Not the eyes!!

WARNING: some people might be uncomfortable with images of my eye close-up.

There is not a stye on my left eye. It's something else, which I can't pronounce, nor spell.

I realized Thursday night that I couldn't focus my left eye. I'd been treating it with an antibiotic ointment for a supposed stye for 6 days. Before seeing the doctor who prescribed it, I'd been uncomfortable with it for at least a week. But I could see out of it, except right after using the ointment.

I also used a warm compress about 4-6 times a day. And my vision would return to normal, needing glasses to read, but fuzzy otherwise. Thursday I found it was fuzzy no matter what. I stopped the ointment!

It was 5:30 so too late to talk to any medical personnel about it at my doc's office. I wasn't happy, but tried not to freak out (sorry, you know I'm a former hippy.)

Actually I had had the redness and itchy feelings since the day I went to the Fiber Festival and kissed the lama. I'm glad I didn't let it stop me from doing that. And I was glad that I already had had the appointment the next week to see my primary care doctor. 

So Friday morning (yesterday) as soon as the office opened at 8 am, I made the call. Left a message about all of the above. An hour later someone called and said I could get in to see their new Nurse Practitioner. I've had good care in the past from NP's and said I've be there at 10 am.

She has a wonderful name (I love thinking of the parents who chose it!) Renaissance! She found that since I had no pain, nor any discharge from the two little spots on my lower eyelid that it was...(I'm looking it up...) chalazions (or chelezions.) That was a new one to me. She said an eye doctor would have to use a needle to remove the two little red spots.

Ouch! But they did find an optometrist that had an opening in an hour...so I drove right there. I liked that I already needed a local optometrist, and this set me up with one to keep my glasses prescriptions up to date. I was tested, the inside of my eye was photographed, and nothing wrong was found that was causing the fuzzy vision in just that eye (other one working normal still!)

The spots are the floaters in my eye, with the bright center connecting to my brain, and the dark area to the right of it being the macula, which she said looks normal.

I also enjoyed the art that they'd decorated the office with!

In the waiting room.

In the exam room...

Well, you might already know that I'm a visual person. All my life I've learned about seeing more, differently, with all the possible ways that artists learn. So my vision is how I learn about the world around me. (You can say Duh! about now, having seen so many photos here on my blogs!)

Having the next two weeks of treatment for supposedly just dry eyes...I'm hoping the fuzzy left eye resolves, as well as the "chalazions." If that doesn't solve it, she would refer me to an opthamologist...because she doesn't do the needle thing. OK. I'll see her in 2 weeks and we'll go from there.

A friend also has one eye that isn't working properly (her right one!) and is wearing an eyepatch. We both have lousy depth perception with only one good eye. We laughed at how hard it is to get toothpaste on the toothbrush! 

The number of specialists who are helping with my strange and wonderful old body continues to increase. At least I can still drive, very carefully, leaving lots of space between my car and the one in front of me. I don't want a toothpaste episode. Of course I'm putting the driver's license on hold for now!

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In other wonderful news...I got my ballot yesterday in the mail!

Now to fill it out for hopefully the best candidates. And deposit it in the drop box near the Fairgrounds.

I'm very pleased to hear the early voting results!

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Sometimes there is an opening
 in what you call time. That’s when you hear the voices
 from long before your own silken life of a soul was born.
— Linda Hogan

Shiprock for Sepia Saturday

Once upon a time...long long ago. 
The earth was full of lots of volcanic activity in the southwest of the land that became the United States of America (which has only existed for a blink of an eye).

If you've never heard of Shiprock, New Mexico, it's a marvel of geology. It's near the Grand Canyon, which I'm sure almost everyone has heard of.  

Arizona Geological Survey at the University of Arizona on Facebook posted this last week.

 

 Shiprock! High resolution hillshade image of the Shiprock volcanic complex and a topographic profile of the vent structure. Data courtesy of National Map 3D program (1-m resolution). Topo profile from Google Earth.

From a short note by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. “The Ship Rock landform, located in northwestern New Mexico, is the remnant of an explosive volcanic eruption that occurred around 30 million years ago. The main part of the landform is 600 meters high, and 500 meters in diameter. Ship Rock, known as Tse Bitai, or "the winged rock" in Navajo, is a volcanic neck, or the central feeder pipe of larger volcanic landform which has since eroded away. The neck is composed of fractured volcanic rock, or breccia, crosscut by many thin veins of lava. Ship Rock is composed of an unusual, highly potassic magma composition called a "minette", thought to form by very small degrees of melting of the earth's mantle. Ship Rock was probably 750 to 1000 meters below the land surface at the time it was formed, and has since gained its prominent form due to erosion of surrounding rocks.

Another striking feature of Ship Rock are the dikes, or wall-like sheets of lava that radiate away from the central neck. At least two of these dikes are visible in this image. A total of six dikes have been recognized. These dikes would have been intruded at some depth below the earth's surface at the time that the Ship Rock eruption was occurring. Like the neck, the dikes have since been exposed due to differential weathering through time of the hard lava of the dikes, and the more easily eroded sandstone and shale of the country rocks.

