Misheard Lyrics: Mondegreens!

JENN McKINLAY: I'm married to a musician, which is no surprise because I love music. I love listening, singing, and feeling that visceral punch to the chest from a really great song. Here's the thing, I never get the lyrics right and the poor beleaguered Hub has to listen to me sing, "Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, blowing' through the chasm in my mind..." Which, frankly, I think makes more sense then "blowing through the jasmine in my mind" but whatever. He's ever patient with me.

Recently, I learned that misheard song lyrics, which are unintentional and not at all like Weird Al Yankovic's parody of songs, actually have their own terminology. They are called mondegreens. Somehow this makes me feel that singing the wrong words is a less egregious offense, you know, because it has a name so it's legit.

Little known fact: My nickname when I lived next-door to the AZ state liquor commissioner, Howard Adams, was "Ave Maria". Why? Well, he was a good Irish Catholic boy and I was a sinner, but we spent many a happy hour together where I would imbibe too much and then sing Ave Maria in Latin, which he loved. Those words I never got wrong, most likely do to the fear of eternal damnation. Plus, it was Latin!

So, how about you Reds? Do you get the songs right or wrong? And if you do get them wrong, what's your most dazzling mondegreen? Here's another personal fave, because...donuts!

Crystal Gayle's donut problem.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: You know why they’re called mondegreens, right? It’s from something like an Irish folk song, about someone who was was slain by somebody-somebody, and they "laid him on the green."  Someone thought it was "and Lady Mondegreen."

Anyway, don’t get me started on song lyrics.  “in the night with the light from a bulb?” “Excuse me while I kiss this guy?”
And what are those impossible lyrics from Rocket Man?  Burning up his face down here alone?  (it's really "Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone" which make no sense at  all.)

JENN: I had no idea where "mondegreen" came from, Hank. Oh, I love that back story. And "Excuse me while I kiss this guy" is a classic! Jimi Hendrix, FTW. 

Jimi!

RHYS BOWEN: One of the most used Mondegreens is what is called in the US Ring Around the Rosie.  In England where it originated, it is Ring a ring of roses. A pocket full of posies. Atishoo. Atishoo. We all fall down. It is a creepy song about the great plague of 1665. The ring of roses is the rash around the body that signifies you have the plague. You carry flowers and herbs in an attempt to ward it off. Atishoo is the sneeze and we all fall down. You die anyway.
But my favorite mondegreen came when I was singing with the local opera chorus. A flamboyant and fun gay guy who sang with me insisted that the song "She's a must to avoid" was really "She's a muscular boy."

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm always singing something and usually with words made up to fit the person or pet in front of me. For example, Tonka's favorite song was "T-t-t-Tonka, beautiful Tonka, you're the only d-d-d-dog that I adore..." But I'm desperately searching for mondegreens and all I can come up with is: "One toe over the line sweet Jesus, one toe over the line..."

HANK: Lucy! I love that!

HALLIE EPHRON: JASMINE of my mind? I always thought it was canyons of my mind. Go figure. And of course I pledged allegiance to the republic for Richard Stans. My granddaughter mangle the lyrics of every song she sings. And sings. Except supercalifragilisticexpialidocious she nails.

DEBS: Hallie, I though it was "canyons" too! "Jasmine?" You have to wonder what they were smoking...

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, I thought it was "burning up his face up here alone" too. I can't think of any mondegreens that you all haven't already mentioned, but, like Lucy, I'm constantly singing songs with new lyrics to my pets, kids, etc. "Oh, Louie, you're so fine, you're a fun dog all the time hey Louie" (clap clap, clap clap) "Hey Louie," (clap clap, clap clap) To the tune of "Hey Mickey," of course. 

I also do it with pop songs on the radio, which drives Youngest absolutely bonkers. There's one out now where the Camila Cabello sings, "Half of my heart is in Havana, na, na na. He took me back to east Atlanta, na, na, na..." and I will go on, "I like to eat a nice banana, na, na, na. While I am wearing my pajama, na, na, na." I usually can't get further than a couple of bars before I start getting threats from my daughter.

