By May, life had taken new turns. In the middle of what is annually a very difficult time due to anniversaries of death and the birthdays of those who have died, my brother whom I have lost contact with after a short peace making a few years ago after the death of my mother, called seemingly out of the blue. He was asking if we would be able to take Rusty, my mother's collie/golden mix that I had promised her I would take in if anything ever happened to her. It didn't turn out the way I had promised since my brother had taken over all things Mama, but finally I was able to make good on the deal. He drove up from California with our newest bundle of fur. And then there were three. And it was good. And a couple of days later it was time for the Cheese Fest at the Market. Dogs and cheese. Life doesn't get much better, especially if the dogs are big and fluffy and the cheese is strong and plentiful.
Papa Seed entered yet another year of his 40's, and this year we kept it pretty simple with a dinner at Root Table, a Thai/Fusion restaurant with great food and woodsy tables and chairs. The original plan was to have a backyard BBQ with friends and beer making, but this has been a rough year for Papa Seed. He has been dealing with a still undiagnosed mystery ailment since the start of the year. He has been having what we now just call "The Symptoms" (including fatigue, spasms, pain, and ringing in the ear). He has seen several specialists and has had countless tests and yet everything comes back clear. He resolves to just "live with it" but within a day or two of deciding that is back in bed by five, unable to get through the evening. He has good days and he has bad days and he continues to make doctor appointments to see if they can finally figure out what is going on. "They" being people who spent a lot of money and time going to school to learn how to diagnose and treat medical problems.
He does, however, sometimes get the old energy and creativity back up, and makes amazing meals as he did the night he made the above totally delicious "local" meal, with many ingredients so local that they came from his garden. You put in some seeds and sometime later you get something wonderful.
And one seed we planted that we thought no longer would grow around these parts also returned in the Spring. Our wayward Boudu, who texted one early, early morning with an apology and a plea to be picked up at his girlfriend's - an hour drive from where we live - and taken to an emergency room. Many hours and a few prescriptions later, a horrible chapter had ended. We didn't know how often we would see him from that point on, but he clearly was back to his old self - not the crazed creature that had stormed out of our home and lives.
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