It's Just a Refrigerator, Susan

Yep, Just a refrigerator. Not even a big fancy one at that. In our 30 year old house, we have space for a 30" wide fridge and that is all. To remodel means more than knocking out a wall. It means Major work that we just aren't going to do. So - 30 inches wide it is. Refrigerators that size do not have ice and water access from the outside. There are no fancy interior designs. But . . . this one has Just the design we needed: the fridge on the top, the freezer on the bottom. 

Sometimes it takes so little to make me really happy!!

It was delivered in the afternoon so almost as soon as we finished adjusting the shelves and filling it with food, it was time to think about supper. One meal and I. Am. Sold. There it all is. No bending. Just looking it right in the eye and choosing the food I want. Wow. 

It does have some interesting updated features like the temperature controls and the fact that it beeps when it has been open too long. 

I know, it is just a refrigerator and I love it!!!

You Make Me Feel So Young . . .

On the way to lunch I heard a report on NPR titled “Seniors and Technology”. I feel So Young when I hear that kind of report. Statistics say that under 50% of people 65 or older are not on the internet or take advantage of newer technology. That is incredible. I feel like at 70 I am on the leading edge of a generation which, even if we didn’t grow up with it, had early enough access to it to be conversant. 

Dean calls me the cyber grandma. I know I don’t use my computer up to its amazing capacity and 

~ I am on Facebook to keep up with grands and friends around the world

~ I chat on Skype with friends in Virginia and Wales almost every day

~ my smart phone syncs with my computer in the Cloud

~ I make photo albums on my computer

~ I email and learned to do that even before one of my daughters who quickly caught up and surpassed me

~ I blog and read friends’ blogs

~ using either Skype or FaceTime, I video chat with grandchildren 

~ I know whom to call to have my questions answered

~ I shop on line

~ etc, etc, and etc. 

Why, oh why, isn’t my generation at least this knowledgable of cyberspace? I don’t have to know How it works - only that it does. There may be things I should be learning so that my grands won’t wonder when I am in my 80s or 90s why Mama Susan can’t do thus and so. Maybe so. And ~ 90s are very different than 60s. I do like anything that makes me feel so young! 

With Gratitude and Prayers

Listening to the news from Moore, Oklahoma where children in an elementary school died when a tornado, unlike any seen in this country, tore through their town and destroyed much of it.

I spent today at an elementary school where my daughter works and two of her children attend. I was in the audience for a DARE (Drug and Alcohol Abuse Resistance Education) graduation. My grandson was chosen from his class to read his essay. Three classes of 5th graders listened with attention, participated, pledged to stay drug, alcohol and violence free. One class stated one by one what they wanted to be when they grew up and in order to do that would remain drug and violence free. Their dreams were wonderful: teachers, vets ~ lots of those ~ chefs, police, and one marine biologist and one professional basketball star. For all those young dreams, for my grandchildren, for every child who still have their dreams, I am So Grateful tonight.

While We're on the Subject

Dean's office sent this lovely azalea to say "get well soon". In the mountains of California, azaleas come in pots. On the lawns and meadows of Virginia, they are huge bushes. We had several bushes in our yard there and this was their color. I have this azalea on the dining room table right in the middle of everything. I can't tell you if it is helping Dean heal faster. It is reminding me of spring in Virginia and the lovely, lovely look of azaleas and dogwoods and flowers in the yard. Delightful. 

Little Miracles on the Path

There were some lovely little miracles on our walking path this morning. 

Pretty little yellow flowers ~ just this one bunch.

Banks and banks of Squaw Carpet blooming since the rain.

Have no idea what these are but they certainly are pretty.

Manzanita "bells" hanging in clusters all up and down the path. 

Snow Flowers: they bloom out of the fungal ground as the snow melt. They are considered good luck and we have been blessed with a few of them on our property every year. 

Mother Spirit

Mothers and those who mother come in all shapes, sizes, ages and titles. First of course are our birth mothers, those who bore us. Most of us are lucky enough to have these women in our lives for a long time. There are mothers who adopt and who feel so fortunate to have a child and that child becomes their own. Step-mothers, literally step up, and have some part in the lives of the children of their husbands. 

Aunts and friends down the street keep a watchful eye out and once in a while speak the truth that even Mom herself can’t quite see or say. Of course grandmothers get to do all things with grandchildren that they couldn’t do with their own, like spoil them rotten. They also carry the wisdom of generations with them and will share that along the way. 

I have been blessed in my life to have mothers that fell into all these categories.

My own mom was delightful and had a real sense of what it meant to be a little girl.

My step-mom came along three years after my mom’s death and although I was married by then, I was young enough to still need a mom and I took her in ~ as she did me. She and I faced the adult life together and I learned from her wisdom.

My mother had 4 sisters and so I had Aunts - wow, did I have aunts!! Very special ladies every one ~ and I still refer to lessons I learned from them (cooking especially).

I learned to appreciate my grandmother as I became an adult and learned of her life. I do remember a peaceful spirit though and sitting quietly at her feet surrounded by love. 

Growing up on a neighborhood block of houses, I had a “mother” at both ends. Tilda up the street and Honey down the street both welcomed me in, played with me, fed me, and of course disciplined me. I also grew up in a close church family - and family we were. There were a small group of us about the same age and everyone at church knew us and took care of us in that “it takes a village to raise a child” way. 

Mother’s Day ~ originally created to rally mothers against war. Now a national holiday and economic bonanza for card companies and restaurants and flower shops. And also a time to say thank you ~ to realize that we are blessed with a Mother Spirit that pervades our lives if we will be aware. No matter what our age or theirs, mothers are there for us. Thank you. 

I May Become a Cook Again

Dean went to Costco a couple of weeks ago and came home with a Cuisinart Food Processor. We had not ever mentioned wanting or needing or even thinking about one. But, evidently Dean had been thinking of it. And there it was the next time he went shopping. 

He took it out of the box this morning and we immediately became fascinated. He took the book, I took the dvd and plunged in. I was ready to cook again. This is going to make some things So Much Easier than I what I have been doing ~ slicing tomatoes, chopping or slicing for a stir fry, bread dough, and tonight, chopping nuts for Dean's sundae and shredding Parmesan for my salad. Even though it is a large container, it is easy to chop a small amount. The container next to the processor itself holds all the attachments. 

We were going to lunch right next to our Hospice Thrift Shop where we make all sorts of donations ~ and occasionally make a purchase. So I cleaned out several of the little appliances that were used occasionally and that became outmoded with this purchase. I donated a hand-mixer, a tiny food processor, a curly slicer, and a set of glasses that were already wrapped and ready to donate. I forgot to put in the little nut chopper but I will next time. 

I already know that I am going to enjoy this machine. It has a place on the counter with the storage container in the cabinet below (in a space that opened up with the donations). The couple of things I chopped and shredded tonight were easy after a few minutes of reading the instructions ~ and discovering there were a couple of things left out of those instructions. I am one of those people who need Every step listed very clearly. And all worked out well. Very pleased with our new purchase.