I pulled into the parking lot for the Brockdale Traihead at Trinity Trail at 7:40 a.m. This horse-riding trailhead is nearly always deserted for the hour or two after sunrise, except for the bluebirds. Eastern Bluebirds gather in the morning on the tiny trees along the fence in the park. I like the way they look into the new sun, as if preening and basking.
. I like those little serene moments of watching a bird or three in the quiet first of the morning. I drove on to pick up my young friend after that. He worked on Saturday,so we decided to get together today. It's now been more than 4 1/2 years that I've been getting together with my friend, which originally began as part of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. He aged out of the program,and originally moved to upstate New York. He came back in July, though, and we still get together a couple of times a month.
We got some breakfast at a doughnut place, and then we walked in Shawnee Park in Plano. I liked the lesser scaup in the park pond:
We stopped by a Barnes & Noble, and then we got warm drinks at a La Madeleine. Then we looked for used CDs and DVDs at the Movie Trading Company. I got the DVD of the movie "Once" and of a vintage William Powell Philo Vance movie.
The store played episodes of Daria as we shopped. I have a kind of positive nostalgia for Daria Morgendorfer.
We dined at a restaurant called Thai88 where the food was good but the prices a tad high for a lunch. Then we drove to a park near his house where one can watch people fly their radio-controlled planes from a little paved runway.
One man was practicing maneuvering his plane at low altitude. He was able to make it turn and turn, but it looked more like a fish fighting against a fishig line than like a plane. Another fellow flew a small replica P38 with aplomb, while another man successfully took off,flew and landed a B-29 about the size of a tyke's plastic bike. I liked the way he did three approaches to make sure he landed neatly.
I dropped my friend off at his house. Then I walked for a little while in Bethany Lakes Park. Then I drove to Weight Watchers.
I usually eat after my meeting so all the fluids and water I had taken in did not bode well for my weigh-in. To my surprise, it showed up three pounds. As I had been eaten pretty darn healthily, I was a bit irritated. But then I re-acquired my perspective.
A substitute was leading the meeting this week, as our usual leader's daughter has something called cheerleading competition to which to attend. The substitute circulated a picture of her "before" picture before she lost 100+ pounds. The "before" picture showed her looking fairly obese, smiling as she sat on a horse.
Because I know how differently people are treated based on weight, I wondered at the changes in how people treated her that must have arisen from her change in weight. Like me, she had spent over ten years, on and off, attending these meetings.
Like me, she had had lots of progress and then tried to go it along, hindering her progress.
I first began attending these meetings in 2005. I am 71 pounds lighter now than when I went to that first meeting. I am 11 pounds heavier than the note from my doctor suggested I should be. To achieve an ideal BMI per the BMI people, I would lose 27 pounds. I am not very worried about BMI. But it might be fun to try to reach that weight, just to show I could. I've reached the doctor's target twice before, but each time I stopped attending the meetings. When I began going again in June 2013, I weighed 27 pounds more than I weigh now. So I just have to work the program. It's all a bit silly, I suppose--a bit like religiously reading Hints from Heloise and following every hint. But it works for me.
At 3:40 p.m. the weather was amazing. The high reached 20 degrees C. (68 degrees F). I got out my 7-speed green Scattante Roma bicycle. I rode over to the Watters Creek Trail. I began to ride this sidewalk trail. As I rode, I watched for birds. I saw lots of yellow-rumped warblers. I stopped to take photos from time to time. I
stopped also at DaySpring Nature Preserve, where I also took photos.
Now I am relaxing with ambient music by Lucette Bourdin playing via Last.fm, while sports contests to which I am indifferent scroll by on our television set.