JENN: So, you clearly have a strong song parody game, Julia. Love it!

Another Elton John mondegreen classic!

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  I had no idea that misheard song lyrics were called mondegreens! And I love Hank's explanation. But here's the thing. I have a terrible time remembering song lyrics at all, unless I'm prompted by someone singing them. It's a weird brain gap, like not getting algebra. But if Rick starts singing something, for instance, I can immediately fill in the lyrics (and usually correctly) even when he can't remember them. And I can sing along with songs on the radio just fine. Brains are very quirky.

INGRID THOFT: Okay, the most memorable mondegreen isn’t really family friendly, but I’ll let you fill in the blanks.  Famously, in my family, one of my sisters was sure that the lyric from The Motels’ song “Only the Lonely” was “only the lonely g*t l$#d.”  In fact, the lyric is “only the lonely can play.”  Not necessarily that different in meaning, but a bit different when it comes to singing along in the car!  The lyric that I always think should be a mondegreen but isn’t?  “You’re a vegetable” sung in the bridge of Michael Jackson’s fantastic “Wanna Be Startin Something.”  That one always leaves me scratching my head!

JENN: When Hub was reviewing a John Fogerty show, Fogerty embraced the mondegreen and sang "There's a bathroom on the right" as opposed to "bad moon on the rise" and pointed to the right. Hub said it was pretty hilarious! 

How about you, Readers? What's your most common mondegreen? And for all the earworms I've now planted in your head, you're welcome!

Don't Know Much About...Math.

JENN McKINLAY: True confession time. I hate math. No, that’s not a strong enough word for it. I despise, loathe, and revile math, most especially algebra but, yeah, pretty much all the maths can fall into a hell mouth as far as I’m concerned and never rear their nitpicky, carry the one demon spawn heads again.

I don’t know why I have such an aversion, but I think I just don’t have a numbers brain. I’m cool with the functional math of balancing a check book, but the minute you get into X and Y I’m all, “Dear Algebra, please stop asking me to find your X. She is so over you and, no, I don’t know Y.” 

Give me literature, history, or even science any day of the week over math and I am all in. Hooligan 1, poor guy, takes after me and is doing some quality time in summer school, trying to muscle his math GPA into a higher bracket. It is ugly, and I feel for him. I really do, but I’m also super glad I can’t help him because…math. *shudder*

So, Reds, what was the subject you disliked the most in school? And if any of you say you loved them all, kindly back away from the keyboard and go sit in the principal’s office. Seriously.


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Here's the thing. I love math. I do. I think it is astonishing that it works, and that people can figure things out, like how far away a star is, and how many parking places will fit into a parking lot. It's gorgeous. It's reliable.  
I just don't understand how to do it. 
I mean--you should be in my office on the days my producer and I are trying to write our stories.  One of us will say: "Is it the big number into the little number? Or the little number into the big number?"  I have never been able to do 8-plus anything, with 8 plus five being the worst, seriously. Every time it has me counting on my fingers, or saying: 8 plus four is 12, plus one more.  
HOWEVER. If a sweater that's regularly priced $300.00 (or whatever) is on sale for WHATEVER percent off, I can totally figure that out.
Science, yes. History, yes (after someone showed me it was a story.) English, yes, passionately. Chemistry no--UNTIL the day I figured out how to do those chemical equations. I was in love. But you hardly ever have to use those. 
My FAVORITE math thing (and proof there IS an answer to "tell me how I am ever going to use this!"):  We were at a pizza place, 9 of us. We  had two pizzas to share. We said to the guy--can you cut them into 9 pieces instead of 8? 
Sure, he said.
SO HE CUT ONE OF THE EIGHTHS IN HALF!!
I am still laughing.

