Lughnasa Waxing Artemis Moon
After the early work, breakfast at Pappy’s Cafe, a new fine dining experience in Andover. I’m using the Apple Valley criteria for a fine dining restaurant, silver and real plates, but, no cloth napkins. Close anyhow. Pappy’s reminds me of those little places you pull into while on the road. You know, the one in the middle of a now largely empty business district in a town with only a main street and two blocks worth of business space.
The food is good, hearty downhome fare. We went to Pappy’s first a Friday or so ago for the the all you can eat fish fry. Just like Wisconsin without the beer and schnapps.
The only disheartening part about Pappy’s is the general clientele. It’s like he put out a sign that read, BMI 30+? All you can eat! I looked at the folks there bulging, slow to get up, slow getting down, busy at shoveling in pancakes or all you can eat fried fish and all I could see was a visit to the ER with chest pain, ruined backs and bum knees, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
(William Howard Taft would have loved Pappy’s.)
The stomach on this body is not what it used to be, not at all, and I understand the struggle to control spread. It’s tough. Still, when I see several kids who are large, I begin to wonder about our culture overall. In fact, I asked Kate if she saw kids with high blood pressure? Yes. Due to weight? Often. Do you take blood pressure when you see kids? Yes, from age 3 on. It used to be the guideline was age 12, now we try to find it when we can still control it with diet. OMG.
We also talked about this peri-retirement experience we’ve had while Kate recovers from her hip surgery.
She likes it. “I can spend more time with you, we can just go somewhere. I can plan projects, get more done. I don’t feel like I have to get myself ready for work. I didn’t have to do charts this morning for example.”