June 11, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. Machines.

A box was delivered to our door, which is not unusual. But this one needed a signature so I stayed home while Ken went with Kendria to his therapy. I left it to Ken to open when he returned but he seemed uninterested so I left it on the counter. He could not recall ordering anything interesting but eventually he opened the box containing a machine. For a while he could not figure out what it did but finally decided it was a machine to make a drink. I just laughed. As he does not drink any alcohol, I do not understand why he would order a shiny machine that when you add fruit, sugar and yeast you produce cider...hard cider. Over the years we have owned many machines that we used for a bit and then stopped so we were left with machines taking up space. From the kitchen cabinets to the garage to the Goodwill was the path. Right now on our kitchen counter is a Bullet that makes smoothies and other drinks. Lourdes assured me I needed one so I could get healthy, so Ken ordered one, which we used for a few months. Now it sits. We have owned pasta makers and bread making machines, And food processors both large and small. And we had a juicer, given to me by Susan K. to help me get over my first bout of breast cancer. We even have all those machines in Nova Scotia too. Eventually we stop using these fancy machines and eventually we give them away. When we sold our big house on Franklin Street, we made a rule, that if we had not used an object for one year, we would donate it, Ken would say it was my rule but he agreed. After all, we were moving to a condo. Unless it was a family treasure, we just donated stuff to the the Greentree Shelter. One evening i walked past Ken when I was carrying an expensive food processor. Ken asked what I was doing with it and I told him I was taking it to the truck of my car to be donated. He was astonished. But I told hime that he had not used it for over a year, so out it went. I will soon take the new shiny machine into the pantry, awaiting attention. If Ken does not use it, I will move it to the garage. The next step is Goodwill, which is just up Highway 51. In our house, the machines come and the machines go. It is inevitable.