Home mathematics is different than routine math. Here's how it works:
1 banana can be turned into 12 muffins...or ONE fourth breakfast for a ravenous 3-year-old boy.
1 muffin can become 200,436 crumbs in the right pair of small hands and though confined to the dining room table to eat, may also be spread over roughly 900 sq. ft. of open space.
Hello dears. I know, I know, I said I wouldn't write this week much and I don't mean to do so but I am for the moment. I am writing this at a bit before 6pm on Christmas Day. I have reason to write. For one thing, it has been a pleasant and lovely day.
I now understand why those of you who live in more northern climes might well think the weather outside enticing and windows should be thrown open once a high of 40F makes itself felt. I went out earlier today in the sunshine, with a mild westerly, cold, breeze blowing and almost felt inclined to take a sunbath...but then a sharper breeze blew. I decided it was worthwhile to go back indoors, lol. At that point it was in the mid-30s but for a moment or three it felt positively balmy compared to what it had been the two days previous.
In my home this week, it occurs to me that I've put off as long as I might the planning of the weekend ahead. We're having a family gathering and at the moment of this writing, I've no clue what I'm going to have to eat. Since roughly 6 meals will likely be wanted and there shall be at least 8 children and upwards of 6 adults in the house it would be worthwhile to get busy with the planning and gathering of foods. Yet here I am with no idea.
I don't think I have ever been so unprepared for a big weekend in my home.
Saturday: Writing this on Sunday. I was absolutely done in by the time we arrived home on Saturday and unable to formulate thoughts into physical words. Supper was cooked for me. I'd insisted on takeout but was vetoed and in the end, we used what we had purchased at the grocery and added in two items from the Dollar store in town since Aldi had none of those two items in stock. It was lovely. Yes, clearing up was mine to attend to but that was fine.
But that was the back end of the day. Let me move all the way back to Friday night. First, we had a small one to deliver to a parent. After the swap off, we stopped and got pizza for our supper. That's two Friday nights in a row with that and I will admit they were very good. Homemade pizza dough is good but there's an airiness to pizzeria dough that I have yet to achieve with my homemade dough. I do see that the simpler toppings are the better the pizza seems to taste. And that a thicker crust, not as thin as I stretch it here at home, is tastier. Oh yes, and that Marinara is the best sauce.
In my home this week, do you remember the song by Herman Hermits, "Henry the VIIIth I am"? After the first verse is over, the singer says, "Second verse, same as the first." That's how I feel the entire month has been thus far. It's more about what I didn't get done than about what I actually accomplish. It's about what I keep thinking I'd normally do but don't have time for or patience enough for or mental space to give. I attempted to order one, the only one gift I was going to order, but John disliked every single version of the gift I found. Each had something he disliked about it. I gave up.
Never mind.
Saturday: I swear that since the first of November we have been in the most frustrating holding pattern of all time. Well, no, not of all time, but it's a continuation of something I've noted in our lives in the past. The waiting room is a long session where one season is neither here nor there and the other is nowhere to be seen.
This pattern started about the end of October. We were waiting for Katie to move and then getting the house up on the market. We've waited and waited for various things related to the house, waited to know who was coming for Thanksgiving, waited to do Christmas shopping, waited to know when we might gather as a family. Today we are waiting to see if the promised repair man is going to show, and if we get to attend the Christmas program at church for which we have tickets. As it's now 11:30am, its looking like we're going to just be hanging in mid-air. We're also waiting to see if family returns tonight or if it will be sometime tomorrow. We don't know a thing! And it is soooo frustrating.
Hello dears. Do come in. Won't you have a nice warm drink? I have Christmas blends of coffee: Santa's White Christmas and a Vanilla Caramel blend and oh yes, that Peppermint blend that Samuel bought for me last winter. I feel the need of something festive, whether I'm in the festive mood or not. Won't you have some with me and let us sit down and have a heart to heart today?
