Rainy Day

Rainy days--always my favorite. And with drops speckling the windows and the yard pulsating with soaked green and slashes of tulips in cardinal red--this particular morning casts itself in the most vivid of paint-strokes. Such providential rain--pouring just in time, right after a lawn-mowing and David tucking baby peas and beans tenderly into their raised garden beds. You can almost smell the growth beneath the dark chocolate soil. So much of the pleasure in a rainy day is being able to know that cars are splashing through the chilly puddles and the air is shivery, but inside your nest you are comfy as toast.

 It is the essence of cozy in our affectionate little house. The lamp glows like a golden oasis on my desk, and the scent of coffee in the kitchen lingers, a scent that wraps around me and somehow makes me think of red-checked curtains and maple syrup. After last night, I am a bit melancholy, but in a fresh, cleaned-out sort of way. Of course, last night I sobbed my way though a‘This is Us’ episode; it's pretty much expected with that show, and yet I know full well that my tears weren’t altogether about what was happening with Rebecca or the Big Three. Slowly, I am learning that the only way to cleanse the grit of past grief is to wash it away with my own soul’s sea of saltwater, and believe it or not, this is good. Very good.

In a few minutes, I am off to fold the laundry, sweep the hall stairs, and disgruntle Anna Kitty when I make the bed. I have become adept at smoothing bedding around her, while she tucks her little blue-grey head further under her paws and pretends to ignore me. But it is a disturbance to our Duchess, none the less, and she is not pleased, although she bears it with great regal fortitude.

Tonight pork stew is on the menu, a simple combination of potatoes, carrots, canned tomatoes and of course, pork. The secret ingredient is balsamic vinegar, a few generous shakes, along with a bit of thyme, basil and oregano. It's only taken me a couple of decades, but I have finally started to write my creations down, and I do wish I done it a whole lot sooner.

On a day like today, it would be flat out criminal not to bake some cookies, and I would hardly want to break the law.  See you next time.