Books and good food

  

Really, what more could anyone want than books to read and good food to eat. I had both today. It was another slow and lazy day for me. I slept to an unheard of nine o’clock, and when I finally got to my desk I did some quick email work and read some online news but then it was time for church—on the computer. I loved a couple of things about the service: in the invitation to worship, the congregational response, twice, was “We do not worship alone.” Sitting alone in my cottage, I found that comforting. The hymn of fellowship after the sermon was “Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God.” Our wonderful organist, Janet Pummill, played a rousing, lively version and what I could see on my screen but those in the congregation or the chancel couldn’t, was that Janet was bouncing around on her bench, rocking to the music! And during the invitation to communion, the Reverend Renee Hoke quoted her granddaughter’s idea of a proper toast: “Cheers to God!” Loved all that.

Otherwise the day was quiet. I meant to read some more of When Everything Changed, The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, by journalist Gail Collins. I’ve only read the first part which details the status of women in 1960, but it’s interesting to me because I remember much of those days. In 1960, I was twenty-two years old and not aware enough to feel discrimination, plus I think as a student I was spared some of it. My ex was in those day supportive, and I never had to ask permission for anything. I find some of the tales of women who did have to ask horrifying. I was also pretty much unaware that I wasn’t supposed to have opinions—I had quite a few, as I do today, and I think I was vocal about them. I remember a powerful woman in our city who said, “I don’t mind bringing the potato salad, if I am guaranteed a seat at the table.” That’s always sort of been my mantra. But I am also aware that through my career I was paid less than a man in a comparable position would have been. And in the sixties, when I was in grad school on an NDEA Fellowship, there was talk that I and a couple of other married women should not be filling a slot that a man could have. We had husbands to support us—never mind that my fellowship paid more than his surgical residency.

But this afternoon, by happenstance, I clicked on an unread book in my Kindle library, Aftertaste: A Novel in Five Courses, by Meredith Mileti, and I was hooked. The first-person narrator, full of anger, recounts her life—and one awful episode—after she caught her husband with another woman. Now, she’s forced into anger management classes, with the prospect of jail for assault if she doesn’t show improvement. She’s also raising her eight-month old daughter alone. But as you can imagine, what drew me in is that she and the almost-ex own and operate a Manhattan restaurant, so there’s lots of food. But there’s also lots of anger. Not sure how long I’ll last with the anger, but for now I’m interested.

And speaking of food, some days I feel my blog is nothing more than a chronicle of “What I Ate Today.” But tonight, we had one of my favorite meals: marinated, air-fried chicken wings and drumettes. Some time ago I found a recipe for marinating the chicken in an olive oil/lemon/spice mixture and serving with another olive oil/lemon sauce, though I think the second sauce is redundant. It’s a team effort—I make the marinade and soak the chicken pieces in a large baggie; Christian cooks them in his air fryer, because I’ve never yet tried mine. They are delicious. Chistian fixed shaved Brussel sprouts with extra lemon to go with them.

Tomorrow is another holiday—this year it seems like every Monday is a holiday. That doesn’t make much difference in my world, although this week it means one day longer that Sophie is in the clinic and before we get the latest test results. But tonight, she ate a half cup of kibble and gave the vet tech kisses—a good sign. So tomorrow will find me at my computer, while the wonderful Zenaida puts my house back in order. The world goes on in its merry path, beset as we are with problems big and little. Despite politics and war and climate change, I feel good about life tonight. Hope you do too.