Tuesday, A Day For Soup

More memories

A World Apart

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:
it is the time for home.” 
Edith Sitwell, British poet and critic  1887-1964

Winter has arrived in force now. We have been lulled into thinking it won’t happen, but yesterday and today, the rain fell, the wind blew and the temperature plummeted. June, July and August are winter months here in New Zealand.

I think the days of quietly sitting reading in the warm sunshine are now over for the next several months

Not surprisingly, therefore, today my thoughts turned to soup. For those of you who have been following me on my other blog

If you have been following me on my other site Growing Younger Each Day you will know that I love soup. I need no excuse to make it whatever the…

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Friendships

More on friendships.

A World Apart

Not surprisingly, my thoughts this week have been on friends. Life long, stand-by-you kind, even when-you-are-an-idiot kind (as is bound to happen now and then).

And you may remember there is only one sport I watch, and enjoy, – golf. Even though I hail from a true Canadian hockey family.

Well this was a double treat kind of Sunday – friends and golf in a tie play off.

Kind of warms the heart.

Scottie Scheffler won my loyalty when he won this year’s Masters and the Green Jacket.

Today his number one opponent was Sam Burns in the FedEx Cup tournament.

Two best friends (for real)- who tied, and played off.

Sam Burns made the best putt of his game and won, but Scottie’s joy at his friend’s win was what made me smile.

Of course there are no real loser’s here.

So from North of 43 I wish true…

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Someone, Someday, Sunday!

A World Apart

“We are not wise, and not very often kind.
And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left.”
Mary Oliver.

Have you ever said –

“Someone should do something about that.” Yes, but who?

“Well, someday of course.” But when?

Sunday. Today’s the day.

In fact, every day is the day to right that wrong, help somebody in need, stand up and be counted.

I have been thinking about those things that this week I should have stood up for, could have stood up for and did stand up for.

First, I did nothing when I saw a man ill-treating his dog. I should have called out to him, but I didn’t. Oh yes, he was probably twice my size. Tall, well over 6 ft and heavy. If I had to guess I would say well over 230 lbs. So I just turned and walked away. I…

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Five things I learned this week

Thoughts on friendship.

A World Apart

As mentioned previously this was the week that Moonwatcher51 came to visit for a few days. My intrepid friend, the Road Warrior as I call her, is a traveller. The original ’a rolling stone gathers no moss’ idea.

And she does it alone, accompanied by her trusty companion Rizzo, who is about the most perfect dog I have ever met. Quiet, pleasant minded. I guess that description applies to both of them. Laid back and at the same time accomplishing amazing things.

Okay so what did I learn?

• When your Keurig dies the day she is to arrive, it is possible to make a passable cup of coffee with fine grind in a French Press. (I wasn’t sure of the amount of coffee to water, but if it was a problem, my guest was too polite to say so.
• Even when it has been years since last visits (another friend…

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WELL, THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT.

A World Apart

Do you sometimes:

“Our brains don’t remember everything,
but maybe what they remember is enough.”
Judith Baxter, Blogger and friend.

Do you occasionally –

Forget the names of friends or even family members
Can’t remember where you put something
Go into a room and forget why you were going there
Spend time searching for your glasses or car keys?

Unfortunately, this happens to me and many of my friends. And if you answer yes then according to Professor Bruno Dubois, Director of the Institute of Memory and Alzheimer’s Disease (IMMA) at La Pitié-Salpêtrière – Paris Hospitals, then what you are suffering from is “Anosognosia” or temporary forgetfulness.

According to the Professor, it often happens to people 60 years and older who complain that they are losing their memory. “The information is always in the brain, it is the “processor” that is lacking.”

Furthermore, he says, “If anyone is aware of…

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Making noise

A World Apart

2 big noise events have taken up residence in my brain lately.

The first is about the noise that accompanied Canada’s derecho. The information below are excerpts from the CBC report.

What’s a derecho and why is it so destructive? The science behind this powerful storm

Canada’s last derecho was in 1999, but climate change is shifting conditions

An ominous wall of wind and rain

A derecho, pronounced deh-RAY-cho, is a long-lived, fast-moving thunderstorm that causes widespread wind damage. This particular storm system was fed by a heat dome over the eastern United States.

According to Sills, the system formed south of Chicago on Saturday morning, then crossed the border into the Windsor area, where it started to cause damage.

By the time it arrived in Kitchener, Sills said the thunderstorm was producing gusts of up to 132 km/h. 

Unlike the rotating winds in a hurricane or a tornado…

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The Diamond Eye

A World Apart

How often do you come across a book that you can really say is ‘unputdownable’?OK, so that’s not a word, but you know what I mean.

Sunday, things to do, housework, memory writing for Monday’s meeting and of course, a host of other things. After I spoke to the other half of this duo for the usual 60/90 minutes weekly chat, I sat down with a fresh cup of tea and a book which my daughter gave me. 

“Gentlemen,” she said, “I am 25 years old and I have killed 309 fascist
occupants by now. Don’t you think, gentlemen,
that you have been hiding behind my back for too long?”
Mila Pavlichenko in Chicago, 1942

Do you know the author, Kate Quinn?  She writes historical novels, and I am constantly amazed at both her writing and her meticulous research.  She writes mainly about the Second World War and her first book in…

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When I am old.

A World Apart

I have warned you in the past how I shall be when I am old.

“I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.”

I will most definitely be outrageous, difficult and undignified but not until I am old.

Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I looked in the mirror and saw this Old Woman looking out at me. I just had to share this other poem with you. I don’t know who wrote it or where it’s from but it just says how I felt earlier today.

A very weird thing has happened.
I have no idea who she is, where she came from, or how she got in.
I certainly didn’t invite her
All I know is that one day she wasn’t here…

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Saddest jobs and first lines

From Chris today

A World Apart

I had a thought earlier I wanted to share with you tonight. A thought that crossed my mind and made me sit up and take notice.

Surprisingly it was that scientists studying the universe possibly have one of the least rewarding jobs.

As a nurse of 5 decades or so, I often thought of those who could for instance work with sick children and the pain and loss that would entail at times. The same with any of the specialty fields I guess. Then I came to realize the hardest place to work would be Long Term Care, because there is only one way any of those folk would leave, and given the age and fragility of them, the staff would find themselves in a constant low grade grieving. Does that make sense?

Then I was reading on my news feed something about spectacular new things and new questions arising…

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International Tea Day

I am English so I drink tea.

A World Apart

Did you know May 21 is marked as International Tea Day. No, neither did I, but who better to write about tea than an English woman!

Tea! thou soft, thou sober, sage, and venerable liquid,…
thou female tongue-running, smile-smoothing, heart-opening,
wind-tippling cordial, to whose glorious insipidity I owe
the happiest moment of my life, let me fall prostrate.”
~Colley Cibber,1671 1757) English actor-manager, playwright
and Poet Laureate.

Do you drink tea – how do you take it? I have mine black with no milk or sugar/

“The UK Tea & Infusions Association (UKTIA) says 84% of the UK population drinks tea every day, so there’s no doubt the nation loves it – with milk too, apparently. UKTIA say around 100 million cups of tea are consumed daily, and roughly 98% of those brews are served with milk”.

And according to the BBC, (The authority(?) on all things British) we…

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