Beethoven counted out 60 coffee beans each day to make his cup of coffee. Rituals for our drug of choice transcend centuries and artistic abilities but they do bind us together. Today we discuss rituals and habits on view at the recent Boston Marathon and on view daily with anyone dealing with weight issues. It is a marathon without a finish line. But, we all are a combination of habits as well as rituals. Some more interesting than others. My combo is coffee. Listen to Balzac, though: "Many people claim coffee inspires them, but, as everybody knows, coffee only makes boring people even more boring." This from a man who reportedly drank 40-50 cups of coffee a day! I only drink 4-5 cups. www.artofthediet.com

Starving Artist? No. But Coffee Lover like Beethoven, Yes. PODSNACKS\Art of the Diet 140

“Voices from my Bunker 2020” is a series of interviews with all ages of people of what 2020 has been like for them.  This is a rebranded podcast that used to be named, "PODSNACKS/Art of the Diet" but the first six months of 2020 has shifted my preoccupations from five years of weight maintenance to minute by minute sanity maintenance.  Attention must be paid to the issues before me. I'm 75, live in Massachusetts, and my doorbell hasn't rung in 3 months and probably won't until there's a vaccine.  My hair has its own zip code and I look like the Unibomber when captured in his Montana cabin. None of which interferes with my ability, thankfully, to ask questions over a Skype connection. I'll be recording interviews until the election on Nov 3, 2020.  If he is reelected, look only for my obit.

Personal Journals

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Meet JoAnn from near St. Paul Minnesota. She and her own immediate family and her siblings have been caregiving for their 100+-year-old Mom through the last seven months of COVID restrictions and challenges, including her Mom being diagnosed with COVID and later recovering. I titled this episode “The Wrap-Around Family” because they seem to be able to wrap themselves around the needs of one another. JoAnn thinks their mother taught them how to do it. www.patcoakley.com

Meet JoAnn. The Wrap Around Family.

Bill Murray says acting suits him he said because he only has to be good at it for 90 seconds at a time. I am also very good at weight management 90 seconds at a time in 2020. But, unfortunately, that time span suits Hollywood and not weight issues. My successful weight loss plan in 2009 was built on flat land and my ability to maintain the weight loss for 10+ years has been due to building it on a slippery slope capable of absorbing challenges from within as well as from without. 2020 is the ultimate slippery slope and I am having to build new supports to be successful. www.artofthediet.com | www.patcoakley.com

Voices from My Bunker 2020: Slippery Slope of Weight Management

In the beginning, Jay thought it was just a flu and that the news might be exaggerating it. He thought It would pass in a short period of time. Now, he thinks it is a natural calamity no one has ever experienced in their life.

Meet Jay: At first, no. Now? I think of it as a natural calamity..

The last ferry has left the island and I’m sitting by myself in The Reality Ballpark. What the hell? How did this happen: risk management is now a buffet of choices that do not manage risk but invite it in? Estrangement from the government I am used to in the last three years, but not estrangement from family and friends. Is this the new normal? www.patcoakley.com www.thephotogardener.com

Last Ferry and A Seat in the Reality Ballpark

My interview with Joan, a 74-year-old widow in Rochester, NY who, unlike myself, is not a sloth or someone who enjoys sitting for hours at a time reading, clicking, snoozing and I feel 100% sure never uses her bed as her living room, dining room, and office.  But, she got through quarantine in her own determined way and taught me a few things. One of them?  When in doubt, drive around.   www.patcoakley.com | www.thephotogardener.com

Starving Artist? No. But Coffee Lover like Beethoven, Yes. PODSNACKS\Art of the Diet 140

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