Brain Farts and Gluten

So hubby and I went to town to pick up a few things. I was driving. We had to pick up the dog at the vet, which I forgot, but he reminded. He's much smaller now.. the dog that is. Nothing like a good grooming. But the one he got will have to do. ;o)

Anyway, hubby asked what was next when we got back into the car. I backed out of the spot and headed for the main intersection of town.

"The drugstore. Gotta get that caulking," I said.

I could feel him looking at me. "You mean, the hardware store?"

I started to laugh. "Well, yeah.. yeah... that would be the better place to get caulking," I agreed.

"Yer freakin' me out," he said, shaking his head.

I looked at him and smiled. "Hey, I stopped for the red light," I offered, pointing at the stop light.

After the hardware store, we headed to the local grocery store. I had been going to make hubby spaghetti, his fave. But while the day wasn't really, really hot, it had turned out very humid, and our teen wasn't going to be home for supper either, so I changed my mind. Since I hadn't taken anything out of the freezer, we needed to pick up something for hubby's meal. I would have something gluten-free.. or at least, so I thought.

When we got to the grocery store parking lot, he did up his window as if he was coming in with me. He never comes in with me. He hates shopping. I looked at him. "Coming in?" He nodded. "You just want to make sure you don't wind up with bananas for supper, don't you?" I asked a little accusingly.

"You bet I do," he replied, nodding again.

OK, so I'd had a series of brain farts, not to mention headaches, abdominal pain and bloating... again. I had been really ill before and discovered that wheat, and probably all gluten, were probably things I should no longer consume. I'd kept it really simple to start with and felt a lot better. But now something was fogging my brain and causing pain and discomfort again.

Turns out that gluten can be "hidden" in other food ingredients, such as malto dextrin, for instance. I got this book from the library called, "gluten-free girl," by Shauna James Ahern. Very enlightening. Seems that as I increased the number of foods in my "safe" diet, I've been ingesting gluten without even knowing it. Back to the drawing board, as it were. Or at least, to the health food section of local grocery stores for things like gluten-free mustard and mayo. Heh. Amazing.

There are recipes in this book too. Gonna try some. I think I've said it before: losing more foods seems terrible, but once you discover new foods and new taste sensations, it's not so bad. It's just going to take a little guidance from someone who's been there. :)

http://glutenfreegirlabout.blogspot.com/

Picture: Me, in a kitchen. How 'bout that.

Tornados and Trailers: What's Up With That?

Why is it tornados always find where the trailers are at?

Talk about getting a bunch of disaster scenerios overwith all at once! The day started out promising rain. Sure, a few sprinkles for the garden. But that just wasn't enough for Mother Nature. She started with a little rattle and roll as the earth moved. Some people felt it; some didn't. I didn't. (Did the earth move for you? Um.... no. *sniff*) A friend I talked to later didn't either. She was standing in a doorway in town chatting with someone when people from upstairs came running down exclaiming about an earthquake. Their apartment was shaking, they said. Friend said she thought they were nuts, but then others were carrying on too. Only one picture on my wall was crooked, and a cat might have done that. Oh well. Earthquakes are unusual hereabouts and this one was almost immediately tagged as a 5.5 quake with the epicenter in Ottawa.
And I missed it.

Then came the spectacular storm. This wasn't just rain. This was RAIN!! It poured down so hard it was difficult to see more than a couple feet out the window. The thunder and lightening was sincere, to say the least. It hadn't seemed particularly windy, but when I went out later to do an errand I noticed debris under big trees and on the side of roads, badly rutted driveways and road shoulders, etc. The driveway of the home I was going to was rutted and beat up and when the homeowner came to the door, he said they were dealing with a flooded basement.
Ow.
Turned out he wasn't alone. The storm caused all kinds of flooding, and rumour has it that lightening started a fire in a factory on the highway. (Unconfirmed.) It also spawned a tornado. They aren't usual here either. In the paper, this was called a "suspected tornado" and was later confirmed as an F2 twister.

