Swan and duck boats near Cape Cod

While vacationing near Cape Cod, we discovered the Nemasket Kayak Center, a great little place to rent paddle boats in the shapes of ducks or swans. (and kayaks and anything to do with kayaks) They are available for use only on Tihonet Pond where the kayak center is located from May 1st to October 7th.  The kayak center also has seasonal rentals in the lovely little town of Onset.

Note:  Despite having a map and an address, we had difficulty locating the center.  In fact, we drove right past it the first time and only saw it on our way back down the road.  So be aware that when you turn onto Tihonet Rd, the kayak center is located off of the first driveway on the left.




After paying for the rental at the building near where you park your car, you walk up the hill to the pond where the paddle boats are waiting.  The gentleman who was working there was very kind and got a swan boat all ready for us and helped us into the boat.

If you get a chance to check out this fun activity, I highly recommend it!

Lavender Pond Farm

Small town Killingworth, Connecticut holds a big surprise - an impressive lavender farm.  Despite the horribly named Roast Meat Hill Road address,  a family bought 25 acres and planted over 9,000 lavender plants!

We visited on a warm summer day. The moment you step out of your car the smell of lavender is present. *Inhale*  A wide range of varieties were on display and labeled.







It was nice to see the plants being visited by many honey bees.  Tucked into a grove of nearby trees was a set of four beehives with  heavy traffic back and forth by the industrious bees.  You can even buy lavender honey in the nearby gift shop.  The shop also contains goods from local artisans as well as some varieties of lavender that you can plant at home.

The farm offers a train ride around the property, which would be really fun if you had kids.

We highly recommend a visit to Lavender Pond Farm.  It's just a few minutes north of the Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets off of Route 81, on that poorly named street.  :-)

Intermittent Fasting

I also attack my weight problem from the angle of intermittent fasting. What is intermittent fasting, or IF?? It is simply a way of eating where you eat within a specific time period and fast the rest of the day.

You may be surprised to realize that you already fast intermittently every day of your life, if you are like most people. You sleep, right? Well those hours that you are sleeping, you are also fasting. If you go to bed at 10pm and wake at 6am, you've just fasted for eight hours. A person can extend their fasting time on either or both sides of their sleep hours. Stop eating at 7pm and don't have breakfast until 7am and voila! you've fasted for 12 hours. It's an easy eating method that can provide serious benefits for many people.

Personally, I usually eat on a schedule called 16/8. I fast 16 hours per day and limit all of my eating to an 8 hour period. I usually have lunch around 12:45pm and dinner around 6:30pm.  Some days I eat 18/6 and some days I eat 23/1. This is often easily accomplished because I am fat adapted. See this post for more info:  Fat adaptation  I am burning ketones, which are available in abundance due to the amount of fat I still have on my body.  Because I don't rely on sugary/starchy foods for energy, I don't feel hungry during my fasting windows.

Dr. Jason Fung, a kidney specialist in Toronto, Canada is an expert who thought outside of the box when it came to treating his diabetic patients.  He realized that the problem for obese patients was insulin.  Insulin is a fat storage hormone.  Too much insulin and all your body (well, mine at least) does is store fat.  So, how do we get our bodies to not produce as much insulin?  Stop eating. This will encourage our body to start using the stored fat, rather than continuously storing fat.  It's that simple.  Here is a section of a presentation that Dr. Fung gave that describes how MY metabolism works, starting at 8:42:

What are the benefits of intermittent fasting?  Well, it depends on the individual.  For me, I have experienced greater mental clarity, better ability to concentrate, improved fat burning, more energy, and body fat loss.

Dr. Fung's website is Intensive Dietary Management Program.  I highly recommend you check it out, even if you aren't obese. The IDM blog is chock-a-block full of information on the benefits of fasting, often in easy to understand language.  There are scores of lectures and interviews available on youtube.  I find this interview particularly helpful and well worth an hour of your time.


If you have any questions, please get in touch and I'll do my best to help you out.

Life Changing

Fat Adaptation.  

