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Simple roast turkey with stuffing

11/28/2019

The turkey is in the oven, cooking away for a 12:30 departure to my niece’s house a half hour away. For the past ten or so years, this has been our contribution to the feast.
    Roasting a turkey isn’t really difficult but this year I have kept it especially simple by following two simple steps.
       1. I purchased a free-range fresh turkey from Deborah’s Natural Gourmet in West Concord. This turkey was ready for the oven the minute I took the wrapping off. It really didn’t need to be rinsed (but I did); not a feather, film of wax, or chuck of fat needed to be removed. Just wipe it dry, add salt, pepper and a cover of oil, and stuff it.
      2. I bought Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Classic Stuffing and followed the recipe: sauté celery and onion in butter, add chicken broth and mix.
     I’m particularly content with these preparations. The turkey won’t give off excess fat; it will be carved with ease and be tender and yummy. The stuffing is what my mom used to prepare and everyone loved it.
    As I sit here smelling the first fruits of this Thanksgiving contribution, I feel content. Although I want my life to be simple, it isn’t easy to pull it
off. But this morning I did it. This morning I am very grateful that I have kept it simple.

(In case you catch this early, I'll be posting progress as the day goes on.

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Joyful learning and solitude

11/23/2019

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In Solitude: A philosophical Encounter (Open Court, 1994) Philip Koch claims that although loneliness, isolation, privacy, alienation, and solitude are all states of social disengagement, none of them are the same thing a solitude (p.29). For me, solitude is positive, whereas loneliness, isolation, privacy, and alienation have some negative connotations.
Lately I’ve noticed that all (yes all) of my memories (most of them happy, but even the sad ones) include, and often highlight me in solitude. There may be people involved, but I am alone and content to be so. For example, I loved the twenty-five years I spent teaching kindergarten and first grade; clearly not a solitary job. They consisted of the joyful times with the children, but also times alone in the classroom before and after school hours. Never did I feel lonely, isolated, in need of privacy, or alienated, which to me are negative and suggest a lack inner peace. I could always step out into the hallway to chat with colleagues, which I often did, all the while keeping the sense of solitude that grounded me in peace necessary for that very social activity of teaching.

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Girls' weekend in Pittsburgh

11/17/2019

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Busy weekend. Not the usual silence, solitude, or simplicity. Friday I flew to Pittsburgh for a girls weekend with my daughter and granddaughter, who is a freshman at the University of Pittsburg. Beautiful weather for walking around beautiful campuses of Pitt and Carnegie Mellon. Thank goodness I’m not a hermit; I stepped out of my usual quiet, semi-solitary, and relatively simple life for a few active days of conversation, food, and physical activity.
I don’t always want to travel solo, not when I can go with a couple of ‘my favs’—to quote my granddaughter.
On the way home with plenty of time breakfast at the airport.

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Remembering the cottage by the sea

11/9/2019

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For five winters (2009-14), beginning about this time in November, I would pack up my few necessities and drive an hour and a half north to the cottage by sea on the Maine coast that I rented for five months. I loved those years, and although they no longer fit into my current life, I do miss them.
As the fall cold and barrenness sets in, I notice that I am carving out moments of cottage days here in my Massachusetts home. I don’t have the view of the ocean, nor the days of complete silence, solitude, and simplicity, but I have that atmosphere much of the time. How grateful I am that the conversation, community, and complexities, rarely stressful. That may sound impossible or even naive, but I am certain it is a goal I should strive for at this time in my life.
Silence, solitude, and simplicity is what you make it; you’ll know it when you’re living it.

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Moving junk around

11/2/2019

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Yesterday the dumpster was hauled away. Filled to the top but not overflowing. Good thing, for if stuff flies out on its way to some dump, the company gets fined, and for all I know, we could end up paying it? But that’s not what’s going to happen, nor is it something I’m concerned about.
My concern is that all the stuff/junk/trash—call it what you want, is going to some landfill and will sit there until eternity. What is eternity? That’s a theological question usually discussed in books, theological school and from the pulpit. I like to consider myself a low level consumer, but that dumpster tells me I am fooling myself. The joy of getting rid of stuff has been tempered by the truth that we just moved it out of sight. We paid someone to pass the buck.
How can I cut down on plastic? I wonder if my supermarket will refill the chicken salad container I bring in?

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Simple roast turkey with stuffing

Joyful learning and solitude

Girls' weekend in Pittsburgh

Remembering the cottage by the sea

Moving junk around

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