Pandemic Paunch

I HAVE BEEN CALLED BIG BOY

Liam has been called a big boy. He is hoping this characterization refers to his age. He attained 13 years of age on August 1. He noted folks look at his body when saying it and not into his eyes as is appropriate when expressing a greeting. See how Liam he is looking at you in the above photo; he thinks you should be looking into his eyes not at his body.

Background of the Big Boy Comments

We were locked down Monday, March 16, 2020 here in New York..

There was comfort eating

Pounds piled on 

Pandemic paunch became a thing

Articles proliferated.

Did it come to you? To those living at home with you? 

here is a link talking of it

https://www.yalemedicine.org/stories/quarantine-15-weight-gain-pandemic/

We might have it here 

There are three of us in our home

one of us lost weight

I speak of it in 

my last blog story

refresh

or read fresh

 https://liamlicks.blogspot.com/2020_07_12_archive.html

LIAM'S MOM

one of us maintained his weight

there are two boys in the following photo

 Paul eating a raspberry Costco cookie unexpectedly appearing on the porch

gifted  to us by a generous friend 

Liam focused on it

DADDY PAUL AND LIAM

 and we don't know about the third

our first born son Liam 

 

Pandemic Li collaged in a photos series to the right  

 

..

Liam enjoys the food and drink

 we call  Covid Comforts

not his fault 

We provide it 

kinda projecting what we wanted for ourselves onto an always food obsessed Liam

 

 

 

We also have in our minds that Liam is 13...doesn't he deserve a break? 

 we eased up on our restrictions  

His behavior also evolved over the last 7 Covid months

Liam became an older dog 

at times had trouble with his back legs

one day they became totally paralyzed 

we put him on the miracle drug Dasuquin 

 now he is often a puppy leaper again

he gets one daily

Does Liam sense urgency in living each day?

 Covid Comforts Collage on the right  clockwise, sorta

I place his kibble in his bowl, chop a slice or two of American cheese over the top and sprinkle with canned Parmesan. I mix it with my hands. I do enjoy the hand mixing as I smell like cheese at the end of the procedure next 

My Starbucks grande pumpkin cream cold brew 

Lamb lollipops Liam gets to chew the meat off the bone while I  hold ...

back to my Pumpkin Cold Brew Liam gets all the cream... note how the tongue makes it to the bottom of the grande cup

Center...Starbucks butter croissant Paul and Liam share one every Saturday; it is saturated in butter

 

in the following stitched photo series Liam comments in each frame 

The rebuttals and reflections are his own and are expressed in text in each photo

tap or pinch each photo to enlarge to read his witticisms

Why don’t we weigh him and find out?

The Weighing is Paul's job 

procedure

Paul would get on the scale....then get off and pick up Liam and note their together weight and subtract 

Paul has not done the regular weigh in because of health issues

 he had a sigmoidectomy in July 

he does not want to stress his stitches, colon or internal organs

I will not do it

I am still an on and off eating disorder battler and the idea of  seeing my weight 45 pounds higher or more... even knowing it is part canine... would totally gobsmack me into a downward spiral of weight image horror

We know Liam was 42 pounds in February. I record it on the public wall calendar after each weigh in...we are thinking he may be 50

 

Why do they think I gained weight? Liam looks quizzically

I DID NOT GAIN PANDEMIC POUNDS

 

Paul decides that's it

lets do it

the scale comes down

 Liam runs

and hides behind me

the scale terrifies him as much it does me

after much chasing and finally cornering Liam

Paul does the procedure

himself solo  

then

he and Liam

subtracts the first reading from the second

 and the result

is 42.5!

a half a pound! that's not pandemic paunch by the current definition

I guess BIG BOY is an affectionate greeting for a 13 year old

Not a weight related comment

woof woof

We've Got Wine

A story of an elusive wine which became a reality 

MY MOM DRANK THIS WINE IN MILANO

October 2019

At Happy Hour in Hotel Berna in Milano we enjoyed a red wine. 

