familyvalues

The three of us took advantage of nice weather to eat sushi outdoors, at a restaurant across the street from the main library. I asked what tempura came with the tempura+nigiri lunch plate, and when I was enthusiastic about sweet potato, she offered to bring me only sweet potato, which I happily accepted.

It was good tempura, and I was pleasantly surprised that my ten pieces of nigiri included ama obi (raw shrimp), which was excellent. In the past, when I've specifically ordered ama ebi, the servers have asked if I know that it's raw shrimp. The plate also included the much more common cooked shrimp, along with fish, octopus, squid, and rice-stuffed tofu skin, which I gave to Adrian and Cattitude.

On our way to lunch, we passed a table with a sign offering people $2 to swab their noses. After we ate, I asked what they were studying--it's sampling for whatever viruses happen to be going around, as a supplement to wastewater testing, done by the same people. Sure, we'll do that; it wasn't even uncomfortable (unlike swabbing my nose for at-home covid and flu tests).

My other small contribution to public health was filling out the Your Local Epidemiologist weekly survey of people who live in or near the cities where the World Cup games are being played. The questions are about World Cup-related health and safety concerns, if any, and where I'm getting health-related information. They're sending questions weekly to people who signed up ahead of time.

elainegrey

I'm back to lots of executive functioning at work followed by disappearing into novels. Or into a tech project. The current project has to do with my personal executive functioning tools that work great until they get over burdened, and then i tweak, then that works for a while, and then i tweak a different way and ... well now there is all sorts of cruft. So i started trying to fix some things and trying to do it right and now it seems like such a waste of time.

I think i spend too much time trying to deal with opportunity costs.

No chairs yet. The porch chairs we are in are similar seat sizes but are much lower. I will appreciate the new chairs when they arrive (i hope -- the whole what-have-we-done buying chairs without sitting in them first hits me periodically. We did roll out the new carpet - huzzah! i like this ever so much more than the previous. The smaller rugs i got for in front of the pet water bowl and at the door are good matches to the blue. The blue napkins we have -- probably thrifted ages ago -- not a match. The velour pillow covers -- not a match. I am going to start cleaning out linens.

Bruno is getting more and more comfortable out of his territory. He co-exists with Marlowe in the same room by being in a highly defensible position (under couch, in cat tree tube) and hissing and growling if she encroaches too much. But if Marlowe is not around, he's coming into the living room when i am not in the front room and being near people more.

Today was the first nice size harvest of blueberries: 1.5 cups. We went from eating a few at the bush midweek, to bringing in an handful yesterday, to today where i think there are multiple servings. Huzzah. The elderberry has been covered with blooms, and they are so fragrant. I am not going to bother trying to use them -- dry them, whatever -- this year. If i do anything i should do a few more rounds of harvesting and dehydrating mint. The plants got off to a slow start -- they haven't started blooming yet so there's a chance.

This spring took so long to warm up and then went to hot so fast, but the endive lettuces are doing OK. Best dill results that i have had for a while too. Big umbels slowly setting seed. I'm leaving the peas at it as i let a few pods get too tough. Maybe i can save seed. I never seem to grow enough peas to be more than a novelty nibble. Austrian Winter Peas as a cover crop have been far more delightful -- i eat the tendrils and the flowers and it seems way more rewarding than waiting for these sugar snap pods.

Lunch today was chopped greens cooked in the microwave - mainly turnip -- mixed with some cream cheese and some salmon (I will invest in the King Oscar salmon cans while on sale), chopped dill, chopped endive and violet greens, and, because i didn't drain the greens well, diced rye bread. It was an odd form factor, but it tasted pretty good.

I think the one female flower so far on the squash failed to take. If i recall correctly this is a drought response.

I've dyed my roots pink and it seems to have been successful: no pink stains in the bathroom. Also, my platinum blonde (cough) at my temples is covered and the dark roots don't quite seem so clearly delineated.

elainegrey

So where have i been? I think there are two things going on. One is i am changing my diet to try and meet some of the MIND[1] diet criteria: being more disciplined about leafy greens (which i like, wasn't quite at a serving every day), trying to get three servings of whole grains -- there were a few places i could easily switch, daily berries serving (twist my arm), regular eggs (instead of poultry). The legumes and fish were already part of what i was doing. And then i looked into how much protein i should be getting and there was a gap. So now sorting that. And meanwhile my already unreliable digestive system had some behaviors that seemed odd, and then addressing that made other things odd, so now i'm learning the difference between insoluble and soluble fiber.

Meanwhile, my indirect wish, that i would loose the weight i put on during the fatigue of the last couple of years, isn't quite being met -- but i have pushed back some of my cravings and binging. Maybe "do you want the yogurt, herring, lima beans, or peanuts" choices helps: i know what the snacks are instead of gravitating to something sweet. (Lima beans are kinda like edamame in my opinion, and can be snacks.)

This preoccupation is boring.

Then there's been some emotional stuff: the third anniversary of Mom's passing is aligning with my Dad's wish to downsize. He's got some urgency, and it's triggered me. I could recognize part was that i've been waiting for this but he's postponed so many times that the urgency is a little maddening. But that didn't seem to be all. I finally realized that her stuff -- her thrifty shopping of high quality things -- was a way we connected. I felt seen in the sense that she taught me certain skills and values (lasting quality vs trendy style). Other teaching (housekeeping) was fraught with her anger and conflict and my lack of skill. So i need to balance my wanting to honor her through respectfully handling her stuff, and my sense i don't have time to deal with the mountain of stuff.

Oh, and there was a stretch of nesting at home. We've gotten a 25 year old bedframe passed on to someone, and got rid of a mattress, moved the couch into the front office, and now need to get rid of the old rug and replace it with one i will like. (I hope.) I thought we would be receiving the new Amish-made recliners soon, but what we know now is that a shipper picks them up on the 11th, and then has a three week circuit during which it will arrive. We are currently sitting on lawn chairs.

[1] https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/healthy-weight/diet-reviews/mind-diet/ -- it's about getting a certain amount of certain nutrients but isn't a "complete" diet. There are whole swaths of foods that it's neutral on. Also, every source seems to be slightly different which makes me want to scream.

redbird

I went to REI this afternoon to buy sandals, and I found a pair that suits me. They're Tevas, and if I'm satisfied after wearing them a few times, I'm going to order another pair in a different color (these are basic black).

I tried on several other shoes, which ranged from not quite right to just weird (a pair of Birkenstocks that had their arch supports in a really weird place relative to my feet).

Having found a pair that I thought fit, I walked down and then up a flight of stairs, as a test, and they were fine. I try not to climb a lot of stairs, but some are unavoidable, and it seemed like a useful test.

I'd been a little worried that there wouldn't be anything left in my size, since we're well into the time of year when a lot of people are wearing sandals, but REI clearly thinks it's still sandal season, along with hiking and running shoe season.

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(morning writing, cats, garden, greycatnext)

Hi (morning writing, family archives, mom, dad, greycatnext)

new sandals

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May 2015

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