Sunday, September 18th: It’s a day of good news and bad news.
Good News: The milestone I reached today was a weight loss of 10 pounds! I’ve dropped to 184, from 194, my posted weight when I started this Picket-Size Me! blog on August 29th. The loss has come from a combination of walking a lot on the picket line, and a fairly strict adherence to Phase One of the South Beach Diet.
Bad News: Today I’m heading to the Vancouver Island of Feast of Fields, which will tempt me with many goodies. Then tomorrow I head to Oregon for a full week of touring wine country, farms and markets courtesy of the Oregon Wine Board. I know, you’re saying, ‘how can that be bad news?’ I am looking forward to an amazing trip, but I also suspect the food is going to be amazing, I won’t have much of a chance to exercise, and my weight loss will evaporate under the pressure of all that good livin’. I’ll try to blog from the road, trying out a new wireless card for my laptop.
Good News: I had a small part in a fundraising effort put on by locked out CMG Members in Victoria for a literacy group, the Victoria READ Society. By the end of last Thursday’s evening of music, poetry and comedy, we had raised almost $2000!!!
More Good News: At Thursday lunchtime I took the helm at two small tabletop propane barbecues on the Vancouver picket line. (Thanks Kelly and Lesley and Mark!) 
Yves Veggie Cuisine donated a case each of veggie burgers and dogs, which disappeared with great gusto! Our local Guild office provided funds for the buns and some condiments. Margaret Gallagher brought along some spicy Sambal, Marie-Helene some homemade relish, and our favourite CBC fan Shirley provided sweet mini-tomatoes, and organic veggies, so along with my famous spicy Asian coleslaw, the lunch was a great 
success, as you can see by the smiles of some of my ‘customers’. Lots of people complimented me on the coleslaw, so if you want the recipe visit this page on my website and scroll down to the second recipe you see. Kris liked it so much, that after he had helped dole out the last bites from the bowl, he just had to sip on the dressing! 
Thanks to Marie-Helene for taking these photos and passing them along.
Bad News: While it’s been fun to take part in the fundraising events and get into better shape and help give people on the line a nice lunch, we’re still out there. I hope that by the time I get back from Oregon it will be time to go back to work. Our negotiating team has been doing a great job, getting many of the remaining issues to agreement, but the most thorny ones remain, and I hope they have no intention of caving in on the most important ones. My thoughts and energy are with you. More from Oregon in the days ahead!
