Staying Home - The Luckiest

Home Sweet Home

The days come and go. Some good, some not so good. When life is compromised, as it is now, your mind plays tricks. You go to bed, either exhausted and worried but fall asleep immediately, or you lie there over-thinking, tossing and turning knowing sleep will be a long time coming.

What do you think about? 

More bad news and high numbers. What's left in the cupboard to scrabble together for a decent meal tomorrow. Are your family, friends, neighbors really healthy, or will they become ill. Are you really healthy yourself. What about anyone sharing your daily space closely. How will you know.

What will you do if you both get sick?

Yes, too many questions, so you get up again each morning, not caring what time it is. You feel OK once you start moving. If the sun is shining it's better - it was damp and cold here early morning but has now warmed up and the sun is breaking through the clouds. He asked, "What are you planning to do today?" I answered with just a sideways glance and almost laughed, words didn't come. Today however will be a cleaning house day as the pollen is just about gone. He will be mowing the grass. I'm thinking of making a lasagna as I do have a stock of pasta and sauce, and I did remember to buy ricotta and mozzarella when last at the grocery store. . . . . which already feels like eons ago.

Speaking of grocery stores - 

I pulled out this amazing book to re-read after thinking about how shopping for food was much worse for my mother long ago. The late Marguerite Patten, worked for the British Ministry of Food during World War II. Her job was to help families prepare nutritious and appetizing dishes with their weekly rations. She became the doyenne of English cookery writers and was probably one of the world's first 'celebrity cooks'.  In case you're not aware, although the war ended in 1945 (I was born in 1943) food rationing in Britain didn't end until 1954!  

Growing up in that time, I also recall how most houses had a 'Victory Garden' where we grew a lot of our own vegetables, also some fruits such as strawberries and raspberries.  My mother was the gardener at our house, she definitely had a green thumb and, although she always worked full time, somehow made time to grow healthy foods and cook delicious meals with what was available from the shops. Many of my friends and neighbors now have a version of a victory garden also.

Currently I have a very small kitchen garden - just four tomato plants, two Roma, a German Johnson and a Better Boy. Also tucked in there are some squash seeds - and scattered around in sunny spots, several pots of basil, dill and parsley seeds which are just starting to germinate.  My neighbor also grows tomatoes and peppers and shares with me, so I'm thinking Italian dishes will be plentiful this summer!

Do you find yourself playing more music now isolated at home?

I listen mostly to soothing background music - piano, classical, chorale.  I love VOCES8, the a cappella octet from the United Kingdom - they can sing just about anything. If you haven't heard them you should, I think their music is wonderful for this time when we need beauty around us in so many ways. Linking one of their modern pieces - the amazing Ben Folds' (he's from North Carolina) song, The Luckiest.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv9CSQjUPPQ

. . . . . and to their stunning version of Sir Edward Elgar's - Lux Aeterna (Nimrod)
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=IwdeqVmXlHk&list=PL2tFLT5qytwSTVwD8NLh2jw3qGXMEv-uC&index=2

I hope your day is good. I'm going out to walk around the garden, then

do the cleaning!

Time to pause . . . . . . . .

There are definitely days when I feel it must be

better to be an animal or bird, even a reptile. . . 

. . . not a member of the inhuman race.

Even as we deal with horrendous destruction by

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, we take time to 

pause on this always heartbreaking anniversary.

We have just watched the annual 9/11 Memorial Service

from Ground Zero in New York City, marking the 

tragedy on this morning sixteen years ago.

We will never forget that day.

All photos from Kenya - September 2016

Meadows and memories. . . . . . . .

I first shared the cover of this book with you last month, along with others I am reading this hot, humid and unusually wet Summer in the southeast.  Last Saturday evening, into the late night hours, we had a tremendous storm which dumped 4 inches of non-stop drenching rain on the city of Raleigh and surrounding areas. I can honestly say I don't remember getting that much rain in just a few hours ever. Fearful the cottage would float away, there was nothing we could do but watch much of the back garden relocate to the front, a moat form, and a river rush down the driveway turning the cul-de-sac into a lake. We are now way over the average rainfall for the year, with oppressive days close to 100F and extreme humidity. Where can I move to? A safe place with perfect weather doesn't appear to exist!

Anyway, back to the book which is helping to keep me sane these days. I seem to always have two or three books on the go at the same time - but this particular beauty I'm finding hard to put aside even with other exciting ones waiting in the wings. 

It's somewhat difficult for me to describe Meadowland. If you, unlike me, didn't grow up in England and spend much of your childhood playtime in the countryside, in all honesty this book may not be your cup of tea. Unless of course, you, like me, love rolling country fields, farmland, animals both domestic and wild, sweet birds and their songs, and everything growing underfoot, in hedgerows, woodlands, along river banks etc. John Lewis-Stempel's eye for detail and the poetic imagery of his sentences are brilliant as he charts a year in the life of a field on his farm located on the Herefordshire/Welsh border. Meadowland is somewhat folksy and funny at times, but books have been written about entire countries that contain less interesting facts about flora and fauna in just one English meadow. I learned so many interesting new facts about so many creatures. When it comes to grass, now knowing more about the amazing stuff going on beneath it, a whole new world, I decided perhaps we should stop mowing because, as Lewis-Stempel says, "a lawn is a meadow in captivity."

Are you enjoying a good book during these hot Summer days?