Time in hand waits for no man… and darn few women

Time

Time in hand waits for no man… and darn few women. 

A saying from the old timers in my life, like my dad, Rick’s dad, my uncles, grandparents, etc. It is true, very true. 

Take this year, it was only a few days ago that I was lamenting because I hadn’t gotten my garden planted. (I never did get one planted this year.)  Now it is September and the gardens are almost done. Whatever happened to June, July and August. They went poof and are gone. 

The Bible puts it this way. “Our lives are but a vapor.” In other words, like fog, here for a time in the morning and then gone. Not only are we realizing that this year, but also in our lives. It seems like only a few years ago we moved back from Missoula, but that was 44 years ago. Rick and I celebrated being married 50 years in July. Wow, time has flown by. 

I do find that I think about life differently now than I did in even my 40’s. I will turn 71 in a few months. I assumed that life would go on just like it was going when I was 40, I would be able to do the same things until one day I would just be gone. I didn’t think about what happens to a body as it ages. I can’t do what I did 30 years ago and what I can do takes longer. 

What would I do differently if I had thought about things in light of getting older? I am not sure I would have done anything differently. I have enjoyed my life and everything we have done. I certainly would have married the man I did. I would have spent the years I did caring for my mother. I loved living on our farm and doing farm things, in fact I still enjoy those things, but it does take me longer. I would have still gotten involved in the farmer’s markets and grown the gardens we did over the years. The only thing that I would have changed is maybe anticipating the aging process a little more. I would maybe have not assumed that nothing would change. That kind of gave me a shock. 

Rick turned 80 this week, and while that isn’t as old as it used to be, it is getting up there, He also can’t do what he used to, but he loves me and he loves the Lord. He is still my rock, and I am learning to pattern my aging after him. He spends more time reading the Bible now, his faith is deeper and makes me want to dig deeper in the Word also. 

So yes, we think about life differently as we age, but not in a bad way. Just recognizing that we don’t have as many years left as we have already lived and that is okay. We will live the ones we have left with just as much faith in our God as we did the ones before. 

Fried Cornmeal cakes, or Hoe Cakes

2/3 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup self rising flour (add 1 teaspoon baking powder and a dash of salt to 1/3 cup flour)

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 egg

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

Fat of your choice for frying (vegetable oil, lard, bacon grease, ghee, etc.)

Whisk dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Beat the egg and buttermilk smooth in a separate bowl. Pour wet into dry and stir just until combined. It should be thick but just pourable, add a little more buttermilk if needed. Heat ¼ cup fat in a skillet. Drop fatter by spoonfuls into hot oil, flattening them slightly. Fry for 2-3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towel lined plate. Serve hot with honey or maple syrup.