Autumn is nearing an end and Winter will soon be here. I think people mentally accept winter's beginning as December 1. Thanksgiving, which seems such an autumnal celebration for us here in the States, is over. December ushers in winter. This year the leaves were on the ground, no longer fluttering upon the trees well before December 1. We've had frost and honest to goodness cold and somehow it feels winter has already arrived. It's not a solstice thing. It's a recognition of seasonal signs really. People are ready for the next thing, aren't they? For the gifting season and the turning of the old year into a new one.
In my home this week, I am waiting. We are currently waiting on a local man who apparently works on plumbing. He said he 'might' come out today. No hurry...It's just cold showers and heating water on the stove.
We are waiting on many things. People to set dates for finishing up things. To be paid. To see if we can actually go to the Christmas program for which we have tickets or if we shall have to forfeit them. To see how long I must put off Christmas gift shopping...And more.
Saturday: I was scrolling through a blog this afternoon and saw photos of Christmas cocoa stations. For the first time I felt twinges of interest in Christmas decorating. I thought of how much I'd like to create such a station in my own kitchen. I probably won't, since it would take space, I don't have at present, but I thought about it and was interested.
That made me feel a bit restless, and I went off to my room and picked up my Bible and began a self-guided study on the birth of Christ. I began with Matthew 1. I didn't get to dig and do research, but I have begun and will take time over the days ahead to study further. I find that in times of trouble, while I might instinctively want to hide, that it is always best to not turn away from God but turn inward towards God and hide within Him. I can do this by prayer, study and reading His word.
In my home this week, I am trying again.
Pilar brought me a lovely red sweater for holiday wear, and it came in a cute Christmas shopping bag. The front of the bag was a checklist: Nice/Naughty/I Tried My Best. It was the last that was checked. I laughed, a rueful laugh for sure, but a laugh, nonetheless. I feel like I've done nothing but 'Try My Best' all year long and I'm uncertain I've done a thing right or well. John has a saying, "Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." And we all know that in either one, you lose.
But I keep trying. "E" for effort, right?
Saturday: We had Caleb today. We were a little nervous about this since the day also involved meeting John's brother and sister-in-law for a meal out. Needn't have worried. Caleb was as quiet as a mouse and perfectly well behaved. And why? Because we took the Kindle with us, connected into the restaurant's Wi-Fi, and pulled up a Spider Man cartoon, a most recently discovered obsession that none of us were aware even existed in his little life. Worked like a charm!
It's been a very quiet day overall which has been appreciated in many ways but also a sad sort of day, too. John never does goodbye very well and to say goodbye to his brother today was difficult. I think he had bleary eyes all the way home. He talked as though he was afraid this was the last time he'd see George. His brother is in perfectly good health, but he is 76 and I guess at this stage of life, we all must expect that eventually our age will catch up with us.
I was watching a vlog the other day and the narrator found the most stunning grove of trees in a park. They were such beautiful colors! She said, "I wondered what it would be like to just see things in black and white..." and then that portion of the film was in black and white. The wonder and awe of the scene dulled.
I remember as a child, we watched tv in black and white. I was in third grade when we got our first color tv, but a lot of reruns of old programs and movies were still shown in black and white. And most all of the photos in our photo albums were black and white.
So how did it go? In the end, did I follow my rules for Thanksgiving 2022?
Every year, as we end a holiday, I make a few notes of what worked and what didn't. I usually do this in my general homemaking pages of my personal notebook and not online, but since I was so bold as to profess my "Survival Plans..." for this Thanksgiving, I thought I'd be equally as bold and tell you how those plans went.
Menu: I stuck to my menu plan. I did make one concession for an onion allergy, so I mixed up a portion of dressing without onions and set aside a portion of the green bean casserole mixture without any added onions. I topped that with cracker crumbs. Might as well have let it stand as I was informed by the one with the allergy that it's more a dislike and if they are cooked in smaller pieces, he didn't mind them so much. Live and learn.
A few years ago, a well-known and much-loved blogger with a real ministry for others to feed a family on a tight budget mentioned buying margarine on sale during a group chat. The furor that arose over that seemingly innocent statement was terrible. Within 24 hours, the blogger had been attacked so much and so viciously over that one sentence, that she seriously considered deleting her complete body of work and leaving blogging behind forever.
