This is a quick post, my friend Jason has a new blog, Time to End Poverty (linked to this title). You should check it out. You should also check out http://halfinten.com/, John Edwards new campaign to cut poverty in half in ten years.
I haven't written much lately; time to get back to this!!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Fried Bologna
So tonight for supper I was frying bologna. Mundane, but my son and I both love it. We had it with some canned sweet potatoes and with green beans my mother grew, picked, broke and canned. Good stuff.
And why am I writing about bologna? Because I never eat it without thinking of my father. When I was young, I forget how old, maybe 11 or 12, we went on vacation to Florida. We almost never stayed in motels, and at that point we didn't camp either. We would pull over when Daddy got sleepy and sleep in the car. On this trip we had gone to Isle of Palms for a day, then driven down through Florida. We stopped at Silver Springs, in Ocala, went on the glass bottom boat and the jungle cruise. The picture of us on the jungle cruise boat is still around somewhere. Anyway, we got to Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral and before we got a chance to sightsee at all it started pouring down rain. Daddy parked at a store and went inside, bought bread, cheese and unsliced bologna (first time I had seen that) and we ate sandwiches in the car, watching the rain.
We didn't spend a lot of money on these vacations, because I guess we didn't have a lot of extra money. By not staying in motels, we had money for the glass bottom boat. We had a camp stove, and we would stop at picnic areas and cook our meals, so we didn't spend money eating out.
When Matthew and Tracey were younger, and the grocery money had stretched as far as it would go, I would open a jar of tomatoes (grown by my father and canned by my mother), pour them in a pot and add rice and a little chili powder, and then open a jar of green beans (same source) and heat them, and feed my little family. They enjoyed it and didn't think it had anything to do with the empty cabinets in our house. And I knew, as long as my father and mother were alive and able, my children would never be hungry, no matter what happened to me.
My point with all this, which I really had a grasp on as I was frying that bologna tonight, is that money didn't matter then to the family relationships we had. Another thing--as long as my father was awake and driving the car, I slept peacefully in the back. But when he stopped to sleep, I woke up and couldn't sleep as long as we were still. Maybe I was keeping watch, I don't know. But I miss him every minute of every day, and wish I had him back, driving the car.
And why am I writing about bologna? Because I never eat it without thinking of my father. When I was young, I forget how old, maybe 11 or 12, we went on vacation to Florida. We almost never stayed in motels, and at that point we didn't camp either. We would pull over when Daddy got sleepy and sleep in the car. On this trip we had gone to Isle of Palms for a day, then driven down through Florida. We stopped at Silver Springs, in Ocala, went on the glass bottom boat and the jungle cruise. The picture of us on the jungle cruise boat is still around somewhere. Anyway, we got to Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral and before we got a chance to sightsee at all it started pouring down rain. Daddy parked at a store and went inside, bought bread, cheese and unsliced bologna (first time I had seen that) and we ate sandwiches in the car, watching the rain.
We didn't spend a lot of money on these vacations, because I guess we didn't have a lot of extra money. By not staying in motels, we had money for the glass bottom boat. We had a camp stove, and we would stop at picnic areas and cook our meals, so we didn't spend money eating out.
When Matthew and Tracey were younger, and the grocery money had stretched as far as it would go, I would open a jar of tomatoes (grown by my father and canned by my mother), pour them in a pot and add rice and a little chili powder, and then open a jar of green beans (same source) and heat them, and feed my little family. They enjoyed it and didn't think it had anything to do with the empty cabinets in our house. And I knew, as long as my father and mother were alive and able, my children would never be hungry, no matter what happened to me.
My point with all this, which I really had a grasp on as I was frying that bologna tonight, is that money didn't matter then to the family relationships we had. Another thing--as long as my father was awake and driving the car, I slept peacefully in the back. But when he stopped to sleep, I woke up and couldn't sleep as long as we were still. Maybe I was keeping watch, I don't know. But I miss him every minute of every day, and wish I had him back, driving the car.
A Song For My Brother
I have the album this song is on. After my brother died, in 1974, I listened to it over and over. And tonight it came to me, and I googled the lyrics, and after 34 years I still could sing the tune, remembered it. Life is entirely too short, and we take too much for granted, and I know that is cliche but it is true, true, true. I wish we could understand that truth from our beginnings, and live our lives aware of it.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Random Midnight Thoughts
I made a mulberry pie tonight. For those who don't know, mulberries are kind of like blackberries but they grow on a tree. They aren't as round as blackberries, more of an oval shape. Very sweet, not as seedy as blackberries. Anyway, I have a tree by my front door, and whether because of the cats or their own generosity, the birds are leaving the mulberries for me this year. My son and I have been eating them, but at last there were enough ripe to make a cobbler (the easy way, what I call cuppa cuppa cuppa.) It was sooo good.
Obviously this isn't political. But mulberries are a memory of my youth. When I was a child my mother worked, and we didn't go to daycare but one summer. (I hated it). The rest of the time we had babysitters. One summer the teenage daughter of our babysitter introduced me to solitaire, soap operas and mulberries. It was a great summer.
Later, when I was a divorced mother of two attending Clemson, a friend and I ate mulberries from a tree on campus. The four years I was there, I eagerly awaited the arrival of the sweet fruits, and I introduced friends to the tree.
