Morning Run

I can´t believe I have been running 3 miles most mornings for months now. I just haven´t had time to post it here - of course, too busy running. Well, it actually takes only 40 minutes every morning. I started slowly walking at a city park until I lost some weight (diet oriented by a dietician - two spoons of rice, palm-size piece of meat, and lots of salad, and things like that. No sugar or fatty meat for 6 weeks. It worked. I shed 10 pounds and even though I went back eating like a plowman, I am still able to keep my optimal weight. Sometimes I think that I could curb more of my appetite for novelty foods and lead a zen-like lifestyle. My pursue of simplicity hasn´t gotten to my stomach yet.
I started on this road in November - Summer in the South Hemisphere. Gentle rolling hills, no many cars, but lots of dogs (four checkpoints done by mutts), including mine that insist on following me. One of these days, one of them got killed by a car. All I said to the driver was "please, haul it from here". I used to run on a dirt road, but my dogs used to harass passersby, especially dangerous for motorcycles or bicycles. I was so distraught that I gave up the whole activity for months until I found the city park, and later, the paved country road near my farm. So I leave the farm by car and park by the road. But my dogs are smart. They discovered my little secret and sometimes they get to the starting point even before me.
My region doesn´t have much natural beauty. But I really enjoy my morning run. I can see (besides the dogs) birds (toucans too), a reservoir, some trees, and at the end of the paved road, a small Catholic church, a bar, and three houses (five people live here). On the back of the church has the most magnificent building of all: four giant wood-fired ovens! All roasted chicken, lamb, and pork are done in this facility for many church annual fairs.

Frugal Living

Wednesday, 1:30 pm: I stopped by Dona Rosa’s fence and delivered pieces of Brazilian style fruitcake (made with prunes, raisins, guava paste, condensed milk, muscatel wine, ground almond ) and puba cake. The last one is made of mandioc roots left 7 days in water to be fermented, then ground, and dripped to dry. I was a little bit suspicious of the puba, as I don’t know I can trust home fermented food. If any weird bacteria gets in? The other package of the same goodies went to my other neighbor who was at home, snoozing. Even though I woke him up, he thanked me for the cake and for an hour conversation we had under a big flamboyant tree. Sunny, slightly windy, and dry day. I felt fortunate to cheer a friend who had his wife away taking care of her hospitalized sister. Only where time doesn’t cost much is that I can have the privilege of spending so much of it, in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week. Having times like these, disallow us to take vacations. Our holidays are ingrained in our day-to-day activities. Not that we don’t need rest – but we don’t have the need to go away, to take a trip, to see new places and new people. What we like are these old places with old friends. They are not old friends of mine, as I’ve met them not too long ago. However, for knowing each other’s struggles and victories that have the feeling of closeness. We all agree that the best thing in life is friendship. If our time doesn’t cost much, I can afford to spend more of it. We don’t think of the time in terms of investments and returns, but in letting, life goes by beside people that we love. The big secret of having a frugal living is not valuing life like a commodity, of wanting more out of it, to have the maximum profit. It’s the opposite. It is expecting nothing out of life, but to have it pass by. If I don’t feel I am entitled to possess things, to experience emotions, to collect memories; if I don’t feel I am entitled to have a life that is when we start getting a life. As part of my pursue of simple living, I also have chosen to eat less, but correctly. I was tired of feeling sick after gorging and gaining weight as a consequence. I am not overweight in any sense, but be a glutton seems immoral, in face of the world’s hunger. My biggest challenge is to cut down on my expenses on meat, trading for cheaper fruits and vegetables. That’s where frugal living comes in. As part of my plan to pay less and get the same, I attend to exercise classes for free done at community centers, five times a week. At 8:00 p.m. I turn off the TV, go to the bedroom for devotionals. I still do other things, such as writing, getting information on the internet, but I don’t surf, as I think it is a waste of time. I end up sleeping early and wake up before the sun. I love it: to beat the sun. My next project is to use less cleaning products, especially laundry soaps. I plan to use my homemade soap instead, and wash the clothes less often, as my habit is to do several loads a day. I keep my trips to the town to a minimum, so I can save not only on fuel but on any risk related to a car accident. Keeping risks to a bare minimum is a great way to save money. Frugal living also allows me to enjoy times of silence – for being alone is one of the greatest gifts we get – and it is still free.