I'm planning to make another batch of split pea soup this afternoon, though it isn't to ward off the cold, it's there for lunches and to use up some ingredients (I have some ham that I don't like as well as I thought I would served as a slice beside my eggs, but I think it will work well in a small dice in the soup.) I won't eat Lima beans either - but there are many other admirable varieties out there that taste much better. I use a lot of red kidney beans and black beans, and on occasion, pigeon peas (gandules).

Last week at work they had a monthly birthday cake and it was white, so I tasted and then ate a slice. I don't eat chocolate and I have to be careful to figure out if white has coconut - I think there must have been some form in it even though I didn't detect any flakes. My hands have cracked badly and this has made a lot of the heavy lifting difficult that I want to do this weekend. I'll use some of the steroid cream, wear vinyl gloves for a little while to help soothe and heal - and I guess I just won't eat any cake at work any more. They buy these from commercial bakeries and I don't have a way to read a label of ingredients.

It's a bank and postal holiday today but I can still work on preparing a couple of items for mailing tomorrow. And I need to continue the work to flatten and recycle a lot of cardboard around the house. And walk the dogs. And cook my soup and work in the yard. It has warmed up now, so I'm into my yard shoes and out the door.

SRS