Much Ado quotes

Avid Gardener posted a couple of her favorite quotes from the show, so I must follow suit.

• Beatrice: No, sure, my lord, my mother cried; but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born.
• Beatrice: I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.
• Benedick: I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me because I have railed so long against marriage. But doth not the appetite alter? A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humor? No. The world must be peopled. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.
• Benedick: Serve God, Love me, and mend.

Much Ado About Nothing

This winter Brady, Erin, and I, along with our neighbor were able to read aloud together Shakespeare's "Much Ado about Nothing." The Idaho Rep. Theatre from Boise came to the Jr. High in March and performed a shortened "cowboy" version of it, that all of us attended.

Two weeks ago, we (with the exception of Brady, sadly,) were able to go to a performance of it at the local university. They had hired a couple of professionals for the leads, one being the gal who played Beatrice in the cowboy version with Idaho Rep. this spring. She had done a fine job as a cowgirl Beatrice, but was able to shine even more in this longer, Spanish-set, version. Her counterpart, Benedick performed amazingly, as well. The chemistry between the two of them was perfect, even though, as she told us after the play, they had just met a couple of weeks prior to performances.

The performance was outdoors which added to the perfection of the night. Some people picnicked before the show which looked like a lot of fun. Erin was able to go a second time with other friends, this time packing a picnic, too. A top-notch Shakespeare production in our own backyard, what a treat!

Friends

We're in northeast Oregon for a couple of days for a wedding. I'm looking forward to seeing Brady all decked out in a tux as a groomsman tomorrow for a friend (R) who shares his love for film. We've never been down in this area of the state before, but Brady's friend met a gal from down here and so here we are! Also in this area is a friend, (A,) Brady met through his computer art 3-d work that lives just a few miles away from where we're staying tonight and so he came over to our motel for a short visit this afternoon.

We had met A a couple of months ago in Washington, as he was in the same town we were - we, for treatments, and he, for a concert. He and Brady spent a couple hours at Starbucks talking 3-d art and later we all went to the concert. He played the cello in an orchestra.

This new friend has a mom and a brother that suffer from chronic fatigue. He really knows what Brady (and Erin and I) have been up against so he can relate a bit better then others can. It's been a treat to be able to see him twice, but it's been even better that he befriended Brady more than a year ago and has encouraged him in many ways.

I'm glad Brady is getting this weekend. God's faithfulness to him is so apparent as we spend this time with friends. These friendships have blossomed because of opportunities that came about from his long-term illness. Hear and know that the Lord is good.

Oh my!

There is never a"good" time to start a diet like this (SCD) I'm sure, but I could have waited until my kitchen helper was back in town!

I never dreamt how much time and how many pots and pans would be involved in keeping 3 people satisfied and content on meat, fish, cooked vegetables, and cooked fruit (no canned goods allowed.)

Take heed any chronic fatiguers out there wanting to start the diet.

Finally

And we're off!

We've started our 4th day on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I have already observed two things about my health that show it's helping me. I'll spare you the details ; )

The kids have been troopers. This is not an easy diet. We did almost two days of just meat, broth, eggs, and very diluted grape juice jigglers. At the end of the second day we added a cooked vegetable. Yesterday we added a cooked fruit. Today we added a little nut butter to banana and egg pancakes. Oh yeah, and yesterday we added a tablespoon or so of homemade almond milk yogurt. I'm reacting the most to some of these add-ons, and so I have to watch that and maybe back up, hopefully I can ease into them with smaller amounts.

I'm so thankful we are finally on this diet. I have good support on-line with a forum of other SCD followers who have quickly and graciously answered my questions. They helped me to see a couple of mistakes I made in some of my food prep and foods used; as a result I had to throw out my first batch of almond milk yogurt and give away some apple juice jigglers, but I'm determined to follow the rules as closely as I can.

Time to figure out the next meal. Thanks for reading.

Home again!

We're back from our trip to the Midwest.

Here are a few of the my trip highlights:

• Taking showers at the farm house! I had the honor of being the first person to enjoy the luxury of a shower at my parents' home (instead of the usual bath we had to take before the installation of this wonderful modern convenience just days before our visit.)
• Several visits with my (soon to be 90 year old) grandpa, including a hike with him by the lake.
  
• Finding some book treasures (4 boxes to be exact) to bring home from both the small town libraries (one library has a free book shelf and the other has a 10 cent book sale shelf,) and from my grandfather's shelves (the grandpa that died in October.)
  
• Spending time with 6 nephews, each of whom have their own unique personality and interests.
• Going "up to the hills" (our farm is in a valley,) to my uncle's ranch to see the new spring fillies and colts. One was just 2 weeks old and stole my heart!
  
• Seeing and visiting with some relatives of Brent's that we hadn't seen for seven years.
  
• The 50th wedding anniversary party of Brent's parents. A fun celebration with about 200 friends and relatives to mark the blessings of Bill and Mary's marriage. Erin performed two songs from the Broadway musical, "Wicked" for everyone. We're so glad we were able to be there and be a part of this very special occasion.
  

Disappointments:

• Not being able to take time to visit friends who live in both SD and Iowa. We just didn't have the energy or time on this trip back - I had a short visit with my best friend from highschool, who lives just a 1/2 mile from my parents' farm. She brought her cute 1 yr old granddaughter over, but there we so many more of you I wanted to see as well.
  
• My health deteriorated from flares with allergies (the different summer pollens such as grasses/trees) and probably from the overall stress of the trip - Brady's health was not good when we started out and he continued to have trouble during our stay.
  

Now I am more ready than ever to start our diet (from the book, Breaking the Vicious Cycle.) That is my next goal. I can see our need for the diet as I've studied it more, and I'm very hopeful that we will be helped by it.

I'll try to post some pictures soon. Thanks for stopping by and thanks to all who prayed for us while we traveled. Also, special thanks to our moms and sisters for all the time they spent party planning, grocery shopping, and working in the kitchen cooking and washing dishes, so I could have the fun I've just shared with you. We've been truly blessed.

P.S. I did get to see an Oriole, not in IA, but in South Dakota, flitting around the big elm tree outside my grandpa's window. We also enjoyed seeing the fireflies twinkling over the cornfield next to my in-law's house. Erin said they looked like hundreds of little fairies coming out for the night.