Plot twist: These scone archives are about to un-winter.
Ahem. Do regard the following as an utterly personal press release.
PSA: For the first time in six years, I will not be spending a long (long, long) white winter with the dried beans and cabbages. I’m switching out the Steger Mukluks for sweet mangos.
Okay, let me explain a smidge. Perhaps you’re acquainted with my sporadic insta and noticed I already took a ‘summer hiatus’ last month to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
It’s true, lucky me. The intention was to cherish the sun + vibrancy + tropical fruit (galore) of coastal Mexico before the road closes here in the park. It made sense.
Indulging, while I could.
Avocados, mezcalitas, papayas, pineapple, agua frescas, hot salsas, warm tortillas.
All of it was there.
Darling, my broken Spanish was better than ever.
(Props to being on my friend’s Duolingo family plan.)
Yet, let me confess.
I didn’t have much of an appetite for this taste of summer.
Oh, it’s a story and rather long sub’scrap draft on the irony & sadness of not eating much in a ‘foodie’ destination “for another day”. And I do recognize my fondness for that phrase - it lets y’all know that I’m open to sharing. Just not yet.
Until a few weeks ago and an unexpected interruption from writing these missives from the not-so north after an overall lovely and fruitful summer, I was in full winter-prep mode. Readier than ever.
I’d drafted (another!) entire piece on how it was all coming together.
The lessons I’d learned from sorta-homesteading in Alaska, and this stretch of off-the-functioning-road-system solitude in the least populated state.
That’s six whole years of being a “It’s not easy, but it’s worth it” long (long, long) winter person.
“How do you do it??” People would ask.
“Why do you do it??”
“I couldn’t do it.”
Oh, I had answers. Even if they were hardly believed.
Well, scratch that. I’m heading elsewhere this winter. To un-winter.
There’s that plot twist. Boom. Life happens. Opportunities whisper and dive on in.
What a time to leave the country…the continent!!!.... for a spell, right?! Right.
Deep breaths. Right, right, right. On-wards.
So, instead of stirring seemingly endless pots of lentil soup, I’ll be living life, differently. Embracing the change, day by day.
Taking a break from baking bread and perusin’ the freezer stash for fun. Huh.
And full disclosure, I’ve already packed a bag of French-style green lentils, thanks to my long-awaited (okay, medium) entrance into the esteemed Rancho Gordo Bean Club. As if I could resist.
Cause, you can’t really take the super-prepared, frugal yet fancy (?!) home cook out of me….nor the ziplock bag of Maldon salt & crushed chili flakes that’s next on my to-do list.
Come the next few months - starting next dang week (!) - I intend to meander markets, sit with crosswords, talk with humans, cook vibrant veg I certainly wouldn’t have access to this winter in Wyoming (or…ever), write, reflect, er, reflect and write. Etc.
A decade or so ago amidst my then-career in the nonprofit realm, I had the dreamy intention of pulling off a stint as a digital nomad. That both seems so long ago, and not. The phrase was becoming such a thing. Long story short, the timing and contract fell through. What could have been !
And now, look at what’s unfolding.
My timeline shifts, and I can suddenly try out a bit of digital-fauxmad-lite for a spell, while entertaining the truest indulgence of them all: connecting with this latest version of jess, in quite a different remote locale (to me) than the wilds of the lower 48.
Processing life, processing grief, processing politics and the human condition. Embarking ahead.
In non-conclusion, I appreciate you reading these words.
With that, consider this not-so-closed with a wink of continued elusivity.
💛 🖤 💛 🖤 💛
Hi Jess!