Just the Thing in Everyday Ramblings

Today is one of those transitional days between fall and winter. As you can see above it was a wet one. After the driest November on record here in Oregon.

I took this in Salem, about an hour south where I went to spend midday with Kes and Most Honorable (and Jack and Henry their cats). I didn’t want to travel yesterday and I am so glad I didn’t because I felt awful for the first half of the day.

It was that kind of tired that is no fun. I had a marvelous massage on Tuesday after work and on Wednesday I felt like I had received a back transplant but after a day in the office and then walking to and from the studio and teaching in the evening my back started to tighten up again and it was having none of it.

And I talked a little about my difficult history with Thanksgiving to my warm inquiring students and felt vulnerable and so when I came home instead of caring for myself in a compassionate way I tried distraction with podcasts and playing with the cats and that did not work.

I had a very quiet holiday and ended up sleeping through the mid part of the day and going to bed early. I read a wonderful long article in the New Yorker about the newly revealed science of sequencing proteins from well-regarded works of historical significance and art.

We have a Proteomics department where I work and I admit I had a bit of a crush on the main researcher a few years ago even though I hadn’t met him. (I can still have crushes you know, no matter how old I am, the trick is to be warmed by them but not to act on them.)

When I did meet the scientist in question I asked him what was the difference between regular gene sequencing and proteomics and he explained it to me in a way I actually kind of understood. So I was happy that the field is getting some attention because his lab was clearly underfunded.

There was a bunch of broken furniture out in the hall and the lab was deserted and his office filled with cardboard boxes and random stuff.

Sorry, I digress.

Kes asked me a few days ago what I wanted to eat when I came to visit and I know they have a good fish market down there so I suggested a shrimp frittata. She wanted to know what else I wanted in there so I suggested red bell peppers. And then she asked if I wanted anything else and so I suggested corn bread muffins and some roasted veggies.

They had just made a pie for Thanksgiving as they went across the street to have dinner with their neighbor and his grown daughters they have known since they were girls. One is very pregnant and so there is that excitement.

Anyway, they actually made what I suggested (my inner princess was chuffed) and it was yummy and very filling. We had gorgeous roasted purple and mustard colored cauliflowers that are milder than the white kind. The purple in particular is so good we didn’t need dessert.

And I got to take the train down because it is a weekday. I love the meditative quality of looking out the window from a train. The bus back was packed so I had a seatmate but she was quiet and I had the window.

It is so cool I have two more days off. I am getting persimmons in my Imperfect Produce box this week and am trying to figure out what to do with them. I found a spinach salad recipe that looks pretty simple and bright and might be a good antidote to the pervasive cold gloom here in Portland.

I need some walnut oil for that. If I find some I am going to share it with Kes and Mrs. Sherlock. We were talking about that last weekend when we were walking, that we should share spices and oils and all that stuff as none of us are entertaining much and if feels like a crime to let some of this stuff go bad.

The cats are curled up at the bottom of the bed and after my lovely day in which I felt so much better I am going to turn in and read The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic.

It should be just the thing.