Morning Pages with new fluffball poem

I posted my morning pages this morning to my half-formed blog because they contain the first two drafts of a new poem about an encounter that I already mentioned in an earlier post. From there, you can see the third draft if interested, in my poetry blog.

Comfort Meme

Comfort Meme from jo(e) and Erin
(and now Sara.)

1. Comfort food : Homemade meatloaf with baked potato and squash, sloppy joes, raw cookie dough (these days a forbidden pleasure).

2. Comfort beverage: Herbal tea. Sleepy time. (I'd also like to down lots of sweet, milky coffee, mocha or hot chocolate, but can't have them either).

3. Comfort read: Books written for young people. Right now reading Ann McCaffrey's Dragonsong; for the umpteenth time. Also, The Woman's Comfort Book; And good poetry. Mary Oliver, Stanley Kunitz, Marge Piercy, Linda Pennisi, Pat Lawler, Janine DeBaise, many others.

4. Comfort television/DVD/music: Copying jo(e) here, cause I agree 100%: It would never occur to me to turn on the television for comfort. I watch very little television, and even then, only because someone else has turned it on. The only time I can ever remember watching television by myself is on September 11, 2001. I was home alone, and heard it on the radio and turned on the TV for the visual impact. [That was NOT comfortable!]

comfort music: Mozart, grateful dead.

5. Comfort companion(s): My husband, Keith. Sara, Erin. Graham, when he's sleepy. Certain close friends.

6. Comfort activity? Hugging, snuggling. Hiking and being in nature, sitting in the sun, reading. Sailing in a light wind. I also am comforted by being on-line and reading blogs and looking at pictures and art.

7. comfort clothes? jeans and a T-shirt

8. Comfort animal? huggable kitties and puppies (I no longer have a pet other than a bird).

9. Comfort smell? My husband. Vanilla, fresh bread.

10. Comfort hairdo? braids

11. comfort place? nature, home in bed or a comfy chair (of which we have none at the moment)
--
I am certain of nothing but the Heart's affections and the truth of the Imagination- John Keats
Mary

The last one

I just put a load of darks in the dryer after removing a load of lights.  I'm hoping it will be the last load of laundry I do in the Kimbrook house before I leave.  I was hoping the visit to my Mom yesterday will be the last visit before I move and the lawn mowing Keith did Sunday will be the last lawn mowing before we're gone from here.  I had also hoped the shopping I did a while ago would be the last, but unless a miracle happens, I may need to buy more food--one day at a time.  Of course with each passing day, there'll be more dirty laundry--I just took off a set.  I can take them with me, if I don't run out.  Still, any day now, each thing I do will be last thing I do here.  And that is happy and that is sad.  Mostly, at this point, I am eager to go.

barbecued chicken on polenta

I took a break from the frenzy of trying to get ready to move. Started a batch of fresh from scratch polenta cooking with onions and garlic, Whacked up mushrooms, broccoli and zucchini with more onions and garlic, started them sauteing, put the newly cooked polenta in the same fry pan in a pancake shape, and then rolled chicken in cornmeal and flour. It only took a few minutes for the chicken to cook. Put the polenta on the plate, the veggies next to it and the chicken the polenta and spooned on some barabecue sauce (Dinosaur). It was delicious and only took about 15 minutes to make--YUM! Then ran downstairs and started some laundry. Gotta go put it in the dryer and start some more.

the squid

I decided to serve my squid, scallops and shrimp marinara over a stirfry of yellow squash, broccoli and organic POLENTA (since i just had linguini yesterday).  I',m cooking it now.

curried blueberry sausages

I just made myself some curried blueberry sausages with baby bellas, brocoli and linguini.  I cooked the lingini right in with the rest of it in a little apple juice.  It came out GREAT!!!

Confesssions (and now for the bad news) :-(

I wasn't feeling well, and I'd had no breakfast because I'd forgotten to take my pill, and then(after some serious sorting), I'd gotten involved in packing that box (my one accomplishment of the day so far) and then in trying to find a few things to top it off, and then taking the silly picture, all happy because at last, I'd accomplished something with that heap of junk, and then finally, I made myself some oatmeal and sat down to eat.  That's when I made my first mistake.  I opened the book I'd started yesterday at Burdick Dodge, the book I bought to read while waiting for the work to be done on my car.  I'd read some more of it last night before bed.  The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards.   Well, I couldn't put the book down once I picked it up.  I got sucked in and I sat there and read it all the rest of the way through.  This would be OK if I were on vacation or on retreat, but I'm not.  I'm trying to work seriously and diligently with the house.  So, now I feel bad, and guilty and upset with myself.  The book was excellent.  I cried so much my eyes hurt.  But I am still in my pajamas at 5:30 PM and accomplished nothing of any kind.  I apologize to everyone.  I'm going to try not to pick up any books until I get moved.  I have no will power about setting them down again if they're good.  If I need to read, I will read a magazine or I will write instead.  AK!

I want to say again, as I already said once, my favorite thing about this book is the way Kim Edwards, like Amy Tan in Saving Fish from Drowning, humanizes every character.  While we my not agree with the choices people make, we understand why they made them.  We ache with the pain of it all, of the hurt that comes from those choices, but we understand.  I have to recommend this book to people who love these books, books on relationships, families, choices.

My own failings are a lot less understandable.

good news and bad news

Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news? The first part of the bad news is that my fibromyalgia is unusually bad today, and I don't know why. My knees in particular are so bad that I literally can't walk more than few steps, can't bend. Maybe the hemp bread I've been eating from the freezer since I was out of other bread. If not that, I don't know what.

I continued working where I left off yesterday, on the pile of stuff I hauled off the shelves at the end of the hall upstairs. Of the books, I kept only a quarter. I packed them in a box with some photos I'd found and some floppies and a nightgown. It was my first box of the day and I was happy and silly and took this picture just for fun.

I didn't know what I would do next. 

come and gone

Another step in the long process of passing the torch of the house:  the appraiser was just here and viewed the inside and took notes and viewed the outside and took notes and pictures .  Now he says he has to go home and do some research.  He said he expected the appraisal to be at the bank by Thursday probably.  He did ask some questions, how long have we owned the house, and what kind of solar system did it have.  He seemed nice and was interested in the environment.  I did not offer any information except what he specifically asked.

You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, (Foot Foto Friday)

It's Friday again, and it's family reunion day, and it's a conference in the parking lot after dinner at Bangkok. Other feet Friday pix at jo(e), Lake Loop, and no polar coordinates.