Lake Lewisia #610

The park docent called out over the chattering crowd of children gathered at the visitor center, "Who can tell me the significance of the White Lady and what you can expect to find nearby?" Out of the chorus of voices, one eventually rose above the others to say, "She's a scary ghost lady who haunts rivers," which was about the level of sophistication she got from the age-eight-to-twelve sessions. Plenty of children had been warned of the White Lady and other disaster omens, but it took more careful teachers to make them understand that the fear was a service provided by such entities, warning them away from far worse threats.

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LL#610

Today's Keyboard Smash

Oh, what a deeply satisfying day! I needed absolutely all of that, even if some of the bits were less than fun in the moment.

Today was the follow-up with the cardiologist, after getting the results from the echo, the heart monitor, and the bloodwork. (I haven't directly seen copies of any of the above, but I'll...get to that at some point.) After some thrilling technical difficulties with the telemed system and having to explain to people that no, no I do NOT have a smartphone, we managed to get through the two and a half minute actual appointment part of the appointment. Summary: there isn't a blessed thing wrong with my heart in any way. *\o/*

Now that that's over with, I can usher in a glorious new age of NOT GOING TO DOCTORS. I mean, yes, I still have regular check-ins with the rheumatologist so he'll keep giving me my delicious, delicious drugs. But no more investigation for a while. No more weekly blood draws for yet another appointment. No tests. No monitors. I'm taking a break. The higher dosage is helping a lot, and it doesn't appear to be killing any of my internal organs at the moment. So. Moratorium on medical shit until the spring at least.

I made biscotti, and they are delicious. I used this King Arthur base recipe. But, *B*U*T* I then changed shit, because why would I just follow the recipe exactly when making something for the very first time? Instead of lemon zest, I chopped up a couple fingers of buddha's hand, as well as a chunk that's basically candied after being used to infuse honey. Instead of almond extract, I used freshly grated ginger along with some very small quantities of cinnamon, allspice, and hint of hint of nutmeg. I didn't want those spices to overwhelm the ginger. They turned out delightful, though they did require an extra ten minutes or so on the second bake to properly dry out in the center.

I got to spend over three hours cleaning ("got to," yes, I have become This Person). I've placed a rack in my backpack and daily junk space, so that's nicely organized and off the floor now. I cleaned off the at-home sweatshirt table, which is also a daily junk space, though it's still going to be a work in progress. And I cleaned off the top level of the dvd rack, which is this weekend's big project. That one involved cleaning off a lot of shiny rocks and crystals that I keep up there. The jewelry box, which had migrated there from the bedroom when I cleaned *there*, has now been consolidated with the jewelry stashed in the bathroom and now it's all in one place on the bathroom shelving. Can't remember the last time the jewelry was this organized.

Tomorrow, the rest of the dvd rack, which is also full of china teacups, like you do. And we're going to raid the freezer for something to cook for dinner, because it is unmanageably full of food. Which is a really nice problem to have. Depending on what we pick out, I'll come up with something tasty to make. It'll be another good, good day. *nodnod*