Lover and Thinker

   . . . 
The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
  They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
  More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world. 
   . . . 
And I am not resigned.

Adventures in Investing

I first heard about Mr. Money Mustache from my friend Cherry. She was pointing out that my thoughts on the deplorable damages of car culture overlapped his.
   The second time I heard about him was from Wayde, Roscivs' younger brother.
   I infrequent his blog, and the other day I read about a p2p lending business venture that he is experimenting with.

I decided to do something similar with a little bit (less than 1%) of my money. What curiosity I have! What risk I take!

first year pickler

I make my own pickles. Amazing!

Since early spring I have successfully made lacto-fermented pickles* out of radishes and garlic scapes. My other attempts were lemons and carrots, but I lost 'em to mold.
   The radishes were DIVINE. My visiting family ate the last of the scapes.
   It had been weeks since I set anything up to pickle, but on Thursday, when I was at the Farmers' Market, I found the season's first pickling cukes. I bought some, added pickling dill (read: dill in bloom) and garlic. I hope I'm not sorry I didn't have any grape leaves!

--
* For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about:

   • Yogurt is certainly the most commonly known (and the only commonly eaten) lacto-ferment in America. It's basically pickled dairy! However, "lacto" goes with "lactic acid", NOT "lactose". Lacto-fermentation has nothing necessarily to do with dairy.

   • "fermented" evokes beer, wine and other things alcoholic but lacto-ferments are not alcoholic. 

   • "pickles" evokes foods soaked in vinegar, but lacto-ferments are not made with any vinegar. 

For Supper

I made an omelette for the first time! 4 duck eggs. It was the purtiest omelette I ever did see!

A Favorite Website and a Favorite YouTube Video and a Bonus Link

I have been interested in floor play and squatting for the last few months. I've built up to being able to squat for many (20) minutes at a time.
   If you're interested, check out Todd Hargrove's Squat Fundamentals no. 1. There's a link at bottom to a 25 minute audio floor play guide. I liked the pretending to be a crab!

This post is brought to you by JoBob out sailing with his dad. I don't sit on my computer post a lot when he's home, which is most of the time!

More Gut Reading

"Happy Microbes, Skinny Jeans" is the print article in the July/August print volume of Mother Jones. Here is the online version.
   I recommend it.
   Currently that ^ page is hosting links to MoJo other articles with the same probiotic / microbe / gut theme. This is Your Body on Microbes, Should You Take A Probiotic? (I'm going to go with yes), Can Antibiotics Make You Fat? (all signs point to yes), Poop Therapy (I would do it if I could find a suitable donor), and Here's Why You Shouldn't Take Antibiotics for a Sinus Infection.

ketchUpdates

Blood: drawn (after MUCH TRIAL AND TRIBULATION and one vein "giving out" and one poke yielding nothing and resorting to a vein in the hand).
   House: alas — the beautiful house of dreams is not within our grasp. One of the owners seems not to be ready to negotiate with us.

ATTN: Mona

At the beginning of the month, Jronatron and I took Animal Planet's "Dog Breed Selector" questionnaire. The results solidly indicate that we would be best matched with a Brittany or a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
   It is highly unlikely we'd get a purebred, but if we did these would suit us best. (I want a dog that is highly affectionate and highly trainable.)

There Is No Tomorrow, But Only Today

It has been a great couple of weeks.
   Two things about today:
   (1) It was bring your pet to church day. It was the joyfulnoisiest service I have ever been at. ... I really want a dog!
   (2) During sibling book group my brother, Leon, made a case for P. Diddy as today's Shakespeare.

Gulpee

I went, fasting, into the lab this morning to have my blood drawn for routine bloodwork. They sent me away. They found no veins at all, because, apparently, I am dehydrated.
   Remember my drinking quandary? (No?) Looks like I haven't solved my problem. In the short term, I've been sippin' all day, trying to get any vein to plump up. No luck so far.

