Having Just Enough Stress

Making a second batch of Winter Sauce from Anna Thomas's The New Vegetarian Epicure.  I didn't start with the 100 pounds of California sun ripened tomatoes that her recipes is for.  I just don't have or need that much of anything anymore.

I have "just enough" which has been enough for my entire lifetime.

I will try to remember to wear my apron this time.  It seems I am always wearing a freshly washed white linen camp shirt when I make things.  Ending up with "stain removal" tactics.  I even got blueberry stains on a lovely long sleeved white linen shirt--which I "found" in my closet and instantly wanted to be wearing every day.  Right on the front.  All the stains have come out--so far.

Yesterday, the Day of all Days, I had my long awaited annual exam with my doctor.  And, of course, as LIFE would have it no other way, I had regained any weight I had lost in the intervening 3 months and packed on an additional two pounds by the morning of the visit.  I had also gone into a "full allergic" reaction.  Swollen red eyes and face, leaking eyes etc.  I was a MESS!!!!!  G asks if I am allergic to the doctor?

This morning, after suffering with vaguely flu like symptoms (at work) yesterday, swollen eyes etc, I awoke to a loss of three pounds, decreased rash and no eye leakage.

G says I should do and eat exactly the same things today, that I ate yesterday.

Well, yesterday I was pretty miserable.

Which brings us back to the Marinara Sauce.  Which looked so amazing that I "just had to eat it" with PASTA not zucchini noodles.  Now, that didn't cause the rash--I already had that for at least 3 days--but it did cause the rash to sort of "explode" into something truly amazing.  When the entire left side of my face is inflamed as well--I know I am in deep trouble.

 Very red, very dry, very uncomfortable.  Today I am taking Zyrtec.  I am going to alternate Zyrtec and Claritin.  Neither is effective for more than two days.  The Alaway eye drops are working to stop the burning and watering of my eyes.  But now my nose is running.  Yesterday (at work) I had to add Benadryl to the mix.

And yes, there is ragweed growing along the edges of the property at work-- along with acres of grassy weeds just behind us and next to us and across the street from our parking lot.

The Garden Gives Me Green Beans

I worked yesterday and it was very slow.  I got bored.  I also was thinking of all the things I could be doing if I wasn't stuck at work.

Well, today I am doing those things.  I went out to the garden after breakfast.  It was toast day.  New York Rye toast with butter and apricot jam.  Coffee.  I picked peppers that were almost red.  I picked cherry tomatoes.  Regular tomatoes (won't they ever STOP?).  And green beans.  I ate about a third of the harvest of beans right there in the garden.  With dirt.  And I hope no bugs.

Now I am stirring a large pot of tomato puree, waiting for it to be thick enough.  Homemade marinara.  I have olive oil, homegrown garlic and some seasonings in the pot.  I have the remaining green beans (minus the spider) in the hot oven roasting.  They get sort of leathery and chewy.  I like that about roasted green beans.

 My eyes are bothering me again.  My daughter reports the same problems (heredity) and she uses allergy eye drops (over the counter) so on my birthday I went to the grocery and bought some.  My eyes still burn a bit but no water is leaking out and causing my skin to burn and my eyes to itch.  Does make my nose stuffy.  Not really motivated to do laundry and vacuum.  G is out "landscaping" for the day--somewhere near the ocean.  The dog is napping by the front door.

It's sunny outside but dark inside the house.  A nap does sound good.  I am 70.  Old people like me nap all the time........???  Tomorrow morning the doctor and my annual physical.  My annual lecture on my weight and BMI.  Then, all jolly from that, I go to work.

Everything In It's Place: A Virgo Birthday

I often have a good hardy laugh when I read about the Virgo trait of perfection.  I have "perfect" thoughts but my house isn't perfect, tidy, or even clean most of the time.  Like today.  My Birthday.

I am Seventy Years Old Today.

Well, that's something isn't it.  I don't feel old.  Inside I am somewhere in my 40's I think.  Perhaps younger.  I read somewhere that if you want to have fun--wake a sleeping person and yell "how old are  you?" before they are fully awake.  The answer is the true age we hold in ourselves.

No birthday cake.  No chocolate candy.  I am hoping for Nachos.  And perhaps a Margarita. When I returned from a long 9 hour day at work yesterday I asked if there was a pile of birthday cards in the mail?  G said no.  So, I took a much needed shower, sat on the couch trying not to fall asleep and then went with G and the dog to get a medium vanilla cone at Dairy Queen.  No dinner.

This morning my son's call from Vancouver woke me.  We talked for 90 minutes.  I am so thankful that I am the kind of mom that can talk to her grown son about a range of topics for that long.  With both of us having so much to say and share.  And I am shocked that he was awake that early!!!!!

My horoscope mentioned this being a year of significant turning points.

Stay tuned.

Married Forty Eight Years Today

It hasn't been a smooth ride.  Bumps and upheavals along the way.  Twelve houses.  Two children.  Three cats (not at the same time) and one dog. Packing boxes from years ago--still unpacked.  Still finding treasures in the attic.  Still comfortable sitting and saying nothing.  Taking care of each other.

Yesterday back to work.  Spent the day talking.  Seven hours of the day talking.  So many people missed me and, I guess, I missed them. Mostly they talked about how different I look.  One customer said I looked smaller.  Another, that my face looked so thin, smooth and wrinkle free. I have to admit that last comment had me wondering about my June appearance.  When she last saw me.  Another who wished me well that last day in June (at work), told me of her Whole30 diet and how good she felt.  Funny how our paths were linked while I was gone.  Trying to find health and happiness in our diets.  She eats whole fruit and fruit juices.  I eat the whole fruit pulverized in the Vitamix. I think that's okay.  I'm still eating the peel and the fiber.  Whole30 smoothies?  yes or no?

The suggested birthday donuts (Saturday) were given a thumbs down.  Okay if the baker wanted the employees to eat them.  Not me.

I was still unsure about returning while I packed my salad of Romaine, red cabbage and carrots yesterday morning.  Not enough lettuce so I fine cut some kale leaves.  Skipped the red onion.  Not good for customer service. Packed up EVOO and Balsamic, S&P in a small container to shake and pour before eating the salad. I may add diced roasted beets to the next salad.  I also took a jar of smoothie to work.  I drank it at about 5:30.  Seems to be the way to go--moving forward.  I'll be at work all day Saturday.  Big perennials sale.

One of the packed treasures in the attic was two boxes from my dad's house.  Ball glass jars.  The kind with the glass lid and wire "bale".  Even had fresh boxes of the rubber gaskets.  I brought two down, into the dishwasher.  Now sparkling, like new, clean.  What shall I put inside???  Pints and half pints.

I have tomatoes to "handle".  Need to do something with them before they spoil.  More peppers.  The garden to water (promised rain failed to fall).  Everyone had an epic garden this summer.  Everyone has too many tomatoes.  I heard of one Farmer's Market stand selling them for $1 a pound.  Just to get rid of them.  Also need to stop by the Farmer's Market to buy garlic with BIG cloves to plant in October. Seeds for leeks for my Winter Milk Jug garden.

Gardeners.  We garden for this year with memories of last year and the promise of next year.  I already have containers with the seedy pulp from my very tastiest tomatoes breaking down.  When the gel releases the seeds, I'll dry them.  Start them in February or March for the 2017 garden.  It's just like being married in some ways.

How Can I Make Sense of The World We Live In Now

The world is a difficult--different--place than I am used to.  I don't quite know how to deal with it.  I know that any change begins with ONE.  Yourself.  How can I make a difference?

There are days when I feel hopeful.  But more days that I feel like something really horrible is about to happen.  Something we will all regret but have to survive.  Does it have to do with 9/11?  Does remembering that day make us more afraid?

Anyway that is where my mind and my heart is these quiet September days.  Worrying.  What Virgo does better than any other sign.

I am also wondering what to eat.  There is plenty in the fridge but none of it quite "goes together" to make a meal.  I may set some rice to cooking in the rice cooker.  Rice seems to help things go together.  Pasta is another item that helps odd items to come together into something tasty.

My garden.  It's tired and rather sad looking.  I will miss it.

