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I don’t know exactly why, but we keep getting sick and we’ve been back in the US for over a month now. It’s a different sick than in Peru. That was mostly intestinal anger. This includes head colds, sore throat, cough, itchy angry eyes, etc. Perhaps we are acclimating to the new germs; perhaps we have parasites, who knows? All I know is that I need a cleanse.

Fresh Carrot Juice & Muesli.

Before we left for Peru, Matt and I fasted about twice a year (juice fast) and while it’s challenging at times, it is very rewarding. I feel better, physically and emotionally, and giving my body a break from constant digestion and allowing it to clean house is great. Fasting is something that’s been practiced for over 5,000 years and is used for detox (the liver stores a lot of pesticides and other toxins), boosting the immune system and preventing/healing illnesses (the aging process even gets reversed a bit). We’re exposed to so much toxicity, whether air pollution, pesticides on produce or even our overexposure to plastics, it makes me sick (literally and figuratively).

Raw Ginger Almond Rolls.

Along with our typical 3 day juice fast (we’d do longer, but I lose more than 10% of my body weight which puts me out of cleansing mode and into starvation mode) this time we’re going to eat 100% raw for 5 days before. “Raw food” is food that hasn’t been cooked or heated over 104degF (there are many schools of thought on Raw Cuisine whose “rules” vary) and includes soaked nuts, seeds and sprouts (and dehydrating). The main thing that stands out is that the enzymes aren’t destroyed in cooking, thus aiding digestion and preventing/healing chronic diseases and illnesses. Plus I’ve always wanted to learn more about raw food-ism, so now’s the time. I’ll be documenting the fast on my food blog, so if you are interested, head over there!

Speaking of my sweater, a friend recommended the web community ravelry.com to me. It’s a free knitting/crochet website sort of set up like the myspace thing but not as annoying, seizure inducing or “friend-based coolness factored.” You basically have access to free patterns, ideas and are linked in with a bunch of other fiber nerds. There’s forums for questions, groups to join to go do real life knitting/crochet with other humans in your area (good for when we make that upcoming move), and your own little profile, complete with your list of projects and photos.

I’m not addicted to it, but I’m enjoying it so far and it makes me feel a bit more motivated to work on my projects since it is announced and listed. I also have a queue based on other people’s projects that I’d like to do one day. The neat part it that it’s all linked. My current sweater is using yarn I got in Peru. By entering my yarn type, I can see who else is making projects with the same brand of yarn and what the projects are. The sweater I made years ago (and never finished) from the SnB book is on my list, meaning I can now see who else is making that sweater (and see fotos of their work). It’s really fun to see how one pattern can look so different.

So it’s nice to be back at the knitting needles and even nicer to be linked into a community since I am far from home or friends to knit/crochet with. Especially since this new sweater is designed by me and I’m playing it all by ear. I’m trying to use Elizabeth Zimmerman’s techniques for a raglan sweater and am very roughly looking at a sweater pattern book I got from the library. We’ll see how much I get done in early summer Florida!

Our time in Florida has been a mix of relaxation and adventure. We visited the Everglades and saw too many alligators for my comfort level. We went to Sarasota and watched dolphins play in the water and pelicans doing some marathon fishing. We went to Sunday night drum circle on the beach and enjoyed the mixing of ages and cultures. We’ve been spreading the Wii love with our families. We swam in the ocean, enjoyed the beach and had some quality family time.

We lucked out and had a little friend time, too. My trapeze partner was in Florida for a few days and we spent a day at Disney together, VIP style. Her brother works there and was generous enough to get us in for free and we barely had to wait for any rides. We went to Animal Kingdom (a first for me, I really liked this park. Animals, roller coaster, and a fun safari ride). My favorite new animal is the Bongo antelope, part zebra part deer part cow. A white rhino was less than a foot from Matt and the lion king was taking a snooze. We also popped into the Magic Kingdom, did the classic rides and popped into MGM (which is now called Hollywood Studios) to ride the Tower of Terror, easily one of the best rides in all of Disney. At one point we were dropping and a window opened and my glasses were off my lap, floating in front of my face! It was fun to hang out at Disney and not stress about the lines or where to go. We were happy to follow his Disney’s Best Hits tour. Thanks guys! It was so good to spend time with you!

Now we’re chilling with my parents and taking it easy. We drove our rental car on the beach on its last day, which was pretty classy. We’ve visited a few farmer’s markets and have been eating really well, thanks to my mom. We ate at a vegan raw restaurant one day and it rocked my world! It was the best raw food- taste and presentation-wise that I’ve had so far. I’ll post a review on my food blog one day. We were treated to massages one day at the massage college and Matt had a really deep knot worked out of his shoulder. I think so many toxins got released that he now is sick again. We can’t seem to get well since we got back from Peru. We’re sleeping a lot but there must be some Peruvian parasites still hanging on. Regardless, we’re keeping busy with my dad’s movie collection, reading, going to the pool and cooking. I even started a sweater with my alpaca yarn and frogged the whole thing last night and have started over (too big).