“Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day. Monday, Monday, sometimes it just works out that way” – doesn’t this just seem like a good metaphor for the events of last week at this time? I am kind of obsessed these days with the Mamas and the Papas’ music. And, this famous song title certainly fits the bill when describing last week’s presentation of “Monday”.
I often have songs swirling around in my head and they form there at the initiation of certain circumstances. I do not call them there. They just come. Monday, Monday and “Where have all the flowers gone” have kept returning to my consciousness over the past few weeks. Today, I am just thinking that the first day of the work week often sets me on a reorientation of the “list”: What do I have to do this week? Boy, how things have changed in this regard over the last seven days.
Well, suffice it to say, the list is going to be completely reoriented today. While I might have ordinarily accumulated a list of a few new recipes to try in the baking department over the weekend, I am still without oven power and so those will go by the wayside. Today, I will be confirming an appointment with the roofer, beginning to clean up the tree damage in our yard (only one clump of 3 large trees went over), and deciding if I need to travel to a friend’s house to do some laundry. Basically, I will try to pick up where I left off on last Monday. I have tasks to do related to the house projects I have going on with contractors where I have essentially lost a week of time – I’ll get back to that. I found myself thinking over the weekend that an entire week of our lives were essentially sidetracked with this silly person named Sandy. Lots of people were forced to try to keep up with their jobs during the aftermath, including my husband who flew out last Sunday to Atlanta and then flew into Dulles on Wednesday and drove home from there because there were no other options. And, since most of the people he deals with don’t live in the northeast, it was business as usual for the remainder of last week. Today his office in NJ is still closed but the Company is offering bus service into Manhattan.
I for one, find it fascinating to see how many people who don’t live in the affected areas are oblivious to the storm’s impact and are like, “where are you and what is your problem – why haven’t you gotten this done?” I don’t remember it being this way after 9/11. Everyone was just stunned into silence then. Granted, I am incredibly lucky to be in the position to think relatively lightly of the inconveniences from this particular storm. Yesterday, we drove to Pennsylvania to get gasoline in my husband’s car. What I really don’t understand is that all the way to Pa, the stations in NJ had lines or no gas, but as soon as you crossed the “border” into Pa there were no lines and plenty of gas. This seems bazaar to me. Ok, I digress.
It would appear that another storm is coming on Wednesday – a nor’easter, supposedly bringing with it winds of up to 50 mph and possibly some, um, snow. Ok, Mother Nature is obviously not finished playing cruel games with us here on the east coast, where October and November are usually relatively placid months, weather-wise. Just over a week ago, I was sitting on my patio sunning myself on a 70 degree day, for goodness sake, and trying to soak in some last badly needed IUs of Vitamin D. Oh well. I have found the perfect house in Santa Barbara and, boy do I wish we could just move out there now. Lots of people say we could die in an earthquake out there, but considering they get 300+ days of sunshine and the temps are usually in the 60s and 70, I am willing to take that gamble. I know it is annoying for me to keep talking about Santa Barbara so longingly, but, really? why do I live on the east coast?
Anyway, today I wish for everyone a day of relative normalcy. I am hoping for the simplest of things – a regular mail delivery, to look outside and see the lanterns “on” on my garage after dusk, to be able to walk around my house without tripping over extension cords, to hear the comforting hum of the dehumidifier in the basement, to turn on the oven and cook a “regular” dinner, to run the dishwasher, to go to the gas station like it was just one of those things you do – pull in and say, “fill it up, please”, to sign onto my own computer, taking pictures and being able to use my photography package, to get a delivery from my friendly UPS man. Life is so funny and I guess it might be a very good thing to have a jarring experience every once in awhile so we can wind up saying to ourselves, wow, aren’t we fortunate?
Let’s just hope this week’s iteration of “Monday, Monday” is a lot different than last week’s. Wishing a better week to everyone out there!
And for those of you still without power but with a gas range:
Ten Great Things to Make on the Stovetop:
-Chicken Noodle Soup
-Ina Garten’s Lentil Vegetable Soup – for 1/2 recipe add 1-2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning – thank you Christin Hanley – maybe she did get the gene after all!
-Pot Roast or Short Ribs
– Crabmeat Frittata – just put a lid on it to finish
– Savory Crepes with Tarragon Cream Chicken
– Pork Chops with Apples
-Mom’s Spaghetti Sauce
– Toast and Jam – well not on the cooktop but if you have a broiler that works
– Roman Chicken
– Desperate Days Pancakes – see the blog
Please send along your additions to this list – so that we can all have “fun” when the power is out but we have a gas cooktop!