MUM, Dedicating my Four Kilometre Fun Run to You.

8/13/2017

And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see -- or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read."
-Alice Walker.

Reg and me—in the kitchen, today, experimenting with my Mum's Scottish heritage, mint patty recipe from the 1920s, to bring it in line with today's homemade muesli bar breakfast food.
It's in the oven. Taste test ahead...

Spicy, Apple, Mint Oat Breakfast Slice

Ingredients

2 large butters slice pans
1 ½ cups wholegrain self raising flour. (store wholegrain flour in fridge. )
1 ½ cups Rolled Oats
½ - ¾ cup dark brown sugar
½ - ¾ cup sultanas, dates, dried apricots, or mixture
½ - ¾ cup of slivered or roughly chopped nuts or whole seeds

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground mixed spice
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 level teaspoon of Bi Carb Soda
½ - ¾ cup butter.
2 Granny Smith (large green) apples, grated with peel on.
¼ - ½ cup of chopped mint (according to taste.)

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Combine dry ingredients, rub in softened butter. Add the moist ingredients and mix.
Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes —the time will vary according e the moisture in the apples and the thickness of your slice, so cook until golden.
Set aside to cool slightly before cutting into slices and lifting to a cooling rack.

This will keep in fridge for three days or freeze for up to six months.

And the taste test:

Verdict—Yummy! This is what's left after my brunch. :-) I left some for Reg.

For me, wonderful nostalgic memories of my mum's mint patties. I'll cook this again.

Tip: If you are not used to spicy mint flavour, halve the quantity of mint.

Remember to chew well.
Carbohydrates need to be partially digested by saliva and mastication in your mouth prior to swallowing. Most so called lactose intolerance, isn't an intolerance but a sight that you guts your food and don't chew it enough. Learning to eat (and sleep position) correctly overawes most digestion problems. After that yummy snack the remainder stored for future brunches, Reg is off for a nap.

A blast from the past. I wrote this when I was sixty-four.

I'm thinking of my mum today. Warning, do not read on if you’re not prepared for sentiment, because I am crying, but they are happy tears of emotion, it’s not sadness I feel.

I know the Mother’s Day Classic is to raise funds for breast cancer research. It is usual to dedicate your run to someone you know who has had breast cancer, but I am dedicating my private run, on Mother’s Day, to my mum who died at age sixty-two, in 1972, following a ten-year battle, with heart disease and emphysema.

So while running around the oval during two separate 500 meter runs yesterday I was thinking, ‘I hope you can see this mum and be happy.’

I was also thinking, ‘I wish mum had good guidance and been able to start a health recovery program before it was too late for her, she died far too young’.

When I was at my rock bottom, three and a bit years ago I did the only thing I had the control to do. I made the best decision of my life, not to diet at all. I have always eaten healthy, occasionally, I indulged in non-nutritious food, and often I ate more food than my body was burning for fuel. Arguments about poor metabolism and 'Oh I can’t help it it's in my genes' or my 'Syndrome X or whatever' are just excuses. I was frankly overeating too often and not exercising enough.

I changed my lifestyle to being consistent in self-care.

I did not begin with running. A hundred meter walk had me puffing, and in pain, I just made a start. That's all we have to do, 'take on today,' at the best we can do. We can 'do today.'

Today, three years and three months later, I just ran 4 kilometers in 32 minutes maintaining a consistent 8 kilometers an hour, and I dedicate my run and my new found, fitness to you, mum, with all my love. I see you now, much as you looked when you left me, only it’s the healthy happier version. Every time I look in a mirror now, I see you smiling back at me. Yes, we had a troubled relationship, there were times I hated you, and in all honesty, I was a monster of a defiant child.

I have learned that mums are not perfect and we all do the best we can with the skills and the circumstances we find ourselves in, even I made mistakes as a mum but I know I did the best I could and this helps me to understand that you also did the best you were capable of. You always told me that your idea of heaven or hell was that you thought that souls might be aware of what people thought about them after they had left their human body form and other than that, you had no idea what there was beyond human life on earth. I think that was a very insightful observation and I don’t know that anyone has a better explanation of heaven and hell than that, so mum, I hope you are in heaven today, feeling joy and a happiness seeing how fit and happy your youngest daughter is.

“I talk about you with pride these days, and I now treasure that my childhood was so unusual, you helped me develop skills I have needed in my life, there is a purpose for everything after all. I love you mum, I'm remembering our best times together.”