Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow... I have really had nothing to post have I? Things here have been pretty routine. My health has been holding up and I have my full strength and energy back. I really hope it stays this way for a while.

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving and I am hosting a small dinner here at our house. My parents-in-law (Mary and Jerry) are coming as well as Mary's cousin and a friend of ours, Neil. Our plan is to make as much of the meal in the pizza oven as possible. The turkey (naturally) will be cooked in there as well as the cranberry sauce, the yams, the dressing, and the Brussels sprouts. I am doing the pies (yes... call me crazy... 2 pies for 6 people) in the regular oven since that kind of baking can be tricky. We did a test run of the turkey and a couple of the sides a couple of weeks ago and it all came out much better than we dared to dream. Today I have spent most of the day prepping so that tomorrow I can sit around a drink wine while the turkey cooks. Then the last 30 minutes will be a mad dash to finish the side dishes and make the gravy.

My garden is doing great. Almost all of the garlic has come up. I have some lettuce out there, some peas, cabbage, some greens, and cilantro. Also Brussels sprouts... we'll see if I get any this year.

Now I have to get back to the kitchen... a pecan pie is waiting to be made.

Happy Thanksgiving!

MRI Result Today

Last week I had an MRI of my abdomen. This has a limited view of the lungs (just the very bottom of the lungs) and also does not read the intestines very well. For a good image everything has to hold very still and intestines are actually always moving. But, for what it could see, everything is all clear at this time.

The oncologist up at Stanford will run a CT scan in January.

Of course I am thankful for the clear scan and for the times that I'm feeling great, like now. But I want to pass along to you that I've been told (by a couple of oncologists) that the chances for a cure for me right now is 10-12%. Which means that there's a 88-90% chance of it coming back somewhere. Of course, I'd like to beat those odds but it's just something that I have to face. I will cherish the times that I feel great and feel like my old self. That's all I have to say about that at this time.This may not sound positive to you, but I am actually being positive. There's no need to view all of this in a negative light. It's not helpful.

The Fall Garden Continues

The Fall/Winter garden is coming along nicely. Here in the SF Bay Area we can grow something year-round. We might get a frost day or two but no real freezes. I took these photos just a couple of days ago.

This shot is my usual overview of the garden from the front.

This bed contains a couple of large parsley plants. I just put in some kale, collard greens, mustard greens, celery, and cilantro. That tomato plant is an "Autumn" tomato plant. We'll see...



Hopefully this U-shaped bed will contain a nice variety of garlic later today. Lettuce and garlic get along well so I have some young lettuce plants already in the bed.



This bed holds some very nice lettuce, some peas, cilantro, cabbage, more peas, and some carrots. Very busy bed! The one behind it contains more cabbage and a tomato plant that's still producing, though probably not for much longer.



This shot is from the back of the garden. As you can see, the tomato plants are still going. That bed to the right there will be planted with asparagus this Spring.



These are my baby Brussels sprouts. Some gardening guy here said that you have to start then in September, so I did. It's my 3rd year trying Brussels sprouts and I have yet to have any success with them.



My herb bed is one of my most cherished beds. It is so nice to have such a collection of fresh herbs to pick from. This bed has basil, rosemary, parsley, thyme, oregano, sage, and tarragon. Pretty soon I should harvest some of this and dry it for the winter. I'll also cut back the thyme and rosemary. They will persist through the winter and I'll cut them back to reduce the woody stems inside and allow for some fresh growth next year. Everything in this bed is perennial (except for the basil) and will return next year. The only thing I'm missing here that I'd like to have is chives. I put some in this year but they were an aphid magnet. Next year I'll put some in a separate pot.