For more information https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/tour/landmarks/shiprock/home.html

Sharing with Sepia Saturday...Fire is this week's suggested meme.

Being of service to our community is part of being a good citizen of the planet Earth

On joy

I'm totally committed to joy these days!

It sure is the most easily done commitment I've ever taken. Sliding down the slope of joy to land in giggles in the fluffy clouds of impermanence!

So I moved into this new attitude.

It came about slowly. I thought of joy for days. 

Then the phone rang and I was given the biopsy results from a skin tag that had been removed a week ago. Yes, I finally have skin cancer. As I shared this with family, I found how many other people had had the same thing before. But nobody talked about it, so I didn't have a clue. Geese. Still the stigma. It's a disease. It needs care. And the feelings of mortality facing me are perfectly normal. But I like going back to finding joy...as well as sharing it.

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Feedback on fixing yesterday's recipe of Green beans and Potatoes. My potatoes were small yellow ones, which I cut into bite-size chunks. But they still didn't cook in the time frame of the recipe...it took an hour simmering them. The green beans were overcooked as a result, as well as the wonderful sauce had almost dried out. I should have added more water before serving...but by then I wasn't exactly hungry, thus the small serving. Taste? Delicious.

Plans next time: have the can of white beans...again I didn't have any. Cut potatoes smaller, or don't use refrigerated ones. Cook on stove rather than in crock pot...there wasn't easy control of temperatures changing from a boil to a simmer. I had only choice of high heat and then slow cook. 

Next recipe I'm going to try...

Sweet Potato lentil soup

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry lentils rinsed and drained
• 1 yellow onion peeled and finely chopped
• 1 sweet potato large, peeled and chopped into small cubes
• 2 carrots peeled and sliced
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 cup fresh spinach roughly chopped
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the sliced carrots and sauté until slightly golden and softened, about 4-5 minutes.Add the onion and garlic and cook for another 4-5 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is soft and translucent.
• 
• Add the chopped tomatoes and bay leaves. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until the tomatoes begin to break down.
  
  Add the sweet potato, spinach, rinsed lentils, smoked paprika, dried oregano, salt, black pepper, parsley, and vegetable broth. Combinebine.

Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes, or until the lentils and sweet potatoes are tender.

Remove and discard the bay leaves. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper, then serve hot

Country Ranch Green Beans and Potatoes (again)

 This is a repost from 2020. It was pretty darn good. 

It comes from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. The link is in the title below.

I'm going to go with what's in the cupboard, which may not exactly be the right ingredients. 

I just purchased (on Prime's big sale) a new crock pot so I can't wait to try it out.

Country Ranch Green Beans and Potatoes 

What You'll Need

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SPICE/HERB INGREDIENTS

1 ½ tsp garlic powder 

1 tsp onion powder 

2 Tbsp dried minced onions 

½ tsp ground mustard powder

1 tsp dried parsley

¼ tsp dried dill 

1 tsp dried chives or 1 Tbsp fresh chopped chives 

¼ tsp smoked paprika 

COUNTRY RANCH GREEN BEANS AND POTATOES

1 cup yellow onions, finely diced

2 Tbsp garlic, minced 

1 cup vegetable broth 

1 cup water (or more broth) 

2 tsp nutritional yeast 

¼ tsp baking soda 

1 lb baby red-skinned potatoes, halved 

1 lb fresh green beans 

¾ tsp sea salt or to taste

¼ tsp black pepper or to taste 

2 tsp apple cider vinegar 

2 to 3 tsp Dijon mustard 

1 15.5oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 

Freshly chopped parsley (optional)

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How to Make It

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1 Place all the spice/herb ingredients (except sea salt and pepper) into a bowl, mix to combine, and set aside. 

2 In a large Dutch oven or stockpot, add the finely diced onions and sauté over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes until the onions are tender. Splash vegetable broth or water as needed to prevent sticking. 

3 Add the minced garlic and sauté for one minute. 

4 Add the remaining vegetable broth, water, nutritional yeast, and the spice/herb mix. Stir well to incorporate, bring to a boil, and then immediately lower to a simmer. Add the baking soda and stir to combine.

5 Stir in the baby potatoes, then layer the green beans on top of the potatoes. It is important that the baby potatoes are on the bottom, submerged or nearly submerged in the liquids. The green beans should sit on top and will steam/cook while the potatoes cook in the liquid. 

6 Cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 15 minutes. 

7 Remove the lid and add the sea salt, black pepper, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and cannellini beans. 

8 Stir well to combine, then continue to simmer uncovered for approximately 5 to 10 minutes, or until the baby potatoes are perfectly tender.

9 Remove from the stove and allow to sit for 7 to 10 minutes to allow the flavors to further develop. 

10 Serve with freshly chopped parsley.