Preparing to hunker down...

 January 25, 2023

The headline on the Weather Network’s website this past Monday began with: “Winter strikes back at Ontario…” Of course, my first thought was that this could not possibly be good. Next, I did pause a moment to wonder what Ontario could conceivably have done to result in winter wanting to strike back. But then I brushed that useless bit of thinking aside. The way things are going in this province lately, it quite literally could have been anything and everything.

The long and the short of it is that we are expecting (according to the weather network) sixteen and a half inches of the white stuff from this morning, (Wednesday), through next Tuesday. I of course informed my beloved of this impending doom on Monday shortly after I discovered it and in response he scoffed, and asked, “did you check the 14 day forecast? That one will really scare you!”

I admitted I had not, and after a respectable amount of time had passed so that I did not give off an air of alarm, I did just that. Oh, goody, we get not quite the same amount of the white stuff all over again in the seven days after this week, but it shows us down into the sub-zero temperatures, again! So as you read this, dear friends, the Ashbury household is getting ready to receive more than two feet of snow, and to be shivering in their timbers for several days.

As luck would have it, one of the things that was on the calendar for two days from now—Friday—was grocery shopping. We’re still trying to figure out our new shopping schedule, and yes, this is actually another recalculation yet again. We adjusted for Covid. Then we adjusted for inflation, which is to say, we stretched our trips out to every two weeks, from weekly in an attempt to make things last longer. David and I are already eating much smaller portions than we did even a year ago. The every-two-week pattern of shopping did help some, and that was before we factored in being alert for “sales”. Our belief in this household is that a sale is only a good deal if it’s something we would have bought anyway.

Recently, however, David has been finding it increasingly difficult to lug in a lot of items in one day. With the end of the good weather and the return of the snow, our method of importing items from car to house has to change. He can’t use his trusty garden wagon in the snow, and I can’t park on the steep hill at the south side of the house. So between us and our daughter, we are working on going to the two area grocery stores a bit more often and buying a fewer number of items each trip. It’s going to be interesting to see how that works out for us over the next week or so.

Provided, of course, on whether we are able to go out on Friday, or if we’ll be snowed in.

Modern living certainly is complicated. I don’t mind that so much, so long as my brain is still providing me with the capacity to work things out. Despite all the new hoops that we seem to need to navigate our way over, around, and through, we consider ourselves very lucky.

We’re not rich, but we do manage to get by. And one of the reasons we don’t fret very much anymore is that we’ve redefined downward the number and types of things that we’re willing to fret about. We’re way passed the age where we need to acquire possessions. We didn’t even buy each other Christmas gifts this past year. It just wasn’t important to us to do that, in the larger scheme of things.

We’ve no plans to travel in the near or even medium future, because we’re focused on the here and the now. This is a transitional time for us both. We’re all just exiting the reality of living in a pandemic world and need to learn to adjust to living with Covid-19 as an endemic virus for which we will (likely) get annual shots, just like we do for the flu. I think a couple of years ago I mentioned that possible future for us all. You can’t know anything about viruses without understanding that there are two things they like to do: mutate, and live.

I had believed we had a chance to eradicate it, but that belief was predicated upon my faith that most people, being of good will and sound mind, would follow best practices and get vaccinated, as soon as a vaccine came available. But despite my disappointment that my optimism wasn’t borne out this time, I will still always, if given the choice, bet on the intelligence and goodness of perfect strangers. I truly do believe that there are more good people who will act for the public good than there are evil or even selfish ones.

Optimism, and the feeling of positivity I enjoy while trusting in others can also be their own reward.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

We began with fries and burgers...

 January 18, 2023

It’s only been a week since we set up my Christmas gift, but we’ve already used our new Ninja Foodie three times! After some discussion, the decision was made that the first thing that should be prepared in the device was French fries.

We don’t eat those often in this house. In the good weather, David will take care of his regular craving for “fries and gravy” by riding his scooter down into the center of town and buying a large order of fries with gravy from a small local restaurant. He puts the package of them in the insulated bag that is strapped to the back of his scooter seat and then brings them home. They’re still very hot when he sits down at the table to eat them. This of course makes him a very happy man.

He and our daughter both love fries. I like them, but don’t crave them as often as they do. But I was looking forward to learning a new, less-fuss and time-consuming way to make them.

Not unexpected, one of the first things we discovered was that there is a learning curve involved when it comes to using our new appliance. Perhaps more of a learning curve for some of us than for others. You see, between my daughter and I, one of us reads directions very carefully and more than once, and one of us, well, not so much.

