Yes I do

love this photo and everything about it.  It looks perhaps Canadian, wouldn't you say?

Found this on You Are My Favorite

Another Day

I've been out sick with the flu (2nd time this flu season) :(.  But now I am so delighted to be well again.  Today I slept in a little, went to the gym, and met my husband for lunch at an old chinese restaurant we've been going to for years (and that I've been going to since I could walk).

A quick bath, and ready for work again.  My last 24 hour call shift was two days ago.  Tonight will be my last OB call shift.  After this only 3 months left of call shifts period.  It feels great that the countdown has begun.

painting by Joshua Petker
more here

Cottage Scenes

birds fly overhead

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.  ~ Helen Keller

Photo taken Jan. 30th on Gessner outside hospital close to setting sun time.

Dream of Picnic

With all the cold weather Houston has been having lately, I have been missing the opportunity to take a nice picnic.  I've only been on a few picnics in my life.  It seems it is something I always want to do, but never quite actually end up doing it.  Recently, I had a quick bite to eat outside with a friend, and flocks of birds were flying overheard.

Hopefully, with the upcoming Spring.....a nice picnic here and there can be something we all actually end up doing some more of....

They say the history of picnics began as an activity for the wealthy.  Medieval hunting feasts, Renaissance-era country banquets, and Victorian garden parties lay the foundation for today's leisurely repast. Picnics, as we Americans know them today, date to the middle of the 19th century. Although the "grand picnic" is generally considered a European concept, culinary evidence confirms people from other parts of the world engage in similar practices.

Oatmeal & Flax Seed

Oatmeal Benefits

First, the bad news. Instant oatmeal packets that come in different flavors are not health food. They’re full of sugar, and many of the nutrients have been stripped in the processing. Plain rolled oat flakes, be they Quaker Oats or another brand, are what you want to reach for.

Oats are a whole grain, a good source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. According to the American Cancer Society:

• Insoluble fiber has cancer-fighting properties. The phytochemicals (antioxidants) in oats may also have cancer-fighting properties.
• Soluble fiber may reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol without lowering HDL (good) cholesterol.
• Soluble fiber slows down the digestion of starch, which may be beneficial to diabetics.
• Studies show that those who eat more oats are less likely to develop heart disease.
• Oats are a good source of many nutrients, including copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, selenium, vitamin E and zinc, and are a good source of protein.

Flax Seed Benefits

The ancient flax seed is a modern healer’s darling.

• It is rich in fiber and alpha linolenic acid, a plant-derived omega 3 fatty acid, similar to that found in salmon.
• Studies show that flax seed lowers total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol while maintaining HDL (good) cholesterol levels.
• Flax seed may also help lower blood triglyceride and blood pressure, and keep platelets from becoming sticky, therefore reducing the risk of a heart attack.
• Rich in the phytoestrogen and antioxidant lingan, flax seed shows promise in fighting breast cancer and other diseases, including Crohn’s Disease and colitis.

And, it adds a delicious, nutty flavor to the oatmeal that gives a relatively bland cereal something special.

My first

Norfolk Island Pine!

Have you ever seen two cuter peas?

Hans Bellmer

When I was 17, Hans Bellmer was my favorite artist.  I was completely captivated by his surrealism and sometimes color schemes.  I have a memory of being at the downtown Houston library just to look at this one Hans Bellmer book that was only there (as far as Houston is concerned).  It had a blue cover and at the time I just thought it was magnificent.  I stayed for hours reading it, as you could not check it out.  And on top of that, the book was kept in a glass case under lock and key!  The price of the book was extremely expensive ( I don't remember how much but way out of my reach at the time).  I remember writing down the ISBN number in hopes that one day I could purchase it. 

Interesting, now as I am 28, Hans Bellmer is no longer my favorite artist.  He is actually far from it.  It's amazing how you change as you get older.  Tastes and convictions.  I find his work extremely dark and perverted now.  I can still appreciate the surrealism and craft of his work, but that is about it.

Detailed history on Hans Bellmer (German artists from the 1930's) can be found here