JENN: Pizza guy is clearly my people! LOL! And just because I had to go deeper into the art of cutting pizza - here's some pizza slicing for math lovers that will bend your brain (it's Hank's fault):

The Mirror: Perfect Way to Slice Pizza Revealed

HALLIE EPHRON: I love math, zoomed through with A's until I hit trigonometry and then...down the rabbit hole. But I came back to it as an adult and aced calculus. And my PhD is in educational measurement which takes you deep into statistics and multivariate analysis. Loved the part of the program.

JENN: I understood, like, two words out of that sentence, Hallie.

HALLIE: History is my nemesis. I can't remember names or dates or sequences. Dense blocks of text make me glaze over. I'd probably do better today at it, if I could LISTEN to the texts. And you'd think I'd have loved English but I took exactly one English class in college, required English 101 and when the professor said I needed remedial writing I was out of there. 

RHYS BOWEN: I don't think I have a mathematical brain. I am not good at Suduko, whereas a woman I know who I might describe as thick as a plank can race through it! However I was good at math in school. I didn't particularly like it but I got good grades. Geometry was my favorite. I am very visual and I could prove things I could see.  Hallie, I am so in awe that you did calculus as an adult!  
My least favorite subject was physics because we had a teacher who made it so boring. My son had a physics teacher who set them fabulous challenges...a car that could run the length of the 600 hall on the power of a mousetrap. That kind of thing. I can't tell you how many eggs were dropped off my balcony in the name of science!

Strangely enough I produced two children and now at least 4 grandchildren who are math whizzes. Sam is studying engineering at college, Lizzie did 4 years if engineering at high school. The twins both tested in the 99 th percentile nationally in math. And girl twin Mary Clare has just done high school geometry in a 4 week summer school so she can enter high school doing pre calculus! ( shudder). They don't get it from me! But like Hank I can calculate when it counts. I know exactly what my grocery bill will be, and how much my 30 percent off item will cost!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I am horrible at math. The woooorst. I don't know my times tables, and have to count everything up or down from five times (the only one I memorized.) I like to blame the gaping holes in my knowledge on the fact that I spent 2nd grad in three different schools in two different continents, but really, I think I'm just a numbers dud. The greatest day of my life was when I got a phone with a calculator app.

I enjoy reading popular accounts of hard science, although I found studying it (again, with the math) tedious. I am, of course, brilliant at English lit and history. Don't @ me, bro.

LUCY BURDETTE: I would say I’m in the middle of the Reds. I don’t hate math but on the other hand it’s not my best area either. I took calculus in high school, but realized quickly in college that I would have to work a lot harder than I was willing to. It was one of the classes I dropped as a freshman LOL. In graduate school, we had to pass statistics, and we had a very serious professor, who wouldn't have passed anyone on charm alone. We took the first test and I was pretty sure I flunked. Instead, I got the only A in the class. Very very mysterious – somehow my brain took over and did what was needed, though I did not understand it. 

So anyway, can you tell that we leave the math in this group to Hallie?

INGRID THOFT:  Just this morning I had a mini math crisis:  I was on the stair climber at the gym, and it asked me how many customized intervals I wanted to do rather than how many minutes.  What?!  I want to do ten minutes of two intervals, which aren’t of equal length, so you figure it out, fancy machine.  We were at a stand-off, as the step I was on slowly started to descend.  I took a stab at eight intervals, and I was right!  It was a math victory, which should indicate very clearly that I hate math.

I also hate chemistry with a loathing that can’t be overstated.  I took it in high school and required a tutor to get a half decent grade.  And to add insult to injury?  My father was a chemistry major at MIT!  Where did those genes go?  One of the delights of being a grown-up is that I never have to take chemistry again.  Ever.

HALLIE: Intervals? There were no intervals in Statistics, basic or advance or multivariate. (And PS, as you might guess, I love chemistry. SO logical. Very little to memorize.)

