Who am I to give advice?
Photo credit Jim Bayless
Feel big feel small
Feel joy in it all.
Feel meek feel bold
Feel you’ll never grow old.
Feel what you feel
for better or worse.
Feel nothing at all–
a terrible curse.
Today’s post does double duty as the sixth day’s offering in the April A to Z Challenge (letter F) as well as responding to Trifextra‘s request for 33 words of advice.
From Scott Vanatter with permission; Photo Copyright Indira
Today, Ella left me.
Me and Ella met when we were six months old, and it was love at first sight. We were inseparable, running wild on the farm, poking our curious noses in rabbit holes, wading in the creek, and devouring treats stolen from Mama’s kitchen in the shade of the gnarliest tree in the back forty. For eighteen years, Ella’s been my staunchest ally, fiercest protector, and most trusted confidante.
“I’ll always love you, Ella,” I weep as my father and I pile rocks on top of a dog-sized grave under the gnarliest tree in the back forty.
Question 31
If you knew there would be a nuclear war in one week, what would you do?
I’d like to ask a follow-up question, please. Is this going to be a targeted attack on a few cities, or an all-out global war? If the plan is just to annihilate a few pre-selected targets, I’d make sure I was as far away from them as possible then spend the week making preparations to shelter in place for the foreseeable future. However, if this is going to be a doomsday, wipe out all of mankind kind of war, then I would grab my husband and we’d spend the week visiting with friends and family, preferably in person, but by telephone or Skype as a last resort. Any loved ones we visited who wanted to join us for the rest of the journey would be welcome–the more the merrier as we try to keep our minds off impending disaster. During the final farewell tour, the car radio’d be turned up loud and the back seat would be a graveyard of empty take-out cartons and junk food wrappers–screw my current 1200-calorie diet plan, I’m stopping at every Chick-fil-A, Ruth’s Chris, Cracker Barrel, 7-Eleven, Chipotle, donut shop, and ice cream stand we pass (if I’m vaporized, no one will notice that I could no longer zip my pants). By the end of the week, I’d make sure we were in a place that we love (there are several that fit the bill, so we might end up picking one out of a hat) and my husband and I’d spend some quiet time on our own. As soon as there was confirmation that the war had begun and that it was as devastating as we’d been led to believe it would be, I’d hug and kiss everyone goodbye, swallow a bottle (or two) of sleeping pills, lay down beside my husband for a last snuggle, and pray that I had peacefully drifted off to a deep and endless sleep before the horrors of the nuclear holocaust reached our little corner of the world.
This has been the latest cheery and uplifting installment of Deep Thought Thursdays, brought to you by the provocative Gregory Stock, PhD, in The Book of Questions.
I have just been nominated for a Liebster Blog Award by the very kind and gracious lillian888 at Hopes and Dreams: My Writing and My Sons. While my first reaction was pride and excitement, I had to do some research to find out exactly what this honor meant (actually, I lucked out in my Google search and came across a post on Sopphey Says in which Sopphey had already done the research). Turns out it’s less an award than a way for bloggers to connect with each other in the great wide blogosphere. Even if there is no real award, or monetary prize, or main street parade, I’m happy someone has given me the opportunity to share a bit about myself and to promote some of the other bloggers who have caught my eye since I entered the blogging world.
These are the Rules nominees are supposed to follow:
1. The Liebster is given by bloggers to other bloggers who have less than 200 followers.
2. Each blogger should post eleven facts about himself or herself.
3. Each blogger should answer the eleven questions that are asked by the person doing the nominating.
4. Choose eleven new bloggers to nominate for the Award and link to them in the post.
5. Create eleven new questions for your nominees.
6. Go back to their pages and tell them they’ve been nominated.
7. No tag backs.
Eleven Random Facts About Me
My Answers to lillian888’s Eleven Questions
~What do you like best about blogging?
I like finding my voice again, in fiction and nonfiction, after many years of silence–the whole point of starting this blog was for personal growth but I’m extremely flattered to have readers and followers who care enough to give up a few minutes of their lives to check on my latest posts.
~What’s your happiest memory?
I honestly tried to come up with a single answer for this question, and I just can’t. My life has been pretty well packed with happy memories, and I simply can’t pick one that truly outshines the rest.
~Where do you want to be in five years?
In a place I love, surrounded by people I love, doing a job I love, with free time to enjoy the pastimes I love.
~Favorite animal?
Turtle
~Favorite dessert?
Oreo cookies
~Is there anything or anyone you hate? If yes, why? If no, why not?
