Finally. I had all my ducks in a row. The business was in order and I was ready to head out to the tax lady then, off for a walk. I was edgy, I wanted my walk, but the threat of rain was causing me to get tense. Then I thought, “oh hell, a little rain never hurt us before. I will just wear rain boots and a slicker”. So off I we went but, first turn in my taxes. I drove up to the tax lady. Dang! She wasn’t open yet so I decided to just go for the walk and rethink my priorities for this day.

My little dog wanted her walk too, she couldn’t sit still in the car. Finally we got to the forest, in sync we jumped out of the car and started out on the wooded path. This is the best part of our walk. The sudden burst of excitement to sights, smells and sounds. It was still overcast but already shaping up to be one of my better walks. We came out into the meadow, rounded the path and weaved back into a second meadow then down the trail to the peninsula. Finally all the knots were worked out my back and I was feeling pretty good. We came to the river rambling by quiet and gentle. Just then the clouds broke and a memory flooded over me.

Back in the 1960s as a pre-teen. I was antsy just like today. Couldn’t have been more that ten years old. I wandered out the back door rounded the block and started walking. I have always loved walking and I knew exactly where I would head. Back behind the Boise Cascade Lumber Mill. I skirted around the huge piles of logs as I saw the Yakima River come into sight. Ah, now this is what I needed. A walk by the river. I loved to do that then and I love to walk the Coosa River now. And for those of you who wonder yes, I did get in trouble with my mom for disappearing by myself.

Solitude has always been something I have enjoyed. Not curled up with a book or checking into a motel for quiet time but the kind of solitude that comes from a brisk walk in the woods as the oxygen courses through my bloodstream, clearing my head, and relaxing my muscles. Oh sure, there is the occasional walker I pass. We nod, pass a few pleasantries then, I move on. Mostly it is the birdsong or a croaking frog I commune with. If I stop moving long enough it gets quiet enough to hear a deer moving in the brush. Of course once I move or my dog goes on alert the deer does what it does best. Choses flight over fight as it prances lightly away.

I don’t know why I have always loved these walks. It really doesn’t matter. I have always found a place like this to walk, by myself, in no need of conversation. Except the conversation of the wind, the smell of the air and companionship of a dog. The solitude from humans is not really solitude like most people think about it. I am not lonely or scared. I don’t need to escape to regroup from life nor am I thinking deep thoughts or trying to discover purpose in the universe. I just want to be out there. Out there in the open, having my quiet time.

I have been this way since I was a child. I don’t “need” someone to go with me, I just want to ramble. Rambling on doesn’t have the same security it did back in the 1960s. Times of changed, I have grown older and aging has set in. I can’t afford to get hurt or lost now. Now I am product of the times, I carry a Smartphone with a App that lets my husband know where I am just in case he needs to find me. Most of the time he is secure in the fact he knows where I am at and when I will return. All he has to do is check his “Find Friends” App and he can track my movement. It adds a certain amount of security nowadays so I can forget about external things and just listen to the river as it slowly rolls along, gently slapping the bank. Ah, I do the river.

The river flows quiet and swift

It twists and turns as the waters drift

It branches and breaks__

its fingers entwine

(From the The River Flows by Kailey Jennings )

It has been cold the last few days so we have been building a fire in the evening. Last night my hubby and I were talking about roasting marshmallows which led to a discussion about what is our roasting preferences. We noted that while I like a well done steak and my hubby loves a medium rare it is quite the opposite with marshmallows. I love mine just turned to a golden brown and he likes a good old fashion “Joan of Arc” marshmallow (see how to roast a marshmallow below).

Marshmallows have been around for quite some time in the modern market. I did discover that the use of marshmallow to make a candy dates back to ancient Egypt. I never thought about that before, even though the mass marketing of marshmallows that I buy are commercially packaged under the Kraft brand. You can even find a recipe for making marshmallows online but after reading it I decided it was more hassle than just buying the packaged plumes of white balls. Interestingly, the recipe calls for gelatin which is a animal product so generally they are considered not to be kosher or halal unless it can be proven that the animal was kosher or halal. There is even a vegetarian alternative which may be very good reasons to make your own recipe. I was not sure about marshmallow crème products but I read that general use is egg whites instead. So there was much to learn about the marshmallow and if you are concerned about kosher, halal or you are a vegetation the link for the recipe is below.

Roasting is an art. It includes the actual roasting, the ambiance of a cook campfire and sometimes added goodies to make smores. A good campfire with marshmallows requires a few stories and a few songs. So first the marshmallow are important, then dive in with a song or two.

