Trying to come to grips with my arachnophobia.
Do. Not. Like. Spiders. They freak me out.
Tag: Random Musings
Elizabeth Berg, Author – her wise words
Elizabeth Berg is a brilliant writer. I follow her on Facebook as well as enjoying her books and I found yesterday’s post both relatable and humorous. Even though I have a very full, happy life it does occasionally occur to me “what if” we just didn’t have all this technology?
I hope you enjoy this and by all means, if you are an avid reader and don’t know Elizabeth Berg’s writing – check her out.
3/25/15 (courtesy of her Facebook page)
“I am aware of the irony of using the internet to complain about the internet. But here I go. My gripe du jour is that I learn something, or download something, and then it changes. And then I have to download something else and I try to, and it doesn’t work. And soon I have all these little downloads having babies, you know, the XXX.1, XXX.2, XXX.3, but nothing works.
I feel sometimes like I’m being bullied by people I can’t see who make arbitrary decisions about things that I don’t necessarily agree with, and that changes are being made for change’s sake. I feel that I’m being pushed into using a new version of blah blah blah and I don’t know why. And I don’t know where to go to get help. To the Apple store? To a consulting service, where I will have to admit that I’m not so very sure that I know what “browser” REALLY means, that to me it sounds like a modification of a pretty good dog name and nothing else?
I get overwhelmed with all this stuff. And just now, after trying to download a new version of Adobe (and there you go, why is it called ADOBE????? That’s like calling mocha chocolate cake, wallaby syllable wrench) I had to give up and go and lie down on the sofa and look out the window. And I imagined a little house like the kind that children draw, with flowers in a window box and fat puffs of smoke coming out of a chimney and green grass standing up straight and neat as a crewcut. And I wanted to open the paper door and go into the paper house and live there because I imagined that even though it was pretend, everything in it would be real. Virtual is not welcome in my life anymore. Same with multi-tasking. Same with sound bites, and twitter. Here is what is welcome in my life: Depth. Reflection. The ability to pay attention to one thing at a time so as to see it wholly.
Kindness. Connection. Chicken pot pie.
I lay on the sofa and wondered if it would be possible to live a life without a computer. I think it would be very hard, if not impossible. But it might be worth it. I thought, maybe I’ll write a book called “OFFLINE” and it would be about how one does that. What would life be like without a computer? And then I realized it would be nearly impossible to submit a book without a computer unless you’re John Updike, who is dead.
Please excuse this rant. See it as Maureen O’Hara weeping as she pounds on John Wayne’s chest. Or, I don’t know, Jennifer Lawrence as she pounds on Bradley Cooper’s chest. There. I guess I just updated something after all.
Now I am going back downstairs to lie on the sofa and read. One page at a time. Under yellow lamplight. The only sound the turning of the pages and the whining of the dogs in their sleep.
I miss my mom today. She hated computers, too. She never would learn how to do anything on them. It used to make me mad. Now I think she was a genius.”
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Enoughness
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I want one of these……..
A rainbow, butterfly kitten-unicorn.
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Falling Down
It’s all about getting back up, right?
And then there’s this take on falling down……..
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Not so subtle hints from Tipper and “the Biscuit”
Almost worked…..
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Scenes from Europe – Lake Geneva, after dark
For those who saw my earlier post featuring the fondue recipe and story of the “underground” fondue restaurant may recall that Spence and I spent time in Switzerland some years back. To reach this spot, my cousin Kristin, Spence and I walked out on a pier where we dined surrounded by the beauty of Lake Geneva after dark.
Not a professional photographer but armed with my trusty Nikon Coolpix, I was captivated by the reflections of the city lights in the inky water around us. The result is less perfection and more “artsy-fartsy” but not unlike my post “Tunnel Travel” (same trip) I have re-evaluated and find these both interesting and pleasing. The memories of this trip are forever etched in my mind.
https://spencesgirl.com/2015/01/01/traditional-cheese-fondue-as-its-done-in-switzerland/
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Sentimental Attachments
Mom has sold her home in Florida, moving back to Michigan to be nearer my sister and I. Part of the process is letting go of things she won’t need in her smaller senior apartment. Cupboard by cupboard, drawer by drawer, closet by closet, she’s offered my sister and I numerous items before donating them. Not unexpected, the items I feel most drawn to wouldn’t be of interest to others; sentimentality has played a large part in items that I’ve said yes to.
