Sunday ramblings

The birds woke me about 6:30 this morning. It made me smile because it means spring is right around the corner. Of course, we need to get to the corner. I love spring. It's my favorite season. The days are getting longer, the sun is brighter, the air is softer. People smile more easily. The grayness is gone.

Now, if only the snow would go, too. In time. We had so much snow this year that despite many days of warmish rain, the drifts and piles still linger. However, I can see the ground and I've started to think about what I'll plant in my tiny garden. My neighbor has already raked his tiny lawn. I'm not sure he does it because it needs to be done or if it gets him out of the house and away from his wife for a few minutes.

Last night some of the folks here gathered for a St. Patrick's Day pot-luck(y) dinner. We get together for meals on a pretty regular basis. I think it's because most of us live alone and conversation while we eat is a real treat. It also gives us a chance to use some of the recipies we have in our arsenal that serve more than 1. So gather we did. The main table was laden with more potato dishes than I could imagine; another table groaned with desserts.

I baked a ham and donated most of it to our feast. I LOVE ham, but the idea of 8 lbs. of salty pork product hanging around in my refrigerator is more than even I can bear. So share it I did. I dropped it off early as I was dealing with one of those killer headaches that only dissipate with time. When I finally got to the Lyceum (ancient Greek for school) about an hour later, every single piece of ham was gone. Stunned, I asked how that could be. One of the ladies going back for seconds (or perhaps thirds) said "because it's such a treat to have real baked ham!"

And then there's the question of what to do with the ham bone. I know it makes great soup, and I love soup, but I don't know how to make just "a little" and it sours long before I can finish it. However, one of my neighbor/friends loves to make soup for her elderly mother. A quick phone call later - is there ever such a thing as a quick phone call - and the bone was on it's way. How cool is that. Forty people enjoyed, or will enjoy, that yummy ham. Does it get any better than that?

AH-HA WISDOM FROM READINGS:
A couple of years ago an elderly woman - long passed - came to my client. She was identified by this young woman as a neighbor, a woman to whom her mom regularly sent dinner. My client wondered why she would come to visit. When asked, the elderly woman replied "because you were so kind to me." "No, I wasn't," she said, "I just delivered the food and left. She always wanted me to stay and eat with her, but I was too busy. Why did she ask me?" To which the lovely, gracious woman replied "Food is just food unless it's shared. Then it's a meal."

Food for thought.