Campfire Poem

Campfire’s burning, campfire’s burning

Draw nearer, draw nearer

In the gloaming, in the gloaming

Come sing and be merry

~Thanks to Rebecca Maltese Girl Guides

I have done one on a stick or loaded a couple on. How do we like our marshmallow at our house? Like I said, I like mine turned to a lovely golden brown. My hubby? He can’t wait to make a Joan of Arc, which is leaving it on the fire until a flame gently turns it to a crisp on the outside.

Marshmallow recipe: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/5838

How to roast a marshmallow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5QvvnETZ7c

First problem I run into is that $#@*! aglet. If I cut off the shoe string to fit the shoe how do I keep it from fraying? That is the aglet’s job right? That little aglet has been around a few centuries. The little tiny piece at the end of the shoe lace we normally recognize as a plastic covering makes it easy to lace shoes. But aglets did not start out as those plastic thingie ma-jobbers.

Aglets started being used in the 1790s. A small thing we use every day suddenly it becomes important. But this guy, Harvey Kennedy, is the one that legend says came up with the idea of making the metal ones.

Before we used plastic we used these, many shoe repair shops kept them for sale.

And it wasn’t long after that they were mass produced. Mostly they looked the ones we see in the picture but someone got the hot idea to decorate them.

I found some on eBay that were kind of like the old ones in the 1700s shown here. Today most of our use to the plastic aglet that is cheaper and easier to produce.

Fancy aglets that possibly royalty might use.

And I found out you can make your own aglet in a pinch. Just wrap scotch tape around the end of your shoe lace and cover with clear glue and viola! Instant aglet.

But after I got sidetracked about aglets I realized that didn’t answer the question of tying the shoe and keeping it tied. Until I found out there is a proper way to tie a shoe. I have been tying my shoes incorrectly my whole life. Every time I tie them if I do not double tie them they come undone. Now I do not need to spend money buying new laces, cutting them down or throwing them out. I have a plan now. Plan one is to tie them right. Plan two is if the aglet falls off I know a quick repair job of scotch tape and clear glue!

Here is a quick video of how to tie your shoes:

Just simple little tips….how on earth did we ever make it without the internet!

“He who stands for nothing will fall for anything”

~Alexander Hamilton~

Marla started out the day thinking, “I can take on new goals, maybe this close to the new year a good resolution or two would be good”. Not a bad a idea. Maybe now with things getting a bit better she could actually breath a sigh of relief. Maybe.

But her hopes were dashed when she stepped out to walk the dog and grab the paper. Another big corporation is planning to attach fees just for paying your bill. Verizon slaps customers with new fees just as we face a new year. Wasn’t it just sixty days ago that the bank slapped on fees? And what about the credit companies? Aren’t they getting greedy too? Marla’s head was spinning, she was tired. Every day for that past three years a burdened dark cloud has set over her as the Recession deepened. She thought that with the new year she could make a fresh start but now it is obvious that her days will be filled with financial worries as the new year begins.

She thought about it over breakfast. Just a simple cup of coffee with a bowl of Raisin Bran seemed to help to clear her head. She started thinking of her project she was working on about Japanese Internment camps during WWII. What struck her about this project was the Japanese-American community found that under the most dire of circumstances as a citizen they relied on gamon. What was mistaken for weakness was perseverance, a quiet determination so that they could get through that horrible experience. And she knew enough to know that yes, they did endure and were released. Gradually rebuilding their lives focusing on what they could do instead of the overwhelming negative experience. It would take decades before the government would offer an apology and a financial recompense. So these citizens just kept on with perseverance.

After she laid the paper down and thought about it Marla too, decided it was time for a inner strength. She needed to have conviction. Things she could believe in, things she could do to make a difference in her own life as well as have a positive affect around her. If it had not been for the economy faltering she may not have found herself affected so negatively by all the anger around her. The only way really to start anew is with conviction and now Marla thought, “with reliance on gamon surely I can turn my own disillusionment into endurance”.

She rushed to grab her laptop to start writing down her ideas. “What is important to me”, she thought. As the thoughts began rushing through her fingers they started to take form. One thing she knew is that she couldn’t control the economy but, she could control her conviction in things she believed in. She wrote things down that were important to her. The list began with, child abuse awareness, animal abuse awareness, hunger and the homeless. These are things she could at least support and find ways to create awareness. What she had learned about the Japanese-Americans during the internment period was they did not start anger groups nor did they incite mob action. Okay she wrote, “broad generalization” because someone was not just going to persevere. But on the whole they really tried.

