parsnips and cherries and the bomb and the end of the world

Recently I added parsnips to the grocery list. Do most people even know what parsnips are? Could you find them in the grocery store if they weren't labeled? They look like large white carrots. I put them in a parsnip and split pea stew that I make, and it is tasty - I see that look of doubt on your face. But David, my husband, couldn't read my handwriting and bought papayas instead. Needless to say, I made another trip to the grocery store since papayas would not have worked in the stew. Then David complained about my handwriting. This is from the man who once put "hairs not" on the grocery list. This was in the early 1990s when we were first living together, long before cell phones were common. I got to the store and had no idea what he wanted. When I got home I asked him and his answer was "It doesn't say 'hairs not', it says 'hair snot'". Oh, thanks for the clarification. He called the hair gel that he used then "hair snot" and that was what he wanted me to buy.

Since I'm on a roll with food, David bought the first cherries of the season last week. Fresh cherries are great - one of the things that I look forward to in late spring and early summer. Now that I think about it, I like almost all fruit. (I know, insert your favorite gay joke here. I once joked that I brought the ideal food to a lesbian and gay mixer - fruit salad.)

One of my patients emailed me today to thank me for refilling her medication. She said that I was "the bomb." Hmmm, I'm pretty sure that's a compliment, but I've never called anyone "the bomb" before. The patient is older than I am, so I am guessing that she picked it up from her 20 something kids.

Oh, and the world didn't end on Saturday. Will these doomsday cults never end? I guess that I shouldn't say more about religion so that I won't offend people.