And another Monday rolls around.
Tom will head off to work on a house in Falmouth, Paul will be home today: I've decided to focus on a batch of poetry-related obligations this morning, and then get a hair cut, and then talk to Teresa about Byron, and at some point try to shoehorn in some vacuuming.
I still feel kind of discombobulated from the holidays: with so many on/off days, I haven't quite figured out how to slip back onto the tracks. That's a big part of freelancing: not only knowing how to make myself get to work but also being deft at shifting and compressing tasks and schedules. I am pretty good at all of these skills, but on this first Monday of a new year I'm reeling a little. I'll figure out how to buckle down, but I'll be glad to have another cup of coffee while I'm doing so.
Yesterday I made a slow-cooked lamb ragu. Tonight I'll probably marinate chicken breasts and then stir-fry them with bok choy. For later in the week I'm planning soft-shell tacos with the leftover chicken; and if there is no leftover chicken (one never knows in this house), I'll get some fish. I'll likely make split-pea soup at some point.
Another day, another dinner. The round of cooking is endless . . . day in, day out. Not that I'm complaining. As chores go, making dinner is enjoyable enough. But my work days are long: we tend to eat on the late side, so I'm in the kitchen every night till close to 8. I like setting the table in our window-dark dining room: cloth napkins, cloth placemats, tidy silverware, two candles lit every night. I like the formality: sitting down together, unfolding our napkins, gazing thoughtfully into the flames. Often our meals are very quiet. A small parenthesis of ritual.
6 comments:
When I first retired, it was hard as suddenly there was no set schedule. Even Summer vacations had had boundaries.The daily ebb and flow of ought-to, have-to and want-to doesn't follow a tide chart. I find I enjoy navigating without that external compass and you seem to handle it superbly.
Happy New Year, my friend
And I'm back in Zoom school today, ready or not. I think I may Zoom from school one day this week, just to get my brain back into thinking it can teach.
I just discovered this: https://www.themonobox.co.uk/monolibrary
and listened to "Go to the Limits of your Longing"
Perfect way to start this day . . . .
'The daily ebb and flow of ought-to, have-to and want-to doesn't follow a tide chart. I find I enjoy navigating without that external compass....'
That is a lovely description.
We've had maybe like 5 meals out since this began, just two people, and food prep is a huge part of our time. It's given me an appreciation, which I never had before, for the skill of managing and supplying an operational kitchen (I can't imagine an industrial one). Your menus seem remarkably varied, which, given all else you have going on, I marvel at.
I suspect that living for so many years in the north woods was what trained me up in food-prep variety. We had no eat-out options, and I worked hard to avoid getting bored with home cooking. It's been a convenient skill to have in a pandemic.
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