Home and Garden: June 2005 Archives

(And that includes all our spiritual fathers)
Thank you for all the sacrifices you have made through the years.
May God continue to bless and enrich you with his Mercy.
Happy Father's day.

I got in at MHT around 2230 on june 16, wired and exhausted. I go to conferences primarily to touch base with my friends and allies, and it was good to do so. But by nature I am more of a recluse than I seem, and spending several hours each day surrounded by crowds of people, no matter how dear they are to me, is very exhausting. I find it worthwhile to pay the extra $$ to stay in the conference hotel so that I can escape to the room for 5 to 15 minute breaks away from it all.
John's gout is doing much better, though he still has twinges and is still taking anti-inflammation medication and following a fairly restricted diet. I did a little research and found that a few sources suggest that black cherries (fresh, frozen, or juiced) contain a substance that helps to break up and excrete the uric acid crystals of gout, so we are also trying that. Many thanks for all the prayers.
It's good to be home. The CSA started last week, and we got a head of lettuce, some green garlic, pea tendrils, 3 tomatoes, and some spinach greens. I made salad for dinner last night but forgot to use the tomato. But half the lettuce is left for tonight. I will probably pan-braise the spinach with a little of the green garlic and olive oil - John is not allowed to eat spinach right now, alas. I need a good recipe for the pea tendrils. Every year I do the same thing with them (steam with a little butter added) and it is getting a bit boring. But they are not an item with tons of recipes in the standard cook books. Erik makes an excellent green garlic soup, but I don't think I have enough of them to use that recipe. Will have to explore.
We still haven't put in our vegetable garden, and maybe we won't be able to this year. The CSA really does provide a great base for good eating, and there is also the farmer's market. I'm a bit bummed out because when I left for DC, the brussels sprouts were blossoming and when I got back, the plants had been stripped bare of their blossoms and leaves by some maurauding pest. So I don't know if we will plant our own. I know that we should.
The rhubarb is still blooming. I am really wanting to harvest some - but of course rhubarb is also on the verboten list during an acute gout attack. Oxalic acid crystals, or so they say. I have been trying to find an accurate and evidence based list of dietary interventions for gout, but there is a lot of variability in the lists and not a lot of objective evidence. I guess the availability of drug therapy has decreased the incentive for basic research.

Last week feels like last year (do you ever feel that way?). My husband was best man at a wedding in California on Saturday June 4. He flew out early Thursday morning while I was still at work. I worked 36 hours through (full day Wed, on call all night that night, and a full day Thursday) and flew out Friday AM so that I could be there for the "bridal shower" (actually a get together of all the ladies) Friday night. Our elder son and his girlfriend drove up from Southern California, our younger son, his girlfriend, and his next sister drove down from Oregon, and our youngest was scheduled to catch a very early plane from NH Saturday morning (Prom the night before).
Let me backtrack a bit. The groom from this wedding has been a family friend for over 30 years. He is in age somewhere between me and John, and he is also our youngest child's godfather. He has never been married - has come close a few times but something always came up. His bride was actually his High School sweetheart, who was widowed a few years ago. The wedding invitation featured their Junior Prom picture. So it was pretty important that we go to the wedding, despite my concern about it not being a church wedding.
The actual wedding took place outside, at the end of a short train ride into the countryside near Suisun CA. The reception was at the Western Railway Museum. The logistics were such that everyone involved had to be on the wedding train on time for a 4 PM departure, ride the train to the end of the line (about 20 minutes), have the ceremony, and ride the train back to the museum for the catered buffet reception. We had arranged that our younger son would drive to the Sacramento Airport and pick up the youngest at 2 PM, and hightail it back to the museum in time to catch the train and see the wedding.
0500 Saturday AM, my cell phone rang in the hotel room. I groggily grabbed it, and when I saw that the caller ID was out home phone #, I was suddenly wide awake and full of adrenaline.
"Mom,"she said in tears and sobs," I set 12 alarms and I missed my plane". Me: " I told you to go straight to the airport after prom."
"Well, we didn't do anything after prom and I thought that I could take a nap" with wails and sobs.
Me:" Get dressed, grab your stuff, and go to the airport and I will call you back with more instructions."
I ended up getting her on a flight into Oakland that landed at 4PM, and she then took a BART train almost to the end of the line where her brother picked her up (Left after the vows) and got her back to the reception in time for the last of dinner and cake. Her other (almost 23 y/o)sister who was present caught the bouquet (although not exactly the one the bride was carrying for the actual ceremony - that one had been left behind when the train took off and so she had a makeshift bouquet of extras from the boutonierres).
Got back from the reception in time to spend a half hour in the hot tub at the hotel and sleep. Got up the next morning, went to Mass at a local parish (worth its own post), had brunch with the other kids before they all headed home, and went to Sacramento to do tourist things and have dinner with Erik at his folks house.
to be continued