Scenes from a Quiet Evening

Saturday evening, sitting on my deck. Having a drink, reading some magazines. I took these photos as the sun was going down. Here in the midwest and still in the eastern time zone, it stays light until 9:30 or so in June.

My Head in the Clouds

It's a beautiful day. I love that bright blue color in the sky. Once summer comes we have too many of those "hazy, hot and humid" days; but today is a gorgeous spring day. Also, I have a thing for clouds. As I drive around, I always notice clouds. Today I took photos of the clouds as I drove home from my errands.



This is the shopping area where I started:



Getting onto the interstate (just about everywhere you go here, you have to drive on the interstate, which I don't really like).



Along the interstate. At least traffic isn't heavy today.



Close to my neighborhood:



Coming down my street:



Finally, the rose bushes by my driveway!

A Puzzle

I've been trying to put the pieces together... for my mom and her husband, David. Things are complicated. David's son has taken over control of his dad, and my mom no longer knows what to do.

David has dementia, complicated by a stroke. He is in a nursing home now. He can't walk, dress himself or feed himself. He is in a nursing home five minutes from his and my mom's house. She comes every day to visit and help him eat his meals.

Before David went into the nursing home, his son Bob took him to his house so he and his wife could care for David (Bob's wife is a nurse). After the care became too much for him, they decided on a nursing home. When son Bob took David he obtained medical and financial power of attorney for his dad. He took over all of David's financial dealings.

Now that Medicare has paid their share of 100% covered days, they are charging $50 per day coinsurance, which Bob has been paying out of David's money. Recently, Bob said he wants to move David to a less expensive nursing home, closer to his own home. That would mean my mom wouldn't be able to drive there by herself to visit David.

Now, Bob says David "just wants to go home" which means he would be living with Mom again. Mom can not handle David by herself. She has told Bob he will have to take him back to his house, or move him to another nursing home.

Today I called the nursing home to see if my mom and I could meet with them and discuss David's care, and what the options are. They told me they can not discuss his case with us because Bob has power of attorney. Bob has been driving my mom crazy; he has a short temper and every time one of us calls him to ask a question he calls and yells at her.

My sisters and I are in a dilemma... we are helping Mom with her finances. She is 87 years old and she gets confused. The other day I found a savings account that she forgot she had. She also has a claim with the state for some "unclaimed money" from an old investment. Tomorrow I am taking the claim form up to her so she can have it notarized. We are trying to help her with those things and with what to do about David. It all feels like a big puzzle!

p.s. Following up on my new diet, I had salmon left over from dinner last night, so I made a salmon salad for lunch today. Not going vegan, but I think it's pretty healthy.

My Plant Based Diet

I am working on stocking my fridge and pantry for my new diet. So far, I have purchased the following:

garbanzo beans, lentils, quinoa, ground flaxseed, grape seed oil, spinach, bok choy, sweet potatoes, almonds, agave, almond milk, tahini and daikon. Just a few days ago, I wasn't sure what some of these items were. I have been reading books about the plant based diet, and it's beginning to make sense to me.

The food pyramid below represents a vegetarian rather than a vegan diet. It's not vegan because it includes some dairy (milk and cheese). In order to be vegan, these would be replaced with other products such as soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, etc. Also, a vegan diet includes no eggs. I'm not sure if I want to go completely vegan, but I did buy some vegan butter and sour cream to see how I like them.

This morning I was watching Sanjay Gupta on CNN. He interviewed actress Michele Pfeiffer, who adopted a plant based diet; her cholesterol numbers dropped 87 points as a result. It's pretty convincing.

Well, I've done the shopping; now I have to practice cooking with some new recipes. My husband will be away on business this week, so it will be a good time to try my new recipes. I doubt if he will want to give up eating meat. In the past, I have tried some recipes with tofu and, though he didn't love them, he said they were "pretty good".

My New Diet - First Day

How did I do today on my new healthier, sugarless diet?

For breakfast, I had some Greek yogurt with fruit. I sprinkled some flaxseeds on top.

Then, for lunch, I made lentil soup. Lentils, carrots, onions, celery, tomatoes, vegetable broth. The recipe made a lot, so I will have it all weekend.

We are going out for dinner tonight, so I will have to study the menu carefully. Oh, and I bought some almonds for snacking.

Flirting with My Diet

Not too long ago, I wrote about Venus Williams being diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome. It was the reason she dropped out of competition for a period of time. She was suffering from fatigue and muscle weakness.

Sjogren's is an autoimmune condition. It causes your immune system to turn on you, attacking the mucus producing glands. Among the major symptoms are dry eyes and dry mouth. It can also be linked to arthritis-like symptoms, fatigue and muscle weakness (as Venus had). It is not curable, but there are steps you can take to mitigate the symptoms.

I was diagnosed with Sjogren's some years ago. I visit the dentist often to deal with the dry mouth, which leads to increased dental problems. I use prescription eye drops to deal with dry eyes. As I get older, I wonder if some of the fatigue I feel might be due to Sjogren's.

The other day I read an interview in which Venus was discussing what she had done to feel better and get back into the game. Her answer was her diet; she has become a vegan. She has given up meat, dairy and sugar. I thought maybe I should look into this. So, I have been reading these two books.

I definitely don't think I can jump into this change cold turkey (or cold tofu), but I will try what Alicia describes as "flirting" with it. I am going to try some of the ingredients and recipes in the books and see how it goes. I'm sure that eating more vegetables, especially leafy greens, is a good idea in any case.

Coming of Age

I came of age in the 60s and 70s. I am a child of that era. Woodstock, disco, Peter Max, the Beatles, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, The Rolling Stones... all of it.

My favorite actress was Julie Christie. I wanted so badly to look like her.

One of my favorite movies was "Fahrenheit 451". I loved the futuristic, stylistic look of it; the house, the monorail, the firetruck, and of course Julie Christie... and the fact that it was made by Francois Truffaut.

I loved Francois Truffaut's movies...

and a French movie called "A Man and A Woman". It was the sexiest movie I had ever seen.

And the music:

I loved Earth, Wind and Fire...

and Sly and the Family Stone. I saw them in concert when I was in college.

Peter Max... his art exemplifies the 60s and 70s to me.

The colors... the images... so original, and energetic. It feels like youth!

Speaking of youth... the fashion:

I wanted a coat just like the one Audrey Hepburn wore in "Breakfast at Tiffany's". It was orange and shaped a bit like these...

It was Givenchy...

Of course, there was the disco. Saturday nights were for dancing.

I had a dress that looked a lot like this, perfect for doing "the Hustle".

The 60s and 70s... no computers, no cell phones, no internet. We thought we were so modern. It was a turbulent time and an interesting time to be alive. I had a lot of fun. I'm glad I was alive then.