This has been a busy week. Andy's birthday was Tuesday and Passover started on Wednesday evening. We had a wee little birthday celebration on Tuesday night with a couple of friends and a tiny little cake. All day long people sent Andy happy birthday emails which really cheered him up. Honestly, I don't know why we don't just celebrate Andy's birthday on his half birthday instead of trying to do something so close to the end of tax season. Perhaps we will do that next year.

I was busy for a couple of days getting things in order, more or less, to celebrate the Passover. Andy and I decided that between the two of us we would not be dependable enough to keep a promise to go to a Seder either with friends or at our shul. We decided instead to just be the two of us at home. That way if one of us got sick or were just too tired we wouldn't have to discreetly bow out of a Seder. Of course, Wednesday turned out to be the last day of my injections of the Neupogen and the worst part of experiencing side effects. The bones in my lower back and hips were twinging with moderate pain. Nothing I couldn't deal with but debilitating when you are busy putting together a holiday meal. Nevertheless, we had a lovely Seder and we felt very good about it.

Now, however, my body is dealing with a change in diet and again I am having digestive issues. It wouldn't seem like a body would object to matzo. Such a harmless piece of food. Honestly, I don't know why the tummy cries when I eat it. Well, not so much the tummy but the process after the tummy. We are eating even more healthily than ever, Passover does that to you. Only foods that are "allowed" pass our lips. Lots of good fresh vegetables and fruits. No rice, nothing that started out as a grain except matzo and matzo meal. So nothing that has corn or corn syrup, nothing with safflower, soy or any of those grains or their end products. Also no legumes or foods that resemble legumes like peanuts. I was despairing because I didn't find any Kosher for passover salad dressings at the store this year (they typically use cottonseed oil as their base) when all of a sudden I had a brain storm. For heaven's sake, Mardie, just get back to the basics. What are you craving right now? A happy green salad with a creamy dressing? Well, then, go for it. I went to the store, bought some Roquefort cheese, sour cream, and nonfat unflavored yogurt. Then I went home and looked up recipes for Roquefort dressing. Most call for Worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise. Well, my tummy generally objects to mayonnaise so that was easy to drop and replace with the yogurt. And just like mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce has ingredients that aren't allowed so I just dropped it. I mashed up the cheese with the sour cream and yogurt, added lemon juice, minced garlic, minced onion and kosher for passover balsamic vinegar. Let it sit in the refrigerator for a little while and oh, my goodness. I haven't tasted salad dressing this good since I can't say when. Why do I even bother to buy bottled dressing? Another by-product of Passover. Every year we have to be very creative with our meals and it always comes down to going back to basics. In ingredients and preparation. Yummy, simple, healthy food.

So today is the day when last time around (cycle one of chemotherapy) I got so sick and ended up in the ER. With the Neupogen shots I kept my white blood cell count up and hopefully, I am in much better shape than I was last time. I do feel better. No swollen, sensitive gums, no headache, no fever, no extreme tiredness. I think we got this one licked this time.

I was just observing to a friend this morning that the hills are still so green. Two years ago, on March 31st, I attended the lovely wedding of two friends up on Mt. Diablo. Everything was green, the wildflowers were blooming and it was a perfect day, in a perfect setting for two wonderful people to start their lives out together. Two weeks later, the hills had already turned golden. I remember remarking to someone that the wedding had been so perfectly timed to catch Mt. Diablo on a pleasantly warm day but still have the green of the hillsides. Today, as I look out the back window onto the verdant slope above me, I think that we will be able to enjoy our spring a little longer than usual because of the late rains we've had. But I am selfish enough to hope that when Sunday comes around the sun will come out and shine for the brunch our neighbor's hold every year around this time. Andy and I often can't actually eat anything except the fruit because it is during Passover, but it is so much fun talking to our neighbors, our friends who have moved away, the offspring of neighbors and friends and people that we have met one way or another over the years through this event. I think in all the years that we have lived here it has rained only once. It just made for cozier fellowship in the house instead of in the yard!