jackfruit

This is a jackfruit cross-section.



The yellow parts are the fruit that one eats - though the white seeds can also be cooked and eaten.

The photo is from November; it was the first time I'd seen fresh jackfruit for sale, so I bought it to try. The taste didn't appeal to me, but it might not have been fresh enough. There were lots of brown spots on the fruit already (which aren't very visible in the photo). A long time ago, I had dried jackfruit, which tasted quite good.

Unripe jackfruit can also be cooked and eaten. For dinner tonight, I sauteed Upton's Chili Lime Carnitas Jackfruit. As the package was rather small, I added a can of garbanzo beans and some left-over whole wheat rotini pasta. It was quite yummy.

dream

I realized I had awoken. And I thought, "That was a dream? ... That was an Awesome Dream!!!"

I tried to remember it. The following was only the last bit of it. There was much more before, but that was too far gone already, to remember.

I was falling.
For an interminable time, as if I must surely smash into the ground and die.
(From a giant Tree? There had been another tree nearby, and someone Else who had suchly fallen and had felt great fear while falling, but they *had* hit the ground and died.)

Yet my falling kept being halted, and switching to weightlessness. Then falling again.

I was being played with, I realized. By a god. The god.
(I had the distinct feeling in the dream that the god was female gendered, and me male, but there was nothing otherwise gendered or sexual about the dream.)

So, knowing that this was a game and that She did not want me to die, only to be afraid, lightened my fears.

Eventually the Falling stopped.
Then the God beckoned, and I came - or maybe They pulled me - across galaxies and empty Space. I could see a set of ~7 galaxies, passing by. Then we stopped, having reached the destination (one of the galaxies?)

We were suddenly in a room, like an office (but I knew it was a jail cell).
The God was cutting a piece of pinkish ribbon (like for wrapping presents) in order to bind my wrists with it. A short piece. She was going to tape it closed.

I held my wrists out with my hands in loose fists, palms up. She indicated to turn them the other way, so I did. She must have tied them/taped them with the ribbon, as then she was writing in some Notebook of hers.

I watched/read as she wrote. It was some notes about me, and she was writing a Number at the top of the page. I realized it was a number to identify me, the prisoner, the specimen. It was a large number; like 16 thousand and something. I was one of that many prisoners of hers.

I became intensely sad, realizing that even if she came to visit me in this cell, that they would be short visits, with eternity in between.

But then I made my sadness be still and go away, for right now, she was here. I should appreciate/enjoy her Presence while I still could.

Around the time that I woke up, I was thinking about how easily I could break the ribbon binding my wrists, if it weren't that doing so would bring Her wrath. Who would dare to invoke her wrath? Or maybe the light binding was so I could free myself if other Danger came. Or maybe the ribbon would shortly transform into thick steel.

dogs taking care of business

Before Serena was put on the thyroid medicine, she'd never let us know when she needed to go outside to relieve herself. If we picked her up and took her outside, she'd only rarely go. Usually she'd climb back up the porch steps right away, waiting to be let back inside (especially on cold days). She wouldn't come back down, even when I patiently stood next to the grass calling for her, trying to get her to change her mind.

After having started the medicine though, and it still seems amazing to me, she actually tells us that she needs to go outside - though we still have to watch and listen for it. She may simply come up to me and wag her tail. Or she may run from one room to the next in an upbeat fashion. But then if I go to the door, she'll quickly follow as if yes, that is what she needs.

I have to go outside with her. Otherwise, she often just drinks from the water bowl outside, and then stands in front of the door waiting to be let back in. But if I'm outside with her, and especially if I walk down the steps to the grass and wait, she'll now walk around and go potty.

A few weeks ago, the vet decreased her drug dosage by half as her thyroid level must have been getting too high (which is something I had wondered about, as Serena seemed *so* hyper and puppy-like). Since then, Serena has become more subtle again about needing to go outside, but still is much better than in the past. I make sure to walk to the door every so often and ask if she wants outside. And I make sure to go outside with her.

These last few days, I've been watching her and Zorro in the yard, and have been amused.

One day when she seemed to need to go so bad (jumping up on the door from inside as if trying to push it open), I watched her walking purposefully around the yard, sniffing here, sniffing there, trying to find the perfect spot. She kept on walking, changing direction, sniffing more, moving on. And I thought "She must feel like I do in my bathroom dreams - having to pee so bad, but not being able to find a good clean toilet!"

When both Zorro and Serena are outside, often, one will pee, then the other will come sniff it and go in the same area. Then the first may come again and sniff, and go again on top.

Today I watched Zorro squatting, trying to take care of business, but Serena kept coming along and sniffing at her behind, apparently before Zorro had even finished. (Zorro's probably thinking, "Oh please leave me alone and let me finish my business in peace!) Serena even lifted her leg right there and started peeing before Zorro was done. So then Zorro walked away and squatted somewhere else, but Serena followed her again. No peace.