ROSES AND RHUBARB

CHRONICLE: ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

Greeting Chroniclers! This week's post is very short and to the point. Keep reading to find out why I'll be taking a short break in the next few weeks. As always, thanks for subscribing and reading!

Roses on display in my garden

This is the week I’ve been dreading and looking forward to. This is the week that prompted me to download Insight Timer (thanks to a friend) and finally begin a meditation practice. This is the week that seemed so far away in January.

This week my aging body is getting its first new part.

This week, two days from now, I’m having a total hip replacement of my left hip.

Prior to this week I thought of myself as a mostly healthy, middle-aged woman with a few aches and pains here and there.

This week when I look in the mirror, I see each gray strand of hair, the depth of each wrinkle reminding me that the twenty-eight year-old I feel like is long gone.

All of this is to say that in the coming weeks, I’ll be on a short break, focusing on my recovery. I also plan to make some changes to Lonely Kitchen Chronicles.

Here’s what I’m considering:

·     Publishing every other week instead of weekly.

·     Becoming active with Substack tools like notes, chat, and video.

·     Instituting a pay wall.

·     Extra content for paid subscribers focused more on personal experience around loneliness and searching for a sense of belonging through the lens of food and cooking.

·     Clarifying the mission statement of Lonely Kitchen Chronicles. If I’m struggling to articulate an elevator speech maybe you, dear readers, are struggling to tell people what Lonely Kitchen Chronicles is about.

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But right now, for today, I’m enjoying the roses on display in my garden. It seems a little early in the season for this gift, but I’ll take it. Another gift came yesterday at my local food co-op where I found rhubarb, always a favorite symbol that spring is here. Later today I’ll be making rhubarb crisp which, no surprise, I’ll be enjoying for breakfast as well as dessert.

Rhubarb at rest

So, take good care of yourselves Chroniclers! If you cook something delicious in the next couple of weeks, I’d love to hear about it and see a photo. Or, if you have a kitchen disaster, and I’ve had many, I’d love to hear about those too. Afterall, recovering from failure is the surest path to success.

See you soon-

XO, Suzanne