Link following will bring you a glimpse of Hotel Berna

https://hotelberna.com/en/

HOTEL BERNA HAPPY HOUR

November-January 2019

My travel buddy Jim was trying to get some here when we returned. We did not know its name but our sommelier Max did and sent us the info in the form of a photo of him holding a bottle of our wine.

MAX AND COLLEFIRATA

No luck at first because there was no distributor in the USA. 

February-March 2020

Then came Covid and our friends in Northern Italy were the European epicenter for a number of weeks. They were totally shutdown to the outside world.

see link following for a summary of their plight.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Italy

MILANO STREET

March-May 2020

and then we here in New York became the epicenter of the United states as the virus traveled here from Europe

we were shut down from March 16. 

months passed

and restrictions eased as we battled back and won.

 and then

exchanges happened

between NY and Milano

link for winery info

  http://www.collefirata.it/mobile/index.asp

June 2020

 Jim and Paolo sealed the deal and I was the fortunate recipient of a few bottles

which I sampled in Carol's cab cove

see following collage

FROM A FRIEND

MAX AND ME

Woof, woof

Diary of an Old Girl

I AM QUARANTINED WITH MY PARENTS

We were quarantined 3/16/20.  There were protests, disbelief, confusion, fear.. People compared it to house arrest, frightening historical comparisons arose...one that was mentioned several times during the first days was that of Anne Frank who spent 761 days in a secret annex.
She kept a diary. Anne did not live to be an adult.
The story resonated with me.
I suppose most read her book.
I have it.

I looked at it and
and I put it in my mind, locked it away and vowed to remember it as our lockdown went forward..

My old life was superseded by a new quarantine life.
I did not long for the old life. Why? I knew it would cause anxiety and sadness and loss. I had learned in therapy to compartmentalize grief and negativity and anxiety and move forward with replacements.. These processes were reinforced by years of management training; if you listened a little in these classes you came away with ideas on how to cope with crises, change, and loss.

Almost all activities were canceled.
We were in a pandemic. People all over the world were in it too... and we moved forward. Did what we had to do. Never forgetting those serving and suffering. Liam knew too

we had new lives

1-No Starbucks
the community place
 of New Hyde Park
crossroads for hospitals, business, schools
we meet, greet one another, staff and customers 

2-no Crabtrees
social epicenter for many
 eating drinking
 networking
sharing
our family of 27 years
regulars on Fridays
celebrating and grieving and living
through
celebrations, commemorations,wakes, reunions


3-no Cleo Nail salon
neighborhood people
 who are making a living and contributing by
caring for us
and sending us out to the world
 
4-No Touch Of Class Hair Salon  
it's our family
people and animals loved and rescued
not only a shop
we know and love one another


they make us better people
physically and spiritually
we are are best selves when we leave

5-no Push Fitness health club
fitness
mind and body
 social connections
support
stories

As we moved to April I started to think

How much do I want to take back when they set us free?

all

part

none

and they started to come back

1- Starbucks
 in May
 returned
and I did too
I received a round of applause when I walked in
the dream of every Leo birth sign
the following collage below left-records the first day back
 Liam tongue out waiting at home for his first iced coffee drink of 2020

and then
2- Crabtrees had curbside
we did it and were thrilled to step inside masked and social distancing and
greet our regulars and staff
no hugs
namaste greeting works
left collage below is a sampling of one of our take home meals

and then we were back on the patio
right below a night of joyous reunions

 

and from the start I had Andrew

 

I was gifted with a Cuomo mug from good friends

Liam waited through it all

3-Hair 

came back

the stages of my hair since early March

stitched below into two rows of photos

left the earliest and then the last stage a hat

I had not one grey hair

but I also had not one blonde one

I was once a blonde! 

what the heck happened?

