A downturn

Three views of our pond irises; like many flowers their display is splendid though brief. Unfortunately, something is wrong with the pond's balance, something that has never happened before, and the fish are dying.

Dear Friends and Family,

A week on a higher dose of Hydrea seems to have reduced my white blood count a bit while not reducing the platelets alarmingly, but though my spleen might be very slightly smaller, I still have the symptoms of last week, pain (Tylenol is sufficient), fatigue and more: no need to go into the whole ugly picture. But, and of course I always have a but, I sent off my final (I hope) corrections of the SQ essay, and the very kind editor of ShSur (a friend) will respond to my queries about my proof sheets for that journal when he receives the proofs: he hadn't seen them yet. And Laury dropped off the ms. of our Measure for Measure edition, with the copy-editor's suggestions. All this at once! I have started through this, but am going very slowly. Perhaps Laury and I work on this together. Lots of work to do! To say nothing of hamletworks.org. I have returned to my surveys of TLS, which Kathryn kindly passes on to me. When I find something useful for us, I mark up the copy and put it on my "to do" pile. Step one of several.

Sonia has been a great help this week, as always. I know I feel better when she is with me, and our work together (exercise routine, walking, kitchen chores, laundry) pushes me to accomplish something, anything. Since she left today at 12:30 and after I ate an ample lunch (nothing wrong with my appetite, though my stomach groans because of the spleen's impingement), I have been lying down. It's a little hard to sit at the computer, darn it.

David went shopping for us on Tuesday evening, so yesterday I started to use what he bought, I made gazpacho soup and pesto sauce, two simple recipes, but by the time I was finished I was so tired I was ready to cry. Still, the soup is very good and so is the sauce, and I forgot the fatigue I experienced in the making when I ate them today. Merwin is feeling a little delicate and needs less spicy, more comfort-type food.

Here is my pesto recipe:

In blender or processor, place
2 cups washed and cut up fresh basil leaves
1/3 C pine nuts (pignoli)
1/2 C (or less) good olive oil
1 medium garlic, minced
1/2 C grated Parmeson-Reggiano or Romano cheese

Pulse until well blended. Serve as sauce over noodles, zucchini, or any suitable vegetable. Store in jar in refrigerator for several days.

And here is my recipe for gazpacho:

In blender or processor (I did not clean my blender completely so that some of the pesto flavored the gazpacho), process until fairly smooth:

1 piece of onion
1 clove or more of garlic
I/4 C vinegar
1/4 C olive oil (or less)
1 large cucumber cut into chunks
1 large green pepper cut into chunks

When fairly well blended, add 1 large can of tomatoes. It doesn't pay to use fresh tomatoes in this season.

A little basil doesn't hurt.

Chill and serve cold. I make toppings for the soup: chopped cucumber, scallion, radishes, or whatever else is handy. Croutons work too. Serve along with bowls of soup for people to add at will for a bit of crunch.

You can see how easy these two recipes are, and they should not have wiped me out. But "should" is not operative any more.

Sonia and I enjoyed our walk today; we went all the way around a rather steep hill (for me) to drop off a container that Florence had brought to us filled will her delicious rhubarb compote. When Florence invited us in for a minute, I quickly agreed because I wanted Sonia to see this lovely unit in a condo. Florence offered me a ride to First Friday, our lunch date every month, and I readily agreed, though I can't really tell till I get up tomorrow whether I can go or not.

Back to Shakespeare for a little while, then to bed again.

Love to all,
Bernice