No. There are people and things I dislike, but hate takes too much energy. I’d rather just acknowledge that the person or thing makes me unhappy, then move on with my life, avoiding him/her/it as much as possible.
~What inspires you?
Memories of my grandmother. She contracted Guillian-Barré Syndrome and became completely paralyzed when I was a child. With the help of my grandfather, she pushed herself through months of physical therapy until she was able to dress herself, cook, and even walk again. I never heard her complain, and she lived on her own in the house my grandparents had shared even after Granddad died. Her strength, motivation, and positive spirit will never cease to amaze and inspire me.
~Where is your favorite place in the whole world?
Outer Banks, North Carolina
~What’s more important, justice or mercy? Why?
I don’t discount the importance of mercy, but in the big picture I believe justice is more important in society. Justice is getting what one deserves–no more, no less–which, in principle, evens out the playing field in society. No one receives special treatment, which should theoretically lead to less ill-will between individuals, races, genders, and classes. Idealistic view of the world, I know, but I can’t help it.
~Name three people, living or dead, you’d like to meet.
Christa McAuliffe, Sadako Sasaki, Tom Brokaw
~What is the best thing about being a human being vs. an animal or an object?
Humans have endless options in their pursuit of happiness.
Eleven New Questions for My Nominees
~Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?
~Why did you start blogging?
~What is your most likable quality?
~What is one item you should really throw away, but probably never will?
~If you could be anywhere in the world this New Year’s Eve, where would you choose and why?
~Summarize your outlook on life in six words.
~What event in the next few months are you most looking forward to?
~If you had a $100 gift card to spend in any store, where would you choose to spend it?
~What cheers you up when you are having a bad day?
~What one piece of advice would you give to a new blogger?
~If you could create a memorial to yourself in a city park, what and where would the memorial be?
And my nominees are…
(Note to nominees: If you’ve already been nominated for a Liebster in the past, I won’t be the least bit offended if you accept this nomination as an Honorary Liebster Award, with no strings attached!)
Diary of a Square Toothed Girl
The Waiting Is the Hardest Part
Kitty Tales and Bunnie Whiskers
When a Lion Sleeps, Let It Sleep
Great Buddha in Kamakura Length of face = 7.7ft Circumference of thumb = 2.8ft
Every Wednesday, Yumiko came with her stool and her sketchbook and perched delicately in my shadow, applying pencil to paper to capture the scenes around her, sometimes worrying the small details for weeks on end. Shinji, with cameras dangling from his neck and bags of lenses criss-crossing his lithe frame, circled me week in and week out, intent on capturing the subtle differences in the sunlight on my face as the spring days lengthened into summer, but never unaware of those who shared this sacred ground with him. Today, the clicking of Shinji’s shutter grew louder as he maneuvered into Yumiko’s space, framing candid shots of the uniformed high school students boisterously posing around my base for a classmate’s iPhone snaps. Yumiko put her pencil aside and opened her bento bag, peeking from beneath the brim of her sunhat to offer Shinji an onigiri with a shy “Dōzo.” Bowing his thanks, he sank to the ground next to her, and small talk over the shared meal of rice balls eventually turned into tentative requests to view each other’s work. As Yumiko scrolled through his camera’s digital archive, Shinji flipped the pages of her sketchbook, expecting to see my profile but finding his own likeness filling several pages instead; that discovery sent a thrill through him and simultaneously made him a little less nervous about her reaction to his memory card’s imminent revelation of the portraits he had furtively stolen earlier today with his zoom lens.
I’ve combined today’s letter, B, from the A to Z April Challenge with the Weekly Writing Challenge: Iconic from The Daily Post…and threw in a six sentence limit just for fun. I realize Buddhism is not an exclusively Japanese religion, but Daibutsu, the giant Buddha of Kamakura, is THE iconic image of my time in Japan. Every time I see a photo of this Buddha’s placid face, I am reminded of the gentle people, beautiful scenery, and all-encompassing peace I found in Japan.
Photo credit Angie Jordan, sister-in-law
When my husband and I lived in Japan, we used to laugh at how the food was “Japanesed” in every non-Japanese restaurant we tried. Chefs doctored Mexican, Indian, and Italian food to include traditional Japanese ingredients and to suit Japanese palates. Not even American fast food chains were exempt from tampering—McDonald’s offered an ebi (shrimp) filet and a “juicy” chicken sandwich made from the fattiest, gnarliest dark meat you’d ever want to see, and Pizza Hut’s menu was a complete shock to an American searching for a taste of home. Who ever heard of putting tuna, mayo, and corn on a pizza…much less squid, seaweed, and fish eggs?