Mom’s Mixing Bowls
Her mixing bowls have seen better days. Once a vibrant green, blue, yellow and red, they’ve faded to a more “rustic” look. What I see are bowls used when mom made cookies and cakes, teaching me how to use a rubber spatula with my reward being able to lick off the batter. I fondly remember the large one brimming with bubbling casseroles of baked spaghetti on Sundays and Six Layer Dinner, my Grandma’s recipe. She taught me how to measure and follow recipes, sparking my love of cooking and nurturing it. These bowls were always present. Years later when I’d visit, those bowls appeared when she cooked a requested family favorite for me or we prepared something delicious together. Good times.
Grandpa Fox’s Knives
My love of food and cooking came from not only my Mom but her father as well. My Grandpa Fox found his passion and talent for cooking after a long illness in his forties that necessitated early retirement. Memories of his cooking make me salivate to this day. He was gifted in the kitchen and on the grill. His enjoyment was evident, his enthusiasm contagious and he loved feeding his family. So many memories – the aroma of his fried chicken wafting out the door giving us a preview before we entered. His veal scallopini for which he became a legend (now a recipe I’m known for). His homemade beans, made in a special sunken bean crock built into their stove lovingly stirred and coaxed along over what seemed like several days. His ham glaze and homemade peach jam – divine. His perfectly crispy hash browns made using a potato ricer, dusted with minced parsley from his garden, browned in butter then expertly flipped – in the air. His famous charcoal grilled, rotisserie chickens that drew neighbors to his yard in awe and to whom he offered “a peek for a nickel” (with a wink and twinkle in his eye). And then there’s his Lamb Stew, so beautiful that you wanted to photograph it, the pop of green peas, bright orange carrots and perfect pearl onions in a glistening rich gravy with chunks of melt-in-your-mouth lamb.
So when Mom asked if I’d like two of Grandpa’s stainless steel knives is it any wonder that I’d want to inherit those instruments used to create meals ingrained in my memory and so much a part of my happy childhood?
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Mystery of the Rose Quartz
I admit that I believe in things that aren’t always easily explained and that others may choose not to explore. In believing, I often receive validation….from the universe.
Case in point. A few Saturdays ago, I attended a Stone and Crystal workshop held at the Yogazebo of my dear Jules. I attended with my lifelong BFF and my daughter-in-law, two of my most favorite women in the world.
I’d invested in numerous crystals in my travels. I knew a little about them but yearned to learn more; I brought mine with me to class.
We communed with like minded women as we learned about the properties of crystals. We were told that sometimes one will come into your life when you need it and disappear when you no longer do.
As the day went on I realized that I didn’t possess a rose quartz but made a mental note that I’d like acquire one.
You might be thinking, “get to the point – what’s the mystery?” I’ll tell you but I have to back up so you can fully appreciate the “mystery” part. In my travels and adventures with Spence, we tend to pick up rocks, shells, driftwood, beach glass etc as mementos. My home is a veritable nature exhibit of things we’ve found that were pretty and unusual.
The day after the class with the thoughts of “get a rose quartz” still rolling around in my mind, I noticed a small dish of polished rocks and sea glass that I’ve had in my living room for a long while. And on the top of that pile was a perfect round rose quartz. I have NO recollection of ever seeing it and I’d told no one that I desired one. Yet bigger than life – there it was. The words of our instructor came back to me, “when you need it, it will come to you”.
How it got in that dish, I’ll never know. Maybe it appeared mysteriously and maybe it’s really been there for years unnoticed. One thing’s for sure, it made itself known to me when I thought I needed it.
Namaste.
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Ah retirement…….
