Homemade Caramel Sauce

Because it's National Ice Cream Month after all, and to my mind, nothing tastes better on ice cream than caramel sauce. :) It also happens to be the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel so I thought "carmel sundaes" might be a fitting dessert ... and yes, I realize that caramel is not the same as carmel - in spelling or meaning or even pronunciation! - but for today, I'm calling it close enough. :)

{And truth be told, this is actually butterscotch sauce - my grandmother's recipe - but we'll keep that our little secret. ;)}

In continuing with today's "caramel" theme, I'm also caramelizing onions tonight to serve atop homemade pizzas. But I'll wait for Bill to get home to start that, because I just cannot cut onions without weeping like a fool ...

***

An update on my dad ...

Some of you might remember he was wearing a neck collar at our Father's Day cookout. Well, he had been having significant pain in his neck/shoulder/arm that he assumed was from an aggravated prior injury. A few doctor's visits later and he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis - cervical, not lumbar - and it was affecting the discs in his neck (C4-6, if I'm remembering correctly). So he was given some pain management guidance and told surgery would be warranted sooner rather than later. (Surgery is necessary, because if things deteriorate any futher, he risks paralyzation.)

In the meantime, my dad began having severe pain in his lower back - running down his leg to the top of his foot. When he met with the surgeon he was told the two issues were entirely unrelated so he needed further testing to determine the cause of pain in the lower portion of his back.

So he had the second MRI last Friday night and this morning he saw the surgeon's nurse for results. She explained to my folks that he has a badly herniated disc pressing on his sciatic nerve, and that this too, might require surgery. Sometimes a herniated disc can be treated with cortizone shots and physical therapy, but sometimes not ... it will be up to his surgeon to make that decision, so we're awaiting his call sometime tomorrow.

Whatever is determined in this case, the neck surgery will have to wait. It's just a very unfortunate thing that he has both painful issues flaring so agressively, at the same time.

So potentially, he may have surgery next week ... or not, depending on the surgeon's opinion. But I will definitely keep you all posted, and I thank you for your thoughts and prayers - I appreciate them so much. Please know I always remember my friends here in my daily prayers at home, and my weekly prayers at Mass. I appreciate you all so very much. You have always been so kind to me ... and my family.

❤

So there's the news of the day ... and now I'll wrap up because Bill should be home any minute. We've got pizzas to cook and an evening routine to unfold ...

Good night to you all ... I will see you here again very soon ... :)