Today we are celebrating our anniversary. Two days early. But it is my year to cook, and I figured that preparing a big meal after teaching until 4pm was not a likely option. And tomorrow night there is an Eagles game, so Rhonda would be unavailable to eat...
So we broke with tradition -- usually a surprise dinner cooked alternately by one of us -- and instead had anniversary brunch. I started with from-scratch cinnamon rolls. Then we took a walk in the woods with buddy. It was a particularly eventful walk as we scared a brood of turkeys who were hanging out in a clearing, and then we watched deer cutting across the path ahead of us. We sat for a while, listening to the trees rustle and taking note of how beautiful it is here.
Then, the real food began. I made (for the first time, mind you) a PA Dutch/Southern staple: chicken and gravy on waffles!! Rhonda was surprised, amused at my selection, and we were both amazed at how delicious it all was. I also made a side of applesauce made from apples picked by the Kallgren children yesterday (thank you!) and we ate outside in the sun. We plopped a table in the middle of the back field/garden area and enjoyed the wonderful strangeness of realizing that in the last of our six years together we changed almost everything. To find ourselves sitting in our garden in Northern Wisconsin is both disorienting and delightful. I know we are both glad to be on this adventure together.
