12 October 2024
Monday was my iron infusion and I felt good the rest of Monday. I was good on Tuesday and Wednesday but started to fade on Thursday. Friday I pretty much crashed and stayed in bed. Pat, the nurse, told me it may take 2-3 infusions before I really start to feel better. I’ve pretty much taken the day off today with the exception of Saturday chores.
I managed to do what I call a clean of the house, change linen on the bed and start the wash. After that, I made a soup with ham, cannellini beans, onions, carrots and spinach. It turned out pretty good for lunch and probably for dinner. For some reason, this drop in temperatures to the 70’s at night have me craving soups and stews.
After lunch, I headed to the bedroom for a very short reading period and then a two hour nap. I used to never nap more than 15-30 minutes and now all of a sudden I’m sleeping 8-10 hours every night and 1-2 hours in the afternoon. Not that I’m complaining, I’m just not used to it.
The other day I was looking around for something to drink besides water. I was tired of GatorAde. I saw a small carton on coconut milk and when I checked, the expiration date was still good. My last order to Whole Foods included coconut milk. I really like the taste. What’s strange is I like the Whole Foods 365 brand. I’ve had other brands but they are not as tasty.
I remember cracking coconuts as a kid to get to the juice and “meat” of the coconut. Mother would put me to work on a few to get enough to shred to make a coconut cake. She made the cake from scratch and then used immediately fresh coconuts.
To open the coconut, there are three depressions at one end. I used a screwdriver to punch holes in those and drain the coconut water (which is liquid endosperm). Then after draining, I’d use a hammer to crack it into several pieces and use a knife to pry the white coconut from the shell. It was laborious to say the least, but the effort was worth it for the coconut cake. By the way, Mom hand grated the coconut on a box grater.
Coconuts are a big thing in South Florida. I only have one tree now where there used to be three. People would stop and ask if they could harvest the coconuts. I generally said yes until the only one left was in the back yard. Now the tree people who do my yard get the coconuts. You can see pickup trucks driving through the neighborhood filled to overflowing with locally harvested coconuts.
Some guys climb the tree and others use an extendible saw. The coconut bunch makes a loud thud when they hit the ground. You don’t want to be under a coconut palm when it drops a coconut from 15-20 feet over your head. Remember, these still have the husk so they weight considerably more than the husk-less ones in the grocery.
I’m going to be lazy tomorrow. Monday I have a new infusion and I have something to do on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Stay tuned!