I guess I am my mother Ruth
 who died in 2010 at age 87
with a full head of thick brown hair

I never toyed with the idea of going natural

not once

I returned to my blonde self

the way I was most of my life...perhaps the pandemic caused me to be brown

Liam below left looking and thinking

 "my Mom is back,  no longer brown like me"

4-Nails

I will take back but with a change
elimination of polish
my nails thrived in the 4 months without polish
I will respect their growth and health and set them free of color
for years the staff of Cleo has attempted to build up my nails
which were cracking, peeling, not growing

I now have the best fingernails and toenails
Took a plague to fix them

  my nail salon                                                         my collection which will be dumped

5-But what about Push Fitness?  

 My health cub of 15 years
. I have belonged to some sort of outside exercise venue for 52 years.
This I may not take back.

Not out of a fear of Covid transmission or timed visits and mask restrictions

I like what I have built for the last 4 months

I have developed an exercise routine

watch Channel 18
Project Independence

https://www.mynhtv.com/schedule

which is a mix of all types of activities

I do the classes with two friends we text and start together

we have grown closer and stronger and have developed deep affection for our instructors

how could we not?

 every one of the instructors say we are awesome and that they love us

and are proud of us and that we are beautful

we have dance class, yoga, chair exercise, Tai Chi

we use weights, bands, balls, mats , blocks as illustrated in the following collage

and
I have a home gym

I started it years ago after blizzard closed my gym for several days
a treadmill, a Schwinn rider, weights, a giant ball and row machine.  I was preparing for the eventuality I might be housebound for a while at some point. I never expected
 a pandemic.
a lockdown
a quarantine
and the
the closure of my health club

My home gym is in the 1950's mode...knotty pine walls, a bar...a defunct stereo radio speaker in the wall...nostalgia
 I have my art and my aunt's hung on the walls. a sampling of my tile collection of 65 years
adjacent is the laundry room where I can do laundry at the same time.

                                
                                 gym in basement

top right
Liam watches from the couch or sometimes joins in the den for the TV classes
never been in the basement
he has never ventured down the steps
fear

Life will not be as it was.

and I don't want it back

there are new ways

 new discoveries

Let's go

 

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: 

it goes on.”

― Robert Frost

woof, woof

Pandemic Project Number 1, Done, before Phase 1

MY MOM HAS PANDEMIC PROJECT 

I finished one pandemic project 

Went through1300 slides

Culled out my deemed worthy 250

Shared with the family as I went 

as the weeks went on, the numbers of viewers grew

I have a family FB PM chat group and occasionally shared with friends and family via text

I shared by taking iPhone photos of 1x1 inch slides thru a 2x2 inch viewer 

It worked for a temp solution and having people on the current journey

The following collage has photos of the project room
the slides share the table with our GoT 4D puzzle
in the center you will see the legacy box sizes

Digital companies are vying for my business 

Waiting for the best offer

I have my slides in the carts of 3different companies 

I was told to wait for 60% off

They are now up to 40% from 20% and 15%

I will share via a link when digitization done

My parents documented all events and no one else has what I have

The slides are  

My legacy

as well as the Ancestry tree I created

With thousands of entries 

my gift to all

I told the family since I did not reproduce 

Ancestry

 and the slide digitization

 are my contribution 

to future generations

as are our Ancestry relatives 

Plus now through Ancestry

 we have the second McNiff family

 joining in...my grandpa James McNiff had two families

one in NY and one in RI

Many more McNiffs

And we all

Look alike 

Many dimples 

short

blondes

we have connected

 I was praised by a dear friend for my work

Our text exchange 

Great work Carol.

Few can match your dedication once you commit

me-Being an addictive personality is an asset in some activities 

The slides begin in 1949 with my parents, Ruth and Charlie on their Catalina honeymoon

They eloped on 1/20/49

The slides end in 1974

unknown to them Ruth's younger brother eloped the same weekend 

I am familiar with some 

 of the photos and was looking to see them again

The ones I selected here are from the fifties and sixties

Below is a collage of some I have been delighted in rediscovering 

Clockwise...starting with the large photo...

