Monday, January 16, 2012

Winter Doldrums

We've had cold, wind, rain, sleet, snow and ice for the last couple of weeks. I have hardly left the house except to go to my part-time job in the afternoon, when the sun has already come up and I don't have to negotiate the steep iced-over steps and the icy parking lot in the dark. We did catch a break in the ice and wind one day and took a little drive.

This is a cool old WWII building. It would be perfect for our commune, but I hear it's condemned.

Crab pots, eagles and the Holy Ascension Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

January 11th was my youngest daughter Susan's birthday. Here she is with her husband, Corey, when I saw them last September. I can hardly believe my baby is now 29! Where have the years gone? Happy belated birthday to my girl. We love you and miss you!

Tonight my thoughtful husband surprised me with pot pies for dinner. You might wonder what is so special about pot pies, besides the very important fact that they're homemade. The truth is that I have many food peccadillos, not the best situation for the wife of a chef, or for the chef (maybe especially for the chef). What a treat for me to have a delicious pot pie with lots of veggies that I WILL eat and none of the ones I can't stand. No onions, no rubbery little square carrots, no canned-tasting peas. We were laughing about how I must have had to maneuver those little frozen pot pies as a kid--I'd eat all of the crust, pick out the chicken and potatoes, and whatever juice I could get that was not tainted by those nasty carrots, and leave the rest. I probably got in trouble for not cleaning my plate.

And it's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This quote is from the '60s but I think it is just as relevant now, maybe more so. "We must rapidly begin the shift from a 'thing' oriented society to a 'person' oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered." This makes me think so much of the income inequality of our country, the rich only becoming richer while the poor continue to struggle for dignity and a living wage and the middle class see their jobs and security slipping away. Corporations are deemed "people" and control every aspect of our society. I wonder what Dr. King would have to say today.

1 comment:

Betty said...

He would prob say (tongue-in-cheek), "I wish I had one of Rich's pot pies too!" Yummm!