End of an Era

Today, I quit my gym.  The last 8+ years has been a good run.  This gym saw me through my post-babies body reclamation project and recovery from two surgeries.  There are friendly folks I have enjoyed seeing a couple of times a week for years on end, even if I was not always sure of their names.  There are a couple of good teachers who manage to kick my ass once in a while.

But the time has come.  The circles I travel don't take me that way anymore and a destination gym doesn't fit well with my life for the next few years.  It took me a long time to decide this, I paid a bunch up front to have a forever cheap monthly rate and that has tied me to this gym, but even $21/month is too much if you find yourself struggling to get there even once a week.  And I've been cheating on my old gym by taking classes at a place in Ypsi for over a year...

I'm not giving up gym-ing, of course, but I'm throwing in with the local folk, putting some more money into my workouts and looking forward to the sweating more with friendly folks and actual friends in a hometown establishment.  Ypsi Studio, here I come!

Food Positive

At O's request, we all watched Food, Inc last night.  I know we are behind the times but as a vegetarian household that shops mostly at the coop, frequents the farmers market, grows a few things in our own yard, avoids fast food restaurants, and has a CSA, I wasn't really thinking that we needed this film.

The problem, of course, is that while my foodways/values are well-established and deeply held, my kids do encounter other people and have been rather exposed of late to the wider world of crappy food and manipulative advertising.  And they're kids.  O in particular is struggling against a mighty, mighty sweet tooth and low, low impulse control.  I think he knows this and that is part of why he asked to watch the film. 

Seeing a few of their junk food weakneses (Reeses and Pringles) show up on the GMO list and hearing how this food plays to evolutionary elements that are hard for us to resist seemed to strengthen both kids' resolve to eat 'real' food.  They also got a good understanding of why our household actually spends a fair amount on our food and why doing so is a good thing. 

I'm glad they know real food, but I've struggled a bit in the last year to make it happen.  What I need, what we need, is for them to help more.  I've been saying this to them for much of the last year, but with little effect.  I'm still the one who shops, plans, prepares, serves, and (I am embarassed to admit) cleans up.  When I have time, I don't mind these tasks, but getting them all to happen (and not eating dinner at 9:30pm) has been quite the challenge of late. 

So today begins a new attempt to loop the kids into the project of awesome food (some of which needs to be readily available for those who can't yet plan for when they will want it).  At the kids' request, we will drop by the farm where we have a CSA (okay, some of the motivation here is see the goats, but we will play with the veggies too).  And because we have some errands to do, we will likely eat our dinner out tonight, but we will discuss where we choose to spend our restaurant dollars and why that matters.

Hiking Adventures



My parent's cottage is on a truly lovely stretch of Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula, but the call of Lake Superior is strong. Adventure buddies and I headed out for hike along its amazing cliffs. With all the spur trails to scenic vistas and the exploring of sandstone rock ledges in the water, this nearly twelve mile hike took us seven hours. This is now my favorite Pictured Rocks adventure: Mosquito River/Falls, along Grand Portal, then back Chapel Falls trail.

The hike begins...