Food faces, wildlife encroaching, an unexpected call, my dinner of the week, and more (7 Quick Takes)

~1~

Do you see faces in food? It happens to me all the time. Usually I see happy faces, like in the coffee grounds when I was emptying the coffeemaker the other day. But when I opened a yogurt one morning, I saw this wonderful grumpy face.

It made me smile, especially because I hadn’t yet had my coffee. The yogurt top somehow knew how I felt and reflected that emotion back at me.

~2~

These days our yard is full of rabbits and birds and squirrels. One day this week we looked outside, and two deer were standing in the yard eating away.

They looked completely at home there, and we have a feeling they are probably more regular visitors than we had realized.

It’s fascinating to think that the wild creatures are reclaiming spaces as the humans are spending more time indoors and off the roads. And they don’t even care if we come outside to ask them not to eat our plants.

~3~

Our cell phones ring and ding and beep and buzz often enough, but our home phone doesn’t ring often, so I was surprised to hear it Friday afternoon. The caller ID said, “Little Sisters of the Poor,” so I answered thinking it would be a request for a gift.

But it wasn’t. It was Sister Lawrence Mary, who was getting ready to make the apple cake recipe I had shared here two months ago, and she wanted to make sure that it really did need to cook for 1 hour and 45 minutes. I told her sometimes it is finished in 1 ½ hours, but that often it does take the whole time, and I explained how I put a knife in and check to make sure it’s cooked through.

We had a lovely little conversation, as I asked how the Sisters are doing. She told me they happen to have a priest quarantined with them, so they are able to have Mass right now. It was so good to hear that the Sisters and those they are caring for are all doing well.

I asked her to let me know how the cake turns out, and we said goodbye. But the conversation made my day, and I couldn’t wait to tell my mother and my husband—who has always had a soft spot for the Little Sisters.

~4~

We have a month of online learning left, and I failed to get everyone online for all their classes this week. Some of them we couldn’t get on technology-wise, others started while I was in meetings, and I could only mute myself for so long to try to get people’s attention to get them online, and others…well…others I just didn’t even try because people are worn out.

But I did take a photo of these paper boats our fourth grader made for fun one day and emailed them to the art teacher to show her that he is doing art in his own way.

~5~

Every now and then I make a meal so good that I have to photograph it and tell you about it. This week, I had bought a huge pack of drumsticks, and I had some Stubb’s BBQ rub and BBQ sauce. I put the rub on the drumsticks, let them sit for a few minutes, and baked them at 425 until the juices ran clear—almost an hour. I added the sauce after they had been in for about 40 minutes.

The drumsticks turned out so well that even my sixth grader was raving about them. I am going to have to make them again so I can be more specific about the directions. I’m also going to have to make them again because they were one of our best meals in recent memory.

~6~

I have seen more of our neighborhood while taking walks in the past 10 weeks than I have during the six years we’ve lived here. It’s amazing what you notice when you stay closer to home.

I know things will be starting to open back up, but we’ll be sticking close to home for a while. I don’t feel restless to get out and about at all. Maybe it’s because life at home is so, so busy with work and school and ordinary daily tasks, but I am perfectly at peace being here. I miss being with my family and friends, but I don’t miss the usual hectic nature of our lives.

We’re going to do some things differently after all of this is behind us. And one thing we won’t do is overschedule our lives.

~7~

I had the day off at work, and I was feeling a little positive peer pressure from some of my family members, so I actually started an Instagram account for my llama slippers.

What’s the worst that can happen? No one follows and I just enjoy the llama slippers in real life?

What’s the best that can happen? We have a little fun with this?

I’m willing to take this risk.

Find more quick takes on Kelly’s blog, This Ain’t the Lyceum, and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

 Print