Happy St Patrick’s Day! I read an article on ol’ St. Paddy and was pretty disappointed. Dude brought Christianity to Ireland banished all the snakes (& demons) and was made a Saint. Of all the cool stories of Saints, that one kinda sucks. I think I will stick to the holiday of Leprechauns, rainbows and pots of gold. Sometimes I dream of finding the end of the rainbow and the Leprechaun with his pot of gold. I would trick the Leprechaun though! I would let him keep his money in exchange for 1 wish!
“I’m not a Genie!” He would cry indignantly but he would agree, to keep his treasure and I would know EXACTLY what to ask!
If I could ask for anything, I would ask for a postponement or a deferral. I’m not sure the word because words are hard now. I used to LOVE words but now they all bounce around inside my mind bumping up against mixed up memories and damaged instruction manuals. I guess I sometimes feel like I deserve my diagnosis. Of course I know this isn’t true but hear me out, I was a REALLY mouthy Kid when I was growing up. I didn’t know it but I was awful to my Mom and her disease. I didn’t even think about her disease. It used to make me mad when she called herself an MSer. Like, what even is that??? She always said, “what comes around goes around”. The things that have been taken away from me, are the things I was best at. The things that made me, me. My words, my energy, my organization, my quickness, and even my ideas. Gone. I am always SO tired. For years I used to get at least 15 000-20 000 steps a day. I loved to move my body. Now, most days I feel like a floating head and can’t even feel below my neck. I get it. To go directly to the heart of me and my life, something nags at me like, this is what you get, this is what you deserve.
But my Kids don’t.
I wish SO badly that I could postpone my diagnosis even 10 years. SBean would be 19 and HBear would be like 23. A little older than I was when my Mom was diagnosed. Yeah, I wish that. I wish I could learn how to navigate MS when the Girls were older instead of missing their teenage moments. I wish I had energy to parent the way I want to. I just feel like they each missed out on something. 10 years would give Ninja his late 40’s & early 50’s back. He expected a social life. When they were younger we thought, the Kids get us on weekends and activities take up our evenings but when they get older, it will be our time. Now I can’t go into places that are overstimulating or my face goes numb. I can’t hear, see, swallow and talking is weird when it feels like your mouth is drooping. I don’t have an appetite because I don’t burn calories and I don’t drink because sometimes even one glass makes my tingling and spasticity flare.
So if I had the luck to find a Leprechaun I wouldn’t want a pot of gold, I would want 10 years. Just 10. Then I would take it all, I promise. Oh look it seems that I’ve gotten to the bargaining stage of grief! Lol yikes I thought I was further along, maybe I’m having a grief backslide? Bahahaha something to bring up next week in therapy!
It snowed this week but I’m not allowing that to deter my springtime feelings and desire for sunshine, flowers and longer days! The last one is already happening and this Cucumber Elderflower Spritz helped even more! It was spring in a glass, it was SO bright and refreshing. It is a simple yet classic drink that perfectly encapsulates the springtime.
My favourite ice cream from the Dickie Dee was the banana split which was chocolate and banana ice cream on a stick dipped in chocolate. Like a banana revel. SO good! This Dirty Monkey reminded me of the first spring siting of the Dickie Dee and the tinkle of his bells as his bike rides by with those yummy banana treats!
I don’t know why but I thoughts these Dragon Fruit Coladas were going to be bright pink! Lol Of course dragon fruit is white so of course this drink would be white too. Silly me! This was creamy and coconutty like a colada but with a sweet dragon fruit twist. Very fresh and springy!
Lately we have been getting shipments of strawberries from Mexico! Thank goodness because we love strawberries! We have gone without over the winter, choosing local fruits instead but boy are we happy to have options again! I hope next year, all the Canadian greenhouses that are being constructed will give us even more options! We used those little treasures in these Strawberry Tequila Sodas and they were SO good. It reminded me of a strawberry Clearly Canadian! My favourite was mountain berry but strawberry was a close second. This was a little dry, a little sweet and a lot delicious.
