Green Mums, Green Ninjas and Pre-K Graduation

Day 153 – Homemade Green Ninja

 

My Son couldn’t find a set with the Green Ninja so he searched YouTube to find out how to make his own…. He was a bit disappointed with the color green he chose, but I think he did a pretty good job!

Day 154 Pink Daisies and Green Mums

 

Liked the way this pink daisy looked with the small green mums in the background.

Day 155 Stick Frisbee

My son had class art project to make a frisbee with tongue depressors. He decided to make a colorful one at home. It really flies and will stay together for awhile.

Day 156 LightBulb Jar

 

My Son found this fun jar at Hobby Lobby the other day.  I liked the hues and tones in this image.

Day 157 Pre-K Graduation

My Daughter graduated from Pre-Kindergarten. Fun day!

Day 158 Green Mums in nice afternoon light

 

Really liked this fun green mums in the nice afternoon light.

Day 159 Basil Blossoms

 

Finally planted a Basil in my yard and have so far been enjoying picking a few leaves just before dinner! Glad to see it can handle the afternoon heat.

 

Day 147 Yellow Rose with Red tips

 

Really liked the light on these fun roses!

Day 148 Mickey Cupcake Topper!

 

The antenna topper on my wife’s car. Its cute.

Day 149 Zucchini bud

 

I planted a Zucchini plant this spring and they are now flowering, so hopefully I’ll have some Zucchini soon!

Day 150 Big Shoes!

 

My daughter loves to wear my shoes! I love to photograph her wearing grown up shoes!

Day 151 Rainbow Smiles

 

My daughter loves facepaint….

Day 152 Cool Sky over Mummy Mt. Nevada

 

Mummy Mt, is located in Mt. Charleston, NV and one of my favorites to photography, especially when there are cool clouds overhead!

Concrete Blocks, Crayons and a few flowers!

Day 141- Batting Practice

 

Caught a few captures of my son taking a few swings…

Day 142 Gardenia Bud

 

Had no idea my Mom had gardenia’s in her back yard… I enjoy their fragrance and know that they are a bit strong for others.

Day 143 Fun Little Daisies

 

These White Daisies are really cute and last forever!

Day 144 Triangle of Crayons

 

Had some fun with my kids art supplies

Day 145 Concrete Blocks

 

I have walked by this wall of concrete blocks numerous times and never attempted to photograph it, but this day I decided to see what I could do. In fact I think it would a fun class assignment for a group of photographers to just photograph the great textures here.

Day 146 Portrait with a Bicycle Helmet

 

My son is at the age where photos aren’t terribly easy to get, so I take what I can get!

Pears, Frisbees and more….

Day 136 – Lantana on the Bricks

 

So far the Lantana are doing very well this spring in my yard…

Day 137 Yellow and Orange Tulips

 

Tulips are still a favorite of mine to photograph

Day 138 Friends

 

My Daughter is on the right and her best friend on the left. This was at their dance recital. A fun time was had by all!

Day 139 Star Frisbee

 

Had fun tossing the frisbee around the yard!

Day 140 Pears, Still Life

 

Wanted to work with shooting into the backlight and I think this turned out fairly well. In fact I may have some prints done.

Daisies, Peonies and a Whiffle Ball

Still having fun with Spring Flowers…

Day 130- Peonies

I thought this Peonie bud was neat amongst all the big blossom bursts.

Day 131- Orange Gerbera Daisies

 

I don’t know how they get the colors in the daisies, but these orange and yellow ones are pretty cool!

Day 132-My Kids wanted a capture for Mom on Mothers Day…

 

Cheese!

Day 133- More Peonies

 

Had never really studied the inside of a Peonie until now… and of course I’ve forgotten what all the parts are called inside the flower.. I’ll have to go review my Botany texts.

Day 134-Drooping Daises

 

I pretty much like daisies in all forms… I liked these in the late afternoon window light.

Day 135-Whiffle Ball

 

Had a bit of fun with a whiffle ball…

 

Everyone is focused on finding the right angel investors,” Corcoran said. “The right people are themselves, I want to see how much money they can scrape together on their own. The reason is, that is the most valuable money, because you learn how to stretch it. And you will stretch every dollar.

Barbara Corcoran, entrepreneur, Angel Investor on the hit show Shark Tanks offers some great advice even for my dental practice.

Entrepreneurship is a hard difficult road, that hopefully leads to something great! Years ago dentistry was much simpler, today not so much…

The Ranch on the Sandquist Railway

My Mom, spent her summers at a Ranch in Doyle, CA. The Western Pacific Railway leased land from my Mom’s Grandfather for their tracks. She remembers running out to wave at the Western Pacific as it zoomed by. This isn’t an exact replica of the ranch but through old photos and my Mothers memory its a reasonable display of the ranch she loved.

Front of the ranch with the barn to the left

Hope to get some more photos soon!

 

Barn yard with cattle and the watering hole.

 

A Portrait and Flowers-Sunflowers and Daisies.

Day 122 A Trip to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

 

We spent a few days at Disneyland and my daughter had a princess makeover at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. They pretty much go all out to ensure the girls have a great time! They get to pick their hairdo, makeup and dress.

