Allergies and sensitivities...

This morning I went to the Farmer's Market which has been operating since spring at Lansdowne Park. I've been wanting to go since they opened, but the broken ankle made it difficult and I didn't get around to it until today. Even today, I was made aware that a short walk on a beautiful Sunday morning, which would have been simple a year ago, was problematic now. I was also a little surprised how shivery-cold it was: and there was frost on the ground.

But I enjoyed it immensely. I expected something like the Byward Market, only smaller. But it isn't. It's more interesting than that; there was a man playing a hurdy-gurdy for a charity, and people selling handmade wooden things, and people selling elegant pastries and baked goods, and people selling maple syrup, and a food court in a tent, where I had squash and pear soup for breakfast. There are lots of organic food and unusual meats like elk and bison and ostrich. I bought elk burgers and mushroom burgers and lamb (free range, local, organic) for stew. And piles of vegetables, including multicoloured carrots - why did that charm me so much? I'm making lamb stew for supper.

As I've probably said, I'm experimenting with a rotation diet to try to get more energy by keeping allergies (and candidiasis symptoms) at bay. So this sort of thing has been on my mind lately.

And New Zealand spinach, which is new to me.

I'm experimenting with a rotation diet in an attempt to fight allergies (and encroaching candidiasis) and to get more energy. I know allergies are everwhere, but I was somewhat saddened to see a booth at the Farmer's Market selling "epi-pals", a colourful pouch for kinds to wear to keep their epi-pen to hand. Used to be that you could only find that kind of thing a specialist stores.

About an hour after seeing this, I overhead a conversation on Bank street, between a little girl aged maybe six, and her mother.

Kid: He can't eat cheese.
Mother: He can't eat ice cream, either.
Kid: Why not?
Mother: Because he has allergies.

I guess it's the way of the world. I wonder what proportion of the world has to worry about reactions to what they eat.

Walking around the Glebe...

For weeks I've been wanting to take pictures, because Ottawa is so beautiful in October. Today I finally went out and did it - having missed the best, but it was still fun. The bright scarlet tree in front of my apartment building has faded to a grey-burgundy, and half the leaves are gone. There are beautiful leaves thick on the ground to rustle through as you walk.

These pictures are the first taken with my new camera. My old camera was the digital equivalent of a Brownie: point and shoot. This one has bells on its whistles and I haven't learned how everything works yet. It will be fun to learn. Today's set of pictures:

Inside my apartment:
( The delphiniums I bought at the Farmer's Market today )

( My living room: the birds, the other delphiniums, the fannish portrait of Bodie from The Professionals )

( Boys playing in the street )

( The tree behind my apartment building )

( I loved the way this tree cast a shadow on the house )

( The playground )

( A few brave flowers still grow in the gardens, despite the frost last night )

( The fire station )

( Another house on my street - I liked the little pumpkins hanging above the porch )