The Gift of Context in Everyday Ramblings

This is the Prickly Pear from last Saturday. We have had cold fog and bad air quality this week so not too many picture taking opportunities. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and we sorely need it to clear out the air if nothing else.

I am planning on hiking but we will see. Mrs. Sherlock wasn’t feeling great last night and I would need to figure out some complicated logistics if she chooses not to go. I can do it though as getting around on public transportation is something I am good at. It all depends on how much it is raining and how complicated it all is.

The hiking group encourages carpooling in a big way so that is another option but interestingly most people in this group don’t actually live in Portland. Mostly well heeled, they live out in the surrounds.

Yesterday I confused the cats by spending almost the whole day in the kitchen. The molasses cookies were successful! I read in passing recently that you have to fail before you can succeed and that appears to be how I regained my cookie making mojo.

In my very limited taste tester sample last night the verdict was..yum…and the question was, “Are they ginger cookies?”

They had cloves, allspice, cinnamon, as well as the ginger but I think the combo of the orange zest and dark molasses brings out the ginger. Plus they had this awesome cracking on top that made them look a bit like ginger snaps. With all that butter they are rich.

I ordered a new box grater and it came yesterday. I am so pleased with all these small purchases, except maybe the hand mixer that is not as easy to use as a standing mixer. But everything else has made the whole cooking process so much more enjoyable and less effortful. I need to experiment with the mixer as I got some deeper bowls.

I grated the Gruyere and made the gratin in the afternoon. It is festive with the chopped up red chard stems and the green chard. And there is no cream so it is a lighter healthier gratin.

Here in bureaucratic paperwork land I was disappointed to get a letter from the state pension provider a month after I applied to say they were delaying my payout a month because of the day they received my application. All this stuff takes forever… And my patience for navigating it is not as robust as I would like.

My guess is that it feeds back into the trauma of that last 7 months of work. But when I get these communications saying this line is not filled out correctly weeks after submission it makes me crazy. Hopefully I will move through this phase. Reminding myself it has a beginning, a middle, (where I am at), and an end. All you guys out there that have wives that take care of these things are underappreciating what women (or the more domestic partner) do all day!

One of my students, she’s been away most of the last month taking care of people she knows and loves, told me after class last night that I look about 10 years younger than I have over the last year.

I am still tired. It is mental and emotional tired. My body is happy to move and be active. She has been encouraging me for years to teach a weekend retreat somewhere away and I told her last night I can’t plan any of this until I know what my income is going to be like and how much part time work I need to take on.

So I am giving myself permission to be somewhat lazy. I am getting my hair cut this morning and my original plan was that while I was out to go to REI to see if I can get snow baskets to fit my trek poles (I have them but have no idea where they are even after a cursory search) and to go to an art exhibit of works by the partner of one of my students but honestly I think I am just going to come home and hang out and not eat cookies.

I’ll take them on the hike with me tomorrow for our bathroom and water break.

As with the Prickly Pear that is so surprising and gorgeous here, and such a scourge in Australia, everything, absolutely everything, depends on context.

Last updated December 05, 2019