A New Direction

So...then I ended up in a kitchen after all. My kid the chef got a job out east, at a farm stand cafe, farm to table type stuff. They have sandwiches and salads and all fresh organic kinds of things.  They also have fresh baked things.  And no baker.

Carrot cake loaves

 Sooooo...once again these words left Katie's mouth: "oh, my mom's a baker!" After some back and forth,  I now spend my weekend mornings doing what I love. I had forgotten how quiet the world is at 5:30 AM. Sometimes when I walk out my door, the air smells like I remember the mountains in Virginia smelling,  that fresh clean air. It's a half hour drive for me to the farm.  My observations :
There's a reason is called Sunrise Highway. Especially if you happen to be driving east at 6 AM. Sunglasses mandatory.
There really are some beautiful areas on our island, the Pine Barrens,  the way the mist plays hide and seek through the trees, the sun rising on the river.
There are wild turkeys on the island.  How did I never know this? Seriously. A family of them running along the edge of the woods this morning. I think it was a family.  Maybe it was a herd. A flock? What the hell does one call a bunch of wild turkeys?
There's an awful lot of raccoons here. I fear many of them were not taught to look both ways before crossing. I find that sad.
I enjoy working with my kid. How does that even happen?

The farm. Garden of Eve. If you think walking to the barn to open the doors for the day doesn't take me back to the summers I spent on my grandparents farm in Georgia, you would be wrong. The smells,  the rows of carefully tended produce, the red of the barn...yea, all of that. Then Katie made a cup of coffee for me this morning (such a good kid!) She poured the milk and stepped back, sly little grin on her face waiting for a reaction.  There were lumps in the milk. I think she forgot that, all those summers on the farm,  all those years ago,  we got our milk directly from the source,  in a gallon glass jar, and the top third of it was cream. I can't decide if the best part of this new direction is that I get to do what I enjoy,  or that I get to actually have real, in person people to talk to.  I fear that,  having worked from home for so many years,  I may have lost some of the

social graces. (I'm not sure, really, that I ever had any to spare) Perhaps I really need to get out in the world again,  among actual people.  Can sitting by myself in my home office, cursing out loud and scaring the hell out of my dog really be healthy? I'm leaning towards no. I have worked in restaurants before.  I was damn near raised in a deli. I realize now how much I actually liked those jobs. I love baking,  making cakes and breads and cookies and all those delicious things that make people happy. I kind of blush a little bit when Katie texts me three hours after I've left for the day to tell me that all my stuff is selling.  Maybe it's  time to think about what I really want to do with the rest of my life.