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A Morning Practice64
 When I wake up in the morning, always looking toward the window to see if
the light is on, I wonder if there are vegetables in the ice box bins to
eat later that day. Sometimes there are carrots, or green beans, or eggplant,
or cauliflower. And I feel a deep pleasure, in my center if I know this.
 Then I can get out of bed, with my sore joints, totter into the bathroom
and sit on my new tall toilet, relieve myself of the night's water, and know
I can go to the kitchen and prepare vegetables. With strength returning I
get to the kitchen, my soft shoes on and my bathrobe snapped, and take out
the vegetables before I turn on the morning radio. I heat some Starbucks
coffee in the microwave and arrange the pills for the morning: one orange,
a half white, two blue and two jellycovered. I make a big glass of water:
ice cubes from the freezer with water from the tap. And decide on carrots
first.
 I peel them into the sink, to put them later into the compost pail and sit
down gratefully on a step-stool in front of the radio, always tuned to Wisconsin
Public Radio. I cut them with a good serrated knife on a wooden board that
pulls out from the counter-top. I practice the rolling cut, Chinese style,
and the pieces are nice — not slices, not chunks, but something Chinese
and appealing.
 If I find an eggplant, I have to decide whether to peel and chunk it, or
slice it thickly. If sliced, I leave the skin on, salt it and later pat it
dry so I can grill it on my Jenn-Air stove, with olive oil for basting. I
consider chopping some garlic and putting it into the olive oil, but I don't
want to interrupt my cutting.
 If I find green beans I better use them first so I take off their heads,
sometimes break them into pieces, sometimes leave them whole, leave the tails
on, since I have found these are good to eat. I often soak them in cold water
for a short time, not all day, to restore their fresh look.
 If it's cauliflower, I take off the green heavy leaves and cut out the central
stem, leaving as much as seems tender and put all these discarded pieces
into a plastic bag for the freezer to