Happy Saint Paddy's Day

Tomorrow is St Paddy's Day, but the only green in my diet will be my tea and the greenhouse Chard I purchased this week, steamed with a splash of vinegar and lashings of melted butter! Life has been pretty slow for me here.I still haven't recovered from the side effects of that medication -- still waking each day with excruciatingback and left leg pain as well as tummy ache.But one must soldier on.

I still walk daily and stretch.So, fingers crossed!NL Jam-jams!Because of this discomfort, going out for IWD on March 8th proved very taxing: I was so glad to spend the next day relaxing at home with my new book.And I was also glad that I brought my dessert home with me to enjoy with a hot cuppa.

A tradition in NL, "Jam-jams" are made with strawberry, raspberry or NL partridgeberry jam (lingonberry in Europe) sandwiched between 2 soft, light-molasses cookies.Absolutely delicious.Last Sunday, I went to lunch with an elementary school friend, Rod, that I hadn't seen in roughly 50 years! Like so many of us in the 60's, I attended a small local elementary school, going from Kindergarten to Grade 8 with the same group of friends.There were about 8 of us that played together after school: lots of tree gardens, as we called them, in which to play cops and robbers: lots of hills and fields in which to play softball ...

as long as someone had a ball and someone else found a fence picket.Rod's pet collie, Kerry, often joined us.I remember when we were about 9 or 10, Kerry died, and we decided to have a funeral.The boys were pall bearers, the girls mourners, and because I had my Gideons New Testament in my book bag, I was named officiant.

We were all very sad about it.I read the 23rd Psalm, the girls were crying, the boys picked up the box containing Kerry and began to walk up the slight incline to the open grave.Suddenly, the bottom of the box gave way, and dear Kerry rolled down the hill! Oops! After some guilty laugher, we carried on in a more sober manner.

My neighbourhood landscape was littered with pet graves and little popsicle stick crosses.Since last Saturday, I've beenfollowing an anti-inflamatory diet to give my body an extra bit of help to heal.I allow myself yogurt & green tea, but bread and coffee are strictly off the menu.Sob sob! And since I moved in December, I've been frequenting our little library and reading once again.

"Still Life with Crows" was a great read: good writing and a host of lovely, quirky characters.I was delighted to find that this book is one in the middle of approximately 10 others written around eccentric FBI Special Agent Pendergast.So, now I have read them all.This week's read is a light mystery.

The setting is a beautiful old mansion/hotel in the mountains; an eclectic mix of 13 characters stuck in the middle of a ice storm with no internet connection and the power's been lost.The perfect setting for a murder or two.We enjoyed 4 days of sunshine weekend past which thankfully took some of our snow.But true to our usual weather, it will snow tonight and tomorrow.

Spring will eventually come; and hopefully, it will bring better health for me.Namaste y'all! I love seeing your spring posts as they help me hold on.Hahaha!