Another popular blogger that I follow off and on, once made a post stating why she was no longer buying organic meat. The post lasted two hours before the blogger removed it and all the comments following it. She never reposted that particular post, nor made mention again of the lack of organic meat in her household. Again, public opinions were harsh, hateful and hurtful. Never mind the very valid reason she had for her budget adjustment.
Budget shaming is a real thing. Seriously folks!
In my home this week, I am considering the options of housework, Christmas decorating, gifting, first of the month tasks, and a change of circumstances that I didn't predict. I'd laugh at it at this point except I'll admit I was tossed for a loop and haven't quite untangled myself yet. So, there's that.
I'm also contemplating the handful of projects I'd just added to my list of homemaker projects. Scratch that. Scratch the remainder of the list. They aren't going to happen this year. Regrouping is getting to be what I'm really good at.
Saturday: The above picture is to inspire me to remain calm and enjoy the week...We had an opportunity to see Caleb late this past week and thoroughly enjoyed his visit. Not so fun for him. He's still sick and Katie thought it best if he was seen by his pediatrician here. Poor little fellow still has ear infections and complications to his system from the previous round of antibiotics. We tried all sorts of natural home remedies prior to the doctor visit, but the doctor assured his mama that none of them would have eased Caleb's way in the least. Here's hoping he feels better with the new medications.
After they left today, John and I quickly cleaned house and then took a formal Sabbath rest through the afternoon. That said, we both did some other tasks that would be considered quiet work, simply because it was necessary.
In my home this week, I am determined to begin over again. This afternoon when we'd had time to settle down, I felt overwhelmed at the unknowingness ahead. Well, that wasn't going to do, now, was it? Just because others refuse to make firm plans doesn't mean I should skate along and make none either now does it?
So, what to do? Go back to Plan A.
Saturday: We had a miserable night last night for both of us, though John slept a bit more than I did. I've no idea why I was wide awake, but I did manage to keep my mind quiet which is restful in itself. It's the nights when I'm awake and my mind races that I find very exhausting. We finally got out of bed at about 5:45 this morning. I told John about that time I was tired of pretending I was sleeping, and I thought I'd get a cup of coffee. He quickly agreed. I didn't think he was asleep.
I was sitting in the kitchen watching Instagram Reels as I sipped coffee, when I heard the unmistakable sound of Scrooge. Yes, the annual showing of A Christmas Carol has begun. I confess that between watching vloggers decorate their homes for Christmas and now viewing A Christmas Carol, I am feeling far more of the Christmas spirit earlier than I have in years upon years.
Do come in dears and let us have a nice hot cup of something and have a talk. It feels like it's been forever since we had a visit. In looking back, I see that we've not had a proper chat since the end of September. Weeks ago. I suppose it's to be expected given all the stuff to be dealt with these past few weeks.
I've done periodic updates of sorts in the Weekly diary, but I am ready for a right proper chat, aren't you? Soon we'll all be stuck in the holiday preparations and I'm afraid time will fly even faster than it is at present, and it will be 2023 before we have a visit.
In my home this week, I shall actually (hopefully) spend more time in it than I have in quite a few weeks. And I'm rather looking forward to that!
Again, I'm not planning deep cleaning tasks, but I have plenty to do to get my home ready for next week and to catch up on things I haven't been able to get done. My zones this month will be turned topsy turvy and I guess I should explain that Zones themselves are a set number of rooms but the order in which I work those zones is how I number them based on what week I shall be doing them. It's really a sort of prolonged block schedule, where I block out an entire week or a set number of days for each area of my home.
Friday: I am a woman of my word. I promised John if we worked really hard together on a set schedule at the house in town this week that we'd take Friday off and boy did we plow through the work. We didn't quite finish up, but we'll go back on Monday (though John's said twice now we'd go over Sunday after church) and do some of the last bits.
