I was going to go to the Reading Terminal Market this morning as I needed bay leaves and chili powder, and sometimes I’ve found fresh bay leaves at Iovine Brothers. But the hot humid weather put the kibosh on that plan, so I decided to make one of my rare forays into the overpriced Whole Foods store. I’ve softened my stance on that place somewhat and feel that it’s okay to shop there for for items that are not otherwise stocked locally or might be difficult to find.

When I got to Whole Foods, I found that its AC was turned up to the max, so apparently they don’t have a problem wasting resources. I found chili powder and bay leaves in the spice section and then decided to see if they also had fresh bay leaves. As it turned out they did, so I purchased those as well.

When I returned home, I discovered that the chili powder purchase was unnecessary as I already had an extra jar of it on hand. So much for my memory.

In The New York Times this morning an article stated that a “new analysis of data from a large clinical trial of healthy older adults found higher rates of brain bleeding among those who took daily low-dose aspirin, and no significant protection against stroke.”

As it happens my cardiologist put me on a regimen of baby aspirin a few months ago and last week when I went to see him I asked if it was really necessary. He said he thought it was, as long as I wasn’t experiencing any side effects from it. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but based on this article, I think I’m going to stop the baby aspirin and send him a note to let him know.

I really don’t want to be singing “Let It Bleed” any time soon.

By the way, did you hear that Mick Jagger is 80 years old?

Now a new thought occurs to me. What if the baby aspirin is the key to suppressing the ziggies?

I guess I’ll know soon enough.