This is Vader, on the morning of August 6th, 2022. A tenant had given him a stuffed animal to play with. The maintenance guy, who also happened to be one of my helpers when I have too much to do in my workroom, took the picture and sent it to me. “We found this little guy abandoned in the sink in the janitor’s room when we got our stuff. One of the apartments had been vacated in the night. Can you take him in?”
When the child was a child
It walked with its arms swinging,
wanted the brook to be a river,
the river to be a torrent,
and this puddle to be the sea.
I have been very fortunate in my life. I have been to Africa a couple of times, not just for vacation or a safari, but also, I was allowed to work there for a few months. Africa! When I say the word, you can hear the love I feel. It’s the same tone of voice that I use when I say “Hi, honey.”
I stayed behind with our dogs for a couple of days, a decision my husband and I had made together, while my husband hoped for a miracle five hundred miles away.
I couldn’t find the right words for it, and was unable to pinpoint my desire. Did it even have a name? The wish to have less restlessness, to be less overwhelmed, less of everything? Less cleaning, less sorting, fewer worries, no overthinking?
I hope you will never hear bombs, child
and hide in bunkers for hours, sometimes even days
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Many, many years ago, in the last century, before I got married, I landed on a Spanish Island called Gran Canaria, part of the Canary Islands, which, interestingly enough, is closer to Africa than to Spain.
How did I become a pompous ass? I am not sure. I wasn’t raised to be arrogant, quite the opposite.
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If you follow the famous cooking blog RecipeTinEats, then you know Nagi and Dozer and their story—and you have cooked many of the wonderful recipes.
