“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
Ditto is my description of the weather though it will be warmer today at 41°. I have lots of I could’s on my to-do list with cleaning on top, but I’m ignoring the list today. I might say it is my sloth exerting its influence, but I’m going to use Sunday, the day of rest, as my reason.
In the cold of yesterday’s late afternoon I filled the bird feeders. To the three feeders I usually fill, I added a fourth. Each was filled with a different seed: sunflower, thistle for my goldfinches, a mixed seed and one which spawns are supposed to hate. The dogs followed me to the deck where they played and ate each other’s faces. It didn’t take long for my fingers to get cold and stiff. I hurried inside and warmed my hands around a steaming cup of coffee. Today is little library day. I need to add new books, clean the window and organize.
When I was growing up, I had it easy. I had no chores. My bed got made, my clothes got washed and my room was cleaned, all while I was in school. When I went to college, I didn’t even know how to work a washing machine. I panicked when the buzzer sounded. What had I done? Someone explained the machine had an overload of wet clothes on one side so I needed to move the wash round. I never cooked dinner or baked anything. I was in the Peace Corps when I baked my first ever cookies, sugar cookies for Christmas.
One of my favorite culinary adventures was also in Ghana when my friends, Bill and Peg, and I tried to make bagels. I remember the boiling, but mostly remember how awful they tasted.
Ironically, cooking and baking became favorites. I had special dinners and celebrated with different cuisines. My friends dined on Indian, Chinese, Cajun and so many more. I decorated the table to complement the cuisine. For the Russian meal I made Russian churches with onion domes. I played Russian music. I made everything for every dinner, most dishes for the very first time, risky but always successful. The only foods I have never been tempted to make are bagels. The memory lingers.
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February 23, 2025 at 5:12 pm
Hi Kat,
Today the sun is brightly shining and the temperature is a nice 63°.
When I was a kid, my mother, followed by my aunt who was her older sister, did everything for us. There were no chores in our house. When other kids at school mentioned that they were expected to do chores around their house, I didn’t know what they were talking about. Until you mentioned that your mother did everything for you growing up, I was astounded. That’s because I thought this only happened in Jewish households with Jewish mothers. In your other posts you mentioned your mother throwing shoes or even guilt at you. I assume that means that these traits are more universal among mothers than I had previously thought. 🙂
When I went off to college I took all my clothes to the cleaners except for my sox and underwear which I washed in the laundromat. I ate in the dorm cafeteria which the food was one step above awful. On Sunday evenings the dorm cafeteria was closed, so we would go out to eat. Back then my favorite Sunday dinner was chicken fried steak with cream gravy, fries, and fried okra. If I cut myself I would bleed Ragu.
February 23, 2025 at 6:44 pm
Hi Bob,
I miss feeling warm when I’m outside. I still have to bundle partly because we have had so much wind. We did get to the 40’s today.
Another coincidence is we both got 50 cents allowance for doing nothing. I also had friends who had chores. My best neighborhood friend, though, like me, had no chores. When I was in high school, my mother had my sisters clear the table after dinner. They complained that we, my brother and I, never had chores. My mother was a champion at using guilt, but she didn’t have a good arm. She usually missed us.
I did my own laundry when I was in college, but I brought it home if I was going home for a weekend or a holiday. My mother would wash it. The food was okay. Breakfast was my favorite. The caf never closed.