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| Ron's K1600 GTL is all repaired and ready to ride |
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| There were times we couldn't see taillights of the truck ahead |
27 Feb: Jan prepared delicious steel cut oatmeal for our breakfast. After hugs and goodbyes to dear friends, we immediately stopped for lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s, always a good idea. It was a relief that northbound I-75 wasn’t as crowded as the southbound trip had been a month ago. However, an hour north of Sarasota torrential rains fell, reducing visibility to nil and appearing to be exceedingly treacherous at times. After the rain, the sun came out and shone directly into our eyes as we approached Tallahassee. The Quincy, Florida Hampton Inn was not great and neither was the nearest Jason’s Deli.
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| Ron is just ALL heart |
25 Feb: We said our final goodbyes over our last Pritikin breakfast and collected a box lunch for our ride. The car rental arrived late, but we thoroughly enjoyed the ride on the Tamiami Trail (old US 41) west from Doral, FL, stopping for our Pritikin box lunch at the Oasis Visitor Center at the entry to the Big Cypress Preserve. Cynthia captured a photo and video of the alligators but didn’t get one of Ron walking across the river on the backs of the alligators. Because of our late start, we were late arriving at our new friends lovely home in Naples. We met Pat at Pritikin, and her husband, Larry is battling Alzheimers. Pat had prevailed upon Ron to visit so that she could have company on a motorcycle ride, using one of their five, beautiful Harleys. Ron was happy to comply, but Pat had been on a long ride with a daughter the day before, so was not interested in an afternoon ride today. Pat is originally from LeMars, Iowa, and Cynthia once lived in LeMars, so they had many things and people to discuss! Dinner was at the Dock Seafood Restaurant with other Iowans including Dave and Annie, Jeff and ??. The meal was delicious and surprisingly Pritikin perfect. A fun time was had by all of the survivors. We spent the night in Naples with Pat and Larry.
23 Feb, We were too busy to blog! Whew! Observe what keeps Ron so busy to the left.
22 Feb, Cynthia's sister Merrilee’s surgery was successful! I enjoyed a visit with Jim Cummings, friend of Ambassador Andrew Young, about how MLK,Jr and he met. "About 1952, 22 year old Andy was in divinity school, traveling in the south, unable to stay in hotels because of segregation, so he stayed in a church. A young 25 or 26 year old speaker named Martin Luther King, Jr came to speak. Andy was the mesmerized by King and they became fast friends. King shared the hope that segregation would end. At first, Andy didn’t believe it was possible, but they soon recognized the power of God at work."
21 Feb, Happy Birthday Sister Merrilee! Lookee at Ron doing cardio!
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| Ron is the Entertainment! |
20 Feb, Wednesday, another day of yoga, cardio, weight training or core strengthening, plus lectures and eating three meals, three snacks and long walks.
19 Feb, Tuesday, Cynthia had early morning labs. Ron is captivated by a another jigsaw puzzle, this one is all blue. We continue to get healthier!
18 Feb: The Smooch Duo is starting the fourth and last week at Pritikin Longevity Center in Miami, FL - we are thinking of ways we can return here, sooner than soon, But, too soon we leave for Philadelphia. A couple of celebrities are here... Don Francisco, TV fame, has been here the past three weeks. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Francisco_(television_host) Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta, arrived Sunday. We will travel north, slowly visiting friends en route.
17 Feb: Sunday Offering From Cynthia's FB Post:
Practicing The Presence Of God Today
How are you transforming your life? A pastor gave me a book that changed my life. It was called The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence.
This small book is about a monk who decided that the presence of God shouldn’t be reserved for church services or prayer times. It was about all of life.
Whether he was washing dishes, going for a walk, or performing other duties, he was focused on communicating with God.
Transforming your life ...
The key, he said, was to turn daily activities into prayer. I know what you’re thinking: “Well, that’s great for a monk! But my life is too complicated, too busy, too intense.”
4 Helps For Practicing the Presence of God
Practicing the presence of God is about turning all of your life experience into a prayer. Nothing you face in life is exempt from surrender to Jesus.
Every victory, every trial, every annoyance, every disagreement. Turn it around. Bring it into the presence of God.
Here’s how:
1. Begin Your Day With Intentionality – It’s been proven that your morning routine sets the tone for the rest of the day. Rather than being stressed and rushing around, begin your day with God. Start with a prayer, “God, this day is from you and for you. Use me to bring glory to Your name.”
It’s amazing how this perspective can set the tone for a God-centered day.
2. Turn Complaints Into Cries Of Praise – When you find yourself complaining, train yourself to praise instead. Rather than focusing on what’s wrong with your situation, find something you can be grateful for. Truth is, a thousand eternities wouldn’t be sufficient to express our gratefulness to God. His worth far surpasses our ability to praise Him.
Time is short. Stop complaining.
3. Turn Suffering Into Surrender – There’s nothing that rocks the boat more than a prolonged season of intense suffering. When I walked through my 15 months of physical illness, I wasted a lot of time being angry that could have been spent communicating with God. Eventually, I pressed into a deeper place of worship.
Suffering will always be a part of your life on earth. Draw closer to Jesus.
