Today was our first field trip with the Puget Sound Mycological Society. About 50 people were there, too many to actually find mushrooms. And it was really too cold to find the Verpas (early morels). BUT we (Kate and I) got some great information about morels, the season this year, and where to go.
We did walk around the park it was held at in Monroe, Washington, but it was too muddy, too cold and not quite right for finding mushrooms. However, as I was walking and staring at the ground, I realized that there were plants that were just starting to sprout, and they looked remarkably like stinging nettles. When Kate caught up, I mentioned that they looked like nettles, so what does she do? She stuck her hand right in them! Sure enough, she was in pain from the stings, but she continued to harvest the nettles bare handed! Yikes, I used a pair of scissors on my swiss army knife to cut the stems and then used the scissors like tongs to carefully pick up the nettles and put them in my basket.
I am off to the store for the rest of the ingredients to make Stinging Nettle Soup. Will post the recipe I end up using and how it comes out.
I have had this before at a class I took on Wild Edibles in the PNW. So I am pretty sure I am going to really love it.
Caroline
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
03-25-11 Trailer is almost ready
So the only thing that I have really enjoyed lately is fixing up the trailer. Here are some before and after shots.
BEFORE:
What you can't see is the smell. Very musty and old, rather like Grandma's back room where the well was.
Now, after scraping, fixing, filling holes, new windows, priming, painting, laying a new floor, lining the shelves, spending time with the dog inside, and finding the best bedding:
AFTER:
It also has new tires and smells GREAT!!!! excellent tip: put dryer sheets in musty places.
I cannot wait to go camping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Caroline
BEFORE:
What you can't see is the smell. Very musty and old, rather like Grandma's back room where the well was.
Now, after scraping, fixing, filling holes, new windows, priming, painting, laying a new floor, lining the shelves, spending time with the dog inside, and finding the best bedding:
AFTER:
It also has new tires and smells GREAT!!!! excellent tip: put dryer sheets in musty places.
I cannot wait to go camping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Caroline
Thursday, March 17, 2011
2011-03-17 Mushrooms and Upcoming Tests
It is spring time and you know what that means....................MORELS!!!!!!!! I am busy slowly working on the trailer to get it ready for the first mushroom forays of the spring. There are morel sightings in Texas and Georgia, but none here yet, we are the last of the areas to get them. But there is a foray by the Puget Sound Mycological Society for Verpas (early morels) on the 26th of this month. Very very exciting. It is not too far from here, so it could be a day trip.............the trailer still needs tires before I can take it out. This weekend is the RV show at the Tacoma Dome, so I will be perusing the purveyors to see if anyone has a show special on tires. Already printed my discount coupon for the show.
The dog is very excited about camping. Every time I go out to the trailer, he hops in and lays down on the newly recovered cushions (meaning that there are muddy dog prints on my beautifully covered fabric cushions. Oh well). He just watches me putter around in it, and you can see his little mind dreaming of chasing squirrels and sitting by the campfire............I am excited too!
So the next tests that are coming up are a bone marrow biopsy on April 8 (ick, not looking forward to that at all) and then some cognitive testing to see what the effects the drugs are having on my ability to think. Although I can tell you right now, I am highly distractable and not likely to remember anything you said five minutes ago.....oh, shiny, sparkly object..............what was I saying???????
Anyway, I won't have the biopsy results until the week after the test, but will post them as soon as I know anything. Dr. O expects the results to be excellent, and if so, that means no more biopsy for at least 2 years!!! Wouldn't that be great???
Off to scrub the trailer floor so I can lay the new peel and stick tiles and be ready to move stuff in!!!!
The dog is very excited about camping. Every time I go out to the trailer, he hops in and lays down on the newly recovered cushions (meaning that there are muddy dog prints on my beautifully covered fabric cushions. Oh well). He just watches me putter around in it, and you can see his little mind dreaming of chasing squirrels and sitting by the campfire............I am excited too!
So the next tests that are coming up are a bone marrow biopsy on April 8 (ick, not looking forward to that at all) and then some cognitive testing to see what the effects the drugs are having on my ability to think. Although I can tell you right now, I am highly distractable and not likely to remember anything you said five minutes ago.....oh, shiny, sparkly object..............what was I saying???????
Anyway, I won't have the biopsy results until the week after the test, but will post them as soon as I know anything. Dr. O expects the results to be excellent, and if so, that means no more biopsy for at least 2 years!!! Wouldn't that be great???
Off to scrub the trailer floor so I can lay the new peel and stick tiles and be ready to move stuff in!!!!
Monday, March 14, 2011
2011-03-14 Great Weekend
Hi there,
No news is good news from me. I have been busy, trying to get some little amount of work done, and then the Army invited me down to CA for some training as the FRG Leader (kind of like the den mother of the unit), and there was a ball to attend! Very fun, but am now exhausted.
