After 3 days of meds, I have regained about 60% of my taste and smell. It comes and goes, but I was able to taste my lunch and supper today.

A ham sandwich, stew, and homemade olive/rosemary sour dough bread have never tasted so good.

I am in vermont still ( will be so until late monday) but I felt it ws important to mention PIE as in in 4 pies were made before thanksgiving. aplle pie was eaten Thanksgiving am for breakfast. Thanksgiving evening ( about 10 pm) DH and brother decided to make a Turkey pie and a sweet potato pie. Tonight Dh and Brother made an apple pie for other brother to take home to dad.

pie pie pie pie pie pie PIE

when come back bring pie

Shameless Self-Promotion, Week #2:

I'm going to be on the radio again this Sunday (Dec. 1), reading a different piece from last week (NOT a re-run).

It's 9 p.m. EST (therefore 8 p.m. Central, 7 p.m. Mountain, and 6 p.m. for the Westies).

Go to [link] and, in the left-hand column, select a streaming audio method.

I'm reading a piece about makeup. Not like Vogue magazine -- more like, why do we wear it, what does it mean, does it mean anything, etc.

I'm the second person reading, probably 10 minutes into the show. And my piece is about 5-6 minutes long.

Go, listen. There will be a quiz later...

Hi, kids.

I didn't want to post this while everyone was having ritual sacrifice with pie, because holidays are stressful enough even when we're having a good time.

My grandmother (mum's mum) died of pneumonia on Friday evening. I am now grandparent-less; she was the last. She had been living with congestive heart failure for 14 years; she wrote her heart surgeon a lovely letter four years ago, thanking him for a wonderful ten years she would not have had otherwise. She was 90 years old and "not wanting to stay in the game too long," but she was having wonderful, lucid, and intelligent conversations up until the week before she died. She got to meet her latest great-grandchild, born 6 October, and hear him named for the husband she lost so suddenly thirty-two years ago.

If I have treated any of you with kindness and with love, it is because this woman taught me how to see things from another's point of view, how to love people even when you don't understand them, and the crucial importance of recognising your own prejudices and working to overcome them. I owe her an unpayable debt; the most I can hope for is to share the love that she showed me with the people around me, and encourage them to love just as fearlessly and fiercely.

I will miss her terribly. But love is stronger than even death; what she has given me can never be taken away. I'm always willing to talk about her, to keep her memory alive; email me at my profile address if you want to know more.

The paper I cowrote this summer was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences.

Those patented Buffistas vibes are requested for central Ohio today, where my 4 month old niece is having a kidney removed because it is not functioning. While, viva human bilateral symmetry, she'll probably have a perfectly uneventful life, surgery in the wee is still scary. So please, extra vibes to my SIL who is especially worried and upset.

Just a quick drive by to let you all know I am still alive. I am not feeling better. The antibiotics my doctor tried did nothing, so she decided "Hey, lets do another ultrasound!" If I decide to go forward with it (the appointment is Thursday), it will be my third in the last month. I'm extremely frustrated, and thus have decided to seek a second opinion. I'm going to a new doctor in about half an hour, hopefully he'll think of something to do besides ordering useless repetitive tests and telling me to rest. I am so sick of feeling sick and in pain.

Hugs and love to everyone, and extra hugs to those who need them most. Special thanks to Ellen for sending me Angel and chocolate, to DX for the surprise package of delicious chocolate, and to Susan W. for her secret santa present that arrived yesterday. And to Sumiko for sending me regular "Are you alive" emails. Buffistas are the best, I am so lucky to have each and every one of you. I hope to be back around more soon, but at this point I am hardly even working, as I get tired really really quickly and spend a whole lot of time sleeping. But I am thinking of you guys, and hope everyone had a good holiday.

Love and kisses to all of you.

Very small drive by to say I'm back. Home is a beautiful place.

My MRI came back. Completely normal. (Apparently they can't detect gay vampire snuff porn with current equipment.)