A reporter showed up the other day and I was not there.  These days that is not so abnormal.  But one of the good things about that day was that Andrew met with and talked to the reporter and was featured this Friday in our local paper. 

 

SWEET!

 

Give us a call by noon and we'll have your dinners ready by 3.  You can come until 7. 

 

 

Monday, July 25

Fried Chicken with Broccoli and Bacon Salad 7.95

 

Tuesday, July 26

Ricotta and Basil-stuffed Eggplant with Fried Green Tomatoes 6.25

 

Wednesday, July 27

Beef Bolognese with Cavatappi and Garlic Bread 7.95

 

Thursday, July 28

Parmesan Chicken with Mushroom Risotto 7.95

 

Friday, July 29

Here is this week's casserole:

 

Wednesday, July 27

Eggplant Parmesan

Whole: 44.95 Half: 22.50

 

And this week's Lasagna is:

 

Friday, July 29

Roasted Summer Vegetable Lasagna

Whole: 38 Half: 19

 

Doesn't this look great?  These are Adam's hands tossing the day's Cherokee Purple Tomato salad.  I tried to snap one of him really tossing the salad but it kept coming out blurry, so you'll have to make do with this staged version.

 

Here's one of the assorted cutie pies that come visit us. Clark, pictured here, has been a friend for a long time, entertaining me when he was little by brandishing a "light saber," which looked a lot like a stick, which he kept neatly tucked into his belt. I always feel safe when he's around.

 

His mother tells me that Clark said "Joy came in a chilled bottle of Cheerwine and a plate of yummy flanksteak" at Laurey's today."

 

Here I am visiting Hive # 1 (aka: The Queen-less Hive.)  Though I have not done a thorough exploration, I'm pretty sure things are going in the right direction.  Here is a snap of a BUNCH of bees, newly hatched, going on their orientation flights.  These are the babies I introduced a few weeks ago, the generation that would have produced the Queen.  I'm going to look this week to see if I can find her or, if I can't, to see if I can find eggs she has laid. 

 

 

July 23, 2011

 

Hiya.

 

I am realizing that there are some very positive aspects to what is going on in my life right now. For one thing, even though I am undergoing treatment for cancer, I do not ALWAYS feel sick. This past week was one of my good weeks and I had an especially good one:

 

I started on my book, organizing it and assigning myself at least one recipe per day – and did it!

 

I took my dog for a walk almost every day.

 

I had a very good nap every day.

 

I watched The Tour de France every day. (I LOVE this!)

 

I ate well, had a couple of very good visits with important people, and I even managed some gardening, assisted by a friend who is one of my survival heroines.

 

I realized that I really prefer flowers to edible things in my garden and have dug up all the lettuce and chard and onions and things that were limping along and have replaced them with Lavender. MUCH nicer! (I left the tomatoes and will have them every year but lettuce? Not so much!)

 

I continue to get cards and letters and e-mails and facebook messages and this is a fine thing. The messages are sweet and sincere and very caring. And also sometimes they are humorous and make me smile and feel better. And they are filled with very heartfelt words that I probably would never hear, were it not for this whole treatment thing. I, too, don’t always say everything I think but I can tell you that these cards and messages are wonderful reminders to me about that and I recommend you think about sending notes to everyone in your life who matters to you, even if they are not undergoing treatment.

 

Today I got a fourth or fifth card from a friend with whom I rode my bicycle across the country. These cards she sends me are filled with her news and her life and also, toward the end, always contain more raw sentiment. Today she said, “When I think of your “Don’t Postpone Joy” I think that maybe it should be “Don’t Postpone Life.”

 

Yes.

 

I have a treatment this week and then a break before a mid-August re-evaluation. I’ll have one hard(ish) week and then two easier ones. My focus is very close right now. Measured in treatment weeks, it is an interesting way to see things. But a friend, who had been through this very treatment said, “It’s not all that bad. You’ll find you go into the treatment room smiling and smile when you leave.” When he said that I could not imagine that ever being true for me, but it is.