1

Carol, parakeet, Buddy Boy, on my glasses, sister Lois 1955

Now the minis, top right down

2

Carol, with my real life doll, Lois and Howdy Doody...1955

3

-Grandpa Mickey Coughlin Carol 1954

4

Cousins on the couch to the right, father Charlie in the middle

5

Lois, Carol Sharon, cousins 1961

6

Highlands NJ

Lois Carol Ruth 

7

cousins Wedding 1966

8

Easter1965...I dyed my hair black 

The slides show a life with a lot of Summer on the Jersey shore

a family tradition from my mother's childhood. 

 The Highlands

  Asbury Park,  

 Point Pleasant

Atlantic City

 I know I passed Bruce Springsteen at Asbury Park on my 9th birthday

We did not have a car so getting to these places was not easy. 

We spent a lot of time at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, 

and the start of any trip involved a bus and subway from our apt. in Flushing. 

Our 1965 trip to Block Island RI took almost a day.  Train, bus, ferry....hours, Amtrak, swimming

LIAM DEVELOPED A GREY BEARD THINKING OF THE TRAVEL TIME

The slide journey showed trips to Europe and all over the US. As I said above, we did not own a car but my father Charlie worked for TWA so we flew for free.

I am enjoying the slide trips and I am looking for a photo
I had it in my mind for 58 years
what was it?
  In 1962 I attended the opening of the TWA "bird" terminal with my father.
here is the link if you don't know of it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_Center

the TWA family affectionately called it the bird

our SSA group has planned an outing to the TWA center which opened as a Hotel and a kinda museum

see link
https://www.twahotel.com/

The photo.
It was there.
A photo I had not seen since 1962.
 My mother had told me it was time for a print dress for this special occasion.
I did not know 'til years later that she gave up her spot for me.
I LOVED that dress
here I am at 12.
I even had bows in my hair.
Orange anklets.
white flats
See the old TWA plane behind me!

AT TWA FLIGHT CENTER OPENING 1962

I now have many print dresses. My faves have been purchased at 

The Farmer's Market in Fort Pierce Fl

I think all of them are a homage to my first print dress

Here I am with one of my evocative TWA type dresses.

left 12 year old me, right current time 2020

Ah, this one photo was worth the entire pandemic project of 1300 slides

We had difficulty getting my father off the couch in the early sixties and so Mom Ruth traveled. 

Italy1961

 Ruth was brave and fearless. She went to Italy by herself.

Holland and London 1965

  She took my sister and I to London and Holland. An 11 and 14 year old. I remember hearing Ticket to Ride at Heaththrow airport.  Beatles invasion.

Ireland 1967

In Ireland our tour guide in Killarney commented how fortunate we were to be "well

 to do" Americans... able to travel.  I disabused the guide of this notion. I told him we lived in a city housing project, did not own a car and both my parents had to work to support us.
Ouch.
Got him.
Ruthless

Portugal 1971

Our trip to Portugal was memorable because my father left his wallet home. In those days there were no credit cards, at least not for us and we barely survived the week on our pooled $100 among the 4 of us. 

We rebelliously bought sombreros at the airport with our remaining escudos (Portuguese currency in the '60s) and wore them on the plane home.
We did not allow my father to buy one
he was known as El Cheapo
thereafter

MOM, ARE WE DONE YET?

and then it was time to pick a company

I chose Legacy because a friend had sent her slides off to them recently

also 

Legacy is what I am doing

got it for 40%

of course I now have an offer for 50% 

following explicit procedures

I packed 10 groups of 25 slides into zip locks, labeled them as instructed and sent them off

mine was the medium size box

I have received a notice they arrived in Texas

check out the collage for procedure and info

The slide journey was a reliving of my entire early life

I marvel at the team dedication of my two Capricorn parents (Dec 25th and January 1) Both participated in those early decades

my mother's cursive and my father's printing adorning each slide and box

showing love of family, respect for history and promotion of travel as a life enhancement

and celebrating

the exploration of places and the recordation of history exponentially expands one's life view understanding of others

I loved them more and understood them more

and I know Ruth gave me the guts to travel solo

MOM, IT IS DONE,  RIGHT?

