A steaming beverage and good conversation mend most worries and heartaches, or at the least, lighten the emotional burden. Every fall and winter, I move into the hot drink season where a plethora of soothing beverages in mugs accompanies me through the day. It begins with coffee then transitions to various teas and hot lemon water until the evening is met with my new favorite liquid consumable, adaptogenic mushroom cocoa — not the hallucinogenic variety.

About a month ago, my neighbor sent a text asking if I wanted some of her fresh basil which was growing in abundance. Together, we clipped a bagful of the herb, then she loaned me her “Moosewood Cookbook” so I could use the basil to follow the book’s pesto recipe. That afternoon, I made the most delicious homemade pesto pasta that even the pickiest eater in the house loved. 

Given the harrowing natural disasters in the South, I thought a good book to review this month would be one that might serve as a source of solace and peace to those who are currently struggling with these catastrophes.

We hoped he’d die in his sleep, that we’d find him curled up in the bed in that old, familiar way, having slipped as comfortably and naturally from this dimension to the next as a river flows into the sea.