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Yesterday we got the very good news that daughter, Sara has been cast as Sally Brown in the Pull-Tight Players, production of:
We are thrilled for you, young lady, and look forward to seeing what you look like as a blonde!
"Keep it simple."
Lately, if something has more that 5 ingredients, I'm not that interested in cooking it. Or eating it.
With my current symptoms (heartburn, nausea, stomach pressure/ache) probably precipitated by the liver situation... a rather large hepatic hemangioma, confirmed by CT scan last week, all that appeals to me is the simplest of foods in the smallest of quantities.
SDC muffins and breads, for now, feel like I might as well be eating boulders. I'm eating as low-fat as possible, tolerating only minuscule amounts of things like cheese and nuts... and I can only stomach small amounts of meat, without getting uncomfortable. Things that move easily and quickly out of the stomach seem to be best... applesauce, bananas and yogurt smoothies. I have resorted to old favorites like toast... wheat toast... I'm trying not to overdo. And Lipton's chicken noodle soup... my standard "sick" fare for decades... full of additives but oh-so-delicious. And small amounts of brown rice. And ginger ale.
So this diet-buddy is taking a detour until I get this liver situation figured out. Still fired up about sharing recipes for the SCD... I plan to keep on creating and posting. Right now I'm having fun reinventing family favorites like my mom's (Libby's) meat loaf and my aunt's (Eugenia's) pot roast.
For the past 3 nights Gary and I have been savoring my homemade Chicken Soup. (Have I ever mentioned what a patient and loving husband I have... he has willingly gone along for nearly a year with me on the SCD without a single complaint!)
But too much of anything makes me feel queasy. Needless to say it's a heck-uv-a-way to lose 5 lbs.
Monday I have an appointment with my surgeon. We will go over the CT images and talk about options. I'm preparing my mind for the possibility of surgery.
So lately the food around here has been pretty simple. And frequent. I remind myself of a baby... time for my mid-morning feeding!
"Keep it simple."
My Grama was named Beth. I'm her namesake. She usually had a pot of chicken soup bubbling on the stove. Here's my version of her tradition.
Gramas' Beth Chicken Soup (serves 4)
1 1/2 lbs. chicken legs or thighs or both
3-4 carrots cut in 1/4 in. slices
1 celery heart including leaves, sliced thinly
2 c. green beans sliced in 1" pieces
1-2 cloves minced garlic
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. turmeric
1-2 tsp. salt (I like it salty so I use 2 tsp.)
water
(A double recipe of Mini "Matzo Balls" if desired.)
Place chicken and veggies in a large saucepan. Fill pan with water to cover chicken and veggies. Add seasonings and bring to a gentle boil over med-hi heat. Turn down to low, and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken to a dish and allow to stand for 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Dispose of bay leaf. (Now is the time, while the chicken is cooling, to prepare the "matzo" balls and drop them in the bubbling soup.) Remove cooled chicken from bones, discard skin and return chicken to pot. Allow chicken to heat briefly in soup and serve.
Click here for information on how you can get a copy of this beautiful Turtle Soup Cookbook Cover and a set of printer-friendly recipes.
"Keep it simple."
"Keep it Simple."
Gary and I have this every morning for breakfast:
Simple Smoothie serves 2
Puree in a blender or food processor:
1 sliced
very ripe banana
1 cup frozen fruit (I slice up larger ones like peaches and strawberries)
1 cup SCD homemade yogurt
a dab of honey... but I don't think it needs it!
Click here for information on how you can get a copy of this beautiful Turtle Soup Cookbook Cover and a set of printer-friendly recipes.
"Keep it simple."
That's right. It's a year today since my first tentative post, which actually was prompted by a New Year's resolution to learn to type.
It's been a super-fun year, I have indeed learned to type, ('though my speed is still turtlish and I commit an alarming number of typos... right pinkie knows the precise location of the backspace key!), and in the meantime have discovered a real passion for writing... in fact I'm addicted to this blogging stuff.
A big thank-you to my readers, and for your wonderful comments... you make it all the more worthwhile.
"Keep it simple."
