I'm baaaaaaaack!

It seems to me that that sentence was included in some sort of scary movie... but the truth of the matter is that I woke up this morning with a smile on my face, feeling as though I was back. I have had two months of abysmal health, but I definitely feel that I am back to being me. Some might question the efficacy of that, but I am extremely glad.

I am still weak and need to get my stamina back, but my brain feels clear and my spirits are up. Wahoo! Yesterday I had a colonoscopy, which those of you who have experienced it know is not the most pleasant of medical procedures. As they semi-sedate you, it isn't too bad. The worst part for me is the stuff you have to drink getting ready for the procedure. I HATE IT. But it's in the past, now, and today I feel great.

It's great when food tastes good. The simplest food now is like food for the gods. During my struggles with antibiotics, I had a terrible time eating anything and keeping it down. Now all of my wonderful taste buds are serving me well. Yippee.

Take care and stay well!

Whew!

We have had a fantastic week. Daughter Nay came to visit for a couple of days, Son John and Grandson Matthew came so they were all here together for a day, then Nay had to leave. Nephews Fred and Chad came to visit and caught John and Matthew, so we were all together for a few hours before J & M had to leave. Fred and Chad and George got to go to the airplane show in Alex together on Saturday before they flew away. It was awesome. Chad is a computer wizard so he tuned up the old HP until it is much faster, so that was great. Well, really, what a fabulous week.

I was feeling enough better that I could enjoy all the hoopla, but both George and I have spent the day with our feet up resting. We are recovered from all the joyousness. Only the thrill of it remains. Wahoo.

The motorcycle guys sound as though their trip just gets better and better. We will be overjoyed to see their safe return in the weeks to come. By the end of this week I hope to be able to get back to the gym. I am feeling stronger by the day. Take care!

The Open Road!

The news from the adventurers is all good. They are having the time of their lives. The information that I have is from Sunday. They went to a hot springs spa earlier in the week and Freddie highly recommends it! All his aches and pains were gone. He said his shoulder has hurt for months but since the spa he has had no pain.

One thing is, Jim likes to drive faster than Freddie. Since it is Freddie that is on the phone with this information, we probably should take it with a grain of salt. It will be fun to hear all the tales they will tell when they return. Jim supposedly went to a gambling casino and Freddie didn't. Right. They have seen a Big-horned Ram and say the roads are good. About like 82 from Evansville to Alex. Since we all have heard horror stories of the trips to Alaska by car, it is good to know that they have improved the roads.

We will be oh so glad to have them home safe and sound! Take care

A Few more pills...

I'm basically putting this picture in from my birthday party at the gym to encourage me to keep on taking the antibiotic pills that so disagree with me. The baloons and cake were provided by Karen W. And we all enjoyed it. I can't say that I did much gym work, but it was so much fun to be back! That evening I found myself at the emergency room, which leads me to think one should be sure to have fun when the opportunity presents itself. I think I have now exhausted the lucky double seven pictures.

I have two more days of these horrid pills and then hopefully I will begin to feel a bit better.

Does anyone have a picture of the "take-off" of Jim and Fred on their motorcycle road trip? Send it to me by e-mail and I will post it on this blog. They are going cross country to Alaska on their Harleys! They are not computer savy, so we cannot hope for an e-mail from them, but whoever hears from them, please let me know how it's going. I was going to go to their send-off but wasn't able to as I was busy taking pills. Sigh.

Take care.

Tulips

Karen W. suggested I give you a peek at the darling tulips that Colleen gave me. Karen delivered them for Colleen so I haven't had a chance to quiz her on the way they are made. I can, from personal experience, tell you that they taste great! There were originally six!

This is how I imagine them being made. Colleen is being visited by her granddaughter and this is a great entertaining way to occupy children. I think you would get white chocolate (the kind you can buy to make almond bark) and tint it with food coloring. Then get the molds that you can buy at craft stores and long sucker sticks. Voila! Fill the molds, attach the sticks, let them harden and you have a darling flower. In the jar is colored rice in a beautiful shade of green. What a wonderful project! And yummy, too. What more can be asked?

