Skyline Drive

Last night, I didn't sleep well. I couldn't fall asleep, and I think it was close to 1 before I did. The dog came and woke me up (he slept in the guest room by himself!) at 5:30 which was probably the longest he'd ever gone. But I had barely fallen asleep. Doug got up at 6, and went in the living room, but let me sleep until 9. We got out of the house rather early, not as early as I thought we would but still. Doug wanted to try the new used Mini Cooper on the road and what better road than the famous Skyline Drive. 

Before we left I told Doug we should pack an overnight bag, you know, just in case. Like. If we're having too much fun out there and we want to stay over. Doug wanted to get home tonight to avoid the memorial day traffic coming back tomorrow. I felt I had a good point, he had a good point. 

We got out to the area after an uneventful ride with only a little traffic. Everyone probably went where they were going Friday or yesterday. We had intended to stop and get sandwiches on Rte 29 in Madison, but we missed the turn we wanted to take, and the next turn brought us through foothill homes and no food or gas. We stopped in Stanardsville for gas and a stretch, and went over to the pizza parlor to see about subs or slices or something, but they weren't open until 2pm. Over to the grocery store, where we hoped they'd have subs wrapped in plastic wrap or something but no. I suggested we could just get deli meat and cheeses, and bread and I could make sandwiches for us, but we opted to just get snacks and water. We entered the drive at Swift Run Gap to drive north. It was a beautiful day, great weather, the trailheads were all very crowded, but the overlooks were alright. We stopped frequently and soaked it in. 

We ate "lunch snack" relatively early after getting on the drive. Why wait!

We've done the whole ride, but entering at Swift Gap is a good spot.  By the time we get to about 20 miles from the end I felt like it was more than enough Skyline Drive for me. 

Front Royal is the town at the northern terminus of the drive. We were last there in April 2019, I do believe, even though I didn't blog about it at the time. 

It's a cute town, they do a lot of Appalachian Trail stuff and people stay there when they get off the trail. My friend Kim told me about her time there when she hiked through twice. 

There is a brewery and restaurant there, we ate there in the past but they've since changed names. The beer was good and the food was great. Service was a little slow, but our waiter was incredibly friendly and gave us tips for things to see because we told him we were going for a little walk around town to play Pokemon. 

We made it a block or so away and found the Meadery. I didn't think we were going to go in, but we did. And of course we made instant friends. A guy who grew up in Rhode Island and his wife who grew up very close to where we live right now. They are regulars there, so they helped guide our choices because mead can be weird. I brought up another mead that is made in the area and they agreed with us that it is no good. This mead was exceptionally good. 

We had a great time, and the trip home was fast. Front Royal to Front Door in an hour and a quarter. Doug says it takes him that long to get home from Fairfax some evenings. 

I kind of wish we stayed out there and enjoyed some more Front Royal Area fun. We discussed a trip out there, without a Skyline Drive ride, in the future. 

Digits below, I didn't have my dinner time metformin with me so the digits are a little messed up post-dinner and mead and stuff. 

digits:

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps. Missed 10am in the car. Little hikes and strolls around the overlooks and downtown Front Royal

blood glucose:

9am: 183
9pm: 234   

food:

coffee, water
10am: protein shake
1pm: metformin. Sliced cheese, pork rinds (carb free!) pepperoni slices, mixed nuts
5pm: burger, onion rings, 2 beers 
6pm: mead flight
9pm: metformin+jardiance
9:30pm: 2 good yogurt, 6 slices of snack cheese, mixed nuts, 2 good yogurt, another beer

A little but not a lot for Farmer Chris

Memorial Day weekend, and we made no plans. 

I asked him last night if he had any ideas for stuff he'd like to do. I mentioned a brewery that we're fond of is having their last hurrah this weekend and closing next week, he seemed disinterested. 

I am not sure what's up with him, he's a little out of sorts. 

