A vicious cycle

Granny at play

Before Hurricane Sandy brought the cold:

"Ooh, what's this?"

Reading Wild Things to a Wild Thing.

"What ginger hair you have Granny!"

Frederick and Other Fauna

This Thursday Frederick's class went on a field trip to a farm to pick out pumpkins. Frederick knows farms well, and had a good time with the animals, as JacQue's photos attest. Apparently he wanted to kiss a sheep (his favourite) but she protested.

Then today I was able to capture footage of these two shy woodland creatures:

Granny arrives!

Frederick and I went to Flint airport to pick up Granny. Here's the winged beast that carried her hence (from Chicago, at least):

...and here she is, just a couple of seconds before she notices us:

A tree in Autumn

Every year around this time, my favourite tree is this one, on Franklin Avenue near our house. So this year I did what I've been meaning to do for years, which is take a series of photos documenting the change of the leaves. And here is a selection from over the course of about the last month:

The burning bush next to it is pretty nice too...

Gut Cells Feeling Bruised

Tired of wondering if I (Jami) was gluten intolerant, had food allergies or not, I decided to settled this issue once and for all. So, about two weeks ago I had many tubes of blood taken from me. They whizzed their way to a super-duper lab in Atlanta where dozens of technicians worked furiously on them for days and days, checking to see what I can tolerate, and what I can't. They were checked for 500 (yes, read that again--500!!) substances. There are three types of results: code yellow foods (eat only rarely), code orange food (really ought to avoid) and code red (never eat under any circumstance or you will bloat like the Michelin Man). Well, I got my results today and it turns out that I am not fit for this world. Although I can eat most meats and fruit, there aren't a whole lot of vegetables that I am allowed to eat which, if I weren't a vegetarian, wouldn't be so bad. Except that I am, so it is. Here is one of the worst offenders:

Some of my code reds are: celery, chick peas, millet, red and green lettuce, tumeric, zuchinnni, mango, leak, fava bean, brewer's yeast, avacado and artichoke. Also included in my list of no-no's are soy and casein both or which I eat in vast quantities every day. Sigh. I am going to be meeting with a nutritionist/dietician next week to get advice on how to manage meals because all I can think of is egg whites and quinoa, which seems a bit dull after about, well, a few minutes.

Groucho lives!