Two eventful days

Hello all!

Yesterday, Sat., was a good day. Read a lot all day for the essay I am still working on, met with Laury here for some work on her interview, then made a light supper, spinach pancakes, a favorite since babyhood. In those old days doctors thought children should have lots of spinach for iron, but since I wouldn't eat spinach, the doc gave my mother a recipe that he said was a foolproof way to get spinach into a child.

This is the recipe: a bag of washed baby spinach, about 6 oz I think, but I didn't look. Wash again and spin dry. Place in large bowl and beat in eggs one at a time until every leaf is well coated and glistening. I used 3 eggs. You can use eggbeaters for all or some of the eggs. Heat large frying pan. Add oil and heat. Arrange 3 or 4 spoonfuls of the spinach mix in the hot oil in small cakes. I do this now with a twist. Turn the patties when quite brown on one side. On the brown side arrange a little cheese of any kind. When the bottom layer is brown and crisp, remove from pan with slotted spoon, and drain on a plate covered with a paper towel. This made enough pancakes for supper that night (with salad and bread) and enough for lunch the next day with sliced tomatoes and potato salad. The patties can be reheated or simply warmed to room temp. Yum. No salt added. Dotty, do you remember my mother making these?

After supper we tried a movie: We get Netflix, and as Merwin says, we are the customers they love best. One can order as many films as one wants a month: once you return one you can get the next one on your list. Well, we see about one every 6 weeks or so because we are so slow to view them. This one was "Waltz with Bashir," and we could not take it. It was well done, but it was raw and painful. I give the Israeli filmmaker credit for exposing the truth about the violence in Lebanon, but I don't like seeing it, even softened, I suppose, by the animation. So we stopped after about a half hour.

I wasn't going to write about SPIN, but this morning I went to try out the scheme of sitting through the whole class. I can tell you that is pretty hard to do. Fortunately Gail had great music that kept me moving, and I adjusted my hands now and then (behind, in front, at my sides--anything to get some variety). My behind was sore!

After that I worked for several hours putting the reading I had done yesterday to work in the essay I am writing. Then to a wonderful concert at Tilles Center, about 4 miles from us, where we heard a cello-piano concert. It was lovely. I was tired but did not fall asleep because the performance was so engaging.

After that a brief nap and then Dawn came to have dinner with us at Sherwood's, one of my favorite local restaurants. We were celebrating her birthday, belatedly, and her new first full-time job as a college teacher of English. She is happy!

A strange thing has been happening to me. I noticed on Friday night that my feet and lower leg were very swollen, starting at about 7 p.m. I lay down with my feet up. In the morning the swelling seemed about gone. Then the next evening the same thing happened and this time it was still somewhat swollen in the A.M. I had to hunt for shoes that were big enough to hold these big feet. My son, who is a doctor (infertility specialist) told me what it was: it's another effect of this spleen of mine, which is impinging on the Inferior vena cava, preventing it from doing what it's supposed to do. He said "It's the largest vein in the body. It runs parallel to your aorta. It returns all blood to your heart." He said that I should lie down on my left side as much as possible. That's what I am going to do right now.

Again my temp. is normal, and I feel really good.I appreciate all your loving care, It helps me a lot to know you are out there listening to me.

Love to all,
Bernice/Mom