We decided to make fries last Thursday night. The only problem? We had no fries in the freezer. Daughter said she would bring some home after work, which she did. However, she did not buy them directly on the way home, but in that small time frame just before her final client, which meant when those fries got here, they were no longer frozen.

Some accommodation in the time or temperature or perhaps, both, should have been made accordingly. As a result, the fries cooked up very quickly and were definitely crisp. Maybe a bit crisper that might have been desirable—for me. I’m the only one sitting at that table who does not smother fries with gravy. I prefer a small circle of ketchup for dipping on one side of my plate, and some malt vinegar sprinkled on the fries on the other side. I ended up not eating my full portion, which was huge, but the results were a good first try.

I especially liked the part about not adding any oil.

The next day we went grocery shopping, (and yes, we got another package of fries for the freezer), and while browsing, we saw that they had a ready to heat “thin sliced beef” suitable, according to the package, to make Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches. David salivated the moment he put eyes on that product, and it was on sale, so we bought it. We also got a package of six sausage buns for those dinner sandwiches, buns that looked very fresh.

I knew I had green and red peppers at home as well as onions that I could sauté to go with, so I knew our supper was set. A quick update via text to my daughter, who would not be home for a couple of hours yet resulted in her request for me to take a pack of her “Impossible Burger” out of the freezer. Her plan was to make herself a couple of non-meat burgers for her supper, and to cook them in the Ninja.

This time she read the instructions and set the temperature and timer accordingly. And absolutely loved the results.

Last night was Nanny Tuesday, which means we had our daughter’s two grandchildren here for dinner. She decided to make hamburgers for them—and for us, too. The Ninja is perfect for that, because it will hold 4 burgers at a time, which is all we needed for the meat eaters at the table. She cooked her own veggie burger separately, and again, the appliance worked well. They tasted as good as burgers grilled outdoors. Another plus, there was no smell of fried meat throughout the room that one usually gets from frying hamburgers indoors.

Now we’re on a mission to seek out different meals to make in the Ninja. There will be some new recipes in our future, just in time to fight the winter doldrums.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

 

Something new...

 January 11, 2023

The Christmas decorations have been boxed up and stored away for another year. Outside, the snow has melted, and though the temperatures are milder than we have any right to expect in January, the dampness is a constant companion.

My cold has been behaving like a pendulum, and I have resigned myself to taking each day as it comes. I know it will go away, eventually. I’ve already given this thing too much attention and importance. So, I will do what I can, and rest when I must, which is way more than I’m used to.

In the second week of 2023, people are going about their business, trying to decide what their normal is going to be, moving forward. Something that I’ve noticed, though, is that when one is retired from the work-a-day world, one’s concept of a lot of things changes—and that even includes time. (Yes, I’m still writing but I don’t consider that work even if it is). For example, I mostly know what day it is—I’m too honest to say “always” because there have been a couple of days over the last couple of months when I thought it was one day and discovered it wasn’t. Just getting old is all.

My husband and I don’t watch a lot of television these days. We do watch a few programs, though, and some of the ones we enjoy are starting back up, so that gives us something to do in the evenings. We’ve cut back on our “news” consumption, which seems a good idea. There is only so much chaos I can stomach, and I think I reached my limit more than a year ago.

I’ve heard a rumour that the largest growing social “in” group is called “Lying Liars Who Lie”. I don’t find that hard to believe. Lying appears to be the new “thing”. Who could have ever guessed? It’s been more than 60 years, but I can almost feel the sting on my butt that my mother delivered when I lied to her. Ah well, it’s never bothered me to not be a part of any “in” groups. These days, I take great pride in declaring my aversion to those kinds of groups, especially the one I named above.

One of the things my daughter likes to tease me about is what she calls my aversion to change. I have explained it’s not change, per se, that I don’t care for. It’s unnecessary change or, put another way, change for change’s sake. And I think that just recently, I may have made some progress in getting that point across to her.

We had our “family Christmas” this year on January 2^nd. Our Sonja works a couple of jobs now, and our Jenny, of course, works in the community and sometimes long hours. Any family meal has to be scheduled to accommodate those two. And, since Jenny has Monday as a regular day off, this year it was the day after New Years that we feasted.

There was a big box under Sonja’s tree, and it was for me from the girls. Friends, I am now the proud owner of a Ninja Foodie! I had been curious about the appliance, and now I have one. A couple of days after that wonderful family dinner, I unpacked my new gift, and immediately understood that it would not go where we’d all thought that it would.

