Outdoor Wednesday: Well-Watered Plants

As I mentioned in my Mosaic Monday post, the hot summer days had left my garden all parched. Well, the past three days we have had rain, and as I look out I can see the plants making good use of all the extra water.

So today I ventured out across the sopping wet grass to look at my Rose of Sharon plant. I received a piece last summer from a friend and have been looking out from the kitchen window to see the lovely pink blooms. All along there were just one bloom at a time. However, in the past three days I’ve seen two, three, and now five blooms.

Even when wet, the pink blooms are so lovely:


I also enjoyed looking at the blossoms and buds on the nearby Stella d’Oro lilies plants:

This post is linked to Susan’s Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer.

Transformation Tuesday

Kimberley of Terra del Sole is considering a new meme to help bloggers “share how they are transforming their lives.”

Her theme is “Live, Love, Laugh, Learn.” In her first post she shares how other bloggers are fulfilling aspects of this theme in their blog posts.

On my living room love seat I have a small blue pillow that urges “Live/ Love/ Laugh.”

In recent posts I shared my new regimen based on the NEWSTART 18-day lifestyle program.

Getting a New Start on a Healthy Lifestyle

NEWSTART Update

What to Eat for Satiety

In the past couple weeks, my sisters and I have also joined an individualized coaching program aimed at helping women identify, develop and achieve personal goals. I will write about this soon.

Let's all try to live with more love and laughter in our daily activities.

Mosaic Monday - Summer Flowers

On my return from my California trip I found my garden pretty wilted by the heat and lack of water while I was away. But there were still some blooms and I've made a couple mosaice for Mary's Mosaic Monday event.

The Stella d'Oro daylily and Rose of Sharon plants were given to me last June by a friend. The hydrangeas and impatiens were bought at area garden centers.

This mosaic features hydrangeas. They are Endless Summer and were planted in 2008.

Be sure to visit Mary at Little Red House to see the mosaics prepared by other participants.

Family Birthday Celebration

On Sunday we had a family get-together to celebrate my birthday which was last Wednesday. My youngest sister hosted it at her home. Her son and daughter put out balloons on the mailbox and on the back fence near the pool. (The balloons are somewhat deflated since I didn't take the photos till the next afternoon.)

The family attending included my mother, her sister, my sister, husband, son and daughter, brother-in-law’s aunt, and from out of town another sister and brother-in-law. They arrived in Massachusetts from their home in Florida early Sunday morning.

Several stainless steel chafing dishes kept the food hot on the kitchen table:

Here is the place setting in the Dining Room

On a white tablecloth were pretty summery ceramic plates and handpainted goblets. Gilt frames as place cards and gold flatware were joined by white napkins in napkin rings to complete the settings.

Just before we sat down, I took a quick photo overview of table. Note the three candelabras as the centerpiece:

Be sure to visit our lovely hostess,Susan, at Between Naps on the Porch for more wonderful tablesettings.

What to Eat for Satiety

My heartfelt thanks to each person who left a comment to the three previous posts. Your kind words are most appreciated. Again, I’m glad to write in response to questions you’ve asked.
From Katherine at Yellow Rose Arbor came the query, "Can you give us more details of what you eat for breakfast and lunch that holds you all night? I'm curious!"
Carrell at Country Charisma indicated, "Would love to know what they recommended for your breakfast and lunch."


At NEWSTART we were urged to "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, supper like a pauper." So our biggest meal would be breakfast.
The cafeteria provided substantial meals that kept us well-fed without hunger pangs in between meals. In any case, we were also urged to avoid snacking so our meals had time to digest properly. We also got lots of encouragement to drink lots of water between meals.

For your interest, here is a sampling of what we ate that gave wonderful satiety** through the day and night.

BREAKFAST:
Whole grain Oatmeal or other whole cooked cereal
Whole grain cereals: Maple Nut Granola*, Sunflower Date Granola, Pineapple Granola,
Whole Grain Corn or Rice flakes
Milk: Almond milk, Soy milk, Rice milk
Beans and other legumes such as lentils
Entrees like Scrambled Tofu as an egg substitute
Fresh fruit: apples, oranges, grapefruit, kiwi,
Whole grain breads
Spreads/ Sprinkles: almond butter, Nutritional Yeast Flakes

NO JUICES, NO WATER WITH MEALS

LUNCH:
Whole grain pasta dishes
Baked or mashed potatoes
Brown Rice dishes
Salad bar: lettuces, tomatoes, cucumber, kidney beans, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, croutons, etc.
Fresh fruit: apples, oranges, grapefruit, kiwi, etc.
Whole grain breads: raisin, wheat, spelt, multi-grain
Spreads/ Sprinkles: almond butter, nutritional yeast flakes, flax seed flakes, date pieces, sunflower seeds

SUPPER:
Green salad fixings
Soups: Lentil, vegetable, barley, etc.
Whole Grain Bread
Spreads: Hummus, Almond butter, Peanut butter
Fresh fruit platter
Whole Wheat Herb Crackers*
*Illustrations from Weimar Market website.

We received cooking lessons in the cooking school kitchen from Sally Christensen and her two assistants. Mrs. Christensen edited the Newstart Lifestyle Cookbook.

For our last lesson we prepared a delicious Mexican luncheon.
We each received a copy of the NEWSTART Lifestyle Cookbook upon arrival our first day.

**sa·ti·ety definition
Pronunciation: /sə-ˈtī-ət-ē also ˈsā-sh(ē-)ət-/
Function: n
pl -eties ; : the quality or state of being fed or gratified to or beyond capacity

Source: Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2007 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

I am linking this post to a new meme, Whatever Wednesday hosted by Kimberly at Terra del Sole.