The sun is shining; there is snow on the ground and it is minus six degrees here in Pittsburgh with a high of four degrees predicted. Yesterday was similarly cold; I don't remember seeing the sun. My class was canceled yesterday. I thought about going to work out, but never got there. Today, I'm not even thinking about it. Instead I spent about a half hour doing my leg exercises.

Exercise has become very important to me. I lost about 15 pounds while I was in Asia because I was doing so much walking. I confess I was not on a diet. I ate very well in China and frequently had chocolate or other candies. In Japan, I ate a lot of bread, sweet rolls, and other no-no's. For most of those two months I walked most of every day. I don't do that here. On days like today, I won't walk at all.

I don't want to gain back the weight–altogether too easy for me to do. So I have no nosh in the house. I have food; I'm not going hungry. There is tofu, spinach, another kind of tofu, tomatoes, clementines, but no sweet rolls, scones, cookies, not even popcorn. It's driving me nuts. I've been working on my China book with breaks to continue organizing my work room. Every so often I get up, walk into the kitchen, remember there is nothing I want to eat and go back to work. It's very difficult. Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 19 degrees–I'll go out and walk.