Pain, Pain, Go Away!

Over the past few weeks, I've been on a break from blogging. In anticipation of a visit by my best friend (from out of state), I whipped the yard into shape. I weeded, planted, trimmed, and hauled about 10 lawn and leaf bags' worth of trimmings to the alley. It still looks a bit like a "before" picture, but an unusually cold spring has put everything behind, and the yard is designed to explode into blooms in summer. I've also been painting. The last time I painted the living and dining rooms was almost 15 years ago and it was time for a fresh coat. I didn't finish, but I'm off to a good start. Since my friend arrived, we've been cycling around Denver, shopping, dancing, clubbing, drinking, and eating gourmet food (her generous description of my cooking, and honest assessment of most of the meals we've eaten at restaurants--from a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place on Federal to a high-end Italian wine bar on Wynkoop). We've even had time to do some...

Tonight at my party place I was standing at the dessert bar when an old guy came up and started loudly asking for service. He spoke to me and I told him I indulged in a gluten-free cookie once in a while (it would have been the first time since I started the cavity healing diet). I didn't mention the cavity healing diet because I just wanted to get a snack and go back to the dance. Nevertheless, Mr. vegan preacher made his spiel. Stuff this dude said: "I came all the way up from Cherry Creek [one of Denver's high rent districts] to get a half price dessert." (He said this twice.) "We've been eating wheat for tens of thousands of years without a problem." "Japanese eat plenty of soy and they don't have a problem." "Fruit isn't acid." "What's acid reflux?" "What do you eat for protein?" (Answer: meat. Unspoken answer: we've been eating meat for millions of years.) "I wish I could help you." ...

"Let's keep a record of the fool things we have done and criticize ourselves." -Dale Carnegie All winter, I've kept reading about how sun exposure isn't as dangerous as we've been led to believe. I also tested as mildly deficient in vitamin D . So today, I went to the park for a long walk for a couple of hours. My dog splashed in the water. When you've been sunburned in Florida in early February, when you've sunburned in 15 minutes in the summer in Colorado Springs, when you have visible blue veins, you should probably ignore expert advice and use sunscreen. D'oh.