Blue rainbow

This post is hardly concerned with either running or food, and should be read, for deepest understanding, whilst basking in the sunshine, sprawled along the length of a beach chaise as white as the sand beneath it, adjusted to the inclined position. Stir the ice cubes in your glass with your straw, tip the waiter a peso, and feel the rays on your vitamin D deficient skin.

~ Much too hot to twist by this pool ~

The problem that gripped us each and every day, one which we considered thoughtfully, stepping out into the warm sunlight for all-you-can-eat breakfast that at times consisted, depending on the day, of mushroom omelettes, french toast, paper-thin crepes with chocolate sauce, and always cappuccino and fresh chunks of pineapple and papaya, was whether we should begin the day's romance with the hot, Cuban sun at the beach, where our senses could feast on the rolling turquoise surf, or poolside, just paces from the 24-hour bar.

Sea & sky :: chairs & sand

Once the grounds were decided upon by the both of us, the day's schedule naturally fell into place, and our leisurely activities, which relied heavily on, and often comprised solely of, the consumption of that Cuban resort gift of the gods, alcohol, served either as a mild but delightfully refreshing draft beer similar in color to Keith's, or as that sugarcane firewater, rum, in its many varieties and strengths, and a key component to many a vividly-tinted and intoxicating cocktail.

~ It's a bird! It's a plane! It's blue rainbows! ~
Grenadine, OJ and blue curacao w/ rum.

More holiday posts to follow.

No pie

The kids at the bus stop have a sense of humour.

Sweet potato...con leche

I skipped the run club sprints today. I love the Wednesday night workout but I still feel the pesky IT band knee pain, so I'm still not running. It's only been a week, and so far I have found tons of ways to spend this newly but regrettably acquired free time.

Take this evening for example. I made a pot of soup, washed dishes, baked cookies for friends, read parts of Rough Guide to Cuba (one never knows when the travel bug will hit...like maybe Sunday), played some Dead Space, played with the cat, iced my knee and texted the "student" (long story).

But I worry. Oh, I fret. About the race. Whether I should go. If I can't run. All summer. I will lose it. My mind. My happy place.

Well. No need to put the cart before the horse. (The horse is hungry and the cart is full of apples.) Tomorrow morning I'll see my wonderful massage therapist. She will give me her opinion, and hand me the kleenex box when she does. I am prepped to hear the worst.

Before I settle in for a lame summer - pun intended - I'm here to share a delicious recipe that rocked my soup bowl tonight.

Sweet potato soup

• 3-4 tbsp fresh ginger root, minced


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 onion, chopped


• 1 tbsp butter


• 3-4 sweet potatoes, cubed (and peeled, if desired)


• 1 tsp cumin


• 2 tbsp Thai green curry mix


• 1 large tomato, seeded and chopped


• 4 cups veggie stock


• 1 can reduced-fat coconut milk

Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the ginger, garlic and onion, sauteing for 2 minutes or until your mouth starts to water from the fragrance. Add the remaining ingredients except for the coconut milk. Cover the pot and bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are very soft. Remove from heat. After the mixture has cooled, puree in a blender. Pour mixture back into pot, add the coconut milk, et voila! A fiesty, orange soup.

Could use a squeeze of lime juice at the finish.

Winter feathers

the sun exuberantly generous warms a city to the notion that winter fades new plants as green as martians appear morningside unearthed chairs clatter onto hollow patios fur hats boxed and banished in a week we'll wonder how we ever passed the winter our minds skipping over the body of a sparrow kept since december in the freezer spring is a season of forgetting

Left behind

The coffee pot is gurgling on the stove, and the cat has intersected with a sun ray on the floor. Kitty is stretching and purring. I'm lounging on the couch in my pink tartan jam-jams even though it's a Sunday morning and normally I'd be found sucking on a gel somewhere along the canal by now. Actually it's not just any Sunday morning, but the morning of my was-to-be final long run before the marathon.

I'm sitting out this run. My knee gave me some attitude Thursday evening after several (I guess too many) workout days in a row, and I have been laying low since. It's ITB pain on the outside of one knee, and now I'm terrified that this new-old knee pain will haunt me during my race three short weeks from now. I reported the pain to my coach, and he told me to stay off the leg for a while and stretch, and maybe do the last long run next Sunday instead. We'll see. I'm going to monitor this pain closely. I don't want to have to take another year off to recover from knee pain.

So, I'm medicating with Ibuprofen, doing some stretching and not running. I'll probably take the week off. But it's ok. The weather is warming up, and I have a free Sunday that I can dedicate to other fun activities, like reading, gaming and cooking. Not so bad!