We were very leisurely in our getting ready this morning. We took time to strip our bed and remake it. I wanted to sweep the kitchen floor and we just went about everything slowly and easily without rushing. We puttered, literally puttered. So, we didn't leave home until nearly 12N. After a week of hurrying to get things done here and hurrying to go to town and do things there and hurrying back, today was just as leisurely as could be.
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Last night John told his brother, who had asked if they might come for Thanksgiving, that he'd love to have him here. He then said he'd let us know if they decided to come. So, we are up in the air with plans, but we are committed to being home now regardless of what they decide.
I've made plans to follow this year and make things easier on myself.
In my home this week, I continue to work double time on two houses. We are so very close to being done, but I'd promised John that if we worked hard four days this past week, we'd take a proper 3-day weekend off. It was just the incentive we needed to work and not quit even when we were tired and frustrated and it looked like it was never-ending. But when we walked out on Thursday, we knew we'd made a huge difference and we could clearly see the finish line from where we stood.
We had a lovely lunch out and a wonderful time of prayer on the mountain. But most wonderful of all was the opportunity to have a proper Shabat candle lighting in our home this Friday evening. I have deeply missed that these past two months. We were with Caleb and when we'd return home, we were tired and weary. But this Friday night, we returned to candle lighting and prayer. God's leading us to change a few things in our lives, but this shall remain as long as we can possibly manage to make it happen.
Oh My Goodness! I have been so busy I completely forgot all about the drawing for the MFK Fisher book. I do apologize to those of you who took the time to comment.
I've written out names and numbered them and used a random number generator to pull the winner. I had six entries and I listed each name and assigned it a number. I used Calculator.net to choose the winner.
FRANCES MOSELEY! You've won! contact me at teaccheney@gmail.com and give me your address. I'll try to get the book in the mail to you next week.
Sunday: I was too busy yesterday to take time to share at all. We were up early and picked up Caleb from the house in town and brought him out here. Caleb's third birthday is next weekend, so with Katie's permission I presented him with his birthday present.
I've shared that his favorite program is called "Trash Truck" and I found a toy trash truck on Amazon back in the summer. He was so thrilled with that truck. Though it wasn't meant for it, he sat on it and rode it. He worked the lever that lifted the cans up, he pushed the button that dumped the compactor, he carried it all over the house and pretty much stay glued to it. He'd left all the cars and trucks he normally plays with on the octagonal table where he'd typically pull up a chair and play. Those were ignored utterly yesterday. Trash Truck was all he played with.
It's so difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that it is November. Or very nearly at the time I'm writing this. Where did the year go?! I seem to ask that more and more often these days. Is time truly just going by that quickly?
At this time the plans are to get the house in town cleared and cleaned. Homes in our area do not make big money but they are selling from what I'm told, so I do hope that this one will do the same. In the meantime, before listing, I insist we clean it up and give it a look of Sunday best even if the best is a little shabby. Neat and clean never hurt a soul or a house either one.
In my home this week, I'm trying to find my bearings. With the need to work at the house in town to get it cleaned up, I'll still be giving up part of my week to that, but the change will be that I can tend to those things in the morning when my energy is higher and then come home and putter about my own house. I've given myself a target date of two weeks to get the house cleaned up and ready to put on the market.
It's always a bittersweet moment when you realize that your time is more or less your own once more after having given it over to someone else's need. It makes me feel a bit lost. That's why I need to see how I fit into my own life once more.
If you'd like a copy of MFK Fisher's book, How to Cook a Wolf, then please leave me a comment below this post. I recently purchased another of her books and didn't realize that it was a compilation of several of her books including How to Cook a Wolf. I would love to give my copy to one of you.
Comments will be printed off and numbered and I'll use a random number generator to choose the winner. I'm only able to open this giveaway to the U.S. and I apologize to any readers from other countries for that.
Saturday: I think now that you have items stored, the best thing is to use and replace. Make it be a way of life and at some point, if something happens you have what is needed. Then, when things are better, continue to store, use, replace. This is a way of life, not a one time or one event thing. Becky~ Frugal Measures
I probably will have font issues with this post because I've used quotes from other's pages. Y'all forgive me this round and just enlarge so you can see it better.
