The weather was sunny and warm and perfect on arrival day at the little house in the city. Yesterday the clouds moved across the sky and a gentle rain settled over the area. This morning the rain has stopped, and little bit of sunshine peaks out from behind the clouds, occasionally and briefly.
I had a slow and lazy Saturday morning. First thing, after chatting with Attila, I baked a Giant Oven Pancake, which I enjoyed topped with applesauce, with a glass of cold milk on the side. Washing up did not take very long.
I showered. The novelty of a shower, in this house, has not lessened. I know that eventually I will take it for granted, being able to pop into the shower any time, but not yet.
After dressing I took my wet towels out to the back porch, where we have strung rope from post to post, across the entire length of the porch. The air was filled with the scent of fallen leaves, damp with yesterday’s rain. Birds of all kinds happily twittered from every direction. It was one of those moments when the little things seem overwhelmingly precious.
Twitter, in my world, is for the birds.
The to-do list, written over this morning’s coffee, is sitting beside the computer. There are a few items that would require a half hour drive to accomplish; those are being ignored for the next few days at least. The remaining tasks are mundane, bagging old newspapers to transport north for starting fires, vacuuming, dusting, and making more applesauce from the Macintosh apples purchased last Monday on the trip down.
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The computer sits open on the kitchen table, beside the mug of drinking water which is always on the go. The routine: is work a little an item on the to-do list, rest at the table, drink a little water, putter on the computer, work a little on the to-do list, and so on.
The water at the little house in the city reeks of chlorine. My eyes sting and are red rimmed after my showers. I don’t like drinking it, it tastes like dirt, even when filtered. So, for this visit I filled two empty, clean, four litre jugs with tap water from our well at the country house. The well water runs through a UV filter, and then we use a Brita filter to remove excess minerals. I’ve been keeping the Brita filter here topped up with the country well water. I have about three litres left.
Listeria contamination in processed lunch meats has been a health risk in Canada in recent years. It is particularly serious for older people, and that means me! I miss cold cuts, so my solution is to sauté salami slices, or summer sausage, cool it, and then add it to my sandwich. It isn’t quite the same, but it will have to do.
Tonight, to entertain myself. I am watching Anastasia, starring Ingrid Bergman. The last time I viewed this film was many years ago. At that time there was no conclusive evidence that Anastasia had perished with her family. In 2007 her remains were found and tests confirmed that all of the princesses, including Anastasia, perished in 1918.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
15°C
Date: 11:00 AM EDT Saturday 5 October 2013
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.0 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 14.9°C
Dewpoint: 6.8°C
Humidity: 58%
Wind: NNE 19 km/h
Quote
“I am more and more convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.”
Alexander Humboldt
1769 – 1859
Anything with Ingrid.
Steve-Paul, I love that song! Is it on Youtube?
..or “it’s not what life throws at you that matters, it’s what you DO with what life throws at you…”
That listeria thing has me worried now. I don’t usually buy cold-cuts but when I do, it used to be freshly sliced in front of my own eyes at the deli counter in the store. But now husband does the food shopping, and when I wrote down “Deli – sliced ham and roast beef” he came home with pre-packaged, pre-sliced stuff that I would never buy myself. I hope it is listeria-free! I’m almost afraid to eat it now.
I hear you Bex! Canada used to have a much more strictly monitored food safety system. People have died, which I never heard of until the last decade in Canada. In my opinion privatization and safety self-regulation have heralded in a significant decline int he trustworthiness of the food system, and a lot of other systems as well. I don’t know what it is like in the USA. The incident here that comes to mind was caused by inadequately cleaned slicing machines at the meat processing plant.
Actually, just today there was a warning about listeria in a nationally sold salad in Canada: Reser’s Fine Foods brand cheesy macaroni salad
I prefer the small and local food sources, where problems are owned by local people, who find it in their best interest to keep safety standards high.