7ToF: Fruit salad, fresh air, Burts Bees, and filling up

1. When we first moved to Montana 26 years ago, it seemed so exotic, like we were moving to the edge of the known world. It felt like a Real Adventure. Then we got here, and realized that there is an entire country north of us, a vast country, and we're nowhere near the edge of the world. Really it's astonishing how ignorant I was about Canada before we moved here.

2. But that's not the point I was going to make. Montana is gorgeous, and there are plenty of world class outdoor adventures available, but it is also pure Midwest. A small town in Montana is going to bear a remarkable similarity to any town anywhere in middle America. And that means that we do POTLUCKS. Often. When our church has a potluck, there is enough food to feed twice as many people as are there, and you can feel your arteries hardening just looking at the spread. I adore potlucks.

3. So after 26 years of experience with potlucks, I'm telling you that if you don't particularly like to cook, the answer is fruit salad. All you do is buy a bunch of fruit (apples, bananas, and grapes at a minimum) and cut it up, and everyone loves it. If they're not too outrageously expensive, throw in a pint of blueberries, or pomegranate seeds, or sliced strawberries. If it's February and all the fruit is sad looking, you can stir in some vanilla yogurt, but I usually just go with bare fruit, since after it sits for 30 minutes, it creates its own dressing with the fruit juices.

4. As a fruit salad aficionado, I've been intrigued recently to see a new development: fruit and veggie salads. Just like a regular fruit salad, except with chopped up carrots or halved snap peas or even bits of radish thrown in. It's great. I've had green salads with oranges or strawberries or blueberries plenty of times, so it makes reverse sense, I'd just never thought of it. Thumbs up.

5. There are lots of cool things about winter (XC skiing, alpine skiing, ice skating, fires in the fireplace, Christmas), but one of the things I don't like is having the house all closed up. I like fresh air. So we've still got windows open trying to get every last bit of non-frigid air before the cold sets in. The longer I live here, the harder it is to remember the good things about winter, especially since the last two winters have been truly harsh. I'm really working on not feeling a sense of dread that winter is inevitably closing in.

6. Is anybody else having post-menopause chapped lips? It started for me a few months ago, maybe back in May or June. Some days it's so bad that I have to put chapstick or vaseline on in the morning so I can get my mouth open. Dean told me the name for it, which of course I can't remember right now. He's got me using over-the-counter cortisone cream, which helps, but I'd really like it to just go away. If you have any advice let me know.

7. I'm a little bit proud that I have never, ever run out of gas. (excuse me while I stop and knock on wood.) So it was odd the night before last when I had a long, extended, very vivid dream about running out of gas. I was on an interstate, and hadn't even noticed that my tank was low. I realized I was completely out of gas as my car died. When I woke up, I was so distracted by the vividness of it and by bemusement at the fact that I ran out of gas that I missed the obvious dream interpretation at first. If I managed to schedule this correctly, as you're reading it, I'm on a quick trip to the west coast, so I hope that next week I will be all tanked up. Maybe I just need a few days away.

Have a great weekend!