First it was 24, 32, and now in my 43rd?!!! week on this health protocol. Each group progressively flew by as I tried to get a post out since my last weekly posting on July 7th! A summer haze has turned into autumn light. Will I even get this post out?!?
The summer was hot and full of activity, as to be expected with a teen and budding second grader. My routine was interrupted and I found ways to adapt it to the temporal schedule. Most weekday mornings I could be found sitting in a school-yard makeshift tennis court practicing my meditating and journaling as my youngest did the same with tennis. I traveled to Rhode Island a couple different times for weeklong wedding work. We camped on an island in Lake George and on the Potomac River in Maryland. We saw Barbie-The Movie, The Magic Jones at Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, and were up close and personal to a radiant Jon Batiste through Today Citi Concert Series live on The Today Show in Rockefeller Center (pinch me, yep, that’s us up in the front front right row as you can see in these links to the TV footage!!). So many highlights!
I visited with my childhood bestie at her home in Maryland and manifested the bean pot I had been dreaming about (for my repetitive bean preparations). I finished my watercolor and sent it off to be with a friend in Brazil and began a new painting. We biked and hiked, explored and swam. All the while staying true to my protocol (as much as I could): three bean servings a day with protein and plants and nuts; and hydration, hydration, hydration. No caffeine, no sugar, no dairy (though I have been incorporating grass-fed yogurt with nuts, flaxseed, a no sugar-added granola and blueberries). And keeping to a no-tyramine and low-histamine food menu, a list that I profiled in my sixth week post.
It’s a lot easier six, eight and now ten and a half months in. I’ve gone months now headache free and it feels amazing. I have had only two or three headaches which I know very specifically, down to the food I tested, why I experienced. That is such a gift. I’ve fallen off the protocol a tad in the busy work and activity weeks of Fall. And my meditating and journaling are waiting for me in the wings to be picked up as more dedicated practices, as before. I do feel better when those are part of my daily routine. My thyroid levels were tested and long story short I still need to be on the medication to keep the levels in check. I will keep working toward the no-meds goal. I Believe! Feeling grounded and open because of the foods I choose to consume is such an affirming result.
Here’s a too-long photo journal of the summer and fall. I lived on the West Coast for eight years in my twenties and missed the visually changing seasons and how that affects the processing of our days. I delight in the gifts each season brings as experienced living back in the four seasons of the East Coast. I welcome the shorter, cooler days and the feeling of going within, literally and figuratively Autumn’s hallmark. I hope this finds you healthy and in good spirits to ring in the holiday season!
Blooming with Park & Bloom in Jersey City.
A fresh take on a kitchen island with turned legs and an interesting basket-weave-pattern floor.
The finished watercolor.
With Fig & Squill at Bel Mer in Newport, RI.
My painting spot on different visits.
Blooming with Fig & Squil at Castle Hill Inn, RI.
Newport, Rhode Island, I had a marvelous time.
Leesburg, VA on a sweltering hot day.
The Magic Jones at Wolf Trap’s Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods
The beloved bean pot I manifested! Thank you, Jenn, I use it with deep gratitude almost daily.
A Barbie-pink sky the night before we saw the movie in Virginia.
Lots of cousin fun at home, exploring New York City.
Buying an ice cream with his own money.
Because the little guy idolizes his sister and he loves Taylor and to draw! Drawn on August 9, 2023, the day Taylor Swift announced her forthcoming re-recorded 1989 album, with the new cover art.
Made this spaghetti pomodoro from The Bear which became a family favorite (I binged the whole marvelous series)!
Awoke at 4am, took the train in a thunderstorm and reveled in a magnetic “Raindance” performance by Jon Batiste IN the on-again off-again RAIN. His new album, World Music Radio, should be a multi-Grammy-Winner in my book!
The off-again rain, yep, that’s the same morning. All clear for the live TV performance! You can watch the four live songs he performed here.
Jon Batiste practically levitating, he brings 200% of his energy and leaves it with the people.
Magical Lake George.
Pawpaw Tunnel Campground, Oldtown, MD.
The landmark Manet/Degas show at The MET, through January 7, 2024. 
Blooming with Fig & Squill in September at LionRock Farm.
Come on, that dahlia theater, sublime!!
Still of Taylor Swift performing, “Willow,” in the concert film, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” October 14, 2023. Taylor got us through yet another trying recovery time in my teenager’s gymnastics career.
iPhone snaps Beth Horta for Sweet Sabelle.