I love life

by Tasha Tudor

I was thinking about all the people that do great things like teaching classes on traditional cooking and fermenting; people who open great little food stores where I can find the special foods I like to buy or hold stands at farmers markets; the farmers who grow our food not to make a profit but to grow really good food in a good way for us and the earth; for people who make soap and lotions from real ingredients sourced locally and smell sooo good!; and people who are genuinely nice people with attitudes of "what can I do" instead of "what can I get".

I love the change of seasons. People probably think I'm crazy for wanting to move more north than south, especially when I'm older. I love snow in winter, changing leaves and chilly autumns, good rains and sun for spring and not too hot temps for summertime so I can be outside most of the time without dying of heat stroke! When I started to eat more seasonally, I realized how quickly each season passes and that makes me appreciate them even more. It's as much fun to pull out mittens and scarves and crunch around in the snow,  as it is to throw open the windows at the first sign of warmer spring days.

I love simple things in my life: books, good tea leaves, beeswax candles, someone playing their guitar while I cook (they all three play now!), chocolate, french press coffee, the smell of fresh pine needles, blankets piled on the bed in  winter, taking the dog on walks through different trails, eating family dinners every night, hugs from my kids for no apparent reason. I love the reverence at Mass especially at holiday time. I love advent calendars, and receiving and sending Christmas cards, hearing traditional carols over and over again. I love hearing about all the good things my friends eat at foreign restaurants that I couldn't eat but could only imagine how wonderful it must be!

I guess I could write a book about all the things I love. Which is why I felt compelled to say "I love life".