Changing tastes

BLOG POST #4

 It’s strange how tastes change (or remain the same) with time (or age?)

             Of late it’s becoming more difficult every day to decide what to have for supper (or dinner, however one refers to it). Tonight was one of my all time favourites  – Liver & onions… I loved this dish as a young child, and was not very popular with my sister when this choice was presented , as she hated every aspect of the meal.  I, on the other hand, would choose this option first when offered a choice . I had, however, never heard of liver gravy before I had met my husband, but enjoy it immensely ( knowing, too, it is low in fat).

             As seems to be a common case, my taste for liver has changed over time I, now, prefer my liver to be cooked about medium, whereas, when I was younger, I loved it cooked very well.

It’s the same with fried eggs. When, at seven years of age, my father had me standing on a kitchen chair learning to cook fried eggs, they had to be cooked WELL, actually beyond recognition. My palate has “grown up” since then, in a lot of ways, it seems.

However, a more refined palate seems to do little to answer the daily question:  ”What shall we have for supper?”

As most who know Kent and I will agree, we eat very healthfully.  We try conscientiously to do so.

And our indecision isn’t for lack of food in the cupboards and freezer. We are likely as well stocked as a grocery store, with a wide variety of food items, making healthy eating relatively simple… if one could just make a decision!

Stay healthy and safe!

Sandra

Send in the Clowns

BLOG POST #3                                                                                                                     

             She can’t move her left leg or arm. She must have had a stroke,  … impossible! she’s much too young for a stroke. He moves his legs with both hands, she’s in a wheelchair with a halo attached to her. These are all  outward  “onstage “ signs of an illness or disease.

artist:  Harriet Parker

 But, who sees backstage?  

 There is a whole other story waiting to be told. A whole new, probably unexpected set of emotions is at skin’s surface, centrestage when the curtains part. In most cases, there is a wife, husband, or significant other that the initial affliction has affected to quite an unknown degree .He or she is brought to his/her knees in Act two when the script casts Another human being dealing with pain, grief for the person lost (in fact, the person stricken with the illness or disease isn’t the only one with a new, unfamiliar group of emotions,… grief, sadness, abandonment, loneliness, anger and frustration, but to name a few. It is very much like someone close has died and there are two close friends mourning. And then, if that weren’t enough, there are unexpected financial woes that both must grapple with… the worries seem endless.

   On the surface things may appear okay, but simmering below  are issues unimaginable to those with seats beyond the orchestra pit and even to those closest to the afflicted person and the partner, the lonely void is quite undetectable, Much like a batting tube in late winter at midnight, dark, the quiet deafening with possibly no way out.

               Both the afflicted person and the partner are both feeling a tremendous sense of purposelessness. Likely the only difference is the former is getting treatment and has an adequate arms-length sounding board to release to, whereby the latter is left to deal with his/her emotions alone. And that word cannot be emphasized enough. ALONE … JUST LISTEN TO IT ECHO IN THE EMPTY DARK SPACE. When you listen carefully, the loneliness of just that word could break your heart.

Stay healthy and safe!

Sandra