up up and away

Tomorrow we are off and away to Europe. The bags are (almost) packed and, more importantly, the loose ends are tied.

I've resigned from my nursing ward (not from the hospital - I will start working in the operating theatre soon) due to a gianormous clash of values and a truckload of unhappiness, not to mention bad practice I could no longer tolerate.

My alcoholic friend has gone to rehab and his family is safe.

At the school where I am chaplain, children are more and more comfortable in my presence and I have things in place for a program or two next term.

The house is clean.

I am ready for a holiday and breathing one enormous sigh of relief that everything has come together. Sounds like perfect timing to me!

(I'll post if I can)

drowning

I feel like I'm kind of drowning here. In busyness and stress, but mostly in sadness.

Our former neighbour was found dead last week. He was, by choice, a homeless alcoholic and they don't really know when he died alone in his van. He was 36.

Then there was the cyclone in Burma. 80,000 people dead? More than a million homeless? Can someone please tell me what that looks like? I cannot comprehend it.

And now more than 10,000 dead in an earthquake in China? Again, my little head is struggling to wrap itself around such wide scale devastation.

We live in a tragic, sad world and right now I cannot gloss over the the pain of our combined brokenness. Yet I can't quite figure out how to embrace (that's not the right word... validate? appreciate? express?) the depth of pain and sadness I feel for these people. I suppose a donation might be a good place to start.

TEAR seem to be getting the aid to the people by partnering with local Burmese aid and development organisations which already worked in the area. Their website has good information on what has happened and what is being achieved if you are interested.

clearing the deck

When Frank and I first married I took my wifely duties very seriously, and set about stocking up the pantry. Frank couldn't cook to save his life (though I will concede he had not yet starved to death) and I had been living with friends, so there was a lot of stocking up to be done. Every week I purchased a few extra items at the supermarket until I was satisfied I had everything I might ever need. The cupboard was... stuffed.

You will understand my shock then, when upon observing a friend's briefly opened pantry I spied almost no food. How did she manage to feed us so well with so few supplies?

I came home and reviewed my well stocked cupboard, realising we had more than enough and I should probably find a way to reduce some of our excess food. When the new year ticked around I resolved to use up all those boxes of dried fruit, sweet biscuits for cheesecake bases and fish stock I might need one day.

Here it is May and I have made some progress. The mixed fruit is almost gone, some of the choc chips have found their way into biscuits, and slivered almonds have augmented a dish or two. I can see extra space on a shelf or two.

But I'm not sure this is really called for...

...pink soup?

I had some left over vegie soup. The beetroot made it pink, but at lunch time there wasn't quite enough for two of us. So I dug out the Cream of Asparagus soup Frank's mum must have bought before we were married. I don't quite know how many years it has been sitting there, but it wasn't rusty so I opened it up and stirred it in to create this pretty brew.

It tasted OK, but I wouldn't do it again.

And it might not have been such a good idea to make that cake with the tin of sweetened condensed milk with an expiry date 2004. But I made it anyway, and even managed to use up the slimy glaze cherries, pineapple and ginger. And we're both still alive to tell the tale.

Now, what can I make with those moth eaten pistachios?

i made this and i feel very proud

Now I'm saving jars in readiness for next year.