Improvements

There hasn't been much to blog about recently. There's been so much running around, so much falling into bed exhausted and then never sleeping well and waking exhausted, and racing out the door at the last minute wondering was I ready, did I have everything at hand. However things seem to be changing now that my schedule is normalizing. 

I just put this in the oven for dinner:

Yes, it's a bit sloppy, but heck, I am cooking again!

And I'm healthily hungry again - have stopped subsisting on a steady diet of nibbles - chocolate and celery sticks and nuts and more chocolate - and started to want real meals. Today I've had time to not only prepare and cook dinner, but bake two batches of my dog's favorite biscuits! Yes, things are improving at long last.

While not a particularly good cook - I love rustic food too much to bother with much else - I love finding new (rustic) recipes and making them. Especially when it's this cold outside. 

I am humbled by our interconnectedness,humbled by realizing how my present comfort and bounty is dependent on the actions of others. I wish I could thank the farmer who grew these potatoes, carrots, onions and leeks, and the man who drove the truck who delivered them, and the people who built the truck he used to deliver them, and the people who pumped the gas the truck used to get from one place to the other. It goes on and on, as far back and as wide as I can think about the subject. It's laughable to think that any of us could be "self-sufficient." Not in today's world. 

For many years I registered as a Libertarian. The dream of self-sufficiency dies hard. I believe in hard work and personal responsibility, and still don't like big government, but no longer labor under the illusion that with a cow, 30 chickens and 3 fertile acres I could provide for most of our needs. Maybe if I were in my 20s and intended to raise a large family that kind of dream might still be possible.

If, if, if. Instead, I am blown open with gratitude for the labors of all those unseen others who have collaborated so that I might prepare this small feast for my small family tonight. May God bless every one of them, and all the rest of us, too. 

And I am grateful for the incandescent skies we have been blessed to observe:

In fact one reason I haven't blogged in a few weeks is that all I've had to post were photographs of stupendous sunrises and sunsets, the backdrop to an otherwise frenetic period with many mini-crises and lots of stress.

But! Life is on the upswing. We are very near the Solstice, when the tides of darkness will begin to recede. We are all very tired of night falling so early and personally I am ready to mount a campaign to eliminate Daylight Savings Time as an outmoded and unnecessary burden on the public.

Dinner emerged from the oven well after dark. 

It was good, even though my appetite turned out to be limited. Am beginning to suspect that I have the currently fashionable gluten sensitivity problem. And may have had it for a very long time. Suspect it can be developed just like Syndrome X, which I almost certainly have,too. Along with lactose intolerance which was diagnosed in infancy. 

This dinner was very good for the gluten-sensitive body, but a bowl of noodles at breakfast left my gut feeling pretty uncomfortable all day long. In fact this was the "proof" that I did not want to recognize, as it represents my largest incursion into gluten territory for several weeks. I had so hoped I was fantasizing all this. And the kicker is that it really made it difficult for me to enjoy my gluten-free dinner. 

I work with someone who has been told (by a physician) that it will take 2 years of gluten elimination before it is completely out of his system and doing no more damage to his digestion. This seems a very good motivator for abstinence - if every "mistake" sets your clock back 2 years one might really think twice! But it's very depressing with Christmas coming up, and our extensive baking plans. Thank God at least chocolate is gluten free. And merlot.