JENN: I hated Chemistry with a passion, but I did love my Chemistry teacher, Mr. Capazzi, who actually gave me a pass on charm 'cause it sure wasn't my grades that got me through. LOL.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have an algebra gap--this space where word problems and equations fall right through my brain. I'm fine with functional math, no problem balancing checkbooks (does anyone actually do that anymore?), I can figure a tip, or what something will cost if it's 40% off. But algebra is what made me drop out of high school, seriously. And even though I was a science major in college, I struggled horribly with chemistry and physics because of the equations. Weirdly enough, I aced business accounting in secretarial school, and statistics in college. I even did well in my Population Genetics course, which required loads of statistics. But do not ask me how many apples you would have if Johnny ran ten miles while losing an apple every three feet. 

Words and numbers do not belong together!

So, how about it, Readers? What school subject was the bane of your existence? 

I'll Show You Mine if You Show Me Yours: Reds' Writing Spaces

JENN McKINLAY: I recently cleaned my desk, so I figured it was as good a time as any to share what my work space looks like. I follow several publishers on Instagram and I am always fascinated when they share their authors' work spaces. I love the ones that have windows to look out and I am resentful of the ones that are super tidy. So, here's me, trying to build some resentment:

Jenn's Desk

This is where I work, mostly, when I'm not writing at the kitchen counter, standing up so I can stretch or hunkered in the car waiting for Hooligan 2 while he's in guitar lessons. A lot of writing has been done in my car! But this is where I toil the most. To the right is the window where I can look at the dogs running around the backyard and at the pool where I lifeguard the Hooligans, mostly to keep them from doing dumb things since they've been swimming since they were toddlers. The portrait over my desk is a canvas of my fam reproduced from one of our old Christmas cards, which brings me joy. 

How about you, Reds? What's your desk look like?

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I have an ancient computer desk tucked into the bay window of my parlor. Not shown in this picture: a VERY messy oak table to the right, where I keep files, stacks of correspondence, and some house plants struggling to stay alive. Also not shown: my Shih Tzu Louie, on his bed behind my chair (but not TOO close behind!) and my black cat Neko, who likes to go from the windowsill to my desk, cross my laptop, and then perch at my left hand, the better to receive tribute in the form of skritches. I try not to keep too much on my desk, but everything I have there pleases me: three crystals from a friend who swears they improve concentration and creativity, a crystal typewriter paperweight from Front Street Book Shop (now, sadly, closed), a mason jar from a wedding for my pens and pencils, and a pretty Lilly Pulitzer agenda for notes, etc.

Julia's Desk

The view from the window would look out over my front lawn to the road, if it weren't for the fact I have a gigantic overgrown rhododendron in the way. It's nice, really; it keeps me from glancing up at each passing car, and in the spring and summer, it's a popular place for birds. If I could change one thing about my work space, it would be the temperature - it's cold most of the year. In the picture, you can see the woven woolen shawl I keep to toss around my shoulders. In the worst of winter, I have to slide an electric heater beneath the desk to keep my feet from freezing.

HALLIE EPHRON: Here's my office where I work when I'm not on the couch in the living room under a pile of blankets, or like Jenn standing at the kitchen counter. It's windows on 3 walls, and last year sparrows nested in the forsythia bush RIGHT outside the window by my computer. Yup, it's cold in there in the winter. Can you see my orchid and my streptocarpus (blooming again!) in the window? And beside the orchid is the green-glass swan I bought to celebrate Never Tell a Lie. 

Hallie's OfficeJenn: I have orchid envy, Hallie!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have a perfectly nice proper office upstairs, in the bedroom across from ours. But ninety-five percent of the time, I work here, in our sunporch. For years I worked in here on a little rolling laptop table, then a couple of years ago I snagged this vintage oak library table at a garage sale down the street. So much open work space! Ha, that didn't last long, as you can see. 