This morning we sat around and did nothing and then he thought we ought to take the dog for a walk. We never take the dog for a walk. He is old and he has a hard time walking and getting up off the floor these days. 

The other day he was in the kitchen and he wiped out, and couldn't get back up. Triggered memories of Brodie in her last year where she'd just fall down in the kitchen and lay there and patiently await rescue. I would walk into the kitchen and see her there, just ... there. Looking at me like "oh. hello." 

But Phineas was not going to stay put, he was frantic and fighting to get up. I heard him and I was able to get him upright but he was horribly unsteady on his feet, until he got into the living room to the rug. This happens a couple times a week it seems. The poor bean. It's hard being almost 13.

I am reluctant anymore to take him anywhere other than a walk around the exterior of the house. He comes with me when I do my hourly steps and I go around (2x around the house is about 350 steps!). But today Doug felt he could use a stroll. 

The temperature was perfect, absolutely perfect, no humidity, just the best. We went up to the park, by the elementary school, and back up the street. Probably a 15 minute walk if you're just a human hoofing on your normal stroll, but it was closer to 45 minutes with two pokemon stops, a yard sale to scope out, and a couple of nice benches, and a very friendly old lady who wanted to stop and pat him and talk to him. 

We got home from our outing, and Doug went out to turn the last garden plot that he hadn't yet flipped. I went out and planted all of the sunflower seeds we had left from the past couple years. I am hoping for a jungle of sunflowers.

He left a lot of weeds and grass in the plot, which defeats the purpose because the weeds and grass are just going to grow up from where they've been flipped. I got in and got dirty. Digging in and pulling out the clay clumps, shaking out what soil I could get and flinging the grass and weeds at the fence. I got stung by something, felt like a finger stick for my testing kit. Ouch. Unexpected. But I never found what it was that stuck me. I was reluctant to walk barefoot in the plot so I was happy to have my flip flops to help.

I threw the seeds in, stomped them down as well as I could and then hosed the plot down, and stomped some more. My flip flops were caked and solid with the clay. It felt fun and I had a good time. 

Equally good time hosing off my footwear and my feet before coming in. 

All told, a very good day. No pictures but I should have taken a picture of the feet. 

Not sure what our plans are tomorrow. Doug hinted at a trip to Skyline Drive, if we can get up and out of our own way early enough. If not there is a pop up makers market at one of the DC breweries we like, so maybe we can go there. 

Hoping for good weather. Because today would have probably been the better day for Skyline Drive, but, we got the sunflowers in and that's good too.

digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  Doug and I took Phineas for a walk. Dedicated 10+ a lot, even with stopping and starting, good benches to play Pokemon on and let the dog rest!

blood glucose:

9:30am: 163
4:30pm: 174  
10pm: 187

food:

coffee, water
10:45am: one left over chicken thigh
noon: metformin (ha. i remembered!)
1:30pm: 2 good yogurt
4:30pm: 2 triscuits and 4 slices of cheddar cheese
6:30pm: bowl of baked ziti with meat sauce, 2 slices of garlic bread
7:30pm: protein shake

It's Not Covid

 I woke up yesterday morning with a cold. Geoff's had one for a couple weeks. It is either that or allergies, we've been sleeping with the windows open so pollen is probably coming to visit. 

This feels like a classic spring cold. Sore throat, runny nose, lots of sneezing. My hope is it doesn't make a progression into coughing, chest congestion, annoyance beyond this level of annoyance. 

Geoff and I both took Covid tests, they are negative. Because Doug got Covid a second time, we thought we should just check and be sure. After all, a week or so ago we were at that there graduation, we could have picked anything up. 

I am a little bummed because we are going into the holiday weekend and my head feels like a balloon, my eyes are itchy and watering, I am sneezing and coughing, and just want to cuddle under a blanket. 

Since we work at home, I didn't plan on taking a sick day but, I kind of did. I told my team I was going to take a nap and it turned into a 3 hour one. Out cold for three hours. The only reason I got up was because I had to pee very much. 

