It's pouring rain outside (Irene has arrived) and I may resort to my emergency stash of no-sugar-added applesauce.

Nah, it's still the midwest passing along their storms. We won't be seeing Irene until the weekend....

Yeah, DC is probably getting the storm that hit PA a few hours ago.

Only arithmetic, or do trigonometric and transcendental count, too?

No trig!

Transcendental count? Oh, Hil when did you become a new age mathemagician?

I had to walk between meetings in the rain to get to a meeting, and then the meeting was cancelled! But afterwards, I stopped at the farmer's market and got some peaches.

I had applesauce and blueberries in my oatmeal, and I have a banana awaiting my belly for my afternoon snack. And we have peaches at home, if I can get one before Tim ganks them out from under me. He is a peach monster. I was unaware of this fruit-stealing side of him. Evil.

Do peanut M&Ms count as fruit?

I just got a bag of peaches and two pints of organic strawberries yesterday. The peaches will be washed and sliced, skin on, laid out on waxed paper or foil on a tray to freeze, then bagged. The strawberries will be capped, cored, and halved, and then frozen as well.

I don't have popsicles anymore, but a half-cup of frozen strawberries is the same cold-crunchy, with added vitamins and fiber. Half-thawed peaches with a dash of sugar and a splash of half and half is a decadent dessert. And a half-cup of each, combined with half a banana, a shot each of OJ and almond milk, with water as needed, makes an awesome smoothie-meal.

I've been shocked and dismayed at the loss of grapes in my diet. The sugar is too readily available. Everytime I try eating grapes, even along with a bit of ham or chicken, the sugar rush is unpleasant. Strawberries, cherries, peaches, apples, and citrus in season--satsumas, clementines, oranges, tangerines--are my usuals. And dried cranberries have replaced raisins in all the things that call for raisins. Apparently, grapes in all their forms are Right Out, at least right now. Even wine has no appeal right now.

Sue, cobbler might be quicker. Don't waste yummy peaches.

It's more the state of my kitchen...

I'm really limited in the fruits I can eat without pain. The IBS has resulted in over twenty pounds of weight loss since I was diagnosed. Which, you know, I needed to lose it.

Just not by being in pain, I wish.

Also, I wish so much I could publicly thank Maria and her colleagues. If I didn't know her...I just don't know how I would have fared. There are these amazing people over there who went to the mat to help me and I really can't say anything. It's difficult. I want to send them all flowers and write their bosses and tell them they were kind.