Strawberry Fields Forever! in A New Beginning

We have an excellent strawberry patch this year! It is full of blossoms and small green strawberries, and in a few weeks we will be SUPER-busy picking ripe berries! :o) !! I hope to be able to keep us and my sister Sandy supplied with delicious ripe strawberries for three weeks maybe. I don’t remember how long they last....but the plants we have now are called ever-bearing, so I guess that means we will keep getting them as the summer goes on, though probably in smaller amounts.

Speaking of strawberries, I (the fruit person at work) had a big tub of sliced frozen (thawed, of course) strawberries to dip up for the kids today. I also had a flat of ripe kiwi fruit. Thank goodness Sophia doesn’t order those for me very often, because it took me a long darn time to get those ready! I peeled them and cut each one into four slices. I certainly don’t think anyone would want to eat the rind of a kiwi fruit! I ALSO had pre-packaged red grapes, fresh pineapple spears (which also come pre-packaged), fresh apples and oranges as usual, and dipped-up diced pears and fruit cocktail that was left from yesterday. AND in the cold wells on my serving line, I ALSO had lettuce and tomato cups, pre-packaged raw broccoli, and (gack!!) the last few cups of pickled beets. Hot vegetable choices today were sweet potatoes and cauliflower. Main entrée choices were: chicken tenders, meatball sub, or cheeseburger. Days like today make me exceptionally proud to work in school food service!

One of my co-workers, Tabitha, was out for three months. She just came back this week, from having a baby. She had a baby girl, born three weeks early but perfectly healthy. The baby weighed only four pounds and a few ounces, but now she is up to six pounds! :o) !! I’m so happy for Tabitha. Her firstborn, a little boy, is three now. He was born VERY premature, and has cerebral palsy. But he is cute as a button, and smart. Most likely, she says, he will never be able to walk. Tabitha is 25. She is from a somewhat poor background, raised by her elderly grandparents because her mom did not want to raise her. But when the grandparents died (within a year of each other, around five years ago), the mother showed up to take the house and whatever money there was, so Tabitha couldn’t have it! My full-time co-workers all feel very superior to Tabitha (though they are friendly-enough acting to her so that she will talk to them, and give them more reasons to talk ABOUT her), but I actually admire her. She seems to have her “shit” just about as much together as I had mine when I was 25, and I had so many things better than she has them. I’m assuming that my other co-workers have ALWAYS been as utterly perfect as they are right now, of course! ;o)

Anyhow, I am glad Tabitha’s back. Though while she was out, we had Bradley working for us. He’s a young man who just graduated last year from our school; his mom is cook at one of the other schools. Bradley and I became work friends. I will miss him. I like young co-workers. They tend to not be as full-of-themselves as some people who are old enough to know better than to act and talk the way that they do!!

Now I’m going to call my entry done, and finish cooking supper. Two more days of work this week, and they (like today) are going to be nice cool days! I love it!!

hugs and blessings,
Nicky