Life in the Middle Age Lane

I recently went back and re-read some of my blogs and realized its been over three whole freakin' years since I wrote one.  I also realized I really enjoyed writing them.  I have had a few adventures during those absent years as well as a very bizarre dream of a pandemic that closed our country for the past two years.  Well it's seems more like a nightmare at times.  So many thoughts run through my mind as I figure out what I wish to write about after being "gone" for three years!  That is 525,600 minutes x 3. I am too tired to do the math for you.   Which leads my thoughts to a movie I recently watched on a plane to Bonaire over the holidays,  Tick Tick...Boom!  I loved this movie.  Lin-Manuel Miranda was the director and it is based on a play by Jonathan Larson (Yes, the guy who wrote RENT) Which when John and I saw it, we were not as thrilled as everyone else was.  In fact it was my least favorite Broadway show.  But like all things with time, we change and sometim

2016 v 2017 30 days of Keto As many of you know John has been on the Keto diet for a few years and dropped a whopping 35 lbs.  Well, John has never commented on my weight (probably for his safety) but now that he's skinny, the attention is now focused on my weight.  UGH!!! For selfish reasons, I preferred him with a little more weight because it made me look skinnier.  Well, I don't have that "cushion" anymore. now, I have to stand next to this..... Hahahahah! Don't be jealous ladies,  this was during HLSR barbecue cook-off.  A part of John's job is having to wear costumes to match the theme of our tent. (Alice in BBQ Land.) I felt as ridiculous as I looked.  The coconut tequila seemed to help. After a good few months of no holds bar kind of eating I gained about 7 lbs.  Well, when your height is only 4'11" it might as well be 20 lbs.  So at John's encouragement, I promised him I would do 30 days of Keto.  First 3 weeks

We arrived at the Sleeping Giant Rainforest Lodge around 5:30 pm, after a very pleasant drive thru the towns of Balmopan, (capital of Belize) and Armenia. We were scheduled for a night tour but decided to rest up and start fresh the next day.  The lodge had a great 360' view and Shelby and I woke up at 4:45 am to make the 30-minute hike up to this wooden deck.  It only took us about 14 minutes, we must be in good shape!  Hahaha. It was worth the hike and getting out of bed.  The boys slept in.  😴 We even caught some fog rolling through the mountains which made the view even more spectacular. I look forward to my morning coffee and planning my day, this view from the River House made it hard to plan anything except relax and breath... Our first full day, I booked a kayaking tour on the Belize River.  Our guide, Abel also does birdwatching tours and was very knowledgeable regarding the wildlife in the area.  The best part was hearing the Howling

Happy New Year! This past year has been full of extremes.  What I mean by that is that I had days full of adventure and travels and days of boredom and melancholy.  I started the year with health issues that affected my workouts.  I spent way too much time on social media instead of enjoying my surroundings.  I really felt like I lost a year when it came to daily productivity.  Which then affected how I viewed my world. My gratitude was skewed for lack of a better word.  I was like a three-year-old, knowing what the right thing to do is and deciding to do the opposite, just because I could.  The whole year flew by and I felt I had nothing to show for it. To recharge my battery, I finally decided to take those pesky vitamin supplements that I always avoided despite taking the time to fill up the weekly pill boxes.  I eliminated sodas completely. I continue to eat clean and exercise. I completed my annual checkup with my doctor and started reading books again. My first project t

Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday August 29, 30 and 31st. Mannheim                  Koblenz Speyer                        Cologne Heidelberg Rudesheim Heidelberg Castle as backdrop for our selfie The Largest Wine Barrel (Heidelberg) The Castle has an amazing balcony that overlooks the town and Philosopher's walk, a prestigious area of this college town.  Steffi Graff owns a home here. You can spot some of the homes across the Neckar River, hillside. Heidelberg's Monkey on the Old Bridge  You can read about this monkey here . The river cruise offered various tours for its guest.  It went from Active to Regular, and Easy tours for the older crowd.  We did the Active and Regular tours depending on the town.  Most of the time we were bike riding along the countryside. John was having such a fun time.  I haven't seen him relaxed like this in many years.  It was a true vacation for both of us.  We only had two other riders with us on t

Monday , August 28,  2017 ,  Strasbourg As John and I are enjoying new cities our own city is being bombarded with rain for 4 straight days. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.  Houston underwent a horrible deluge of rain from Hurricane Harvey.  Many creeks surround Houston and its suburbs and when 50 inches of rain fall these creeks overflow, and overflow, and overflow.   By day two we upgraded our phone plan to keep in contact with everyone back home.  Harvey made the world news and everyone in every country asked us how our family and home were once they found out we were from Houston.  It was surreal. Only one person in our family took in water.  Luckily she only received inches of water and not feet, like many others.  It was still hard to enjoy ourselves without thinking of all the water our poor Houston was receiving. Back to Strasbourg.....We woke in this city and opted for a bike tour.  Unfortunately, so did 26 other riders.  And some of them sh