Friday

 

Friday, being the last day of the work/school week is looked forward to by many of us. It’s a night to meet up with friends for a drink or dinner, pizza and a movie with family, or just a chance to kick off your shoes, put your feet up and try to forget about those work week woes. It's an evening to plan out the weekend, maybe stay up a little later than normal and just decompress a bit.  I’ve always worked toward Friday because it promises something better and a relief from workaday tasks, and a break from an annoying coworker or overbearing boss. It’s the light at the end of the tunnel.

               When I was growing up Friday night was the night my parents were more relaxed, every other week my Aunt Doris took the train from the city to come and stay with us for the weekend, and we got to stay up a little bit later.  Homework could be put off for a day or two so right after school we could play outside or go to a friend’s house for a few hours before dinner.  When I was in middle school, there might be a Friday night dance to go to, or movies with friends. In high school, there might be a game to go to, or band practice for the big game on Saturday afternoon. Many times in school Friday afternoon was when a teacher might show a film or have us playing a game in class.  I think the teachers looked forward to an afternoon that was a little different, a little easier on everyone.  It always seemed a little mean when a teacher scheduled a test or quiz for after lunch on the last day of the week.  Even when I worked weekends I looked forward to the last day of the week because the next two days were still different, they had a different feel to them and I had different coworkers and the customers were much happier.  It was especially true when working the overnight shift because much of the clientele were stopping in on the way home from bars or parties.  I don’t miss working weekends, but it was fun time of life and I have many fond memories of that time period.  My last job was still fun, but it was strictly Monday to Friday during the day since it was in a school.  I had really good coworkers and we were a good team. It seemed unfair when at work a boss had everyone doing extra tasks right up until it was time to clock out, or we had visit from the “higher ups” on a Friday.  We gave our all every single day and then -wham!- here’s some extra things to do before you leave today, or some extra stress to deal with.  I don’t miss that about work while I’m sidelined by the pandemic!  Now I look forward to Fridays because my husband will be home with us all day for 2 days and Hillary and I will be a less lonely; because, as I think I have said before, it is lonely staying home and away from other people.  Virtual visits just don’t cut it for us, we need to see people in the flesh and I know we are not the only ones.  So Friday is a day we look forward to for sure!

So here it is Friday afternoon and I am anticipating a nice weekend spent it the company of my husband and my daughters.  Already I feel that Friday vibe, I hope you do too.  

Hope Is The Thing

 

It’s been a year since everything locked down due to the pandemic. How funny it seems now that we thought it was going to be a two week lockdown to control the spread of COVID 19, after which we would go back to life as we knew it.  It’s been a rough, soul sucking 12 months, and it isn’t over yet. Yes, things are starting to reopen; some too fast, some seemingly not fast enough. Recently my husband and I went to dinner at a restaurant, a year almost to the day since the last time we did so before the big shut down.  It was quite a treat, but also strange.  Servers in masks, and patrons unmasked only long enough to eat with lots of space in between tables felt odd.  Since we are all vaccinated in our house, we felt that it was a minimal risk to spend time on a Saturday afternoon lingering over a meal we didn’t have to prepare nor clean up.  It was our first step toward a return to something close to life as we knew it.  As we wait for things to “normalize” we can take small steps such as a dinner out and ease back into being less isolated from others; it gives me hope.

Spring is on the way after a cold, snowy winter which had us hibernating here.  The tall snow piles are nearly gone, and much of our yard is mushy but free of snow.  The tops of the trees, closest to the sun are starting to look a bit reddish which tells me that the stronger March sun is coaxing forth buds in spite of the cold temperatures.  I look forward to the buds bursting and leaves unfolding to color the landscape with varying shades of green.  Soon crocus, daffodils, and tulips will sprout and bloom and forsythia will splash sunny yellow around the yards in my neighborhood for a few weeks before turning green.  We’ve already seen our first robin, but I have yet to hear the geese honking as they stop by our lake on their migration trip north—any day now they will appear.  It is another hopeful sign when the seasons begin to change that life goes on as it always does, turning page after page until the story of the year is complete.  The details of what happens vary year to year, but the framework remains in place—seasons come and go in a certain unchanging order we can rely on.  The moon waxes and wanes, the sun rises and sets, plants grow and die or lay dormant and it all begins again in its own time. Nature is reliable that way, thus there is always life and therefore, hope.

