Finishing a Job

Today I told Adam that he could complete the job of cleaning the front patio of weeds and dirt over the next several weeks.  Instead he got busy and removed the dirt and grass revealing several additional feet of patio that had become a weed patch.  He finished the job. 

Pencils

I have some mental quirks.  One of them is the desire to complete sets.  I somehow managed to give all my Inktense pencils away.  I purchased a set of 12 but it lacks some of the colors I value.  Today I stopped by the Blick art supply store on 21st South in Sugar House and found that the single pencils were on sale.  I purchased six but I really want to go back and complete a set of 24. 

Community

I went to a meeting of the Art Guild this evening.  It started with a potluck meal and moved to the studio of the artist whose home we were visiting.  At the end of the evening when random questions were being asked I glanced out the window and saw a stunning sunset.  I excused myself and went to the door to get a picture.  The meeting immediately broke up as other artists followed me to take pictures of the fleeting moment.  The pink and gold tones of the sunset soon faded into the blue and silver of the lake and distant shore line.  We returned for a short time to see the framing studio of our hostess.  Nobody seemed to resent my sudden exit, in fact the number who followed me gave evidence that we were more involved in capturing the beauty of the sunset than continuing a discussion about art techniques.

Seasons

I have lived and visited areas where there is little difference between one season and another.  But I have lived most of my life where winter, spring, summer, and fall are very clearly differentiated.  I'm not fond of blazing heat in summer or icy roads in winter, but I am very fond of spring and fall.

Fasting

I have fasted for 24 once a month since my childhood, except when I was pregnant or nursing as a religious practice.  I believe it increases sensitivity to spiritual matters.  I also believe it improved my physical help by giving my body a rest from digestion for 24 hours.  I have never really practiced water fasting ; abstaining from food but drinking water, except when I was in labor in the hospital because of the rules of keeping a woman from ingesting solids while she was in labor.  However nearly 5 years ago I was in the hospital for surgery on colon cancer.  I was  given 4 gallons of medical enema and put on a clear diet, meaning I could eat or drink nothing but liquids provided by the hospital.  These included tea, coffee, Jell-O, and chicken broth.  I have never ingested coffee or tea and for several years I had avoided foods like Jell-O because of their sugar. When I tried to drink some of the chicken broth I found that it was really nasty.  As a result for six days I took little more than salted water.  I really didn't like this.  Lately I have joined a Facebook group that features periodic water fast lasting as long as a week.  One of the purposes is to promote autophagy in which the body is forced to use tissues that are ordinarily left alone because of the lack of exterior sources of nourishment.  This is my first voluntary 72 hour fast although I fasted for 40 hours earlier in the week.  I expect I will be able to meet the goal.

Meat

I'm trying to become a modified carnivore, which, for me, means I eat almost exclusively animal sourced food like eggs, cream, butter, cheese and meat of various kinds including fish, fowl and mammal.  I haven't considered eating reptiles, but since shrimps and insects are both arthropods I guess I have to admit a fondness for that type of animal meat.  I also eat what I categorize as 'water' vegetables, which are vegetables that have hardly any carbohydrates, like cucumbers, celery and cauliflower.  Each is used as an adjunct to a meat dish.  I eat cheese with the celery in preference to crackers.  I mix the cucumber with full fat Greek yogurt spiced with garlic and dill to make Tziki and eat it with lamb.  I cook the cauliflower and mix in sour cream, cheese and beef sausage.  I don't drink milk, but I still eat sugar-free chocolates, except for the coming month while I repent of going wild for fruit.  I saw a sign for cheap strawberries today and quickly passed by.  Fruit is a temptation that led to several weeks of bad congestion and a ropy cough.  A day or so after I stopped eating fruit the cough was gone.

Facebook battles

I usually don't follow up on my random comments on Facebook posts.  The other day I thought I detected an attempt at bullying.  I made a mild counter and moved on.  I recently signed into my Yahoo account and saw that someone had responded to my comment and I had forgotten the issue or the name of the person I countered.  When I clicked on the link back to Facebook I discovered that the writer of the post I had criticized had defended herself, somewhat weakly, but meanwhile my comment had garnered ten likes.  I was amused.