Gutty and A Beautiful Day

I often spout factoids about the prime importance of the microflora in and on our bodies. I believe what I claim. I've substantiated it behind the scenes, but by the time I mention it in conversation, I don't always have a citation on hand.
   I think that this contributes to the perception some hold of me as a gut-bacteria kook. In any case, I'm comfortable with my company. From a book I just finished:

Jeffery Gordon, Director of Washington University's Center for Genome Sciences, and his team have shown that people of normal weight favor a family of bacteria called bacteroidetes while obese poeple have more firmicutes. His team was able to prove that gut microbes actually contribute to obesity.  

Speak of chaos theory, I am posting this outside, sitting on a swing in a garden between my apartment and the library. There is a fountain three feet in front of me, and while I've been here, several birds have taken drinks and baths.
   I am like a bird.
   But I am not like a bird in that I do not drink my bathwater.

Picking

The Dashes (J's sister's family) were out of town today but invited us go over to pick raspberries. Yum yum.

Post-Hurricane Rainbow

God don't make no plastic bags.
   Happy New Year!
   The holiday haps: my parents and one sister are here. The house haps: we sat with the homeowners yesterday and made a counter-counter offer.

Awaiting

My parents are flying in today for a visit.
   I am going to post every day in July. It's looking like it might be a very very busy month, so most posts will probably be tweety-length.

Offering

We put in an offer on our a house today. Cross your T's for us!

100 books ago

I am trying to heal from the neuro-gulleys and trenches that my brain made when Roscivs was sick and dying, and after he died: I would — without prompting — think "a year ago today he wasn't even sick ... and look at me now" or "two years ago we were eating out at foobar ... and look at me now".
   You might think that this would be comforting. No. It is depressing. When this happens, I suffer, even more than I already was suffering.
   It is comforting to me to remind myself that Roscivs was a person who lived wholly in the present and a person who believed comparison is the cause of almost all suffering.

But sometimes looking back is nice. When I am just remembering — not comparing, not despairing.
   Today I looked back using Goodreads.
   100 books ago I was in Texas, visiting my dear sister Mona and her nuclear family — a husband and two children, my niece and nephew. My nephew turned 5 while I was there. We read the "llama llama" books. It was a sweet time.

Returning and Reporting: Dentition Edition

So, if you remember (and at least one of you does, which I know because she prompted a follow-up) I have my unusual, new toothcare protocol and wanted to see what the dentist thought about my oral health. Here is the follow-up: At my recent appointment I asked the dentist how my teeth and gums are looking. He said "very good".

   In my experience, that is almost as effusive as a dentist can get. I am satisfied.

   Nevertheless, I have altered my regimen somewhat: I bought some xylitol (plain) and I use it ~every other night. Sheesh that stuff is sweet! :P Like, Lisa Frank sweet. x_x

artifulchoke

I found out what to do with my "baby" artichokes! (The artichokes we received in our CSA were very small. I thought they were just harvested small, but no. It's like how really short adults aren't children.)
   I cut them up with this as my guide, and I then sauteed them in white wine vinegar, salt, and ghee. They were quite tasty! I want more of them!

In other news, I actually went to church with Jobabhatron today because the issue from the pulpit was based around Emily Dickinson. I really, really, really love Emily Dickinson.

Pix for Pax

The other day, while Brn and I were walking to get water from the artesian well, we were (rudely, to my mind) visually accosted by the anti-abortionist activists squatting outside of Planned Parenthood.
   We often take a route to the well that does not go by PP, but when we go to the library on the way to the well (which we regularly, though not usually, do) our route takes us in front of the PP building downtown. On most days there are no protestors out front, but on weekends without rain, there may well be protestors.
   The protestors have the usual things: signs, scriptural admonishments, and — more than I have ever seen before — grisly pictures.
   I complained (not for the first time) about their methods: it's in-your-face, fearmongering antagonism. What good could it do? I pointed out that even people who also are against abortion would think it was awful. There was a picture of a fetus and the tag line about throwing it in a garbage. I gave an example of someone I know who miscarried and was deeply distraught over disposing of the fetus.