4. Turn the Mundane Into A Holy Moment – There are mindless moments to your day. Boring tasks at work. Routines you could perform with your eyes closed. Rather than just “getting it done,” invite God into your experience.
Practicing the presence of God can become a habit for you. It just takes some intentionality.
16 Feb, Saturday is usually a slower day at Pritikin. Today was no exception. We slowed down the pace of our exercise, but not eating... We leave here in a week, then we are faced with daily foraging to stay Pritikin perfect. No fat, added sodium, or sugar is allowed. As long as we can find veggies, fruit, beans, legumes, and oatmeal, we are happy. Mid afternoon, we walked to the Runners Store to buy new Hoka's for Cynthia; the new Gaviote are doing the job. By evening we totaled walking 7 miles.
15 Feb, Medical Records phoned Thursday to report the loss of Cynthia’s blood drawn on Tuesday, saying they needed extra blood for the Vit D test . But the lab tech confessed Quest Labs lost the blood. We can only believe that a thirsty vampire sneaked into the lab and guzzled it down. Poor girlie had to fast once again, arise at the ungodly hour of six AM to do another draw. Thankfully, the results were back in time for the rescheduled appointment with Dr. Fruge who gave her a gold star for such outstanding blood. Cynthia lost two pounds. Ron's weight is the same as when we arrived three weeks ago. His heart is staying in sinus rhythm.
14 Feb, Happy Valentines Day to our families and friends. Someone sneaked into our room to hide a valentine in plain view. Thank God, thank God, for our life together!
Read Cynthia’s blog on Love: https://www.treesfrompeopleseeds.com/2019/02/52-ancestor-challenge-2019-week-7-love.html Dinner tonight was romantic with wine and Roses. We walked through the golf course jogging trail after dinner. Zzzzzzzzzzz!
13 Feb, Cute baby Hudson with his momma:
12 Feb, Hey, Peter, Ron won the chess game! Cynthia has labs.
11 Feb: We can’t keeo up with our hectic schedules and the blog until after 25 February.
10 Feb, Sunday: Pritikin Longevity Center in Miami. Goodbye to Peter, who flies back to England tonight. We expect to hear from him with an inquiry about the winner of a chess game Monday evening. Well, Ron went back to play chess after our evening walk but the other chess player had gone to bed.
9 Feb, Saturday, means saying goodbye to many new friends who are leaving Pritikin. We meet the loveliest people here.
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| Dean and Ron Always Smiling |
8 Feb, Happy Birthday Daughter Roxanne, pictured with son Jon. We had such joy hosting Ron’s brother Dean and family to dinner at Pritikin; they were in Miami for a cruise and sight seeing.
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| Son Jon and Daughter Roxanne |
7 Feb, Another day filled with medical appointments, exercise, yoga, eating eating eating and lots of socialization. Another lecture by Dr. Fruge on preventing heart attacks was excellent. Ron’s cardiologist said he is doing great, weight is good, and the T3 and T4 are normal. Cynthia’s medical report earned a gold star! Yay! WooooHooo! We walked 6.61 miles
6 Feb, Breakfast topic was the SOTU, who liked it and who didn't. We didn't watch it because we don't watch TV, nor do we want politics in our heads. Here are photos of better things to fill our heads -
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| Ron receiving Swedish American Council Award 2015 |
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| Ron in VA after hiking Sept 2007 |
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| Our wedding photo displayed in the Swedish Museum in front of Ron's books |
5 Feb, Ron had a blood draw to test his T3 and T4 at 7"15. Cynthia's blood draw was at 7:30 AM. Ron was wired to the heart monitor first hour followed by yoga and then weight training. Cynthia did yoga first followed by cardio for two sessions. Dr. Arvon offered three lectures on emotional care, relationships and stress management. She uses us as examples of a loving relationship. We walked after the evening lecture achieving 5.5 miles for the day. There are lots of Texans here along with a Spanish channel TV star named Don Francisco, a cookbook author from NY, called the BreadLady who looks like Roseanne Barr.
4 Feb, Blogging is challenging with a Pritikin schedule. Life is good at Pritikin. The food is awesome, our weight is maintained; the lectures are always inspiring. Mondays are quiet days because so many new guests arrive and we don't have exercise classes as usual.
3 Feb, Sunday:
Proverbs 17:22 New King James Version (NKJV)
2 Feb, Cynthia’s daughter Julie arrived in snowy Denver to meet Hudson, Brett’s baby. We are in chilly but soon hot Miami at Pritikin; we don’t miss a lecture despite having heard them before. We walked to CVS to buy valentines and MSM. Venezuelan protestors could be heard calling for Maduro’s resignation.
1 Feb: Our schedules give us nary a moment to blog. Our days are filled with 3 or 4 lectures a day, yoga, cardio, core and weights plus eating three incredible meals. Ron learned the hard way not to eat until he is full at breakfast since yoga comes next. Yoga on a full stomach is not a pretty sight. There are several motorcyclists here, providing lively conversation. Ron is the story teller. They all agree Ron is unique. So does Cynthia. Feb is for healthy hearts and for happy lovers. And here we are, happy and so much in love.
