Thank God for flourless chocolate cake.

 Hi.

 So, yeah. It's been awhile. Sorry.

 I had a whirlwind year.

 No fun for me = no fun for you.

 But, things happen and it wasn't all bad. 

 I'm officially gluten intolerant. After having a stomach ache for 30+ years I'm finally free of pain. (Mostly) They say you get used to not having it, but I still long for cake and dream of good bread and all the gluten goodies I can no longer ingest.  I share Homer Simpson's drooling dreams of doughnuts and I'd practically sell a kidney for a good pizza. I've had to learn to cook differently and with some new, strange ingredients. Somewhere along the way eating became a kind of hobby for us and in restaurants not sharing food makes us sad. Also, I don't care to make a fuss or have a fuss made over me, and dietary restrictions seem to be a fussy business. In general it surprised me how much changing my diet threw me out of whack.

Things are better. I'm painting again, cooking again, and involved in music again an lookie here, I'm even bloggin' agin'! 

Things are looking up!

Unseasonable

It was 60* today! In January, in Wisconsin! That means go outside. Take a long walk.

Breathing is easy when it's that warm and there is so much moisture in the air. It's very soothing. Mostly when I step out the door this time of year my muscles compact preparing for a shock of cold. But today I found I was walking with my arms at my sides, jacket unzipped. Soon I regretted the burden of my hat and scarf.

When I got to the river I was rewarded with a stark white, ethereal fog hovering over the water like clouds come to Earth, sheets of ice breaking and melting on the surface. It was gorgeous. When I see things like that I like to turn my brain off and imagine what I might see if I had never heard of "evaporation." Spirits? Smoke? Something all-together otherworldly?

My park has a waterfall.( I visit every year to watch the salmon jump.Yeah, it's pretty awesome.) The waterfall was crusted with ice and was an evaporation/spirit-making machine! My waterfall has given me an appreciation of the sound of rushing water. A forceful yet undeniably calming sound. I'd so like to nap to that sound! I thought of recording it on my phone but decided against it. I knew a recording couldn't ever do it justice.

The smell today was also pretty great! Earthy, woodsy smells (my favorite!) and sweet, light, pollen-y smells and of course the encompassing smell of damp.

On the way home I walked by a house with an ambulance in the driveway. Someone was being brought home, wheeled inside the house on a gurnee.

I stuck my hands inside my pockets. It started to rain in big, cold drops and I zipped my coat and walked an extra buncha blocks completely out of my way, because I could. Because it was 60* in January and these things need to be celebrated. Because it isn't my time to be bedridden and housebound.

I said my own quiet prayer to the spirit of the river cloud, the sound of rushing waters, and the earthen smell of damp.