More Photos of the Bronx (Mostly City Island)

Well today I went to the dentist. Nope, not another filling! This time I was approved for two new crowns, because it has been five years since I originally got them. I was thinking that this visit would be a breeze. I thought, "I'll go in, he'll make an impression of my mouth for the new crown and I'll be out of there." Nope, not so easy! In fact, first he beat on the old crown (he only worked to replace one today) and it felt like a jackhammer at work on my tooth. Then he pulled the old post out, gave me lots of injections, and drilled and drilled as he cleaned out the root canal. I thought that part would never be over! Despite all the injections I was still throbbing and so before I left he gave me another injection and also gave me some pain cream to take home. Whew! I love my dentist, but today was a long and painful day with him. I have to give him kudos, however; as he said that all he got done today was suppose to have been a three part visit. He's very fast and his work is quality, and if he makes a mistake he admits it. I can't ever see myself going to another dentist.

I took my camera with me. I always like to take it when I got out to capture pretty little things and also one never knows what he or she will see. I have bored you all with photos of the train station, the dentist office, the stores around his office, etc. so today I didn't take any of those. I took photos of other things you might enjoy.

First, before we went to the dentist we walked to the post office to pay our phone/internet bill. The first photo I came to was of the ice cream shop one block down. We have only eaten there once, but I think it's so cute. It's called "Lickity Split."



They have Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy out front. I love Raggedy Ann. Despite me being 40 years old I can still see myself in a Raggedy Ann bedroom, LOL.



Right beside of it is a little sitting park.



On down is The Black Whale restaurant. It's kind of famous around here for Nichole Kidman eating there when she made the film "Margot at the Wedding." I have never seen it. I also don't know what other celebrities have eaten there. I am not one to be too much on the social scenes, LOL.



Here's another window belonging to "The Black Whale".



Right beside of it is "Silver Arrow Antiques." An old boat captain, named Captain Smitty, owns and runs it.



The next interesting thing is a store filled with old nautical items, which is one of my loves. My living room is decorated in this manner. I have only bought one thing at this store, because it's rather expensive though. Most of the things I have found on my own. This is a fence by the store though, which reminds us that we live on an island. All this stuff is for sale. I don't remember the name of the store.



I had a friend to die, which lived near the post office. His name was Morris. He died when I was in Tennessee. I was so saddened by this poster. My husband told me about a month ago that Morris had passed away. This was the first time I had seen the poster. I am so sorry that I didn't get to say hello to my long time friend one more time. I really loved that old cat, and when I got the news he died I shed a few tears for him.

Here's a few pictures of Morris as I knew him...





And here's Morris as I know him now, with a big R.I.P. below his face. He was 24 years old. Rest in Peace, dear old friend. I am so glad I got my photos of him before he left us.



Finally, we made it to the post office. I don't know why I said finally. It really isn't all that far... probably about four blocks from here. In their lawn we sighted an egret feeding there. Actually he's resin or some other material, but I liked him.



After we finished our business in the post office we crossed the street to wait on the bus. It was a few minutes until another one came, so be got to explore the playground behind the bus stop a bit.

There were some precious children there having a ball in the water. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of them as I got the playground.











The playground is right beside of the elementary school. Here's the front - well half of it.



And here's the back of it...







Behind the playground is the baseball field where the Little League plays.



Here is one of a few picnic tables at the field.



By it, on the next street over, is a building with condos in it.



Behind the Little League field is a path where one can go and see the Long Island Sound.



It's so peaceful here!













After a few minutes here we were able to catch the bus and be on our way to the dentist's office. We had to take a transfer to another bus at Pelham Bay Train Station.



A man was out there selling franks (hot dogs). His cart is new. I have never seen him before.



Here is a cute little store actually built under the steps of the train station. I love the man who works there too. He's always so friendly!



I have never shown you a picture of this pizza shop, I don't believe. We never eat there, because it doesn't seem very clean, but my husband has met a celebrity there before from "The Sopranos." He had to tell my husband who he was, because we don't watch TV, LOL. We do live one block from Vincent Pastore of the Sopranos, however. My husband chats with him when he runs into him. He lives like a common person rather than like you would expect a celebrity to live. His car is nothing special, his house is nothing special, and he wears flip flops and sweat pants out, LOL.



