​This week begins with several sets of good and bad news.     The first and most expensive bad news is that my Fitbit died, and the battery refused to charge, so I had to replace it. The bad news is that the new Fitbit "personalized" my cardio fitness and, as a result, increased my required effort to get thirty-five minutes of cardio or above per day. However, the good news is that I have built lots of cardio strength and endurance. The bad news is that I must increase my exercise effort to reach my daily goal of 35 minutes of cardio and beyond. The good news is that I've already found a way to accomplish that in the early morning. I found this article on NPR that explains a quick way to get twenty-two minutes of cardio. The foundation of the workout is high-intensity interval training. Each activity begins slowly but includes bursts of intense aerobic activity that increase the heart rate. Using Jake's exercycle, I'm alternating between one minute of cycling as hard as I can and then shifting to a gentle pace several times. I also use regular jogging in place to twenty-thirty second sprints. This and my regular exercise work together for my thirty-five-minute daily cardio goal. Actually, the suggested 150 minutes of cardio per week divided by seven days is 22 minutes per day, so I am exceeding the recommendation. However, I must continue if I want to lose weight, so this works for me. The next good news is that my birthday was this past Thursday, and I had a wonderful day. The bad news is that now I am 73. Yikes! I plan to keep working on health and fitness, and the keto plan is central to the works because obesity is very destructive. The other good news is that I'm making simple shift dresses to stay cool in the Waianae climate. I'm hand painting various colors of hibiscus flowers onto the fabric, and they're turning out amazingly well. That's all the news I have, but I hope to share more good news next week!

​     Today's blog is a write-as-you-walk experience because I'm talking into my phone's microphone and composing as I take my morning walk along the bay.  This is a change because I usually play audiobooks on my phone during my walks and as we travel from place to place.  Also, they help fill my time, and I've got abundant time even with all my activities.  But today I'm using my phone to dictate my blog instead of listening to audio books.  It's a gorgeous day with refreshing breezes rolling over me as I watch the abundant waves, rolling but gentle, culminating on the sandy shore.  They are perfect for those who love the more moderate water activities, so right now, many surfers and paddle boarders around my age are out enjoying Po'Kai bay.  I'm keeping up with my daily exercises, including my steps and cardio.  I'm continuing to complete at least 35 minutes a day of cardio.  I'm also keeping up with my keto plan, which is very easy to stick with because I'm not suffering.  It hasn't been hard at all, and I'm still going down in increments.  It's very slow, but I'm not discouraged.  The fishermen are at the bay today, and I'm surprised to see them.  This is my first time seeing this many fishing poles at work.  They're huge, so it looks like these guys are serious fishermen.  The rods and reels look very expensive.  They look similar to those used on the marina fishing boats, though slightly smaller.  Steve uses your average fishing pole but is successful and enjoys himself.  Every time we go to the marina, Steve catches the favorite fish of the residents and hands it over because I'm not so interested in anything but sockeye, crab, and ling cod.  Unfortunately, we can't catch any of those here, so we buy sockeye from Costco, and Steve satisfies his other fish cravings with poke from the grocery store around the corner.  Have I mentioned how conveniently located our little Mango Shack is?  A large, local grocery store is right around the corner, as is the beautiful bay I visit daily.  Steve buys poke made from marlin instead of the very expensive tuna, so that's working out.  We have several restaurants within a block of our little place, including fast food and Starbucks.  Also, we've been getting along very well with the guys as long as everyone maintains the common areas and honors our individual boundaries.  Steve and I have a very comfortable suite in the Mango Shack.  It has a large screen TV, so every night after dinner, we go to bed early and watch television for a couple of hours.  Actually, it's more like fifteen minutes before we both knock out and then sleep like champs, usually until morning.  However, sometimes we wake up and sit outside where we can enjoy the night sounds and the breezes.  As I said, our little Mango Shack is right in the heart of town and around the corner from the most beautiful bay on Oahu's west side.  So we are blessed in every way and enjoying our life.  We hope to stay healthy, happy, and whole for many years.

     It's the start of a new week, and we're back at the marina with our fishing buddies.  It's a beautiful day today, with temperatures in the low eighties and lovely breezes wafting through the marina from the mountains to the east.  Today, we celebrated Harold's birthday at our favorite dim sum place in Honolulu.  It is really delicious!  Dim sum works out for me because several dim sum items contain very few carbs, so I can enjoy them without exceeding my daily limit.  We had an excellent week, and we got a lot accomplished.  Steve built a really nice kitchen island for the Mango Shack, and it's working out great!  It holds all of our dishes, pots, and pans, so we created plenty of room for an old new stove that I bought used, but it's in excellent shape.  Our menus are working out exceptionally well, even though we share some of our meals with the guys.  We're trying to cook out at least once every weekend and have one or two meals together during the weekdays.  We are looking forward to returning to Birch Bay in about a month because we plan to spend some time with Stefani and family in November or December when travel is not so expensive.  I've been making carne asada each week, and the guys absolutely love, love, love it.  Asada is definitely keto friendly for me, and I totally enjoy the spicy marinated meat.  I usually make carne asada bowls for Steve and me smothered with onions, shredded cheddar cheese, an egg on top, and finished with a dollop of sour cream.  As always, we love Hawaii life.  This coming week we plan to find a new trail to drop off one of our little blessings for the www.blessingsinbottles.com site explorers.  We'll place it along the trail for a hiker to retrieve.  We've been going to 24-hour fitness every single day and working out.  I do my walk there, and Steve swims, but I also get into the pool at the end of my exercise routine because it feels so refreshing.  I'm concerned because my right leg is a little sore, but I'm hoping it will just go away and not be anything serious.  We're planning to install a fan on our Lanai because it gets kind of hot when we don't have breezes coming down from the mountains.  Something to stir the air makes all the difference in the world on these warmer days at the end of summer before fall sets in.  I can tell that Steve loves to be here with the guys and at the marina with his friends.  It feels good being together and enjoying time with one another.  We still managed to stay out of each other's way, and everything is working well.  The great news is my weight is continuing to go down, down, down incrementally, but I'm still losing, and it makes me very happy.  I've just got to continue to do more of the same and hope everything rocks steady.  Of course, anything can come out of left field at my age and knock me off my horse, but I plan on continuing to function and live my best life as I become less fat every day.

