Thursday, March 16, 2023

Happy Saint Paddy's Day

Tomorrow is St Paddy's Day, but the only green in my diet will be my tea and the greenhouse Chard I purchased this week, steamed with a splash of vinegar and lashings of melted butter! Life has been pretty slow for me here. I still haven't recovered from the side effects of that medication -- still waking each day with excruciating back and left leg pain as well as tummy ache. But one must soldier on. I still walk daily and stretch. So, fingers crossed!

NL Jam-jams!

Because of this discomfort, going out for IWD on March 8th proved very taxing: I was so glad to spend the next day relaxing at home with my new book. And I was also glad that I brought my dessert home with me to enjoy with a hot cuppa. A tradition in NL, "Jam-jams" are made with strawberry, raspberry or NL partridgeberry jam (lingonberry in Europe) sandwiched between 2 soft, light-molasses cookies. Absolutely delicious.

Last Sunday, I went to lunch with an elementary school friend, Rod, that I hadn't seen in roughly 50 years! Like so many of us in the 60's, I attended a small local elementary school, going from Kindergarten to Grade 8 with the same group of friends. There were about 8 of us that played together after school: lots of tree gardens, as we called them, in which to play cops and robbers: lots of hills and fields in which to play softball ... as long as someone had a ball and someone else found a fence picket. 

Rod's pet collie, Kerry, often joined us. I remember when we were about 9 or 10, Kerry died, and we decided to have a funeral. The boys were pall bearers, the girls mourners, and because I had my Gideons New Testament in my book bag, I was named officiant. We were all very sad about it. I read the 23rd Psalm, the girls were crying, the boys picked up the box containing Kerry and began to walk up the slight incline to the open grave. Suddenly, the bottom of the box gave way, and dear Kerry rolled down the hill! Oops! After some guilty laugher, we carried on in a more sober manner. My neighbourhood landscape was littered with pet graves and little popsicle stick crosses. 

Since last Saturday, I've been following an anti-inflamatory diet to give my body an extra bit of help to heal. I allow myself yogurt & green tea, but bread and coffee are strictly off the menu. Sob sob! And since I moved in December, I've been frequenting our little library and reading once again. "Still Life with Crows" was a great read: good writing and a host of lovely, quirky characters. I was delighted to find that this book is one in the middle of approximately 10 others written around eccentric FBI Special Agent Pendergast. So, now I have read them all.

This week's read is a light mystery. The setting is a beautiful old mansion/hotel in the mountains; an eclectic mix of 13 characters stuck in the middle of a ice storm with no internet connection and the power's been lost. The perfect setting for a murder or two. 

We enjoyed 4 days of sunshine weekend past which thankfully took some of our snow. But true to our usual weather, it will snow tonight and tomorrow. Spring will eventually come; and hopefully, it will bring better health for me.

Namaste y'all! I love seeing your spring posts as they help me hold on. Hahaha!



















6 comments:

Tom said...

...I hope that you will be feeling better come. Take care and enjoy your weekend.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Poor Kerry the Collie, LOL! Enjoy those jam-jams!

LA Paylor said...

I'm so glad you came by my blog and left a comment, so I could meet you! What fun you are!
I havve to remember you so I can come read your words!
LeeAnna at not afraid of color

bahnwärterin said...

so sorry to hear you´r still labouring on that medication side effects.... but the diet sounds very sensible - when i was obverwhelmed by the pain in my joynts 4y.ago i stopped bread and pasta at all for 6 months and pork meat/sausage too which helped wonders - still no wheat and pork but i do eat rye & spelt bread and spelt pasta..... side effect: i lost 4kg in that 6 month :-D
buy yourself marigold seeds, sow them in every sunny corner of your garden or in big pots - wenn they start to bloom, cut the top half off and then in small bits to dry it - store it in jars and when you are in pain - anyway bones or stomach - then make a big cup of strong tea (min. 10min soaking) to drink. it works like ibuprophen but without side effects for 4-5h.
the cutted marigolds use come back until the first frost. you can use them fresh for infusion too.....
sorry for the lenghty comment :-D get well soon!
xxx

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you too! Hope Spring brings good health to you! The warmer weather and sunshine always makes me feel better ! Enjoy those jam jams and tea! Winter won't last forever. Spring always comes again!

Michelle said...

Thank you for stopping by and linking up. I hope to see you back again and that you get to feeling better!

Fibromyalgia

  Sorry! I thought I could return to a normal schedule. But my sense of 'normal' has changed. After the past 5 years of various ailm...