Humble Lunch

I have had the same lunch every single day since my tomatoes started ripening

about 2 weeks ago.

And because I can wax poetic about just about anything,

including a humble tomato sandwich ,

you know I am in heaven.


There is nothing quite like it.


Here is what I do.


Tomato Sandwich

*Walk out to my tomato beds and pick any tomatoes that have ripened.

*Rinse them gently ,thinking all the while how beautiful and delicious they are.

*Take 2 slices of Breadsmith’s French Peasant bread and spread each slice with a little Hellman’s mayonnaise.

* Add one slice of cheddar cheese.

*Add an entire sliced tomato.

*Sprinkle the slices lightly with sea salt.

*Place it on a Spode Blue Italian salad plate.

*Add a sweet pickle to the plate if you have one.

*Fix a glass of fresh brewed iced tea with lots of ice.

*Take a giant bite and smile.

***

Do you have a favorite humble sandwich?

Linking to

Jennifer Rizzo’s Fabulous Creative Friday.

Moore , Oklahoma Teachers

I have been doing a lot of thinking the last few days.

That sort of pondering that usually involves tears and awe and feelings of humility.


Aside from the fact that I think Texans and Oklahomans must be kin,

I am humbled by what we have seen and heard on the news this past week.


I have been thinking about teachers, specifically the Moore, Oklahoma teachers

whose stories of courage are now known..


Covering someone else’s child’s body with your own

during a deadly tornado,

while praying your own child is safe is nowhere to be found in teacher training.


Trust me-I know- I train teachers, and I was a teacher for 32 years.


It is also rare to find in any beginning teacher manual phrases like ‘shelter in place’,

that dire intercom warning

that can only mean a threat is near

and you the teacher are in charge. 


All of the test scores and benchmarks and lesson plan writing and lunch counts

slip away.


Dear parents – during those shelter in place moments-

it is not about any of that.


Those things are a small measure of the teaching a real teacher can do.

In those shelter in place moments,

it is about who you want in a fight.

***


Bravo Moore, Oklahoma teachers.

.

Dear Daughters: Mother’s Day in Reverse

Dear Daughters,

Today’s celebration is backwards in my mind.

I should be doing something special for YOU.


Why?

*You keep me on my toes.

*You keep me safe.

*You don’t tolerate wrong thinking.

*You love your father.

*You take care of me when I visit.

*You don’t like it when I bark up your tree- especially when I need to climb my own.

* You answer my repeated questions.

*You are inspired by the underdog.

*You don’t care Dad and I call the remote the changer.
 
*You don’t agree with everything I say.

*You begin comments regarding my fashion choices with, “I am not a fan…”

*You’re cool.

Happy Daughters’ Day

I love you, Mom

Garden to Table

Picking something from my garden in the morning

and having it for lunch that same day

is my ticket to pure joy.

This simple salad of

*romaine lettuce

*leftover roast

*monterey jack cheese

and

*my tomatoes

makes me feel frugal and healthy and like my kinfolk all rolled into one.

I hope you have something like that in your life too.

Candy Crush Intervention

My name is Laura,

and I am a new Candy Crush player addict.

More importantly,

all I really want to know is

”Will I ever get off level 14???”


I have never been a computer game player.


I spend enough time on the computer as it is,

involved in much more intellectual pursuits like reading blogs and

wondering

‘how in the world did she build that out of popsicle sticks?’,

or thinking

‘someday I TOO WILL make an 8 layer Hummingbird Cake with perfectly level layers with one hand while reupholstering my couch with the other’.

At this point,

all of that pales in comparison to my need to get rid of all of the jelly.

And so dear friends,

this is a

Dire Warning:

*stay away.


I have to go now…

level 14 awaits,

AGAIN.