2019 Life Logs, Day 44: Snow, No Snow
Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Very Windy; High 48, Low 28 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Now you see it, now you don’t. That is the way last night’s snow went. When I first got up at daylight, there was still snow on the ground. But I went back to bed and when I actually got up an hour or so later, there was no trace of the snow. During the night, the temperature kept rising. The warmer temperatures and the windy conditions made the snow disappear, just like a magic trick. In the afternoon I headed to the gym to do my daily stint on the bicycle, but today I had to wear my brace. Everyday it seems my knee gets a little worse, and today I really couldn’t walk without the brace. I wore it to the gym, rode the bike for 30 minutes, and then went to the grocery store to buy things for tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day dinner with the Goldstones. We are having cheese fondue with veggies and meat for dinner and then chocolate fondue with fruit for dessert. And you can’t have chocolate fondue without strawberries, but there were no organic strawberries to be found in Falmouth this afternoon. I drove to Mashpee and still no organic strawberries. They had sold out everywhere. I was sure Whole Foods in Hyannis would have them, but that meant another 30-minute drive. But off I went. And even Whole Foods had no organic strawberries. So I started visiting other supermarkets in Hyannis. I finally found them at Shaw’s. Not the ripest, best looking strawberries I have ever seen, but at least they are organic. And why, you might ask, is it so important that the strawberries be organic? Strawberries, and all soft berries, are the most important foods to make sure buy only organic. Well, for one reason, the USDA tests have found that strawberries are at the top of the list of fresh produce items to be most likely contaminated with pesticide residue, even after they are picked, rinsed in the field, and then rinse carefully before eating. When tested, there are 7 to 8 pesticides found in non-organic strawberries. I don’t want to eat poison, and I certainly don’t want to feed poison to my grandchildren, so going the extra miles to find organic is important to me. The strawberry search meant I didn’t get some things done today that I had planned, but there is always tomorrow.
In about 30 minutes, my friend Lynne Kirwin should be flying out of San Francisco headed to New Zealand. Lynne has dual citizenship and spent a great deal of her adult life living in New Zealand. So, she is headed there to spend time with good friends who will help her to heal from the loss of Ed, the love of her life. Her first stop will be at a yoga retreat owned by one good friend. And then she gets to go sailing with other friends. Enjoy, Lynne!