     We're at the marina, and I'm watching waves crashing up against the rocks and Hawaiians fishing for their favorite fish called Papio.  Steve's sitting out there, too, fishing with double rods.  When he catches fish, especially this favorite, he walks it over to his companions, and they're always very pleased.  Views from the marina are simply lovely.  The sky is bright blue.  Only a few clouds are hovering here and there, and off to my left is the mountain that we see from our Lanai, but it looks totally different from the marina.  Several boats are on their way in from a long day fishing, and others are just launching for a few hours of evening fishing.  There's a nice breeze coming off the water, and the sun is low in the sky on its way past the horizon.  I feel particularly good because I've gotten control of my weight which was creeping upward for a while, but now it's going steadily down again.  My success began with lau lau, and I'm delighted I started with this Waianae specialty.  It's my favorite Hawaiian food.  Steve likes poke, but I always hesitate to consume raw fish even though it would comply with my keto diet.  So I'm sticking with lau lau along with other favorites and making good progress.  My poor daughter and her family are going through a round of covid.  They're all feeling very ill, but we're particularly worried about her husband, who has a condition that makes covid quite dangerous.  It's very concerning because no walk-in clinics will take him, and she's unable to reach his doctor.  It's very interesting because you're told to do certain things, including begin taking medications if you have extenuating circumstances.  However, if it's impossible to contact your doctor or get an appointment anywhere, how can you possibly take precautions?  They're probably going to have to head to the emergency room to take care of this, and it's very discouraging.  I'm praying that he doesn't get any worse or have any complications.  In the meantime, it's roast chicken for dinner tonight.  We've been enjoying the crab we brought along occasionally and yesterday evening was one of those meals.  Our son-in-law loves the Dungeness crab, so we created a surf 'n" turf menu including grilled steak, crab, and several salads.  We had a great time feasting together.  We're still enjoying our Hawaii life very much.  We're doing lots of relaxing, fishing, and meals with the guys.  It's working out very well.  I'm especially happy that the keto has kicked in again, and it shows.  More good diet reports next week.  Hoping health reports are good as well.

     We're moving into our second week here in Waianae and having a lovely day stay.  We're thrilled because our son-in-law just received his American citizenship.  We're so proud of him.  He accomplished it all by himself.  We celebrated at the Cheesecake Factory, a restaurant he chose because he said it was very "American."  I found the meal lacking in many ways.  It lacked flavor, and it was very expensive.  I'm not attending that restaurant again.  It was a big disappointment.  However, Harold enjoyed it, and the celebration was all about him, and it was fun!  We've also decided to sell one of our cars because, at this point, we have four vehicles in our little Mango Shack yard.  That's really silly because we can manage with fewer vehicles.  We rarely drive the Sonata, so even though I like it, I've decided to get rid of it.  A young woman from Kauai is very interested in it and I think she will go ahead and buy it.  It's been very well taken care of and has low miles, so it's an excellent deal, and she seems thrilled.  We're pressing on with our Hawaii lifestyle, including the foods we enjoy here.  Of course, I mentioned lau lau already, and I'm thinking about making some more carne asada next week.  My weight is going down down down again, and I'm feeling terrific.  We've passed out lots of crab to our Hawaiian friends, who appreciate it.  Steve really enjoys sharing his catch every year.  We have started our daily trip to the marina and are visiting our Hawaiian friends who live in the general area.  They fish from the pier every evening.  Steve has yet to start fishing because he's been so busy with everything at the house.  Every time we return to our little Mango Shack, there are things we've got to take care of right away to keep it happy, healthy, and standing.  It is the only roof we have over our heads in Hawaii.  As always, we love every single day.  Breezes come down from the mountains to the Lanai, where we sit and enjoy our mornings and evenings coffee, enjoying meals, and hanging out together.  We are so lucky to have our wonderful life.  The area's beauty is a daily blessing, and we thank God we can be here.  However, next year we're going to wait to come until January even though it will be very gloomy in Washington by then.  The days here are around 85°, and that's about 5°, too warm.  We enjoy it more when it ranges from 75 to 80, which happens in the winter and early spring.  Still, we're having a wonderful time and continuing with our keto meals.  Today it's carne asada and green chili stew.  Yum!