Thanksgiving 2020 We tried to put on a good face, didn’t we? I think most Americans did, but it’s tough to scale an occasion we’d typically celebrate in epic proportions for just a twosome. Chef David and I resolved to go on and cook like we would for a crowd, and then to freeze what … Continue reading Thanksgiving Story: Pan-DEB-ic Edition
Journaling
Sunday Almanac: We March Inevitably Towards Winter
It is always a little sad to me when the snowplow rig assemblies start showing up on pickup trucks around town; it’s inevitable, but cold weather comes a little too soon on the heels of summer (to say nothing of ephemeral fall) in these parts, and wears out its welcome along about April, when everybody … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: We March Inevitably Towards Winter
Sunday Almanac: It’s Fall Foliage Time in Vermont
Kinda. Here in town, some leaves seem reluctant to let go of the summer, as am I. But the ‘peepers’ have been here in droves like they are every year, not dissuaded by The Plague, nor pestilence, famine, nor floods, it would seem. This year they’ve descended upon us not so much in tour buses, … Continue reading Sunday Almanac: It’s Fall Foliage Time in Vermont
Mid-Week Almanac, 9.23.20
It’s somehow Wednesday already, a vacation day for me because I have a little bidness to take care of later on this afternoon, and maybe I simply needed a day for myself. There’s nothing left for me to say about missing our annual travel down South that I haven’t already said, so I’ll leave it … Continue reading Mid-Week Almanac, 9.23.20
Sunday Photo Essay: A Birthday Celebration
tide-me-over birthday cupcake It's annual birthday week for The Chef and me: Mine was last Monday, his is this coming Tuesday. On Monday he brought me home a single cupcake to celebrate the occasion: lemon, with lemon buttercream icing and lemon curd filling—lemony goodness, through and through. But we saved our grand celebration for yesterday, … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: A Birthday Celebration
Journal Entry: I Roast a Red Pepper
roasted red peppers …without burning down the house. The Chef was on an errand and I wanted to make Salade Niçoise, which calls for roasted red peppers. So I leaned on this little video by Chef Shelley Young at The Chopping Block, et, voilà! My first effort was not too bad, although my peppers were … Continue reading Journal Entry: I Roast a Red Pepper
Sunday Photo Essay: Look Busy
Saturday morning busy I can't recall a moment in my lifetime at once so exciting and completely anguished. SpaceX launched the Dragon Endeavor successfully yesterday with two American astronauts aboard, and today docked at the International Space Station. Meanwhile, American cities are burning, we're still navigating a deadly pandemic, and people are dying. This control … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: Look Busy
Frozen Moments: A Memory
Impressionist-like landscape Leaving work last Friday afternoon, and even a couple of moments earlier in the week, I paused to drink in the landscape around our office campus, so eerily quiet just now. It always possesses a bucolic beauty, even on the bleakest winter days. But at some point when I was too preoccupied with … Continue reading Frozen Moments: A Memory
Journal Entry: Rules and Regs
I follow rules and regs. (What are rules and regs?) COVID-19 wouldn’t have impressed my great-grandmother Gracie too much, I’ll bet. I was expressing this notion to a few colleagues on Friday in an office ping thread where we were heaving a collective sigh over the language that’s everywhere you turn right now: in these … Continue reading Journal Entry: Rules and Regs
Journal Entry: The Pandemic Inspires a Conversation
Before all this happened, I was already reflecting on this notion, that in the intervening eight years between living through the kind of loss I think of as the emotional equivalent of blunt force trauma, and life as it is right now, my take on things has changed. Not everything. Some losses were undeniably horrible, … Continue reading Journal Entry: The Pandemic Inspires a Conversation