Last Thursday I had a CT scan to confirm the findings of an earlier ultrasound. Been having random nausea, low grade fever, back pain, and general icky-ness for the past several weeks. This morning my doctor called with the results of the CT scan, which confirmed the original diagnosis, a rather large hemangioma on the left lobe of the liver, which might be responsible for the symptoms. I am waiting to hear back from the doctor's office for a referral appointment to a surgeon for a consultation... it's only a consultation...
Waiting and seeing and not worrying.
"Keep it simple."
I take these to pot-lucks and they get gobbled up in minutes!
Spicy Sausage Snacks makes about 30
1 lb. ground pork
2 cloves pressed garlic
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. sage
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. blanched almond flour
3/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
Mix all ingredients with a fork until well combined. Roll heaping tablespoonfuls of mixture between palms and place on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. (Some of the cheese will ooze out onto the paper... that's okay.) Drain briefly on paper towel. Serve. Watch them disappear!
Click here for information on how you can get a copy of this beautiful Turtle Soup Cookbook Cover and a set of printer-friendly recipes.
"Keep it simple."
In anticipation of the first anniversary of bethsblog, I've simplified the archiving of my posts. (If there's an easier way, I've yet to discover it!) I've created a 2007 Post Archives sidebar category, so that a click here will reveal a list of post titles, by subject. I'll be doing the same for 2008 as I go through the year. I think that with my resolve to "keep it simple" in 2008, this improvement, although temporarily complicated, (I've spent several hours slogging through my my archives,) will in the long run be better.
"The trouble with simple living is that, though it can be joyful, rich, and creative, it isn't simple." Doris Janzen Longacre
"Keep it simple."
Art
Have a Very Happy Valentine's Day 2/14
Libby's Day 2/15
creativity 3/6
Gallery of the Month 4/1
Zazzle Update 4/211
Might be our next President... revisited 6/4
Splish Splash 6/12
Fun Artist 7/14
Astronomy/Cosmology
Heavens Above 1/18
Bang! 5/13
Star Struck 6/2
Sleepyhead 6/11
P.J Astronomy 6/23
Weird Science: how I hope it will be...6/26
Books
Borrowed Manifesto 2/22
Family
A Poem From My Remote Location 1/6
It's Almost Time 1/8
You're a Good Gal, Sara Spencer 1/31
Ann Arbor Photolog 3/17
Pickles for Breakfast 5/2
One of the awesomest things 5/9
It's awfully quiet around here... 5/27
Chair Lift 6/10
vacation-home 6/27
Health and Fitness
The Continuing Saga of my Current Medical Adventure 1/23
They looked but they couldn't find the cat. 1/28
Simple Food 1/31
A big sigh of relief 2/4
Reinventing my diet... again... 2/8
The State of My Gut 2/27
Mouse-itis 3/19
Finger Stone 3/24
Unstitched 3/31
What is it about carbs? 5/8
bethsdiet 5/8
"At your age..." 5/20
Fear of Weighing 5/21
Embracing Venus 5/28
Is body-fat adaptive? 5/30
That weird little pain... 7/30
Cosmetic Surgery: Part 1 8/13
Cosmetic Surgery: Part 2 8/26
Soon to be Scoped 8/27
Music
quote of the day 7/18
"Praan" lyrics 7/23
Poetry Simplicity Travel Weblogs Wisdom and other Thoughts Videos Zazzle
Spring Has Spring 3/20
Home again, home again, jiggity-jog...* 5/1
That May 5/5
Random Stuff
My Lakota Doll 1/15
Is Diet Pop Fattening? 2/11
the dog days of winter 2/13
The only time I feel FAT 2/18
Bucket List 3/3
Dumb 3/5
Random thoughts... 3/7
Last night I dreamed... 3/27
Thanks to the brilliant... 4/2
Whirlwind Weekend 4/7
A Little Bit Fatter 11/17
Rewind 5/19
Pinned Down 6/5
Boundaries 6/18
Dumb Move 7/16
Marvelous! 8/18
Serendipity
A Sunday Ramble 7/20
Follow Up 7/21
Resolutions Revisited 1/11
