...and big girls don't cry

Thomas and I headed out yesterday for our favorite all-day road trip to get some of what we have affectionately termed "groceries." As in, liquid groceries...come in bottles...not for kids...that we would have to have a license to buy here in the city, but the kind that one can purchase from Barracuda Resort in Umm al Quwain tax free. Home again, home again, my wine cabinet breathed a sigh of relief to be nicely stocked again after Ramadan. It was looking a little bare and sad for a while there.

We love this drive because it takes us up the coast inland through the desert. The dunes are pale orange and windswept and there are almost always camels for us. And you know how we love camels.



I wonder if Arabs ever come to the USA and gleefully photograph cows out their car windows?

Somehow I doubt it.

We have to watch for the herds of goats along the freeway, men with their headscarves and loose clothing flapping in the wind, and there are donkeys and madly speeding cars and old trucks puttering along well below the speed limit. Sand over the road, heat shimmering. There were also some accommodating camels right next to the road so we got nice shots of our favorite subject.

Ironically, at one point Thomas looked past the camels and started screaming it ecstacy "Cloud! I see a cloud Mommy!"

He's right...clouds have been rarer than camels through the summer. But the skies are cool enough now to be washed-out blue and sure enough, there was one brave little cloud.

The camel pictures were great. However, this one was a bit of an eye opener:

When you can hide two dromedaries behind your personal square area, it's time to go on a diet. Which is a bit distressing because for most of Ramadan I "gave up" all sugar and sweets, red meat, and cheese. These are a few more of my favorite things. You would have thought I'd have dropped a bit of tonnage. Nope.

I'd intended to do this through Ramadan, until Eid. However, with the knee injury I decided I was suffering enough. I mean, an overworked nice guy and two small children have to live with me. So out the window with the self-denial.

I had only slipped up once during my self-imposed experiment in sacrifice when I justified eating some really beautiful baklava to myself. Made with honey you know, but definitely a sweet. Otherwise I was pretty proud. No sugar in my coffee. No chocolate, meat loaf, tacos, steak, grilled cheese sandwiches, and so forth. Not any lighter, but with more willpower.

Obviously I will have to bear down and act like a grownup and put that willpower to good use when I am eating. Dang. So now, not only am I working on getting over the injury, stretching and trying to keep in shape on an exercise bike I was grateful to borrow, but also starting to smack down on the weight so as to not put any more strain on the knee than necessary.

Because I'm not giving up running, and besides I hate it when large animals see me as something to hide behind.

So I guess it's back to eating more of these for me:

The apples, not the truck.