Deb's Desk

Isn't it interest how many of us work in rooms with windows? Our porch is really, really cold in the winter (when I am forced to go upstairs) and blazingly hot in the summer when the west sun hits all those windows. But I love the view over the whole back yard. I can let the dogs in and out, and make endless cups of tea. And of course there is the sofa for plotting (napping) and a good reading chair. 

INGRID THOFT:   After several years at the dining room table, the condo we moved into three years ago provided me with “a room of one’s own.”  It’s small, but my desk faces Puget Sound and Pike Place Market:  The view is endlessly fascinating.  When it’s chilly and dank in the winter, I turn on the gas fireplace, and when the sun—yes, we do have sun—shines in from the west, there are blinds that cut the glare, but keep the view somewhat intact.  One of the best things about my office, in addition to the deep blue wall, is the mementos that remind me of favorite people and places.  These include challenge coins from my police friends, plates from Turkey, and the blue Santa Claus I created in second grade.  Santa is a constant friendly reminder to go out on a writing limb and not be afraid to try something new.

Ingrid's Desk

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: So I had two options. One, clean up like a banshee and lose hours of writing time but convince you I'm organized or two, whatever.  I chose whatever. You will see I have a wonderful window overlooking a big sugar maple. This is a semi-circular hunting desk that was my mom's. The wall color is Ralph Lauren Antelope Tusk, which is hilariously meaningless. Name badges from ten years of conventions, so heavy that if I get up wrong, the chair falls over backward. There's bottle of chardonnay, a gift from Sue Grafton. A rock that says "imagine" and one that says "patience." My words-a -ay chart. My easel with ads and pictures of Mercer Hennessey from TRUST ME (Tea Leoni) and Rachel North from THE MURDER LIST (Rachel Evans, whose photo I saw AFTER I picked Rachel's name). Bookcovers and posters and lots of stacks of paper.  BUT! I know where everything is. And I didn't even show the piles of files/stacks of books part of the room.  I really really love it. 

Hank's Desk

RHYS BOWEN: This is one side of my office. On the other wall are bookcases with all my reference books. Do you notice the harp ( to sooth and give me an excuse to stop working) and Eleanor Roosevelt sitting on the bookcase to cheer me on?

Rhys's Desk

Wait...what? Rhys, you play the harp? How did I not know this? Fascinating! 

LUCY BURDETTE: I had to really think about this--show my desk? or show Yoda the cat sleeping on the bed next to the spot where I spend most of time?

The desk has a slanting wall, where I've taped photos I've loved over the years. Behind the computer are my favorite photo of the kids with my brother nephew and assorted guinea pigs, John with his golf buddy John, a Sherlock Holmes bear that Diane Vallere sent me for reading and blurbing her wonderful costume shop mystery, my favorite lamp, and assorted other mementos from my golf mystery days.

And here's Yoda saying get off the dang computer and get back to work!

Okay, readers, what about your work spaces? Windows? Clean and tidy? Not so much? Anyone else have a harp kicking around?

Fit Happens!

Jenn McKinlay: It’s been four years since I gave up my day job, which involved playing Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero with the teens and parachute jump and bubble time with the toddlers. Yes, I was a part-time children’s librarian and, boy howdy, did those kids keep me fit.

Now that I’m a full time writer, I have what is essentially a desk job. I am like the “time to make the donuts” guy, but it’s more like “time to make the pages” gal, but I don’t have a mustache or access to copious amounts of pastry. Darn it – on the pastry not the mustache.

I try to write ten pages a day, which is a lot of butt in chair time, especially when I spend seventy-five percent of that time with my fingers perched over the keyboard staring out the window waiting for the words to come. Some days it’s quite a long wait not unlike the back of the line at the DMV but without all the entertaining people watching.

So here I am, getting all the things my friends, who’ve been cubicle moles and desk jockeys for years, warned me about. There is some posterior spread happening, as well as a pooch over the waistband that is actually in the shape of a donut. Why can’t these things be considered attractive? 

