Yippie ki yo ki yeah!

I found me a butcher. For two years Alan and I have been tolerating cardboard tasting meat. I thought I had a butcher back at our old haunts, but that didn't come to fruition. I don't like it when I order something then three months later it still hasn't come in. I mean, how difficult would it be for a TRUE butcher to find a source for lamb or duck?

So, today a neighbor told me that one of our neighbors works for a butcher in his spare time -- he's a student at NKU. And so I did a little scouting and found the store and yes, yes, yes there is a true butcher on the premises. They cut their own beef -- they get sides and make the cuts fresh twice a week. (Tuesday and Friday). So if I go on Tuesday or Friday I'll get really fresh cuts of meat. And he was willing to order me veal and lamb and duck. I'm a happy camper. Boy, am I a happy camper.

I put a chuck roast in the oven as soon as I got home, topped it with potatoes, onions, and carrots, and will serve it with fresh tomatoes and basil salad. Yes, I am now getting fresh, home-grown tomatoes, right from the vine, with just a little green still showing, or not. And after last week's experience with testing the tomatoes I know they are really, really good. They do, after all, taste like tomatoes -- isn't that the true test of any food? It must taste like it's supposed to.

I guess kids today, unless they were raised like mine where I stalked the farmers' markets all summer and used the freshest fruits and vegetables I could get, and canned a lot, don't even know what a good tomato tastes like. The tomatoes in the stores are NOT good tomatoes. Even my favorite produce market doesn't have good tomatoes. I know the difference, and Alan knows the difference.

So, I'm getting ready to make my favorite tomato and basil and onion salad -- Alan likes it too. My only regret is that I won't be sopping up the juice with Italian bread, since we've cut out bread for at least one more month.

The pain in the knee is worse today than it has been for months, but the butcher shop required only 8 steps to get to the case where the meet was displayed and where I could talk to the butcher to place an order, then 8 steps back to the car. Not bad. And at the farmer's market I lucked out and got a parking space right next to the first truck which had my tomatoes. So, I thank the Lord for answering my prayer -- Please let me get close enough not to have to walk too many steps to get what we need.

I'm set for at least a week.

Bible study tonight. We're still working through the book of Mark. Since I last the last couple of weeks, I'm not sure which chapter we're enjoying tonight, but I know it will be enjoyable and helpful and a blessing.