I reconnected with my team, did work, felt like a zombie. Didn't get a lot done but one or two things I absolutely HAD to get done and had been procrastinating on. To be honest I just wanted to get back in bed and play Cats & Soup on my phone.

Anyway, what a great way to start a holiday weekend. But hey, it's not Covid.

digits:

exercise: 3/12 hours of 250 steps.  no dedicated 10 or even hitting the benchmarks because, power nap

blood glucose:

9:30am: 213 (taken after I ate, and after cold medicine, so this number is elevated and not what it would have been in the 8 am range if I had remembered to take it)
4pm: 247 what happens when you don't eat and you forget your lunch time medication... 
10pm: 148

food:

coffee, water; iced coffee
9:00am: bowl of chicken salad
forgot to take metformin at lunch time because of a power nap
4:30pm: about 7 triscuits w/a ton of peanut butter
6pm: cheesesteak meat with mushrooms & onions, Metformin+Jardiance
wine
10pm: lunchtime metformin

In Vibrant Maturity

I had a whole other post written about having a bit of a cold. but today I was getting the dog food storage container filled up, and I cut the bottom of the bag open, pulling aside the name of the bag. 

I started to chuckle. 

The dog food we use is a Purina product called Vibrant Maturity. But in my head I started to sing Queensrÿche's "Silent Lucidity" to myself. 

Then I started making up words to the song, about Phineas and Phinnertime. Deep and humble apologies to the wonderful band of this masterful song, but .... "I'm smiling next to you, in vibrant maturity" just fits so wonderfully. 

I make myself laugh. Here's the label. You can sing along if you like.

digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.   No dedicated 10 because I was making dinner and stuff.

blood glucose:

9am: 164
5:30pm: 163
9:30pm: 185

food:

coffee, water; iced coffee
9:30am: pbj, low sugar j on 647 bread
noon: metformin
12:30: giant bowl of salad (left over from dinner last night) w/can of tuna+mayo mixed in
6:45pm: 2 nice baked stuffed peppers with chorizo, onions, pepper. Wine. 
7:15pm: metformin+jardiance
8:30pm: tex mex trail mix (a little carby)

Hot

I am hot at night time. It's that time of year. 

Doug doesn't really like the windows open because "it is noisy out." He is right. Cars go down the street but it isn't like a highway. The lawn mowing is usually over by the time he gets home unless the Texan over there decides to do it after work. Oh yeah, and our neighbor across the street is CONSTANTLY working on projects in his yard that require grinding, cutting, metal power tools and he sometimes goes to 9pm, when the light is over. 

Doug wishes he'd "Just give it a rest already." Yeah. But I can put on the TV and turn it up loud, or, close the living room windows but keep the kitchen and bedroom windows open so it's cool for bed. 

The birds do start a ruckusing and fussing around 4am. So that can be disruptive.

Okay. Alright... so the AC is alright but to be honest. It doesn't really cool things down to my liking.

Last night we went to bed, and our bedroom is always colder in the winter and hotter in the summer because the vents or tubing or whatever the magic word is for AC thingies that travel all through your house go. Geoff watches tv in the living room and closes our door so as not to bother us. I managed to fall asleep, but didn't stay asleep, as I was roasting in bed. 

The dog wanted out at 1:30. I got up to let him out, and we went to the guest room and I flung open the window. The AC had kicked in, since our bedroom door was opened and the thermostat detected how warm it was so it blessed us with some stuff. But. I didn't care. The outside air was wicked cold and felt so good. I closed the bedroom door a bit (left it open enough that Phin could open it with his nose if he wanted) and we went back to sleep. 

Once Doug left for work, I watched him pull away and whipped all the windows open, turned the AC off. And around 5:30pm if the thermostat dictates it is too warm up in here, I'll close everything up again. 

Wash, rinse, repeat until it is in the 90s all day and 80s overnight and just hot as balls outside so we won't want the windows open again until October or whatever.

