3 new pics that Francois shot last week in Austin

Kim, Melissa (daughter), Simon (Francois and Judy's son)

Kim

Michael and Kim

Vegan Spoken Here

A week ago I was out of control, eating every time I passed the fridge... or so it seemed. For a week I've eaten 3 times a day,  I recorded my food and averaged 325 calories a day less than what the iphone program Lose It claimed I needed to eat to lose 1.5 lbs per week. Result for 8 days: lost 3 lbs. Yea! Only 13 3/4 lbs. to go.

"Vegan spoken here" might seem unnecessary. At another restaurant, a vegan friend ordered vegan quinoa and had to leave it when he discovered it was loaded with cheese.

Snow in Austin this Week

A few days ago it snowed. 

Not enough for a full-sized snowman, 

but enough for a car ornament.

Pictures by Uncle Franc(ois)

Costco

One nice thing about Costco is how easy it is to return what you don't like. I went through the house today and gathered up some recent purchases for return. In the pantry I found 5 cans each of salmon and tuna. The clerk didn't question me about the metal shelves or the water pitcher, but she asked about the fish. "I just couldn't eat them," I said, "I started thinking about how beautiful the fish are and I realized I couldn't eat them." "Are you a vegetarian," she asked. "Yes," I said.

Here's some neat links about fish for those that don't think they are beautiful creatures (I wouldn't eat a rat or raccoon either, though not because I like the way they look) or do think they are beautiful but like to eat them anyway:

OVERFISHING- pocket guide downloads and iphone app
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/  sfw_recommendations.aspx

HEALTH- pesticides, DDT, PCBs, PBDEs, dioxin, mercury etc can be found in fish — especially farmed fish (Target has stopped carrying farmed salmon)
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_health.aspx

Environmental Working Group has some neat tools/calculators for cosmetics and fish etc. See right hand column for cumulative tuna and other high mercury fish calculator.
http://www.ewg.org/featured/15

Some stick with "molecularly distilled" fish oil pills... or WILD Alaskan salmon from WFM and find that it's both healthier and more sustainable.

Eating Animals

I became a vegetarian after my friend, Carol Berger, asked me if I wanted to hurt animals. I said "no" and that was that. But I moved to Austin about eight years later and got corrupted by a Zen Priest. If she could vow not to kill... and eat meat, then I could too. Or could I?

I'm reading a book, Eating Animals, (sign in "kimmosley" / "kimmosley") by Jonathan Safran Foer. He talks a lot about the fishing and farming industries. He paints pictures very different from the romantic epic of the hunter with the bow and arrow. He mentions how we've reduced the fish population 50x in recent years. He mentions how chickens never see daylight, and live in a space smaller than a sheet of typing paper. And he estimates that the chickens used by KFC in a year would fill up Manhattan... and would hang out from the tallest buildings.

Tomorrow or Thursday I'm going to take back my cans of tuna and salmon to Costco. I'm wondering whether I should tell them that I couldn't participate anymore in the murder of these beautiful animals... or whether I should lie and say that they just didn't taste good. Or maybe I should say nothing.

My recommendation to you. Don't even get near this book if you want to enjoy meat again. And don't watch this video of the author with Stephen Colbert:  http://www.facebook.com/l/ff219;www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/264043/february-08-2010/jonathan-safran-foer " (thanks to B.Q.)

Friends

Here's my oldest friend, Francois... well, not exactly... but we were photo buddies in college and have kept in touch for over 40 years. One time he thought that I should be painting on top of better pictures than the ones I took... so he gave me his bad prints and I painted on them and then won an NEA photographer's fellowship. Another year, he got the same grant. We've had lots of fun together. We both have sons we are proud of, but he has two and I have one. He doesn't have a daughter. I have one I'm proud of too. As you see we are competitive sometimes.