Melanie Anne Phillips

From http://www.wambie.com/tuttifrutti_br/wallpapers/foto_br-272.html

As many of you know, my "day job" for the last 20 years is as a teacher of the craft of creative writing.  I have several web sites for this, but they are all "sales-oriented". I just opened this new FREE informational and refrerence site at http://dramaticapedia.com/ . Check it out!

Teresa is making bread from scratch again tonight.  She usually makes at least a couple of loaves each week.  She's quite a gourmet cook.  In fact, while making bread, she's cooking up a peruvian rotisserie chicken in our convection oven.  Over on the side of the counter are stainless steel measuring scoops filled with white wine and wild rice in preparation for dinner. Spending the day paying bills, working on a consulting job, answering old email and posting entries to my various blogs and web sites.

I've always kept a composer's "sketch book."  Here's a scratchy old recording of a riff I liked enough to put on a cassette about 40 years ago... http://melanieannephillips.com/music/dave/Track%201-2.mp3

Here's the ungarnished truth about tannins and tannin sensitivity. As you probably know, tannins are astringent polymers that naturally occur in coffee, tea, red wine and chocolate (among the most popular dietary sources). Effects of Tannins: Tannins may cause migraines, joint pain that mimics artheritis, tiredness, depression, bowel problems, problems with vision when focussing, digestion problems, thin brittle skin, perhaps hair loss and slow hair growth, and myriad other symptoms, both subtle and severe. For years I suffered a series of symptoms that I had pinned on coffee, uncertain about tea, and pretty sure were tied to red wine - no problem with chocolate. These symptoms were such diverse elements as - lethargy, tiredness, depression, joint pain in hips, shoulders and fingers, thin brittle skin, hair loss, slowed hair growth, slowed metabolism and even acid reflux and heartburn and diminished ability to focus closely, requiring reading glasses. I tried experim...

Taken last weekend during our expedition to Eastern Oregon.

Taken last week during our first sunny day in quite a while.