Me.  Had a teeth cleaning appointment with the dentist.  It hurt.  They want me to get a crown.  I worry it will hurt.  Will it?

The peaches I bought for smoothies--well, when I cut them open there was mold growing on the pit. Inside the peach.  I have never seen that before.  So--no peaches in the smoothie and it doesn't taste as good.

I return to work on Wednesday.  Ambivalent.

Eating My Way Through The Summer

This little Bento box lunch is very cute.  I eat all these things but my presentation isn't as nice.

Yesterday, in the oppressive heat and humidity, I pulled up all the zucchini squash vines.  Today I will haul them to the compost boxes.  I also pulled beets.  I tried to pull the big and medium ones and leave the smaller ones (to grow some more) and was only 50% successful.  I pulled carrots the other day.  Most of the large carrots had had the bottoms chewed off by chipmunks.  They have tunnels all through the garden.

Not as hot today, so I will be roasting beets.  I find cold roasted beets to be a very fine lunch.  Cubed in a white bowl with EVOO and Balsamic vinegar. Some salt and freshly ground pepper.

Carrots I like in a salad with Romaine, red cabbage and EVOO and Balsamic.  I also enjoy carrots with a sesame-free hummus I make.  Chickpeas and parsley and lemon juice.  Trouble with this meal--- I eat too much.

The green beans are only flowers at this point or one centimeter long baby beans.  When they are big enough to pick--I like them right out of the garden (still dirty) eaten while I pick.  Otherwise, I roast them in the oven with EVOO and eat them--sort of leathery and chewy.  Delicious.  Now that I have found the Coconut Aminos--I can make a Chinese dish out of them.  Roasted or fried beans, cashews, rice and coconut aminos.  Cashew Greenbeans.

The Claritin seems to be working.  There is a period of time, just after I wake up and before the morning pill takes effect, where things are pretty miserable.  Itchy, burning, leaking eyes.  It's  been a few hours and things are settling down.  Perhaps I will have to set the alarm for 2 hours before I need to be awake--take my pills and go back to sleep.

I am just starting a new book by a favorite author.  Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham.  His books are dark and pretty violent but I like the way he writes.  I don't like the violent murders but they don't take up more than 20 to 30% of the book.  Which leaves me with enough to enjoy.  I just finished the latest book by the two Danish women who wrote The Boy In The Suitcase.  I sort of wish this series of books could be made into something.  Like HBO's True Detective.  Well, the first of that series.  The rest, not so much.  I waited for the "free" week and watched the first season.  Wonderful. I think the Red Cross nurse- Nina would be very "watchable".  She certainly knows how to to get into trouble.

I am trying to think of a fabric and thread project to do.  One that doesn't involve the sewing machine. I'm not quite in the mood to make Christmas ornaments out of felt yet.  Any ideas?  It could be purely repetitive.  I have circles I could appliqué to squares--a project I got into for quite awhile but then, when I realized I hadn't made any headway in the weeks I had been sewing----lost interest.  I could, of course scale the project down to making--- what?  A four foot by four foot square?  Placemats? Or I could make a center square and then design an appliquéd border to go all the way around.  The fabrics are French inspired.  Reds, blues, golds.  But I don't need a quilt.  Or do I just want something smaller and less "project" oriented.  Busy-work.

There is a woman who just sews.  Doesn't make anything.  I am too Virgo for that.

September Heat & Humidity

And my best friend.  Benadryl.  See the second line on the left?  Itchy, watery eyes.  That's me.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store.  I had been going every day and spending a fortune ( I have the proof as my credit card bill arrived)--so I have been trying NOT to go to the grocery.  Yesterday, well, I needed to see if there were any peaches (for the smoothie I now love) and I needed deli ham and swiss slices for my "roll ups" (just a slice of ham with cheese on top, rolled up into a cigar shape) which I eat instead of a sandwich.  I loved roll ups for lunch when I was doing Atkins.

Anyway, back to what I was saying.  I stood in front to the allergy pills section and decided to try Claritin. For allergy.  I have tried all the rest.  So far, one hour in, my eyes are drier than usual, I am not sniffling and except for the tight dry skin around my eyes, I am feeling pretty good.  Of course, we have the AC on.  I'm thinking that days when I am feeling great, are days when the AC is on.

The library called.  I now have FOUR delightful books to read.

I made G a very nice 9 inch square lasagna the other day.  Using the items in the fridge (which I purchased on my frequent shopping trips).  Ricotta cheese, frozen spinach, fresh pasta sheets, frozen ground turkey (for testing turkey).  I wish I could say I used my own oven roasted tomatoes for the sauce--but G only likes commercial sauce.  I had a salad late in the afternoon and the last of the blueberry peach smoothie in the evening.  I'll be going into the kitchen to make more smoothie when I finish typing this.

My employer should be calling this afternoon to let me know what days I will be working next week. I'm hoping for three short days.

The figs on our potted fig tree are starting to turn color.  Getting ripe.  I think there may be over 50 figs on the tree, perhaps even 100? We finally learned to water, water and then water some more.  The young "bush" fig (not a tree shape) has 4 figs.  A good beginning effort.  This, I believe, is year 4 for the potted tree.  I will be able to make quite a few jars of fig preserves.

The part of Maine where I live is now in a "drought".  We are 5 to 6 inches short of the normal rainfall.  Wells are drying up, farmers haven't enough hay to cut and feed to their animals, a goat farmer hasn't enough grass for the grass fed goats.  The rain goes by us to the north.  Hermine brought us nothing but humidity. My vegetable garden looks like a disaster.  I am going out to water the few things still growing.  Eggplant, beans, carrots and beets.

The Up Side of An Allergy Attack

I have been medicated into submission (sleepy) and been sitting on the couch watching all of Chef's Table on Netflix.  Even the French version with subtitles. Trying not to rub my eyes. But rubbing them feels so good.

Reading is impossible and I have a sweet stack of good books.

The skin on my face has the texture of sandpaper.  None of the creams and salves I own do much. I had thought the homemade calendula salve would be soothing.  At least it doesn't burn when I apply it.  My nose has started to participate.  Alternating between stuffy and running.  A few sneezes.

I'm going to go sit on the couch, close my eyes and drift for the next few hours. Perhaps the lunch fairy will bring me something to eat?

September Garden: Carrots

I think every regular Reader knows how much I love carrots.  I used to love them sliced on the diagonal with a tub of plain hummus.  I would eat until the tub was empty.  I haven't had any chickpeas recently.  I haven't tested sesame seeds.  I have been eating my garden carrots plain.  Just carrots.  Colorful food is beneficial to eye health.

Yesterday I went hunting for a pickled carrot recipe.  One I could "can".  There are plenty of pickled carrot recipes out there but since carrots are a low acid food--tricky to safely can them.  So, in the interest of adding (at best) 30 to 60 days of longevity to my carrots, I am going to try refrigerator pickled carrots.  Of course I can always use the porch fridge for "cold storage" by setting the fridge temp at 40 degrees.

I also like grilled carrots.  Carrots fried in butter until golden brown and carmelized.  Carrots cut into sticks with my regular mixed greens salads.  And Italian Carrot Soup thickened with white beans. I'm not too worried about being able to eat all the carrots.

When I pull up the carrots I will also pull up the beets.  I like the beets roasted, chilled and served with EVOO and Balsamic vinegar.  By the time this happens there should be green beans on my Blue Lake bushes.   Vegetable Stir Fry of beans, carrots, peppers and onions from my garden.

The green peppers on my "many" pepper plants are starting to change color.  To red.  I have a tray full in the freezer (cut into strips) ready to be packed in freezer bags.  For stir fry and chili during the winter.  I enjoy the bounty of the garden, but bringing in the heavy harvest basket--signals the true end of summer.  September.  In the next few weeks the Concord grapes should be ripe and Patty and I will be making grape jelly.  Oh, and my Fig Tree is heavy with figs.  Fig preserves.

Ah, well.  Planning for next year's garden isn't far away.  And I return to work next week.  Yes.  Going back to work.  I promised my employer I would return.  Already scheduled to teach three classes.  Before I know what's happening, I will be decorating wreaths.