On our way home, Brn said that there is much in this world that is despicable and hidden. War, for example. Americans and war. We're a nation of destruction and violence, and this is hidden, and it would be better were it not. He would not want someone to object to someone posting pictures of war because they are offensive — war is offensive, and by hiding it America decays in denial.
   If someone is dissuaded from war (or, in analog, abortion) because they are shown what it is like, is that bad?
   So he came out in favor of the protestors' use of the horrible pictures. Maybe it offends everyone because it is offensive.
   I must say, I feel different about the whole thing now.

(Adjunct: cf the photojournalism series "We're Still At War" at Mother Jones)

This Week's Box

Mmmmm. 13.5 pounds of vegetables.

The season is starting to turn. I can tell from the produce. It now qualifies as "late spring / early summer". No more shungiku ... and the first of the season's garlic scapes, broccoli, and garlic.
   I have no idea what to do with the artichokes. They are tiny! Maybe I'll pickle their hearts.
   It takes me a long time to take care of the box (metonymously speaking). Bjorn and I walk to get the box (30 minutes = there and back). Then I care for the veggies as necessary (wipe, dry, partition, etc.) before I store them ... that takes at least an hour.
   Our fridge is 3/4 full of vegetables; meat, fruit, nuts, and leftovers are relegated to the corners.

Listed pseudo-randomly:

♣ broccoli (ours looks purple compared to the stuff in the store) • snow peas • beet greens (with tiny tiny root beets — these are beets that are being thinned out) • mizuna • garlic scapes • spinach • red mustard greens • arugula • garlic (fresh) • artichokes • salad turnips • bok choy • turnip greens • lettuce • carrots • scallions • chard • beets (with greens) • kale

Culinary Adventure: Shave the ... Mussels

I just de-bearded mussels! I have probably consumed a mussel before, but not that I can specifically recall. Never before had I prepared one.
   This guide by my seafood guru took the potential whattheheckamievendoing?! stress out of the mystery.
   There were 3 dead mussels. They are in their grave. The others, alive — and now beardless, sleek — sit unmoored in the fridge. Thank you, little bivalves, for your lives.

Eat ALL the Kingdoms!

Guess what, people? I eat mushrooms now. I eat mushrooms and I like them.

   You gasped, right? It's a shift more radical than my sucking the marrow out of chicken bones, right? Yeah. I know. Now I devour all manner of heterotrophs.

I had long eschewed mushrooms.

   Though I didn't try them anew until this month, I'd considered them a lot this year, in the recurring remembrance of Roscivs' widowed aunt, with whom he lived for two years. She loved — loves? — stuffed mushrooms. I want to try stuffing some with crab meat, propers to this shroomy cookbook. 

One of the most important things about cooking that I found out by myself was how vital homemade stock is. This cookbook suggested mushroom stock, and I'm so glad it did. I made it yesterday. It's yum yum umami! After I made it I found out there are vegetarian constraints on the dish I'm to bring to a UU book club/pot luck this weekend. This stock will make rich anything I do.

   Yesterday Jøthin and I watched Food Fight (our kth food documentary of the year) and in it Alice Waters said 85% of cooking is finding the ingredients to cook with. Meaning not, of course, finding the best water chestnuts for a recipe that calls for water chestnuts, but making recipes out of the best foods around.

   I have Waters' book out from the library but I haven't opened it yet — I also have out a dozen other cookbooks. I've changed my approach to cookbooks. Rather than poring strenuously over them to measure their treasure I take away one technique, one tidbit, or one eureka.

cha-ching + diaeresis

The first 3 weeks of our CSA totaled 28 pounds of vegetables!

I procure the rest of our food (including even more vegetables o_o) at the downtown farmers' market and at the town's food coöperative, of which I'm a member.
   I fell in love with the coöp when I learned that to shop there, I was to bring my own containers (weighed and tare weight marked) and fill 'em up. Such had been my dream!
   ...
   The coöp's better than I had dreamed a grocery store could be; it's so much more, so much more awesome than a traditional standard grocery store, and not just because of packaging reduction and reuse. It offers food education classes (see principle #5 of the 7 Coöperative Principles). It has provenance stickers for each produce item, and a special sticker for local items.
   I wish I could take all my readers on a tour.

