I do wish I were there to help more.

I have the last pill box that Jen linked to. It works when I remember to fill it.

My nutritionist friend says that avoiding nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers) will help with inflamation.

ita, there was a brief article in the Globe and Mail today about how kettleball was the new hot fitness craze. [link]

Aw. Does she live near your folks, Jesse?

ETA:

that avoiding nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant

Well, phooey on that (I mean, not phooey on the advice. Phooey on the not being able to eat the yummies). The first two, especially, I would miss a lot. Fortunately inflammation isn't one of my issues. Yet.

Aw. Does she live near your folks, Jesse?

Heh, yeah -- downstairs. Between them and my aunt, they do OK. And she's still basically fine mentally, so it's not like they go around making sure she's got the right pills in the right places -- they assume she does. It's a fine line. As anyone knows, really, when you're trying to help a grownup, much less your mother.

kettleball was the new hot fitness craze

I am so trendy. Again.

My doctor gave me instructions that certain pills were to be eaten with meals (3x a day) and others 1 hour before bedtime. That's way too much like math, and math that assumes I get three squares. I cheat and have the evening's pills all at once.

As anyone knows, really, when you're trying to help a grownup, much less your mother.

Too true. My sisters and I are having interesting conversations with my mother recently (mostly initiated by her), because my mother's sisters are both not doing well, and their families are trying to deal with it, and just... not fun. Fortunately, my mother is dong just peachy herself these days. Pleasetocontinue.

avoiding nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers) will help with inflamation.

Yeah. When I eat potatoes, you can watch my face turn pink and my nose swell up. It doesn't happen as badly anymore, because of the aforementioned quercetin. Tomatoes and peppers don't bother me at all, though, and eggplant? Won't eat it; smells funny. Probably just as well.

mmm. potatoes

My eldest aunt is in her mid-seventies. One uncle is 80-something. (I find this hard to believe.) So far, we've been lucky in that they are still managing quite fine on their own. It's remarkable if you consider that none of their parents were at this same age.

The one I worry about lately is my Uncle F. Not so much for health reasons, just he's still motorcycling in the Colorado mountains, and has had one serious accident recently (not his fault, the shop's. Tire came off due to a bad part. Shop paid his bills.) I worry for the same reasons about my dad- not health, hobbies. OTOH, F & S have basically invented careers for themselves in small town CO. S is writing copy for the local papers and F is doing most of the photography that accompanies her articles. Actually, F's photos inspire the articles. It's really nice.

Jesse, Miss Non-Profit Lady, what's your read on this article about the Gates Foundation's investments? Are they an easy target because they're so big, or are they actually worse than the average? Also, is the seemingly obvious way around the issue (monitoring which investments are made to bulk up the endowment) too simplistic to work?

While I'm on the LA Times site, meteorite hits house! Kinda eek. A little.

Wow, that's fascinating. It sounds like they are worse than average, at least among the big players the article names. I'm sure the theory is, more money to give is better, but it does seem like they could use their muscle to do more good across the board. I guess I'm still of the old-school liberal foundation school.