I had gone out to do the errand after the storm, because the power was out at home. This is NOT unusual in this area. Turned out about 8,000 residents had no power after the tornado hit. It took out.. yes.. of course... a trailer camp, along with several businesses, either flattening them or knocking down walls. It had touched down in some farm fields before hitting town leaving a lot of damage in its wake.

It's AMAZING that no one was killed. It was after hours, so some of the businesses hit were locked up for the day. The factory that lost two of its walls had a shift working, but somehow they all got out in good shape. Several people were taken to hospital by ambulance with injuries, but none, it turns out, were very serious. There's a lot of damage though, and a lot of cleaning up to be done. The town in question is officially a disaster zone which frees up public funding for the clean up, so that will help.

Tornados and trailers. Do you ever wonder just what that's about? Disasters.. all at once. Now I wonder about that too.

Arma~~geddon~~ carry me ho~o~ome~~~

Summer... officially.

Mosquitoes don't know when the seasons officially change, but I do. So, mosquito bites and all, we celebrated the Summer Solstice appropriately, with a power outage that forced us to light all kinds of candles and lamps on the longest day of the year. Nice. :)

This is really a strange place to live when it comes to extreme seasons. Winters look like this. It's ok if you enjoy winter sports like skiing, snowboarding, etc. ~ in fact, this is the place for it ~ but I don't. I just never got into it when I was younger because I lived in the city. Skis and subway trains just don't go together. I tried cross-country skiing when I moved here and wound up doing the hills on my bum. Oh, I was fine on flat terrain, but gimme a hill and.... It wasn't cool. It was COLD. Hubby still laughs about it. So now you'll find me by the fire, waving at the crazies who think landing face down, or bum down, in the snow is fun.

And Summer! Ok, it's the gardening season, but it's also the season of heat and humidity made to melt even the coolest jock. Sure, fresh fruit and vege season, but while fruit can go in the freezer, cucumbers can't, and it's a heck of a time to be standing over boiling brine to make pickles. Gotta be done though. I make about 100 jars of dills alone. And yes, they get eaten.

Canadians complain about the weather a lot. There's a reason for that: winter really is too cold and summer really is too hot. Still, summer is the season for barbequing, and enjoying the lakes, and that saves it. I'm pretty sure there are worse places to live. ;o)

To All The Dads I've Loved

Ok, so for one day I won't be such a cranky ol' broad. Don't worry, it's temporary. ;o)

My Dad has been gone over 30 yrs. now. He was a WWII vet; was part of the Canadian invasion forces at Sicily. He didn't want to carry a gun, so he served in the medical corp as an ambulance driver and orderly, then he transferred to a transportation unit, riding point on a motorcycle for convoys much of the time.

He was a great guy and a good dad. I miss him.

This is my child's dad, and as old-fashioned as it may seem, he is also my hubby. :) He's a good guy too. Took him to the races for Father's Day. We didn't lose much. Hey, it's actually a relatively cheap evenings' entertainment when you just do the $2. bets. The sky got very angry at one point ~ very stormy lookin'. But it only rained enough to dampen down the dusty track, and the sky was kind of amazing, so it was all good.

No Time ~ No Time

Probably prophetic. Why is it that, though we're all headed for the same sticky end, most of us are doing it at a dead run? Curious.

Like Mr. Entitled at the grocery store, who sidled up to a U-scan already in use, crowding the poor man trying to finish his order, and ignoring me, large as life, standing there in line like a good little shopper. "Excuse me," I said. He condescended to glance my way. "I'm not waiting for a bus here," I said. He seemed perplexed, so I pointed to the words on the floor in front of me that said, "line up here." He looked at the words on the floor, then at me, then back at the words... and slowly, ever so slowly, he got it. Where do they come from?

Then there's the guy in the big pickup truck who pulled into the parking lot as my daughter was almost finished backing out of a space. He couldn't wait for her to put it in Drive and turn the wheel to get out of his way. No, he sque e e e e zed his oversized vehicle past her, because HE was using the world that day. And where did it get him? I think you know.

