Two Extremes

Have I written about weather sickness? (If you say "yes" then your memory is better than mine.) Weather sickness dominates my life in the spring and in the fall, when big weather changes are afoot, when strong cold fronts steadily march out of the north and northwest. I always know two days before a cold front will arrive here because I feel sick. I feel like a zombie. I can barely function. The day before the front arrives my bones hurt and I have little appetite.

So that's how my day started and went on until noon. Then I came to, went into my studio and got back into ridding out. What a joy that is! I have various collections that will be departing: broken metal objects to recycle, Social Services League donations, things to return to friends or give to them. Today I came across a bag of ladies' handkerchiefs, probably from the 1940s or 1950s. They were hand-embroidered and appliqued on fine linen in Switzerland. They are lovely and utterly useless to me.

By e-mail, I offered the handkerchiefs to my three grown-up girls. Two responded quickly: yes. But Nancy predicted that Carol, who seldom checks e-mail, would not want any. I phoned Carol and asked her to look at the photos included in the message. Sure enough, she didn't want any and Mimi and Nancy each get three.

Now, here's the point: it's a lot of fun to give things away while you are living and no fun for anyone if they have to sort through them when you are dead. I was energized by the hankerchief exercise and went on to sort and discard and consolidate a jumble of art supplies and materials.

Finally I made a Waldorf salad for supper. When apple season comes I can't get enough of it. It's a perfect combination of tastes and textures in the mouth and on the palate. Besides that, it's pretty.

Waldorf Salad

2 Red Delicious apples (or some other kind you like), diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

Some seedless grapes – red, green, purple, whatever – halved

Handful of chopped walnuts

Mix those things up. Now make a dressing:

1 1/2 blobs of mayonnaise or, my favorite, Miracle Whip

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Stir it in. Eat it up.

Now a perfect afternoon is over and the evening begins with another ridding out: Evie, a fellow member of the New Boston Buying Club, has come to take our five remaining old hens* to live at her house in North Lawrence. It is time for the older hens to go because they are mean to the new hens and keep them from food, especially greens and grain. They won't even permit the new hens to sleep on the roost, which is big enough for everyone. Now the younger ones will establish their own pecking order and they will be able to eat in relative peace. 

So it's a great ending to the day that went from misery to euphoria. Can't beat that.

*You may remember that raccoons killed seven of our hens last March.

Copyright, 2012 Shirley Domer

Apples!

Our neighbor Greg left a bag of apples in the snake room for us on the first day of autumn. They are Red Delicious from the tree in their yard. Greg must have watered the tree because these apples are sweet and crisp and truly delicious. The Kitchen God was pleased.

This bounty called for Waldorf Salad. Nothing could be easier. I use these ingredients:

1 Red Delicious apple, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
3/4 cup seedless grapes (red, green, purple – it doesn't matter), cut in half
1/3 cup chopped English walnuts

Dressing:

1/3 to 1/2 cup Miracle Whip or mayonaisse
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

It isn't necessary to premix the dressing. I just add the dressing ingredients to the basics and stir them in. Also, the basic ingredients are flexible to your taste – more apple, more walnuts, more grapes, less celery – it doesn't matter.

The Kitchen God was pleased.

Dennis and I ate all of it for supper. Rats! I was hoping for leftovers.