June is…

It’s my favourite month of the year!  Birthday month!  🎉 It started off as being probably the hottest June 1 on record — 36C!! — and it’s been a sluggish day because of the heat.  Jerry began the day bouncing around and being excited, but then settled into the seat in front of the fan or sprawled on my lap curled into some interesting pretzel shapes!  He definitely feels lighter without his fully grown winter coat, and is full of energy; he’s also drinking lots of water.  He tends not to eat much when it’s hot, and I don’t worry any more, so long as he drinks and eats a little.  Don is beginning his annual grumble about the heat and how it’s impossible to stay cool after you’ve removed most of your clothes, and that he’s drinking gallons of water (and juice).  I admit to having easily doubled up my water intake, and drinking a lot of chilled water.  It’s really quite hot.  I’ve also listened to one of my friends and decided that dinner will be ice cream.  

My arm continues to improve and the pain is somewhat less.  There are still moments of stabs when I move suddenly or when the dog decides to jerk my arm at 5am!  The overnight drilling continues, and apparently will go on for a few more nights, to be replaced by a week of road work and a lack of access to our parking lot while the other street has the sewers repaired.  

I’m realizing that I’m something of a picky eater.  I used to think that I wasn’t, that I only really avoided beef (allergy) but I was open to trying all sorts of new dishes.  I still am, and I love the idea of trying new things (let’s assume that I have a working appetite and functioning taste buds) some of which I like, and some I don’t.  But as I think about it, I realized that I’m a bit more fussy than I admitted.  For instance, I don’t like maple-flavoured foods; I enjoy maple syrup on pancakes, but I’m not a fan of maple taffy, maple bacon, maple salmon, maple cookies, maple cream, etc.  I also don’t like banana bread (IMO, it’s a waste of perfectly good bananas) but then I admit that I don’t buy bananas in Canada, as I find they taste like plastic.  I love strawberries, fresh, or served with sugar and cream, topping sponge cake, or on ice cream.  I do not like strawberry flavoured foods; I refuse to drink strawberry Ensure (yuk! 🤢) and I’m not a fan of strawberry ice cream.  Same with other berries — I love them fresh, and I’ll gorge on them (my endocrinologist just says, eat the fruit, we’ll adjust your insulin) but I’m not a fan of them in many other foods.  Mangoes need to be freshly picked and I’ll stuff myself with them, or else done in a chow or curried; otherwise, no thank you very much.  I will drink mango nectar, or lassi, but that’s the end of it.  It’s a challenge for my dietitian, who loves recommending smoothies (not a fan) or protein shakes (nope) or adding kale (decorative plant, not food) or other such stuff.  

Honesty is such a lonely word… when I look at myself in the glare of naked lights, I find that I’m not who I thought I was!  Avoiding a food to which I am allergic is logical and sensible, and I’m careful about it.  But when I start listing the items that I don’t like or which are prepared in ways that are not great to me, I realize that I am a nit-picker!  Now I have to wonder where that exclusionist approach came from and how I developed it.  Perhaps I’d better start being less fussy and just eating everything to get the calories I need.  I’ll start with RibFest this weekend (it’s about a month early, it’s usually at the end of June where I can get birthday treats and freebies!) and see where it goes.

Speaking of food, I’ve got to go eat now, because it’s that time of night, followed by the rest of my evening  routine… Good night!