Category Archives: General

Freedom

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My husband and I are selling our house after 22 years. The house has been good to us, a tranquil space close to friends, surrounded by green forest, containing critters to keep us amused . . . and sometimes anxious. Think snakes in the crawlspace. We have been good to the house in return–fixing it up to bring out the beauty of the over-sized rooms, high ceilings, beams and lots of light.

We decided to have a moving sale to get rid of stuff that won’t fit into our smaller place. My husband has a birdcage. This cage has followed us from marriage through moves to Ohio and then to Georgia. The cage is over-sized and made of wood, the old-fashioned kind. It’s not in the best of shape–two of the small slats are broken, and the door is stuck open. During set up for the sale, he placed it on top of a shelving unit and put a sold sign on it.

birdcage

 

Now I’ve wondered about this cage and often thought, “There’s that birdcage. We haven’t gotten rid of it yet?”

During the sale, several people inquired about it.

He smiled and said, “It’s already sold.”

However, one of our friends persisted. “Are you sure it’s sold? Why didn’t the person take it? How much did they pay? I’ll pay more.”

Finally, my husband said, “I’ll never sell the cage because it represents freedom.”

“Freedom? How so?”

“You see the open door? Whenever I’ve felt trapped in a situation and unsure what to do, I look at the cage with it’s wide open door, and I realize I can leave. I change or move or do something different. I don’t have to stay where I am. I can be free.”

Our friends, neighbors and even service people say, “But we love your house. Won’t you miss it?”

We do love and will miss The Ranch as we call it, but it’s time for someone else to love on it so we can try something new.

Super Bowl XLIV

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New England        vs.          Seattle

The 2015 Super Bowl is over, and the New England Patriots won. Oh, well. I was rooting for the Seattle Seahawks. I find the amount of attention attached to the Super Bowl each year fascinating. Captive audience, varied demographics, a sport everyone at least recognizes even if they don’t follow or understand – an advertiser’s dream. I am old enough to remember when there was no such thing as a Super Bowl, but that’s another post.

Before the game, I went to my local Publix, got a grocery cart (they’re call buggies here but having been raised in the Midwest, I have not taken to the term) and headed into the store. I knew it would be crowded based on the number of cars in the parking lot. Sure enough, the line at the deli counter was fifteen deep. I noted that my fellow shoppers’ carts had varying amounts of food, drinks, and other items. Some were post church folks stocking up for the week, but most were game folks sent on a mission to retrieve items for the Super Bowl party. I saw a fair number of men with cell phones held to the ear, frowns on faces, looking at shelves for whatever the person on the other end of the phone had directed them to buy.

Major events and holidays in the US center on food – Thanksgiving at number one followed by Christmas, New Years, Memorial Day, and 4th of July. The Super bowl is not a holiday but an event, and food is a large part. Chips, dips, wings, sausages, pizza, soda, beer, ice cream and cupcakes – a nutritionist’s nightmare. As a nation, I think we look forward to these days, and the food associated, because they are the few times during the year where you can eat what you want in the company of others eating just as much food of poor nutritional value as you and not feel guilty about it. In fact, it’s encouraged.

The ads in the newspapers and on television for two to three weeks before the Super Bowl implore shoppers to come to their stores for whatever it takes to throw a good bash. You might buy a new TV or new furniture, but you definitely need food. Part of the reason football withdrawal happens is not only losing the games to watch, but the food that goes with it.

We were invited to a friend’s house. He typically throws a combination birthday-Super Bowl party. The main television room spectators had divided into the New England camp on one side and the Seahawks camp on the other. The emotion and trash talking associated with each score for either team kept spirits high and attention, for the most part, on the game. A close game makes for the best Super Bowl, and Sunday’s game did not disappoint. The last minute interception by New England galvanized that camp.

The food came in a close second to the game. The spread was immense, mostly Jamaican dishes – curry, jerk chicken, gumbo, fish stew, and several others with birthday cake, cupcakes, and brownies for dessert. The food was delicious, and I ate my fair share.

Today, New England is rejoicing, Seattle is vowing next year, and I’m back to watching what I eat and drink as I write this post. I’m sure I’m not alone.

Spring Is Here!

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Spring at last! Longer days. More sunshine.  Bluer skies. Flowers and flowering trees. March 20 is the first official day of spring and the vernal equinox. The Almanac provides interesting details about the vernal equinox.

Atlanta has true four seasons. In my first blog post, I vented about Atlanta’s handling of snow, but spring is the season Atlanta does well. There are innumerable flowering trees in the city and surrounding suburbs—cherry, crabapple, redbuds, Bradford pear, dogwood and others—each bearing beautiful blossoms.

The first flowering trees are cherry and crabapple. Small buds appear and gradually increase in size until blossoms pop out. Soon, forsythia’s bright yellow flowers appear then daffodils and Bradford pears. Mixed in are budding oak, cedar, and maple trees. The buds turn to small leaves quickly. By mid-March, the clocks have been turned forward, there are warmer, sunnier days and spring is well entrenched. The foliage softens the hard edges of the landscape, the coldness of the buildings and provides pops of color in unexpected places. We can look forward to the delicate beauty of Japanese cherry blossoms, rich pink magnolias, bright pink and white dogwoods and azaleas in many hues.

While the calendar designates March 20 as the first day of spring, Atlantans know our spring began toward the end of February. As an escapee from the north, I LOVE IT!

BRADFORD PEAR

BRADFORD PEAR

January 29, 2014

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2014-01-28 16.05.45

It snowed in Atlanta yesterday. Roughly two inches and the fall out (sorry!) continues. As a city, the governor, mayor and residents all pretend we know how to deal with snow. We don’t. We can’t. And we never will. It doesn’t snow enough year to year. The last big snow we had in 2011 turned from snow to ice, and we were iced in for a week.

This year when the snow began falling, schools and business remained open. The weather folks reinforced the fact it was snowing, and everyone looked outside.

“Oh, my gosh! It’s snowing and hard!”
“We need to close now! Parents come pick up your kids.”

What happens when metro Atlantans get on the road at the same time? A predictable jam on the expressways and major streets. Rush hour here is bad enough on a daily basis when we drivers stagger the times we head home from work and school. But all at the same time? Think Halloween trick or treating on a school night. As I write this, there are still unfortunate individuals stranded in vehicles, cars abandoned on the freeways, students in shelter at schools and a rolling gridlock, thanks to the iced over streets from yesterday’s snow.

One day our governor, mayor and we Atlantans will get it. We’ll embrace the fact we aren’t in Minneapolis, Chicago, or New York. We don’t have enough snow removal, salting or other snow equipment. And taxpayers won’t foot the bill for plows that aren’t used but every 3-4 years.

So, next time it’s going to snow, governor and mayor, declare a State of Emergency. Put the word out on the news and social media — stay home until further notice. Sleep late, make a big breakfast, play outside with your kids. Build snowmen. Sled. Anything! But PLEASE stay home and off the roads!