Random Memories

Today, being fast and testimony meeting, of course someone had to bring up pies-- and talk about them at some length. But the connection she made was a good one-- that food often helps us remember our families.

Which got me to thinking about some of my earliest childhood memories. They are so vague that I'm not sure  they will be very interesting for you to read about, but I'll just see what I can do.

One of my earliest memories is of Papa walking me to sleep. I was small enough that I fit between his shoulder and his hip. I did not know this until a few years ago, but Papa actually likes opera (which I do not); what I have always known is that he was very interested in having a cultured family, which is why he bought a number of records at a yard sale from the "Family Library of Great Music," and it was these records which he would put on as he walked me to sleep. Well, that or Roger Williams. Anyway, I remember how safe and happy I felt, falling to sleep as Papa walked me.

Of course, I didn't call him Papa then. I called him "Daddy," which is what most American children call their fathers when they are little. We started calling him Papa when we were all older and he said how cool he thought that would be (I think that Fiddler on the Roof had some influence on this).

I also remember picture day, which came once a year when Penny's had their picture sale. I remember Nana reminding me what it was, because we'd gone the year before. I remember a daisy breaking off as my dad was working on a flower arrangement, and him offering it to me to hold for the picture. I knew that the flowers from the shop were not toys, and I was hesitant to take it, but he pointed out that it had broken off on accident, and the stem was too short to use, so I took it, and somewhere  we have a picture of bald-me, age one and a half or so, holding a daisy just like the one I remember, wearing the dress I remember. I remember the buttons, at my shoulders, being about as big across as one of my fingers. I remember that it was a pink corduroy dress, with each cord being about half as wide as one of my fingers. Years later, I found the dress; the buttons were only an inch across each, and the cords were only normal size. When you are small, everything really does seem larger.

I remember walking with my mom to get the pictures taken. There was a brick wall we would pass, with ads painted on it; the one I remember was for Levi's jeans, and it was of giant feet with the big toes jammed into the two legs of the jeans. How this was supposed to convince someone to buy jeans I couldn't imagine, and I still can't, but it was a fun picture to look at. 

I also remember that next door to the flower shop lived an elderly lady whom we called "Aunt Carrie," who was the reason why my older sister's first word was "cookie," and who was the one who introduced me both to danish butter cookies and to caramel. I did not know until many years later the story of why Carrie Nygar was friends with my family, and I don't have time to tell it at the moment. Perhaps I will tell it later. But if you have Papa handy, you might ask him.

Oh. And I remember, as I got older, watching Nana roll out piecrust between two sheets of plastic wrap. So it comes back to pie after all, I guess.

Proper Spring

So, since our brief flirtation with Summer, Spring has properly arrived! And the air conditioning (in the house) is fixed. Life is good.

The above is from my walk yesterday.

These are from my walk today-- I wasn't walking to get the car, but just walking, so I picked a route that went mostly through woods.

I realize that there must be a limit to the number of flower pictures you guys want to see, but I couldn't resist a "parting shot" from the hyper-local (= in the court our townhouse is in) cherry blossom festival we have every year. It's hard to get over how beautiful these are, every single spring.

IamthankfulIamthankfulIamthankful

Summer has arrived, suddenly and swelteringly. Two Sundays ago, I realized that I really was going to have to dry-clean my extra-warm coat, because the weather just wasn't warming up enough to let me keep wearing my "spring" coat. Two days ago, I realized that both the house and the car air conditioner were broken, and that this could not wait a couple of weeks (until the end of the mild spring weather and the beginning of the hot summer weather) to be fixed, because Summer is here.

So, I used to try to keep this blog cheerful but not-Pollyanna(/smarmy), but I felt like I started slipping at the end of that last post, and today I am hot and tired-- exhausted, really-- and still Trying To Be A Good Person, so I am going there. You have been warned.

I am so thankful that I live in a time and place when air conditioning is A Thing! Because, if it wasn't, then this is how hot my house would be all summer. No-- it's probably the coolest it would be. Also, same goes for my car. I betcha back in the days before air conditioning was A Thing, people had clothes that they didn't sweat through before they even left the house for work. Either that, or it was (perhaps) much more socially acceptable to arrive at work having already sweat through their clothes.

I am thankful for my jobs. I am thankful that I get to use my brain at work, that I like both my boss and my coworkers (at the job I love), and that only one of my approximately five part-time jobs is one I sometimes hate. I'm even glad that I sometimes hate it, because it is part-time enough that it doesn't make my entire life miserable, but it is miserable enough to remind me that this is no way to live, that I need to be Looking For Real Work.

