We Dodged a Bullet

The photo above, taken on my cell phone, is a picture of the sun making its appearance between the two buildings on the morning after the storm. 

Monday morning after the storm.  We got about 8 inches here.  Not bad at all. Now comes the sloppy part.  City snow never looks pretty for very long.  In one day it turns into a dirty, gray, icy slosh.  Needless to say, I move fairly slow on these days.  Actually, I didn't get to seem much of it.  The bulk of the storm occurred at night during sleep hours, and by the time I arose on Saturday, the prettiness had already begun to wear off.

I was so glad this wasn't a cooking weekend for me.  For one thing, we had plenty of food on hand since cooking weekend is also shopping weekend....and, I didn't have to venture out in the snow to buy anything. Last weekend I tossed a few ingredients into the pot and made a chicken soup that was out of this world.  I took containers out for my Saturday lunch and, along with some white rice, a Sunday dinner. Ingredients included: chicken, red, yellow, orange, and green peppers, carrots, celery, spinach, tomatoes, onions, no salt chicken broth, garlic powder, rosemary, fresh basil, and a touch of cayenne to add a little spice to it.  I always use different colored peppers when I cook, something I learned way back when when I took a course in catering.  We tend to eat with our eyes first, and the even the simplest foods taste amazing when they look pretty.   

On Saturday I made some applesauce.  I'd told hubby to buy me some fruit for snacks as we prepared for the storm, and he'd forgotten that I cannot digest apples so he came home with six of the most beautiful apples I'd ever seen.  Made my mouth water to look at them, but I knew better than to even try so I cooked them up. Afterwards, I just sat in front of a marathon of Valentine's Day love stories on Hallmark and did some off and on reading. Finished my book on birds and picked up "On the Right Path: Walking Through God to Get to the Goddess" by Tara Black, a somewhat true story of one woman's  transition from Christianity to witchcraft. Here is the book description:

From hallelujahs to spells, and crosses to cauldrons, On the Right Path:Walking Through God to Get to the Goddess, is the story of one woman trudging her way through Christianity and organized religion, until she found the right path for her. That path happened to be Witchcraft.
Tara is a confused child with open minded parents, stuck in a fundamental Baptist school. This contrast fuels her on a life-long journey to discover what it all really means. After a failed stint as a wanna-be pastor, she stumbles onto Witchcraft and slowly discovers the Goddess.
Funny, serious, and informative, this story takes you through a struggle to live without the confines of organized religion through the eyes of a woman.

  

It's not my usual type of book, but I have to say, it is truly engaging and I love it. There are parts of it that remind me of the young me who searched for belonging during childhood.  And, although my church was very liberal, I could relate to the author on several levels--fear of going to hell, thinking myself as 'bad', feeling like the 'odd girl out', and bursts of hyper religiosity in order to 'save' myself. 

And so now, it is time to shower and prepare myself to venture outdoors and onward to work.  After being housebound for three days, it certainly isn't easy.  It's weekends like this that remind me how easy it would be for me to become a hermit.

Hoping you all have a great Monday and a fantastic week.