Gathering and Letting Go – November PaD day 20

The prompt is a dual prompt for Tuesday – to write about two subjects – Gathering and Letting Go. For me, this time of year is filled with baking. Baking lots and lots of pie.

Pie

1) Preparation

Gathering supplies,
sweet potatoes, apples, flour
pumpkin, mincemeat, cherries
lemon, custard, coconut.

Rolling dough,
filling pie shells
baking
baking
baking

Fragrant scents rising
from the ovens, then
cooling on the counter
lined up circles of
edible bliss.

2) Letting them go

Two to the office
luncheon,
two to go home with
co-workers,
four to the homeless shelter,
and two
to the sergeant in charge
of my soldier-son’s four-day pass for
Thanksgiving.

Just keep three or four to the side
to feed the holiday guests.

Wednesday Poetry – Dessert

I was hammering at rhymes with Boston Cream and Rhubarb and Baked Alaska, and got frustrated and just wrote what I feel. (Which is generally the best idea anyway. In case you didn’t notice, the prompt for today’s poem is Dessert.) So. Enjoy!

Copyright-United States Government Works

Just Dessert

When I sat down
at the restaurant
they treated me
just fine.
But when I went to
place my order,
I could tell
they were confused
by my insistence
on seeing
the dessert menu
first.

I ordered chocolate mousse,
and pie ala mode
and cake, one called chocolate death,
and also,
a side of tapioca.

They humored me,
and I had dessert first
and left this time
too full for
dinner.

Sometimes all one needs is a Cupcake

Having had a long, difficult week that never seems to end, I was craving a cupcake yesterday. Went to the store at about 8:30, having got home at 8:00 and determining that making them was too hard. At the store, six red-velvet cupcakes went for almost $6.00, so I decided they weren’t too hard after all, went home, and made two dozen.

I had my cupcake. T had two. ^_^

Today at the office, the remaining cupcakes have been devoured as if  by locusts, but I have one more sitting at my desk. Life is good.

Lost in the Season

I admit to feeling a bit lost this year. For the past, oh, thirty or so years, I have been very into Christmas and the holidays. I have boxes of decorations, and have bought or made at least one new ornament for the tree each year.

This year I am struggling. I have no more kids at home, and yes, I’ve heard of the dreaded Empty-Nest, and I suppose that is what it is I’m dealing with. I seem to have no reason to “make Christmas” this year at all.  My hubby does not enjoy the holidays and does not like getting or giving presents. At all. It seems to be a big pain to him and so I feel kind of out-of-place. It doesn’t really seem worth it to haul all those boxes out and put stuff out for myself alone.

I have no zeal in baking either, which is odd as well. By this time of the year, I usually have platters and bins of cookies festooning every bit of counter space in the kitchen. This year, I have so far made caramels and fruitcake. (No, not the nasty, dense disgusting kind, but a nice light version with real dried fruit and nuts instead of icky citron and brandy. It’s delicious.)  I don’t know quite what to do with myself.

Any advice? I hate being this way.

Excess

The prompt for the Poem-a-Day challenge today is “Excess.” This was a relief. I was so distressed over yesterday’s math prompt I was relieved to have a normal prompt. I wrote two poems about excess: One is about my own difficulties and another is about other people. You’ll see what I mean.

 

Too Much Food

Pot roast made for six or eight

Dessert as well, you’d wager

The hearty appetites to sate

of two or three teenagers.

 

Homemade lasagna, oven baked

with garlic bread all toasty

This kind of cooking can’t be faked

and that’s not being boasty.

 

Since nine or ten I’ve baked the bread

I was my mom’s apprentice

My sibs and then my kids were fed

Mountainous meals momentous.

 

And so you see why now I find

myself in a bit of trouble.

My recipes all seem so blind

to cook for just a couple.

 

I try to make the meals more small

Enough for two is plenty

But always fall under the thrall

of food for more than twenty.

 

I watch my waistline with concern

It’s having such a high time.

I think with practice I can learn

to cook meals for two this lifetime.

 

In the meanwhile the neighborhood

stray cats and dogs are thriving

on all the leftover meals and such

on my front porch arriving.

 

###

 

Dumpster Diving

In our neighborhood

we find

so many people

are so wasteful

as to throw things

away

when they are perfectly

good

items.

 

This may sound gross

and I’m sure

someone

will think it

disgusting,

but

sometimes

I go

dumpster diving.

 

It’s not for me,

it’s just that

I can’t abide things

landing

in a landfill

when local

charities

can surely use

and sell

those things.

 

Though I admit,

I did find

a perfectly lovely

steamer trunk

from 1919 one time

and now

it is my living room

coffee table.

Addiction

Wow, today’s prompt was kind of a shock at first glance. Addiction? Seriously? But that’s because of my first thought: drug addiction and all the baggage that goes with that. So then I thought about other ways to be addicted. I think I’ve come up with a whimsical-enough solution to suit my nature. ^_^

My Crafty Addiction

It started with cooking

to help mom save time

helping with dinner

at about age nine.

That turned to baking.

I just love to bake:

cookies and candy

bread, pie and cake.

As a young woman

I learned how to sew

I worked at a theater

making costumes to go.

Then I took up knitting

and crochet and more:

Yoga and ceramics

and camping galore.

And writing, wow, writing

Now that is so fun!

Novels and poetry;

I’ve only begun!

Lately I’ve looked at

making jewelry too.

Cliff diving? Gardening?

I’ll just add a few.

But I have a question

It’s not that hard to see:

Am I running my life,

or is it running me?