Our current visitors leave today. It has been wonderful. However, I'm stuffed to the gills and sick of food. I don't know if it is the glut of alcohol or sugar, but I am lightheaded and slightly nauseous. Of course, it could also be the fact that I keep forgetting to take my daily medications on time. Yeah, that could definitely be my problem. Let's pretend that's it, okay? Now that we have THAT figured out, I am popping the pills I should have taken 6 hours ago. Maybe I will stop eating pumpkin chocolate chip bread, too. Couldn't hurt.
People like to visit Florida, which is good for us because we like having visitors. We have this entertainment thing down pat. T makes amazing dinners and/or we go out to eat. If I make dinner for guests it will either be a stew or pasta. I like stirring the pot, you know what I mean?
Our visitors range from those who only eat french fries and chicken strips to low carb, vegetarian, vegan, diabetic, dairy free, gluten free, food allergies, and everything in between. Got a food issue? We can handle it with one arm tied behind our backs. We like a challenge.
I have a limit though. I prefer people stay no more than 3 nights, although I can manage 4 nights without losing my mind. If they stay a full week, I start hallucinating.
Not only do I forget to take my pills when I have company, I stop remembering to breathe. But I NEVER stop talking or taking pictures. I'm filled with sadness and longing for days after they leave. Sigh. I'm already looking forward to the next bunch. I hope they eat vegetables.
My mother-in-law loved having company too. But she was ready for them to leave after 4 days. That must be the amount of time we can have our normal routines interrupted.
ReplyDeleteMust be.
DeleteIt appears the chicken finger crowd just departed. We had a conversation on the way home tonight, "food tastes best if you make it yourself". America has fallen for processed food.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is killing us, that damn processed food. I am so impressed with the way you've taught Laura to cook. She seems comfortable with all aspects of it, and she also seems to enjoy it. That will serve her well throughout her life.
DeletePumpkin chocolate chip bread sounds wonderful. My mum used to say that visitors always made you happy twice, once when they came and once when they left:)
ReplyDeleteHa! I like the wisdom of your mother's words. Pumpkin chocolate chip bread is divine. The recipe I use calls for vegetable oil, so it is quite moist.
DeleteOne assumes they don't read your blog. Which is a shame because it's like splashing after-shave on my face, a ritual that's denied me because of allergies.
ReplyDeleteYou can even handle vegan! That's tough, unless you eat vegan along with them, a gloomy gustatory life with no horizons.
But I'm going crazy in my own, self-obsessed way. Is one allowed to ask questions? Semi-personal questions, that is. Well you can always not answer.
All my life I've written and handled stuff written by others; corrected and/or rewritten it for consumption in public prints. Good writing is not homogeneous - it can be light, serious, exhortatory, purely informative, formal, idiomatic, all sorts of things. Good writing obeys certain rules (which I won't go into now) but - a really big but - it may also hinge on the breaking of those rules. Also good writing is rhythmically pleasing - within phrases, within sentences, within paras and from para to para. I entered this world with only one abiding asset: insatiable curiosity. Inevitably I became a journalist. I tried to become a good writer but that's for others to judge. Long before I retired I acquired another asset: the ability to recognise and delight in good writing.
You write well. I've said this before, it is an observation not a compliment. But may I ask how this came about? Via formal education, via work, in your leisure time, or were you one of the lucky ones - were you born into it? Refuse to explain by all means, it is your right. But if you decide to explain please don't be modest. You know what you can do.
It might make a post.
Thank you for the compliment. I was a fine arts major in college a million years ago. I took a few creative writing classes back in those days, but I didn't start writing until I started this blog in 2012. I am a stubborn and overly confident American. I decided to write like a talk. I have very little respect for rules, unless they serve a purpose. I learned to trust my own judgment when I studied art. My husband is a musician and has played background guitar chords throughout our married life (47 years). Composition, rhythm, balance, and pattern are non-verbal companions that I tap into without thinking or worrying overmuch. My writing is a conversational style. It's a girl thing.
DeleteThank you for that. The only thing I'd dispute is it's a girl thing; or, if it is, the end-product is indistinguishable from a boy thing. If I summarise the ante-penultimate sentence (which I admire; it doesn't need summarising) I conclude your writing is instinctive. No doubt it is but it is firmly based; those early exercises must have been useful and have stuck. The great thing I infer is that you enjoy writing but sub-consciously you apply certain self-defined diciplines. It's a wonderful place to be. I won't bother you any more on this.
ReplyDeleteYou have described just what has been happening in my house the past five months. I love the visits also, and yes, everybody seems to have different diets and allergies to food. I try my best to accommodate everyone because I want them to come back.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Being a hostess/host is serious business.
DeleteHaving just spent the past 17 days on the road, visiting with family in two locations, I can say it is absolutely the most wonderful thing in the world to be home and sleeping in our own bed. Interestingly, in both places Roger and I did all the cooking. And when we didn't cook, everyone went out to eat. Next time, I think we'll go to Florida! I love the line in the above comment about visitors making you happy twice. So true, so true.
ReplyDeleteYes, Lily Cedar's mother's comment is going to be used a lot now. How nice of you to do the cooking. That IS interesting.
DeleteI think that's a reasonable approach to company -- they drive you crazy when they're visiting, and then you miss them when they leave. I get it!
ReplyDeleteI sometimes need to take a nap mid-day in order to recharge.
DeleteI like that three night limit. If only the visitors would agree.
ReplyDeleteWe usually hand out a bus ticket with a street map and a what's on calendar on day five. And we order take away pizza.
But people who enjoy cooking can always stay longer. Especially pizza bakers.
I like your plan for day five. We only live about 40 minutes from Disney World and the other theme parks. It is very easy to not go when visitors want to do a theme park day or two. We let them take our car, GPS, and give lots of helpful tips and cheery advice. That gives us time to cook, clean-up, shop, read or just sleep during the day while they are gone. Then we are happy and energetic when they return. My favorite part of company is making a big evening meal for them.
DeleteWhen my oldest sister visits, she will often insist on an afternoon nap, which is just about the most civilized visitor activity ever. Just what the doctor ordered. With only an hour or two of afternoon downtime I am usually ready to rock and roll.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the 3 day limit is about ideal... beyond that it can become too imposing on our 'Normal' and be too much interruption to our usual Schedule and routine. I find some food restrictions harder to accommodate and not know what to feed them that everyone else would eat... preparing more than one meal is chaotic for me. *LOL*
ReplyDeleteThe food thing can be a bit much. We often opt for a taco or burrito "bar" as people can then pick and choose (and there are decent gluten-free wraps on the market now). And then we have an excuse to have Margaritas.
DeleteHappy entertaining!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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