Things will get better, we will be able to enjoy the company of others, and feel as if we are living our “normal” lives.  There is comfort in that.

This is what hangs above my kitchen sink.

Never Ending Winter

 

               

This winter season feels as if it will never end. I know many people feel the same way. We’ve been dealing with this pandemic for a year now, and it’s been almost a year since I went to work.  One year ago today I was out to lunch with a group of childhood friends and when we were saying our goodbyes we vowed to get together once a month.  It hasn’t happened due to the COVID related restrictions.  Maybe in a few months we can do it again, but it remains to be seen how comfortable everyone is with getting together.  I think that it’s going to take some time before I’m able to put potential health risks aside and enjoy a gathering of people I don’t live with. I’m hoping for some type of family gathering for Easter, but it remains to be seen if all parties involved will be up for it.  It’s been months since I have seen anyone besides supermarket and pharmacy workers or medical professionals in person. It’s been longer than that since I’ve seen someone’s entire face.

               The snow storms have come nearly one every few days and a couple of them lasted two or three days.  The roads around here have been narrowed by snowbanks and driving through an intersection became a test of faith weeks ago. The weariness of snow clearing is showing in how early we fall asleep and how achy our bodies are.  It’s tough clearing the cobwebs out of my head in the morning when all is gray and dark.  I find myself turning on as many lights as possible in the house during the day just to feel awake.  We did have a couple of days featuring sunshine and temperatures in the low 40’s which helped whittle away some of the collected snow before the next storm blew in and dumped copious amounts of the frozen white stuff on us.  It felt good on those more temperate days to go outside and walk in the driveway in the sun for a few minutes.  The one good thing is that as we head toward the end of winter, even if the air remains cold the sun gets a little stronger every day.  I find that standing in the warm sun gives me hope that soon we will be able once again to spend some time outdoors without bundling up and shivering.

               As I hibernate here in my house during this long, lonely winter I spend my time (in between caring for my daughter) alternately reading and watching crime dramas. Shoveling snow actually began to feel good while I was doing it because it was something different and got me outside for a little while.  I will be very glad when at last the snow melts and I can carry a chair to the patio to enjoy an afternoon outside reading or visiting with friends and family, and listening to music.  Come on spring!

Grilled Cheese

 

A cartoon channel we watch in our house runs a short video of Elmer Fudd singing the glories of the grilled cheese sandwich.  My husband loves that video to the point that if I am in another room and it comes on he texts me to let me know.  It’s pretty funny to see and hear a cartoon character extoling the virtues of a basic sandwich, yet I understand.  Grilled cheese is such an iconic comfort food that just mentioning it sends even the most accomplished chef into a rapturous state of nostalgia.

               Every time I drive past the site where Stewart’s, a drive in restaurant, stood during my childhood I remember the grilled cheese sandwiches they served there.  Where I grew up was rural, and there weren’t fast food restaurants around like there are now.  There were a couple of nice restaurants in town, there were Woolworth’s and Britt’s (a local department store) lunch counters, and a couple pizzerias (or pizza parlors, as we called them), and just outside of town the drive in restaurant where they brought your food out on trays that hooked to the window of your car.  When my family went out to eat, this is where we went. My 3 brothers and I and my parents loaded into the old blue station wagon and drove there for dinner. I rode in the middle of the back seat, wedged in between my two older brothers while my younger brother rode between my parents on the front seat.  With the windows open on a hot summer evening, we were excited to be going out for dinner!  I don’t know what everyone else ordered, probably burgers and fries, but I always got the same thing—a grilled cheese sandwich.  It was delicious, and as close to gourmet dining as my young palate could get.  They used yellow American cheese and square white bread which they grilled to golden perfection, placed on a paper plate, cut into two triangles, and served with two pickle chips on top.  There was nothing else like it in the world to my little girl mind. Now I make it with rye bread, whole wheat, white or Italian bread, and cheddar, American, or Swiss cheese, depending what I have on hand.  I always have a dill pickle with it, usually cut into spears and a cup of tomato soup on the side. Somehow, it’s never as good as that sandwich I had at Stewart’s when I was young, squished in between my bigger brothers on a hot summer evening listening to my parents talk and laugh and my brothers goofing around.