It has simply been a life changer for me. 

What is fat adaptation?  Fat adaptation is a way of eating that encourages your body to use its own fat as fuel rather than sugar.

Disclaimer:  I am not a scientist.  I am not a doctor.   I am a woman who has educated herself on what it takes to shed her body fat.  Just because this works for me does not mean it will work for you.   

Macronutrients

Let's start at the beginning.  There are three types of foods, or fuels, you can consume and they are called "macronutrients."  They are:

• Protein
• Fat
• Carbohydrate

Protein consists of the building blocks of most parts of your body.  Your skin, hair, nails, blood, organs, bones, enzymes, hormones and muscles are all made of proteins.   Protein consumption is essential to humans, as our bodies cannot create all the component parts of protein on our own.  You must consume protein!  Examples of dietary protein are animal meat, dairy products, eggs, nuts and some beans.

Fat consists of, well, everyone knows what dietary fat is.  Examples include butter, cream, olive oil.  Believe it or not, fat is an essential nutrient for you to eat.  There are some types of fat that our bodies require that our body cannot produce on its own.  This is true for even the most obese people among us.

Carbohydrates are compounds that include grains, sugars and vegetables.  The body breaks down most carbohydrates into glucose, or sugar that the body can use to feed its cells.  Glucose is the primary fuel source for all the bodily functions for those people who eat the standard American diet (SAD).

For many people, myself included, this has led to a lifetime of obesity.  Why?  Because every time you eat carbohydrates, your body is swamped with glucose.  If you don't immediately need all of this energy, that glucose is stored as body fat.   If you eat carbs at every meal, every snack, every day, every month, every year, many people will become obese.  They can't help it.  Their bodies are not capable of processing all the sugar.  

It doesn't have to be this way.  Your body can get it's fuel from a different source.   All of that stored body fat can become the fuel your body needs.

How can you make this happen?  It's really simple.  Eat less than 25 grams of carbohydrates per day.  Period.  That's it.  This change will cause your body to adapt to burning body fat as fuel.  This is fat adaptation.  It is also called a ketogenic diet, or LCHF (low carb high fat).

Cut the junk

You will need to cut out all processed foods, all grains and all sugars.  You must go hardcore.  Purge your refrigerator, cabinets, pantry and freezer of these offensive foods.  For a great beginner primer on what to eat and, more importantly, what not to eat, Vinnie Tortorich, a celebrity personal trainer, offers an excellent free resource entitled, "Intro to NSNG."  You can find it here: Intro to NSNG

Fat adaptation can have many benefits besides weight loss.  In fact, this way of eating has been used for decades as a treatment for epilepsy (Epilepsy Society recommended diet).  Personally, I have experienced a drop in blood pressure, a drop in A1C levels, and an increase in energy.  Of course, I've also dropped a lot of weight.  After seven months of being fat adapted, my body has shed seventy pounds.  This is mainly due to the fact that by cutting out most carbohydrates, my cravings for them have disappeared.  This side effect is absolutely priceless and has enabled me to keep going without much effort.

Our ancestors likely were fat adapted.  Humans only ate when they found food - they went days without it.  They certainly did not have three meals and two snacks per day.  They did not constantly deluge their bodies with sugar, as the SAD does.  They survived without sugar and thrived.  Our existence here today is evidence of that, right?  So it makes sense that many of us would likely benefit from a similar way of eating.  I am just one example.

Dirleton Castle outside of Edinburgh

About 20 miles to the east of Edinburgh lies a lovely little town called Dirleton.  This sleepy village, which must have a very small population, is home to an impressive ruin called Dirleton Castle.

We visited on a beautiful day in September, which proves that, yes, the sun does shine in Scotland.

According to Wikipedia, the oldest parts of the castle date to the 13th century, and it was abandoned by the end of the 17th century and turned over to the Scottish government in 1923.

The keep and house have a tortured history, having undergone many renovations, expansions and dismantlings.  That’s what time and war will do.

