Picture Perfect Pups

Three way Tug O' War

Pretty Brecon

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For a hoot, go see Connie's new blog:

http://blogopause.blogspot.com/

Those of us who have passed this phase in our lives will be soooooo grateful.

Grand dogs!!!

Grand dogs, Sonny and Brecon, have just arrived from the Frigid North.

Sonny is about 4 years old, rescued from rural Ohio. He was Freddy's first ever friend!!

Brecon is our newest addition, just adopted a couple of months ago from the Plainfield Humane Society.
She is named after the Brecon Beacons Mountains in central Wales. We  spent a lovely family vacation there some years ago at the Landmark Trust's Clytha Castle, an 18th century Folly.

It was reputed to be haunted....and we believed it!

So, back to the dogs:

Brecon is just cute as a button, and always up for some fun. She loves, loves, loves, having a fenced yard.
Neither Sonny nor Brecon are fans of having their parents go out, though

Especially Sonny

Lunch at The Loosey

The Temp

The Bar

More fun for the BBBs

A Little sunset cocktails and dinner at the Boca Bay Pass Club,

A little swimming

A little sightseeing

....It seems we now have goats on Boca.....

A little shopping for Beth

Bodacious Babes of Boca

The LitChix have arrived, and got checked into their rooms:
The Garden room

the Zen room

The JP suite not pictured.

A grand evening was had-- champagne, food, champagne, food, champagne, champagne, and so on, heavy on the champagne....

First thing today: Boca's one and only organic Farmer's Market

A bit of shopping

Downtown Busy Boca Grande

Off to PJ's for lunch, grouper taco for Sharon.

I wonder who had the Corona...Fred was not here

Buy some strawberries, just picked this morning in Plant City!

Enjoy the Pocket Park

And come home to poor lonely Freddy

Getting Ready for the LitChix

Sharon, Sue and Beth, of my Book Group, the LitChix, will be arriving Thursday.

Fred is helping in preparation for their arrival

Bye Bye Pritikin

Free at last, free at last;

The torture is over, and I am soooo glad to be home!

Time will tell whether this adventure was worth it. I did meet plenty of interesting people, though, and got a chance to detoxify.

Last night I had a massage by a woman who is involved in Qi Gong medicine.  First time I've heard of that! It was most mahhhvalous, dahling.....

Tonight is dinner at the Temp. Let's see how that first glass of wine in 12 days tastes!

Day's End on Day 10

Two nights left...the end is in sight!!!

Every single little shred, microgram, tiny little bit, of sugar, salt and alcohol is gone from this old lady's body. What a rollercoaster to get here, but quite nice once the ride is over.

Will I stay pure as the driven snow? I doubt it, especially since some very bad influences in the form of my book club, The LitChix, are arriving on Thursday. Hopefully some of this will stick, though. It is certainly a much lighter feeling to be underfed.

My favorite thing here has been Tai Chi and aquatics......good for a creaky old bat. My least favorite? Cafex, which is a fake coffee.
Exercise has its own side effects:

AHHHHHHHHHH

New room, new outlook.
I really, really hated the room I was in. It was the Anti- Feng Shui.
Finally, today, I got a new room that doesn't feel and smell like someone died in it.
I have a new lease on life. At this moment.
Still on THE PROGRAM. Still going to exercise classes and lectures. No longer losing weight.
I may have hit a new low mentally; wonder if licking dip off a plate is a sign of starvation?
Here is the new room, and the new view

Accomplishments for the day:
1 cardio class
1 Tai Chi class
1 aquatics  class
1 lecture on the musculoskeletal system

The Brainwashing takes hold.

Guess I am a hard nut to crack, but finally, I am getting with the program. Somewhat. Maybe.
Depends on the blood sugar at the moment.
I am not so happy with the accommodations. This is a 50's-60's Miami renovated Marriott. How much lipstick can you put on a pig to make it presentable? (No offense Connie AKA piglet). But, truly, there is so little available time to spend in the room that it is not all that important.
I am now with the program of getting up, eating hot oatmeal and tons of berries, going to an exercise class or two, then snack, then a lecture ....this morning's: "Aging: How to enhance your Quality of Life". The most important thing here: Get your Vitamin D levels tested. Children are getting Rickets, there is no longer enough in women's breast milk, and our bones are suffering.
The emerging research is that the  reason may have something to do with the way food is being processed.  It is already proven that an ingredient in sodas causes bone loss.
Then lunch, then a lecture, (no time for a nap on the rug)  then an optional class (today balance and stability), then  another lecture --today "New thoughts, New Behaviors". Then snack, then dinner. Of course, I never go to the after dinner lectures. Send the straitjacket when I do.
Surprisingly, most of the people here are my age. And many are thin and fit!
Well, I am losing weight-- but the daily allotment is 1500 calories.  No wonder!
 Meat is served once a week, and fish three times. Almost no dairy and never cheese. The chef says that they purposely make the bread bad so no one eats it.
Speaking of the chef, he reminds me of Jamie:

Escape!!!!

Today  I planned a trip to see my father in Lauderdale by the Sea.  Little did I know that a 20 mile trip is an all day excursion.
We had a nice lunch during a big ol downpour, and visited a bit.

Driving around here easily rivals LA, DC, Atlanta, Chicago...only worse since the speed limit seem to be just barely a suggestion. You have your 30 mph-ers competing for road space with the speed demons-- Oh, and also my GPS doesn't know its way around here, it sure spent alot of time asking me to "make a legal U-Turn".

I was actually happy to get back here.
Well, back at the ranch, there is a whole batch of people who are completing their stays of 2-5 weeks.  Emotions are all overthe place, from: I can't wait to get home and eat Super Bowl food, to: This was a life changing experience. Not sure where I will fall after this adventure.

Day Three at the Cult

2 aquatics classes
2 lectures
2 meals

2 snacks
so far

Day Two at Fat Camp

OK The deal here is: 4 hours of lectures, 2 hours of exercise, plus "elective" exercise classes and 5 meals. I am dead beat. And I did not even do the 2 hours of "required" exercise (did do a 1 hr aquatics)!
Classes today:
Calorie density
Diseases of affluence
Vitamins and minerals
Taking charge of stress (I am taking charge of my stress by skipping this one)
Meals:
Oatmeal, pumpkin soup, sweet potato and apple salad, tofu stir fry, chopped salad, bloody mary (virgin), strawberry yogurt and some other stuff......too healthy for words.

Most people here love it, although one lady tonight said that it was the freakiest place she'd ever been.  A lot of the clients are repeaters who come once or twice a year.

Well, I am still of mixed emotion. We'll see how it shakes out. Meantime, here are some photos.