 Woof, Woof

Bottomless Pit

5 Sec Introduction The sun sets and dinner is put on the table. The whole family gathers around, sharing stories of their day and enjoying a happy and hearty meal. Soon enough, your family dog sneaks up next to your side, drooling, and begging you for a bite of your meal, even though they just ate their own meal. It is as if your dog has not eaten in days. You give him a few nibbles, and still, it isn't enough, even after he already ate dinner. It feels as if your food is better than his. When we understand how our dog’s body works, we can understand how their body act and what food they need.

Read more at: https://wagwalking.com/behavior/why-dogs-like-human-food

Liam is not a pit.
He is 4 dogs in one, Dachshund, Beagle, Dalmatian, Irish Setter.  The first two may be the breeds that contribute to him being bottomless.
Have you heard of the idiomatic expression bottomless pit?

See link
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bottomless+pit 

 a bottomless pit

1. A person who is always hungry. Her teenage son was like a bottomless pit as he devoured every last bit of food in the house.

2. A situation that requires a seemingly endless amount of money or resources. With all the money and time we've sunk into repairs for the roof, windows, and foundation, this house has become a bottomless pit.

3. The cause or source of something, typically something difficult or problematic. Everything is going wrong lately, like challenges are coming from a bottomless pit or something

The first bolded meaning would be our dog Liam 

looking kind of like this when in full on bottomless pit mode

We heard the two words bottomless pit said often in our home. Who was the bottomless pit?  Not sure. Maybe it was a reference to our love of food... whose? I asked my sister.  She said our mother had many expressions...okay...let it lay.

Back to first born Liam  He likes his food and ours.. He is not a problem eater. We do not willingly share our food. He wants it. Watches its preparation and then approaches to get it.

here is the Saturday night special Taco casserole scenario. 

left

                                                     Watching. waiting, and looking

top right the meal, already dug into by the parents

                                                              Liam ready to partake...lower right

another example. We found a recipe in a recent NYTimes pullout devoted to one pan meals...see collage below.   The sausage dog was excited. After all sausage is him. Lower right is cooked, left is prep.

there are other ways to approach and Liam has tried them all

                                                            

if he does not get anything,,,,he barks and barks and barks
he can go for quite a long time

and then we race after him

I move my dish to the peninsula

I go in the den and lock the door 
we then crack and fill his bowl with dog food

Then he gets more of his own food

again

and again

why does he want so much?
the following article offers a description and ideas

 
 https://www.petful.com/pet-health/why-does-my-dog-always-want-food/



excerpt
 "Have you ever had a canine companion that seems to be constantly sniffing around the kitchen? Lurking around the table when you’re eating? Shadowing you about until you start to hear the theme music from Jaws run through your head?
I bet that a lot of us dog caretakers have felt that way — some dogs just never seem satisfied with the feeding that they’re getting and want more and more and…well, you get the idea.
If you find that you’re feeding your dog regularly and yet he is still gazing at you with soulful (and hungry) eyes, it may be time to consider what is causing this behavior.

The Hoover

"It may be that your dog is just a darn ol’ glutton. Some dogs are and will hoover up anything if they are given the chance. Things like dropped food, cat food, other dogs’ food and, yes, the dreaded cat litter (ew!) are all considered edible.
A full tummy is not a strong deterrent—especially when it comes to people food. Your dog knows that what you’re eating is much yummier than the kibble you’re dumping in his bowl, and he won’t miss a chance to get some of the good stuff!"
 

and the 50% of Liam's genes that are hound...contribute 

And he is part of the family...the pack

we thwart him and he defaults to hammering his food can and then waiting in the food position right

does it impact our lives to the point of doing something

It did this week when Liam reached his all time high of 42 pounds
There will be a change
no extra bowls of food
no cheese sprinkled on his dog food
licking of siggi yogurt cup will be allowed

FOOD BETTER BE COMING

FOOD IS COMING

woof, woof

Read more at: https://wagwalking.com/behavior/why-dogs-like-human-food