I never eat them now without thinking of these two most peaceful times in my life. I am so lucky to have this tree in my yard-it met me when I came, but I didn't know what it was until the spring, and some springs I am lucky enough to get a few berries. The pie this year has been an unexpected blessing.
Obviously this isn't political. But mulberries are a memory of my youth. When I was a child my mother worked, and we didn't go to daycare but one summer. (I hated it). The rest of the time we had babysitters. One summer the teenage daughter of our babysitter introduced me to solitaire, soap operas and mulberries. It was a great summer.
Later, when I was a divorced mother of two attending Clemson, a friend and I ate mulberries from a tree on campus. The four years I was there, I eagerly awaited the arrival of the sweet fruits, and I introduced friends to the tree.
I never eat them now without thinking of these two most peaceful times in my life. I am so lucky to have this tree in my yard-it met me when I came, but I didn't know what it was until the spring, and some springs I am lucky enough to get a few berries. The pie this year has been an unexpected blessing.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Elizabeth Edwards on health care
I cannot add to what she says in this blog. We are at a critical point in this country when it comes to health care, to the use of energy and to the conservation of our planet. As we mark Earth Day today, we need to think about how we care for others and for the planet. Please consider this when you talk to friends, when you pass on emails, when you vote and when you read and listen to the news and to the mass media. We are being cossetted by the media into thinking that celebrities are important and the economy, the wars and the election aren't. And the President is trying to convince us that what we have to worry about is whether terrorists are coming here to blow us up, rather than whether corporations (not all) are trying to take us over and make enormous profits at our expense.
PAY ATTENTION.
PAY ATTENTION.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Charleston Animal Society
Isn't this better than eHarmony? Doesn't it make you just want to run out and adopt a pet? I love my cats and they love me. Pets are much more accepting than people.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
In defense of Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright
Actually, more in defense of Senator Obama's relationship with him. I haven't heard this aspect brought out at all; I didn't listen to the "speech", so I don't know if it was mentioned by the senator. I haven't read everything written, haven't listened to all the pundits. This is just my take on it.
I was a single mother, and even though I had been married to the father of my older children, he wasn't a participant in their lives except sporadically. My father, their grandfather, was the male role model most present in their lives. He showed them how a man treats his family, his job, his friends. He was not perfect, but no matter what, he was their father figure, and they would no more reject him than they would me.
Barack Obama was raised by a single white woman, and his white grandparents were the other stable adults in his life, according to what I know of him. The role models he had for living life as a black man in the US (and trust me, no matter the color of his mother's skin, he was going to live his life as a black man in this country, we are not yet color blind) were few. And he has developed a strong bond with Pastor Wright, as a spiritual advisor and I would imagine in some sense as a surrogate father. The people in our lives who fill those spaces are not easily denounced or rejected. Whether perfect (no one is) or not, we accept their failings short-sightedness, prejudices and anger and love them anyway. Many people have said angry, hateful things but still love the country, still love their friends and children, still do good work. I don't want to point out all the religious leaders that John McCain has embraced, because I think he does that for political reasons. Senator Obama and Pastor Wright have a different relationship. They don't have a bond for political reasons; it seems to be deeply personal. If it were his father saying these things would we expect him to denounce him? It is possible that he didn't really hear these things the same way many people listening to the clips do, because we don't always hear things said by people we love the same way others do. We hear the underlying message, not the rhetoric.
I can't go back and tell you everything my father ever said; I can tell you how he loved me, how he taught me right from wrong, and how he showed me to respect others. I am sure that for Senator Obama, he can tell you all the good Pastor Wright has done, and he would be right.
I was a single mother, and even though I had been married to the father of my older children, he wasn't a participant in their lives except sporadically. My father, their grandfather, was the male role model most present in their lives. He showed them how a man treats his family, his job, his friends. He was not perfect, but no matter what, he was their father figure, and they would no more reject him than they would me.
Barack Obama was raised by a single white woman, and his white grandparents were the other stable adults in his life, according to what I know of him. The role models he had for living life as a black man in the US (and trust me, no matter the color of his mother's skin, he was going to live his life as a black man in this country, we are not yet color blind) were few. And he has developed a strong bond with Pastor Wright, as a spiritual advisor and I would imagine in some sense as a surrogate father. The people in our lives who fill those spaces are not easily denounced or rejected. Whether perfect (no one is) or not, we accept their failings short-sightedness, prejudices and anger and love them anyway. Many people have said angry, hateful things but still love the country, still love their friends and children, still do good work. I don't want to point out all the religious leaders that John McCain has embraced, because I think he does that for political reasons. Senator Obama and Pastor Wright have a different relationship. They don't have a bond for political reasons; it seems to be deeply personal. If it were his father saying these things would we expect him to denounce him? It is possible that he didn't really hear these things the same way many people listening to the clips do, because we don't always hear things said by people we love the same way others do. We hear the underlying message, not the rhetoric.
I can't go back and tell you everything my father ever said; I can tell you how he loved me, how he taught me right from wrong, and how he showed me to respect others. I am sure that for Senator Obama, he can tell you all the good Pastor Wright has done, and he would be right.
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