So after finishing writing down her ideas and finishing her cup of coffee to clear her head Marla decided that yes, the new year will be better. My new resolution this year she said aloud is, “to practice gamon and have conviction”. And so with that settled off she went to start the day.

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

~Japanese Proverb~

Some days the weight of the world seems to be too much. I watch too much news or I debate too many negative topics and then whammo, decompression time is needed. And that means right now! I have found five things that keep me grounded.

Gardening:

I love gardening. Whenever some issue needs some sorting out I put on my garden hat, grab my gloves, clogs and tools. Out I go, there is always something to do in the garden no matter what season I am in.

A great thing about gardening is that it is just outside my door. I do not need special gym clothes or shoes to go outside. The fresh air clears my head and after a while I relax. With my dog at my feet I sit on the garden bench to survey our hard work. Mine the garden, hers……keeping the squirrels and lizards at bay. A very symbiotic relationship.

Walking:

This is right up there with gardening for clearing my head and being relaxing. I used to be satisfied just walking in the neighborhood but I need a good long walk so now I go to the local state park. I head out most days for the long walk and stop when my head is clear. My walking companion, my dog, is good for my soul too. A dog is an integral part of my decompressing. When I get home I am ready to take on the world.

Sewing:

I love to sew or do crafts. Cross-stitching is my craft of choice. Something I can do when being a couch potato. I have never been good at just sitting still so there has to be something to do while I am watching TV with my hubby and girl dog. Making clothes or quilting are fun projects too. Sewing is so relaxing. Like gardening you can see what you have produced immediately. It takes my mind of things I can not control.

Research and Writing:

I put these two together because once I start researching then it just has to be written down. It doesn’t matter the topic. It can me anything that has hit my curiosity bone from a quote I heard to full blown historical research. No matter I am out on the Information Highway, pulling out books or whatever to get the answer. I do not quit until I have the answers! I can get so absorbed that I forget time and space for days at a time. But when I process it all I am ready to face the world again.

Writing is fun. I can write for my blog, about a specific topic or as I piecing together ideas for a novella, I have one rolling around in my head right now. I have to be in a “flow” to write so it is critical I have released anything on my mind to get in that space.

All five of these decompressing tools work. The pay off is after I am done I am ready again for another run at life. I call it my internal housecleaning. I have either exercised my brain or my body. Both of which are necessary for a good night’s sleep. Sweet dreams!

“We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves, otherwise we harden”

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe~

It means to dance in a imaginative or fantastic way. But who first use it “This apparently obscure expression originates from the works of John Milton. In the masque Comus, 1637, he used the lines:

Come, knit hands, and beat the ground,
In a light fantastic round.”

That led me to wonder about some other sayings like, “make a beeline”. Which references to, “that a bee, having found a source of nectar, goes directly, in a straight line, back to the hive to inform the other bees.”

Have you wonder about phrases? Here are few that caught my attention.

“Bite the Bullet”: This old saying means to grin and bear a painful situation. It comes from the days before anesthetics. A soldier about to undergo an operation was given a bullet to bite.

“What the Dickens!”: This old saying does not come from the writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870). It is much older than him! It has been around since at least the 16th century. Originally ‘Dickens’ was another name for the Devil.

Or have you heard,

“Straight from the horses’s mouth”: You can tell a horse’s age by examining its teeth. A horse dealer may lie to you but you can always find out the truth ‘from the horse’s mouth’

or this one,

He is “Mad as a Hatter” : Some people say the phrase comes from the fact that in the 18th and 19th centuries hat makers used mercury nitrate in their work. Exposure to this chemical does indeed send you mad. However according to some people the origin of this phrase is much older. Hatter is a corruption of the Saxon word ‘atter’, which meant adder or viper. Furthermore ‘mad’ originally meant poisonous. So if you were mad as an atter you were as ‘poisonous’ (bad tempered or aggressive) as an atter (adder). It goes to show that often it is impossible to be certain where old sayings come from.

You probably have heard a few sayings too, we all have but it is always interesting to find their origin, is it not?

The last time I heard a reference the “trip the light fantastic was in the song by Procol Harem, “A Whiter Shade of Pale”, in part the lyrics are:

We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray (words by Keith Reid)

It reminds me that what is old becomes new given enough time to pass. It was a “red letter day” for me learn that John Milton of the 1600s was the originator of “trip the light fantastic”. Love it!

John Milton, (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet