Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Flotsam & Jetsam & Metaphors Galore

Last night I dreamt I got stuck in a steep ravine. I started to climb out and then stopped because I remembered how old I am. Too old to be climbing out of ravines, it would seem. In my dream, I found another way out, but when I awoke--now--I'm wondering if "too old" is a fact of life to be dealt with (as I did in the dream) or an excuse.

The brined chicken was not successful. Despite being all nicely browned, crispy even, on the outside, it was still pink--oh, yuck!--on the inside. I had to zap it in the microwave which, of course, left it dry. I'm wondering if brining does something to poultry that affects cooking time and temp. I find myself, in this current bout of cooking mania, very interested in the chemistry involved. It's as if--no, it is!--that I've suddenly discovered that cooking is really a chain of chemical reactions. Unfortunately chemistry was my worst, absolute worst subject in school...


The product of my weeding on Sunday: I chopped and trimmed and cut and eventually pulled out a dead bush . It was the sister to the bush below on the left. Why did one live and prosper while the other died? I'm not sure. Maybe it was the incredibly invasive vining weed that had wrapped itself around and through the bush. Or maybe it was just Its Time.

This is the clear space that's left, and now I get to decide what I want to put there. I'm thinking bulbs--I love hyacinths. And maybe herbs. I'm not sure.

When I typed that first sentence above, it came out as , "The product of my wedding on Sunday..." Today, actually, is the anniversary of my wedding nineteen years ago. Do I regret it? No. Do I regret its ending? In some ways, yes and in some ways, no. It is what it is and I am what I am, and today I'm happy with that.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:25 PM

    it all makes so much sense now! i absolutely sucked at chemisty in high school and my cooking is... well, not all that great. thanks for sharing the connection. i can't wait to tell my husband!! ha!

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  2. mama'sgotmoxie: no connection between crappy chemistry and crappy cooking for me. i am, imho, a fantastic cook. it's just that i don't know why.

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  3. If those sister bushes were twins, then clearly, it was a case of one killing the other in the womb that your backyard. Somehow there is a joke in there about the twin Bush sisters, but my silly brain is keeping me from delivering it properly.

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  4. whoops! I meant to say "the womb that is your backyard". Not that it helps the joke any.

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  5. margaret: i was thinking about my marriage being choked to death! and digging it out to make room for some new growth.

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  6. I'm learning how to do this.

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So--whaddaya think?