Back To Detox--- my eyes are almost swollen shut

I don't know any more about what causes this than I did 2 months ago.   I feel like the whole thing was a total waste of time, energy and the money spent buying all these special foods.

I look like someone used my face as a punching bag.  Disfigured.  Ugly.

And of course the weight I have lost in the past week or two has piled back on.  As I said before, the same five pounds gained and lost--over and over and over.  This post will be short-- in no time at all I won't be able to see to type.  Then, cold compresses and the couch.

Last year, this continued until a day -a morning- in October when I woke, looked in the mirror and it was gone.  I check for allergen counts, pollen counts, mold spore reports.  Trying to find SOMETHING to explain this.  But there is nothing.

I am feeling defeated, depressed and on the verge of tears--which will burn as they run over my swollen face.

I have made the pineapple, strawberry, kale, mint detox smoothie and will be drinking that today.  And hoping it helps even a little bit.  A few days ago, I felt wonderful.

Nachos!!!!

 It's my birthday this month and during all this "detox" stuff the past 60 days or more--I just kept hoping I would not be reactive to any of the ingredients in NACHOS.  Cuz, that's how I want to celebrate my 70th birthday. And that's what I want to eat ALL month.

 Had nachos today (September 2nd) for a late lunch out on the porch of the Seadog.  I should have also had a Margarita but I am under the influence of Benadryl.  Lots and lots of Benadryl.  My eyes are watering, the skin around my eyes is burning and to make the face a party--my nose is either stuffed up or running.  Of course, it goes without saying that the eczema on my eyebrows is red and itchy.

Nuts to my primary care doctor--I am asking to be referred to an allergy specialist when I have my annual checkup on the  21st.  I'll even pay out of pocket for the ALCAT.  This isn't just "dust".

And, I was totally inflamed since yesterday, late afternoon (when I ate chocolate).  The nachos aren't involved in this reaction. This is why the Elimination Diet people want us to eat the new food three days in a row--as often as we can.  So that, by day three, you can explode into an allergic reaction-- if it's going to happen. No question.

I do have four containers of dark chocolate caramels.  I will miss eating them.  But I can give them to people as gifts. Sadly, I didn't eat any of the caramels during the three day test.   And I certainly am not eating any of them now.  My eyes would swell shut.

Finished watching Marcella on Netflix (good but strange).  Have watched Cooked (very good).  Have watched 2 episodes of Chef's Table (rather pretentious).  Am almost caught up on Mr. Robot (very strange).  Have to watch during the afternoon when G is not in the house.  He can't follow any of the story lines and I get annoyed trying to explain everything while watching. In Mr Robot there are "people" who are imaginary and dead.  So I am watching saying; real person, imaginary person, dream, awake etc. Also the action is sometimes current and often backstory.  It's a lot of work to watch this show.

Had my second Larabar.  Carrot Cake.  It was very tasty.  I purchased two rings of dry pineapple so I can make homemade Carrot Cake Bars. I even got dried banana chips in case I like the Banana Cream Pie one.  No dried apple rings or chips so I can't make the Apple Pie bars.

End Of August In The Vegetable Garden

Eggplant.  I don't have as many as I would like to have.  But I am going to enjoy the first one, sliced, salted, roasted with EVOO until browned with a roasted tomato sauce.  I have some brown rice pasta which I may or may not eat with it.   The recipe is from Food52.  Today.  Roasted eggplant on fresh corn polenta.  

Sometimes it's better to not eat something than to eat something inferior.  That's the way I feel about eating "fake" food.  I'm on the fence regarding spiralized zucchini.

There is very little zucchini left in the garden so I will not be able to make ratatouille this summer. I made too much zucchini butter.  Never made any zucchini fritters.  The zucchini brownies made with gluten free-wheat free flour are dry as dust.  And I think made the eye rash return.   Was it the chocolate or the  King Arthur Flour?  Or was it mold spores because today was cool and damp?

I ordered books from the library and when I picked them up--realized I had already read them.  I now have two new books--I can't say I am excited about either of them, but will at least try to read them.

My 10x10 fabric pictures are on the 10x10 website.  The official opening date for the site is September 4th.  My daughter says I should be honored to have them up already.  I guess they liked them both and are using them as a "tease" to get viewers interested.  Who knows?

I forgot to take my JoAnn's coupon with me today.  I was going to see what they had in #8 perle cotton thread.  I need a few new colors and I'll need red if I tack my old quilt.  I am thinking of doing some mindless embroidery.  I am also thinking of tacking the 1930's Grandmother's Flower Garden (1.5 inch hexagons) I purchased years and years ago.  It was tacked in red thread.  With the lumpiest batting and so much dust!!!!.  So, I have the original backing fabric as well.  The top and the backing are washed and ironed.

I don't think professional free motion quilting would do the quilt justice.  And I don't think I have the patience or skill to hand quilt it myself.  I think it is very difficult to quilt a Flower Garden quilt-- I mean, where do you stitch?   I may have to visit some sites to see what works best.  Tacking maybe the best idea if I wanted to do it myself.

We are "pet sitting" a rescued Ecuadorian Street Puppy for the neighbor's daughter today and tomorrow.  Today G took Riley and Pina for the usual walk in the woods.  For half of it, Pina's leash was attached to Riley's collar.  Riley put up with the puppy but G released him when it looked like Riley had reached his limit.  Riley is 9.5 and Pina is 3 months old (and just a little larger than a toaster).  G said she did whatever Riley did.  If he sniffed something.  She sniffed it.  If he walked over something.  She walked over it.  If he stopped to look.  She stopped to look.  G said it was adorable. Then she found a tree branch to carry and the branch kept knocking into Riley's legs.

More Zucchini Toast & Zucchini Brownies

I found a huge zucchini in the garden yesterday--forgot to mention it.  I really don't know how these things happen.  I spent quite a bit of time in the garden the day before (watering) and it wasn't there.
So, I grated it up (plus a buddy or two of smaller size) to fill the large frying pan to make more zucchini butter.  Shredded zucchini, shredded onion, oil or butter.  Fry till it's soft and "buttery" and beginning to brown on the bottom.  I let mine brown more.

And because (joy, joy) I am now testing chocolate--I shredded up another zucchini off the counter and made zucchini brownies.  I have made this recipe in years past.  Sometimes it works beautifully and turns out like a dense fudge brownie.  Other times--it's just a wet mess.  I am hoping it's fudgey.
I thought of the brownie recipe just moments before I was going to dump the shreds into the frying pan.  I haven't had a chocolate treat since Christmas. (it seems).

I used this recipe (from somewhere): ½ cup oil for fudgey OR ½ cup yogurt for cakelike brownies (not both) . 1.5 cups sugar.  I always use half what recipe calls for.  2 cups flour (I used King Arthur Gluten free), ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1.5 teas. Baking soda, .5 teas salt and 2 cups squeezed dry shredded zucchini.  I mix it all together with my hands.  Like kneading bread dough.  9 inch square pan  for 45 minutes at 350. (I now wish I had added some chopped walnuts).

So---I am testing chocolate.  This isn't as big a deal as it would be for most people.  I can go without chocolate.  But what I actually crave is a dessert.  Something sweet and chewy.  The Larabar is a good dessert.  Vanilla Dairy Queen cones are a lovely dessert (I have been having them all along without any problems).  But a brownie is a most excellent dessert.

I am cooking today (tomatoes roasting for sauce for freezer), the zucchini butter, the brownies.  And I am doing laundry.  Washing curtains, gardening clothing (G and I use up a lot of clothing), and slipcovers.  I vacuumed the entire house Sunday.

I found two more nice peaches at the store (only 2) and will be making more peach blueberry smoothies.  They were excellent.  I also bagged up some raw cashews in the bulk food aisle. I have quite a bit of fruit in the freezer right now and feel "pressured" to be making smoothies everyday--if only to free up space for the roasted tomatoes.  But I have to finish off that lame cantaloupe smoothie first.

This would be a good time to work on "use what's in the freezer or cupboards" before going shopping.  But....that's how the cantaloupe smoothie happened.  Duh!  I may add a splash of lime juice to the jar of smoothie I have left.  Perk it up.  Perhaps drink it alongside the organic corn chips with sea salt.  Very sturdy and hardly any salty taste.