               It seems that most everyone enjoys a grilled cheese sandwich as comfort food, and has happy memories of eating one.  It’s a sandwich on nearly every restaurant menu in one form or another, even high end restaurants who may offer it as a grilled brie with cranberry compote on focaccia bread or some other such fancy combination of cheese and bread served hot. I bet when you finish reading this you’re going to be craving the most iconic comfort food sandwich there is---grilled cheese. (Try it with pickles, it’s wonderful!)

A Storm's A-comin'!

 

               For days the weather people have been predicting a storm for our area.  They are quite dramatic about it all, starting with about a week out hinting that there could be some activity in about a week.  As the days go by they tantalize viewers with all the possibilities shown by the various computer models they use.  About three days out they start warning of “significant” snow fall and “plowable” totals, but show the highest amounts in an area that typically doesn’t see that much accumulation. As we get closer to the actual formation of the storm they start moving the highest totals away from their first favored area until at last, hours before the storm is to hit they inform us that the typically hardest hit areas are once again to expect the highest amounts of precipitation. Then, just to keep the drama going, they raise the amounts every couple of hours.  They are excited!  The news teams start going out to do reports on how well the road crews are prepared to keep the roads safe and clear while urging people to stay home once the flakes start to fall.  Mayors hold news conferences to inform the fair citizens of their town or city of the upcoming storm, preparations, emergency plans, and to urge everyone to stay off the roads.  With the explosion of social media platforms even mayors of small towns can send out a video or live stream to the townsfolk to keep them up to date. 

It seems a crazy thing when I think back to when I was a kid (at the risk of sounding like an old lady) and we looked out the window to see what was happening, and listened to our local radio station to find out if school was closed. That was it, all the warning we had.  I don’t recall anyone running out to the store before a storm to “stock up” on anything since we usually had whatever we needed already on hand.  There was food in the house, and we had snow shovels and rock salt to melt any icy areas already.  A snow storm was an event, but not as dramatically so as it is now.  We went outside to play in the snow; snowman and fort building, sledding, snow ball fights, snow angels, tramping paths through deep snow and chasing each other through them were all the fun we needed.  We even used to get cereal bowls, fill them with snow and go back in the house to top it with sugar and food dye to make snow ice cream.  It was fun!  That is how I remember snow storms, just fun with no big build up or stress.  It was just something that happened in the winter.  When the storm was over we measured it to see how much there was, put on boots, coats, hats and gloves and got on with life.

Our storm started this afternoon, ahead of schedule, and it looks to be settling in for a relatively long time, a couple of days’ worth of snow according to the reports.  Medical offices have cancelled all appointments, town halls and libraries are closed, schools are closed and are planning for remote learning only for the day after snowmageden.  Before the pandemic and schools even having remote learning, the day after would have been a delayed opening to give road crews, buildings and grounds for the schools, teachers and support personnel time to get their cars cleared to go to work. I guess having the remote option eases some of the stress of trying to dig out of deep snow early in the day, so that’s a plus. We will very likely end up watching tv coverage of the storm where they will interview plow drivers, people out on the road and at stores “stocking up to hunker down”, and as things progress they will live stream driving around in their news vans to demonstrate in real time how dangerous driving is in these conditions.  There will be the obligatory snow pictures on social media as we remind ourselves and each other that although big storms are inconvenient and can be dangerous, there is still beauty to the falling snow.