But I will say - the weather here lately has been very unlike what the last few Mays have been and I find it delightful and wonderful and don't want it to end. 

I really hate being hot. I can dress for the cold, I can get under blankets. But laying in my own bed, sweating, not wanting my legs to touch each other, waking up cause my hand touched my hot thigh, not wanting the nuclear furnace of the dog near my back/ass/thighs, I get so miserable. 

Hoping tonight is super comfortable. Over the weekend it will be 90 degrees so we can close up shop and deal with it.

Oh, By the way. Please watch this new release from Josh Ritter from the Non-Comm Music Alliance that I've been enjoying all day. 

And for my Christian College friends - Getting Ready to Get Down is quite the song, you may see/feel yourself in it. It puts a smile on my face. Except it wasn't a little Bible College in Missouri, you know where we were. There's a lot of words, so look up the lyrics and read along as he rips through them. Do it. You'll laugh and smile too.

digits below.

digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  dedicated 10 pokemon walk

blood glucose:

8am: 171
5:30pm: 178
10pm: 163 

food:

coffee, water; iced coffee
9:30am: protein shake
12:15pm: left over shrimp curry w/veggies
12:30: Metformin
12:45 still hungry. left over pork & garlic w/veggies
wine
7:15pm: metformin+jardiance 
7:45: one cheeseburger, big salad
8:30pm: cheese and crackers; tex mex trail mix

Potato Salad

Before my sister arrived, we went grocery shopping and I had suggested to Geoff to get potatoes for hash browns for brekkie. 

We never used them.

This nice bag of yellow spuds has been sitting in the pantry for a couple weeks. I figured ... even though carbs, we should use. 

Geoff made a great marinade for flank steak (this seems to be his new hobby?) and I decided to make potato salad. Mashed would have been nice too, and I could have used the marinade left over after the meat went on the grill to make a gravy (yes, you can. you heat it up enough that it's not going to give you food poisoning. Trust me, I've made some mad ass good crazy gravy off of some of his marinades!)

I had an idea of yes, potato salad, but also yes eggs, yes bacon. Geoff peeled 6 potatoes, I diced them into reasonable size and boiled them, checking them every 3 minutes to make sure they didn't overcook and become mashed potato candidates.  I boiled 6 eggs, 2 for the meal and 4 for Doug and Geoff to just eat whenever they wanted. I cooked up 12 pieces of bacon in the oven, nice and crispy. 

Peeling the eggs and dicing them was the biggest of the hassles, but we got through it. The bacon I cut into pieces with my scissors. 

Mayo, mustard, a dash of red wine vinegar, a spoon of splenda, salt, pepper, garlic powder, diced red onion (very tiny). Mixed that all up together and combined with the taters, eggs, and bacon. 

Best part was stepping out onto the back deck, cutting a bunch of parsley off my plant and a bunch of dill. I diced that up super small with some green onions that were in the fridge and got it all combined. Covered with a gentle sprinkle of paprika. To be served at room temperature, according to the recipe. 

I thought maybe I should make a warm bacon dressing or something, for salad, but meh. This was good.

And no I did not take a picture of it all. Sadly! I totally should have because it was beautiful.

To be honest, it was as tasty as it was beautiful. I'll make that again! Well. I shouldn't but. I will. 

Oh - and Geoff's marinade this time was outstanding. The recipe book called it a North African marinade, and he bought a giant flank steak for it. He went out to start the grill and I was still working. I heard a FOOMB sound, and him yell FUCK! 

So I went out to see what happened. 

Our grill has been coming on super hard lately and I do not know why. Today, it came on the hardest. Geoff said a fireball shot out of the top of it, and singed his arm.

"You.... had the lid open?" I asked

"Yeah," said he.

"Well, maybe never do that part again, but let's talk to your dad about this. Just. Always keep the top closed when starting the grill. 

