Food Processing

I think the time has come to confess my addiction to cooking shows. For the past 6 months I have been a closet tube watcher culling a 'favourites list' from among all those shows available on the Food Network. Mercifully I have narrowed my preferences down to a mere 3 programs which thankfully has resulted in many less hours of television watching and less of a food obsession. This has in turn helped me maintain a steadier bank balance as I no longer dash madly about buying assorted 'exotic' ingredients which are usually more costly than those which my normal standard menus require. This chain of positivity makes me feel less guilty when I have success with a new dish, ( from my preferred list of course) and for some inexplicable reason have no qualms about claiming the dish as my own! During what I now call my research period, I actually found myself using the mortar and pestle that had long been a decoration in my kitchen so we're talking serious addiction here...The only chink in my armour was the food proccessor. I had had one years ago but in my small living quarters, it just did not seem like a wise investment so clearly I was in a handicap position vis a vis the recipes I could/would attempt. As I have mentioned-in another blog- I am sometimes memory challenged so it will not surprise you to learn that I had completely forgotten about a teeny tiny food processor which I had received as a gift two years ago. Recently I had a yen to try my hand at homemade pesto and so strong was my desire that it prompted the sudden recall about the small box tucked away in the cupboard. I unearthed the brand new 'mini' processor and though I am normally appliance challenged, fate was kind and not only was 'my' pesto PERFECT, now the sky's the limit!!!

Two Came Back

At the end of the last school day before the holiday break, I stepped into the bustling hallway teeming with children racing for the exits and came face to face with two former students who had decided to return to their old stomping ground and in the spirit of Christmas past, visit their old teacher. When the initial joy of seeing them subsided I began to experience a myriad of feelings beginning of course with gratitude for the ability to recall (for the mostpart) the names to match the now grown up faces that I haven't seen in years. Incidentally this 'gratitude' thing kicks in every year after summer and Christmas break as I welcome my students back and shamefully have no choice but to use the phrase "John tell your friend who is sitting next to you on the right that it is his turn to read." Sightings of former students usually begin with the fear factor which is invariably linked to my memory and this only intensifies with each passing year. Once I am secure in the knowledge that the face really does match the name which I have pulled up from the recesses of an old teachers mind,the fun can and most certainly does begin.
The young adults begin the telling of 'their' story and as they talk the years since you've seen each other do a sort of time shifting dance while your memories sway you backwards, their words return you ever so gently to the here and now.
These 'reunions' are unplanned, unscripted and oh so much more meaningful when shared with colleagues who were active participants at the onset of the journey.

EDITING

When writing, editing is a given. There are a myriad of ways that a single letter error can totally change the bent of our missive so it is crucial if our words are to pack the punch we intended. Most of us are aware of this and conduct ourselves accordingly. If we are lucky, we may have a private editor standing by just in case we 'miss' something, but in the absence of that luxury we must remain ever vigilent.
If we truly know this, why do we not extend the parameters to include our oral communication? This might be a great idea as we do not have 'editers' who are ready and able to adjust our speech and ensure it is what we intended. Somehow before we know it, certain words are issued forth and though our external ear may know immediately that these words need instant recall, they are already out there and there is no delete button option. Perhaps if we elect to use 'thought' as our very own personal editors, we may stave off any fallout that will certainly occur when words are ejected willy nilly...a 'novel' approach??

TimeTravelling

There are often memories which inspire us to wish to time travel...backwards. Go figure because as every young person knows, the thing most wished for at that age, is a fast forward non-stop trip to adulthood. This is not merely a case of the grass being greener, it is true wishful thinking in all its glory. The young people never listen to the adult voices of experience who tell them that there is no rush..until after what seems an interminable passage of time, when they finally become the adults. Suddenly their vision is a perfect 20/20 and once the first blush of aging fades and the bloom is off the rose, the wistfulness is born. It builds steadily until perhaps 59 and then suddenly at its peak, the former youth experience that inexplicable yen to return to times past, too long ago. They yearn for a simpler time when life was less complicated, and they see nothing wrong with lamenting the fact that they did not enjoy their younger years when they should have. Depending on the individual and the strength of the lamentation, some actually do manage to return to their yesteryears, but the majority do not and that, in the interest of good mental health is probably the best news of all.

Writers Block

Recently a close family member informed me that he had been advised to write a blog but that he was having difficulty coming up with the 'what' of his blog to be. The 'why' needed no addressing as he was certain that this was not anything he aspired to yet he was perhaps willing to heed the 'you should have a blog' advice for very valid reasons. The 'what' however is proving to be an enigma for this young man and after much reflection I have figured out what really ails him. He has 'what' blog block. This is not to be confused with its way more popular cousin, 'writer's block.'It goes without saying that when it comes to writer's block, I know perfectly well whereof I speak and believe me, his disability is only temporary and is so much more cureable than mine.

Perception

Now that we are firmly insconced in fall and all that it brings, on the plus side, we can once again revel in the foliage and stand in awe amid the pallette of outrageous and varied bursts of vivd colours everywhere we look. On the downside, we wake up to the black darkness of night and if we stay late at work we return in like conditions. This phenomenon used to result in a depressing start to the day which never quite felt like day under cover of black sky, but a simple change in perception has resulted in a change of heart. I no longer wake up wanting to go back to sleep as per the colour of the sky; I now leap out of bed to face a new ROMANTIC day. Darkness and romance have always been intertwined so all we have to do is embrace the darkness as if we were about to go out on a fabulous romantic excursion, date? with the person of our dreams.
Fall is perfect for fostering mind shifting!

Heat Wave

We're having a heat wave, feels like a tropical one if I venture far from my air conditioned abode on foot. I opt instead to ride as my chariot has air but the minute I open the door to step out, the heat hits not unlike a tsunami even now at 10:00pm. Outside the air is dense, thick and sticky while inside it feels artificial but is mercifully cool. I am now 100% certain that I will always choose cool over heat if there is a weather selection/preference button to press. There are only so many articles of clothing which one can remove if out in public during a hot spell, while there are many layers in which to wrap oneself when faced with extreme cold so in the interest of modesty, I think we need to do away with these too hot days or face seeing way too much of certain people as they walk about in various stages of 'undress' supposedly in order to remain cool.