Musings from an old woman

I actually put "old Lady" and then figured that that just wasn't right.  Amber and the girls came over for supper Sunday.  It was hot and I served a cold meal.  Never Again!  Those little ones just refused to eat.  Amber wasn't too concerned, as it meant more cake for the rest of us, but then the cake turned out to be dry and tasteless.  How bad was it?  The end of it got thrown out--in this house--unbelievable!  So, does cooking skill depend on regular practise?  Guess so--not that I plan to get more practise!

Monday we processed a heck of a lot of cold turkey into freezer meals.  Does Jim's friend Sam leaving the colony mean problems getting poutry next fall, Cathy?  Processing turkey lead to a heated discussion about how to make gravy.  So I say again, does cooking skill require practise?  I often use one package of gravy mix to flavour my freezer gravy, which is made from stock, and, IMHO, needs a flavour boost.  Our "discussion" became somewhat animated, and in the middle of it, I grabbed the package of gravy mix, tore it open,  and emptied it into the pot.  When I actually looked, it was mushroom gravy mix.  Gave the gravy a nice colour, though.  We ended up with more than 12 cups of gravy, so I threw some turkey gravy mix as well.  Disaster?  No way! Some of the best flavoured gravy I've ever made!  So, the question is now, How much of cooking is serendipity, and how much of it is experience?

David is still working on adapting the garden to one requiring less work.  The new grass is doing well, although we'll ( the royal "we" again) have to lift the lawnmower onto the higher flower bed to cut it.  ( Say what?)  Now we're taking a look at the peonies.  They are all in full bloom now.  How I love them!  And they always make me think of the house on Maplewood, although the peonies I remember from there were kind of sickly looking.  I have deep red, white and a lovely shell-pink.  So far, we haven't bought any bedding plants. Hm-m-m.  I'll have to think about that.  The local plant sales are gearing down and there should be distress sales soon.

It's now almost two weeks since my eye surgery.  Accordingto the paperwork, I can now go back to my regular routine.  So, it's time to get going on the spring cleaning again.  The more I do, the more I see that needs doing.  Since work is the last thing I want to do, I'm tackling one room a day and spending the morning, only, on it.  There are 7 rooms including the basement and studio.  I've been at this for almost 2 weeks, ( with a break for the eye surgery) and have got two rooms done.  Figure I should be finished by Christmas, only because I'm not able to do windows.  So for today, the morning's work will involve going out to buy bread and milk.

Have a Good Solstice, to those who celebrate!