If you can see through this fence, one of my friends works in that building. It's a professional building, and she works at the imaging diagnosis clinic as an ultra sound technician. It's a shame that I have to go to have an ultra sound to see her. Blythe, if you are reading this, we are going to have to make a date! Love you!



My dentist's office is on the first floor of a tenement building. I have shown you his office before, but never the lobby. Here it is.







This is looking down the hall to my dentist's.



After I finished there, as long and tedious of a visit as it was, we went to get our produce, as this is where I always stock up on my raw foods.

We passed the health food store where I usually get some things, but I didn't have the extra money to shop there today.



I saw a pretty pigeon perched upon a sign.



My husband passed the produce store, saying that he wanted to walk up the hill and back down the other side of the street. Unbeknownst to be, he wanted to eat pizza, so we got a slice each. This is our favorite pizza restaurant in the Bronx.





Afterward we went to the produce store, of which I will post the photos of what we bought in a separate post.



Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

Day Forty Five of My Health Journey, Biology, Food Additives and Rambling

I finally hit the twenty pound mark! In a month and a half I have lost twenty pounds! My husband has lost seventeen! I know we aren't suppose to be proud in the eyes of YHWH, but that's quite an accomplishment, and I'm happy. Of course, during the process we ate alot of meat and bread, and I think I could have lost a WHOLE LOT MORE. We have especially been heavy on the bread the last few days, as food was short. I will get to that in a minute.

Sunday night we had nothing to eat. I was going to make more of my mayonnaise biscuits, but I didn't have any mayonnaise, so my husband went to the convenience store three blocks from here and actually bought some mayonnaise packages for one dollar, and a pack of beef jerky, and a twenty ounce pepsi, which we split. I know... that was REALLY bad and my urinary tract can attest to it. We are back on grape juice now though.



Monday morning we actually had some of the biscuits that were left over and I made some juice. I am so glad we have been able to continue the juicing, at least. I like so much to always have fresh fruits and vegetables. Here's what I juiced.



That day (Monday) we had a relative over, who came and put Windows 7 on my husband's computer. His computer is such a mess that the relative was here about six hours working on it. So since we had company we splurged and had hamburgers. In all the excitement of having a guest I forgot to take pictures though.

Tuesday morning we had still more left over biscuits. We had one and a half biscuits each and more juice. All day passed and we had nothing else. Last night we had a small salad and I was so hungry as it didn't do too much for my tummy.



Someone posted a Bible verse on their Facebook wall, and that verse was Mark 6:31, which says, "And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat." When I read that I thought how silly I was being to be hungry. I rarely ever miss a meal and YHWH is such a good provider, yet these men, the disciples, had been working so hard for their Savior that they hardly had time to eat. When I started looking at things in that new perspective it took my mind off of my hunger and YHWH took my hunger away. When I woke up today I wasn't even hungry. We did not have a bite to eat until 5:30 p.m. today, and my husband went to the market and got us a nice meal from the deli.

Baked Italian chicken, pasta salad and potato salad with Welch's grape juice...



We have plenty of food now, and even in the last days when our budget was so short YHWH always provided, but now we have plenty, and I am going to the produce store tomorrow to stock up, and will photograph all the goodness that YHWH provides us with. Stay tuned!

As far as the food additives, here is the last section about what additives appear in what foods... next we get to the exciting part about what damages they do! Remember if you want to save all the pages I am photographing and put them in a folder so that you can have your own little edition of the book.



And as far as the biology lesson goes, I promised that I would continue with filters in the body. Here we go. The two filters that take care of the blood and the air. The respiratory system can be compared to a carburetor, and the lungs the air filter. Air is pushed into a filter chamber. The diaphragm drops down to allow the lungs to expand. When the diaphragm relaxes it expands to force air from the lungs, which the process is known as exhalation. When air is inhaled it passes over the voice box and enters one of two passageways. There are two bronchi, one for each lung. There the air enters into tiny sacs, which are held together by elastic connective tissues. The inner lining of the air passage is lined with mucous to trap foreign material should it enter the lung. The air sacs are surrounded by a network of blood capillaries, so that oxygen can be introduced into the blood stream. The kidneys are located in the small of the back. They purify the blood from things which could either block or poison the body. While most harmful debris is eliminated from the body, some are digested by scavengers in the liver, spleen and lymph system. The kidneys control the amount of fluid in the body They produce from two to four quarts of urine per day. The urine is carried from the kidneys to the bladder and out of the body. The urine, which is eliminated depends on the relationship between the amount of fluids taken in the body and the concentration of salts and solids to be removed by the blood. This action is caused by a hormone called antidiuretin. The kidney is the principle organ which regulates the amount of blood and the substances therein.

