this week in my kitchen :: blog hop ::

I've been peeking in at the goings-on of others' kitchens for the last couple weeks via posts linked up with Heather's 'This Week in my Kitchen' blog hop.  I've gotta say, I'm digging not only the recipes and nutritional inspiration, but the spying into others' kitchens as well.  there is just something fun and liberating (good to be reminded that other people's kitchens do not always look like something from a magazine, either) about being welcomed into what is often truly the center of one's home.  especially when the majority of the people whose kitchens I'm glancing into are essentially strangers.  it's like invited and even encouraged spying.  I admit maybe when I'm out walking I like when I can peek into other houses.  not in a creepy way, I mean like from the sidewalk as I pass by, not like I'm in the bushes outside your window.

and so, this week I finally decided to join in.  I've been wanting to for a bit and now that my mother's extended hospital stay isn't the only thing occupying my mind and body, I'm finding myself stretching back into other corners of my world a bit.  slowly nudging back into the garden, bee watching, work, sitting outside in the sun thinking about something other than chest tubes and X-rays, blood cultures and blue plastic gowns.  actually preparing meals, instead of relying heavily on instant oatmeal at the Family House, takeout burritos and salads from the cafeteria and spring rolls from the Trader Joe's down the street from the sprawling hospital.  it feels so good to go to sleep with my phone who-knows-where instead of right next to me just in case an urgent call comes in.  for we've had a few good days in a row now, people, and I'm looking up, up, up from here.  she has been out of the ICU for a whole week now and the focus is more on PT and trach collar trials instead of on just keeping her stable.  BIG steps.

how quickly I go back into that world as soon as I start thinking about it...... but for now, back to the kitchen.  it's possible this post should be titled "Breakfast in my Kitchen", since that's about all my photos show.  I guess the morning light in there is just that much more inviting.  that, and by dinner time I've often already satisfied my picture-taking urges for the day and the growling bellies speak louder than any artistic eye could ever manage to.  and so, some photos, that show the true story of a week filled with quite a few blueberry and turmeric-dyed hard-boiled eggs, hot drinks, pears, and an occasionally clean (really lovely, decades-old and peeling) countertop.  also featured, our metal fairies, purchased to put outside but they never made it that far, some of our soon-to-be-planted seeds and some older comb with capped honey from one of the hives (we removed a fair amount of it before installing the new bees into the empty hive in order to allow them to draw out some of their own comb) that we plan to crush and strain to get a little more of the sweet stuff.

join in if you'd like!  once we've spent a little time in each other's kitchens, we'll be much less like strangers~