Yeah, yeah ~ no time ~ no time.

Thing is, while we're rushing around, I just can't help notice that pesky oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the weather anomolies, the holy wars, a society that thinks the word "fuck" is just about the most fun, colourful and expressive word in the English language, and the plague of locusts? Try bed bugs. No, I'm not kidding. Wish I was. But there's a strain of bed bug come to us from Afghanistan that's pesticide-resistant and has invaded hotels, and spread to apartment buildings and on to homes. Great. Wonderful. And close enough for my money.

Yeah, I know there are people out there doing good things, trying really hard to make this world a better place. And I support them. Moreover, I'm counting my blessings, believe me. I have a lovely little home, healthy food, a bountiful garden, health that isn't too bad, fun and beautiful music and art, the love of family and friends. (And no bed bugs yet.) What do I need in a world that wants MORE? Not a damned thing. So I'm just here with my meandering thoughts and words, trying to ponder the questions, never mind the answers, watching the world rush.... to... where? Ah, but I'm sure it will all be fine. Afterall, what the fuck do I know? *sigh*

Victory Garden?

During WWII there was a food shortage, which made it difficult to put food on the table for the family. One solution was the victory garden where household after household dug up that lawn and grew carrots for the night-fighters... um.. no, I mean veggies for the family. (Containers work too.)

There are compelling reasons why victory gardens are being encouraged again now, not the least of which is economic downturn, crop failure, weather anomolies, etc. Michelle Obama is showing people how by growing a vege garden at the white house and involving her kids in the process. Ellen DeGeneres has put in her oar by having garden people on her show to demonstrate, and by starting her own.. she says. ;o)

The city of San Francisco has a Victory Garden program begun in 2008 to "support the transition of backyard, front yard, window boxes, roof tops, and unused land into organic food production.."

I enjoy gardening. I grow veges, as well as plants to attract butterflies and bees, etc. (If you attract the bees, they will help your vege garden.) Thing is, I love veges. Yes.. no kidding ~ I actually EAT them. I think they're YUMMY. Back in the day people thought of veges as good food too. Yet, these days I have a suspicion that there'd be more victory gardens in North America if one could grow ... you know... take out burgers and fries?

Here is my chicken nugget bush... lots of fat here. They're under the daisies there, near the toadstool where the fae people gather at midnight.

These plants grow fries, but you have to look carefully under the leaves. They're in the dirt... I know.. ick. But really, all you have to do is wash 'em, then add lots of fat and table salt to increase blood pressure and heart disease. Easy.

Yep ~ gardening... good stuff.

Telewhoo??

This is a cell phone, something I swore I'd never own. Ok so, this is MY cell phone. Not my fault, hubby gave it to me. It's frustrating. The buttons on it are very small and my fingers not so nimble anymore. I have to use the loudspeaker on it because I'm liable to turn it off if I try to hold it to my ear. Thing is, the loudspeaker button is right next to the terminate call button. Yes, I've hung up on people, even when I didn't mean to. *sigh*

Funnier thing is, younger people don't like to use this. My land line is often tied up.. one thing and another. I have an answering service, but the most frequent message is the sound of someone hanging up. So I give my cell number and suggest they try it. Afterall, the cell phone is usually sitting right next to the other one anyway. But they don't like using it. Hmmm.... they won't leave a message, and they don't like using the cell. Why were these things invented again??

I'm more used to this kind of phone.

Only the one I grew up with was made of metal and could double as a paper-weight or doorstop.

Recently I saw one of these dinosaurs in a historical display and the kid standing next to me said, "wow, how does that thing work?" Made me feel better, for a minute. Then I realized he'd NEVER seen a rotary phone and I just felt old.

"You stick your finger in a number hole and turn the dial," I said.

"Weird," he said, rather neatly summing up the entire telecom system, past and present, and the people who sail on her.

I'm going to get a drum. I'm debating whether or not the learn Morse Code. I think I'll just beat the crap out of it and trust that people will understand.