So, after I washed all the removable parts, dried them, and reassembled the thing, I looked around my kitchen and made an executive decision—I changed it up! The space we had cleared for the foodie now hosts our Keurig. Really, where that coffee maker now is makes a lot more sense. Husband even approves because the surface it is on is a bit higher than the one it had been on, and his back now complains less while he fixes a cup of joe.

My daughter was quite impressed that I had unpacked and then rearranged the layout of my kitchen all by myself. Change that she hadn’t even had a part in!

And no, we haven’t used it yet. I continue to read up and familiarize myself with the new addition. I’m looking forward to using it, to learning all the things I can make with it.

As soon as my brain is firing on all, cold-free cylinders. And yes, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

 

 

Happy 2023...

 January 4, 2023

I hope you had wonderful Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Now here we all are, fully living in the new year, having to learn to write 2023. I swear I just got used to writing 2022…. or so it seems. This is the hamster wheel we’re all on, and it’s the same thing every January. And really, one can adapt faster than one thinks possible.

This past week has given us mild temperatures, for the most part. There has been a lot of rain. This time of year, there is only one reason that I can think of not to mind the rain. And that reason is that with rain, at least you don’t have to shovel it. Of course, my days of shoveling snow, as well as its warm-up act, clearing off the car, are long over. But those memories of having done so plenty of times are with me, and they stretch all the way back to my adolescence.

We didn’t get a lot of “snow days” when I was a kid, but we got a few. These were never causes for celebration for me because I was expected to shovel our driveway. I’m not talking about a little eight-to-ten feet long piece of asphalt that leads to a garage, like so many folks have in towns and cities everywhere. The driveway of my life from the time I was about eight was a very long country lane. The thing resembled a high-top boot, complete with a heel—so my mother could drive in, steer to the right at the end, then back up, and drive forward. About 120 feet long in all, this was the safest driveway ever, allowing one to never have to back out onto a busy road.

Good news for any drivers at our house; bad news for the low-on-the-food-chain shoveler, which was me.

There was one time that I do recall fondly, though. I was about twelve or thirteen and had decided to get to the job early. I’d started to shovel at the road, working my way in, and after a couple of hours, I maybe had about five feet done. Then I looked up and our neighbor, the man who owned the quarry, came down the road in his big, beautiful loader. He stopped and confirmed with me how my mother liked the driveway plowed, then told me to stand aside, and proceeded to accomplish the feat in about five minutes and, of course, free of charge. He then left me and drove to the next neighbor’s house. In an hour or two, he’d cleared every driveway on our road.

That was the sweetest gift I’d been given to that point in my life.

As I look out the window this morning, all I see are grey skies and wet everything. But not a bit of snow. I do feel bad for the kids who received snow boards or toboggans for Christmas and have this week off school. Also, I’m sorry for those folks who plow snow in the winter to help make ends meet.

It’s just one more bit of proof that nothing in life is either all good, or all bad.

Not even this cold that has a good strong grip on me.

It began before Christmas, seemingly out of nowhere. It just grabbed a hold of me and so far, is not wanting to let go. A friend asked me if I’d gotten my flu shot, and of course, I replied that I had, indeed. I am completely up to date with all vaccinations—Covid, flu, and even the one for pneumococcal pneumonia.

This isn’t covid, or the flu, or anything else but a good old-fashioned cold. I have brewed my “hot lemon” concoction and have been sipping it (water + lemon + orange; simmer briefly, and serve with honey and yes, at least a bit of Splenda because, well, lemon). I have been resting and doing nothing. The resting instead of writing is mostly because my brain doesn’t want to think about writing, so I rest it, too. And I read—some of the books in my Lusty, Texas collection so at least I can have my brain in the general area of where it needs to be for when this cold ends and I can get back to work.

David has a cold, too. But his isn’t as bad as mine, this time. We’re kind of taking care of each other at the moment, which is our usual M.O. In the aftermath of that bone-in ham we had at Christmas and even with this cold, a week ago I plopped that bone into a pot of water, and the next day made his favorite 13 bean soup. He loves comfort food with his colds.

And, in return, he’s been fetching and carrying for me: coffee, water, and hot lemon, and anything else I need.

My cold is moving on, slowly, and I’ve decided my best bet is to try and see if there are a few scraps of patience I can hang onto until it’s completely gone. In the meantime, we spend our days side-by-side on our sofa/recliner, wearing puppies on top of our blankets, while I read from my now one-year-old, and he reads his brand-new iPad that the girls bought him for Christmas.

Comfy, with matching blankets and warm beverages and good books to read. Heaven, if you ask me—even if I do need a lot of tissues.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury