Craving Routine & Cucumber Salad

Over the course of my tenure as a mother, I’ve learned that I crave normal. Routine is easier on me and on the children. Same old, same old. I just can’t get enough of boring.

Of course, life around here is never boring. This summer brought chaos to our house, even more chaos than our seven children normally produce. For the last month or so, each morning before 7 a. m., we hear air compressors, nail guns, hammers, saws, or a machine (whose name I don’t know) that knocks holes in bricks. A backhoe now lives in our backyard, and my clothesline is temporarily dismantled.

The kids couldn’t be more thrilled. I’m fairly certain they couldn’t be more underfoot, but the carpenters take it all in stride, giving even the little ones important jobs along with a smile or two. So far my children have chipped way at mortar on bricks, held boards and chalk lines, carried wood and nails, and operated a forklift-crane sort of machine on a delivery truck. They also make sure to set out a water cooler and cups each day for the workers.

And despite the fact that their mother keeps trying to pull them away from the action to do their chores, the kids can (and do) tell you about each step of the building process so far. Their questions about what what comes next are endless, and every other sentence out of their mouths is about their new heroes, the men working on the new addition to the parsonage. 

The names of the workers fall from the lips of the children so often that you’d think they are family; they’re so nice to us that I wouldn’t mind if they were family, especially since, thanks to their skills and hard work, we’ll soon have some extra room in our home. 

This is the kind of chaos I can live with.

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The garden is in full swing around here. Cucumbers, beans, zucchini, peppers, and even the blighted tomatoes are daily on our table. My husband’s favorite garden delight this summer is cucumber salad. I make a sour cream dressing that’s simple and soothing in the summertime heat. Simply peel and slice your cucumbers (and tomatoes and onions if you have some) and pour this dressing over the top, give it a quick stir, and you have summer in a bowl. My grandmother also used this dressing over lettuce.

Sour Cream Dressing for Cucumber Salad

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp.  cider vinegar

Mix all ingredients and pour over cukes.

*This column ran in the Hancock News on August 24, 2017. (The pictures were not in the newspaper.)