Will write more later.
Caroline
No news is good news from me. I have been busy, trying to get some little amount of work done, and then the Army invited me down to CA for some training as the FRG Leader (kind of like the den mother of the unit), and there was a ball to attend! Very fun, but am now exhausted.
Will write more later.
Caroline
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
2-23-11 Just humming along
Well, after the drama of the past few months, this last month has been relatively free of drama. Thank heavens! I am fairly stabilized now on the drugs and I guess this is my new normal. I have more energy than I did when this journey started, but am not where I was before. I can only work every other day for a couple of hours. After that I cannot concentrate. Just can't be done. Maybe that will get better.
The big excitement around here has been the Army stuff that JR is doing. He was involved in an exercise here at Fort Lewis, and so we had all the guys over for dinner, some each night, not all at once. And then a bunch also came over for Superbowl Sunday and I made a bunch of bar food for them. I also sent all the dinner guests back to their hotels with leftovers for lunch the next day. Which made those who had not been invited yet very jealous! But everyone who wanted to came for at least one meal. At the end of the week, JR came home with a plaque for me! I was awarded a "Hero of the Battlefield" for outstanding culinary fitness and boosting the morale of the troops during a pivotal battle exercise!!!! I got my first Army award!
Then JR was doing Army stuff in Camp Parks, California and I flew down to meet his friends the Andersons, who have the most amazing children on the planet! Very very cool family. And JR and I spent Valentine's Day in Monterey. We stayed for three days and then drove home together.
As we were driving home, I got an email that invited me to go to Camp Parks myself! The army is having an FRG training course (Family Readiness Group), and I am the FRG Leader for the north unit (like being a den mother for the spouses). So JR is going for an exercise, I am going for my training, the army is paying to fly me down, and there is a Military BALL to attend. How cool is that???? I have to go evening gown shopping this weekend. Oh boy!
I have also been invited to Maryland to be in a CML focus group that the drug company is holding. Again, I will be flown down at their expense and put up overnight in a hotel. It is only for the one day, and then I would fly home again. It is a LOT of traveling for just one day of work, but if it helps other people with this disease, then I feel obligated to do it.
I have been doing a little bit of work to the trailer as well. I finally managed to prime the inside and get it ready for paint, and tonight I recovered one of the bench cushions with the new mod fabric that I got that will pull all the weird colors together! One more bench to go, and I will be six inches short if I do it the same way as the first bench, so I may have to be a little more inventive with the second cushion. I don't want to have to find more of the fabric. Yikes!
I dream of camping and finding mushrooms.......sigh.
Happy dreaming to everyone.
The big excitement around here has been the Army stuff that JR is doing. He was involved in an exercise here at Fort Lewis, and so we had all the guys over for dinner, some each night, not all at once. And then a bunch also came over for Superbowl Sunday and I made a bunch of bar food for them. I also sent all the dinner guests back to their hotels with leftovers for lunch the next day. Which made those who had not been invited yet very jealous! But everyone who wanted to came for at least one meal. At the end of the week, JR came home with a plaque for me! I was awarded a "Hero of the Battlefield" for outstanding culinary fitness and boosting the morale of the troops during a pivotal battle exercise!!!! I got my first Army award!
Then JR was doing Army stuff in Camp Parks, California and I flew down to meet his friends the Andersons, who have the most amazing children on the planet! Very very cool family. And JR and I spent Valentine's Day in Monterey. We stayed for three days and then drove home together.
As we were driving home, I got an email that invited me to go to Camp Parks myself! The army is having an FRG training course (Family Readiness Group), and I am the FRG Leader for the north unit (like being a den mother for the spouses). So JR is going for an exercise, I am going for my training, the army is paying to fly me down, and there is a Military BALL to attend. How cool is that???? I have to go evening gown shopping this weekend. Oh boy!
I have also been invited to Maryland to be in a CML focus group that the drug company is holding. Again, I will be flown down at their expense and put up overnight in a hotel. It is only for the one day, and then I would fly home again. It is a LOT of traveling for just one day of work, but if it helps other people with this disease, then I feel obligated to do it.
I have been doing a little bit of work to the trailer as well. I finally managed to prime the inside and get it ready for paint, and tonight I recovered one of the bench cushions with the new mod fabric that I got that will pull all the weird colors together! One more bench to go, and I will be six inches short if I do it the same way as the first bench, so I may have to be a little more inventive with the second cushion. I don't want to have to find more of the fabric. Yikes!
I dream of camping and finding mushrooms.......sigh.
