It’s Sprrringtime!
Greetings!
I hope you are well. Yesterday's weather was glorious. Today and tomorrow will be rainy, with a nice stretch of warm and sunny weather coming in behind the rain.
I've been too busy recently to call a friend of mine. I have a story to share that involves him and his family. Since I didn't have to time to get his permission to share personal details, I have stripped out such details. A good story still remains.
My friend once shared this story about his mother. It is set in the May/June timeframe, and I think of it every year around this time. My friend had a running buddy - every Saturday morning they would go for long runs. On the Saturday of this story, these two guys had agreed to stop at a third friend’s house, this third friend wanted to join them on this run.
As happens on most Saturday mornings, the run culminated at my friend’s house out in the country. It was (and still is) their custom to fix a big breakfast on such Saturdays. One of the people cooking breakfast on the morning of this story was my friend's mother. She was a wonderful older woman who had emigrated to America when she was young, and still retained a little bit of her accent when she spoke. So my friend and his buddy and the third friend that they picked up along their route all walk into this farmhouse kitchen, glistening with sweat.
The third friend was relatively new to town, and this was her first visit to the house. Because it was a warm Spring morning, this young woman was wearing an athletic top, with a bare midriff. Perfectly appropriate for this day and age, but perhaps a bit immodest for the era of my friend's mother. My friend could see that his mother was surprised, and a little bit confused when they walked in the door. He was curious to see how she would respond to this unexpected visitor.
His mother simply said this, with her soft accent: “It’s SPRRRINGtime!!” I think of her and this story every Spring. She might have said many things, but she chose to be welcoming. She chose to celebrate that beautiful, sunny moment. I was not there to actually witness this event, but I can imagine exactly how it played out and it makes me smile.
UPDATE: I've been hinting at this for a while. I launched a new website this past week - it will be a place where I share some of my kitchen adventures, photos, and post longer-form essays on a wide range of topics. The web address should be easy to remember - it's just www.nealbell.com. I will also be mirroring my weekly Maamos Kitchen newsletter posts on the Blog at this site, so it can function as a turnkey way to keep up with my mental meanderings. There is a little email list signup bar in the footer of each page - please opt into that email list, if you would be so kind. My first longer form essay drops in the new blog this morning - it's called Signal Quality, and it examines he we choose to trust different information sources in our lives. I hope you check it out.
Sunday Supper
I've been running around this weekend, so will keep it simple for Sunday Supper. These Chili Crisp Salmon Bowls, w/ Avocado Mango Salsa from Half-Baked Harvest hit a lot of fun notes - bold spice, creamy avocado, and the sweetness of fresh mango. You can easily substitute shrimp or chicken in for the salmon if you'd prefer a different protein.
Sunday Music
After a humbling (but beautiful) day on the golf course in Toledo yesterday, I randomly recalled the many fun times we enjoyed in the car with our children, back in their childhood days. There was a stretch of time where we drove them to my parents' home in Pickerington for babysitting on a regular basis. Those car rides were made immensely fun by this series of children's albums that cover the ABCs, 123s and fundamental concepts of Science with really fun, catchy songwriting. Listening to these tunes brought a smile to my face last night. And here's a link to a NPR Tiny Desk concert that this two-man band performed about eleven years ago. What a distinctive duo. I love their creativity.
Have a great week ahead! Offer support to others. Make good use of this day. And let me know how I can help.
Peace & Love,