Did any of you see and "hear" what our lovely Governor said on a phone message this week?  They think it's a substance abuse problem or "impairment"--my friends from Boston call it "being mental".

Elimination Diet-- Today's Smoothie-Cantaloupe (not good)

Not a success.  The cantaloupe was not ripe.  So I looked on line and found a few clues as to what to mix and match with it to make a smoothie.

I added the melon to the Vitamix.  Then some frozen mango cubes.  Some raw cashews for thickening.  A quarter of the pineapple lingering in the fridge (my usual addition for a green smoothie).  A big spoon of plain yogurt.

It's okay.  Not great.  The tartness of the pineapple saved it from being too sweet.  But it's very bland but I will drink it.

I tossed the remainder of the melon in the compost bucket.  The worms will enjoy it. From now on I will stick with fruit I grow or the frozen stuff that is usually picked ripe.

My eyes are watering and the skin around my eyes is dry, raw and burning.  I feel awful. I just WISH I knew what is causing this to happen from August to October.  For the third year in a row.

Going out to water the garden, then a shower to cool off, then more allergy meds and a nap.

Watched the movie Gravity last night.  Binge watched Marcella on Netflix the day before. Summer days and summer nights.

Elimination Diet- Peach Smoothie

I  purchased three large peaches.  And they are ripe and juicy.  Freestone like the image above.  I had planned to eat them--just like that.  But decided to try a smoothie.

I checked out the recipes on line and found one, with a comment from someone who registered on the site to just be able to comment on the peach smoothie---- he liked it that much.  That was impressive.I won't register on a site, no matter how much I like something.

I have a Vitamix so if you try this with any other blender--your results might be different.

One large peach.  Remove pit but leave on peel.  One frozen banana.  I wrap ripe bananas in foil and stick them in the freezer.  One half cup raw cashews.  (you may need to presoak them- I didn't have to)  One big handful of frozen blueberries for sweetening.  4 ounces of vanilla yogurt.  I think I also added some water.  More than ½ a cup.  Turned on the Vitamix and let her rip.

I usually open the lid up and stir with a spoon and taste.  See if it's too sour, too green--whatever and then try and add something to make it taste okay.  This tasted okay.

I divide the smoothie into Working Jars from Crate & Barrel.  They come with lids.  I wasn't going to actually drink the smoothie until this morning so I poured, capped and put them in the fridge.  Still thick and smooth this morning.  And delicious.  I will be blending up the last peach later today.

And then I might go looking for more peaches.

The Summer of Food Adventures--- On An Elimination Diet

First time to ever have a Larabar.  The Apple Pie one was delicious.  I also found the sites that show me how to "make my own" bars.  I will be looking for dry apple slices at the health food store. I purchased the Carrot Cake bar.  For tomorrow.

The other first was Smoothies.  I'm never sure about making them without a recipe.  And the recipes I've tried--no matter how stupid they look to me---have turned out to be very tasty.  I even said "yum" while tasting one of the recipe smoothies.  I think it was a pineapple, kale, red berry one.

Well, I'm off the look for a peach smoothie recipe.  And for turmeric sauerkraut--- it ferments in a jar and needs to be burped.  Probiotic.

I may even soak some raw cashews and make ........well, I'm not sure what I will make.  A creamy cashew smoothie?  Cashew cheese?  Or the Cashew Cookie Larabar?

Still August: New Chair Picture

I just love finding a new chair picture.  This one looks cozy--like a big yellow hug!  I wish it had a higher back so I could rest my head.  My head must be very heavy--my neck gets tired holding it up!

A sheet pan of tomatoes is roasting in the oven.  Cherry tomatoes.  I think, pretty soon, I will have all 102 tomatoes here in the house waiting for someone to eat them, roast them or ?????  I am trying not to have to compost them.  I am also bringing in the very last of the cucumbers and zucchini.  The plants got tired.  Which is okay with me. My favorite way of eating tomatoes--not possible now--was on white bread with heaps of mayo.  And with pasta.  Not possible unless I try brown rice pasta.

The zucchini butter recipe is the BEST!.  I am enjoying it on non-wheat toast or mixed into reheated white rice. Seems that the white rice is better for me than the brown.  How odd.

The grocery has chicken tenders (fried and breaded and sometimes with BBQ sauce) which I have been eating with no reaction (shocked!!).  I don't like meat as a rule --pot roast I love, sliced deli ham, and ground beef fried to cinders-- but anything "juicy" makes me gag.  Getting enough protein is a real problem.  No eggs or soy due to reactions. Anyway, I load up on the day old boxes of tenders and eat them cold with the rice and zucchini butter or with my "big salad" of romaine, carrots, red onion, red cabbage.  And of course, Smoothies.   I may need to make another 5 pounds of meatballs.  They were non-reactive.

And fruit.  Red plums and peaches right now.  My raspberry bushes are getting ready for the late September berries.  I see lots of little baby berries- still hard and very green.

I long for the old days of bran flakes and soy milk.  Of yogurt and fruit.  But I do not miss the pounds of inflammation.  I can almost always see the bones in my ankles now.

Well, I have things to do.  Wash in the washer.  Clothes in the dryer.  A wet, tired (from his walk in the woods) dog has pushed his way under the desk where I am sitting--so he will be "notified" of any movement on my part while he sleeps.  I will miss this when I return to work.

Visible Results Of Elimination Diet

The scale at home and certainly not the one in the doctor's office don't show the changes the detox and elimination of inflammatory foods have had on my body.

Well, I went into work today and a co-worker was all "OMG, look at you!!!" and I felt much better about the rash and the food diet.

I am now the same weight I was at the beginning of August.  No weight loss.  But I am certainly taking up less space, wearing smaller sized clothing and having less aches, pains and acid reflux. I also found some Lara bars that have all of the things I can eat and none of the things I can't.  I know there are "homemade "lara" bars recipes on the internet.  So, I am going to see what I can find.

Which one to eat first.

More Zoodles & Smoothies

I love the chewy texture of these Zoodles if I allow them to dry for at least 24 hours after cutting and before eating.  The ones I spiral cut today will be eaten tomorrow.

Today I am drinking Smoothies.  The one I just finished was pineapple, strawberry, frozen banana, kale and 4 ounces of Noosa vanilla yogurt (not Greek).  I roasted some beets from the garden and will be tossing a cooked beet into the next Smoothie.  Possibly pineapple, beet, frozen cherries and kale.

I also pulled some carrots.  They are growing long.  Impressive.  As I hadn't thought the soil was loose enough to grow long carrots.  But.....some of the nicest carrots have been nibbled (underground) by chipmunks.   I don't want to start trapping the rodents.  What to do with them after they are in the trap?  We trap them at work.  Then an employee takes them for a ride in the car and lets them out.  We have discussed marking them some way so we can see if they find their way back.  When we had a cat at work----well, the only chipmunks we ever saw were the dead ones.

So, the counters are filled with ripe tomatoes, a few zucchini, quite a few cucumbers (I found a cucumber/blueberry smoothie recipe) and the now ripe avocados are in the fridge where they stay perfect for 5 to 7 days.  I like an avocado in a green smoothie to give it a creamy texture.

Look at me--discussing the merits of Smoothies.  Who is this person????

The eye itch and rash (eczema ?) is still bothering me.  It really bothers me right after I wake up, but before my allergy pills take effect.  Then bothers me again after 9 pm.  I also have a bumpy rash around my neck.  All this reminds me of my youngest brother.  His eczema was so bad that the skin around his neck and in the crease of his arms and back of knees was raw.  Of course my mother let him eat anything he wanted.  How odd that I am just now developing it?

If there is any good news (other than the carrots), it's that overnight I lost 3.5 pounds.  Inflammation and reaction to allergens.  Peaches were new to the diet.  Supposedly safe.

I made another batch of rice flour banana muffins.   This recipe uses coconut oil, coconut sugar, no eggs.  I don't know what I would do without them.  If any readers out there need a recipe for a baked good for someone who can't have eggs, wheat, dairy or cane sugar--- let me know and I will send it to you.