The coöp also relies on member volunteers.
   Earlier this week I finished my final training session (a supervised shift) to qualify as a volunteer cashier.
   I think that being a cashier is a daring job. It takes chutzpah. I have to be bold. I have to execute. I have to be careful but speedy. I have to handle money. It's a good way for me to do something crazy and new, and it earns me a wee stipend.
   Tomorrow morning, I take on my first lonesome cashiering shift! Wish me luck.

Simplicity, Roscivs Style

My parents have china, and silver, and when I was growing up they used it at least eight times a year (seven birthdays and Christmas). Two (and maybe all) of my sisters have a full set of china, used less than once a year.
   Roscivs and I did not get china for our wedding, nor did we ask for it. We were not in agreement about that at first. He said, if I get china, I'm going to use it every day. Huh? Every day? said I. That's ... not what china is for. It's for special occasions.

Turns out that every day is a special occasion. Nobody lives this as much as Roscivs did, and it's why he died so well. He'd spent each day like a golden coin.
   You could summarize his position as "buy only what will serve you for the average day" AND "the average day deserves the best".

I have all the special plates I will ever need. One set for every special day.

I'm Going to Pwn Paper

Remember my new month resolutions? January was juicing. Habit acquired! I still juice every morning.

February was zero screen use starting 1.5 hours before bed. Habit acquired!
   I got this idea from talking with my narcoleptic sister who read a 40,000 page book on sleep.
   Speaking of books, records reflect that I suddenly started reading a lot more books in February; reading books seems to be one of the things I do more when I sit on [sic] the computer less.

   I have read so many books this year that GoodReads is prompting me to increase my goal for its "2013 Reading Challenge". Let me explain sum up:
   GoodReads invites its members to participate in its yearly reading challenge. You set your goal and GoodReads puts a progress/status bar on your front page. The challenge is just a motivator/a bragging tool.
   I entered 52 books as my 2013 goal. I am already 73% of the way done, which is, as GoodReads tells me, 41% ahead.
   I am not going to increase my goal, because I keep hearing Roscivs wising about not retroactively fitting goals to what you have or have not attained.

Yeah, I hear dead people.

March was a glass of water in the morning upon waking. Habit acquired!
   As once a runner (which may or may not be like being a King or Queen in Narnia) I have read a lot about the Great Hydration Controversy. Group A aver that one should "drink to thirst"; people who "drink ahead" are, like most house-plants, overwatered. Group ∀ aver that one should "pre-hydrate"; by the time you feel thirsty you're already dehydrated.
   For me it is moot. I haven't been able to sense thirst since Roscivs got sick, so I can't "follow my thirst". I am happy with my new habit. With all my new habits!

April was no electric light after sundown/8:30pm. Habit acquired! 
   Boy am I waking up earlier! And, mirabile dictu, I'm functional as soon as I'm out of bed! 
   I use 100%-beeswax candles for my bedtime routine.
   When I implemented February's habit I had no idea I'd be doing this; Feb's intentional became a stepping stone. 

May? 
   For May I am doing the paper part in the first chapter in the Unstuff Your Life book, which has the BEST. METHOD. EVAR!!! for organization and Simplicity. 
   This chapter involves radical changes in my paper processing habits. Paper processing is my bête noire. May's work is big. It's so big that it isn't even cut out for me. I have to cut it out myself.
   I fancy I'm on my slow way to becoming like unto Winifred, my sister Mona's mother-in-law, next-to-godliness Matron Saint of Org, who "doesn't even have a jumble drawer!!!"
   My mom gave me the book for a housewarming gift last year. When Bjórnathrón moved in, we did the kitchen chapter together, and — hallelujah — our kitchen is organized like God's sock drawer!