Chapter 17: How to Be a Wise Man
A wise man can always eat well ~ Chinese Proverb
Why do we permit and even condone the feeble packaged bread that our men try to keep strong on! (and women...and, worst of all, children!
Why do we let our millers rob the wheat of all its goodness and then buy the wheat germ for one thousand times its value from our druggists so that our children my be strong and healthy?
I'm not sure the arrangement of these next few chapters make sense, but it is the order in which they appear in the book and the order in which I shall comment upon them.
In our last post, we were talking about eating food and now we are not. Just so you know. But we will be again...
Chapter 14 How to Make a Great Show
By economy and good management, by a sparing use of ready money, and by paying scarcely anybody, people can manage, for a time at least, to make a great show with very little means.
from Vanity Fair by Thackeray
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In my home this week, we woke to another morning with frost temperatures. I'd say I slept late, but I really ought to say I went to sleep late. I was riding a wave last night after our small group meeting and just couldn't settle down.
Such a bittersweet week ahead. No kidding, all last week I kept thinking, "Just four more evenings with Caleb. Just four more talks with Katie..." I realize that all is not at an end, but I am so well aware that a big change is coming for us all.
Saturday: Yesterday evening while we were at Katie's with Caleb, Sam texted that he'd haul John's mower over to the town house so the grass could be cut. I suggested to John if the truck was going to be there anyway that he and Sam might bring home the gas grill Katie is letting us have.
I thought Caleb was tired on the way home yesterday and I suspect he didn't get a nap. He acted just fine, was playing and giggling with Grampa while I made supper last night. Following our usual routine, as soon as dishes were done, I got him wiped down and put into his pajamas. Afterwards we snuggle on the couch while he watches tv, unless he's in the mood to stomp about in Katie's ankle boots. Not last night. The moment the pajamas were on, he gave me a hug and said, "Night night" as though it were a moment, he'd been waiting for all afternoon long. Then he ran to give John a hug and 'tiss' as he says, and he went to put himself to bed! I had to scramble to get his milk ready, but I think he would have gone right on to sleep without it.
Chapter 11 How to Make a Pigeon Cry
The more I read of this book, the more I learn. I've heard of squab often enough, also known as pigeon. For the first time ever, I understand the purpose of a dovecote on the estates and plantations of old. The dovecotes were there to house the pigeons that the estate owners raised as food. And here I thought they were just a quaint thing that had gone out of favor in ages past. As it happens, they have fallen out of favor. When was the last time you heard of anyone ordering Squab? But somehow my naive self never realized that the dovecotes were like coops for chickens and sties for pigs. It was a necessary part of housing a necessary future food item. Apparently, the best way to kill a pigeon is to suffocate it. Another bit of learning for me.
The chapter is dedicated to the other meats... Pheasant, Pigeon, Rabbit, Duck, Chicken and Geese.
I had so many observations about this chapter that I had to make this one a separate post.
Chapter 10: How to Carve the Wolf
Part 1
I guessed that this chapter would be about meat...or rather, the lack of meat during WWII. Fisher believes that only a few really need meat for nourishment as a necessity but that most eat it 'out of habit'. I am not going to argue for nor against. I have over the years cut way down on the portions of meat served in our household. It began in those days of deep economy, and it has stayed with me because as costs rose, the budget, though ample, never quite caught up to whatever the current economy might be. That's just facts. As I get older, I find I need a little meat at two meals simply to keep blood sugar and energy levels where they ought to be.
Here we are with a new week ahead and I am unmotivated to plan to do anything at all. No doubt the result of a restless Saturday night (as usual, nothing unusual in that at all) and poor sleep and a too too early awakening to the day.
As well there's a bit of malaise because time is spinning out too quickly now. Two weeks ahead and then off goes my daughter and her son to a whole new life. And as if that loss isn't nearly enough, the stress of how quickly I can make things move with getting the town house cleaned up and ready to sell is real. I know my nature (Get It Done!) and that of my husband (We'll get to it sometime) are vastly different and situations like this really do start my anxiety amping to the maximum.
