Tag Archives: dailylife

A Happy Sigh

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Today: oh what a day!  I took a day trip, driving alone for two hours and with a friend for two hours in a borrowed car.  It was the first time in my life that I’ve driven a Cadillac.  A snazzy red Cadillac!!  It was the smoothest ride of my life, bar none!  I drove along a corridor of snow-capped mountain peaks, the Elkhorns on one side and the Eagle Caps on the other (the picture is the Eagle Caps).  As I passed the marsh a Canadian goose flew just above my car.  Cattle and antelope were placidly grazing on grass.   To say the day was glorious is so woefully inadequate.

I just met my friend at the first of the year.  Shortly after we met she was diagnosed with cancer.  Today we drove to her daily radiation treatments.  We chatted as effortlessly as if we’d know each other for decades.  She told me how to roast veggies in the oven on cookie sheets, about a great consignment store in her town, and together, we covered a host of other topics. She is so comfortable in her skin that it’s a pleasure to be with her.

When I was alone I cranked up the stereo and gloried in the rich tones and aching beauty of classical music.  Sigh.   Offenbach, a Cadillac and the Eagle Caps.  All this, and heaven besides?

Mini-Makeover

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Cook’s Illustrated is one fine magazine.  My dear friend Katie gave me the idea of using the illustrations from the back page for kitchen decorations.  At the same time (and unaware of my plans) my brother and his wife gave me years of these magazines, bound in books.  My beloved DIL Jessie helped me pick out frames, cut out pictures, frame them, and hang them.  Are you getting the (valid) impression that I need a lot of help? Ha!!  It’s true!

The top two are Brassica (cabbage family) and Fresh Chiles; the middle frame is Potatoes; the bottom are Berries and Basil.  I just **love** looking at this wall!

The exciting thing is that I have dozens of these back covers (shellfish, apples, olives, plums, pasta, squash…many more) and can change the prints with the seasons or whenever the mood hits.  Yes!!  Sigh….life is good.

A Moment In Time

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After midnight tonight it will be Wednesday.  After 1:00 a.m., two minutes and three seconds afterwards, it will be:

01:02:03 04/05/06
That won’t happen again for a thousand years.  Thanks to Curt’s cousin Carol for sharing that TBOI (tasty bit of information) with us.

Are you going to stay up and watch the clock?  =)

Bone Tired

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It’s Sunday night and the house is utterly silent, perfectly still.  My son and his fiancee left around 5:00 p.m. back to the university.  A full week of bustling busy-ness, family meals, bubbling laughter has reached its twilight.  My husband is zonked on the couch, my son snoring in his bedroom.  Sigh.  It’s been such a change to have a girl, a female, in the house.  The high pitched squeal, a willing helper, an erudite conversant on English literature, the lovely smile.  I know why my Carson is in love.

I love communal cooking:  chopping vegetables, a second opinion on the guac, the easy flow of conversation as we work towards putting delicious food on the table.  There is such a joy in working together.  I never, NEVER, turn down help in the kitchen.   And I’m almost never on schedule, so if you come for dinner, be prepared to toss the salad.

This point in the week has always perplexed me.  Since we’ve moved toward making the Sabbath a set-apart day, a day of celebration and rest, we have seen the rhthym of the week change.  The blessings abound, but that is a topic for another post.  This is what I find confusing: if Sunday is the first day of the week, why does Sunday night always feel like the end?  I’d guess that I have much residual thinking from the old days: the week started with Monday, and Sunday was the perfect “catch up” and “catch all” day. 

It’s time to go to bed.  Otherwise I’ll get weepy and maudlin. How do you normally spend Sunday evenings?

No Greater Joy

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               My grandson is learning how to kiss. This is my first born son receiving a kiss from his first born son.  Gavin’s kisses are the briefest touching of two lips, and are really more a lean than a smack.  But he enjoys sharing affection, and his spontaneous gifts are welcome treasures.  He adores his “papa” and wants to be in papa’s arms as much as possible.  It’s really too wonderful.  Life is good. 

Early Valentines

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The Valentines Banquet last night was wonderful!  The men prepared all the food and served their wives. 

After we ate, each one stood up and read a poem he had written for his beloved.  Each one was unique: some were funny, some touching, each reflected the husband’s love for his woman. 

One couple will celebrate their 60th anniversary this year.  His poem mentioned the 21,795 days of his marriage being a blessing.  He counted them up, including the leap years! 

One man sang a song to his wife…lovely.  Our inimitable friend and composer, the ever capable Steve,  wrote portions of Song of Songs in verse.  It was tasteful, but biblical, hmmm, and we tittered giggles of nervousness when he started.  But I appreciated the simple, short words from quiet men who are not practiced in word-crafting. 

They were all beautiful offerings of praise.

 

A Good Morning

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I woke up today, rubbed the sleep from my eyes, and got dressed to work out.  One of the bennies we enjoy from my husband’s job is 24 access to the hospital gym.  This is one of the most gorgeously situated gyms you’ve ever seen.  We live surrounded by the Blue Mountains.  The hospital gym is perched on the west side of the valley with a wall of windows facing east. 

This morning the mountains were backlit by the sun.  An antenna on the top of the mountains 15 miles away glistened in the sunlight.  I smiled, remembering one of my favorite movie moments, Pippin initiating the lighting of the beacons of Gondor in Return of the King.  When we were watching at the theatre, my husband leaned over and whispered in my ear, “That’s a picture of the gospel.”  Goosebumps ran up my arms.  Mr. Sun peeked over the edge, then came head on in the pale blue sky, bathing my face in light.  I closed my eyes and soaked it in, glorying in the bright light.

My son and I were side by side on the two eliptical machines.  We had settled into a comfortable silence.  I had a book, but it did not interest me today. Two regulars arrived, gentle men who are old enough to be my father.  We always exchange hellos and friendly jibes. It’s especially fun to listen to their kibitzing together. Sweat trickled down our faces and it felt good. Showers and breakfast have revived us. We’re ready to read the Christian Almanac, sing a Psalm, attack Algebra and discuss the Odyssey.

La vita e bella!