Dinner will always be the noon meal around here

Every so often I tell people this, just so it's clear what meal I'm talking about.  I realize the vast majority of people consider the evening meal to be "dinner".  I came from farming people, and on the farm, dinner is the biggest and most important meal of the day.  I remember visiting Uncle Leo and his family; at straight up noon, Uncle Leo would come in all sweaty and tired from whatever work he was doing in the field.  He and Uncle Carl helped one another a lot with farm work, so sometimes he'd be there too.  Anyway, they had been working hard and were starving, and they expected a big meal.  Believe me, Aunt Mary knew how to set a table fit for hungry men (and kids).  And she could do this while spending the morning canning green beans and tomatoes, too.  
Before Mother married, she worked at various farms as a "hired girl", and she used to talk about how those farm hands (my dad was one) could eat.  If we had visitors that really scarfed their food down, she would say, "This is just like feeding threshers!"
She loved to see people eat.  
So yes, Dinner is at noon here.  
One faithful reader expressed surprise that we are still having our main meal of the day at noon; she thought that once Cliff retired, we'd move the main meal to suppertime. (yes, that's supper.  Not dinner.)  
Now that Cliff gets up by 6 A.M. and goes to bed by 10 P.M., I haven't been cooking an evening meal at all.  We both need help with our weight, so we agreed to eat something like a bowl of cereal or a small salad for supper.  If there are low-calorie leftovers from dinner (the noon meal), we might partake of those, but only small servings.


As I expected, squash bugs have pretty much wiped me out of the zucchini business.  In the past, once the squash plants were dead, they moved on to the cucumber vines and killed them also.  I have already replanted zucchini and cucumbers; last year I was able to keep the squash bugs from killing the late crop; but I never count on anything.  They've wiped me out too many times in the past.   
I think I have enough green beans to pick today to go with our rib-eye steak.  Yes, we're having steak again.  We have to use up last year's beef!  It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.  We'll also have corn on the cob again, since it's ready.  Oh, and Pennsylvania red cabbage, which I haven't prepared before.  
I've mentioned before that when I was growing up, Mother called corn on the cob "roasting ears".  However, to my childish ears it sounded like one word.  I thought it was "roastinears" until I was almost grown.   
OK, I'm off to pick some green beans.  

Christmas will soon be over

I have written before about the fact that I'm pretty much ignoring Christmas this year: No tree, no cards, no Christmas letter (although I have a "Jesus is the reason for the season" sign out in the front yard). I had, at one point, decided to write a Christmas letter telling family and friends about Cliff's heart surgery, and expressing our gratitude to God for his full recovery... then my printer quit working. Perhaps when I get another printer, I'll send out a New Year's letter. Or not. At the request of two grandchildren, I agreed to cook a Christmas dinner for the family; that will be tomorrow, and I'm preparing what I can today. As I get older, cooking a big dinner wears me out. Who knows, maybe as I devil eggs and make pumpkin pie and Oreo Delight, a bit of Christmas spirit will creep into these old bones.

I've had people express concern at my holiday funk, and ask why. Gee, if I knew, I'd gladly tell them. It just happens, that's all.

Seasonal depression is not new for me, and I patiently wait it out, knowing it's temporary. Every year on New Year's Day, my attitude takes a turn for the better. New beginnings, taxes paid, propane-buying season half over.

Resolutions form, and usually about a quarter of mine actually work out. One of them always has to do with weight loss, and this year is no exception: The only difference now is that I have five pounds to lose, instead of the usual 20 or 40 or whatever. Evening snacking and my new TV-watching habits (thanks a bunch, Joanna) have taken a toll, but not such a huge one after all.

God bless us, every one.