Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday/ Mardi Gras/  Pancake Tuesday  is welcomed every year as a harbinger of Spring.  The day also makes us stop to assess where we can cut back on our own consumption and give more to others over the next 40 days.

The men were in charge of the cooking today.  It was very smoky in our valley today and yesterday.  I heard that the sawdust pile at the railroad tie-processing plant had caught on fire.  I like the smell of wood smoke but I sure met some grumblers on my walks today who didn't appreciate it.  The smell made me want to go get the RV and go camping/fishing.  Nostalgia was kicking in.  The grumblers all talk like the smoke was a personal attack, just on them.  I sometimes think inside my head, "Build a bridge and get over it."  Maybe that is unkind.   But, after all there is nothing we can do about it.

     The volunteer fire folk will be working hard to put out any fire.  Thank God for their devotion and sense of responsibility.  Say a prayer in gratitude for them.  Well that is my response to the bitchers.

I did get out for two walks of 20 minutes today and that was all I could handle.  Some of my ankle, knee and upper thigh muscles are still tight and don't want to flex properly.  But again today I felt more flexibility than yesterday.  

Old Man Watching and I walked over to the church hall for pancakes and sausages and fancy whipped butter creams and fancy syrups and fruits and.....   

The Tradition comes from clearing out your cupboards of all rich foods before Lent.  

Lent  is a time of austere eating, except on Sundays, which are considered to be feast days so we aren't supposed to fast then.  Lent begins tomorrow and I will walk over for the traditional 7:00 Ash Wednesday service tomorrow night.  I will start my Weight Watchers diet AGAIN tomorrow morning.  

It has been difficult with no way to exercise the last few months and with Christmas thrown into the middle of the healing time.  I gained back all the 6 pounds I lost last fall, before getting bucked off of the stepping stool while cleaning windows on November 30.