Growing Pains

The sun is out today after a couple weeks of it hiding, taking my energy with it. I’m forcing myself to sit outside, take in the fresh air, and eat something besides pancakes. Clove is here with me and seems to have forgotten what being outside is like, too distracted to notice I’m eating carrots.

The sounds are a blend of what I’ve become used to in the present, and a pang of nostalgia.: Construction, cars driving by, a dog barking from a neighbor’s yard. Someone appears in our shared back-bit of nature with a plastic bag, and the sweet call of a morning dove quiets. I’m annoyed until I see they are picking up trash. I feel both shame for my reaction and gratitude that people still exceed expectation in simple goodness.

Clove is munching on her arugula and I, my carrots. A slight breeze waves the top of the container and disperses the sparse amount of loose fluff on her. This is good for both of us.

Maybe Spring inside of us is just as messy as Spring outdoors. With all of it’s back and forth, between freezing and melting, sunshine and gloom, our hearts go through it too. When will my chest pains push flowers from my bones, will this digging and searching inside yield the treasure I buried to hide through winter? Things are stirring in my soil, unseen. I guess I’ll keep seeking sunshine for my Spring.

Last Month

This day of “Everyday”

Hello friends and strangers,

Hopefully you are well. I write this after what I could normally consider a dragging, hectic Monday at work. A valued co-worker put in her notice of resignation, another is miserable with a cough and sniffles, and I didn’t accomplish much productivity over my weekend.

I can’t help but be happy though, content, somehow calm. I’ve got my door open so the wind can blow. All manner of birds can be heard, as well as the simmering of a vegetable broth on the stove. Clove is grooming herself, just out of reach on the rug and I have baked a very healthy and visually pleasing dinner. Just kidding, it’s frozen mini corn dogs but they are yummy.

Since not much productivity happened over my weekend, I came home to a very messy apartment: Clean clothes strewn everywhere, trash desperately needing handling, and a kitchen full of dirty dishes. I powered through them immediately upon getting home, a rare occurrence that normally drains me. Yet, I feel full emotionally. I’m almost afraid to admit it, that it won’t be true if I do. Is this purely gratitude? I honestly don’t remember the last day of “regular” life that I was this wholly happy for it to be mine.

I have much to be grateful for and I just felt the need to share how thankful I am that I can actually feel it today instead of just knowing it. Hopefully you are able to escape the blur of time passing. Have a wonderful evening of this day, of your everyday.

A bag of grapefruit

The weather is finally warming up here in my part of the Midwest. Longer hours of sunlight, no chill that makes your skin burn and your teeth hurt, it could almost be thought to be Spring. I wanted to solidify the feeling by bringing a refreshing zing of sunshine into a bake, while also using the grapefruit that has been occupying my lower fridge drawer for an uncertain amount of time. Thankfully, I already had all of the ingredients for this take on lemon bars, found while “in my feels” on Pinterest.

It’s a simple recipe, though a little labor intensive but the flavor is perfectly balanced between tart and sweet. Instead of pre-cooking the curd, it bakes in the oven on the crumbly, four-ingredient, shortbread crust.

While found on Pinterest, this is from a blog that did all the hard work of creating the recipe and taking beautiful photos of their bars. If you want to give them a try, see the recipe, or visit Amber’s blog where this credit is fully due, click here. She has far more than just dessert on her beautifully curated blog “Dessert Now Dinner Later”.

Citrus makes me think of summer and warmer weather but red grapefruit is in season October through April and other citrus starts as early as December! I think it’s great to have such a fresh, bright fruit be in season when it tends to be the coldest and darkest here in the Midwest. Thank you Texas, for growing the grapefruits I was able to use for these bars.

Do you have a dessert that makes you think of warmer weather or Spring? Is it warming up where you live?

Consider this our lovely internet picnic, strangers and friends.