Golden

Today was a long and – it seems – an extremely hard day.

It started yesterday, in fact, and continued into today.

I won’t indulge my urge to  tell all the details, complete with lots of sighs and whining.

Enough to say it was difficult on many levels, with high stress and physical exhaustion.

By the time I got home, I was ready to collapse.

But, the dogs had been inside all day; they wanted to run in the fresh air, to run and roll and sniff.

We went for a long walk.

The air was crisp; the mosquitoes weren’t bad; mud puddles were avoidable. I picked a few blackberries.

Home again, I wandered through the garden…picked a few things that were ready.

I noticed the potato plants had just about disappeared. If I didn’t dig potatoes soon, I wouldn’t be able to find them.  I got the shovel.

Inside, an hour later, I wrote a couple necessary Emails and took a couple phone calls.

I fed the dogs.

I rinsed the potatoes and put the large, beautiful ones in a basket. I peeled a half dozen tiny, acorn-sized ones, one that had grown too close to the surface and needed a green patch cut away, one that I’d split in two with the shovel and one that had a scabby skin.

I chopped them all into fry-able slices. To a bit of olive oil and a bit of butter in my cast iron pan, I added a diced onion, a small, chopped green pepper, three small summer squashes, sliced, in shades of yellow and green, four quartered cherry tomatoes and all of the sliced potatoes.

When everything was tender, and there was a nice golden crust on the bottom, I tossed a handful of grated cheese on top, and continued to cook until it was nicely melted.

I served it up in my favorite bowl and ate until I was full.

I’m having blackberries for dessert…then a long soak in a hot, scented bath. With a book. Then bed.

This day wasn’t so bad after all!