come out & play with me

ooh a food game! bittersweet had an idea based on a list that's flying around cyberspace. she explains everything here.

it looked like fun, so i decided to play along. you play too - ready? set? go!

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"Your mission, should you choose to accept it:
1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.5) Pass it on!"

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble
4. Haggis
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Caviar
29. Baklava
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey
54. Sheese
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Soy curls
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can
76. Pomegranate
77. Fauxtess cupcakes
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Savory crepes
83. Tings
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Moussaka
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and “cheese”
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofutti
97. Potato Milk
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

***

tag - you're it!
~peace.

a moment of your time

it would appear that i do quite a bit of looking everywhere; yet not often enough, directly in front of me.

the weeks of uploading thousands of photos led to looking through them; first by myself, then with manlyman or thehobbit. it was lovely in the beginning - to relive the moments we shared - yet it led to much sadness as well. seeing how small thehobbit was, even just a year ago, compared to the lanky 10yo he is today has been difficult. i love to watch him grow, & see him accomplish or discover new things - & yet...

too much time looking behind you can be dangerous. it can lead to wishing you'd done or not done, or focusing on things that are no more. not that looking back is entirely bad; i don't mean to imply that. i've just been looking behind a tad more than is healthy of late.

i have been looking forward as well, just perhaps a little too far into the distance. all the planning for the homeschool year, all the prepping for the winter show, all the dreaming that i am forever lost in. that is a biggie for me, that last bit. i am a dreamer of the grandest magnitude. just yesterday i was lost in a daydream, & realized that thehobbit had been talking to me for a goodly while, & i hadn't heard a thing. not a pleasant thing to realize - that you'd been so lost in dreams of where you want to be, that you're ignoring where you actually are.

the photos here are but a minute fraction of how many upward shots i found during the uploading. oh how i love to look up - to gaze at the sky, to watch the birds or the clouds or the stars. i don't know what it is about the world above my head that pulls at me so strongly.

i discovered many photos of rooftops & carved ceilings, of towering trees, of signs, of banners, & well you get my point.

having a child who loves the hidden world beneath his feet, has gotten me into the habit of searching downward for places to explore. rocks & tiny flowers, acorn & eucalyptus caps, signs of wee folk - it's all right there. we look for paths to walk down; literally & not. we scan the ground for things to delight us, to inspire us, to take home, or perhaps just to watch. it's easy to let time slip past this way.

***

what i need to do is find a way to do all of the above; all of the looking ahead, behind, above, & downward; but keep my focus on what is directly in front of me. the here & the now. it shan't be easy for me; gazer, dreamer, searcher that i am.

perhaps if i take it in moments? don't say today i shall spend the morning playing with thehobbit & ignoring the rest - rather - right this moment i am here. with thehobbit. playing. & this moment. & again, this moment.

~peace. right this moment. peace.

plant this!

many years ago manlyman realized he would be happier if he just accepted my love of containers & my ambition to have the largest collection ever. baskets, wooden boxes, metal buckets, enamelware: the more utilitarian, & rustic the better. oooh that gives me the chills.

he still does not understand my love, nor would he mind were i to wake one day & decide to toss the lot. that's ok with me though, because i don't need him to understand. i do need him to keep bringing home cool baskets & tins that his co-workers don't want. (they receive a lot of gifts in containers from the club's members through the year.)

***

months back he brought me a wooden planter that had been filled with jams. i liked it, but couldn't figure out how to put it to use.


there is a plastic lining, so i briefly considered actually planting something within - shocking i know. i'm not big on using things they way they were intended to be used. so the planter just sat there, working as a temporary, dust-collector. until...



i realized file folders fit perfectly! i'd previously kept the files stacked on a small, low, wire table beneath my computer table (i use a farm table instead of a desk) but the stack was forever falling over. the planter fits perfectly in place of the stack. i put those fuzzy little disks beneath the little table's legs, so i can easily slide the whole thing beneath the larger table when i don't need the files.

***

i did some experimenting for you: spiral notebooks, magazines, construction paper, or printer paper all fit nicely as well. you needn't stick with wooden planters; metal, or wicker would work splendidly. i personally wouldn't use wire, because i think things would not slide in & out as smoothly; but if you don't mind that, you can use a wire planter. if you haven't a planter of any kind, check out thrift shops. i'm forever seeing them there, & for a few dollars at most.

happy planting :-)
~peace.

when you wish upon a star...

do not wish you could spend a day doing nothing. don't think how lovely it would be if there was nothing to do, & you were able to watch mindless television the whole day long. why kat, why? why should we not wish for such a thing? it sounds lovely. well i shall tell you why, oh yes i shall.

because your wish shall come true! however... not in the way you had imagined it would. i wished for this very thing, after a few days of playing catch-up during the moments my back was behaving. i was exhausted, & nowhere near caught up, so i made my wish. it would seem these weren't the brightest of things to do; neither the wishing, nor the day at disneyland with a pack on my back nor the catching-up.

today my wish was granted, & i spent the day doing nothing. wait. let me rephrase that: unable to do anything. tooootally different. my back is now utterly out. all walking is done in slow motion, & the most minute of movements can trigger a freakypainful spasm, which freezes me in place until it passes. i am one miserable kat.

***

i spent very little of the day watching television at least. we did watch some, but it was a beautiful day, so much of it was spent out of doors. my guilt at not being able to do anything with thehobbit vanished when i realized he was spending his summer day as i had spent many of mine: left to play the day away in the backyard, with no adults to pester him.

i did check on him a few times though, because he was dressed quite inappropriately for a warm day. over pants & a tshirt he had on: a black suit coat, black gloves, an invisibility cloak, & a bike helmet (on backwards.) he never caught on, as i said i was coming outside for smooches. ha! by the way, i asked what he was dressed for, & he looked at me confusedly, & said huh?...

i sincerely hope the rest of you had a vastly better day than i. do me a favor - put on some music, & dance around the house in wild abandon. i'm going to wish that i can join you.

~peace.