A ladies luncheon

 

We may have had a ladies luncheon,
but unfortunately none of us looked like this--
and no cocktails were involved. 

Lunch is not a social time for me. I rarely go out for lunch or invite people in. I’ve got this daily routine down pat and socializing at lunch interrupts it. I work all morning, eat leftovers at my desk, and work until two, two-thirty when I take a nap. But today was an exception: Jean and a young woman I’ve corresponded with but never met came for lunch.

Since yesterday was a busy day, I did not have the meal prepared in advance as I often do. I did make a marinated bean salad yesterday, but when I got up this morning and got going instead of rushing to my computer, I made a chicken casserole. Not a big deal, probably took me an hour to make it and clean up the kitchen. The most onerous part was dicing celery and green onions and chopping up the chicken—a rotisserie chicken which was deboned and in the freezer. Jordan finally convinced me deboning them is not bad if you do it right away when they come from the store, still warm.

The young woman is the daughter and niece of friends of mine, her aunt long gone, her parents recently deceased. Mary Lou was a friend through the years—we met in 1970. Shortly thereafter she lost her daughter tragically, and I was one of the people she turned to. She was a big part of my life until maybe ten or twelve years ago when she retired and moved to Dallas. Through her, I met her brother, Alex, and got to know him because we both served on the board of the Friends of the TCU Library. At board luncheons, Alex and I would sit together and whisper about liberal politics, trying to stifle our laughter like naughty schoolchildren. We knew several people in the room would frown on our ideas, but we always had a good time.

In recent times, Alex’s wife developed Alzheimer’s and was in a memory care facility, and he moved into a retirement facility (not the one I’m so familiar with). Jean and I went to have lunch with him once, were planning to go again, and I was making plans to have him to the cottage for lunch to get him out of what I thought was a cold and unlovely environment. He fell, broke his shoulder, went rapidly downhill, and died about a month ago. I had been in touch with his daughter, Leah,.because Alex had almost no vision left (macular degeneration) and dictated his emails to her, so by the time he died, I felt I knew Leah.

So today she came to lunch, and that young woman (okay, middle-aged) Alex had described to me as an introvert who didn’t like to be around people, was outgoing, frank and open about her family, and talked constantly of how lucky she has been in the people who support her and her family. She seemed thrilled with the prayer shawl Jean brought her. We had a lively discussion and a good time.

And now I have leftovers for a frequent visitor to the cottage who is coming for supper tomorrow night. Meantime I’ve had a slow, lazy afternoon and evening, enjoying the thunder and rain.

Between hearing aids, grocery and social engagements, the week that started off to be a writing week has fizzled. Monday, I wrote 1500 words on my cottage memoir and felt so good about it. Full steam ahead. Since then, I have written countless words in my head but committed nothing to paper. I itch to get to it. Perhaps tomorrow, but Thursday is always the day I post a recipe to my Gourmet on a Hot Plate blog, and I haven’t even chosen the recipe. The road to hell is paved with … but then you know that saying.

Just in case you missed it, I had a guest post today on Lois Winston’s Anastasia Pollock blog. Lois has a spot for recipe blogs, so mine is on Texas caviar, a recipe developed by Helen Corbitt, later of Neiman Marcus fame, way back in the 1940s. It’s still good today. Check it out if you want a good side for a summer barbecue or picnic party: https://anastasiapollack.blogspot.com/2023/06/cooking-with-cloris-author-judy-alters.html