I had started watching Thirteen (BBC) on Xfinity (comcast) and it seems like midway thru my watching Amazon bought the rights.  So......I watched three out of five episodes and now have no idea how the damned thing ends.

August Zucchini Surplus

I cooked mine longer.  More browned bits.  This is very much the same process in cooking as the Southern Fried Squash I make--but this takes far less time as the zucchini is grated rather than sliced.  And could be on the plate in less than 45 minutes.  Fried Squash takes hours to reach the deep mahogany brown color--and I make it exactly the way the 19 year old newly married girl across the hall from me in Georgia made hers. And G and my two children will eat it no other way. I just wish I had some fried okra to go with it.

Food 52 suggests spreading it on toast (and topping with a fried egg), mixing into a bowl of pasta, or a'la Julia Child--after it's cooked to your degree of "done", start folding in fresh baby spinach leaves.
I like mine piled on top of some white rice with a side of tomatoes (and okra if I had some).

My day has centered around the kitchen.  The stove; making what I have stated to all concerned is the last batch of zucchini pickles.  The oven; making Martha Stewart's Southern Pulled Pork (takes hours even though the recipe says a shorter time).  The sink;  washing all the canning stuff, all the dishes, the tray used to oven roast more tomatoes.

Tomatoes.

Last year I didn't have enough.  This year--there are so many tomatoes.  And one whole group of plants is still all green tomatoes --not even producing for the house yet. And, harder to believe, they are delicious.  I eat three to five of them each day, out of hand, halved and salted.  And about the same number of pickling cucumbers.

I have decided to eat as many as I can.  Oven roast at least one large tray a day as they get really ripe and soft (for the freezer) and have the rest with fresh mozzarella, basil leaves, EVOO, and Balsamic vinegar.  Caprese.  The fresh mozzarella doesn't bother me.

My itchy eyes are back plus pain in my hip joint.  I ate something (peanut butter) that I reacted to pretty darn quick.  So now, no soy and no peanut butter.  My next test is yogurt.  Three days straight eating yogurt.  But first my eyes have to stop swelling up and itching.  I bought more bananas so I can make another dozen rice flour banana muffins (thank the Lord for that recipe).  I bought pineapple to make pineapple, kale (so much in the garden right now), berry smoothies.  Detox foods. I also got avocados which are now 89 cents each instead of the $1.49 last week.  Last week corn was 5 for dollar.  Today: 2 for a dollar.

The walnut and pecan test went very well.  Next up was peanuts.  I don't know how long it will take to get back to a safe place (no eye itching, no hip pain when I walk).  I can't test anything else until I am back to "normal".  So, smoothies, salads, vegetables, banana muffins (but this time with walnuts) and tomatoes.  And peaches and red plums.  I can eat all the fruit I could ever want to eat.  And white rice but not brown rice.  How's that for weird???

Oh, and the VERY BEST NEWS--I am gaining weight faster than I was losing weight.  Really packing the pounds back on.  I have a doctor's appointment in 4 weeks.  She is not going to be happy with me.  She is expecting a 10 pound weigh loss.  I am still wearing the size clothing I wore before gaining weight.  And the clothing fits the same.  But the scale (with new batteries) announces a half to 2 pound gain each morning.  In the past 30 days I have lost and regained the same 10 pounds.

Lets hope that the day of my appointment--I'm on the losing side??????

Rose Covered Garden Arch

Like this one.  Someday?  I can only hope.  None of the roses I have planted near my garden gate have "lived".  It's like the place where roses commit suicide.  At least my roses.

Today was my last day of watering the Grow Boxes for someone I met while teaching a class at work.  She was in Virginia. And it was drop off day for the 10x10 Arts Are Elementary Fundraiser.  I had two pieces.  And I wasn't 100% happy with everything about them--but the Blackberry Hedgerow is pretty nice. And the other one --in fabric choice and design is "trademark" Me.  If they don't sell, I will have both matted and framed.  For me.

I tried to do better with contrast and focal points.  The work always looks good to me on the work table but the focus isn't clear when it's far away.  And upright on a wall.  I need to start working on a design wall.  I also need to actually have an art space.  When I moved out of the old work room--I boxed everything up.  It's still boxed up.  So finding the "right" piece of anything--thread fabric etc. not good.  I also had ongoing issues with the spindle holding the invisible thread.  The spindle would come out, the thread spool with fly under the bed---- I just about gave up.  And I had to thread the bobbin.  Geez!

I haven't been in the garden for two full days.  I'm going to finish this and then change into garden clothes and go out.  It's off and on sunshine/clouds.  Some breeze.  First I'll pick ripe items and then water and then pick blackberries and get all scratched up, bleed and then the scratches with redden and swell.  I look like twelve cats attacked me.  But the best berries are always 3 feet into the thicket.
I haven't done anything with the stuff I picked two days ago.  This is when the garden is tedious and not a joy filled experience.

This is also when I make ratatouille-  a word that means "stew" in French.  There is an eggplant out in the garden that is probably ready to be picked.  My first.  And it maybe the only one.

Making Chicken Potstickers Today

G loves them.  And I can make quite a few at once.  Freeze whatever he doesn't eat in that first "yippee, she made potstickers" meal.  Usually two bags.  Two future meals.

When our son visited, in 2014, we worked together to make them.  That was lovely.  He is a careful and precise cook, often chiding his mother for her messy ways.  We also baked a cherry pie.

Today, after an evening of rain (damp humid morning), of a dog passing gas all night under our bed, and eventually a panicked bark to signal needing to go out--fast-- (what did he eat?)-- I didn't get much sleep-- I have garden produce picking, the watering job in Town and then I will settle into a gentle rhythm of making the dough and filling and pleat my way into dumplings.

Riley is still not 100%.  He threw up on this morning's walk.  So, he will appreciate a day of monitoring my whereabouts from the kitchen dog bed.  G is off to work, weeding someone else's garden beds.

Later today, after G returns from work, I intend to have ice cream.  It has no relevance to my diet. Which is odd.  Cheese? Problems at times.  Yogurt?  Not always a good idea.  Ice Cream.  Great.
Perhaps it's the souring or processing of the milk into cheese and yogurt?  Fresh mozzarella is no problem.  I am trying a vanilla yogurt (only 4 ounces) which is NOT Greek.  I have read that the Greek process can cause problems in digestion and also the Greek style has a greater percentage of sugar.  I don't care for soupy, runny yogurt.

The sun is shining. It's humid.  It's hot.  It's August.  Years ago, I had a day old baby girl to care for on August 17.  In Georgia.  All alone.  (G worked long hours).  Just me and a very small baby and a paperback copy of Dr Spock.  The book stated that the baby was to be bathed each morning at 10 am.
And so it was.  I bathed that baby each and every morning, at 10 am.  Followed by clean clothes, a bottle and a nap. She was a delightful baby.  Quiet.  Happy.  Easily entertained by the mobile over the crib.  I tied a soft piece of yarn to her wrist and she tugged and held still, in order to move her favorite animal--the red elephant-- directly overhead.  G and I would watch her movements (she wasn't even a month old) as she repeatedly moved the elephant to the desired position.  I can safely say that she is still determined to have things her own way.  

Up One Pound After Eating Corn

Overnight weight gain is the usual  "reaction" but it can also be gut pain, itchy eyes, runny nose and other not so nice symptoms.  I gained a pound overnight.  Corn or those date/sunflower truffles.  I haven't eaten any of those little balls of processed dates and sunflower seeds in quite awhile.  Two weeks?  And I vaguely remember gaining weight last time (I have to go back and read my diet journal).  So--I will test corn again. The dates and sunflower seed things was from the Detox section of the Elimination Diet.  They were supposed to be safe food.  Stepping on the scale each morning--at times it's okay but when it goes up--I am sad the rest of the day.  I feel like a failure.

This is the madness in my non-scientific elimination/testing.  It's not as if I intentionally messed it up. I ate the little date/sunflower balls because I was hungry after watering the garden and they were supposedly "safe" food.  When I get hungry, I get dizzy.  And I was going to take a shower and didn't want to faint in the tub.  Purely preventative first aid.  Prior to the Elimination Diet--I would have had one or two large spoonfuls of peanut butter.  Jif extra crunchy.  Protein.  But now--I have no protein that is easily available to me.

