Karma Kitchen

This house has ghosts, and they love to cook. I can sense them beside me at the counter, adding a bit of this and that. I can hear them whisper instructions, and feel them guide my hand when I measure out ingredients. They are undoubtedly an asset. Never in my life have I concocted such wonderful, savory meals. Never has a loaf risen so obligingly, a roux browned so perfectly, as in this kitchen.
Incidentally, they also love children. When Cloe was the only child here, she would run and laugh and play with her imaginary friends. Now with the babies, it feels like a protective force here. I feel very safe with them in this house. Yesterday, Ruby and Wyatt started laughing and smiling at the wall. It was either the lamp, or something else I wasn’t seeing. It doesn’t frighten me. No more than the random whiffs of smoked country sausage that fill the air every now and again.
So our journey starts here, in the Karma kitchen, which is why I am naming this blog exactly that. In less than two months we will leave these ghosts, and embark on what some may call a foolhardy adventure. Just us 5 Crawfords (6, including Enzo, Jacob’s black lab mix Alaskan love child), a camper, a 4 Runner, and what few possessions we will need for the journey.
The coming weeks will be filled with list making, dry runs, and last minute revisions. Jacob has been preparing the camper, and the truck, while I try to incorporate day to day chores into my own prep. For instance, I want to use cloth diapers the whole trip, and that requires not only buying a tabletop hand washer, but also learning how to use it well. So what I need to do is order one, and use it here like I would on the road. That way, I will know what I am getting into. I tend to procrastinate, so this preparation stuff is going to be a good exercise in do-it-nowism.
Hopefully, this blog will allow me an opportunity to think aloud. If I can get it down here, the rest of me should soon follow. It’s like mapping it out for myself. Once we get on the road, I will be able to reflect here, and share the memories that we will undoubtedly be making.
When we return this Fall to our little country home, and it’s haunted kitchen, I imagine I will be very happy to arrive. I will be more than thrilled to spend another winter cozied up to the wood stove with my family, waiting for spring. Until then, let restlessness rule!