Friday, November 19, 2021

Wintering and soup

Every year when the weather gets colder, I'm dealing with two forces. One is an urge to have a winter project, to look forward to, long and engrossing. The other is a need to hibernate. These are not compatible aims.

So I'm reading Wintering to see what she has to say about the notion of hibernation, and why rest is good , not an admission of defeat. 

We get so much encouragement when we're busy, even worn out, not when we're taking our time. She gets into rituals, guilt over illness, need to pace ourselves before we drop, and is definitely worth reading.

Old age is no protection. Not when we read about people in their nineties running marathons and doing the Appalachian trail and knitting lifesize palaces.  Good for them, but it tends to translate into: why aren't you doing that, then?

Meanwhile, back at the stove, winter or not, food needs to happen. Roast vegetables and a soup that is so filling it's a meal in itself.


Here's the finished product, cream of tomato, quinoa, red lentils, and cashews


The yellow napkins are in action now.

And to prove I have no plans to grow up any time soon, I'm wondering about laying in a stock of stick-on googly eyes.


And I fancy a supply of oval, official looking, large stickers saying Voice Activated. To put on various office doors, paper towel machines, appliances, think of the possibilities..


12 comments:

  1. EVERYTHING is improved with googly eyes! DO IT! And those stickers would be HIGH-larious!

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  2. The making of soup is always a meditation for me. It soothes me to make it and then to eat it.

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  3. Lol. The eyes are hilarious. The voice activated signs would produce hilarity too.

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  4. Perfect weather for warm, filling soup! Last year our small town had someone putting googly eyes on all the fire hydrants. It was a harmless thing that brought lots of smiles.

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  5. Go for it~!I love those eyes!

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  6. I have a stash, but either the adhesive on the back is hidden behind an invisible wall, or there is none.
    My husband opens the refrigerator door carefully these days, he's never sure what might be staring back at him.

    Googly eyes are good for the soul. Take pictures.

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  7. I'm glad to see there's unanimity on the subject of googly eyes!!

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  8. Well, if you're going to do the stickers saying Voice Activated you need a hidden camera so we can watch all the people trying to get what they want by speaking to it.

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  9. This could be the answer to the winter blues.

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  10. We had the identical soup last night, with coconut milk instead of cashews. Definitely soup weather. And I join the Googly Eyes chorus!

    Interesting thoughts about hibernation vs winter projects. I have grown into being kind with myself, with a project list that may take days to get through and no angst about a mid-afternoon nap or sleeping in a bit. It has taken many years to reach this place. The two border collies ensure that I don't descend into complete slothfulness. The book premise sounds terrific.

    Chris from Boise

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  11. Yes to the googly eyes! And how about a foreign accent for the voice, just to keep thing in balance? Russian would be scary, but Australian would be scarier still, haha! Caroline from the land Downunder.

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  12. Society has impressed on us the need to be busy in order to show our worth....at least that's my take on it. Of course, having said that, what's my excuse? I simply can't sit and be idle for longer than a few minutes without feeling an urge to do something/anything and I don't think it's because I have the need to prove anything to anyone.
    Googly eyes and voice activation - sounds like great fun!

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