Gratitude 95: Love Notes Left on the Refrigerator

For as long as I can remember, our refrigerator has been the message board, inspiration center, and magnet holder in our family. I guess it started when the kids were ankle-biters and the fridge was “THE” place to display their artwork, notes from school, schedules, appointments, etc. The kids left home years ago but we never stopped using the refrigerator as our message center. One of the habits we developed along the way was leaving notes for each other on our “message center,” and it didn’t take long for us to start leaving endearing sentiments and love notes. I love waking up in the morning, padding into the kitchen, reaching for the refrigerator door and by chance seeing Richard’s latest note to me. Not to be outdone, I will reply in kind. It is sweet. (Yes, I intentionally smeared the one in the photo . . .  🙂 ) When the air is tense between us, if I’m in the kitchen and happen to glance at the refrigerator door and see his love note to me, I am reminded that we may fuss with each other from time to time, but in his words, “the bottom line is I love you quite a lot.”  Nothing is better than that! I am grateful for love notes left on the refrigerator. 🙂

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Gratitude 43: Stoves and Ovens!

 

This is not a pretty picture, but the stove sure is nice!  I remember camping in the high Rockies as a child, on our friends’ (the Rumseys) homestead outside of Crested Butte. An old miner’s dirt-floor cabin with a picture window overlooking one of the most beautiful mountain scenes imaginable, was our gathering spot.  Each of the two families that camped on the site had tepees that we had made, and that is where we slept, or where we retreated when we wanted privacy.  In the cabin was an old wood-burning stove.  The summer we chose to live on that property was filled with adventure and exploration.  Cooking was a challenge however, and I learned how our ancestors had cooked long before the advent of the gas or electric stove: gathering wood, coal, keeping the embers hot, stoking the fire, etc.  There were no oven gauges or thermometers to let us know the temperature in the oven.  It was all guess-work to those of us inexperienced in the art of cooking on a wood stove.  Despite our lack of experience however, we did not starve, and in fact were able to put together some delicious meals (more by accident than by design.)  At any rate, all of this to say that despite the adventure of rugged camping in the high Rockiesl, I am extremely grateful for my gas stove in our little apartment.