The one picture I did take today is his right arm, singed hair scene! My camera wouldn't focus well on it, again, same issue as with the Guster show the other night but you can see the little stubbies of hair that look like he shaved over the weekend and now they are growing back in combined with the hair that wasn't singed off elsewhere on his arm. 

I'm glad he was not seriously hurt. Very glad!

Digits below. 

digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  Dedicated 10 pokemon walk.

blood glucose:

8:45am: 186
5:00pm: 156
10:30pm: 211 (thanks potato salad!)

food:

coffee, water; iced coffee
11:15 small ramekin mac&cheese and bacon
11:30: Metformin
1pm: bowl of chicken salad (chicken, cream cheese, mayo, grapes)
2pm: another bowl of chicken salad before putting it all away
6:30pm: Metformin+jardiance
7:15pm: flank steak marinade, too much potato salad (but it was good)

Guster and the HCYO

I didn't write a blog entry last night, I was super tired when we got home even though I wasn't out super late. The concert was over at 10. We were out of the parking lot by 10:20. Home in about 20 minutes. And after concerts I have a hard time falling asleep, last night was no different, but I didn't feel like sitting and doing a writeup of anything. I wanted to play phone games and zone out. 

My thoughts: First off, I can't believe we haven't been to this venue before. So close. So easy to get to. Second, it used to just be a shed in the woods, nothing else around it. Now, there are multi-use buildings, restaurants, condos, apartments, offices, a splash park! Doug said it gave him a total creepy feel like ... this is just here. Out here. Strangely. 

We did a fan meetup and about 20 people were there, which was super nice. We had a wonderful meal and fellowship at an Indian restaurant, and noted that there will soon be a BBQ joint opening up in the future. Probably less expensive, certainly less of a challenge for some people to be able to pick an entree! 

The show was sparsely attended, which was kind of a drag because it's a great big venue, and this was a great big deal. The youth orchestra played on EVERY song and they crushed it. I was so impressed with them. The band seemed to be completely enthralled, exceptionally happy. It was a fantastic night. 

I need weekly Guster concerts in my life.

Anyway, I took a lot of pictures but they are all blurry and horrible. Methinks I'd like a phone upgrade just to get a camera upgrade, ya know? Possibly before the trip in August. 

Here are a couple shots. 

To the right here is a picture with two Guster fan friends I've made. Laura (red hair) lives in Baltimore, she's super sweet and her husband took pictures for us. 

Oh and there's Doug who didn't want to be in pictures but he is anyway. 

Lisa is wearing the pretty top. She is from Tennessee. Yes. They came all the way from Tennessee. We got to hang out together in Florida too at two of the shows. 

So she's also, as my sister would say, a "crack monkey" for Guster!

The opening act was Kyshona. She hails from Nashville, and I really liked her a lot. AMAZING harmonies, would totally go see her again. 

And then I wanted pictures of the orchestra with Guster but they had this plexiglass divider, to "mute" the orchestra loudness and it made for not so good picture taking. It was actually too drastic - I really don't think they needed it. There were parts of songs where I couldn't hear them over the band, and I knew they were playing. Other people got great shots, so I can see them in the Fan group on Facebook.

Digits for Sunday and Today below the Gusters. 

Sunday digits:

exercise: 10/12 hours of 250 steps.  Missed an hour by being in the car and an hour by being at dinner

blood glucose:

9:30am: 163
4:30pm: 150
11pm: 180

food:

coffee, water
I don't remember most of what I ate during the day, but I did have something at like brunch-ish time, yogurt?
3pm: 3 left over chicken thighs. 
5:30pm: Indian restaurant pre-concert meetup: butter chicken, garlic scallops, small scoop of rice, 2 beers

Monday digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  Dedicated 10+10, interrupted a little bit by a stop to talk to a neighbor walking his dog, I haven't seen them in almost 2 years. I was getting worried about them!

blood glucose:

8:30am: 180
5:45pm: 180
10pm: 154

food:

coffee, water; iced coffee
10:30am: 2 left over kielbasa
noon: metformin
2:30pm: slice of 647 bread w/ peanutbutter
3:45pm: pink lady apple w/ peanutbutter
wine
7pm: metformin+Jardiance; 2 chicken thighs seasoned with spicy spices, 2 low carb fajita wraps, shredded cheese, avocado spread, sour cream.

