trip to DC

My trip to DC went well, mostly.

My mother is doing well after surgery -- her doctor used a relatively new way to replace the hip, going in toward the front, rather than toward the back. As a result, she can bend over, tie her shoes, cross her legs -- all that little stuff we take for granted -- without fear of undoing anything. For now, she has a physical therapist and nurse coming to the house; when she is no longer housebound, she will have to go to them.

So there wasn't a lot for me to do except prepare, serve, and clean up from meals and do a lot of shopping. That was a Good Thing because I got food poisoning almost as soon as I got there, and I'm still recovering nearly a week later. It wasn't the worst case I've ever had -- that was in Paris in the summer of 1977 -- but it did knock me out and make me fairly uninterested in eating anything else. And also, it wasn't a good precursor to imaginatively cook attractive and exciting food for someone else.

As for food, my mother doesn't like tomato sauce (or it doesn't like her, I'm not sure), she doesn't like spicy food, and because of the medication she's temporarily on, she shouldn't eat much turmeric, green leafy vegetables, or broccoli or cauliflower. So there went my entire meal plan.

As with everyone who's sick, I asked what she was in the mood to eat and got a fairly good picture of morning, noon, and night wishes, all easy stuff. Hence the shopping. In the end, I made squash soup which wasn't bad, friends brought over dinner the other two nights. And before I left, I made sure there were plenty of leftovers, some yummy frozen dinners from Whole Foods, and lots of interesting frozen vegetables, all of which can be microwaved in fairly short order.

My aunt is there this weekend and there's someone who helps with shopping and other chores.

So I've left things in good shape, I think. I would say that my trip was not strictly necessary, but it was most definitely reassuring to both of us, so it's good that I went.