Irish Daisy

So, I felt like there was something I needed to talk about after the frenzy of Halloween candy consumption and before the holiday season, with its stuffing, cookies, pies, sweets, and Bailey’s, is upon us. A two-month orgy of savory foods and delicious treats, followed by the self-imposed penance of a resolution and the resulting massive guilt if said resolution is not carried through. Here it is: Don’t go on a diet to feel better about how you look. Really, don’t. It doesn’t work anyway. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t eat fruits and veggies, or exercise to avoid a blood clot in your leg. I’m not even saying dieting doesn’t work for weight loss – after all, we see success stories all the time in magazines. It’s just that dieting until you’re raging hangry because you just know you’ll feel better about your thighs, or belly, or butt if only you could fit into size 6 pants…yeah, that might not turn out like you think. Your…trouble spot will get smaller and the scale will show...

I’m decrepit. Seriously, I am. Actually, I’m amazingly strong and reasonably fit for a woman of my age – which is a combination of the legacy of being an athlete in high school, stubbornness and an insistence on using hand tools, because they’re so much cheaper to buy than power tools, for all gardening functions. Toned arms are not indicative of overall fitness...at all. I mean really, there is nothing that matches the full-body workout of using manual tools to dethatch and aerate your lawn when you live in a place with rocky, clay-based soil. To hell with cross-fit or weight lifting – get a dethatching tool, a rake, a loop-hoe, some loppers and a pair of leather gloves. I can thank cheap gardening for my arms, my sore, painful, toned arms. At one point, I put together a slide show of gardening projects for my employees to explain why I arrived whimpering and limping every Monday. Window Dressing You know what’s not in great shape? My back – which is kind of the...