I accomplished
absolutely nothing useful today, but strangely enough I feel better and happier
tonight than I have in days, even weeks. Woke to rain, yet another dreary day,
and while I knew I should be grateful for the moisture, my only thought was
that I really wanted a sunny day to help me improve my disposition. It didn’t
happen—either the sun or the improvement. A friend cancelled a longstanding date,
and Jordan was not pleased when I told her about yet another doctor
appointment. She’s glad to take me, usually wants to be there, but when I first
tell her it’s like another chore added on to the many she already has. And
there have been too many appointments lately. And where I thought we would have
lunch together, I found she had other arrangements—as well she should. She can’t
babysit her mom all the time, when I don’t need it except for sociability
reasons.
We had joint
appointments for facials at Origins, the store where I’ve bought make-up and
skin products for at least a decade, probably longer. The ladies who did them
were cheerful and fun, and my mood brightened a bit, though I was baffled by
the products used on my face. I think maybe I’ve had one facial in my whole
life before. Truth is that when Alicia finished, my face did feel better,
fresher. But the mood didn’t last, and I was on the edge of tears on the way
home.
But the day began
to turn around. Black bean soup for lunch tasted really good. I took care of a
few details on my desk and then two a solid two-hour nap. Woke feeling like a
new person. Not a mysterious turn-around. I had contacted my doctor to report
feeling lethargic with no interest in food and a slight feeling of nausea. As I
suspected, he suggested I needed to cut back on one medication, and I think the
change kicked in today.
Jordan and I have
shared a couple of experimental meals since Christian has had other
obligations. We do that to try the things we know he wouldn’t like. Last night’s
meal was a bust, maybe partly due to my own ambivalence about food, but I’m delighted
to report that tonight’s meal was a success, and I loved every bite.
I fixed scallops
in a lemon/basic sauce. Got the scallops just right, with a nice brown on the
outside and still tender on the inside. The sauce was butter, white wine, lemon
peel and lemon juice, and chopped basil, thickened with cornstarch in a tiny
bit of water. I sliced a couple of mushroom that needed to be used and threw
them into the mix. Jordan made a salad of leftover canned artichoke hearts,
diced Roma tomatoes, avocado, and blue cheese, with lemon juice instead of
dressing. You’d have eaten every bite too.
Those recipes are keepers, though the salad, I confess, is an
off-the-top-of-my-head one remembered from a salad served me probably fifty
years ago at a ranch in the Texas Panhandle—watercress and tomato in lemon
juice. I just added blue cheese and avocado.
I have scenes in
my mind for the novel I’m working on, and they will be my priority tomorrow. In
the last week, I accomplished only 1500 words, but now things are looking up.
I’m a happy
(happier?) camper tonight. I feel like I’ve come back from someplace far away.