Another berry that screams spring to me are blueberries. Actually growing up on the prairies, berries were a part of spring like taking the bikes out of the shed heralded the beginning of the season. Blueberries, Saskatoon berries, strawberries and sweet raspberries. This Blueberry Martini would work with any of those berries but was so pretty because of the purple/pink colour and sweet blueberry flavour.
I love a good fruity cocktail. Like a Paloma or a Singapore Sling! This Siesta cocktail is like a combination of those drinks together and I liked it! It was a little tart, a little sweet and really got me into the spring mood! Plus I thought the colour was super pretty. Of all the drinks we made, this one felt perfectly pretty and perfect for a spring party, shower or gathering.
Cucumber Elderflower Spritz
2
servings5
minutesIngredients
4 oz cucumber juice, see below
2 oz elderflower liqueur
2 oz lime juice
- Cucumber Juice
4 inches cucumber
1/4 cup water
Directions
Blend cucumber and water in a small blender and strain.
Divide all ingredients. Add divided ingredients to 2 wine glasses and stir gently. Garnish with cucumber ribbons.
Dirty Monkey
2
servings5
minutesIngredients
4 oz pineapple juice
2 oz Kahlua
4 oz dark rum
4 oz coconut cream
3 bananas
Directions
Fill a blender with ice cubes.
Add 2 bananas, pineapple juice, coconut cream, rum, and Kahlua to the blender. Blend the ingredients until smooth and creamy.
Pour the mixture into 2 chilled glasses, and garnish with banana slices.
Dragon Fruit Colada
2
servings5
minutes10
minutesIngredients
4 oz white rum
2 oz dragon fruit syrup
4 oz pineapple juice
2 oz cream of coconut
1 oz lime juice
- dragon fruit syrup
1 dragon fruit, chopped
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
Directions
Add dragon fruit, water, and sugar to a small pot.
Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Strain and set aside.
Add rum, dragon fruit syrup, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, and lime juice to a shaker filled with ice.
Shake well for about 15 seconds until chilled and smooth.
Strain into 2 glasses filled with ice. Garnish with your choice of fruit.
Strawberry Tequila Sodas
2
servings5
minutesIngredients
7 strawberries, tops cut off
2 oz tequila, divided
1 lime, juiced, divided
4 oz tonic water, divided
Directions
Muddle 3 strawberries in each of the glasses you’ll be serving the soda in.
Add into each glass, the tequila, lime juice and tonic water and stir. Top with ice and garnish each with half a strawberry.
Blueberry Martini
2
servings5
minutesIngredients
1/2 cup blueberries
4 oz vodka
2 oz triple sec
2 oz lemon juice
2 oz simple syrup
ice cubes
Garnish: blueberries and/or lemon twist
Directions
Add blueberries to the shaker and muddle them until juicy. Add vodka, triple sec, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Fill the shaker with ice and shake well for about 20 seconds.
Strain to pour the drink into 2 chilled martini glasses. Garnish with blueberries or a lemon twist.
Siesta
2
servings5
minutesIngredients
1 oz campari
1 oz lime juice
1 oz simple syrup
4 oz blanco tequila
1 oz grapefruit juice
Garnish: grapefruit twist and/or lime wheel
Directions
In a cocktail shaker with ice cubes, add tequila, Campari, fresh grapefruit juice, fresh lime juice, and simple syrup.
Shake the ingredients vigorously for about 15-20 seconds until well-chilled.
Strain the mixture into chilled glasses filled with ice cubes, and garnish with a grapefruit twist or a lime wheel.
Thank you to Life & Linda and Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for featuring my St Paddy’s Day post at their Love Your Creativity and Full Plate Thursday Link Parties last week.
Spring Break has begun! HBear finished her curling season and said goodbye to her jr curling team as they all go their separate ways next year. So far she has been working over the break, doing grad fundraising with Ninja and her bf, and working on her art project. SBean has been busy exercising at Papa’s, practicing her instruments (piano, sax, flute, guitar and trombone) and playing job simulator on the VR.
