"...don't matter how you do it. Just do it like you know it..." -- Jerry Jeff Walker

 One thing about this current adventure is I've been eating well. Almost TOO well in terms of fruit. Both hospital and rehab have these fruit cups or bowls of grapes or whatever, so I dive right in. One doctor told me I was getting too much juice and advised me to focus more on protein. Like that's a challenge. 🙄

 The photo is last night's cod/wild rice supper (yes I had a fruit cup, but here's your damn protein doc) with a remoulade I made from condiments on the tray. Mayo, ketchup, lemon juice, maybe a little salt. Entirely as good as most in New Orleans. Not that it elevated this dish to Commander's Palace (though the fish was done perfectly), but it goes to show you can uusually look around and bump up whatcha got with whatcha can find. This certainly isn't a kitchen-only thing

 Over and over I've watched my kids, my exes and so many others take X and turn it it into Y, Z and ABC. It's a skill too many never learn or are afraid to try for fear of "failure." But my attitude is like Winston Churchill, who said, "success is merely repeated failure without loss of enthusiasm."

 Daily life is the same way. Despite the externals and even the internal issues, it's working with what you have and might be able to find kicking around nearby. This hospitalization and now rehab have me hyper-aware of how much can change in a short period of time, so I've (re)learned to take the positives and use them to fend off the negatives, as harsh as they are. Too many take the "poor me" route and refuse to recognize what's around them. It's sad.

 As a sailor, I know there's only so much you can do other than show up at the marina and work with existing conditions. You can stand inland and look seaward and so often it can look too stormy to even bother. But if you actually go down there, you usually find things much better than they looked. Hell, even if the weather's bad you salvage things with shrimp and a few beers. You're not losing either way.

So, like the remoulade, you concoct a life with what you have and can find. It's really the only way to operate.

"...I been down this road once or twice before..."