Fell's Point, Man Boobs, and my Grandmother. Or Musing on a perfect spring afternoon

I stepped on the scales at the beginning of this week and screamed.  My weight is way out of control.  I have also not been feeling well.  Lots of weird but not serious symptoms for someone my age, so I am not too concerned about them.  But I also know that I have to take them seriously.  Healthier foods were my first thought.  Then as I was drinking my third Diet Dr.Pepper of the day I started to think about all of the health warning about artificial sweeteners.  So I started out the week with some positive plans.  I was going to eat healthier foods and cut out the diet soda's.  So far the diet soda's are not bothering me too much.  Yes, the absence of caffeine has been noticed but I can handle it.  And eating more fish and chicken is not a bad thing.  Fish and chicken are good.  So it's been all positive so far.  I have woken up each morning feeling a little better.  No headaches, and a little more energy are good things.  I have also been limiting my alcohol intake. Once again this is a good thing.  I know this.  I have allowed myself a glass of wine in the evening.  I do have a love affair with wine.  Anyone who knows me already knows this.  After a few days I decided today to get out of the house and enjoy this wonderful spring weather.  My grandmother would have called this glorious weather.  She loved that word.  She used it often.  When she would be sitting in her little apartment with no air conditioning, we did not have air conditioning when I was young, she would open her window in the afternoon and let the air blow through.  She would call it a glorious breeze.  Feel that glorious breeze.  I can hear her saying that right now.   So I took one glorious afternoon away from the house and headed out for some adventures.

It's been a very long cold winter this year.  Spring is finally here.  It was 92 degrees today, which is more like summer in reality.  We had snow just three weeks ago.  But today was "glorious".  I left the house with my two constant companions, my cell phone and my camera.  I had no plans.  I was just going where the moment led me.   I ended up in Fell's Point, a wonderful area of restaurants and bars in Baltimore.  The tourists go to the Inner Harbor, but people from Baltimore head to Fell's Point.  Keeping with my plan of being healthier I decided to not over indulge in a fatty lunch of bacon cheeseburgers and fries with a beer on the side.  I ended up at one of my favorite places, Woody's Rum Bar.  I have been here many times, but have never tried the rum.  I always save that for another day.  Today I sat on the third story balcony overlooking the harbor, ordered fish taco's from menu and a glass of Pinot Grigio, and took in the sights all around me.  Woody's is a great spot for people watching.  The people on the street below have no idea you are watching them so why not take advantage of the it.

I saw this young girl today just below me on Thames Street.  She was with her boyfriend, fiancee, whatever. He was busy taking many photos of her and she was loving the attention.  For each photo she would stop, swing her hair over one shoulder, then tip her head sideways in the direction of her hair swing and pose for the photo.  It was the same smile, the same hair swing, and same head pose for each photo.  He walked around her and got her from every angle with different backgrounds, but in the end it was the same smile, same pose, same hair swing.  As I watched them a man closer to my age started to cross the street.  He was older, had his shirt opened due the heat, and was exposing his man boobs,or moobs as I like to call them,  as he walked.   He walked directly behind a car pulling out of a parking place.  He kept walking refusing to move out of the cars way.  It was obvious the driver could not see him.  As the car came within inches of hitting him he pounded on the trunk of the car and started to scream at the driver.  The driver pulled out of the space and the man hit the passenger window with his fist and offered some words I will not repeat here.   I looked back at the girl and the young man who were still taking photos of her same pose.  I am sure in the back ground of one of their photos is the man with moobs screaming at a car

So what did I learn from all of this?  First of all I am glad I am not young and vacuous thinking I am original and making the perfect pose for a photo, over and over and over.  I am also glad that I am not old with moobs.  I am glad I have the memory of my grandmother having a glorious day sitting in her apartment enjoying the breeze.  She sat behind her window many days watching the people come and go. And she talked about it everyday.  It's kind of like me writing a blog I guess.  She would have shaken her head at the girl posing for photos, and she would have laughed at the man with moobs yelling at the car.  She would have passed on the glass of wine, but I know she would have loved being with me on the balcony today watching the people below.