Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

One of the things cattitude and adrian_turtle got at the farmers market on Friday was black currants, which Cattitude wanted to try because he likes black currant candy, and Ribena, and other black-currant-flavored things.

We rinsed the raspberries and some of the black currants Friday, for dessert. I tried one first, and said "I don't think I like this." Adrian and then Cattitude also tried them, one currant each, after which we agreed that we didn't like them. There was some discussion of ways to cook with them, but Cattitude was the only one who was at all enthusiastic about trying them instead of cranberries in apple crisp, or using them to make a sauce for duck, and we may abandon the project. Ah, well, now I know.

I had to get (more) blood drawn for tests, and after that I went to the farmers market. I came home with plums, the big oval Italian kind; Elstar apples; Vanessa grapes; raspberries; and diva cucumbers.

I am very pleased with my haul, in part because I thought I'd missed the season for those plums and maybe for that kind of apple. I had been picking out Macouns when I saw the box of Elstar apples. I put the Macouns back in their bin because I'm confident of being able to get those in a week or three, and the Elstar season is short.

There's also a small tomato in a bowl on the counter, but I grew that myself.

I just spent two days at adrian_turtle's that we hadn't planned on, as practical and emotional support for a somewhat scary medical thing that seems to be mostly resolved.

Tl;dr: she had double vision, it is now mostly better, and an assortment of tests have ruled out a lot of scary things, but not figured out what happened.

The long version: Adrian called me Wednesday morning and asked me to say some calm and soothing things, because her vision had just gotten bad in a weird way: double vision even if she only had one eye open. Talking to her helped, and she already had a telemedicine appointment with her neurologist for that afternoon.

The neurologist told Adrian that he wanted to run some tests, and that the way to do this quickly was via the emergency room. So she called one of her comrades who has a car, and he took her to Mount Auburn Hospital. A few hours later, Adrian called and told me that she had not had a stroke, does not have a tumor, and also doesn't have diabetes, COVID, or Lyme disease. (My reaction to that last was "oh, right, New England.") By then they had done a lot of low-tech neurology, plus a CAT scan, MRI, and chest X-ray, and drawn blood for a variety of tests. The hospital had her stay overnight while they waited for test results, and maybe also to see whether/how quickly she recovered. She was seeing better, if not well, yesterday morning. So they sent her home and told her to see an ophthalmologist, and to follow up with her regular doctor after that.

I met Adrian at her apartment, and brought roast lamb and melon for dinner. Conveniently, she already had an eye exam scheduled for yesterday morning. I kept her company on the bus to and from the eye doctor, for comfort and in case she had trouble navigating. The eye doctor ruled out some more possibilities, and told her to see a neuro-opthalmologist. That will be on Tuesday, and I can't go with her because ;m seeing my own neurologist Tuesday.

The double vision had mostly resolved by this morning, but again weirdly: the left eye is OK, but the right eye still has double vision. Which isn't supposed to happen with only one eye open. One bright spot is that we got some excellent fruit from the farmers market on our way home from the eye doctor. I had meant to bring home some of the grapes, but got distracted, so Adrian will have to eat lots of grapes. Oh woe!

cattitude brought three Westfield seek-no-further apples home from the farmers market today.

This is another heirloom apple. We both thought it was pleasant but nothing special: mild though pleasant flavor, very crispy, not especially juicy or sweet, and a thick skin. I will update this if my opinion changes based on the other two of these.

The entry at Orangepippin.com says it's a late season apple, so we may have gotten it too soon for it to be at its best. On the other hand, the entry describes the size as all of small, medium, large, and "variable," and there's similar cculd-be-everything on shape.

On the recommendation of a stranger, we bought a couple of Ambrosia apples at the supermarket on Sunday. It's apparently a new variety, and looks a bit like a large Gala (similar coloring, and about as tall, but with a larger girth). cattitude said "I'm afraid it's a classic Washington apple," and I agree (although the ones we got are from B.C.): very crisp, some juice, a little sweetness, and almost no flavor.

If what you like in an apple is crispness, you might want to try this, since last fall's crop is still crisp in March.

Puritan is an early season apple variety. cattitude bought a couple at the farmers' market, because we'd never heard of them. I googled a bit, and the usually useful orangepippin.com said "Red skinned apple covered with small white dots. Soft texture, tart flavored." They also inform me that it was developed by the Massachusetts Agricultural Extension Station.

They're right about the tart flavor and soft texture, but the ones we got are more green than red, and had no white dots. It's possible that they were underripe, which would explain the blandness. Cattitude's reaction was that he would try it again a year from now; mine was that I wouldn't bother. (Last week the market had Lodi and Vista Bella, both of which I already knew I don't like.)

We also bought some "J Mac" apples, which may or may not be the same as Jersey Mac ("J Mac apple" was completely useless as a search string, and adding "variety" still got me mostly computer references), and will try those next.

I bought two navel oranges at the supermarket yesterday.

I just peeled one, and the fruits pink inside. Furthermore, it tastes rather like a pink grapefruit.

The label says "Sunkist 3130 cara cara."

Yes, citrus are weird, but I expect a little more consistency from seedless fruit, which should be clones.

I visited roadnotes in the hospital yesterday, and again today. They removed her breathing tube while I was there yesterday (though they made me and baldanders and I leave the room for the actual process), which made her feel a lot better, and made communication much easier. (She'd been writing brief notes on a pad of paper, but they were hard to read, not like her usual neat handwriting.) She's likely to be in the hospital for another couple of weeks, recovering from the surgery and rebuilding her strength.

I did about half a workout yesterday afternoon (when I got back from the hospital) and the other half this morning. This isn't quite as emotionally satisfying as doing it all at once, but I suspect it's equally good for me.

On the way back from the hospital this afternoon, I got off the bus a couple of stops early to pick blackberries. I ate a bunch as I gathered—ripe, sun-warmed berries are wonderful—and put some in a plastic bag to bring home. Either nobody else is gathering there right now, or the berries are ripening incredibly fast. Possibly a bit of both; yesterday was both hot and sunny.

( gym details, in case you care )

Cripp's Pink appears to be a late-season apple and/or one that stores moderately well; if the orchard had it earlier this season we didn't notice it.

It's similar in color and shape to a Gala, and similar but in my opinion inferior in flavor: not as juicy or sweet, but without anything else of interest to make up for that. (That is, an apple might be less sweet but have a good tart flavor, or something more specific; this one doesn't.) Edible, and we probably will eat the one left in the drawer, but I expect we'll go for the Macouns first.

I took one bite of the Jonathan, spat it out, and told cattitude "I don't think I like this." He took a bite, ate it, and said that he didn't think it was ever going to be his favorite. Sour and not much else to say about it (moderately juicy, at least). Then we threw it out and I took out a NY428.