Take a walk with me

I have been really trying to spend more time outside lately. The weather has been so amazing, bright sunshine and perfect temps. Today was a little overcast with some sunny periods, a great day for a walk. I naturally walk quickly so it turned into a decent workout too and I was gone for about and hour and 10-15 min or so. I took a lot of pictures along the way, as there was just so many things in bloom. The wild roses smelled lovely, Marshall was perfectly behaved and it was a real spirit lifting walk. I feel very grateful to live where I do. 

The first picture is hawthorn I believe(Mom, if you're reading can you leave a comment below and tell me if I'm right?) and there was a lot of it and in three different colours...white, dark pink and a nice pale pink.

Wild roses.....about half of the roses were done blooming and in the hip stage already.

Someone's beautiful lilac bush. These people were out working in their garden and gave me a wave and a smile when I took a picture of their lilac. So friendly. :)

The broom is in full bloom right now and it's everywhere. I know...I know....people spend so much time trying to get rid of it but it is so beautiful. It's too bad it's so invasive.

Am I the only one that finds this sign ironic??

I think these are snowballs and ??? Mom, what do you think? You're the gardening guru. ;)

More hawthorn.

I went a little farther than I usually go and ended up on a part of the trail I hadn't been on before...the best part! It was so peaceful here with a gentle breeze and the birds singing their hearts out.

The pictures coming back are dark for some reason...who knows how the iPhone works...it just does what it wants sometimes. 

Lots more broom blooming.

Took this picture of a clamatis blooming over someone's fence. I know this is something you have tried to have bloom for years Mom so this picture's for you. :)

I had a beautiful view of Mt Prevost on my way back.

This is how Marshall enjoyed the walk...totally relaxed, his hands were even behind his head. I tried to get a picture like that but he moved.

This one's close.

I will definitely be walking this way a lot more, I'm going to try for three times a week. Marshall wasn't good in a stroller in his younger(?) days but he has gotten way better which makes things much easier for me.

 Eating has been going well. I got a little off track over the weekend with Chris's mother here, which means she sends us out for a movie and we have popcorn and we go out for Chinese food at some point. I felt very tired and sluggish after the Chinese food, all that grease(and it's good Chinese food) drags you down so I think it will be easy to stay away from it.

I made quesadilla's last night for dinner and they were actually pretty healthy and relatively low fat. The  tortilla wasn't that bad and the cheese was low fat, the rest was grilled chicken and vegetables with spices and a bit of olive oil. To go with the quesadilla's I made a new salad which turned out quite good and is very easy to make:

1 can of black beans(drain and rinsed)

1 can of garbanzo beans(drained and rinsed)

1 cucumber diced

2 tomatoes diced

chopped cilantro to your taste(I like it and put in a lot and I still thought it could use more)

1/4 of an onion diced(I skipped this step...not a fan of raw onions)

For the dressing:

2tbsps of olive oil

2tbsps of balsamic vinegrette

1/2 a lemon squeezed

salt and pepper to taste

You can adjust any of the ingredients to your liking of course. The salad was yummy and with the beans it was also very filling.

Tonight I'm trying out a low fat version of potato salad. I'll keep you posted!