'WHAT'S FEEDING YOUR SOUL?"

I've been impressed with all the Facebook posts I've seen, regarding everyone's areas and degrees of
creativity during this unfortunate incarceration. You've been painting, reading, jogging, honing your musical skills, sewing, quilting, redecorating your homes and, in general, re-charging your lives for the better! But let's get real. I admire your talents and your abilities, but really.....what time do you actually get out of your PJs? Rhetorical question.

I have to say......my creativity has taken a nose dive and I have not been very enterprising about doing
anything about it. I'm trying. Truly, I am. After all, this is only mid-May and we have till when? FOREVER, to get it done!!!??? I am determined to make some headway in some area! I'll get back to
you on that.

One thing I'm afraid that many of us are doing is cooking and baking. It just seems like the nurturing
thing to do, right? In the beginning of this mess I actually enjoyed it. I was cooking dishes I hadn't taken the time to cook in ages. And I was baking ad-nauseum for the sweet tooth in the family! But at
this point, I'm having trouble making toast or putting creamer in my coffee. I hate the kitchen, don't know why I even wanted one and I'm considering having it sealed off from the rest of the house. If I didn't have to walk through it to get to the laundry room or the back porch...........

Oh, well.......

On a brighter note, has anyone else found themselves going through cook books? I certainly have.
As women (or cooks, to be non-specific in gender), most of us have too many cookbooks but still
clamor for more. It's akin to an illness in some cases. I don't reach that magnitude, but I do have a lot.
Some are by well known authors, some are old classics like the good ol' Better Homes & Gardens....
I actually still have the little handmade cookbooks put together by Jamey's nursery school. And then there are the notebooks we've all compiled, containing the recipes we've clipped from magazines, etc. Ever made any of those wonderful recipes? Yeah, I know, once in a great while. But we've got 'em if we need them.

These days some people don't even open a cookbook. They just consult google. Am I right? Did I
hit a nerve? Again, rhetorical.

But without a doubt, my favorite cookbooks are the local ones, the ones compiled by local churches,
women's sororities and clubs. They have the recipes we go to over and over again. The pages are
sometimes stained and they bear the names of those wonderful women who submitted the recipes.
Our mamas and grandmothers, sisters, aunts, neighbors, dear friends, living and gone.....
Remember that wonderful meatloaf recipe that Mary made? Or that great chocolate cake recipe
from Bernice? Those are the best and you all know it.

Sometimes the recipes are even named after the people we remember and loved. Velma's Cocoa Fudge, Aunt Millie's Barbecue Sauce, Aunt Jane's Oatmeal Cookies.......You know what I mean. When we submit these recipes to a book that's being compiled, we do so in the name of a loved one because it was THEIR RECIPE, and by doing so, they are forever immortalized. It's an act of love
and of remembrance. I think that's because our memories are all wrapped up in the kitchen,
watching our moms or grandmas cook their special recipes and serve them to us - as acts of love.
So many treasured memories in our lives seem to include the kitchen and the food, the people and
the experiences that are shared around the dinner table.

I fear that to a great extent those days may not be so prevalent now, particularly while we're all
separated, one from another.

My grandma was not what you would call a great cook. There, I've said it. She just wasn't. But
she had her specialties. There's never been an oatmeal cookie as good as hers. And she made
great rhubarb pie! And if you checked her ingredients, there was more love in her recipes than
in anyone else's I've ever known. According to my own mother, she was not a good cook when
she married daddy. But he taught her to cook and he taught her very well. The downside? In her
brief life, she didn't teach me. She would always say, "You go do 'this or that'. It's easier if I
do it myself." Therefore, I reached adulthood not knowing too much about cooking or baking.
I've worked at it. I still work at it. I do ok. But who cares? I now hate the kitchen!!!

I'll close now. Gotta' clean the kitchen. Because after all, tomorrow is another day!

I made it to two out of three porches this evening, while listening to the music of High South.
It was wonderful. Fed my Friday night soul. I hope you're all well and finding something to
feed your souls.

See you on the porch!