Gratitude

Part One

For mid-October in Philadelphia, it has been cold. The temperatures have been in the forties, and there has been a lot of rain. Cold rain.

This cold, rainy morning in the shower, at 5:40, I was going through my ritual of mentally and emotionally preparing myself for the day. I asked myself to name something I am grateful for. I struggled.

All I could come up with was being grateful that A. had a better day yesterday than the day before. He had had a happy day, all excited about losing another tooth.

I tried something else.

I was grateful that the only problem found at my dentist appointment was the need to be flossing better.

I was just going through the motions.

When I pulled into A.'s school, the security guard waved me in as usual. He was standing out there with his hood up, his face almost disappearing within it. I suddenly realized that it has been warm and sunny since school started. I thought about how he will be out here in January, too.

In A.'s class, his teacher was out sick for the second day. Other than missing her, everything was as usual. When I asked if they needed help getting A. settled, there was no need. They were covered. Greetings, smiles, energy in abundance. J., an assistant, told me she has been working there 10 years, since she was 20. She wants to be there forever.

On my way out, I thanked the security guard, and asked him how he was holding up on such a nasty day. He simply replied smiling, "this is what we do."

Yes, I thought. You keep a whole school of blind and visually-impaired students safe.

On the drive home, on winding, wet Lincoln Drive, the traffic suddenly slowed, and the car ahead of me came to a quick, skidding stop. Just coming around a curve, drivers were confronted with an overturned car. Someone had stopped to help, and was talking on a cell phone. I followed other cars, carefully making my way around the scene, muttering and gasping as I went. Emergency vehicles were on their way.

I kept thinking about the security guard and the good cheer of the school staff. I wanted to spend the morning baking cookies to show them my appreciation.

It was tempting, but there was the list of chores waiting for me on the kitchen counter. I promised myself that even if it had to wait until Christmas, I would do it.

Part Two

Today I baked these pumpkin scones. Two dozen of them.

Some are for O.'s school snacks. I ate two at lunchtime, sitting on the patio steps in the sunshine.

They are perfect. Not too sweet or dry. The dough was easy to work with.

I brought some in for A.'s classroom staff at pick-up. I put them on the table, saying only that I had been baking that morning. No one but me will remember that rainy day 10 days ago.

Cookies still seem right for the security guard. Another morning I will bake them.

A Fresh Start

This is A.'s big school bag that has accompanied him to 3 years of preschool. After a month of sitting idly in the kitchen collecting fallen bits of flour and rubber bands, it's now all cleared out and ready to go with him to his new school, a school for the blind. We are so excited for our guy and have big hopes for him.

Meanwhile, O. is well into the routine of 3rd grade.

A big change this year for the girls is that they can either bring or buy their snack. No more trays of fruit, veggies, cheese, and bagels being brought to the classroom.

So, after a couple days of her buying goldfish crackers, I decided a little comfort and nourishment from home was needed. A muffin-baking excuse was created.

I've been baking a little more Italian recently, biscotti and semolina bread. Usually, I make half my batch of biscotti without nuts, which O. prefers, but this dough was so sticky, mixing it on a board, that I ended up throwing the nuts at it while dough stuck to my fingers. I had no idea how I could possibly divide the dough in half. So, after she tried one biscotti, eating a hazelnut by accident, and feeling like she would "throw up" as a result, I've been feeling guilty. These are blackberry muffins, with what might be the season's last blackberries from the Chestnut Hill Grower's Market.


I adapted a recipe from one of the most versatile cookbooks, Simply in Season. In the background are two loaves of European Peasant Bread I made from a book I use nearly daily, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.