Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile

I see September as January's better half. Both months hold the promise of new beginnings, goal-setting, sharp pencils and resolutions, but September wraps herself in vibrant beauty and perfumes the air with the evocative aromas of baking apple crisp, wood-burning fires, and the pungent smell from a crunchy carpet of leaves. As much as summer soothes us with its long, lazy days and the smell of coconut suntan lotion, fall puts the energy back into our step and makes us feel like we are waking up from a particularly lovely nap.

 This week I'm happy to report a good check-up with my GP, an event that will now be semi-annual rather than annual (not like in the past, when I went on the rare occasion that I ran out of plausible self-diagnoses). Summer, my time of recovery, will now give way to the work of fall, that being dealing with the more annoying side effects of Tammy Ox. My earlier, flippant reviews of this seemingly innocent and life-saving drug have been grumpily revised. We're still friends, of course we are, but I'm getting a little fed up (ha!) with her role as devil's advocate in the food department. In short, one of the side effects has been a hunger that would shame a sumo wrestler. I'm not eating several chickens at one sitting, but there are days when I believe I could. Starting with that crispy skin.  A little research has unveiled the disturbing fact that about one-third of women quit Tamoxifen due to side effects of weight gain, and even worse, over a third who do stay on it are prescribed antidepressants to mitigate it's meaner mental tricks.  I don't want to be one of those women.

 So, in pretty short order, I will revisit the South Beach Diet, a plan I have had good success with in the past, and one that I believe is solidly doable. Hopefully Tammy can be outwitted and put back into her place. But first!  Summer's Swan song:  A fabulous week spent in an oceanside house in Sidney with three of my favorite gals - a week of long beach walks, uninterrupted reading, exploring, great conversation, creative cooking and vats of wine by the fire or in the hot tub. I'll be blogging from there next weekend.  It's my last blow-out before I crash back into reality and deal with the challenge of detox. Coming down from chocolate is not for sissies, but I intend to wrap up this summer in style.  Woot woot!

Through the curtain of color, Filberg Lodge

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