Monday

I'm hungry.  Have downed a couple of "Finn Crisp" crackers to see if they are acceptable...once again, food poisoning, or something.  My boss offered to drive me home if necessary, faster than a bus commute, and a shorter walk.  (I didn't feel sick until I got off the bus and started walking to work, the closest stop is no-where near work.)

Foot in a boot, for the past week.  I'm supposed to keep it on for 10 days, and then increase an hour each day where it is off.  Been having issues since October, so, finally bit the bullet and asked my foot doctor for a boot.  It took some time to get used to walking in it, and level changes and stairs are difficult.  However, there is a great reduction in pain.  (It's been particularly bad since the theatre class in June.)

What I find most interesting about the experience of wearing it, is directly experiencing the barriers that people with mobility issues face: stairs, over-heavy doors, lack of railings, steepness, hills, the extra time one has to take to get anywhere, not only because you might be already moving slower, but also because of the detours involved in the accessible routes, the getting on/off of public transportation, etc.  (And on the note of hills, the hospitals on First Hill all require the navigation of steep hills.)  And, it takes more energy to move.  I'm lucky enough to hopefully be able to take mine off.

The nice thing about the boot, other than the easing of the pain, is that it gives me an excuse to not do anything active, it allows me time to read.  I'm doing this "Library Book Bingo" thing this summer, each square a different type of book/genre to choose from, such as: reread a book you read in school, read a book from the year one of your parents was born, read a book set in a different country, etc.  I have five or six books at the moment.  I started reading this book about owls (two, actually, one by Desmond Morris, and one by Paul Bannick), because I had to wait for all the books I was interested in, and then four of them came in at once.  Out of those, I've read (and immediately wanted to read again) "A Wrinkle in Time," (could be science fiction, banned book, YA book, etc., in bingo card), and was already reading "The New Jim Crow," Stephanie Alexander,  "My Beloved Country," Sonia Sotomayor, and have now started "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley (kinda' boring to me, to start), "Remains of the Day," Kazuo Ishiguro (so much to love: point-of-view, societal change and how that is made manifest in this character/his life, etc.), and then I picked up "Are You My Mother?" by Alison Bechdel (a graphic novel), that I haven't started yet.  I'm competitive, so that eggs me on in my head, but I'm also using it as an excuse to expand the type of things I read, I've been in a rut, re-reading books multiple times rather than picking up something new.  (Just started reading a lot more science fiction.)

I did a bunch of weeding yesterday (needed to be done), with the boot, and I have to wear a heel on the other foot to keep level.  I knew I needed to pick a zucchini, have known that all week.  It was difficult to get to even without the odd footwear, thankfully, one of the neighbors waded into the plant life and cut it off the plant for me: it's a beast.  This is the first successful zucchini planting I've had in about 15 years (the last few years, I've had plants that only produced male flowers, never figured out why.)

My culinary adventure yesterday was figuring out what to do with these spiralized, butternut squash "noodles" I had bought on a whim.  Ended up making something between a latke, spanish tortilla, and a rice "pancake" someone I used to live with made with leftover rice.  Sauteed onion, sage, garlic, then the chopped up squash noodles to soften them a bit; salt, pepper.  Took out of pan to cool, added smoked paprika, that powdery form of Parmesan cheese, some leftover brown rice, and then two, slightly beaten eggs as a binder, and fried them in olive oil.  (No measurements, added until it looked right.  If I make it again, I'll add more sage leaves, there were two, it could use more, and I'd add a scallion when I add the rice.)  Not bad.  Don't think it's what gave me food poisoning, at least I hope not.