Now that we’re living in a small village in England, eating out has generally been limited to the nearby traditional English pubs where we’ve been sampling what we assume to be traditional English food (meaning loads of delicious, fresh, local ingredients seasoned with a dash of salt and maybe a flake or two of pepper if the chef is really daring). Lately though, our travels have taken us to some larger towns and cities where we’ve encountered a more exotic variety of dining choices, and sure enough, the English corrupt ethnic cuisine as well. In our tourist adventures this weekend, for example, we found ourselves an “authentic” Indian restaurant owned and operated by “authentic” Indians (and not second or third generation UK citizens, judging by their accents) where I could have supplemented any of the “authentic” entrées (i.e. prepared with something approaching the correct amount of spice, which is the equivalent of adding napalm for most Brits) with a side of chips (complete with malt vinegar). We also tried an Italian establishment, where my starter of creamy garlic mushrooms (garlic is also considered heavy artillery in the spice arsenal) was served on top of a Yorkshire pudding. I’m willing to bet I couldn’t walk into a true Thai restaurant in Bangkok and expect to order a sticky toffee pudding for dessert.
Please don’t think that for one second I believe ethnic cuisine in America is unmolested. I knew that Taco Bell was not Mexican food, but until I lived and travelled overseas, I didn’t realize to what extent we’d adapted foreign foods to meet our gastronomic expectations. I’ve been to Hong Kong, where despite their autonomy from the mainland nation, they eat a lot of Chinese food, and they’ve never even heard of General Tso’s chicken. In three years in Japan, I didn’t see a single Japanese steakhouse where a Chinese “chef,” assisted by a Mexican “sous-chef” would toss eggs into his tall white hat, build a flaming volcano of onion rings, or toss grilled shrimp into the open mouths of sixteen strangers seated around a scorching hot griddle-cum-table. However, I think despite its reputation as a cultural melting pot and an abundance of Americanized dining establishments, the US does still offer plenty of opportunities to find authentic ethnic cuisine. Thanks to immigrants who have held fiercely to their native customs and been willing to share their dietary traditions with their adopted homeland, Americans with an adventurous appetite can travel the culinary world without even applying for a passport.
Thus begins the April A to Z Challenge. A big thanks to challenge founder Arlee Bird for inspiring a legion of bloggers to expand their creative horizons, and for fostering a supportive community where they can also receive encouragement and feedback!
You’ve being exiled to a private island, and your captors will only supply you with five foods. What do you pick?
My favorite prompt this week comes from The Daily Post. I loved it because I’ve been on a 1200-calorie-per-day diet since January and have become totally obsessed with daydreams about food. I thought it’d be easy to pick five foods that I’d want from my captors, but as usual, I’ve overthought the whole thing, and now am not sure what foods to request. Am I locked up, or free to move about the island? Are the captors providing me with five ready-to-eat foods (i.e. prepared dishes) that I just dig right into? Or are they providing me with five raw materials to cook any way I choose? If I’m my own chef, am I exiled to an island with a fully equipped kitchen, or am I cooking in a salvaged tin can over a campfire that refuses to stay lit when it rains?
If I’m free to wander but only get five ingredients that I can then cook for myself, I want:
1. Chicken
2. Potatoes
3. Apples
4. Bread
5. Butter
I’m confident I could manage all of these ingredients in a full kitchen or over a fire, and that I could keep my taste buds engaged by foraging for other fruits and maybe some herbs on the island. I’m also not a bad fisherwoman, so I could add variety to my protein intake that way. (How am I gonna catch fish, you ask? Trust me, MacGyver’s got nothing on me. I’ll scavenge the beach for washed-up bits of net, pull the hem out of my pants and tie on a repurposed bobby pin for a hook, sharpen a tree branch to use as a spear… I’m nothing if not resourceful, and doubly so if I’m hungry.)
If my captors are offering me only five ready-to-eat foods in a jail cell, then I’m ordering:
1. Mushrooms on toast
2. Pizza with pepperoni, sausage, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes
3. Oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins
4. Chef salad with ranch dressing, hold the hard-boiled eggs
5. Rib-eye steak, medium, smothered in sautéed mushrooms and onions
I think there’s enough variety here to maintain a healthy diet and rotate some different options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (assuming, of course, my captors believe in three square meals a day).
I notice that chocolate is not on either of my lists, and wonder about that omission. I can go for long stretches without eating chocolate, unless I know it is not available, and then I crave it to the point of madness. For the sake of my sanity and for the safety of my captors, I wonder if I should replace one item from each list with a Hershey bar? So many doubts and questions for such a simple prompt…
Things I See and Know 