I have a tray of cherry tomatoes roasting in the oven..  I have a counter full of zucchini ready to be sliced up for pickles.  And I need to collect and stir fry a big bunch of kale.  I also have the shredded zucchini ready to squeeze and fry into "fritters".  Vegetarian food is not high in protein.

I worked on my little 10x10- Crow Three Point Zero.  Couched some very thin slivers of black felt. with perle cotton threads in magenta, orange and lime. Today--after watering my garden and the Garden Box Tomatoes---I will rethread the sewing machine and stitch an design onto the pieced surface (mostly my painted fabric scraps) and then add the little black felt crow.

Simply Recipes (sidebar) has a very interesting lasagna today.  Lots of greens.  Basil pesto.  G wouldn't eat it but it may be a good choice for me to have on hand when I get "dizzy".  I think I have some basil pesto in the fridge.  All I need is the cheese and the fresh lasagna sheets from the grocery.
I can fry a big bunch of kale from the garden with garlic and red pepper flakes.  Could sub sliced zucchini for the noodles???  We'll see what I decide to do.

Now--onward to the watering.  The tomatoes smell like they are done roasting.

August Vegetables--Baby Sized & Testing Sweet Corn

Cherry tomatoes are getting ripe.  I collect as many as I can and eat most of them before getting into the house.  Thankfully, my carrots are much lagger than these.  And I got a few pounds of the really big orange carrots from Whole Foods.  I had two of them grilled to charred perfection last night for dinner.  The dressing is Green Goddess.  I think I have everything but the "fishy" stuff to make this.  Well, except for an avocado.  Suddenly, avocados are $1.49 each.  Those tiny squash are very cute.

I have a "vacation/coverage" job for 8 days.  I am watering someone's Earth boxes.  They have two tomatoes in each box and the plants are at least two feet taller than me.  5'6".  Each morning I drive over and fill the water reservoir in each of the 10 boxes.  It's always empty when I arrive. Thirsty tomatoes.  I also water all the new plantings.  We are very short of water this summer and we are much warmer than ever.  We are not used to being "hot".

But hot is much better than being on fire.  Or being flooded.

Today we are repeating the sliced tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil for dinner.  And we are also having sweet corn.  I'll call it a test.  Summer is way too short to not being eating fresh from the Farm sweet corn.  This stuff is local.  The EVOO and Balsamic vinegar to dress the tomatoes and cheese isn't local but it's very good.

Nothing happened (well, I did lose a half pound) when I ate the tomatoes and cheese (dairy) on Saturday.  So, today it's just to see what happens with the corn.  If nothing happens--then I am going back to the store for more after I water the Earth boxes tomorrow.  Five for $2.

I am reading a book.  Watching PBS.  Finished tacking the quilt.  No more dust to breath.  I am craving chocolate candy.  The dark chocolate caramels in particular from Trader Joe's.  I have a box left over from Valentine's Day. But I am being very stern with myself and just saying NO!

I have my 10x10 fabric art to finish and my forms (in triplicate) to fill out before drop off Saturday morning. Which reminds me to ask G to print them off.  While I cut up and dress tomatoes.

Found the Food 52 Zucchini Fritter Recipe

And instead of the white potato, I can add a shredded sweet potato or shredded carrots to the very simple recipe.  No flour.  Does have egg but I will give it a try.  The Elimination Diet is off the rails anyway.  I was spending way too much time "over thinking" my meals and while I did that--food was spoiling in the fridge.  Recipe at end of post.

The day I lost 2 pounds was the day after eating a Caesar salad with dressing and cheese, a steak and a pile of French fries with lots of ketchup at Longhorn (and tons of salt).  The days I gain weight is all about brown rice, zucchini and a few raw cucumbers.  Starvation is not the answer.

 Last night we managed to eat all the ripe tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, EVOO, and Balsamic vinegar.  We shared a fresh French baguette.  Down half a pound this morning.

Today I am cooking a huge pot of sliced yellow squash with onion and butter.  Southern comfort food.  I had made this once before and gave the leftovers to our daughter.  She swooned.  And ate it all.  Now I am making more.  Lots more so we can share with her again.

I also have enough green and yellow zucchini to make another 6 jars of pickle.  I need to buy more onions.  We took inventory and G managed to eat his way thru all but 3 of the jars I made last year.  I think he has some pickle with his lunch everyday.

Now the recipe:
 2 grated green zucchini (medium sized or larger) to make 4 cups
1 cup grated white potato, sweet potato or carrots
1 or 2 eggs.  Start with one, beaten
1 T of chopped parsley (or mint or dill or all three)
1 t lemon zest
(optional: add crumbled Feta to the mixture along with mint and dill)

Grate all the veg and salt it and leave to exude water for 30 minutes or refrigerated, for longer.
Then drain off water and squeeze out any extra water.  I use a dish cloth, wrap, squeeze (hard).

Then add the egg, parsley (or others), lemon and some breadcrumbs if still too wet to hold together.  Here's a hint I use.  Potato pancake mix (the kind sold in the Jewish foods section)--a couple tablespoonful.

Heat up a cast iron frying pan, add EVOO or butter.  Scoop some of the vegetable mix into the pan and flatten slightly with spatula--repeat.  Let fry.  I mean find something to do--clean the countertops--and let the fritters fry till the edges are golden brown and crispy.  Don't fiddle with them. Turn.

Serve with lemon spiked Green yogurt.

Tomatoes In The August Garden

I wait for them all year.  The sunshine warmed tomatoes straight from the garden.  I've mentioned before that one of my fondest memories of "eating tomatoes" is in my early teens, on the porch swing, barefoot and eating tomatoes.  I wanted the moment to last forever.  It was so perfect.

But "perfect" rarely lasts long.  And, each time we recall a memory from our past, we rewrite it.  Did you know that?  So, each time I remember that porch swing moment--it gets re-written. How different it is now from the actual moment?

I got to see the actual condition of my home this morning.  Our Town is re-evaluating the tax rate for all homes (they want more money) and this entails an actual visit to the house.  A walk through all the rooms.  OMG.  What a packrat/terrible housekeeper I am.  The guy asked if the house was originally a one or two story house.  Such an odd question.  I asked him if he considered an attic a second story. Most homes have an attic.

Anyway, there is an attic.  Part of it was made into a bedroom with a bath.  We don't use it.  But must still pay taxes on it.  The remainder of the attic plus a "sewing room" that I use to store things--is just that--an unfinished attic.  As is the workshop over the garage.  I was quite upset at all this "unfinished" and cluttered space.  I rarely go up there.  I guess we just take things up, set them down, and walk away.  At least this is what it suddenly looked like this morning.

So, I am feeling quite messy today.

Drawing On The Walls

I know these animals weren't free style drawings but rather are wallpaper.  But the idea of drawing on a plain white wall is really interesting to me right now. Today.

I have two 10X10 inch pieces of artwork to get ready by the 20th.  For the Arts Are Elementary fundraiser.  The two I have on my work table are okay.  But I am not sure of the "sale-ability" of either.  Why donate art if it won't sell?  And art should be made without these thoughts.

It's going to be 90 today.  Hot and steamy.

I already began the day depressed.  Gained 2 pounds overnight.  I am back to the weight I was the first week of July.  I have gotten nowhere with these "diets".  I couldn't even find anything to eat for breakfast this morning (that seemed like a normal breakfast).   Yesterday breakfast was zucchini noodles with a cherry tomato and onion sauce.

My allergies are in high gear.  Itchy, watery eyes, nose running, hip aches, foggy thinking.

The high point of the day will be a vanilla DQ cone.   And a nap?

August Garden: Filling Jars

Today it was "sort" of raining.  Not sunny.  Not dry. Muggy.  Damp.  A good day to stay in the kitchen and "Preserve" things.  My grandmother called it "canning".