Happy dreaming to everyone.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
1-16-11 Parsnips
About three weeks ago I had a day of fun at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, having the usual blood draw and then waiting for an hour or so until my appointment. I was on the prednisone so I was HUNGRY. I managed to make it to the Red Brick Bistro in time for the last portion of hot lunch they had. Huli Huli Chicken, which was scrumptious, and it came with the most anemic looking vegetables I had ever seen. Yuk. There was brussel sprouts, which I love, and carrots, which I hate, and a bunch of other veg that just looked like they had been steamed and held on the hot line for a few hours. But as I said, I was hungry. So I carefully picked out the carrots and took a bite of Brussel Sprout. It was surprisingly tasty.
And then there was this white thing. I thought it was a potato and popped it in my mouth.
It was not a potato.
It was better than a potato. I looked for another piece and popped that in my mouth. Yum! What was this thing? I looked very carefully at the next piece. It was all white with a bit of ribbing on one corner...........very curious. It was sweet, and creamy and delicate. Where has this vegetable been all my life?
Having been to culinary school and loving to cook, it is very unusual for me to come across an new vegetable.
The kitchen was closed when I was done with my lunch, so I couldn't ask anyone.
I was so enamored of this new vegetable, that as soon as I got home, I emailed the Cancer Center and asked them what it was.
Then I called Auntie Fay, she thought it might be celeriac. Well, I have never had that either. So maybe.
I knew it wasn't a turnip. I despise turnips. Bad childhood memories of my mother making what looked like mashed potatoes, then taking a huge mouthful and finding out it was NOT mashed potatoes. And turnips taste awful, not like potatoes in the least.
The Cancer Center wrote back and was thrilled that someone liked their veggies, and by the way it was a Parsnip.
What? I thought parsnips were like turnips, they both end in nips. I did not believe them.
So I bought a parsnip. I went on line to find out how to cook this thing, looked through all my cookbooks (strangely not mentioned in most). I peeled it, and took a nibble of one corner of a piece. And was not impressed. This was not sweet and heavenly. But I soldiered on, and ended up cutting it into batons, taking out the woody center, boiling it for 10 minutes and then sauteeing in butter. Sprinkled with Greek Seasoning that I put on all my vegetables, and looked at the final product.
Took a deep breath.
And took a bite.
YUMMMMMMM. It was exactly like the vegetable from the bistro. Parsnips are delicious!!!!
I bought two more of them and made them for dinner when JR was home. He even took a bite. Admitted that they didn't suck. But didn't have any more of it. More for me!
Who knew???
According to Auntie Fay, Grandma knew, and loved them. I have no memories of her ever making parsnips. But then, maybe she didn't want to share them and only made them for herself. It's possible.
So not only did I try a new recipe, I tried a new food! Score one for that resolution.
Then yesterday (Saturday) I woke up feeling pretty good. I was even singing to the dog. I love singing silly songs to the dog. Then I decided to pounce on my huge project of shoveling out the pit that is my home office. I took everything out, decided if I would keep it, donate it, or trash it, then acted on that decision. JR and I went furniture shopping at three different furniture stores, just to see what there was, I don't have the funds for buying new furniture. So I had JR help me with rearranging the existing furniture and deciding on some new systems for keeping it organized going forward.
I had lots of energy!
After all that work, I decided to go to bed fairly early around 10. Gave the dog his treat, and went to take my pills. As it was Saturday, when up ending the pill organizer there should have been no more pills in the vials. But there was a rattle. I looked, and sure enough, I had forgotten to take them the night before. THAT was why I had so much lovely energy.
Poop.
Even a one day break makes the next day harder with side effects, so last night was spent watching tv from about 1:30 a.m. until 5 a.m. Then finally falling asleep on the couch until 9 am. JR is so sweet, he was so upset that I wasn't sleeping that he didn't even make himself coffee until I got up, he didn't want the sound of the coffee machine to wake me up. Is he the best or what?
Today I went to Lowes and got a board to use as a return for the desk, then we went to the container store and I got some shoe boxes that I think will work just perfectly with the organization I have in mind. Thanks Dad for the Lowes card for Chanukah!!!! Super handy!!!!
I have just stained the board, and am about to head off for bed.
And so it goes.
And then there was this white thing. I thought it was a potato and popped it in my mouth.
It was not a potato.
It was better than a potato. I looked for another piece and popped that in my mouth. Yum! What was this thing? I looked very carefully at the next piece. It was all white with a bit of ribbing on one corner...........very curious. It was sweet, and creamy and delicate. Where has this vegetable been all my life?
Having been to culinary school and loving to cook, it is very unusual for me to come across an new vegetable.
The kitchen was closed when I was done with my lunch, so I couldn't ask anyone.
I was so enamored of this new vegetable, that as soon as I got home, I emailed the Cancer Center and asked them what it was.