Still a Little Under the Weather 1/16
Wabi Sabi 1/17
Simplicity and Silence 1/22
There's still no hurry. 1/25
Blog-plicity 1/27
Simple Food 1/31
I've been a little frantic... 3/3
Simplify...again 7/11
Travelin' Shoes 4/11
We had a wonderful time... 4/16
Spring Break Southern-Style 4/18
Whirlwind Weekend 6/9
Happy First Anniversary bethsblog 1/29
Have to vs. Get to 2/11
Masthead Mania 2/28
I've been a little frantic... 3/3
Things I don't understand... 3/28
Post 301 5/7
Seth's complete guide to email... 6/5
Perfection...not 2/25
Fragile 3/26
Wu-wei 4/4
Missing the Moment 4/15
Good Grief 5/14
No Offense 6/16
Spending Time 6/25
everybody dance! 6/22
Fun Stuff 2/26
Art
Heartsong 2/9
Restoration 101 4/5
Deep Talent Pool 4/13
LaKenya 4/20
Word to the Wise 3/26
Might Be Our Next President 5/24
Caricature Mania 5/29
Experiments 6/28
Overhaul 7/13
Thinking 7/17
Portrait Process 7/25
I couldn't have said it better. 8/29
Waiting to be framed II 10/19
Astronomy
Curious Joes 9/25
Star Date 9/29
Time to Star Gaze... 11/12
Books
Beth's Thoughts on Seth's Dip 5/22
The Guy Can Write 7/2
Changes
Time for a Change 10/23
Ch- Ch- Ch- Changes 11/2
Time to Ponder and to Dream 11/6
Time to take my time 11/12
Christmas out of Control 11/29
The Way it's Supposed to Be 12/18
Family
To My Valentine 2/1
Libby's Day 2/15
Time to Fill My Grama Tank 2/19
The Grama Report 2/26
There's Another Beautiful Daughter 3/6
You've Come a Long Way Baby 3/14
It was Fabulous 4/2
The Little Mermaid 5/17
Grama Time 6/1
Sad 6/7
The Flying Pretzel Circus 7/11
Blog Break 9/6
IRONMAN! 9/12
The MAN! 9/13
Recovery Day 10/29
Ladies in Waiting 11/27
Bellyvision 11/30
Home for a Minute or Two 12/8
Stockpiling 12/14
My Room 12/17
She's Here! 12/20
Cheers! 12/31
Health and Fitness
History of Lap Swimming: Part 1 2/13
History of Lap Swimming: Part 2 2/16
History of Lap Swimming: Part 3 2/27
History of Lap Swimming: Part 4 3/4
History of Lap Swimming: Part 5 3/9
History of Lap Swimming: Conclusion 3/12
When You Can't Sleep 3/16
I am what I eat. 5/10
Humor
We always end up there... 6/23
More Turtle 11/9
Random Stuff
My New Toothbrush 1/30
Winterfinger 2/6
Happy Spring... Sort Of 3/21
Spring Break 3/23
A Good Idea 4/3
Another Good Idea 4/3
Microfiber Finger 4/4
Bagel Wars 4/12
A Vocabulary Word for the Day: Palimpsest 5/25
Less Bags 5/30
Versimilitude 6/22
Strawberry Solution 7/24
Coping Strategy 8/30
Lakota Doll 8/31
Going with the Flow 9/5
Souvenir 9/14
Signs 9/22
Fresh Ink 10/16
My Birthday Presents 10/17
right/left 11/1
It's just not right. 11/7
Spirituality
Things I Didn't Know About Easter 4/6
Another Topic for Another Post 7/19
All I ever needed to know I learned at the Pow-wow 9/4
Attached to Turtles 10/18
Christmas Star 12/13
Travel
What I did on my Nashville Vacation 5/15
Thankyou, Mr. Rigley 5/16
Thinking 7/17
What I saw on my Summer Vacation 8/28
Utah Rocks! 10/12
Weblogs
A Blog of My Own 1/29
The World According to Blog 2/28
Seth Godin on Blogging 3/1
Blog Brevity 3/15
A Day Without Seth is Just a Day 4/9
Bell Shines in the Subway 4/13
Bananas 5/13
Who's your market? 5/31
The Perfect Student 6/8
Beyond Typing 6/21
Reorganize Dammit 7/4
Fire 'Em (Nicely) 7/11
'Write' up my alley. 7/23
Deliver me from Ego. 7/23
No More Screaming 7/25
Generosity 8/29
"Hard" Work 9/3
S.A.E.F.A.D. 11/8
On Saying Goodbye 11/18
Pay Attention 11/30
Wisdom
Worry 1/30
No Hurry 1/31
Media Break 2/5
Mine/Not Mine 2/7
The Tortoise and the Hare 3/8
Thanks to Mrs. Robertson 3/22
The Yin and the Yang of it. 4/5
The Short List 4/11
A Word to the Wise 4/24
Making it Last 4/20
Word to the Wise #2 4/24
The Problem with Process 4/25
Word to the Wise #3 4/26
Alone but not Lonely 6/18
Just for the Fun of it! 6/20
Certain About Uncertainty 6/26
Be Brave 6/27
That's Good 7/30
The Full Plate Theory 7/31
Emancipation Proclamation 9/28
"Keep it simple."