I literally spent the day in the classic triangle of my kitchen.  The sink, the island, the stove. No fridge needed.  I washed jars, filled the canning kettle, measured sugar out of the brand new 10 pound bag, vinegar from the gallon jug.  Sliced vegetables for the pickles with the mandolin type slicer. I didn't try using the Japanese slicer.  The blade looked wicked sharp.

I made bread and butter pickles first with the veg I had sliced and salted on Sunday.  Heated the canning kettle, boiled the jars and then filled them and processed them for 10 minutes.  I love hearing the lids "click" as they cool on the island top.  Then I sliced up another batch of zucchini (yellow and green), red and orange peppers, onions, garlic and salt and set it in the fridge for three hours.

Next up: blueberries.  I crushed 6 cups worth (and then added some more), added pectin, and brought the juicy mess up to the boil and then added 6 cups of sugar.  Hard for me to do.  I am frugal.  Six cups seems like way too much.  When it had "boiled hard" for one minute, I took the pan off the heat and scooped blueberries into hot jars (they went in after the pickles came out) and then processed the jam jars.

I stopped in-between the pickles and blueberry jam to wash everything and look for more jars.  Then wash the jars etc.

After the blueberry jam-- OMG was that stuff amazingly good!!!  I licked the plate I had sitting under the jars while I filled them---  I started on the strawberry rhubarb jam.  Strawberries (Maine local berries) were frozen but I own a Vitamix.  So, they went in in small batches and the resulting strawberry slushy went into the pan with a quart freezer bag of sliced rhubarb from my garden.  More sugar.  Five and a half cups.  I wondered why I hadn't used the Vitamix to crush the blueberries.  Head slap.

By now it was a bit after 5.  I started at 12:43.  So, onward to the second batch of zucchini pickles.

I, literally, never sat down.  I also took a few moments to vacuum the kitchen as I was barefoot and I wanted the floor to be a bit cleaner than it was.

Was it worth it?  Yes!  I only had to haul that huge kettle onto and off the stove once each way and I ended up with a dozen jars of pickle, 5 pints of blueberry jam, and five pints of strawberry rhubarb.
And there is so much more room in the porch freezer now.  There is half a bag of blueberries which will be made into some sort of muffins or cake tomorrow. Lots more zucchini that I should be slicing and frying up into one of the Plan recipes I actually enjoyed eating.  And the garden is really full of kale right now.  I need to start eating it.  Or drinking it.  Blueberry, kale smoothie?  I think the one in the Elimination Diet has pineapple, blueberry, kale in one of their green smoothies.  So, I need pineapple.  I do have frozen mango---- wonder if that would work?

Next up will be those blackberries.  When they are all ripe, picked and frozen.  The fig jam will be the last thing I can.  I make boozy cranberries in November but the cognac keeps them safe in the fridge all Winter long. Well, as long as they last.

I do not can tomatoes.  Ever.  I roast them and freeze the resulting "sauce" in quart bags.  Use as needed until next summer.

I am really "into" retirement suddenly.  Up really late (into the early hours of the am) and sleeping until 11:30.  Bad habits I have missed.  Yes, I woke up at 11:30 and started canning stuff at 12:43.

August Sun & Heat &Cucumber, Mint Water

My newest favorite thing to drink this summer is cucumber water with mint leaves.  Isn't it pretty?  Makes you feel 10 degrees cooler just looking at it.  And, now, the cucumbers for the water are coming out of my own garden--all warm from the sunshine.  And I have tons of spearmint in the herb bed.

Well, the zucchini is producing again. (and I am wishing I could be making fritters)  And the tomatoes are getting bigger (but still green) and the carrots and beets are bulking up.  I picked blueberries again but they are coming to an end.  The blackberries are just starting.  I've picked and eaten about a full pint so far.

I am so happy I chose to plant blueberry bushes when the garden was created.  And the blackberries. They went in over time but this is the first year they have actually made blackberries.  I cut the raspberry canes down to the ground in the Spring.  The variety I have is Heritage and it makes a small crop in July (if not cut back hard) and a larger crop in late September.  I'm going for the September crop. Fewer Japanese beetles. The prune plum didn't make any plums this year.  I am thinking I might want to buy an apple tree for the yard.  I'll place it near one of the crab apple trees for pollination. I think having fruit in the garden is almost better than having vegetables.

I went to a lecture on "Diet & Dementia" yesterday.  The room was packed.  The speaker is a local Adventist doctor and he is a very good speaker and just a real nice guy (and an avid gardener).  Turns out eating fruit and leafy greens (and green vegetables) is good for your brain. One half to a full cup of berries each day and leafy greens like kale or collards along with broccoli, zucchini etc..  I love kale cooked down with onions.  I used to love it in a frittata but I haven't re-tested eggs yet.  ( I had some granola yesterday and got acid reflux--a reaction--so no more oats--I'll have to find a new home for the new package of Bob's-- so many of my typical daily foods are turning out to be re-active- like the soy milk, cheese, yogurt and now the oats.)

My garlic and onions have been pulled and they are drying in the garage.  More than usual on the garlic and less than I wanted on the onions.  I planted green bean seeds.

I am going to pull the amaryllis bulbs out of the garden bed and let the leaves dry and die ( I wrote a reminder to myself on my calendar).  Then repot them in late October for Christmas flowers.  All of the bulbs were happy in the garden and got nice and fat.  Several that hadn't bloomed in the winter, bloomed in the garden.  One red and two whites.

Well, time to get ready to go to the movies.  We're seeing the new Bourne movie.

Porch Swings & Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt

I have two more Lucie Whitehouse thrillers to read.  And the swing reminds me of my teenage years. I spent the summer days (when not in the basement ironing) on the porch "glider" reading Gone With The Wind.  It was a summer tradition from 14 to 17.  Cleveland sprayed the city each year to kill mosquitos.  Sometimes they even sprayed the citizens if we were outside when the giant truck went past.

But this larger swing could even be used for nice summertime naps.  With mosquito netting.  I would have to have it higher off the porch floor--Riley likes to nap UNDER beds and hammocks, so it follows he would also like to nap under a porch swing.

This hasn't been the usual mosquito bite summer here in Maine.  Lots of heat and humidity but we have enough "sea breeze" to keep the little blood suckers moving.  Or maybe my blood has been changed by the asthma meds into something less delicious.  I AM getting a rash from the leaves of the tomato and squash plants.  Mostly on my arms as I "hunt" for cucumbers, ripe tomatoes and squash.  Witch hazel splashed on helps. So, even minus mosquitos, I am itchy.

I sliced up the yellow zucchini for pickles yesterday.  The red (bell peppers), white (onion) and green (jalapeño) and golden yellow makes for a very colorful and pretty combination.  I quite like it.

My weight has held stable at the same number for three days now.  So, nothing reactive in the foods I am eating.  Also, this stable weight is the lowest I have reached in the entire diet adventure.  Meaning I have been here before but not for three days straight.  I must, finally, have started doing something right.  I am looking forward to seeing a new number on the scale.  A four or a three.  A two would be cause for a parade downtown.

We are supposed to have some rain today.  It would be nice.

I am nearly finished tacking the pieced center of this big dusty poofy quilt.  I will need to drag it back across the street for the owner to look at so we can discuss the borders.  Three wide borders.  In order to make them flat I will need to unsew the edges.  Flatten it all out.  Then decide how to tack.  My daughter looked at the work I have been doing and said "you're a better person than I am".  It's that thankless. I have had to appliqué stitch torn border seams in one area and in places in the center section as needed.  Hours are spent on this project each day.  Hours that will not be compensated as I passed the suggested renumeration long ago.  Right now I am working at one to two dollars an hour.  For hand work.

The quilt's pieced construction is poor.  Seams do not match up.  Blocks aren't square.  In another time and place, I would have taken the entire thing apart and remade it.  But that time is past and I have no interest in going back to it.  My days of piecing are over.  My days of shoving a a puffy quilt under the machine needle is over as well.

I do own an antique hand pieced quilt that was once tacked.  I took all the knots out and threw away the lumpy batting.  This might make a good Winter project in 2017.  New batting.  Fresh knots.  Grandmother's Flower Garden and all those small hexagons.  Perhaps I had to do this project in order to see my way to re-newing that one?

