Whoa! Where did February go?

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February, passage of time, postaday2013, speed, time, vacation

Today is February 28th and as I was walking my mile route, it hit me; tomorrow is March 1st. Where did February go? I feel as if time went on a speed race and neglected to tell me. How rude! Now if this was thirty years ago when I was in high school, I’d be happy that time was speeding fast but nowadays I don’t mind taking my time to smell the roses or say like today, the foggy mist.

We, in Blandford, have had solid fog for three days; the fog has been keeping the temperatures in the upper thirties which is really nice and it looks very romantic in a Wuthering Heights type of setting. I can imagine Heathcliff moping around our Historical Society.

But back to where February went to; in the pro column, Spring is getting closer, the days are getting longer and warmer. In the con column, time is too precious to be squandered or unappreciated. I think that the week that our relatives came to visit is the culprit in this time warp situation. During the entire week, I was concentrated on go, go and the next meal, the next activity and the next day so I wasn’t taking the time to focus on the present and seriously being in the moment. I should remember not to do that in the future so that time doesn’t get away from me. It’s funny many people hate being bored and hate waiting around with time crawling by, but the alternative isn’t any better, speeding towards the end of our journey. We should maybe think of meandering through our journey of life and not speed through like a race. Once you get to the finish line, your race is over and I would really prefer to meander and stave off the finish line for as long as possible.

My life in song

Which song most aptly describes your life?

I can't think of just one song that can describe my life. i don't know how to reduce a whole lifetime of living into a single song; I would think that at least a full album would be necessary or perhaps even an entire body of work by an artist of your choosing.

If we asked Sir Elton John to describe his life with one song; which song do you think it would be? Would it be one of his or someone else's?

As I was contemplating this question this morning for some reason the Gypsy Kings got stuck in my head. More specifically their song Volare got stuck on a continuous loop and it's still going.

http://youtu.be/oNgSeJzLJFc

The healing properties of cooking

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cooking, darkness, food, optimism, postaday2013, sadness

I like to think of myself as an eternal optimist but this morning I woke up in an extraordinarily bleak mood. The darkness that engulfed me upon opening my eyes seemed to mirror the dark skies outside. I felt heavy and my morning coffee and oatmeal didn’t change it either; actually as I was reading the news of the day, I felt even more dismal. I got ready to go see my nurse practitioner for a follow up exam and when I was at the gas station filling up the car, I was thinking that I’m 45 years old and nothing is going to change, everyday will be the same; worrying about trivial and petty things that do seem to matter just the same, but in the grand scheme of things, shouldn’t life be deeper and bigger than that? Am I going to live my life just sweating the “small” stuff? That got me even more depressed, thinking that if I don’t get it in gear with my book, I might just miss the opportunity to leave something tangible of myself in this world. All this was rattling in my head as I was getting closer to my Ob/gyn’s office. When I went in for my follow up exam, my nurse practitioner examined me and said that everything seemed to have corrected itself and I was in better shape and my mammogram next month should verify that, but she said that I needed to keep my stress levels down.

After hearing this good news, my mood gradually lifted throughout the day and then it got much better when I started prepping dinner for my hubby who is coming home tonight. There is something so therapeutic about snapping string beans, chopping garlic, peeling and slicing potatoes. The smell of roast beef wafting though the house while at the same time the sound of drippings crackling pierces my thoughts, both act as a soothing balm to whatever worries me. By the end of today I will be right back where I ought to be, relaxed and looking forward to a new day.

The menu is a very simple one; roast beef studded with garlic cloves rubbed in salt and pepper, a potato gratin with heavy cream, Swiss cheese, salt, pepper and fresh nutmeg, broccoli rabe sautéed with garlic and parmesan cheese and red pepper flake (that’s for me) and string beans sautéed with slivered almonds and garlic. What is even better is that there will be left overs for the baby boy, so I don’t have to plan another menu for a day or so. Hooray!

My great escape

Describe in great detail, your ultimate escape plan.

The escape plan isn't really my forte. The implication, it seems to me, is that first you are somewhere that you are escaping from and I am always at home so that would have to mean that my home is under assault. That, then leads me to the question of where would I escape to? My hubby is a great one with these logistical dilemmas. He was an Eagle scout and probably one of the best ones at that. He is also one of the most prepared individuals that you would ever have the pleasure of meeting. I, myself, much prefer the idea of hiding. I have always been very good at hiding and not being found. Patience has always been a virtue of mine and I have always been able to out wait my opponents in hide and seek and ring-a-lario ( a two team version of hide and seek).

My hubby has his escape bag that he brings with him at all times; filled with all of the necessities such as a poncho, matches, toiletries, first aid kit, flashlight, batteries, hidden cash, passport. I never travel like that, but since we would be together, I wouldn't have to worry. The thing is that since we already live in a place that most people would be traveling to in any kind of catastrophe; like the ones that you see in the movies; I really don't see where we would be escaping to; we live in the mountains in a town not on the map so we are pretty safe here. I'll take my chances with hiding since that used to be my forte.