In other news, I received my textbooks today.



From mid-August to mid-October I am taking a theology class and a psychology class. School starts in less than three weeks. I am really kind of dreading it. I became so spoiled over the summer, and boy, did it fly by! Anyway, my blog may suffer somewhat when school starts. I hope not.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥

Day Forty Two of My Health Journey, Biology Lesson and Info on Food Additives

Well today is day forty two of what has suppose to have been a health journey. I would like to have been alot more raw than I have been. Some of the problem has been simply food lust and some of the problem has been being strapped for cash and having to eat what we are blessed with. This week, though, things will improve and I will be getting more raw foods. Yay! I am really not too disappointed. In forty days I have lost 18 or 19 pounds. That's great in my opinion. If I can continue every month like this I will be elated.

Friday night, which was the Sabbath, my husband brought home a roasted chicken, some fried plantains, rice and beans and salad, which we ate for supper. I really hate to cook on the Sabbath, and so does he, so we only had to heat the rice and beans up in the microwave a couple of minutes. We also ate out of paper plates so that there would be minimum dishwashing.





Saturday morning I made juice. I really hate doing that too, as I feel it is like cooking, but my husband got some things that were going to rot soon, and it really needed to be juiced up. Juicing is really quick - not like cooking a huge meal, so I felt better about that. I juiced carrots, a tomato, 1/2 cucumber, a clove of garlic, a pepper and two apples.



The juice comes out really thick, and I hate that, so I decided to run it through a strainer. I like mine much better like that, but my husband prefers his with the frothiness.



We ate all the beans that he came home with Friday night. Really, I could say what beans - it was almost all sauce, so after the Sabbath my husband cooked some more beans. He soaked them before the Sabbath so that they would be ready to cook, so we had practically what we had Friday night on Saturday night - minus the salad and plantains. The beans didn't get good and tender though, so it wasn't as good and I was left feeling bloated from the lectin. I am grateful though, because lectin can really do some damage, such as food poisoning. Lectin is a natural insecticide in the bean, which must be broken down by cooking it until tender.



This morning we had juice again... pretty much as we had it yesterday, but with an extra apple and another change or two.



I had lost 19 pounds, but today I had gone back up to 18. It's OK. It's normal to fluctuate. I am OK with it.

Here is the next page of the food additive book. Right now it's just going over what foods have what additives. Soon it will tell what the additives do (what's damaging about them).



To our biology lesson... the digestive system

Most foods have to be changed by reacting with water. Enzymes make this possible. Digestion starts in the mouth with the chewing process, so that as food moves throughout the body it may be more efficiently broken down. They enzyme process starts in the mouth. Most of the foods that we eat only go through a physical change in the mouth. Carbohydrates are the exception. They are changed also physically. As food moves down the esophagus, it moves into the stomach, and then a trap door closes, which is suppose to keep the food from going back up again. This is called the epiglottis. Food is moved by muscles. Once in the stomach food is moved for three hours as it combines with enzymes. Hydrochloric acid is formed to break down the food further. Enzymes in the stomach include pepsin, which breaks down proteins, lipase, which breaks down fats, and rennin, which coagulates milk. these enzymes are controlled by hormones gastrin, which stimulates secretions and enterogastrone, from the intestines, which inhabit the secretions. When the food is small enough it is permitted to empty into the small intestines, where bile and pancreatic ducts are dumped. Bile is a green substance produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. It is a buffer, which neutralizes the acid from the stomach. It also helps to break down fats. The pancreas produces enzymes, which are pumped into the small intestine. The final enzyme, which is secreted into the intestine is erepsin. No digestion takes place in the large intestine, but rather there are good bacteria in there. They digest and use cellulose. Everything else is eliminated from the body.

Body filters are also included in this chapter, but I will get to it the next posting. It's quite a bit of work to do all this.

Blessings,
Kimberly ♥