Dear Readers,

After a leisurely morning of paging through Traditional Homes, New Yorkers, O!s, Travelers and neaTodays and deciding what to keep, I realized it was one p.m. and I almost (note:  ALMOST) had forgotten about eating lunch.

I went downstairs to the kitchen/dining room area in our Camden row house and something felt weird.  Weird, but good.  But, still weird. 

 I finally realized that we had extra space because we decided to get rid of our old mammoth Emerson microwave oven.   I sighed happily. We’re on the way to achieve our goal to have more space and less stuff.

Hunger pangs distracted me from my sense of satisfaction that the microwave was gone.  I looked in the fridge and took out a container of the world’s best soup.  (Not a paid advertisement, but a recommendation from me to you…Mi Tierra: Colombia, next to the Radio Shack at Browning and 130 in Pennsauken…)

I dumped the ox tail soup into a bowl and turned to put it in the microwave.  Oh, duh, it wasn’t there.  So, I put the soup in a pot and heated it up.  Old school.

I try not to think about the name of the soup while I’m eating it and I tell myself it’s beef soup which probably is accurate, anyway.

My oldest, but smallest cat, Reina, sat on the floor and kept me company while I ate the soup and thought about no microwave.  I had wanted to get a small, sleeker microwave because I didn’t expect my husband who loves appliances to agree to have no microwave.  However, he surprised me because he told me that he had wanted to get rid of it because microwaves are supposed to do bad things to the food.  He said this in much more technical terms, but I boiled it down.

Technology is funny.  First, it was great to have a microwave.  I do remember when no one had a microwave.  That’s when the dinosaurs ruled the streets of Camden?  Now people are worried that it’s not so great to have a microwave oven.

I washed the bowl, the pan and the spoon.  We never got around to getting a dishwasher.   It’s a one-person kitchen or maybe a two-very compatible-person kitchen and it would be hard to put in a dishwasher.  With only two people and three cats at home, we don’t need a dishwasher, anyway.

Now I’m going to return to sorting magazines while Reina naps nearby.  What a peaceful day.  I’m loving it.

Written by Marguerite Ferra, Cramer Hill

PS  Now you can find me at    Margueriteblogs.com             I decided to pay a little bit of money to have my own address.  Hope that is helpful for you.