Well sorta. Trying. The knee is better but still stiff. It still gives the unexpected sharp pain and I’m not moving with the greatest assurance – I’m afraid it will hurt so I’m kinda awkward when I get going. I am on what seems to be strengthening exercises rather than stretching which must be a good sign, and I hope will get me over the awkwardness. BTW I should probably be doing those exercises right now, because I left the house early to go work at the food pantry and no time for the exercises in the AM.
Instead of I’m trying to grab an hour between my last zoom meeting of the day and online class at 6:00. With leftovers dinner to eat after class on low heat in the oven on timer. Kind of chicken shepherd’s pie – chicken & veggies in a creamy sauce with mashed potatoes on top. On election night, I made what I was hoping would be a comfort dinner – chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy, and roasted Brussels sprouts, and a pan of sourdough rolls from the freezer. All the sides were good but the chicken was really scrawny. I got it from the farmer I usually buy eggs from, so maybe it was really an old layer, a stewing chicken, not a roaster. It only produced a few wisps of meat, as the dearly departed Laurie Colwin said about the goose they tried for Christmas dinner one year that her husband turned out to be violently allergic to – even just a wisp. Scrawny chicken made some really nice broth and there was gravy and mashed potatoes and I bought a couple of chicken breasts that I roasted for more meat, and put it all together with the gravy and peas and carrots and celeriac and sauce made from the broth, and topped it with the mashed potatoes and that was the chicken comfort I’d been seeking on election day.
Although I’ll take the election day results happily even accompanied by disappointing chicken. My favorite description of the red wave was Steven Colbert – “more like a pink splash like you get when you wash your MAGA hat with your Klan robes”. And also this graphic from my friend Jenny.
Even though I haven’t written about it I’ve done a lot of stuff since October 23rd – attended the WI Library Association Conference – on the day I go my orthotics. That for awhile there I couldn’t tell if they were helping or hurting my knee. Now I’m starting to think that it’s the switching them from shoe to shoe. If I leave the orthotics in my running shoes, and don’t try to insert them into boots, and just wear Birkenstocks all the rest of the time, that seems to be the best.
Worked the election – crazy. The UW dorm where I worked has 115% turnout, and they all needed to register day of.
Made a big batch of applesauce.
Taught a pie cooking class at Orange Tree last night and the ovens were quite wonky.
And I guess I’ll leave it here. Otherwise wise I’ll just devolve into complaining about how busy and behind I am. Class is in 15 minutes, anyways.
Cookie season starts Friday. More soon.