Race weekend

It’s the Ottawa Race Weekend, where thousands of people run races from 5k to a marathon.  It’s also one of the days when traffic is knotted into a snarl and it can take ages to cover even a short distance.  It’s hot today (27C) so the racers will be heavily tanned.  I live, of course, in the middle of downtown, where street closures abound, so naturally, I don’t leave the house! Except today, when I met 2 friends for brunch (the really bad closures start tomorrow morning) and we had a lovely time!  I’m so glad that we were able to meet up and share news.  Gotta love those kinds of days, even though I’m wiped out this evening, but it’s a good thing.  Jerry is glaring at me for leaving him at home while I was out, and he’s been letting me know that he doesn’t approve of my individual outings!  Don was happily glued to a sports game, and I think he only noticed that I was gone when I got back and turned down the volume on the TV from “stadium” to “household” 😜. I think he needs his hearing checked, but he just says, “Huh?” when I mention it!

My arm persists in being a literal pain — I checked my little notebook and it’s been 6 days since I woke up and it went ‘ping,’ so I think it’s time for it to go away now, please!  I was not able to eat much of my brunch — I opted for a croque madame and received a sandwich that was about 8” across!   It did taste good, but I couldn’t do much with it.  Our waiter looked disappointed that I hadn’t managed to eat more of it, but I explained that it’s my small appetite although I’m supposed to eat high protein, high calorie food.  I originally intended to have dessert, but I had ZERO room left!  It was quite warm today, and sunny, and I found that it sucked quite a lot of my energy from me.  I hope to catch up on some of that tonight so I’m a little more perky.

There was a report in the news today that people aged 18-24 are “more willing to pay a premium for organic food,” (about 30%) while those aged 50+ would not (about 80%)  I maintain that most “organic” foods are simply marketing to drive prices up, and repeated studies show that there’s no nutritional difference between “organic” and nonorganic foods.  For myself, I definitely fall into the 50+ group!  I remain horrified at being charged 3 - 4 times the price for foods, as I do not have the cash flow of a mega-millionaire.  The same study, though, also showed that the amount spent on food hasn’t changed year over year, although food prices have increased, so it appears that despite having certain ideas, the deciding factor in food shopping is the budget.  People have been buying the least expensive options, never mind organic labelling!  I have to admit that I find it a little strange that the people who are allegedly eco-conscious, and who advocate for organic food also add to several problems.  I mean, think about it… almonds (which I love and will happily eat by the fistful) require huge amounts of water, and are primarily grown in semi-desert areas (think California) where the drought has been persistent for some years, so a lot of water needs to be provided.  The processing also uses a lot of water.  So those factors add to pressure on the water table and supplies in those areas.  But then they argue that almond milk is better than dairy farming.  From my perspective, it’s a question of equal harms and an attempt to beatify one over another.  The availability of more plant based food options is great, but (my complaint here) I don’t like the idea of imitation foods — so no “vegan beef”, please;  ditto no cauliflower “pizza” or “rice” (yes, I’ve eaten both.  No, I’m not likely to voluntarily do it again.)

I like the movement back to maximizing the use of products as our grandparents and great-grandparents did.  Things like using every part of a coconut and intercropping on farms or reuse or repair instead of throwing out items.  These aren’t new ideas, nor are they unique, just we marketed them out of popularity in favour of convenience.  I saw someone run a kickstarter for an “endless tissue” — a product that allows you to reuse a cotton tissue (aka “handkerchief”) where they were asking for $50 for the privilege of buying 2.  I remember as a child — until after university, in fact — that I always had a clean handkerchief (usually pinched from my father’s stock, as the “ladies’ handkerchiefs” were tiny, lace-edged pretty, useless things)  Then maybe 25 years ago, finding handkerchiefs became impossible.  It’s a pity, as I never have paper tissues or paper towels, but a hanky was a wonderful item!  Some stuff I’m happy to dispose of (diapers at the top of the list, followed closely by tampons/sanitary pads instead of “rags”)  Are there any other items that you can think of that should make a return to everyday existence?  

It’s dinner time… I don’t have much of an appetite (the croque madame was VERY filling!) but I’ve learnt that if I don’t eat then I have to deal with nausea when I take my chemo pills and I don’t like that.  After that, I will be a dog bed… my nighttime routine is pretty fixed!  Good night.