The first step is admitting you have a problem.

And a problem, I do have. Well, many problems. But I'm only going to admit to two of them at the moment. First, I am not the most organized person. Second, I collect recipes. And they're not organized. At least they're all confined in one location, mostly.

There are, of course recipes on sticky notes that are placed in various places through out my kitchen.



Junk mail envelopes make great recipe cards.

Some of them are well loved. Very much. And not very legible. But you know a good recipe when it's smeared and splattered with ingredients. Not to mention that it makes opening up to a specific recipe very easy.

The sad thing about this is that I'm not much of a recipe follower. I'll look at a recipe for a basis, then I'll throw in things and omit things based on my preferences, but the majority of my cooking is done by looking in the cupboard and seeing what stands out as a good addition.

Yeah, I have a recipe problem.

I'm missing the mountains.

"You don't know what you've got until it's gone..." Not that the mountains are gone, but my ability to hike in them is gone for the moment. I took for granted the good health I was feeling, and the strength I had gained. Then, literally overnight, it was gone. Having the herniated disc completely compress the nerve root made it difficult to bend, twist and lift and reach, and even more difficult to walk. Where I had been feeling strong and limber one day, the next I was feeling like I needed to join the silver haired elderly in their walkers. Hopefully the spinal procedure will work it's magic and allow me the blessings of visiting the mountains again. I need to shift my perspective to a WHEN, not if. Otherwise, I'm handing myself a life sentence. When. I will make it back up there. It's just a matter of when.

Small, small glimpse of what I'm missing.