I am making a profession out of taking antibiotics that basically disagree with me. I am working hard to get the whole ten days of this medication taken along with all the myriad other medication necessary to my continued well-being. Each hour I chow down a pill, I eat a bit and hope I won't be nauseated. etc., etc. I have finished six days now, so I am into the home stretch. Wahoo. One of the tulips was nibbled on yesterday to mask the bitter taste of a pill. I will try to keep the others intact but I don't know, chocolate is chocolate and has a seductive pull. Yum.

Take care.

Rhubarb

Okay. Admit it. Some of us LOVE rhubarb in stuff in the spring. Rhubarb strawberry preserves or pie, rhubarb cobbler, rhubarb pie covered with glorious meringue.... Great. There's something about this fantastically sour stuff that combined with other stuff makes everything fabulously tasty. I have actually seen people eat a sour rhubarb stalk by itself with gusto. I will not go that far, but I am extremely fond of all the sauces, etc. It's hard now because of my diabetes and the fantastic amounts of sugar that all of this tasty stuff requires. I wonder how the sweeteners work? Any ideas?

This fantastic work of art was perpetrated by Karen L and her husband Jeff. She started in and then he got fascinated by the project and did a lot of the heavy and detailed work. As I understand it they made a mound of sand, applied a rhubarb leaf, poured on cement and let it dry. Then the tricky part which I do not understand and ta-da! The finished product. Hats Off! It is going to be a GORGEOUS bird bath. I am blown away by the beauty of it.

Have a beautiful day! Take care.

More birthday stuff...

Ok. I'm doing a tango with this site. I was already into doing this blog when I somehow hit the wrong key and it just evaporated. I am going to give you a wonderful recipe for egg stuff that Carol Leah served at our last book club in place of deviled eggs. It's great so here goes... I will try to get it done this time.

Chili Egg Puff

10 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 pint cottage cheese

1/2 cup melted butter

1 pound Monterey Jack Cheese ( I presume shredded)

2 four ounce cans of diced green chili

Beat eggs until light. Add all ingredients except cheese and chilies. Blend with beater. Stir in cheese and chilies. Pour into 9/13 buttered baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees until center is firm and top is brown. about 35 minutes. You might check with a knife in the center for doneness... Makes 10 - 12 servings.

She says you can double it or halve it.

Yum. Yum. Take care.

More birthday!!!

As my birthday present to you I will give you the recipe I got from one of my book club buddies, Carol Leah. It is absolutely luscious and was her variation of deviled eggs! She couldn't face making deviled eggs again, Fran, sorry. But we did have sugar free jello and a muffin variation!

CHILI EGG PUFF

Lucky Double Seven

Yesterday was my 77th birthday. Karen W. brought balloons and made a cake and we celebrated at the gym. Such fun. Barby wasn't there or Colleen, but the rest of the usual suspects came. I have received GREAT cards and gifts. I had a wonderful start to the day.

Later I got sick again with the diverticulitis and went to the ER in Alex. Why do I always wait until evening when the clinic is closed. Sigh. I had a big art show to go to also, and had to miss it. Sigh. A variation on the old saw about the best laid plans, etc., etc. from Robby Burns. "The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley." I'm neither a mouse nor a man, but the idea is still valid!

Anyhoo, After receiving the attentions of all of the nurses and doctors at the ER and many rather invasive and uncomfortable X-rays and CT scans, George took me home at 2 am on June 9. I learned that they send the results of the CT scan to Australia to be read there because they are up and at it during our night. Our radiologists will look at it today!

The lucky part was that I made it, I guess. I'm ready and rarin' to go into my next year. Actually I'm not rarin' ... More like whimpering. But I hope that this experience teaches me not to be too exultant about what I am going to do. Stay flexible. It is also teaching me to appreciate every little thing that comes my way each day. My great family and friends. Wahoo. All in all, I loved my lucky double seven birthday. Thank you, one and all. Take care.

small things

You will have noticed that the pictures of paintings included in my blog lately are rather crooked and not nice and neat. The reason is that I have not yet figured out how to use the cropping tools in my new computer stuff. Woe's me.

Think of the small things and how important they can be. I just noticed lately that some manufacturers of clothing are including a printed label right on the fabric at the top inside back of a shirt. Several advantages to this can be mentioned. One is that you won't ever have that embarrassing label standing back up into your hairdo that the lady in church reaches over and tucks in. I imagine it also saves the manufacturer lots of money once it is set up to operate. A small change we all appreciate.

