Shrove Tuesday Equals Pancakes

If it weren't for my cynicism towards organised religions in general, I would be a great Roman Catholic as I'm a sucker for traditions and ceremonies. I love traditions, I thrive on traditions and the Roman Catholic Church is awash with them. Although my BC family is Roman Catholic in name only (the Alberta and Ireland relatives still attend church with the regularity of Metamucil), there were some traditions we kept. Shrove Tuesday and its pancakes are a perfect example of one such tradition; we didn't have pancakes every Shrove Tuesday but often enough that I am determined to keep the tradition alive.

The French call it Mardi Gras or 'Fat Tuesday', the idea that this is the last day before Lent and you have to get rid of pretty much all the food in your house before the Lent fasting begins. (Yes, once upon a time Lent was a fast; now it's just a 'follow certain dietary rules for forty days but you can cheat on Sundays'.) Somehow this evolved into eating pancakes on the Tuesday (which is why some places refer to it as 'Pancake Tuesday') and who am I to argue with tradition? So today, I went whole hog and had banana and chocolate chip pancakes. Was it really in my eating plan? No. Did I enjoy it? Hells ya! Then I started thinking about how Shrove Tuesday leads into Lent but I never do anything for that; maybe this should be the year I give something up. I know Lent starts tomorrow, but I'm still debating exactly what I'm willing to give up. Maybe I'll wake up and know the answer... or maybe Lent will just have to start a little late.

I made a good discovery this past weekend: I have reached that point where I have to work out. THR, my lovely running buddy without whom I don't think I would have reached this point, has had to pull out of running due to some health issues she's dealing with at the moment. I love her, I hope everything is sorted soon, and I miss her when I'm running, but I completely understand. Still, I was apprehensive because I know me, I can talk me out of pretty much anything. Would I let myself talk me out of my workout schedule? I tried to pre-emptively make things easier by changing my workout schedule so I'm not running a) in the dark and b) on the same nights as my African dance class. Monday night rolled around, normally a running night, and my body noticed when I didn't get up and head out the door. I started to get restless. I would wander into my kitchen for no reason and then wander back into the living room and check my email. My body was craving some excercise! I did eventually head out for a 20 minute walk but I was so happy; I don't need to worry about going solo, my body won't let me talk me out of it!

Anyway, I have tons more to say but  (as usual) this has taken me much longer than I planned (I have a really bad habit of doing this while doing other things... distraction does not a good blogger make!) but I did want to let you know that I'm going to be playing around with the layout and adding a few pages over the next little while so don't think you've gone crazy if you come and everything is all lime green. Actually, if it's lime green, you probably have gone crazy. I hate lime green.