The things I learn

Knife skills. I never thought I'd be learning knife skills at 59. I've been cutting vegetables for at least forty five years but all I was really taught was "cut away from yourself, never toward", which is good basic advice but nothing like the techniques I'm learning from Chris. I thought he was just magic, the way he cuts vegetables so tiny, especially onions, but more and more I'm learning that, though he is magic, cutting vegetables is about technique and having good sharp knives. This morning when Ruth was teaching the first session of her college class and I was making lunch, Chris gave me an effective lesson in mincing an onion. It worked - smallest pieces I've ever achieved. But there is more than that to it. If we weren't living together it never would have occured to me or Chris that he knew an ordinary kitchen thing that would make my life easier and my food tastier. We woulodn't have known and trusted each other enough for this morning's lesson to have occured. I think the thing I like best about the co-housing is the natural interactions that occur among us, the real connectedness without having to plan and design it.