Welcome to the blogspace!

Click on the post title to view and to leave comments. Thank you!

Published on
Picture
"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.
10 Comments
Dotty Seiter - 7 years ago
Jen, thanks for this update and reality check on your healing journey following surgery all those long weeks ago. I am humbled by the life circumstances both you and your sweetie have been living since July, now with sweetie's virus thrown in the mix. A grocery cart, weighed bags, and soup this week—some celebration there! thumbs up (even if not shoulders up)!

I see the whole story in Can-Do-Can-Do's hair : )
jen - 7 years ago
ha! Dotty, I suppose her hair does tell the story! And there is absolutely a celebration in here...even if it is followed by ice packs and rest. :)
Judy - 7 years ago
So happy you are making progress . I understand all of your pain since I have had to deal with the same for the past 15 years fro Lupus and a car accident. I hope you will fully recover and so hope your dear husband recovers quickly. Add some pastina as your noodles for Italian Chicken soup! Blessings.
jen - 7 years ago
Judy, you are one of the strong women who inspires me every day! Thanks for the Italian soup tip...I will pick up some of those. :)
Christine - 7 years ago
beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! I am also a soup maker/lover, and I feel the love in this post. homemade soup + love = much potent healing power flowing in your home. be blessed beautiful friend!
jen - 7 years ago
Soup! It could heal the world!!!! Thank you, Christine!!!
Sheila Delgado - 7 years ago
I love soup and I am a firm believer that soup is love in a bowl. Congratulations to you for attempting and surviving the trip. And on top of that making home made soup! Quick and pain free healing to you both :)
jen - 7 years ago
"Soup is love in a bowl" - what a great phrase! You should be a soup marketer, Sheila!!!!! Thank you for the healing wishes...hubby feels better already!!!
Carol Edan - 7 years ago
Nothing like chicken soup for all that ails you! Hope hubby is feeling better! Made some soup yesterday for my bad cold, which is on the mend. Like I said on Instagram, she is a true queen!
jen - 7 years ago
Hubby is much better!!!! I would have sent you soup, too, if I could think of a way to get it there...:) Feel better! And thank you....this one does have something regal about her!!

Author

Lola Jovan

Picture

Learn more about Lola!

Get Mail!

* indicates required

Intuit Mailchimp