The views from the castle to the Northeast are of village houses in the near distance and the blue waters of the Firth of Forth with Fife beyond.  I’m sure on a gray day you wouldn’t see very far at all.

Of particular note was the two level great hall.  The dais, which is about four feet higher than the main floor, would be where the laird and his lady dined and presided over clan and local affairs.  The remnants of chimneys existed at each end of the space.

The gardens are particularly lovely on a sunny day.  I was drawn to the beautiful border plantings and with good reason.  Unbeknownst to us during our visit, the north gardens are in the Guinness Book of Word Records for having the longest herbaceous (perennial) garden in the world at around 700 feet.  

Also in the north gardens is a grand Summer House.  Wouldn’t a table and chairs be nice for some wine and cheese?  Or maybe afternoon tea?  Mmmm...scones.

There is even a bowling lawn and a small formal garden.

My favorite part of the grounds is the Dovecot, pronounced “Doocot.”  There is a description below that explains it better than I could.  It’s fascinating how useful this structure was for medieval folk.  My DH thinks it would make an awesome wine cellar!

If you ever get the chance to stop by Dirleton Castle, I highly recommend it.    For more information:  

click here.  It’s less than $10 per adult for admission.

Skye

Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye.

- Robert Louis Stevenson poem, 1892

For any Outlander fans, please substitute “lass” for “lad” and you’ll recognize the opening music for the tv series.

Over the sea to Skye...that imagery was on my bucket list.  We made it happen a few years ago on a visit to Scotland.  I had an inkling of what it would look like because I’d been to the Scottish Highlands several times.  I was not prepared for such jaw dropping beauty around every. single. corner. of the island.  Rain somehow enhances the mystery from the moment you cross the Skye Bridge to get there.   The Skye Bridge was controversial when it was built and opened in 1995.   Prior to that, the island was only accessible by ferry.  For more on the controversy, 

click here.

Well, hello there, laddie!!

This is from the area of Neist Point Lighthouse.  It was hammering down with rain, so much so that we couldn't even see the lighthouse itself.  This is looking south down the coast.  Luckily for us, the weather did clear and we had an outstanding day.



This is a broch.  According to wikipedia, a broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland.  The understanding of the origin of these structures is still evolving.  I highly recommend you learn a bit about them.  My takeaway is that they were defensive structures, for people and livestock.




We were able to visit the Talisker Distillery   Talisker is the oldest working distillery on Skye, producing a variety of whiskys that are influenced by the salty, windswept air. We sampled four varieties, all way too harsh for my simple palate.  My DH was much more appreciative.  For more information on whiskys in general, please visit DramFineWhisky.

View from the front door of Talisker Distillery

We visited Sligachan (pronounced Slig-a-khan), a town that is nothing more than a crossroads on your way to other places on Skye.  It has an inn and a bridge and spectacular views. (even in the rain!)  Many mountain climbers use this area as a starting point for a wide variety of ascents.






The inn decorates with empty whisky boxes and....



Has a sense of humor regarding the restrooms after drinking all that whisky!  :-)






The "Old Man of Storr" is a large rock that stands tall and can be seen for miles.  It gets its name because it, allegedly, resembles the face of an old man.  I don't see it.




The weather started to improve.   Loch Mealt, just south of the town of Staffin.

Kilt Rock, a nearly 300 foot high sea cliff whose vertical columns are said to resemble a kilt.




Our first views of the Quiraing, an area formed by a great series of landslides a long, long time ago.


The clearing skies combined with stunning terrain made these moments among the most spectacular in our lives.






There is no way to adequately present this awe-inspiring landscape, but some human perspective may help.





This photo was taken near Sligachan, in better weather.



These photos were taken in the southern area of Skye, called Isle Ornsay. 





During our drive off of the island, we stopped to take photos of the iconic Eilean Donan castle.  For more information on this must see castle, click here.




We absolutely loved our visit to Skye and plan to get back for a longer visit someday.
We stayed at Torwood Bed & Breakfast and highly recommend it.