Beginning The Day, An Essay On Pleasure
Awareness came as a gnawing hunger. It was light outside, quiet and still.....maybe.....a good day was coming. Moving from the bed to the toilet & to the , then shower back to the bed was quickly accomplished. Pulling on clothing & shoes, grabbing the attaché case, keys, wallet, passport & phone was a matter of 5 seconds. Closing the door then heading down the short hall to the kitchen took no more than 3 seconds either. Upon entering the kitchen a burst of fragrant aromas engulfed the senses as did the radio welcome, "Dobra ootra Kyiv!" echoed by the 3 females there as well.
"Spaseebah! Dobra ootra tozha!" was the reply upon sitting at a place at the small table. A glass of keffir, a stekan of tea (chai), a small plate with black bread, tvorog cheese, some strawberry jam & butter was there as well. The females chit chatted with each other as he ate the bread & cheese, drank his chai & thought about the upcoming day ahead. The older female set a platter of butter-slathered varenyky in front of him and then dropped several large dollops of sour cream on top of them as well. All was right in the world! Vareniky, strong chai, keffir, blackbread with tvorog & jam.....all signaled that the world was doing well by him so far today.
He stabbed a varenik with his fork, swashed it through a dollop of sour cream, passed it between his lips & bit down into it. The delicious taste of potatoes, cheese & onions caressed his taste buds. The next varenik was filed with cherries and again it was a pleasurable tatse surprise. Mixed flavor vareniky always made the morning even better?!
Finishing the vareniky, bread, cheese & jam his keffir & the stekan of chai took little time but it made the day worth starting. "Spaaseeba bolshoi! Eta ocheen koosnah!" Spoken upon rising from the table and directing this at the females. "Pakah do seevoyna vaycherah!" This day had begun!
© Donald R. Houston, PhD, 2006-2009 All rights reserved.