Day 123 Disney California Adventure-Carthay Circle

 

Loved the red roses around Carthay Circle at Disney’s California Adventure

Day 124 Handmade Hands

 

I’m not exactly sure when my son made this, but I liked the colors and high five it provided when you walk by!

Day 125 Lantana Amongst the Indian Hawthorn

 

As the Indian Hawthorn start to fade away the Lantana are ready to take over.

Day 126 Beautiful Red Gerbera Daisies

My wife brought these daisies home and I new I just had to try and capture them. I think Gerbera Daisies are one of my favorites.

Day 127- Unique View of these Sunflowers

 

Love these fun Crinkly Sunflowers.

Day 128 More of the Red Daisies

 

Almost the same view from two days ago, but with slightly different light and post processing

Day 129 Sunflowers and a Daisy

 

Yes, I’m a fan of flower photography.

Grapes, Grapes and a Smattering of other things

I’m back playing catch up with photos on my blog, so here goes.

Day 115- Grapes budding

I had never really noticed the way grapes start to grow and this year I got some fun pics of the process.

Day 116 Starting to Blossom

 

These started to blossom over night. Fun!

Day 117 Red Roses

A brief break with the grapes as I had to include these great roses from my Mom’s yard!

Day 118 Grapes in full bloom

 

I have never seen grapes like this. Had no idea that grapes flowered like this.

119 Lollaloopsy Photobombed the portrait

I was trying to get a photo of my Daughter and kept putting her Lollaloopsy in the way… so i went with it!

Day 120 Rubber Band Ball

 

My son wanted to make a rubber band ball… Fortunately he found one already made at the doller store! Saved us lots of time…

Day 121 Fruit on the Grapes starting to grow

 

This is a quick iphone capture of the fruit starting to grow.

 

 

 

Lab Tests and Celiac Disease

Recently I found another Don’t Go Gluten Free Until You’ve Been Tested article posted on KevinMD. It’s a frustrating article to read. If testing was so easy and accurate:

  • Would the age of celiac diagnosis still average 40-50 years of age? Isn’t this a child’s disease?
  • Would the current time to diagnosis still be 4 years on average*?
  • Why do physicians refuse biopsies in 21% of positive serum tests*?
  • What about the reported 20 million people that are non-celiac but gluten sensitive?

Unfortunately, as all providers know, tests are just tests. They are pieces of information. As a dentist I get asked all the time why the xray didn’t show the tooth fracture or abscess. An xray can only see so much, sometimes the imaging is definitive other times not so much. The same with Celiac testing. I had many signs and symptoms and was fortunate to have a positive serology and positive biopsy. What if the serology was inconclusive? I’m fairly certain my GI doc would have told me my problem wasn’t Celiac disease and I would have still had symptoms of the disease.

  • I suffered from anemia from time to time, but not all the time(had anemia at 16, not at 25 and 30 and again at 37)
  • I suffered from chronic aphthous ulcers for 35+years
  • I suffered from seasonal allergies/hayfever
  • Occasional GI upset

I happened to show up at the GI docs office during one of the GI upset times and also had Anemia that wasn’t present 2 years prior. I wonder what the serology would have shown had I showed up 2 years earlier, would it have been negative? I don’t know. I do know that as a dentist I have had cases where patient history was more important than any test I could perform.

Sadly, celiac disease is still a relatively unknown disease. Only *35% of patients report chronic diarrhea. Many patients report no GI issues at all! Often the best diagnosis is trial treatment. Surgeons do it all the time, take out the tumor to find out what it is. There is less known about gluten sensitivity and the only true test is a Gluten Free diet trail!

The idea that positive serology is necessary before partaking in a gluten free diet is the reason why many don’t trust their physicians. Patients can easily try a gluten free diet and see if their symptoms improve and sometimes go away completely, which undermines their feelings towards their provider if they feel better. Why aren’t providers ready to take part in the fact finding part of the diagnosis?

Celiac disease is the only disease that has no medication and treatment other than a diet change. I asked my Gastroenterologist how I would know if I was getting better and he didn’t really have an answer other than don’t eat gluten ever! The guys over at SCD Lifestyle have a really good article: The Gluten Free Lie: Why Most Celiacs Are Slowly Dying. Less than half the diagnosed celiac patients will have a healed mucosal lining in 2 years on a strict gluten free diet, one study showed only 8% of patients with a healed gut mucosa. How would my gastroenterologist know what to do if my mucosal lining wasn’t healed by a gluten free diet alone? I was fortunate to have a friend that is a specialized nutritionist  to help me wade through the process of healing my mucosal lining and it’s still healing 4 years later. Through my nutritionist I found CyrexLabs a relatively new lab that specializes in gluten related immunological testing. While not perfect it offers clues to how my immunological systems is responding to gluten and other agents. These are pieces of the puzzle.

While diagnostic testing is necessary it is often non-conclusive and dietary changes are often helpful in determining a diagnosis. If I had had a negative serology but a positive response to the gluten free diet would it in any way change the outcome of my health? I’m not sure my life would be any different without a confirmed celiac diagnosis if I felt better.

What was your experience? Did you trial a Gluten Free diet on your own? At the suggestion of your physician/medical practitioner?

* Celiac Facts and Figures from the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center