The tiny improvements often have the most impact on us. Just think of safety pins, velcro, paper clips, ziplock bags, the list is long. And those small things which have become antiques like bobby pins and hair pins. Does anyone use those anymore? Whaddyathink?

Take care.

Tuesday Morning Blues

I again include a painting trying to counteract a down day. I was doing so well and then opened some doctor's bills. They had yet to be sent to Medicare and the supplemental insurer so they were large. My reaction was so strange. I felt like crying and I got cold and I basically fell apart. George was not at home so I got out my warm quilt and sat down and tried to get it back together. The reaction was so far from what I should have had that it scared me, but it also interested me. I am way more emotional than I used to be. I presume that is part of my present illness. I will have days of strength and days of weakness for awhile... then slowly (hopefully not too slowly) I will have strong days most of the time. Today has turned out to be a day for rest and recovery.

Yesterday was a great day of conversation and reunion with dear friends. Book club is the greatest. Since our last actual book club get together one of us has lost her husband and one of us has had a health emergency. We had a chance to talk with no holds barred. We have such a wonderful friendship. Hats off to friends.

Back to resting. Sigh. Take care.

Monday Morning Happiness

I am feeling good this morning, so I decided I should have a picture on my blog! This is the painting I chose because it is another of those that is hanging on the wall in the kitchen of the house featured on Naomi's blog. I DO like to paint pears, apparently... or fruit? Anyway.

I am warming up the bathroom preparatory to taking a shower. One of the absolute pamperings that I love is being able to heat the bathroom to a ridiculously hot temperature. I am especially cold blooded since being sick so it is even nicer. One of the things about living in a less developed country is that some of the things that many people take for granted you have learned to really appreciate. It is called "reverse culture shock." It is culture shock that you have as you move to the "foreign" country - but reverse culture shock as you come back home. There were many examples of this that we noticed.

I remember being shocked at the amount of carpeting we had in American homes. Now we have a high degree of hardwood floors, but 30 years ago everything seemed to be carpeted... even the CLOSETS. I thought it was so decadent until we went out and priced floor coverings and discovered that carpeting was the cheapest way to go and we carpeted our own closets!

And hot water running freely in all of the pipes. And soft toilet paper. And usuable paper towels that actually were soft and sturdy. Wow. And fine flour so I could make an Angel Food Cake. All of the differences were really minor, but built up one on top of the other until I felt completely overwhelmed with the sybaritic pleasures of the American home. I soon adjusted, but still understand that the best test of a place is living there for a while so that one looks past these surface things to the inner life of the place. That's where you find what's real.

Take care.

Coffee

One of my loyal readers suggested I might talk about coffee. Actually, one of the other loyal readers has an extensive knowledge of coffee around the world, but i will nevertheless proceed from my own perspective!

I dug out two coffee cups from a set I bought in Brazil. The small cup is for cafezinho and the other for cafe com leite. AS I UNDERSTAND IT ( I put this in capital letters as my understanding may be severely limited!) The Brazilians take the coffee beans and, instead of roasting them, they char them. Then they turn them into a dust that looks a lot like cocoa. It is absolutely essential to the drinker's health that the coffee that is produced from this is thoroughly filtered. Hot water through coffee in a filter to a coffee pot. This very strong brew is put into the small cup and two or three teaspoons of sugar are added. A small spoon used for the purpose of stirring in this tiny cup WILL stand up. Many of us became absolutely addicted to this brew. It would certainly get you UP for the day and rarin' to go.

The second way to use the coffee produced in this way was to make cafe com leite. The coffee put into one pot, hot milk into another and the two added simultaneously into the larger cup. Then one could add sugar or not as preferred. Fantastic. Fabulous. Absolutely addictive.

I have through the years made something called a "milky drink" which is an ersatz version of cafe com leite. Heat a mug of milk in the microwave to boiling, but not over flowing. (That in itself is a trick!) Add a heaping teaspoon of instant coffee and some artificial sweetener, and voila... a pale imitation of cafe com leite.

The pots from Mexico work very well in making this coffee, but it is to get the Brazil coffee that is the trick. I hear that there is a coffee in the stores now from Brazil but I wonder if it is roasted to accomodate us or charred and typically Brazilian. If it is just in the bean, I wonder how we will process it. I will report more as I discover more.

Take care!