I’m still stuck on the election results. I’ve started draft after draft of a post explaining my feelings, but they all got deleted in the end. Maybe with time I can talk about it coherently, but for now, I just need to find a way to think about other things.
While I’m not saying it’s a good thing to drop out or back away from our civic responsibilities, the short-term answer may be to focus on simple pleasures and enjoy the time that has been given to us.
And so I’ve been dabbling in retail therapy. My priority was fuzzy slippers, but I’m picky about shoes. Although I have some boots that are grandfathered, retirement footwear specs include only Hoka and Birkenstock. I’m pleased to report I successfully procured shearling-lined Birkenstocks.
As I was thinking about how to describe them, I was reminded of a woman we knew years ago who was quite frugal, perhaps unnecessarily so, but that’s how she rolled. She made her children drink powdered milk for a long time, but then she decided to upgrade to regular milk from the dairy aisle. One of the kids said, “Mommy, this milk is thick and rich!”
That’s how I feel about my slippers. Believe me, they are good for what ails you.
You may recall I purchased a slow cooker a couple of years ago, but it failed to cook anything at any speed, so I returned it. That model has been discontinued … yay to a little validation that it’s not me. To celebrate, I purchased a new one, which was launched this week with jalapeño pulled pork. Delicious!
I’ve spent much of this rainy day browsing slow cooker recipes so my bundle of joy can embark on its next culinary journey. Food might be the ultimate cure for the blues. Dale’s making pizza tonight with garlic parmesan bechamel for the base … topped with mozzarella, smoked gouda, smoked salmon, capers, red onions and chopped tomatoes.
Tomorrow is a New England thing called beans and bread. We get heirloom beans from his family in Maine. We’ve always known them as Marafax, but I’ve seen them on the Internet as Marfax. He bakes those in the oven with dry mustard and salt pork. Then a pan of big puffy yeast rolls and cabbage salad – which is like coleslaw but with green olives and celery seeds.
Then we start the countdown to Thanksgiving. I’m making pumpkin cheesecake this year.
My sister was here last week, and we had a great visit. She’s quite the crafter and lives in a rural area without a lot of retail options, so let’s just say shopping was involved. We went to Hobby Lobby, which I loathe because of all that conservative Christian rhetoric, but it really was the mother ship, so I’m glad I was able to give her that experience. We got the “have a blessed day” at the cash register, and I was annoyed at first, but then I thought, oh well, anyone anywhere saying anything nice. Take it.
And I did actually buy two Christmas cookie tins and a nice piece of wood for my art. I love my scrappy pallets, but sometimes I yearn for pristine wood, so now I have it. Praise the board!
Nothing else to share right now, but I wanted to check in and say hi. In addition to my post-election funk, for some reason the barometric pressure changes hit me hard this year and everything hurts. I looked it up, the barometric pressure effects – and it looks to be a real thing. Like many Americans, I always feel better backed by nebulous facts.
Any time you need a break from Dale, you can always lend him to one of your readers. We’ll be happy to yield our kitchens to him.
I just spent two weeks in Paris trying to walk off my election depression which wasn’t helped by cabinet nomination stupefaction. It was beautiful walking but not much of a cure.
Praise the Board!
My new t-shirt.
I feel your pain.
I’m still walking around in a daze. Even though I’m trying to stay off media as much as possible, it’s hard to avoid the continuing horror show. It’s difficult to imagine that anyone who voted for him still thinks it was a good idea.
I`m living in Tokyo. In the first terrible days after the election I would walk out into the streets and be surrounded by people going about their lives, going to work, bustling with errands. All of them seemingly unaffected by the American election. It was surreal.
Then English cousins weighed in, one of them writing, “The American people have spoken!” (Exclamation point!) When she knew very well that THIS American person had spoken otherwise. Jesus, Coz, you might read the room a little. (Also, enjoy your Brexit.)
So those of us truly suffering from this are in a distinct minority, both in our own country and among the world`s. But that`s no reason not to honor what we are feeling and do whatever we have to about it, now and later.