You’ve probably heard of the planking challenge. It takes two forms. In one, a few years back, I think there was a challenge to plank in odd locations. The other one is a fitness challenge to strengthen your core. Kim and I have been trying to get out and exercise a little more. Especially over the last 18 months, it’s been so easy when you are cooped up or stressed to grab an extra serving of something and when you rarely have to dress up in nicer clothes, it is easy to ignore the scale going up a little.

One of the things we’ve done is a plank challenge. Each day we do a plank (the exercise version) and attempt to hold it for 2 minutes. Then each day, we add a few seconds so that by the end of a month, we are at a 3-minute plank. It is pretty tough to do but does make you feel more stable as your core strength increases. The other morning after a jog, we were doing our planks in the living room, when suddenly, Pearl wanted to get in on the action. First, she shimmied under me, doing a low army crawl and then she popped out between my arms. Since we were mid-plank, we didn’t stop her, and so she thought she was being a good girl. She looped around and did it again, and then she did the same to Kim, except that with Kim she started licking her arms. At this point, we are only 30 seconds into our 2 minutes, and we are both laughing hysterically. And that makes it at least 10x harder to hold a plank. Thanks, Pearl, for the extra workout.

So anyways, we’re checking a little fitness off of our to-do list each morning and getting ready for a beautiful fall in the garden. The schedule of fall seminars is posted, and we look forward to seeing you in person to teach you all about gardening in Florida. We are also working on our pumpkin order for the season to bring back last year’s Pumpkin Wall. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some cooler temperatures and some fall fun in the garden.