Freezing rain

Of all types of weather, and all the many variations that we get here in winter, I cannot make it clear just how much I hate, despise, detest, abhor freezing rain.  It has no redeeming qualities.  It turns otherwise normal walking surfaces into a hazard, breaks tree branches and is just horrible.  The forecast tonight is for ice rain for several hours, to be maybe followed by rain.  I’m not thrilled by this, as I’ve got an appointment early tomorrow, but we will cope.  Jerry had an attack of sulking today, as Don went out to do some repairs to the car.  There was nowhere for him to take the dog, so he stayed with me.  Well, Jerry does not approve of this situation in the slightest, so he sulked, grumbled and generally let me know that I am very much a second or third class citizen in his view!  Don’s back now, everything handled smoothly, and Jerry is changing whose feet he sits on every few minutes as if to ensure that everyone is where they’re supposed to be.  He just took over my toes and is chewing his ball while I’m being gently kicked in the ankle…

I had one of those days today.  There were a number of appointments and phone calls so that it felt like a busy day at the office.  My nurse showed up a good 20 minutes earlier than expected to change the PICC dressing, which doesn’t take too long.  Then I had several reminder calls from the hospital for upcoming appointments, then other things.  Just as Don was leaving to deal with the car, I got a call from the hospital to schedule my transfusion and she wanted me to go to the lab this afternoon (before 3; she called at 1:30) and I said that I can’t; I have no transportation and more importantly, I had a scheduled session with my physiotherapist at 2:00.  She suggested that I come in at 7:30am for the test to try to get me in tomorrow… and she seemed very upset that I wasn’t about to change all my plans to squeeze this in.  Anyway, I agreed to the test tomorrow, and we’ll arrange something for maybe Tuesday.  I’m in that state right now where I don’t really feel like eating, but I definitely need to… I’d planned to cook with my helper today but she’s suffering from a migraine, and her replacement was only prepared to do 1 hour out of my planned 3.  I’ll sort something out.

You guys know that I like reading through cookbooks and recipes.  I was on Project Gutenberg recently, and found some ancient, antique recipe books.  It was revelatory to me!  One of them is from the Ancient Roman Empire, and is the earliest known collection of recipes, and another is from the mid-thirteenth century and then I found Pepys diary, which is famous for his recordings of menus of royalty.  Later, I’ve found an absolute treasure trove of menus from an assortment of hotels, restaurants and trains dated between 1780 and 1960.  One of them listed a 16-course meal!  Phenomenal!  I looked down the menu, and there were no repetitions, although the last course was “tea or coffee, served with milk”  It’s fascinating to see how menus have adapted over time.  Some of the earlier ones mixed meat, fruit, spices, etc in some — to us — highly unusual ways.  I can see the effects in some cuisines, but still… and some of the foods/game that were served are again, highly unusual.  I can’t, for instance, imagine eating peacock or sparrow, but these were common delicacies.  Pie crusts originally weren’t intended to be eaten, but for use as serving dishes (which explains a lot!) and offal was fairly common.  It’s really interesting. 

My medication alarm just went off, so I’d better go take them.  Last night I forgot, and woke up around 1am, remembered that they were in the pocket of my nightgown and automatically swallowed them.  I don’t think that’s the best way to do it!  I also just got a call that my hydration bags are en route, so I’ve got to clear some space in the fridge for them.  That’s all for now then, Good night!