My muscle mass since the early years of wrangling hooligans into baths, beds, cars, shopping carriages, swings, and my lap, has diminished considerably into a more spongy substance, which is sad because at my best, when they were both under three, I think I could have bench pressed a car.

A few months ago, I decided that I had to make more of a structured effort to work out. I’ve never belonged to a gym, and that staring out the window thing takes a lot of time, so I didn’t want to give up anymore by having to drive to a place to sweat in public. Why humiliate yourself in front of others, when you can do it at home in front of your pets?

Okay, first up, I got the thingy-- yes, technical name-- that was all the rage developed by some lady on Shark Tank. Seriously, this thing was next to every checkout counter from Walgreens to Ace Hardware, you couldn’t avoid it if you tried. I didn’t try. You’re supposed to stand on it and swivel back and forth like doing the twist only on the plastic thingy-- I know, enough with the technical terms already. Hub watched me tackle this beast and his observation was, as he yelled after me, “I don’t think you’re supposed to be able to leave the room on it.” It now lives under the TV console for future use at a yard sale.

I HATE YOU.

Next, I decided I needed arms like Michelle Obama, because that would totally distract from the flab that was my doopah. Push-ups were the way to go. But I wasn’t going to settle for regular pushups. Heck no! I bought these two swivelly handle dealies – yes, more jargon – to maximize my efforts. Uh huh. The hooligans came home and found me lying face down on the floor between the dealies. I didn’t have enough arm strength left to pick myself up. After they hefted me to my feet, I think they threw them out or hid them. I have not seen the dealies since, but in all honesty I haven’t looked that hard.

I HATE YOU MORE.

Finally, my latest purchase was the ginormous rubber band thing-a-ma-jig. I have since come to the conclusion that whoever invented this thing, hates their fellow man. Not just hates them, but wants to torture them, too. I watched a YouTube tutorial, convinced that this was the item for me. I studied the routine and then put on "Happy" by Pharrell Williams and busted out my moves. Halfway through the song, I felt like I was made of Jell-O. I lost my grip on my rubber band and it thwacked me upside the head. In short, it was not a "happy" workout.

I HATE YOU MOST OF ALL.

So, now I have a treadmill and am attempting the dreaded 4X4 intensity workout (four minutes of hardcore running four times with brisk walking wedged in between intervals). If you don't hear from me...assume it did me in!

How about you, Reds? Do you exercise? And if so, what are your preferred torture devices…er…accoutrements?

HALLIE EPHRON: I used to go to a fitness center and take a class twice a week. Loved it. But the my hip went wonky and I ended up in PT... so now I exercise alone. At home. In front of the TV. Exercise bike. Floor pad. It's all very sad.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, I have to say I have aerobic danced until I got shin splints, and I ran until I blew out my knees. I loved stationary bike, but got over it.  I really tried Nordic track, but I am not coordinated enough. And then---I discovered walking. I am in love with walking. I have a wonderful treadmill, and I walk. I get to watch movies, and news, and episodes of Chopped. I walk outside, when the weather is even marginally bearable.  It's fabulous. And with my beloved FitBit, neurotic me gets constant approval.  I get ideas walking, and get to be off my phone, all good.  Who could ask for anything more? 
Well, I guess I could, I have zero upper body strength. It is embarrassing to try to put my suitcase up in the overhead. Any ideas?

LUCY BURDETTE: I consider it a necessary evil--do not want my bones to disintegrate as I get older. When in Key West, I go to a small local gym where my trainer, Leigh, cracks the whip twice a week--mostly weight training and balance. Unlike my hub, I would not do these things without an appointment! In CT, it's a pilates class. And I also choose walking, Hank. Tonka is a good motivater there, and I get a lot of good ideas while putting one paw in front of the other. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Hank, you need to get some weight resistance training going - slender white women are far more prone to osteoporosis and other bone problems than anyone else. My mother, who's been a size six her entire life, has excellent cardiovascular health but has been struggling with finding a bone density medication that doesn't have nasty side effects. 

