Tuesday, March 29, 2022                                          (today’s lectionary)
Eating all day with Jasper
Along both banks of our river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow. Their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Jasper and I spent the day together yesterday, while Margaret was still in Illinois (she returned on American Airlines last night), and Andi and Miles returned to Austin Classical School after spring break. We read books, several of them, while we cozied up together under a big blue blanket.
Later we put the books down and sat in our big chair and told our own story. About a family of bears, and their hunger for honey, and their friendship with bees that made the honey, and following the bees to a big tree. What do you think happened next, Jasper? I didn’t understand all his words, because he was talking so fast. And when he finished, he put a giant exclamation mark on … what happened next. Yes!
Jasper helped me with the laundry while we Facetimed Margaret. He stood on a folding stool and tossed socks and hankies and t shirts and underwear and one big black towel into the washer. He named each thing as he tossed it. Margaret and I realized he doesn’t need toys; everything is fun for him, and helping us do our work is the most fun of all.
Eventually we were hungry, and Jasper began eating an apple, chewing a canal right down the middle all around, then widening it out. Then we got serious and made some polish sausage and sauerkraut, along with potatoes and apples in our frying pan. We fried a tortilla and piled cheddar cheese on it. We made apple juice cocktail, sauerkraut juice and V8 cocktail, and drank the juice from frozen sweet cherries we thawed for a smoothie.
Other than two tortillas, we didn’t have much bread fit to eat. After almost three weeks the only thing was a package of hot dog buns. (Why they didn’t get moldy is a question I don’t want to ask, or have answered!) They tasted great. Jasper had a piece of our sausage on his bun, which he dipped in French dressing since we couldn’t find the ketchup.
We found some applesauce in our pantry and got very excited. Jasper had applesauce with cinnamon. I spread pimento cheese on my hot dog bun, then lined the cheese with a nice leaf of romaine lettuce and filled the spread-out lettuce leaf with apple sauce. Really good! I ate the whole thing. Jasper chose not to have even a single bite.
We took a road trip around the apartment complex, first to the dump and recycling center, and then to the office. Jasper is accustomed to eating cookies at the office. The words “office” and “cookies” are synonymous for him. But there were no cookies today. Luckily, he knows where I keep a Christmas stash in my closet, so he got a cookie anyway.
“What’s in this one, Grandpa?” White chocolate and cake, I said. He crammed it into his mouth and grinned.
We both took a long nap after such a busy morning, and told each other another story, this one about a monkey named Curious George. He’s easy to make up stories about. We slept more than two hours, and by that time Andi and Miles were coming back from school. We made a smoothie for everyone from our red sweet cherries and juice, pineapple, frozen banana and pineapple pieces, heavy cream and cold water. While it mixed, Jasper covered his ears and Miles stood right beside our nutri-bullet and laughed and screamed.
“How is it?” I asked Miles. He pointed his thumb down. I tasted it. Then he laughed and said, “It’s delicious!” At five years old, Miles is learning how to tell jokes.
Why am I writing so much about food? We didn’t focus on food any more today than usual. But we did get creative, because I haven’t been to our HEB for groceries yet, after being gone so long. No milk, not much bread, only two eggs (which we didn’t eat). But we found plenty! God is good.
Every month our trees shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.
(Ezekiel 47, Psalm 46, Psalm 51, John 5)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
#
