Social Distancing Tips from a Pro
It’s a cinch motherfuckers. Just follow my lead
Yesterday was working from home day one. I went out and got a few essentials, like ferns and wine, went on two long mostly uphill very windy hikes, hooked up to the work-server with much ado and listen, IT guys, I’m sorry – when it’s all over I’ll bring cookies – and then I made Restorative Chicken Miso Broth in the slow cooker which sounds pale and runny but was robust and superdelicious.
I approached it in my usual haphazard and suspicious way, mostly because I don’t have star anise or tarragon or measuring cups or a pantry whatever that is. I substituted freely. I tripled some ingredients and left others out entirely. It’s not that I can’t follow a recipe it’s just that I don’t because sometimes or always I get ideas that I think might be better, and sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t. This one worked beautifully, and if you want to give it a whirl, my casual and very easy version of the recipe is in the comments section below and go ahead and substitute freely except don’t fuck with the stock suggestion because that was the only kind I had and I think it’s what made it great.
I went out one more time in the evening for tea and oranges like a Leonard Cohen song
First hike I took Daisy because it’s a long windy gorgeous trail along the bluffs and it was cold enough so it wasn’t muddy and Daisy who is part whippet ran and cartwheeled and had a wonderful time, as did I. Well. Not so much the cartwheeling part although it is something I hope to make one of my working from home projects, along with the kitchen cupboards, vegetable garden, and chicken coop.
I hope that trail gets lots of use this next little while what with everybody and their kids being home and all. Thanks, Bell, for the bandwidth, but I hope everybody goes for a hike instead or at least as well.
We gardened on the weekend, which at this time of year means picking up turds mostly and saying “another sock!” because Daisy likes to eat socks and her poop is laced with them. Also, and I haven’t figured out how she does it, but she eats money and let me tell you when the Queen winks up at you from poo, it’s a little unnerving.
Second walk was down the big hill to Bluffers Park and then to the beach and back up the big hill which I did solo because Daisy hates traffic. Then I got back to work, a bit of Clutterbucks, and a lot of peeking into the crockpot for the rest of the afternoon and tasting the broth and making my fellow inmates taste it, too.
How about you?
And then I got to thinking…
The Pickwick Papers, Vanity Fair and all the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, for instance, were serial novels which means they were first released in chapters that were published in monthly literary magazines and everybody was wild about them. They were the talk of the town. As you can imagine.
What do you think if I release Clutterbucks, here on my blog, in the same way? You know. A chapter a week
Think I’ll give it a whirl during these homeward bound days at least. Give us something to look forward to, you know, besides watching the ferns grow and considering home-fermentation.