Saturday: Last night, when sunset drew near, I realized that we weren't getting home for Shabat again. Shabat comes whether or not the candles are lit in my home. God hasn't shut down the world yet because one person missed Shabat, but I longed suddenly for something resembling a Shabat evening.
With the early advent of sunset these days, Caleb was still awake. He's never been part of our Shabat here at home the way Josh and Isaac often were there for a time. But I looked out the window at the setting sun and began to sing Shema. Caleb, who is a busy little fellow, stopped and stood stock still. He was still throughout the prayer I made over his home and ours and the homes of our families. The moment I said 'Amen', he strongly followed suit. That Amen had a sweet solemnity to it. And then he began his previous play all over again. But I believe the peace in that house was sealed with his 'Amen'. The power of a child's prayer, even a plain 'Amen' is something to be considered.
Chapter 8: How to Rise Up Like New Bread
Newspapers tell us, with government permission, that wheat costing some five cents a pound is "refined" until it is not only tasteless but almost worthless nutritionally, and that the wheat germ that is thus removed is then sold for at least a dollar and a half and the end put back into the bread, that in loaves it can be sold for a little more than the ordinary price and called "Super-Vitamized" or "Energized" or some such thing.
I admit this paragraph made me laugh out loud. Just one more example of how the health industry was built.
I have snippets of things I want to write about that never seem to make it into a post. They don't 'fit' but nevertheless, I'd kept them thinking they might fit somewhere.
So here is a post of Random thoughts, likely not entirely connected to the rest of the body...sort of like a normal conversation, at least in my house, since we tend to wander around. Enjoy!
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I was tidying the bathroom the other day and noted that John had left his crumpled and obviously empty toothpaste tube on the counter. This is his way of letting me know that he is out and needs more. I am not upset over this method of letting me know that one item is gone, and another is needed for several reasons.
As I said in the last post the following chapters are filled with recipes and those I am not going to share. However, there are good points made in each chapter that I would like to share. Note please that the order of the chapters makes no sense at all in my opinion, but they are presented as Fisher wrote them in her book.
Chapter 4: How to Boil Water
Do you know how to boil water? I'm going to confess to you that per what Fisher has to say, I did not. There's boiled water and then there is a point where water has been cooked to death and isn't fit for a thing or so Fisher assures her readers.
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Knowing that a move is in the offing and knowing that while Katie has packed some things (quite a lot if you consider her wardrobe which was quite large) and even knowing that she hasn't that much to pack as her possessions are few...I'm beginning to feel antsy about the packing side of things. Katie has a plan. She's moved all on her own without any help from me in the past. I'm trying to let things alone and just let her do what needs to be done until she actually asks for my help.
This idea of moving, as always, makes me want to declutter my own belongings. It happens every time anyone I know is moving. It's not that I long to move, though on some level I do find the idea of it exciting. I mean the ability to make a fresh space my own is very appealing to me. But anyone moving does drive home the fact that I am not a minimalist. My space is clean and neat and tidy, but I have a LOT of stuff and a lot of furniture.
Saturday: Caleb handled the evening well yesterday and I'm grateful. I'd told John my plan on the way home: Go in and turn on the tv to his program, give him a few potato chips as a starter course, while I got food on the plates. He had one fit of temper with Grampa that earned him a well-deserved smack on the bottom and then all was peace and calm. I find that he is a great deal like his mama. He knows well when he's deserved punishment. He took it with a single wail, and he was done. Punish him unjustly and he will cry loud and long.
He spoke his second full sentence yesterday evening. He tends to call me Mamama. When John told him to stay in the living room, he told John "Mamama's in the kitchen."
How to Distribute Your Virtue
This chapter was packed with a load of ideas on how to economize in the home as well as in the kitchen.