As for me, I've NEVER been a fan of exercise-qua-exercise. From my teens to my early thirties, I skied as much as I could every winter, and in my thirties I picked up running (usually while pushing a jogging stroller.) At the gym, I loved lifting weights, and I also enjoyed hiking and cross-country skiing. Unfortunately, my genetic heritage of arthritis caught up to me. By the time I was  fifty, my knees were in bad enough shape that all those sports were closed to me, and now I can't even walk for more than a mile without pain. (My doctor has recommended knee replacement surgery, which I will get just as soon as I'm in a position where I don't have to drive anywhere or do anything for three months.)

So I've switched to swimming at the Y, which I really like, despite the fact that I am a terrible swimmer. I'm like the little old lady driving 35 in a 50mph speed zone. It's embarrassing when I have to share a lane. I've been interested to hear about Lucy's experience with a trainer - there are trainers available at the Y, and I've been considering hiring one for a few sessions to get me back into weight work. I'd like to know how to strengthen the muscles around my bum knees while not, you know, injuring myself.

INGRID THOFT: I love exercise.  I do!  I love working up a good sweat in the weight room or on the stair climber (the thing that looks like a giant rolling staircase.)  I used to spin a lot and do Zumba, but my back issues put the brakes on those activities.  Now I lift and do the stair climber, elliptical, and hills on the treadmill.  I also love to walk outside when possible and hike when the weather improves.  Swimming is great, too, but preferably in the ocean.  Swimming laps bores me to tears.

I work out with a trainer, and I highly recommend it.  Even if you only have a few sessions, a good trainer will design a program so that you get the most out of your time at the gym.  Even though I love to exercise, I don't want to do it all day, and I love having a plan and getting it done.  I second Julia's suggestion about weight bearing exercise for slim, white ladies, and really, all ladies.  There are plenty of exercises that can be done using your own body weight (that's the sort of info a trainer can provide) that contribute to better bone density, which is a huge issue as we age.  Plus, then you can get your suitcase in the overhead yourself!

A friend of mine says that when he exercises it "feels like a sunny day in my head," even if it's pouring rain in Seattle.  I couldn't agree more!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm a walker, too. I've never been good at any sort of program, or exercise equipment. And I've had dogs for most of my adult life so walking is both a pleasure and a necessity. It's also great for generating chunks of scenes and dialogue and working out plot issues! My new insurance includes a free membership to LA Fitness but I really really doubt I will darken their doors. 

Although I have to say I've fallen off the wagon a bit this winter. There's just been one thing or another, and it's been unusually cold here (I know those of you from the Great North are laughing at me, but I'm a weather wimp.) So I really need to start getting out there every day!

(Does the constant lifting of two-year-old count as weight training?)

RHYS BOWEN: Absolutely, Debs. I developed huge muscles lifting grandkids in and out of the back seat of cars in their car seats! I have always been a hiker. I still love to hike with friends--it's therapy as well as exercise. John and I walk every day. I swim most days. I used to be a passionate tennis player, then a disk between my shoulder blades was damaged so no more tennis for me. Sob. My favorite form of exercise involves the ocean--which is hard in Phoenix, and in California where it's too cold. I love snorkeling and boogie boarding.

For the past two months I've been going to physical therapy twice a week for a problem knee/ankle. PT stands for physical torture. It's like a personal trainer, only worse. Three sets of twenty. Now with a band around your ankles. But I have to say it is working brilliantly and my knee is back to normal. My ankle still suffering from the torn ligament between the two. So standing on one foot and raising and lowering myself is still not fun.


I really believe that physical exercise clears the brain and lets me work better. 

JENN: I agree, Rhys, it does clear the head. I am very active. I'm just not very structured about it. I think you and Ingrid are onto something with the trainer!

What about you, Readers? What's your exercise jam?