Slow Day

 

I worked my bottom off yesterday... I didn't even tell you all what I did, and I didn't do so on purpose.  I don't think anyone would believe me about how much I got done.!  At the end of the early afternoon, I sat down with an iced coffee and a deep happy sigh.  I told John, "It's so nice to work hard in my own home, taking care of my own things!"  

And it was just lovely.  John asked later, as I went to work on something else, "Why are you working so hard?"  "Because I guess my mind says someone is going to call and need me and I want to get all I can done before they do."  No one called.

I asked John to put Mountain Men on last night and watched several episodes back-to-back. By 9pm I was so ready to go to bed!  That's the bonus of having worked really hard, you want to go to bed and when you do you sleep hard.

I woke a little later this morning than yesterday.  When I came out of our room, John greeted me cheerily...I was not ready for that!   I made my cup of coffee and went out to sit on the front porch.  John told me he'd already fed the critters.  I hoped that would mean that I'd be able to sit alone, with dog or cat commanding my attentions.  It did.

It was so lovely outdoors.  I was surprised to find the whole of the front of the house was in shade at that hour.  I sat and pondered my plans for the patio and listened to the birds and the breeze in the leaves. It was a good time to gather my thoughts, gaze at the flowers and dream of still more flowers, to think of growing a few later crops for the year, to plot out where I'd like to have a green house and a proper garden at some point in the future...Just a lovely time for daydreaming.    

After my coffee was finished, I came indoors.  We ate a leisurely and easy breakfast, chatted a little and then started getting ready for our lunch date with friends.   While John showered, I cleaned the kitchen up and then wiped down all the cabinets and appliances.  Just one of those little jobs that I've tagged here and there but today I was able to do a thorough job.  I got ready and we headed out.

I hadn't been down in our old home area in quite a few months.  There were plenty of changes to remark upon.  Houses that were gone, either moved or torn down, new houses that had gone up, new crops where peach trees had once been.  There were changes.  It hurt to see the little town looking so rundown and disheveled.  When we moved here it was thriving, but it has gone the way of many small towns.  Not enough taxpayers to keep it going at today's rates.  

We arrived early at the restaurant.  And I found more changes.  The parking lot expanded, the building expanded.  No cows anywhere in sight though we used to have the waft of beef on the hoof just across the roadway from the restaurant.  People used to sniff and complain, "What's that smell?!", those who hadn't grown up in the country around cows as I had.  I'd always reply, if I was the one they asked, "Oh that's the aroma of roast beef in its natural state..."  No one was ever amused, but it amused my friends. 

They'd put a wide porch on the building and filled it with some really nice wooden rockers and the Boston style glider rockers (those are the ones I'd like to have).  We sat down and watched people arrive.  So many people are lovely and friendly and ready to greet you.  One man teased us gently.  "Are you holding that job down capably?"  John replied, "Yes sir.  It helped a lot after I read the instructions."  The man just laughed and laughed.  

The interior of the restaurant has changed since my days of going in there routinely.  I guess I haven't been in nearly 20 years now.  The food is the same.  It's neither terrific nor is it awful.  It's just Mennonite foods.  I was amused how they had arranged the bakery so that when the lines get long the lines waft around the rows of baked goods.  I told Debbie I thought it was very clever of them to push their baked goods.  That's where the truly good food items are.  They had a fat lovely loaf of sour dough bread for $4.15 I was so tempted to buy.  I won't tell you how much more tempting the German Chocolate cake was, or the chocolate pie...Oh goodness!

We sat and had a very leisurely lunch and chat.  Debbie's daughter and her mom joined us.  The guys went to sit at a table off by themselves where they could talk on their own.  No harm as far as we were concerned.  We managed to keep the chatter going all through our meal and long after we'd finished.  John and I looked for a farmers' market that we used to go to ages ago.  They'd moved into town, and we saw two different signs saying they were in town but where?  I looked it up after we got home, and they moved off the beaten path for sure.  They used to be on one of the major highways coming into town, with plenty of parking and such, but now they are tucked up in a small neighborhood.   

I'll be honest.  I'd had my heart set on getting some peaches and peach ice cream.  Tis the season and all that.  John took pity on me and stopped in our own town to buy ice cream on the way home.  "I couldn't get peach, but I bought you strawberry."  That's very thoughtful of him.  John doesn't care for strawberry.  He did get himself some ice cream but buying the strawberry was his way of trying to make it up to me that we couldn't find the Market.

After we got home, and had ice cream, I got up and went to work on the pantry inventory.  I got both of them all neat and organized and found very little that was actually expired.  I have noted that in some areas where we were once eating a lot of certain items, we haven't been.  Things like cranberry sauce.  At one point to have 12 cans on hand would barely see us through 6 months. Now I've got 5 cans on the shelf, and they've been there for quite some time.  

I think every time I do one of these inventories I see how we've changed our eating patterns and certain foods that were in constant rotation and use have been replaced with something else.  In other words, like my budget my pantry supplies are fluid and change frequently.  Not just seasonal changes, but lifestyle changes, financial changes, etc. are all reflected in my pantry stock.  

We kept it simple tonight for supper.  We had BLT's and chips.  It was so good!  That is one of John's favorite sandwiches and I always forget how very much he likes it.

It's been a good day.  A slow and easy day, but a full one, full of lovely and good things.

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