The tulip is  from our front yard. Normally I try to take not-washed-out pictures, but honestly, this is sort of how things look/feel right now. I don't know if you can tell very well, but that tulip-- the third in our yard (the rest haven't turned from green to their proper colors yet) has a couple of wilted/brown petal-edges. The heat is, actually, a dry heat-- it's only sweltering if you're inside the non-air-conditioned house (or car), feeling thankful that all the sweat you're giving off has a chance to do some good. We have a fair few Spring flowers that have made their appearances; many of them are wilt-ey; a few have begun shedding petals already. We also have not a few trees still bare from Winter, not quite caught up to this weird Summer-comes-in-with-a-bang thing.

I am thankful for my computer. I am thankful that I have a piano in my Living Room, that it is tuned (basically...), that I get to play it almost every day. I am thankful that I found my camera! And that I found the gift card that dear friends gave me for Christmas, which I thought I had inadvertently thrown out. And for food. And for naps. Of which I should probably try to take one, now that the morning air has finally cooled our house down a bit.

(And for a freezer that works, even when the air conditioner doesn't. Sleeping with an ice pack clutched to you like a beloved teddy bear is definitely the way to go when your room is hovering between 80 and 85 degrees at night.)

And also that the air conditioning tech person is coming today, and that I don't have to leave for work until 2:00, and that (s)he can come before 2:00. And that there are funds available to fix it.

And now I'm taking a nap.

Best Romantic Advice

Good advice tends to fall into two categories: either so specific that it is of no use in any situation other than the one it was originally intended for, or so general that it is hard to figure out how it might apply to any specific situation.

This advice falls into the latter category.

And here it is: Show True Love. Or, put in other words, Be A True Friend. If you like another and they don't like you: be a true friend. Give them space. Be kind, but don't assume that that is going to lead to any particular results. If they like you and you don't like them: be a true friend. Be honest--I've had talks a few times with girls who thought that they were being "nice" when they didn't break up with a boy, because they didn't want to hurt the boy's feelings. My question was always: when do you think this is going to be less painful for him? After you've broken off an engagement? After you've been married for a year? But also: be kind-- no character attacks. No true friend would rip on another's self-worth on top of breaking their heart.

And still another way of putting it (thank you to Immanuel Kant for this phraseology) is to say that you should treat others as ends unto themselves. This sounds really weird until you think about the expression "a means to an end." Using things as a means to an end is fine: you take a class as the means to get to the end (or, ultimate goal) of getting a degree. If you use a person as a means to an end-- if, for instance, you suppose that one person a) can and b) should meet all (or even most) of your social and emotional needs-- then you are treating that person badly. People are not roads to be walked on to get to your ultimate goal. They are people, and as such they deserve to be sought out and associated with for themselves-- or, left alone, because they prefer to be and you are willing to respect them.

For me, I cannot claim (yet) that following this advice has produced a boyfriend, or even likely prospect of one (though I can cite numerous stories in which it comes shining through-- like the ending sequence of Pride and Prejudice). On the other hand, I can tell you with certainty that when I have managed to keep it, this advice has made my life happier, more peaceful, and overall more worth living. After all, even when the one I currently have my eye on wanders off to more likely prospects, I am left with something I get to keep: an improved character.

Wish you were here...

Spring, that is. It's too cold at the moment. I don't miss the allergies, though.

The truth of the matter is that I don't like that tractor trophy enough to want to see it every time I look at my blog. So here's a flower from outside the church, from last spring. (I didn't blog it yet, did I?)

Nana's workmates know her only too well

Nana invited me to go with her to her work party in December, which is why I was present when they handed out individualized "awards" to everyone. This one was so appropriate that I embarrassed myself by shrieking in astonishment.

Can you read it? It says, "Most likely to get a degree... just cuz."

WOOT!

I buyed a new compluder last night!

And yes, I am so excited about it that I am talking in 4-year-old-ese.

It should be delivered by the 27th. I could have chosen to pick it up at the store, but a) I am too lazy, and b) picking it up at the store would have gotten it to me at most three days earlier (and that's assuming I could have gotten to the store as soon as said compluder arrived, which is not a guarantee), and c) shipping was free, so there you have it.

Also, just in case there is anyone in my near connections who has not needed to be cheered up in the last month (and who therefore has not had me already tell them this): there was a goat cheese fire in a tunnel in Norway

Aren't you-all glad I have internet access, so that I can bring to your attention such essential information?