Can Do, Can Do

"Can Do, Can Do" mixed media on paper, 22" x 15".  Ready to frame. Available here and at Artfinder.

This week I am focused on what I can do.  After a couple of months of can't, it is time to embrace what I can.  So this one appears in the paint, able handed and upright - she isn't holding anything heavy, but she she still seems strong in her energy.  And the trail of gunpowder left by the cap roll trailing through the sky makes me smile.  Can do - I can hit a roll of caps with a small hammer.

Maybe this isn't a big deal to you...but this week I made soup.  Hubby has a virus and is run down after nearly eleven weeks of being a super caregiver!  And it was time for me to pick up the slack (even a little bit) at home.  

It's been quite a long while since I made chicken soup.  The long, slow simmer of a whole roasted chicken to create the stock.  Carefully de-boning the cooked and cooled chicken to find the choice bits for the broth.  Frying up onions and celery and sage for flavoring.  But this was the easy part.  Hunting and gathering at the supermarket felt like a Herculean feat!

Who knew pushing a grocery cart (even an empty one) could be so taxing?  And the clerk looked askance at me when I asked for each bag to be packed as lightly as possible.  My purchases were literally weighed to make sure nothing was too heavy for me to lift.

But here's the good part - making soup is kind of the ultimate act of love, I think.  A few Christmases ago, I came down with a wicked flu - high fever, chills, ick. My sister, a guest for the holiday, spent the entire day roasting a chicken and making soup.  Hours and hours.  And I still remember it as one of the greatest gifts I got that year.  A warm bowl of homemade soup was just the thing I needed.

Now I am no soup goddess like my sister (who is known far and wide for her broths!), but I like to think the oodles of love on top of the noodles in this week's soup will be just the thing to tell my sweetie how much I appreciate his patient and gentle care over nearly three months.  And maybe, if we're lucky, he will feel better, too.