NAVIGATING THE RHUMB LINE

In navigation a rhumb line is an arc crossing all meridians of longitude at the same angle, that is a constant bearing as relative to true North.  It is used to plot the course of a seafaring vessel.  My fiancé, who is a sailor, says that while it is used to plot a straight line between points, during the voyage the boat often either purposefully or accidently veers off course, but if you know where you’re headed it will direct you back on your way.

Life is like that.  We have goals or dreams that we aim for, we plot our course, pack our bags and set sail.  Inevitably though, something unforeseen crosses our path – a storm of epic proportions that causes us to seek a safe harbor and hunker down until it passes – the siren song of lazy, sun washed beaches where we can get lost for years – the jewels and spices of the coastal marketplaces can hypnotize us with their promises – but eventually, hopefully, the still small voice we hear when the sun kisses the sea goodnight and slips under the horizon whispers to us and recalls to our mind the longing to press on, and so, leaving behind worldly distractions, we climb aboard and resume the journey homeward, to a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

If you were to look from a mile high vantage point at the course of my life, you would swear a drunken sailor was at the helm!  Criss-crossing the rhumb line time and again, going in circles, sometimes veering dangerously off course, but somehow miraculously coming about and continuing on with even greater momentum.  That’s because, like I say in the About description of my blog, God is at the helm.  He knows where we are going.  He knows the way.  And He knows what I should experience and learn on our travels.

The timeline of these past events goes something as follows: 

I was born in Minneapolis in 1962, moved to Dallas as an infant with my mother and father where 3 siblings were born, my parents divorced and remarried, (other people) we moved to Whitesburg, Kentucky for two years while I was in high school and where my step-mother had a baby boy.  We then moved to Woodbury, Minnesota where my twin sisters, the bonus package, were born.  I ran away from home and ended up living with my mother and step-father outside of St. Paul.  I quit high school and got married at 18.  My husband and I moved all over the country, for various and sundry reasons, and I had a son when I was 22 and a daughter at 25.  We then landed in Canal Fulton, Ohio in 1990.  I got my GED and went to college, divorced then married my second husband, travelled the world and lived happily for ten years – and then my husband died.  I have since been engaged twice, (this one is a keeper) …and THAT is the sketchy outline.  It will be helpful to my readers to be aware of these autobiographical notes, because I will be taking quantum leaps from week to week as my memories travel through time.

When starting out on an adventure, I have learned that a hearty breakfast is the best way to begin, my favorite being biscuits and sausage gravy.  I was first exposed to this toothsome treat when I moved to the Appalachian Mountains of Southeastern Kentucky.  In the shadow of Pine Mountain, I tasted the billowy biscuits covered in a hearty, meaty, black pepper speckled cream gravy.  Yum – yum!  Since that time, in the mid-seventies, I have travelled across this great nation in search of reliving that magical mountain moment, to no avail.  No restaurant can imitate the goodness of homemade gravy, or the delicacy of fresh from the oven biscuits.  Luckily, this past year, while visiting my friends in Whitesburg, they made me, at long last, the dish I remembered from my youth – and it was worth the wait!  After devouring the contents of my plate, I asked what the secret was to such fluffy biscuits.  LARD.  Lard is what makes the best cat’s head biscuits.  Now, if you haven’t tasted a biscuit made with lard, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.  Be not afraid – the lard is with us!

Ingredients and Instructions for Country Gravy:

1 pound ground mild sausage

1/3 cup flour

4 cups whole milk, or half and half, or a mixture of both, but definitely not skim

½ tsp salt, more to taste

1 ½ teaspoons black pepper

Brown the sausage in a pan until no longer pink and is in large crumbles.

Reduce the heat to medium low and sprinkle the flour onto the sausage.  Stir them together until the flour is absorbed.  Cook for 2 minutes to cook off the raw flour taste.  Slowly stream in the milk while stirring constantly.

Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the gravy thickens in about 8 – 10 minutes.  Add in the salt and pepper and taste to adjust.  Country gravy is usually heavy on the black pepper.  Serve over biscuits.