Food For Thought

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you already know that we are not home very often.  Put it on the calendar, we (yes, that even means TJ) have been home for  two weeks in a row!  Whoo hoo!  I realized this in the grocery store, of all places.  Do you know how nice it was to be able to buy food and know that we would be home long enough to cook and eat it?

When I am "away" in Nova Scotia, I am actually in one place for about 3 months.  We don't really go anywhere else when we are there.  There is no kenneling the dog, no stopping the mail or the paper and no booking flights and rental cars and a lot of cooking and eating at home.  I get to buy food at Costco plus we have a giant garden and ample opportunities to cook and serve all that food.  When we are home in Houston, we really aren't "at home" that much.  My refrigerator is proof.  It becomes one giant science project.  I go to the grocery store with  good intentions of buying fresh produce and baked goods with plans to cook healthy meals at home.  I end up cooking about one out of four of those well intended meals every week. Something always comes up!  There is the occasional business dinner or TJ goes away on a business trip (and I eat popcorn for dinner) or  I go out with friends or we end up playing golf and staying at the golf club for dinner (after all, who has the energy to cook after playing golf? ....that's my story and I'm sticking to it, don't say a word!) .  Such is the life of an"empty nester".   Whatever the situation, those well intended meals go uncooked, uneaten and fermenting.....

I am not complaining....as a matter of fact for the first 30 years of our 33 year marriage I would have gladly not cooked a meal every night.  I would have been happy if we could afford to eat out once every month much less every week.  Ah, those were the days....we had four children to feed every night so I have done more than my share of meal preparation over the years.  I still find myself unable to cook for only two people, I learned to cook for six, it's hard to scale back.  This often results in a lot of leftovers....and a few science projects in the fridge.  This week it resulted in some delicious leftovers, that we actually finished!  Looks like I need to go to the grocery store....again!  Sometimes it is just fun to cook and sometimes it is fun to make reservations... no matter what is sitting in the fridge!

There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place Like Home

I kind of feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz  after she woke up from that crazy dream only to find that she was happy just being home in Kansas.   I'm not sure if after my summer away I have more courage, brains or heart...but I do have over 500 pictures and some great memories.  When it is all said and done though, it sure is nice to be home for a while!  Even though the the thermometer says 102 degrees and it still has not rained for months and I had to BUY lettuce at the grocery store instead of  pick it out of the garden.... on the bright side, I have twice weekly garbage pick up, a garbage disposal (curb your enthusiasm!), air conditioning, my car, my regular Tuesday golf game, my book club, and a life.   A life that has been somewhat neglected over the last few months....at least when Dorothy woke up she had only missed a day or two!

When I last left you I was lamenting the beauties of the shore and trying to hold on to that last bit of summer.  It was not the perfect summer but it had some very special times and was my first to "stay on".  I could definitely get used to "staying on".  Last year, re-entry was postponed with a trip to New York.  This year I managed to postpone real life another week by accompanying TJ on a business trip to the UK and Europe. 

London Bridge is not falling down!  It was quite lovely.

I sure hope there is enough paella for me to have some too!  Covent Garden...food court?

This is the train station in Antwerp where I walked from end to end pulling my bag and looking for my platform, or at least the platform I thought I was supposed to catch my train at, with no luck.  I started to feel like Harry Potter and expected to be sucked into the  train to Hogwarts at any minute!  I did eventually ask someone for directions and it turns out the train to Brussels is labeled.... Paris!?  Duh!

Hogwarts....I mean Brussels.  Where I walked approximately 20 miles and got to see a lot of beautiful buildings and gardens. 

When TJ was finally finished with his work obligations we were lucky enough to go to France and stay at his sister's house.  I know...can you believe she has a house in France?!  It is in an ancient town near Dijon.  If I thought being without TV at the shore was an adjustment, going to a remote French village with no TV, no clock, no phone and no internet was another thing altogether.  This would be a perfect place for a quiet retreat.  It took a bit to shift gears from London to remote ancient village in France!  It was beautiful!  We really enjoyed the surroundings and being transported to a different time. 

A long way from the farmhouse....in time and space.

A place where you drive down the road and see things like this!

In addition to ancient castles, we also came across a horse parade.  I guess these guys needed a drink at the cafe before the parade!

One way to make sure you do not miss the shore so much when you eventually get home is to go to a foreign country, live out of a suitcase for a week, have some gray gloomy weather, catch a miserable cold, spend a lot of time alone walking through large cities and find out that your French is only minorly passable as a means of communication.  It puts everything in perspective!

 Summer at the shore is over, everyone has gone back to their real lives, it is time to go "home".   A place somewhere in between the laid back, fresh shore air place where everyone knows your name to the crowded, busy, urban city where you are anonymous to the quiet, remote, ancient village....."home" is somewhere that has a little part of each.