Letting Go and Cookies in Everyday Ramblings

This is from an early morning trek yesterday to the grocery store. The low light was fabulous. Just before I get to the big busy street there is this wooded area I walk through with a meandering path and I was all alone and as I looked into the woods there were yellow leaves falling like rain, quietly, beautifully playing out the natural rhythm of letting go. It was calming to behold.

Mrs. Sherlock is in quarantine waiting for test results. Her dentist sent her for a Covid test after discovering that her lymph nodes were swollen and her throat a little sore Friday. At last report she was still feeling okay, so we hope it was a cold weather bug. If she tests positive, I am, of course, going to support her and Mr. Sherlock in any way I can but will have to quarantine myself for another week.

The good news is that Charity is the only other person I have had contact with since I saw Mrs. Sherlock last weekend and we are both fine over a week out.

Last time Charity and I walked, a lovely weekday outing by the river, there was extensive conversation about cookie preferences as I was planning on making her some as a thank you for some favors lately. She mentioned Irish shortbread cookies in extended negotiations about our next walk predicated by rainy cold weather.

I didn’t have all the things I needed to make shortbread cookies, so I did a little research on my favorite store-bought shortbread cookies from Little Rae’s Bakery in Seattle. They are so good and come in all these cheerful seasonal shapes.

Saturday, we walked all the way through the heart of downtown, a place we had not walked together before, to a Whole Foods. We stopped at Peet’s for her to get coffee and then after perusing the cookie section it seemed they were not there and she went off to find a restroom and just as I was giving up, there they were! Cookies shaped like autumn leaves and apples.

We sat on a bench in the changeable sun outside while she drank her coffee and chatted about the election. She hadn’t slept more than two hours a night for three days. We could hear the election celebrations going on in our main square from there. Such a joyous noise.

I got a package of cookies each for both of us and by the time we were close to home she couldn’t resist anymore and opened hers. They met her approval. She said they were more Irish than Scottish in their short-bread-ness. She has lived both places but is Irish in name and heritage, so her preferences are located there, in that culture.

Wish us all a Covid free week, okay?

I need to do a bit more prep for my class tonight. But otherwise it is going to be a quiet day.

If I am not in quarantine and Kes is feeling okay, she is coming up Thursday to take Carlo and me in for his very well kitty checkup and booster shots. I know they are going to tell me he needs to lose weight. He gained all the weight Diego lost on the elimination diet. They used to weigh the same, but they most certainly do not now. He has been a bit of a bully lately too. I think I am making progress with behavior modification but then…

For everyone’s sake I hope this news about the vaccine is true and there is light at the end of this terrible time we have all been living through.

Like the leaves falling in their own time I need to let go of the horror of the last 4 years, stay involved in local politics and continue to take care of myself and those I love.

The challenges ahead are immense. All we can do is the best we can based on our current circumstances and remind ourselves to be kind.

And make cookies.

I’ll be ready to tomorrow. More Molasses Spice with Orange essence. Oh yeah.

Last updated November 09, 2020