The Inventory

"A careful inventory of all your past experiences may disclose the startling fact that everything has happened for the best."  ~ Unknown

My bag of food tricks

I was in the kitchen at work when I realized I had left my 'travel-cooler-bag-of-tricks' on the counter - forever......  Time to take it home. 

This bag was a mainstay for me and had traveled with me over a few years on trips to quite a few places. Camping, Virginia, Washington DC, golfing, more camping, Athens (Tennessee, not Greece), the Lost Sea (admit it, you know where I am talking about), etc.  I typically carried it with food (cheeses, crackers, fruits, juices, chocolates, etc.) so that we always had something to munch on and always supplies to prepare and munch with. 

When I noticed that the front pocket zipper-pull was missing and as I started to zip it shut, I caught a glimpse inside.  I realized I had no idea what was in the pocket, or the bag for that matter, because I had not been anywhere with it in so long.  The bag has been shoved in a closet for the past year.

I started digging through it and found: 1 vegetable pealer, 1 bottle opener, 2 cork screws, 2 old corks, 2 bottle stoppers, a wine tasting book, 1 container of sea salt, 1 pepper mill, a cheese board, a very sharp knife, 1 wire cheese slicer, 3 cloth napkins, 2 small paper plates, a half dozen place settings of plastic flatware, 3 coffee condiment sets from a hotel and a tea bag, 4 tickets for the International Spy Museum in Wash. DC, 1 Metro card, and a list of electronic panel notes that are not in my handwriting.

Why am I writing about this?  I have no idea...  I guess I just wonder how I let it happen. I mean, obviously with 2 cork screws and the rest of the items I found in there, I/we were having fun and always satisfied, right?

How did allow myself to get to a place in my life where I get away so seldom and when I do I don't even remember to carry my bag of food tricks....

Tomorrow I will turn that corner and get back on "my" path in life by preparing for a short personal holiday.  This holiday will include "I have no idea what". I might take Cleo-the-dawg with me.  I probably won't see a soul that I know.  I will just drive, putz, and see what comes up.  I am going to make (and break) my own rules and go by no one's schedule.  OK, except maybe Cleo's schedule if I really take her with me.

BTW, I replaced the zipper pull with a jumbo striped paper-clip!

"Inventory"

"Four be the things I am wiser to know:

Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.
Four be the things I'd been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.
Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.
Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.”
~Dorothy Parker