Laundry on the line is drenched. Front seat of my car filled with hail as I unloaded groceries.

Hallelujah and huzzah! Rain again! is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Nevertheless, my response is a serious one. Kidding or not, he’s wrong to say the best or easiest or advisable way to lose weight is to eat foods you hate. If you want to be healthy, which will result in a healthy weight, consider the following:

• Drink water all day long. Reach for it before any other beverage. (Stop drinking all sodas.)
• Make a big salad with any veggies or fruits you like. If you don’t like veggies, start with iceberg lettuce; you’ll try others when you get bored with that. Use a salad dressing you make or buy the only one whose first ingredient is vinegar instead of water. (Use nothing with corn syrup.) Eat all you want of this salad anytime you want. No limit.
• Roast any veggies you like. Cut them all to bite size. Toss them in any oil other than corn or vegetable oil. Add spices. Don’t like any veggies? Everyone loves roasted potatoes or carrots; add more as you get bored. Don’t like any spices. What’s wrong with you? No wonder you need advice about getting healthy. Try black pepper or red pepper flakes. I highly recommend curry. (Roast at 425 for up to 20 minutes, stirring part way through the time. I add whole garlic cloves or thick slices and shallot slices halfway through because they cook faster than the rest. If you hate brussel sprouts, you will love them cut in half and roasted.)
• Eat oats for breakfast. Not instant oats in a little package. Buy any large package of any variation of oats. Make oatmeal. Soak raw oats overnight in milk or yogurt. Roast oats as a part of making your own granola — there is nothing better than that (see recipe at end). Eat with milk or yogurt or milk alternatives. Add fruits.
• Snack on nuts. Any kind of nuts (except brazil nuts). Eat as much as you want, but start with a palmful. Who doesn’t like some kind of nut?
• Make your own guacamole with those avocados that you’ve been wasting (plus raw garlic, minced onions, jalapenos and/or a little salsa). It is amazingly filling and lasting.
• Eat dark chocolate if you can resist eating too much at once.
• Sip a glass of red wine with any of this (except at breakfast). Salud!

These are all delicious foods. They involve nothing you don’t like. (Your tastes will naturally expand to new foods, including those you used to hate.) They involve NO LIMITS. Make a pig of yourself with a salad or granola, assuming you don’t add spam and maple syrup to either. No deprivation. No calculations or portion control. Just enjoying good food.

If you want some don’ts:

• No sodas of any kind
• No wheat in any form (read Wheat Belly)
• No junk food (you know it when you see it, often by its unnatural color, shape, or texture)
• No fast food (unless you can find something truly healthy)

Don’t start with the don’ts. Expectations of prohibitions and strict limits and having to eat food you don’t like all sabotage a healthy lifestyle. Start with lots of good stuff; the rest follows naturally.

Eating well is easy if you take the time to do so is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Now, "Voyager": in praise of the Trekkiest "Trek" of all | Balder and Dash | Roger Ebert by Ian Grey

As we mourn Abrams’ macho Trek obliteration, it’s a good time to revisit Voyager, at once the most Star Trek-ian of accomplishments and the most despised object of fanboy loathing in the franchise’s nearly 50-year history. From 1995-2001, it offered American audiences something never seen before or since: a series whose lead female characters’ agency and authority were the show. It was a rare heavy-hardware science fiction fantasy not built around a strong man, and more audaciously, it didn’t seem to trouble itself over how fans would receive this. On Voyager, female authority was assumed and unquestioned; women conveyed sexual power without shame and anger without guilt. Even more so than Buffy, which debuted four years later, it was the most feminist show in American TV history.

Voyager wasn’t some grrl power screed in Starfleet regalia. The ideas and emotions it explored were very much in the Star Trek wheelhouse; it just came at them from a fresh–and to some

Now, "Voyager": in praise of the Trekkiest "Trek" of all | Balder and Dash | Roger Ebert

Now, "Voyager": in praise of the Trekkiest "Trek" of all | Balder and Dash | Roger Ebert is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

What is the rule for capitalization of el niño, El Niño, el Niño? I expect it is the latter, but I like lowercase in this case. In Spanish, outside of a headline, “the child” would be lowercase, but this is a reference to Jesus — kinda.

Monsoon or monsoons? Better: monsoon season.

What is the plural of haboob? Spell check offers to change haboob to hobnob.

Will el niño bring the monsoon before the haboob returns? is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Already 80 degrees at 8:15am. Overnight “low” 75. Swamper on before 9am. It will run until bedtime. is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Photos from Ah, Wilderness! is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

It’s hubris to judge other people’s karma. — thought for the day is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Digest powered by RSS Digest

Photos from Ah, Wilderness! is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Meanwhile, in Albuquerque, there was water in the gutters at the southern end of town but not a drop a few miles north at our house.

Rain! Real Rain! is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

And so, again, I push together the stones of my sanity, until the wind blows, as it will, long after I’m dead.

Unhinged (a seasonal poem)
Wind Makes Crazy (a timely poem)

I listen to the wind / to the wind in my soul – Cat Stevens is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh