As winter nears, I think about the changing season and how often the foods we eat shift along with the season change. Not sure why this popped into my mind, but I have these memories of my childhood when Mum would serve us all an appetizer for dinner, which was either grapefruits or oranges, sliced in half for digging our spoons into. Living in Florida, we tend to have a lot of citrus fruit available year round. I think we take that for granted, as most northern places do not have such easy access to citrus, at least not growing outside in their neighborhoods.
I feel like so many family dinners would begin with a bowl, a spoon, and a sliced in half grapefruit or orange. But why would Mum serve us fruit as an appetizer? Kind of odd, right?
Because Dad, in all his skills as being the most thrifty man with four children (I am only now beginning to see the breadth and depth of the ways in which he was super thrifty) would collect grapefruits and oranges from yards. Dad had a lawn maintenance business, and he gathered fruit from various trees from the yards he would be mowing that day. He gathered the just fallen fruit and low hanging fruit that was in the way, so as not to take all the prime fruit. He would bring bags of fruit home and feed his family a wholesome appetizer.
All my childhood, I thought it was the most normal thing in the world for Dad to bring home grapefruit and oranges after his mowing that day. He asked permission from the owners, of course, and probably said something about his four children, and the owners let him.
For some reason, I always thought it was rather elegant to have a first course at dinner. A fruit course can be however fancy you would like it to be in your imagination, even if you are eating from Styrofoam bowls. But in my young mind, it felt elegant, as we all sat down at the round wooden kitchen table scooping our grapefruits.Sometimes we could even add some sugar on top.
There is something so memorable in that simple thing. It is another source of appreciation for Dad thinking of his family whilst mowing lawns. As he worked on yards he saw trees full of fruit, many dropped onto the perfectly cut grass, and he thought - my family could eat all this citrus fruit and the old owner certainly cannot eat all these. Let's get some vitamins into the kids.
He would collect the fruit. Mum would prepare.
Smart Dad, he was.
And once the elegance of a first course was complete, we would move onto the main course, likely some meat, veg, starch combination. Not quite as elegant, to me, as the first course.
Are you shopping for Christmas gifts yet? Have you started? Are you done?
I have made a goal for myself (we will see if I am able to accomplish that goal) to be complete with all my Christmas shopping by the end of November. That way, I can enjoy all of the December activities without worrying about gifts I still need to buy and wrap.
If you are thinking about some gifts you need to get soon, here are a few helpful questions:
- Do you need a gift for someone you know who might enjoy an imaginative story?
- Do you know someone who likes books?
- Do you know someone who reads?
- Do you know someone who likes to think?
Answer!
Buy that someone my short novella - Selador: The Book of Time HERE ON AMAZON.
- It is the perfect book to snuggle up with a blanket on the sofa on a chilly day.
- It is the perfect book to bring with you anywhere you go, it is quite small (see photo evidence above).
- It is the perfect way to support a self-published author.
If you have read it already, leave a little review on Amazon (link above) and I would be most grateful.
Lastly, if you are on goodreads, I have an author page there and Selador: The Book of Time is on there too!
Goodreads is a online bookish community. It provides a fun way to track and review what you are reading. This is how I have tracked my reading for several years. I know how many books I read each year only because I track it here. Otherwise I would have no idea how many books I read!
I thought I would throw out an idea to help you out in your Christmas shopping. Thanks for reading!
A breezy chill in the subdued air -
Grey-cast sky reflects my grey sweater.
Dressed appropriately for the weather -
I welcome the season sweeping my hair.
The cold weather has reached this sun-steeped southern land. Are you surprised at all that I am going to write about it? Any time I get to pull out my sweater and feel the urge to suddenly spend a large amount of my day outside is a day to rejoice about. That has been several days lately.
I might have had several things on my to do list, and when I completed the errands that were on the list, I ended up at Hollis Garden as the winds were blowing the chilly air across the lake and into the garden. It wasn't too bad, though, and I took a wander around the garden.
I spent much of my time sitting on my bench of choice, to write a few lines in my journal.
This is the kind of day I live for here. Slightly chilled all day long. A perfectly cast autumnal day. I watch the winds up at the tallest point of the palms - the wind view-able by the dancing of the long, green fronds.
Some tall corn stalks grow nearby my bench, guarded by a scarecrow and some hay stacks. People take photographs everywhere, and there are several photography sessions going on all around. The classical music plays in the background, creating a sense of elegance. Well, it is an elegant garden, painstakingly maintained and perfectly manicured. No wonder so many weddings are held here, along with photography sessions.
From my bench spot, I have a panoramic view of the garden and Lake Mirror beyond. This is a good thinking place.
This stone bench is a bit chilly, so I will finish this page and take a wander. But I do prefer to sit and enjoy the garden. The simple aspects of dirt, grass, and blooming plants can invite one to enter a state of wonder and appreciation.
That is, if you allow it to.
One can always choose to ignore the most simple beauty right in front of them if one does not wish to stop. One must take the effort (isn't it rather strange that it really does take effort) to stop. But I can say that the effort is always worth it.
Are women human?
This is a question Dorothy L. Sayers asks to discuss a larger question of society.
I finished a short book of essays by Dorothy L. Sayers on the role of women and work in society. It was witty and full of very interesting counter-cultural viewpoints. She argues that feminism (as it began to grow in her days) tries to mold women into a category to say that women should be treated exactly the same as men, which does more harm than good. As the world already has too many categories of people that we plug people into, it is not good or unifying.
We are much too much inclined in these days to divide people into permanent categories, forgetting that a category only exists for its special purpose and must be forgotten as soon as that purpose is served.
These short essays were talks that she gave in 1938. By way of arguing against the cultural way of thought, she sets an example that if women are good at business, let them do it and do it well. And that's how they glorify God. If a women is an excellent judge, doctor, or policewoman, let her do it well. Likewise, if a man is good with the home cooking, shop keeping, or teaching, let him do it well.
Once lay down the rule that the job comes first and you throw that job open to every individual, man, or woman, fat or thin, tall or short, ugly or beautiful, who is able to do that job better than the rest of the world.
Her point - we are made to do our work well, whatever that may be. Find what you do well and embrace it. Do not divide the work into men's work, or women's work. Isn't it human's work? She brings up a reminder from history when women did most of the work (brewing beer, making clothes, repairing things), and then after a war, men came back and took those jobs, or they were mechanized, leaving women to do the homemaking, and being dubbed "women's work".
Then, I reach a line like this one that makes me pause to chuckle at her wit (remember, Dorothy L.Sayers wrote many detective fiction novels that are absolutely delightful):
I am occasionally desired by congenital imbeciles and the editors of magazines to say something about the writing of detective fiction "from the woman's point of view." To such demands, one can only say, "Go away and don't be silly. You might as well ask what is the female angle on an equilateral triangle."
And further, it is best not to do our work with the aim to 'better the community' per say. Sayers argues that if our focus is to better the community, we shall not do our work well. We need to aim at doing our work to the very best of our ability. By being the best at our particular work and fully focusing on it, it automatically betters the community. All the while your good, best work gives glory to God by doing your work well. The best Christian work is a doing a job well.
This is the wayside approach, which actually makes so much sense. Those who get caught up in doing good for the wider whole can lose focus on the work they actually need to do, and end up not doing that well because the focus is diverted.
I love how Dorothy L. Sayers gives me these good thoughts to shape my ways of seeing, all from the 1930's when she wrote and spoke on these topics. She saw the cultural shifts taking place in her day, and it feels prophetic.
When she argues that the rise of feminism (which of course was all the rage in the 1940's) actually does more damage than good. It tries to fold women as being the same as men. Well, we are all human, so yes, the same. So, why do we need to break ourselves into a categories and bifurcate ourselves within society? We are all the same classification as human. Doesn't this project a sense of unity?
If you wish to preserve a free democracy, you must base it - not on classes and categories, for this will land you in the totalitarian state, where no one may act or think except as the member of a category. You must base it upon the individual Tom, Dick, and Harry, and the individual Jack and Jill - in fact, upon you and me.
Dorothy L. Sayers was such an admirable writer. Bringing the intelligent focus, wit, and knowledge. I admire her individuality, as she is unafraid of voicing truth, and writing with an intelligence so well thought.
Now entering a beautiful winter wonderland. Welcome.
Can you imagine my excitement? A Florida girl who has not seen snow in close to seven years gets to enter a magical winter wonderland?
With Colorado's notorious weather shifts, I went with no expectation of seeing snow. I prefer not to be disappointed, so instead I was surprised and delighted with the snowy days we encountered. Our drive into the mountains was not hindered, thankfully, but it did snow all the way up (and then slowed and stopped as we got to the top). I just watched the snow as we drove along, feeling like a child, staring at the flakes falling and the accumulated bundles hanging on tree limbs, in wonder.
We took a historic narrow gauge train ride, from Georgetown. A short loop (about an hour) with more than 1,000 foot elevation change on the journey. We rode in the classy carriage, vintage from the 1930's. We were served snacks as the train began its accent up the mountain. The snowy banks still fresh and pristine. There is nothing quite like the freshly fallen snow. I am so thankful I got to experience it. It was freezing, I will say. About 20 degrees the whole day. I wasn't complaining, though.
The train ride felt like a transportation back in time. We were aristocrats for the short time, taking the Presidential carriage up to the next town, as they did back in the early 1900's. It was fashionable to go up in the train to have tea. I love trains anyway, and riding the historic train, with a diesel engine, felt like a special treat, and it was.We all had a great time.
I traded the heat and humidity of Florida for the dry, arid landscape of Colorado, to visit little brother and sister-in-law for a few days. What a delight to explore a new place to me, and get a complete change of landscape.
Speaking of dramatic landscape, Colorado has that, as well as dramatic weather changes. You almost cannot keep up it moves so on its own course that you may not expect. And when you expect it, it throws a curve at you.
The joy of travel is to see a place with enjoyment, hopefully at a slower pace than your normal everyday. Learning a bit about a place so different from your home. We all benefit from learning more about the nature around us, and the cities that people call home.
Arriving in Denver late at night, the first order of business was to wake up the next day and take a drive south to Colorado Springs. My first glimpse of the Rocky Mountains came into view as my brother drove and my breath halted in my throat. How beautiful are the huge, snowy mountains? Simply stunning and beyond scale that we can articulate. They felt close enough to touch if I reached out, and yet 20-30 miles away.
We entered the realm of another planet, into the strange and wonderful Garden of the Gods. It is a garden of strange red-coloured naturally sculptured rocks. It was such fun to drive through the garden, stopping every now and then to walk a little for some closer views. It is an other worldly place that I enjoyed visiting so much.
Afterwards, we found a great gluten free restaurant in Colorado Springs to eat at, and a gluten free bakery to pick up a few goodies. Another little drive around the area, and then we headed back for an evening visiting and catching up, once sister-in-law was off work.