I didn't realize that I missed National Slow Down Week last week. Guess I was busy keeping it simple. Check out the charming video Christopher over at slowdownnow.org posted on Jan. 14. It's not to late to slow down.
Have a grand weekend and while you're at it:
"Keep it simple."
In 1995 my daughter was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. It all
began when Amy was a junior in high school. She developed an anal fistula,
which after repair and biopsy revealed Crohn’s type tissue.
A visit to a gastroenterologist provided her
with a warning that she would need to “keep an eye out” for the disease to
manifest farther up the intestinal tract, possibly years down the road. For the
time being, watchful waiting was all we could do.
Five years later,
sure enough, Amy was in big-time chronic pain, and a colonoscopy revealed
Crohn’s lesions in the small bowel as the source of her discomfort. She was placed on medications with scary
side effects and told to eat whatever she wanted, that there was no dietary
solution to her problem. Amy would be facing a lifetime of medication, and in the
worst case multiple surgeries.
Fortunately, with medication, she was able to achieve remission and get off the meds long
enough to have her first child. But
several months after her daughter was born, Amy’s symptoms returned with a
vengeance…and the medications were not as effective this time.
When Amy and her husband were thinking about having a second
child, they faced a difficult decision. They had received conflicting advice
from multiple doctors about the safety of medication while pregnant. Amy did
not want to expose a pre-born infant to the unknown effects of medication,
but she also did not want to compromise her own health during pregnancy. One
night in desperation I called a friend of mine who had been struggling with
Crohn’s for over twenty years, and had five children of her own. I knew that she had used some sort of
special diet to control her symptoms during and after her pregnancies. She told me about the Specific Carbohydrate Diet™ (SCD), and she agreed to call Amy.
Within the week, Amy had begun the first stage of the diet; within the month she was able to wean off
her medications; and within two months she was happily and healthily
pregnant—and feeling better than ever.
When Amy began the SCD, I volunteered to join her on the
diet for moral support, becoming her Diet
Buddy. Together, we learned how to bake with new ingredients and plan
healthy meals along the SCD’s starch-free, sugar free, grain-free guidelines.
On the SCD, I was pleasantly surprised to find relief from
health issues of my own. The first thing I noticed was that my osteoarthritis pain improved
greatly. I also gained relief from my
life-long struggle with embarrassing and uncomfortable bowel gas, and a
bleeding anal fissure was healed. But it gets even better. After a very healthy
SCD pregnancy, Amy gave birth to a thriving baby girl.
In Turtle Soup: posts, You'll find articles I've written reflecting my own experiences eating and living SCD.
So, why Turtle Soup? The turtle,
slow and steady, hard-shelled and sturdy, is an ancient symbol for health and
longevity. And of course soup is the
ultimate healing and comfort food. Mother always said, “Eat your chicken soup
if you’re feeling ill.” And it’s no accident that step one of the SCD recommends cooking a giant pot of
SCD chicken soup and eating it for several days!
I hope you have as much fun using the recipes in Turtle Soup* as we did creating them. May you find a way of health, happiness, and peace-of-gut. Bon Appetite!
*Check with your health care provider before starting a diet plan. Turtle Soup is not intended to be construed as medical advise or treatment for any disease or condition.
"Keep it simple."