Then I called Auntie Fay, she thought it might be celeriac. Well, I have never had that either. So maybe.
I knew it wasn't a turnip. I despise turnips. Bad childhood memories of my mother making what looked like mashed potatoes, then taking a huge mouthful and finding out it was NOT mashed potatoes. And turnips taste awful, not like potatoes in the least.
The Cancer Center wrote back and was thrilled that someone liked their veggies, and by the way it was a Parsnip.
What? I thought parsnips were like turnips, they both end in nips. I did not believe them.
So I bought a parsnip. I went on line to find out how to cook this thing, looked through all my cookbooks (strangely not mentioned in most). I peeled it, and took a nibble of one corner of a piece. And was not impressed. This was not sweet and heavenly. But I soldiered on, and ended up cutting it into batons, taking out the woody center, boiling it for 10 minutes and then sauteeing in butter. Sprinkled with Greek Seasoning that I put on all my vegetables, and looked at the final product.
Took a deep breath.
And took a bite.
YUMMMMMMM. It was exactly like the vegetable from the bistro. Parsnips are delicious!!!!
I bought two more of them and made them for dinner when JR was home. He even took a bite. Admitted that they didn't suck. But didn't have any more of it. More for me!
Who knew???
According to Auntie Fay, Grandma knew, and loved them. I have no memories of her ever making parsnips. But then, maybe she didn't want to share them and only made them for herself. It's possible.
So not only did I try a new recipe, I tried a new food! Score one for that resolution.
Then yesterday (Saturday) I woke up feeling pretty good. I was even singing to the dog. I love singing silly songs to the dog. Then I decided to pounce on my huge project of shoveling out the pit that is my home office. I took everything out, decided if I would keep it, donate it, or trash it, then acted on that decision. JR and I went furniture shopping at three different furniture stores, just to see what there was, I don't have the funds for buying new furniture. So I had JR help me with rearranging the existing furniture and deciding on some new systems for keeping it organized going forward.
I had lots of energy!
After all that work, I decided to go to bed fairly early around 10. Gave the dog his treat, and went to take my pills. As it was Saturday, when up ending the pill organizer there should have been no more pills in the vials. But there was a rattle. I looked, and sure enough, I had forgotten to take them the night before. THAT was why I had so much lovely energy.
Poop.
Even a one day break makes the next day harder with side effects, so last night was spent watching tv from about 1:30 a.m. until 5 a.m. Then finally falling asleep on the couch until 9 am. JR is so sweet, he was so upset that I wasn't sleeping that he didn't even make himself coffee until I got up, he didn't want the sound of the coffee machine to wake me up. Is he the best or what?
Today I went to Lowes and got a board to use as a return for the desk, then we went to the container store and I got some shoe boxes that I think will work just perfectly with the organization I have in mind. Thanks Dad for the Lowes card for Chanukah!!!! Super handy!!!!
I have just stained the board, and am about to head off for bed.
And so it goes.
Friday, January 14, 2011
1-14-11 Great Response to Sprycel
So at the three month mark, you have a blood test to see how many BCR-ABL cells are floating around. They are the cells associated with the translocation of chromosomes 9 and 22 and are the hallmark of CML. My test results were at .05%! Down one hundred fold from the original findings. So Sprycel is doing very very well.
I am learning to live with the side effects and to try and manage them.
My life will never be the same. But as I perused the television last night, I stopped on Oprah for a moment. Her guest was talking about weight loss, but said something that resonates with all of life.
You have to have a vision of what you want your life to look like. Once you have that, you can then plan on how to achieve that.
So that is my task for this week. To develop a vision of what I want my new life to look like. I think that it will be a slower paced life, with time taken to enjoy what is around. I will have to monitor my energy level and try and figure out when and how long to work. And what does work look like for me? I don't yet know.
I think that I still like the idea of working for myself, it gives me lots of flexibility for having bad days, and taking off when I have good days to take advantage of them.
Now I just need to restructure and reorganize.
Caroline
I am learning to live with the side effects and to try and manage them.
My life will never be the same. But as I perused the television last night, I stopped on Oprah for a moment. Her guest was talking about weight loss, but said something that resonates with all of life.
You have to have a vision of what you want your life to look like. Once you have that, you can then plan on how to achieve that.
So that is my task for this week. To develop a vision of what I want my new life to look like. I think that it will be a slower paced life, with time taken to enjoy what is around. I will have to monitor my energy level and try and figure out when and how long to work. And what does work look like for me? I don't yet know.
I think that I still like the idea of working for myself, it gives me lots of flexibility for having bad days, and taking off when I have good days to take advantage of them.
Now I just need to restructure and reorganize.
Caroline
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