#226 Nomad Diary. 15-21 February 2025. Week 4 of 6 1/2 in Athens, Alabama Airbnb. Enjoying Grandkids and Time with Friends.

Grandson Quinn (4yr. + 5mos) in Swimming Lessons in Brazil

My Best Friend Laura and One of Her Sweet Cats on Our Phone Call.

Steve and Mary Wallace Met Up With Us in Athens, Alabama for Lunch!

Beautiful View from Our Living Room Airbnb

Another Beautiful and Snowy View from Our Living Room in Athens, Alabama

Saturday. 15. Darrell went to a men’s breakfast given by someone at Capshaw church where we attend while we live here. At 11am I drove over to Eric’s about ½ mile away, to babysit while he and Erin went out for lunch. Darrell walks over soon after. In the late afternoon we have an hour of singing Psalms with Eric and Erin hosting. Once a month they sing through all the Psalms over time. These particular arrangements were put together by a friend of Eric’s who passed away last year from a disease. He left a wife and 2 children. Eric put his friends ‘sung to the tune of’ Psalms' with the actual music. When we are here we enjoy singing with them for the hour. I made some chicken soup with Thai spices for dinner. It was really good and we will have that again soon. 

Sunday. 16. Morning exercises before breakfast. Leftover pancakes, Darrell’s oat and barley recipe with nonfat greek yogurt fits into our diet with a higher protein objective. Worship at Capshaw church of Christ. The sermon made me think and connect ideas and scriptures together. I really enjoy being challenged to grow spiritually and focus on God and his word. We visited around after worship. The group is working to build on Sanderson. There was an update on that information presented. Darrell and I went to our home (airbnb) for a quiet lunch. We decided on Black Beans with toppings. I added some baked sweet potato, avocado, cheese, onions, cilantro, and Greek yogurt. Darrell likes his with hot peppers, low fat sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, and onions. Plan to go to 5pm singing at Hughes Road church of Christ where Eric’s family attends. 

Monday. 17. Today we met up for lunch with friends from our long ago past. We met Steve and Mary Wallace in West Germany somewhere between 1983-1985. Steve had become a christian in his 20’s and within a few years he was ready to preach in West Germany. He went over to serve with an American forces group. While there he met Mary. Mary was a civilian librarian for the airforce and a member of the church that Steve preached for. A year or more into their friendship, they realized that they wanted to marry. They married about the same time we had our first child, Eric. Eric is now almost 40 years old! We have kept in touch with Steve and Mary through the years, but lose track of where they are sometimes. We saw them near Chicago a few years ago where we were traveling and went to worship. Now they have fully retired and moved south. They live about an hour north in Tennessee. We enjoyed our visit and hope to see them again. 

Tuesday. 18. We have our afternoon electronic Bible class with friends in England and the US. We are in a study of the book of John.

Wednesday. 19. Weather got severely cold here. We had snow in the early morning. Schools and many businesses closed for the day. Darrell’s dental appointment was rescheduled for tomorrow. I changed my Thursday plans to Friday. Eric needs a sitter on Thursday because he had a changed appointment too. Bible class was canceled. We stayed inside our warm house, cooked nice meals and enjoyed our quiet time together. 

Thursday. 20. Today I walked over to Eric’s about 9am. I walked fast because of the cold! Lol. I enjoyed babysitting and playing with Owen and Esther. Darrell came by for a little while before he headed on to his dental appointment. The sun is shining and all the snow that was on the ground is gone. 

Friday. 21. I drove an hour to Fayetteville, Tennessee to have lunch with my friend Laura. She drove about an hour from her home in Manchester. We enjoyed our visit and discovering a new restaurant!

Nomad Notes. 

Diet Details: This week we have been doing some analyzing of the protein diet we’ve been following since last August or September. We have continued to learn more and make changes along the way. We have both lost weight. Darrell was given a good report with his liver enzymes coming into normal. He’s lost 20+ pounds. We are both enjoying our higher protein eating and expect to continue it. This week I learned that ‘seniors’ often need a higher percentage of protein in their diet. The information on the internet is all over the place! There are some basics that are known to be true. One is that a body needs protein (and exercise) to maintain and to grow muscle. “Seniors” need more protein for muscle maintenance and growth. The kinds and sources of protein come in a huge variety. With my reading and research comes more questions and more experimentation for me and likely for Darrell. I’ve decided to increase my percentage of protein to my overall calories. Both Darrell and I use a free tracking app: mynetdiary. It isn’t a paid version so I’m going off track on my app to get the numbers and percentages that I want to get. I’m trying to get my protein up to 25-35% of my caloric intake. This is a challenge, but I’m doing pretty well now. I’m wondering how long I can sustain this, but for now it’s working and I’m getting some nice benefits. One benefit of the higher protein is my eyelid is improving a decades long problem. I’ve lost weight steadily; about 10 pounds in 6 months. (mind you one month on cruise ship my weight stayed the same! lol). Other subtle physical issues are also improved. The diet online called 90-30-50 is closest to what we are doing. 90 grams of protein-30 fiber-50 good fats. Darrell is eating 120-150 grams of protein, making sure he’s getting fiber and keeping saturated fats low. I’m eating 100-110 protein (sometimes more with the ‘senior’ information) watching to get 30-40 fiber and more recently keeping an eye on my saturated fats and calories. While making these diet changes, from September forward, I have let go of a lot of my conflicts over foods. I know that I am able to change my diet as my needs change. For now, I’m benefitting from this and enjoying it in so many ways that I will keep on going with it.