Here's a list of posts I've written regarding the
Specific Carbohydrate Diet™:
Diet Buddies 2/8/07
Life Without Bread 2/12/07
A Month Without Bread 3/7/07
Two Months Without Bread 4/10/07
No More Grab and Shove 4/7/07
Diet Tweak: Going Gluten Free 4/27/07
Six Months Without Bread 8/14/07
A Year Without Bread... sort of. 2/5/08
The State of My Gut 2/27/08
It takes guts! 4/23/08
"Keep it Simple."
First of all, I'm feeling much better. Fever is gone. Stomach is settled. Energy is returning to normal. So for the past 3 weeks I've been suffering from what probably was a virus. A very large and ugly virus.
Interestingly, my ultrasound, which revealed a normal gall bladder and pancreas, also showed a scattering of spots on my liver.. little-to-not-so-little masses of blood vessels called hemangiomas. They are a normal abnormality that many folks my age have and don't even know it... unless a routine ultrasound, while looking for gall stones, happens to reveal them. In other words... ignorance is bliss!
Tomorrow I am scheduled for a CT scan to confirm the diagnosis and rule out anything else. I'm not worried. So don't worry.
"Keep it simple."
During
the holidays there was a lot of noise. People noise, shopping noise, traffic
noise, laundry noise. Some of that noise was generated by my exuberant 2
½-year-old granddaughter Sophia. I spent most of my days during the month of
December hangin' out with Sophia, helping her very pregnant momma, Amy, while
we waited for Cassidy to be born. And of course, newborns are noisy too...
so a new layer was added to the noise when the baby arrived on Dec. 20.
Each night, after a busy day of chasing the toddler, helping with the new baby,
and taking care of household chores and errands, I retreated to my motel room
for several hours of solitude and silence.
Silence by design... I decided to enforce silence each evening from around
7p.m. through the next morning when I headed back to Amy's... no TV, radio,
music or talking... well, I did talk to my husband each evening on the phone.
Now I am home. I can barely turn the TV on. Or the CD player.
For years I have preoccupied my brain with noise. I grew up in a noisy home
with parents whose frequent and loud verbal battles often lasted all day and
into the night. I learned to use music and TV to block their incessant arguing.
It got to where I could only fall asleep when listening to music.
While raising my children I distracted myself from the random noise of toddlers
with music on the turntable.
When my kids moved out and got lives of their own, things got way too quiet. I
began using the TV and the CD player for companionship. Background chatter.
Noise, noise, noise. I have always surrounded myself with noise.
But in December I learned to relish the simplicity of silence.
Yesterday I was in the health food store having a conversation with one of the
employees and in the background blaring, was a top 40 tune. I thought in my
head... "Can't we just turn that off?" And have you noticed how you
can't go into a doctor's office, or a hospital or an airport without being
bombarded by CNN, or the Food Channel, or Dr. Phil. I know... it's how they
help us pass the time... or maybe lose track of time... so we'll forget about
how late the doctor, or the radiologist, or the flight is running.
Last night I was journaling. I have this cool journal with quotes by Rumi
every few pages. The quote for last night was. "Your old life was a
frantic running from silence. The speechless full moon comes out
now."
"Keep it simple."
Welcome to Turtle Soup Recipes. All of my recipes comply with Specific Carbohydrate Diet™, set forth in the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall, and are endorsed by her daughter, Judy Herrod, here.
Links to free recipes for you to enjoy are underlined. Click here if
you'd like to get the complete set of my recipes in a printer-friendly
format, and a beautiful Turtle Soup Cookbook cover insert. (See
example below.)
Not Just for Breakfast
The Incredible Peanut Butter Muffin
Amy's Pumpkin Muffins
Amy's Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Banana Muffins
Carrot Muffins
Cinnamon Walnut Scones
Mini Donuts
Caramel Upside-Down Coffee Cake
Beyond Rabbit Food
Spinach Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
Taco Salad
Snack Attack
Cheesy Breadsticks
Nacho Chips
Spicy Sausage Snacks
Simple Smoothie
Soup 'n Things
Creamy Tomato Soup
Gramas' Beth Chicken Soup
"Matzo" Balls
Sumptuous Sides
Oven Baked Stuffing
Butternut Squash Casserole
Good Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Mashed Cauliflower Potatoes
The Main Event
Eugenia's Pot Roast
Libby's Meatloaf
Chicken Paprika
Just Desserts
Pumpkin Pie
Holiday Cutout Cookies
Cookie Monster Cookies
Amy's Peanut Butter Brownies
SCD Baking Tips
Turtle Soup: Cookbook Cover and Printer Friendly Recipes
"Keep it simple."
