The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window

So many ways of looking at a thing

June 6, 2011

Listened to the show Saturday and it was not bad. I meant to sit down and write on Monday but it was so hot I couldn't do much of anything. The only thing that made Tuesday better was the wind. Lovely, strong wind burning through the trees. Oh, and the toffee ice cream I picked up Monday night helped make Tuesday bearable. The temp in my car was 106 at three in the afternoon. I felt I'd been dipped.

I'd run out for some paper towels and a container of Baby Bella mushrooms for burgers, and as I entered the grocery store, I heard the screaming child. I don't mean crying. I mean screaming. And it didn't stop, for twenty minutes. Everyone in the store could hear, and everyone had been or would eventually be out in that heat. Tolerance was low. When I at last caught a glimpse of the mother at the checkout, she looked rather of it. Glazed. She was smiling and humming as if her child wasn't screaming in front of her. Out the door they went, out into the hot heat, and a quiet fell over the store.

People shook their heads. I didn't, but might have. On one hand, that woman ought to have removed her child from the store in the first minutes of tantrum. On the other hand, she seemed to have found a fine way to manage her stress, and her child got some serious exercise, and it was no skin off my elbow. I'd cry too if I were wearing a wet diaper and stuck in a cart and unable to find the right words for how I feel.

I love that there are always so many ways of looking at a thing. Which is where we get arguments, and I always did love a good argument. If I were to argue now, I'd speak on the side of compassion, for having it, and for exercising it, whatever that means. Because it makes sense to me. Sure does.

Seems when it's this hot, a slice of sweet bread will fill a person up til the next meal. Try this one out, and if you don't share the second loaf with a neighbor, throw it in the freezer.

Rhubarb Bread

1 1/2 c diced rhubarb
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2/3 c. oil
1 egg slightly beaten
1 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
A pinch of cinnamon

Topping -- 2/3 c. granulated sugar mixed with 2 T melted butter

Mix brown sugar, oil, and egg together. Sift salt, soda, flour & cinnamon together. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk to other mixture. Fold in rhubarb and nuts. Fill 2 lightly greased loaf pans 2/3 full. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 325 for 1 hour.

Enjoy!

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