An Alleluia Palm Sunday Morning

Sunday morning sunrise is precious territory of clergy (and church sextons and some of the musicians). The world sometimes seems holy in the quiet dawn. Around here, only early risers were gifted by sunshine and blue sky today. I did.. really.. take the picture above this morning. What a glorious calm after the rain yesterday!

Sunrise ... shared by all who choose to be there... is also in the domain of runners. Runner Partner Daughter and I had two good 6 mile runs today. Fun to see Runner Dude and Speedy Friend Jim along the way. Partner spotted the white tails of five deer fleeing into the woods, and pointed out the cardinals. She is great company.

It was brisk.. in the 40s... knees covered... unlined jackets.. polar vests underneath.. visors, as usual. As we ran, the sky clouded over and the wind picked up some.

This past week my mind was focused some on writing that “what you have been doing with your life” thing for my high school reunion. Wow! Too many years for a “summary”?! I chose to write about the last ten, since we had a reunion ten years ago. The essence of all that went before, is reflected in what is now.

Also, We Two Cooks, here, did some creative cooking. Tuesday, Sookie’s American Sign Language friend was here for stir fried chicken with asparagus, ginger and garlic; and leek & celery pie with mint, dill, parsley, and whole wheat/yogurt crust. Wednesday, Duluth Son was here for roast chicken with rosemary & parsley; broccoli with sliced almonds; and sweet potato galette with ginger. (And I think he finished up with some Breyer’s ice cream.)

Yesterday we drove to Lake Harriet, picked up our shirts and registrations. For the third time in four months, the weather was so dreadful for running that we passed up the race and elected to run at the community center. (The Reindeer Run in December, the Valentine 5K in February, and yesterday, the Colon Cancer Get Your Rear in Gear) Stopped off at Whole Foods for organic apples, chard, haddock and whole grain noodles on our way.

Although it was sad to miss our race yesterday, the spring rain was welcome, of course. Afternoon was cozy, warm and dry... indoors.

Palm Sunday.. An alleluia day! All the days are alleluia days for families surviving myeloma or any other cancer. Precious... sometimes clouded over.. but precious.. holy... blessed... alleluia days. Amen.

Spring Ahead for Running; Anti-Cancer Cooking

We two are, sort of, following Runner Dude’s training plan. All 3 of us go to the Community Center, and for the convenience of it, we all spend about the same amount of time on the track. In the time he takes to run a mile, we two can do a K. On Sundays we go over after 11:00am, missing the shouting of the Jazzercise leader in the gym. Today we did a 5K while Runner Dude ran 4 miles. That’s how it goes all winter when we don’t run outside. It has been great to “run with him” for 4 or 5 months.

On the other hand, we are looking forward to some pleasant “running outdoors” weather .... a whole summer’s worth !

We are all training for that May marathon. It won’t be enough to train the same amount of time that he does; we will need to train somewhere near the same number of miles. We all will be doing the 26.2 in the race.

On Tuesday, he will be doing his long run outdoors, and we will make our first trek of the spring back to the Legion neighborhood. He will be running occasionally with his good friend Jim and also joining the Woodbury running group. I am lucky to have my Sweet Running Partner. Good luck to us all!

“Turkey Curry” sounds like some kind of oxymoron to me, but that recipe was on Yahoo this week: turkey tenderloins (whatever that is), sweet onion, ginger, and sweet potatoes, cooked in reduced fat coconut milk. The accompanying vegetable dish was carrots, cauliflower and zucchini cooked with a tablespoon of honey.
Each of the pans had curry powder stirred in. I made my own curry powder with turmeric, coriander, pepper, fenugreek, cumin, ginger, cloves, and caraway, roasted in a dry pan on the stove.

We eat just about every vegetable we can find, along with various kinds of beans, and chicken, turkey, buffalo, beef and pork. Plus salmon and another kind of fish each week.
If dessert... it is only fresh fruit... Bananas, apples, oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, melons, avacadoes. All difficult to "eat local" in Minnesota. (Sorry.)
No sugar .... some people say sugar feeds cancer.
I guess I knock myself out with cooking healthy, varied, interesting food... plus shopping for ingredients, and cleaning up the kitchen disaster afterward....but the Sweet Beep is a fabulous cooking partner and inspiration, and the variety keeps me engaged and inspired ..... What the heck, “interesting” is more fun than boring is. The Runner Dude is a joy to cook for: he eats everything I try.... says it is good, unless it is really totally inedible ........

And what if all those vegetables and proteins help fight down the light chain myeloma.

I like having Daylight Time in March. Spring tends to wake me earlier in the morning. But for some reason, a long nap worked particularly well this afternoon.

Friday, I slipped on ice in our driveway and did an instant body slam on the black top.... just a slight bruise on my back where my hip bone hit, but I have felt just a bit shook up all over today. Well, a good warning to watch my step when we are out there doing our long run and shorter runs this week.

Today has been lovely, the best day we have ... let us rejoice and be glad!!