a happy meeting

I had an injection today, administered painlessly by a warm and charming nurse, Jeannie. After, we talked for a  long while, she was a kindred soul, who spoke of her happy childhood with a dairy-farmer father and hardworking mother, loving parents who instilled in their kids a strong work ethic. The talk turned,  as  it often does, to food. Everything was homemade and most of it came  from their farm, and sitting down togethr each night for dinner was a given - they always waited for their dad to come in from the field, no matter what time that might be. She spoke of her grandma's root cellar, filled with the pickles and applesauce and other foods her grandmother put up, and the baskets of potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables that sat on the cellar floor. Today, Jeannie cooks very much in that style, with a husband who enjoys food enormously. Our conversation was an unexpected treat and one that I'll remember. I'll think of her tomorrow when I bake apple bars and, if I have time, a batch of applesauce.