We were just finishing up breakfast when Gary glanced out the window and noticed this Eastern Bluebird on our feeder, fluffed up against the 9 degree cold. Muskegon is about as far north as he's ever found in the winter.
What an unusual delight on this bitterly cold morning!
"Keep it simple."
While I'm on the subject of simplicity I might as well add a few cents to Seth's post "The problem with perfect", with a Wabi Sabi quote from Leonard Koren's Resurgence:
"Keep it simple."
Last night Gary and bundled up and braved freezing rain to attend the opening at the Muskegon Museum of Art, of: Heavens Above; Photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope featuring an absolutely wonderful talk by Mark Voit, Astronomer and Associate Professor at Michigan State University. Any time I hear a really good lecture on astronomy, I sit there not breathing or blinking so as not to miss anything... that and the wonderful images of the deep space photographs taken by The Hubble Space Telescope, which suck my eyeballs right out of my head each time I see them.
One of my favorites is this image:
Abell 1689 So many galaxies in this cluster that the gravitational pull has created sort of a space-lens which is gathering light from galaxies in the background and bending it into scattered arcs, allowing us to see evolutionarily much older and more distant galaxies. Some of the faintest objects in the picture are probably over 13 billion light-years away. Now that's cool.
Then there's this Hubble Ultra Deep Field image.
What's interesting about this is what it shows is a very small slice of the Universe. Hubble is looking at a piece of the sky so small that if you, standing on earth, were to put a small pencil dot on your thumbnail and hold your thumb at arms-length up at the sky, that's how small a patch of sky we're talking about. In that small patch of sky there are nearly 10,000 galaxies. And that's considered an average patch of sky... not super-dense with galaxies like Abell 1689... but if you do the math, that's hundred's of billions of galaxies Universe-wide. Wow.
And what's to say ours is the only universe...
At the end of the presentation, Mr. Voit opened the floor for questions. Someone asked about the "big bang". He said that there is microwave energy present that is left over from that cataclysmic event. If you disconnect the cable from your TV and then tune to a station that your TV normally does not receive... you know the gray, fuzzy picture with the hiss... well, part of that hiss is microwave energy from the "big bang". Then my weird mind started thinking... that microwave hum is evidence of the Creative Force behind the universe... always there... like the tinnitis in my ears. I like that.
Later, after the talk, Gary and I hung around a bit to meet the speaker, along with few others who still had questions. I asked Mr. Voit what he felt about the existence of intelligent life in other solar systems. He said that the obstacles to that sort of travel i.e a spacecraft that could survive the rigors and dangers of what it would take to travel to another solar system, are seemingly impossible, but who knows. He also said that the thought of no one else "out there", is a very lonely thought, and that we are "listening" for "them" with radio telescopes. (The SETI project.) Like in the movie Contact.
I also asked Mr. Voit, "if the universe is constantly expanding from the time of the "big bang", is there a locus for the "big bang"and if so where is it? He said that it is beyond our limited human analogies to describe the "big bang"and the expanding universe... some have described it as a balloon with dots on it that move away from each other, but that's a 2 dimensional model and space is in 3D, and no... the "big bang" didn't start from a "point" in space. It was more of a simultaneous thing... then I thought of how, when you are working in paintbrush, and you decide to paint an area blue and you hit the enter key and suddenly, simultaneously, from nothing, you get a blue field... is that a little how it is? Mr. Voit liked that.
Today my mind is still blown and my eyeballs are still falling out. I'm thinking about the unlimited majesty and beauty of what's "out there" and the possibility that god is all around in the form of microwave energy... but I'm like that.
"Keep it simple."
One of my favorite quotes comes from the book Wabi Sabi Simple by Richard Powell:
"Do only what is necessary to convey the essential."
"Keep it simple."
...but feeling a bit better today. This morning I had a gall bladder, liver and