The August Garden: Too Hot & Too Much

I have beets ready to be pulled out of the ground.  But it's too hot to turn on the oven to roast those beets.  I have carrots.  The chipmunks are eating some of them from the under ground up to but not including the leafy green tops.  Which they leave for me to find.

Trader Joe's not only had lovely brown rice tortillas but they had a nice loaf of brown rice bread.  Still gritty.  But I can toast it and have a slice when eating a slice of bread seems like something I just HAVE to do.  We are eating our way thru the meatballs (with no reaction).  And today I am making some taco beef for those tortillas.  G will have something on the grill or some take out from the Chinese place.   I have heads of Romaine ready in the garden and about 8 small ripe tomatoes to go with my tortilla wraps.

I am steadily working on watering the garden (pulling weeds- tying up heavy tomato branches- tying peppers to the support sticks) but first, before watering, I search for ripe and ready produce.  The hunt for cucumbers is pretty tricky.  The hunt for any squash in the garden--well, not abundant.  The tomato plants have lots of dry spotted leaves from mildew--- the damp overnight and sunshine in the morning.  I have been cutting off leaves.  Everything below the first fruit.  So the plants have bare legs up above the knees.  While I let the hose run in the tomato bed, I counted 127 tomatoes.  Some are good sized. Mostly Early Girl.  The Sweet 100 cherries are very late.  Still mostly green.

I also picked blueberries and I now have a gigantic bag of them in the porch freezer.  Enough for two batches of blueberry jam.  One of these days (a rainy one) I am going to set up the jam making sweat shop and just keep at it until I have boxes full of blueberry and strawberry rhubarb jams.  Later, if there are concord grapes--we'll make grape jelly.  And (with back up figs now in the freezer thanks to Whole Foods) there might actually be some more fig preserves in those boxes as well.  No peach preserves this year as my friend's tree has not a single peach on the tree due to the Spring frost and snowfall at flowering time. I have to admit to not eating much of these jams and jellies.  Hardly any actually.  I think I ate one jar of strawberry rhubarb this past year--period.  When I could eat toast. This morning I had rhubarb sauce (just rhubarb and a small amount of sugar cooked for 10 or 15 minutes) on my rice flour toast.

I am thinking of making the zucchini pickles with the golden yellow zucchini that is producing fruit. Who says the pickles have to be green? If the garden only produces yellow zucchini then I have to make yellow pickles. My visit to the grocery will include the purchase of onions and another hot little pepper for the pickle recipe.

I made the gritty Elimination Plan banana muffins again.  This time with the full two cups of mashed ripe banana.  Took way more bananas that I used last time (and didn't measure).  Filled all 12 cups to the top.  The flour is rice flour, the oil is coconut, the sugar is coconut brown sugar, the leavening is apple cider vinegar and baking soda.  In a week or so, when I test walnuts and pecans, I can add some to the recipe. One muffin is a very good choice when I am feeling hungry but it's not time for a meal.

The Botanical Question: Why Produce Only Male Flowers?

I have no other answer than the one posed by the resident botanist.  Too much nitrogen.  Could be as I have been home this summer and have added fertilizer to the basic watering routine. I did find a recipe for squash blossom pizza.  If only I could eat wheat, yeast, cheese right now.

My work on tacking the puffy quilt belonging to my neighbor continues.  I have used up one ball of thread already and started in on a second ball.  I have broken one needle.  I can begin, finally, to see the end of this road.  The tacked portion looks quite nice.  But.........and there is always a but.  The wide borders are now showing a tendency to billow.  I don't want my perfectionistic ways to force me to undo the border seams.  I don't want that.  The borders are wide and will probably need at least another ball of perle cotton number 8.  I guess I will need to visit JoAnn's for re-supplying.

The beef test is not going well.  Hard to tell if the rash on my eyes is from the beef or from the dusty quilt or from pollen in the garden that got into my eyes.  It could also be from the oats in the Life Changing Bread which I have stopped eating--I had a grand total of 3 quarter inch thick (very seedy) slices.  Which leaves even the most disinterested observer aware of my less than scientific methods.
I wonder if the birds and chipmunks will eat LCB?  It really isn't very good. And I am sorry I wasted a second attempt on this "bread".  Even toasted (twice) it is still medicinal in flavoring.

I can't say much for my methods.  I become distracted easily. And I am cooking for another person as well as myself.  So things get mixed up during a day when I am tired, cranky and hungry.

But I do step away from things and then observe a "safe" zone of eating in response.  Oh, I should also mention taking Advil PM which is KNOWN for causing red, itching eyes in sensitive persons.  But I need to actually SLEEP.  Not spend the night fussing about stuff that happened 30 or 40 years ago.  I start the day exhausted and go from there.  It's not a good recipe for success.

Which is why this elimination process is going so slowly and producing such odd results.

I am being taken to Trader Joe's today. (Field Trip) To replenish the marinara and olive oil stocks.  Also I have heard TJ's has nice brown rice tortillas.  And orange muscat vinegar.  G is looking forward to filling the freezer with bags of potstickers.  And possibly coconut aminos to replace soy sauce (for me).

Recipe But No Zucchini

How strange is that???? My walking buddy asked me to bring along a zucchini for her this morning on our walk.  So, out to the garden I went and, what to my wondering eyes did appear?..... not even one tiny zucchini.

Lots of boy flowers on all the chest high plants.  But no females.  No fruit.  Puzzlement on my part. No fritters in my future either.  Last summer I ate cold fritters everyday for lunch at work.

Same on the pattypan plants (which are even taller than the zucchini plants) as I did an experiment
using a new to me compost product from work.  The pattypans got the super new compost and they have gone crazy.  Lots of flower buds but not one fruit as yet.

Plenty of bees.

The blueberries are doing well.  An over filled cookie sheet of them in the freezer right now.  I am waiting until tomorrow (or later today) to pick more as I am running out of room for fruit in the freezer. I could get rid of some by making a smoothie.

I made these strange pickles for my daughter:  They taste wonderful but the process is odd.  The jar isn't filled to the top with the vinegar salt sugar pickling liquid and the jar of vegetables needs to be shaken and turned upside down over the course of a week or more.  The daughter likes colorful peppers, cucumber, and carrots in hers.  Onions, garlic and pickling spices.  I think it's ready when the jar is nearly full of liquid but I could be mistaken.  I made the pickle with cauliflower last year and the cauliflower wasn't as fresh as it needed to be.  So, this time I used peppers.  Red and orange.

I need to bushwhack my way over to the blackberry thicket and see how things are going.  There are tons of "potential" berries on the plants.  I have always wanted to make a blackberry pie.

So the future here:  blueberry jam.  blackberry pie.  strawberry/rhubarb jam.  more bread and butter zucchini pickles (hopefully).  I don't know whether I really would make zucchini fritters this summer as they contain eggs and cheese.  But those fritters at the top of this post....they look delicious.

August And The Garden Wakes Up

I watered the garden yesterday and fed the plants with "blue stuff" as things were looking a bit tired. I have tomatoes ripening.  Leaves are turning yellow with brown spots.  I remove them. Any leaves below the first fruiting branch aren't needed.  The fresh leaves up top can supply all the necessary sugars.

I got a handful of cucumbers.  Making a jar of pickles for my daughter.  She wants me to add peppers.  I have plenty of peppers growing--but I like them red and not green so we must wait for them to "turn".

I have spiraled two more zucchini and the curls are drying on a cookie rack.

I have been watching PBS and working on my neighbor's quilt.  The dusty one.  I keep thinking I am getting somewhere (6 plus hours already in it) but it seems more is untacked than is tacked. I mentioned to G that machine quilting it (when he asked) --so puffy-- would have reduced me to swearing like a sailor.

It seems a bit overcast today and I can't go to the grocery until after 12 (prescription ordered) so I might as well do another hour or two of tacking.

Today I am going to be eating (testing) beef.  Which translates to meatballs. G loves meatballs. And I love them also. I can also make some taco meat.  I like that with rice, lettuce and tomatoes.  I will miss having cheese and sour cream.  But I can have taco sauce.  And I have those weird rice tortillas. Better than nothing.  I wonder if they make rice milk cheese?