal person- find a way to get some strength training for your legs.  Women- Curves has been the best way for me because it is just not complicated and no matter what your health- you can manage most of the machines.  I've worked my way back from pain twice in my life by doing the Curves circuit three times a week.

Anyway- after coming down the stairs I decided to set out around the circle and see where I'd be in 7.5 minutes.  Turns out that I was exactly in the middle of the loop!  So now I know a good 15 minute course- for now.  This time next year, I hope it is a 7 minute course!  And on the way back, I went up the stairs!  Last month, the elevator was broken and I had to up the stairs.  I basically pulled myself up by grabbing the rail and dragging first one step, then the other- in pain all the way and exhausted at the top.  This time I just walked up🌠. And I was done walking .84 miles in less than 20 minutes!  This is progress from just this Sunday!  At that point, I was doing .75 miles in 20 minutes!  So I added at least .1 mile in less than a week!

Hope this encourages all of you to keep moving!

Today's goal is to do my new Friday night routine: Curves followed by Fantastic Sam's- putting in my Pizza Hut order during my blow dry and bringing home supper!  What really makes this convenient is that Fantastic Sam's is on the way home from Curves- and Pizza Hut is in the same shopping center as Fantastic Sam's- so it all feels like a breeze!  Let you know how it goes!

The secret to my recent success

This fall I seemed to be languishing.  I was at my lifetime highest weight, in a lot of pain, had hurt my good knee and discovered that one had a cyst too- which meant that neither of my knees were 'good', and was not really taken care of my appearance. Tried to get the blog up again- but that didn't seem to work very well...

Prayer
Then at the beginning of Advent, I really felt the need to pray every day- to just make sure that was included in my morning ritual.  So I started with Online Ministries Daiky Reflection, which during Advent had a daily prayer that incorporated the day's readings and their reflection on those readings.

Exercise-failed attempt
That got me back to Curves twice a week for two weeks.  Then my Christmas break came in- and the break in the routine caused me to drop back out of Curves.

Appearance
Then I started to get the urge to et dressed to my shoes, including hair and makeup before I did any work in the day.

Housework
I wanted to start accomplishing more, but found it hard to stand for long periods- so I bought a Wooden stool that was fairly uncomfortable but with a cushion and my bath stool for a leg rest was nice.  That helped in that department.

Personal Style
Needed a hair cut but never found the time over the break.  But the Saturday after returning to work, something strange happened- when I went to get my hair cut, I looked through the style books and picked a style that I would like.  As usual, Deanna at Fantastic Sam's did a great job! I like it so much that I'm going back on Friday nights to get it styled- a little bit of luxury.

Fitness
This time I decided to go to Curves 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after work.  If I leave work on time, I can just make it before they don't let anyone in a half hour before closing.  Two weeks of this created a miracle!  I could walk down the stairs normally- no grabbing both handrails- no two feet on each step- no hesitation- just normally!  It made me so excited, I tell everyone who will listen!

Marathons
Not yet!  But I started to be able to walk normal speed and got excited about fitness, so started to add Zumba on Tuesday and Thursday nights!  And I can do it!  Well, not exactly, but I can move the entire 30 minutes and get my heart rate up- which is the real value.  Now that I can walk, started to look for 5K's.  So I'm entered into the Color Me Rad in April on Team Curves.  Then Rob wanted to train with me and enter the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathonin November.  I looked at how much distance I could add each week and discovered it was possible- but speed could be a problem.  Then Ivanka Trump published a Half Marathon Plan and I decided to re- kindle my plan to run the   Boston Marathonthe April of my 65th birthday- 2017.  If I'm really good, I might even be able to qualify at the Disney Marathon in January 2016!

This is a great example of how the Discipline of Self-esteem works.  You start out with prayer which gives you the grace to take care of yourself, which gives you the desire to improve- and then the world falls into place to accomplish your dreams.  I'll be posting more each day as I follow this journey.