Three Beautiful Things 12/01/14: The Smallest Things, Showcase Preparations, Cabbage Dinner and Stew

1.  Mom waters her house plants every Monday.  About three weeks ago, she was watering them and I could hear her grunting in pain and I was struck by how she had to sit and rest after watering just a few plants.  She has about nine or ten plants that she moves puts on a towel on her dining table to water and about half of these plants are above her head, on the refrigerator and the buffet.  Watering her plants is about a fifteen minute job, at most, and it was taking Mom much longer than that.  I stepped in and Mom gladly gave way and now I've got the hang of it.  I can do this job just the way Mom wants it done.  So, today I watered the plants.  I got it done in no time, including dusting the television, a key task on watering day.  I know that because of her pride, Mom would prefer just clenching her teeth and doing this on her own, enduring the pain and fatigue such a simple task causes her.  It's a small thing for me to help out.  I'm remembering back to when Dad was so ill.  Mom is not in the terrible shape he was in, but one fact connects them:  the smallest bits of of help make the hugest difference.

2.  I finished writing a draft of the introduction to the Shakespeare Showcase and then had a good talk with Sparky about the Showcase and, to my delight, I established contact with Marcee with whom I will be the Showcase's co-narrator.  I am eager to get together with Marcee and get acquainted and practice the work we will do together.  I'm really stoked that the narration, which I've done solo over the last few years, is now a shared task and can hardly wait to work out the alternating between a man's and woman's voice.

3.  Early today, I unearthed a chunk of London broil out of Mom's freezer, and, after I made Mom and me a cabbage and Polish sausage and boiled potatoes dinner, I browned chunks of London broil and sauteed celery, carrot, and onion and threw it all with water and bullion and seasoning into the crock pot and tomorrow Mom and I will have a simple stew featuring slow cooked and tender chunks of the London broil.