I hope this day finds you, and all those important to you, healthy and safe.
The temperature here should be good for this time of year so Deb and I will be putting a duck in the smoker and getting Brussels sprouts and purple carrots out of the garden. Deb will fancy-up some potatoes and bake them Hasselbeck-style and we’ll finish up with pumpkin pie.
We’ll have a conversation with our friend Jackie in Calcutta. Last night we Skyped with friends while we all ate dinner together. We’ll make more connections with family and friends like that today as well.
I’ve been thinking a lot this year about my parents growing up on farms during the Great Depression. My dad’s family spent 30 days quarantined in their house because of Scarlet Fever. That was a real lockdown. At worst, I have to deal with inconvenience.
I’ve also thought a lot about the London Blitz in World War II and kept their motto of “Keep Calm and Carry On” in mind.
We’ve spent a lot of time making our home life better. We planted a big garden and canned a lot of pasta sauce. We blanched and froze a lot of vegetables. We continued to convert more of our lawn over to native prairie plants and enjoyed the increased pollinator and wild critter activity.
We’re out of step with the dominant culture. I’m supposed to be incensed that the pandemic has slightly interrupted my ability to get instant gratification through the marketplace. But I’m just not.
I hope we don’t go back to the way things were before. I would hope we can do a lot better than that.
Schmecken! 