Tonight's Menu

Ours might be construed by those
unfamiliar with the intimacy of
a long marriage, as a strange strategy.
It is a distinct reversal of the norm
where one considers a menu of
possibilities consulting one's taste
preferences and moods and makes
a suitable selection, enjoying the
fragrant aroma of the food as it is
presented with appropriate fanfare.
The ritual which we two share in
the intimate interior of our comfortable
home is one where my husband has
accustomed himself to appraising the
fragrance lingering in my hair to
inform himself what, precisely, he
will be faced with morning, noon
and evening for his appetite-stirring
delectation. Take this evening, as an
example; ginger-flavoured chicken
along with roasted cauliflower and
sauteed tomatoes, with a blueberry
pie for dessert. The morning menu
had been erased when, after a sun-laden
walk in the breezy woods nearby our
home, my hair took on the fragrance
of trees, rustling leaves, and trails
steeped in the muck of an evening
rain. By late afternoon, however, the
menu flavour was discernible via
deeply inhaled breath in very close
proximity warranting a hug and kiss.