But first she begins with a strange story of a man who was poor and who gradually decreased his cost of living until he found himself at the end, licking a plate clean because he hadn't any water to wash it with. And that was the straw that broke him. He determined to take a loan, go live in a proper boarding house where food and water were provided and never again lived in such an impoverished state.
There may be a lesson in this...At least it proves that when he is living with himself a man can do things that in front of other people might seem ugly, or undignified, if he needs to in order to live at all.
I've been on a recipe kick now for several months. The intent was to find something new that we'd like to eat. I have several sources that I love to follow but I started to notice something. Some recipes were simply not budget wise, though they sounded delicious. Even those deemed to be budget meals weren't really budget friendly, in my personal opinion. I could see so many exchanges that might be made and not affect the quality or taste of the recipe in the least. Substitutions can be made in most recipes, and you'd have a far more budget friendly meal.
I realized too, that the most common 'budget' recipes all came in at around $10 for a family of four and that was just the main dish. I suppose if you only make dinners then that is an acceptable amount to spend. If you eat at home seven days a week that's only around $70, right? When you consider that it costs around $70 to feed a family of four a restaurant meal, then I suppose it seems like a good exchange, one meal for seven. (I can't judge about fast food meals as we seldom eat those and then we always order the cheapest option or best sale item).
Chapter Title: How to Catch the Wolf
This is quite a short chapter really, but the essence of the chapter is: Are you prepared? Do you know how to substitute for shortages? Have you practiced thrifty meals enough to know which your family will eat with real enjoyment?
At the start of the chapter Fisher shares the story of her grandmother sitting with a group of new homemakers during WWI, and the discussion in the group had been all about baking without sugar or butter. All of the young homemakers had successfully substituted some item or other for those that were scarce, had made their cake and proudly felt that their way was the best. Fisher's grandmother, who was a seasoned homemaker, listened quietly and then folded her hands in her lap. The younger homemakers looked at her attentively.
In fourth grade we had a teacher, Mrs. Williams, who read poetry to us. 'The Tale of Hiawatha', 'The Battle of the Light Brigade' and more. The most standout poem she read however, eludes me. I've never found it anywhere, but I recall it vividly because you see it was autumn and outside the classroom window was a sky that was impossibly blue and in the poem was a line about "October blue skies". I recall the tone of the poem was rather poignant, or so I think I recall. Considering all I can remember is three words it's not terribly likely that I recall an emoting of any sort of feeling from the poem. However, each year come October I look up at the sky and know just what the author, whomever he or she might have been, was viewing and why the words were written.
I wrote out a list of goals for September at the end of August. And then the world as we know it was shaken to the core by Steven's accident and the necessity of helping where we might. You'll understand when I share that in reading through September's goals, I was very surprised to find that despite this, I accomplished roughly 80% of what I'd planned. I don't know how, but I did it. That was a very nice surprise.
Saturday: The cooler weather this morning necessitated a sweater to go to the Rec. Dept. football game. Josh is on the team this year, so we came to see his first game. It was a pretty good game, too! Our team won. I found though that regardless of what side the kids were on, the parents on both sides cheered everybody on if they made a good move, got up from a tackle, etc.
Gammy, Bess, Sam, Isaac and Millie were there as well. It was an absolutely beautiful day. Isaac was bored and whiny and more interested in snacks than he was in the game. He showed more interest in the game when I told him I'd pass out snacks every time Josh's team scored which was four times in four quarters, lol. I am not without my means. There was a happier little boy than the whiny one next to me as the game went on.
I've been reading MFK Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf, a book written in 1942 at the height of rationing and wartime this past month and thought maybe you'd all like to hear my thoughts on each chapter as a sort of book study. You're more than welcome to join me over the course of my reading. I believe the book can be found on Kindle as a free book. I'm sure one of the free library apps would also have it online. I think it's well worth adding to your bookshelf, not because it's loaded with recipes but more because it's full of some doggone good ideas!
Chapter 1 is titled "How to Be Sage Without Hemlock"
One of the first standout sentences for me was this one:
One of the stupidest things in an earnest but stupid school of culinary thought is that each of the three daily meals should be 'balanced'.