Yesterday morning I had breakfast with my friend T. We've known each other for years because for a long time we lived on the same street and would often casually drop in on each other. She says she misses this and I do too!
I share a lot in common with T-- when I met her she had been working in the largest animal shelter on the West coast. Now she is an EMT. In fact, yesterday when I came over around seven, she had been up since 4 am due to a call she received on her overnight. I was grateful she kept our planned breakfast despite clearly being tired.
Like me, T loves animals, and has an interest in anatomy. When we are driving down the road together and see roadkill, we exchange a look that says, "Shall we go for it?" We've been known to skin dead animals and T knows how to cure the hide to make beautiful wall hangings. T also likes to check on roadkill and make sure it isn't still alive and just concussed. It is from this practice that my ex and I acquired our cat Oliver Twist, a cat she rescued from the side of the road late one night in Alviso, who remained with my ex after the break-up. I also learned from T that most roadkill lying on the side of the road died from a fractured skull, since with other injuries the animals often make it off the roadway.
T is thoughtful and cares about the environment. It is she who first put the seed in my head that installing solar panels and going off the grid might be a better use of money than remodeling the kitchen say. And in fact, just before my marriage ended, my ex did get solar power thanks to my advocating for it.
We might be similar in some ways, but T is a much, much better cook than me. And she likes to cook when I come over. She says cooking for me is fun because I'm not picky and so she can experiment with new recipes without worrying as much about the outcome. For my part, I'm eternally grateful when anyone cooks for me, and I find her food very tasty.
Yesterday she wanted to try out a new crepe recipe. I ran home (I still only live a few minutes away) and got the remaining blackberries that I picked along Lake Washington in Seattle with J. T cut up some apples from her backyard and sauteed them with some jam. So we had crepes with wild blackberries, apples, and some peach jam made from peaches in her backyard. One thing I love about T is that she is not wasteful with food and eats what her backyard offers instead of letting it rot. Here is a shot of her overburdened apple tree in the early morning:
And below are some apples in the process of being turned into apple jam:
After breakfast we had a long talk, about everything from interracial relationships to careers in medicine. Before I left T let me gather a bag of tomatoes, apples and peaches from her backyard that would otherwise go to waste. Crepes, conversation and free food, does it get any better? Thank you T!
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