I Cook

Amazingly I actually cooked a meal this afternoon. It was such an occasion I had to document it. This is pork tenderloin stuffed with onions, apples and raisins, simmered in a wine sauce, and apple-cranberry pie. I haven't eaten any of it yet, but am looking forward to it with great anticipation.

This is quite a departure from my usual frozen "Healthy Choice" turkey, or cereal and a Whoopie Pie, or crackers with two bowls of ice cream, or Genoa salami and cheese straight from the deli bag. I was inspired by the apples that Sydney gave me from her trees, although I ended up using apples from the store for the pie. I saved the others for the chickens, who are crazy about them. I don't know when I stopped cooking regularly, but most of the time opening a package is all I can bring myself to do.

It's amazing when I remember how I cooked for Phil and the kids, day after day after day. I loved doing it, too, and was an enthusiastic, adventuresome cook. I would have wretched at the idea of a frozen dinner, or worse, a store bought dessert. I still love to eat, but I am not so fussy now. I never sit at the table for a meal, and five candy bars can serve as supper.

Well, times change.

Yaaaay!

............the first black president. History in the making!

Election Day

I went to vote at the High School this afternoon. It's hard to imagine, but that all-but-dead patriotism surged into my consciousness and I was moved. The voting booths, the wooden ballot boxes, the ballots themselves, all sent shivers through me. Looking at the names on the paper in front of me was overwhelming.......that it all came down to this. Months and months of speeches and ads and travels around the country until the campaign almost becomes a way of life, and then "we" get to decide. It really is an amazing process when you think of it. Suddenly it is real. Suddenly it is personal. It's me standing there with my no.2 pencil, it's me who helps to elect the "President of the United States."

Seeing those words, the choices, and knowing that whichever one I checked would be effected seemed almost too much responsibility. Nevertheless, I marked my X beside Barack Obama's name and came out smiling foolishly with pride. We have come to take for granted that we choose our leaders this way, yet a peaceful transfer of power is something not that usual in the world. In most governments the candidates who want the job do not try to woo those they wish to govern.

Well, all of this has caught me by surprise. I thought my cynicism went to the core of my being. But I've found a reason for today to be glad that I'm American. Stripping the whole system of its ideals and examining the reality of democracy can send one into a tailspin of despair, but I choose to let myself ignore all that for a day and love my country.

Is this sappy, or what???

Halloween

So here we are on Halloween. Thom made this spooky dummy to entertain the kids who came trick-or-treating, though it entertained us even more. I don't like this holiday and never have, but it I have to admit that it was fun being there with David and Thom. We had a wonderful dinner and a great time.