Today is World Kidney Day AND Jimi Hendrix' 70th bday - Mailing the Compass (Photos) - Nutrition Consult with Mary Ann Moylen - How to Make Cream of Mushroom Soup

 Easiest to do everything on the floor. I need total concentration to pack each envelope. My printer - Ray of AccuPrint - gave me a huge box of white envelopes that were seconds.

I think packing them is harder than the actually writing and editing of the Compass. 

These, Scott and I dropped off yesterday where I paid exorbitantly, unlike today when I carried a small batch in to the Willow Grove post office.

I got my favorite guy there, Steve. At the top of the pile were six Compasses I mailed to Karl Rickels, MD, founder of the Mood and Anxiety Center at Penn. 

"He fought with the Desert Fox," I told Steve.

Steve, a history buff, was really impressed. He pointed to some autographed pix on the wall of other World War II veterans, one now deceased, who were valiant soldiers.

Steve even knew about the Abington library's programs of WWII vets. Gotta catch em quick cuz they're dying off.

In my letter to Karl - I call him Karl, since that's how he signed his last email - I enclosed two bags of tea - which I'm sipping right now

I know, I know, you've seen this before, thing is, it screams with flavor, as if it's a food 

I could NOT believe what I saw at the post office.... the inaugural day of the new Jimi Hendrix stamp, on his 70th birthday.

And the wind cries Mary. 

I bought 3 sheets and told Steve I still correspond with people in the mail.... Wendy Davidson in Burlington, VT - Judy Diaz in Niwot Colorado - and send out postcards.

What dyou wanna bet these are the most popular stamps the PO ever printed?

Send me an email and I promise to mail you a card or letter with the Hendrix stamp. Ruth Deming - one M - at Comcast.net

Mary Ann was running late so I paced around the store and heard a young man on the phone in the coffeeshop apologizing to someone.

I HAD to know the story.

He went up to the woman behind the counter and told her he'd tell it to her. Then as he was passing me by, I said something that led up to him telling me the story.

He was applying for a marketing job at the Olive Garden, returned for a second interview yesterday, but got there at the wrong time and didn't remember the name of the man who was sposed to interview him. Juan. The manager told him If you can't remember these details, I don't want you. Get out. Now.

My guy was shocked. Really? He asked.

Yes. Get out now!

My guy, who's name I know, then stuck out his hand for a handshake. You, Reader, make up your own mind about that.... and the ensuing apology.

I first saw Mary Ann in 2009 when she put me on a kidney-healthy diet to preserve kidney function. At the time I weighed the very same as today. 137.5. That year Sarah and I went to my first trip to Europe - Barcelona

and saw the wondrous works of Antoni Gaudi. I first heard of Gaudi during a lecture at New Directions by the brilliant art therapist John Sappington. 

All throughout our Mediterranean Cruise I stayed pretty much on my diet. When I didn't, Sarah would yell at me.

Take a look at the products on the Left. These are new Giant granola-type bars Mary Ann recommended. They have 10 grams of protein. And are mmm-mmm good!

She also emphasized that I've gotta eat smaller portions and eat a starch at every meal. So for dinner, I ate five buttered crackers (butter is the requisite fat) with a small bowl of cream of mushroom soup.

AND I feel full, thanks to the starch.

After I saw Mary Ann, I went to the pharmacy where Erich, the pharmacist, was working, as was Donna, the helper.

Both had read great quantities of the new Compass.

They both like my poems - Superbowl and Wade in the Water Dry - commenting they were like short stories.

Here's my Cream of Mushroom Soup

Tangerine juice for sweetness

I chopped everybody up this rmorning, then put it in my Slo Cooker on High and it was ready for lunch. It is downright delicious!