Inspiration derived from a young Earnest

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hope, inspiration, postaday2013, stumbling block, wall of silence, writing

As many of you know, I am writing a book and whenever I take to my blog to write about it, it means that I have hit a snag. The snag is me. I need to force myself back into my groove; writing everyday at least one thousand words. All that needs to be done is for me to sit in front of the computer and type. On a good note; I have someone who is currently reading the novel in progress and so far she loves it. Hooray for her and hooray for me. One caveat; she is a family member, the brilliant, talented artist Nancy, our cousin, so she is being kind but she still loves it.

Now why did I title this post “Inspiration derived from a young Earnest”? I am reading The Paris Wife; the marriage between Hadley and Earnest Hemingway and their married life in Paris. So far I am reading about how difficult it was for Earnest Hemingway to get his momentum going and his groove, I am nowhere in the world comparing myself to Earnest Hemingway, but if a brilliant writer can have a time with his writing then I can let myself off the hook just a little bit when I feel depressed and stressed because I hit a bump/snag in my own progress. I don’t know why I’m not feeling it to write Madeleine and Jack out of Paris, but I am.

I need to kick myself in the pants and get down to work. Tomorrow is another day and if Earnest can do it then so can I, minus the drinking and the smoking.

Supreme ruler

If you were supreme ruler of planet Earth for a day, what changes would you make?

I would get rid of all the GMO products across the planet, I would get rid of factory farmed animals, I would get rid of mono-agriculture and promote agricultural diversity to help heal the Earth. I would require all countries to step up their pursuit of renewable energies and I would get rid of private banks and have people co-operative banks. This huge wealth inequality is detrimental to us as a planet and something needs to be done about it. We live in a global economy, political and sociological world as well. No one is an island onto themselves and so as supreme ruler I would demand that everyone live their lives mindful that their action or inaction affects their neighbor and just being mindful of that fact might change our way of thinking. I would be one busy bee on my one day of serious work.

Oh my lordy

Tags

back to normalcy, Jack, postaday2013, restful, video

All of our guests are gone and today being Monday, it has been the start of a restful and normal week. Jack and I are back to being alone though my baby boy joined us for a spell. The baby boy and I love playing around with Jack; he is such a good little boy.

This morning I was so wiped that I couldn’t even get out of bed to send my hubby off to work. Jack and I didn’t greet the world until 9:45 and we have both been in slow motion ever since; there hasn’t been any improvement on the speed of our movements as the day waned. It must be a delayed reaction to the skiing and the schlepping. I went for my mile walk today twice; I hadn’t done them at all last week since we were busy with our guests, and I felt it. I was surprised that I felt the absence of exercise, it was only one week, but I felt it nevertheless. As I was walking, all I had going through my mind was “oh my lordy what is wrong with me” I felt that I was dragging and the feeling hasn’t left.

I think that Jack and I need at least another day of recuperation and then we should be as good as new.

Which city?

If you could visit any city in the world, which city would you pick and why?

I would visit Istanbul, Turkey. The reason would be to redress a regret that I have had since that time that I had an opportunity to go see Turkey while on my backpacking trip and turning it down to go back to France instead. It was during the final leg of our trip and my sister and I were tired and weary of sleeping on floors and lumpy mattresses, so France was very appealing at that moment; family and friends were beckoning. However there was that small part of my brain that was longing to go off with our new Canadian friends to explore Turkey, unfortunately my little sister wasn't sharing any of that curiosity.

The first place that I would visit in Istanbul would be the Haggia Sophia, originally it was the largest cathedral and then it became a mosque and now it is a museum. It is unbelievably beautiful and I would love to spend a few days absorbing its peacefulness and majesty. Istanbul is also the crossroads between East and West and the cuisine must be magnificent. That alone would keep me occupied for more than a few days; there must be so many delicious things to try for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am making myself hungry. One of these days I will visit Istanbul with my hubby and I am sure that I won't be disappointed.

Hooray for Hollywood…..

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dresses, fashion, film awards, movies, Oscar night, postaday2013

Tonight is the Oscars and my hubby and I will be watching. We haven’t seen any of the movies up for the award but it doesn’t make it any less fun to watch. I’m curious how Seth McFarlane will do as the host. It is a hard hosting gig and he has big shoes to fill; Billy Crystal has done a tremendous job several times in the past and he is awfully adorable and lovable. Seth McFarlane on the other hand is famous or perhaps notorious for Family Guy and most recently “Ted” in the movies, his brand of humor is pushing the envelope towards the barriers of risqué and beyond. I’m looking forward to seeing all the fashions and the jewels as well. I hope that everyone who watches, enjoys it!

The next time…

Write about a time when you didn't take action but wish you had. What would you do differently?

In the fog that is my mind, I am sure that there are plenty of instances that I could have done something but didn't, such as be a good Samaritan to a stranger in need. I did that once; a man came up to me and asked for money to get gas for his car because he had forgotten his wallet. He said that he would mail me the money and he never did; that was about ten years ago and it stuck because I did something in good faith and the person took advantage. I hope that perhaps he paid it forward to someone else. I hope that was the case. There was another time when my friend and I took the excess food from our office Christmas party and brought it to the homeless in the subway station in New York City and we were chased away because we didn't give them money, that was a little scary. It was over twenty years ago when the homeless population in New York City was at an unbearable high. However for those two stories there are times when I should have helped, I am sure. It is really hard to know when your actions can make a difference or when they can sometimes get you in trouble. Our world has always been a somewhat confusing place, we can only try our hardest to do our best.