Sometimes I feel this diet is as hard now, if not harder, than when I started 5 ½ years ago. Yes, there are avoid foods that I never eat now, like peanuts, chicken and soy. But, some of the avoid foods that I should have gotten over by now still creep into the old mouth occasionally. I’m stuck on the 6-8 oz of coffee in the morning. I still haven’t been able to take the plunge into abstinence. It’s scary.

On another note (oh yes, the pun is intended), I had an excellent musical weekend. Our barbershop coach from San Jose was up giving private vocal lessons Friday and a full day workshop to the chorus in Saturday. She has discovered a new way of singing that is so inspiring. It is not her method, it is someone else’s, but she says it is going to revolutionize the way singing is taught in a couple of years. Everything is thought about and done in the area of the head above the portal bones (upper jaw). You visualize breathing through the sinuses and eyes, then send the sound backward into your head, never letting it down into your throat or chest. It is truly amazing. We stayed in key, made really big sounds and didn’t run out of breath. I’ve always had trouble attacking notes right on key, tending to want to slide into the right note. With this method, I am spot on most every time. After an hour lesson and the full Saturday workshop, I think I’m ready to take on the world now.

Of course, we had our usual potluck lunch at the workshop. I stayed away from the wheat. Other than chicken, the only proteins were processed meats and cheeses. So, I ate some of those to keep my energy up. There were plenty of raw veggies and fruit to fill up on, too. The desserts were maddening. I ended up indulging in two dollar-sized chocolate chip cookies. Didn’t I say this diet is as hard now as it ever was?

Oh well, the daily battle goes on.