Für Elise and the Victory Pizza

Woke up in plenty of time to get to Hen's recital. Had a heck of a time parking and was late. Luckily there were about 20 kids showing their mad skills, and he was in the last batch. 

He was incredibly happy to see me, and I settled in to watch kids I don't know play an assortment of songs, 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Most on piano, but two on guitar, a cello, the cello and a piano did a duet, and a trumpet player and I wanted to tell him to not aim his horn at his feet but sit up straight - and aim at us. My high school band teacher would have had at it! 

They had a distinct format. The child walked to the front, turned and bowed, everyone clapped. The child then placed their music where it needed to be, and they played their piece. They stood and bowed and everyone clapped. They walked away. Repeat. When it was Henry's turn he went up, announced who he was and that he'd be playing "Für Elise by Looodwig van Baytoveen."

I have to say it was very nice. His little hands are small and his fingers have to stretch across many keys to play the piece. He worked hard at it, and it was very slow, but he did it. 

The pep talk video from Brian was a success! 

When he was done, he got up and ran from the piano, forgetting his music, but the smile on his face was fantastic. 

Afterwards we went up to the pub and had "Victory Pizza" and a lovely time. 

That was my day. Doug and I intended on doing something fun after but we never got out the door. I folded an epic amount of laundry. That was my personal big success today. 

I didn't take any pictures or video, I regret it. I should have gotten at least one picture of Hen.

Anyway. Great day, lots of fun, impressive bunch of kids!

I was about to take a walk and noted that it looked like rain. And the sky opened right up. No wind, just straight down pouring rain. Outrageous. Well, doing my steps inside is the way to go, I guess!

digits below!

digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  

blood glucose:

8:30am: 188
5:30pm: 156
10pm: 155

food:

coffee, water
11am: cheese slices & pepperoni
12:30: 4 small square slices of bar pizza with hamburger and onion; metformin. 2 high noon seltzers
3:30pm: 2 sliced turkey and cheddar cheese roll ups
6:30pm - 2 bratwursts with sautéed onions
7:15: metformin+jardiance
wine

Support

This afternoon, I went to see Henry (and Sara & Sean) and listen to Hen practice with his music teacher for tomorrow morning's recital. 

I had a surprise for him. Brian from Guster made him a video to encourage him to do his best and that no matter what, he's amazing just for playing piano. 

I don't want to post the video, or Henry's reaction (Sara recorded it for us) but I just have to say we are so lucky to be fans of this band, and these musicians are so generous and kind to us. Suffice to say, I'd love to show it to you. But. I won't.

Overall I am just thinking how cool it is that I email a rock star, ask him to support an 8 year old who is freaking out over his recital, and the rock star sends back a video - not just an email, but a video. And includes dogs from the dog park at the end. 

How lucky are we to be fans of this band. I'm shaking my head over how kind they are, and the things they do for their fans and the world overall. What a gift it is to just know they are out there.

I'm looking forward to Henry's recital, and to be honest, I don't think I'd get out of bed on a Saturday morning for anyone else on earth right now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh and I just wanted to add that I have 900 pounds of laundry to fold, so I couldn't find the capris I wanted to throw on to walk out the door this afternoon. So I put on the pants I bought at Kohls a couple weeks ago. 

The size 16 pants. 

Now, for some of you you'd laugh at 16 like "OMG THAT IS HUGE!" but, I wore size 22, then 20, then 18. My size 18 pants are so big they fall off. So tonight was the maiden voyage of the size 16 jeans. And they fit and look fantastic. 

