I just realized what is wrong with me. I’m in a rut. You know the one, maybe…where life is moving smoothly along and nothing much is happening; certainly nothing worth writing about, and you don’t feel particularly sad or happy or really, anything. You just get up in the morning and do the things you have to do: shower, dress, brush your teeth, etc. You go to work, you eat the meals that keep you going, you do some of the things that you like doing: reading, watching a movie or a show, making phone calls, checking email, but there are no real highs or lows.
Maybe it’s just the heat talking. My last post was a 1-day relief in a 2.5 MONTH stretch of hot, humid summer days. I don’t want to complain about sunny summer days, but after a week of 90+ temps, I feel I have the right. Yesterday the house was 90 degrees INSIDE when I woke up to go to work. That’s ridiculous. It wasn’t even that hot outside at that point! GAH.
The other night when I went out to water the flowers and vegetables, I was standing over the potato patch and saw, at eye-level that the evil thornbush was full of fruit…that smelled quite nice actually and were bigger than I expected for a bush that I had tagged in my mind as a useless invader who has only been allowed to live because for about 2 weeks each spring, it’s beautiful. It explodes in March with millions of little white blossoms and generally looks like a wedding cake for about 14 days.
I knew the bush had fruit, but I’ve not paid that much attention to it, figuring it was some sort of berry that birds might eat but not people. And the last two summers we’ve been gone for the entire month of July so this is the first summer that I’ve been home to notice and also close enough to actually pay attention, thanks to the potatoes. I picked a couple of the fruits…they’re a bright yellow, about the size of a cherry. But they’re not a cherry. I posted a photo of them on Instagram and asked for help identifying them. Lots of answers and guesses…narrowing it down finally to decide they are mirabelle plums! Totally edible and quite sweet. Good for jams/jellies, cakes/pies, or fermenting into wine, etc. Huh! Who’da thunkit?
Apparently, they are BANNED in the US, because only “true” Mirabelle plums can come from Lorraine, France and import laws restrict them. There must be SOME sort of small yellow plums around, in America…it’s a big country. What a weird thing to have banned. Anyway, the wikipedia pages I researched don’t say anything about it being found in Scandinavia, but do mention that they grow wild as well as domestically, in the European continent. So, serendiptiously, it turns out we have TWO bumper-crop-bearing fruit trees in our yard!
I’ve never cared all that much for plums…not sure why. It’s just not a fruit I grew up eating much, for some reason, so it’s not one I prefer or purchase, though I have always like them when baked into a cake or pie (disclaimer: I suspect I would like pretty much ANY fruit baked into a cake or a pie. Mmmmmmmmmm pie). I have already given away a liter bag to 1 friend and am taking 2 more to friends at work on Monday. What we have leftover will probably be…baked into a cake or a pie. Heh. Or maybe Anders will get creative and make some plum chutney. I never cared much for cherries either, until I moved to Sweden, and was given a cherry tree the year I turned 40.
Anyway, back to my rut. If it’s not the heat, maybe it’s post-project let-down. I’ve had a really busy spring and early summer with lots of things going on and lots of visitors. Now that’s all done and there’s not really anything on the agenda to anticipate quite yet, or for a long while. We are tentatively considering trying to go to the States for Christmas this year, but still have to make some definitely decisions. Maybe it’s just that I’m working all summer, while everyone else is off, and playing, and obviously enjoying the heatwave. More power to them, since even if heat is not my thing, I fully understand why most everyone else is so thrilled about this summer. It IS unprecedented, and I am NOT complaining about the sunshine. Just the heat part of it. Which I know, I know…that’s what the sun IS. But oy vey, I’m kinda ready for fall.
Maybe it’s just aging. Or empty-nesting. Or menopause.
Maybe it’s all of the above.
Whatever it is, I’m plumb tired of it. Time to pull a Moonstruck, slap myself and yell “SNAP OUT OF IT!”
But first, time to go google plum pie recipes.