Ha. There ya go. 

Anyway.

Work was so busy this week but I feel like I got nothing done today, and I still have things to do. It is 10pm and I just answered some emails and had a great back and forth with a colleague in Utah, Maybe after the recital tomorrow. If we don't go do more fun things. 

Anyway. Doug went to bed at 9, he was super tired. The dog is snoring here beside me, I think I'll head to the guest room and read. 

digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. No dedicated 10, kind of a busy day!

blood glucose:

9am: 168
5:30pm: 150
10pm: 181

food:

coffee, water
9am: PBJ w/ low sugar J on 647 bread
10:45am: bowl of mac & cheese with tons of hamburger
12pm: Metformin
1pm: bowl of salad, can of tuna, bunch of mayo, mixed
6pm: grilled chicken thighs in Mediterranean marinade: Mayo (I was out of plain yogurt), lime juice, garlic, ginger, spicy hot sesame oil, paprika, scallions, parsley. Salad of romaine, tomato, cucumber, chipotle ranch dressing
7pm: metformin+jardiance
wine
8/9pm: a couple ramekins of Asian Mix snack mix from Target (a bit more carb heavy than I thought, but, cashews, almonds, wasabi peas) 
10pm: protein shake (to balance out those snacky carbs)

Loving the Short Week

Monday on a Wednesday is kind of nice. 

Today went really fast, and I have to say I'm looking forward to the weekend and a Guster concert on Sunday. 

I was looking through my pictures from last night and they didn't come out good even though we were super close. i kind of feel like I want a phone upgrade just for a better camera. 

I'm that person. 

So I hope I get some good shots on Sunday at the show.

Anyway, Crammed a lot of work into today after yesterday being an epic fail. Had a long talk with a colleague who found out she is not having her contract renewed but someone is trying to recruit her for a job in Andover MA. I told her I'm jealous and will be her Auntie and guide her in where to go.  

Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to go up and visit my friend Henry, and give him a pep talk. 

He has a recital on Saturday morning, and he's super anxious and scared that he's going to fail. No matter how much encouragement his mom and dad are giving him, he is still not sure. So I'm going to go talk to him. 

I also asked the drummer from Guster to maybe send him a little video as a pep talk about how he should be brave or something and boy did he come through. I'm so happy I asked. He sent me a video and I got it last night, sent it to Sara to share with Hen.

How lucky are we to know this band and how kind they are to their fans. He didn't have to do that, he could just ignore my email. But he really did a solid. 

Oh I did want to mention my everloving thanks to the Lincoln Theater in Washington DC and their absolute lack of a "bag policy."

They're doing it right. 

We had our purses looked into, with flashlights and little sticks to move everything around. There was not some sort of horrible mini-sized "clutch" only policy of 6" x 4". 

There were people there with BACKPACKS, and purses big enough to carry small dogs in. There was a woman with a suitcase. 

Thank you I.M.P. and the Lincoln. Thank you. 

Anyway, here are two acceptable pictures from last night. I'll go through them more carefully on the laptop instead of the phone. Easier to see. I also think I need new glasses. most everything is blurry all the time anymore, and I can still read and "see" things but it isn't as sharp for pictures as I'd like. 

These aren't super clear but I did like the lights on the ceiling, and caught this moment, and Josh is very earnest when singing, his eyes are always closed.

Digits below!

digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. no dedicated 10 and kind of a minimal effort kinda day from me.

blood glucose:

8am: 171
5:30pm: 134
10pm: 138

food:

coffee, water 
10:45am: 4pc bacon in a low-carb wrap with 4 strips of sliced turkey and mayo
noon: Left over beef stroganoff (there were a few noodles mixed in but not a lot). Metformin
6pm: 1 cheeseburger over a big salad, chipotle ranch salad dressing
7:30pm: metformin+jardiance
vodka tonic
10pm: ritz wheat crackers+peanut butter