Learning and understanding

In re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia  this year, I noticed the phrase "take the adventure that's sent to us," several times.  It was usually at a point when a decision needed to be made, whether to go on and fight, or turn back and give up.  No surprise at the decision made! This past year was one that took adventure in stride.  I started off with my usual trip home, but this time my dear friend Jovanka came with me for a week.  It was great fun to see my home through someone else's eyes, and to recognize the beauty that is Trinidad and Tobago.  We did manage to not see any of Carnival, and it's amazing how that has not affected life  😉  This was my first visit where my mother wasn't there.  Still surreal. In April I went to Cuba to celebrate a friend's 50th birthday.  In passing, I am astounded that my friends are approaching or passing their half-century... time flies, doesn't it?  Cuba was gorgeous, with great food and people who made me feel

I've been noticing that we're awash in words that mean very little. We talk about "inclusion" while meaning "how do we choose the people we want to be with us?" We say, "natural, organic" when we mean "morally superior." We say, "amazing" when we mean "everyday." We say, "heart-warming" when we mean "maudlin." Then we say that people don't communicate.

I'm currently in Podgorica, Montenegro, having flown halfway around the world to support my friend's son in a game I don't understand 😊. It's new territory for me, as everyone knows that I am not an athlete.  But when the chance arose, I bought my ticket, got on a plane and here I am! Montenegro is not a place that I ever expected to visit.  In fact, until last month, I barely knew it existed, and if asked, I thought it was Macedonia.  When I did hear about it, it was usually in a joke about slow service, lazy people, and a dormant culture. In 2 days, I've busted the myth of slow service - all of our experience with waiters is that they're prompt, attentive and willing to explain things when they realize that my Serbian is all but non-existent. In talking to dozens of people (trying to get directions) only one was surly; the rest were helpful and chatty.  And I now know more of the language and can make (very basic) sense of signs. Today I attended

Albert Einstein, apart from his work in defining the theory of relativity, is also a source of some wonderful quotations.  The title of this post is one of them:  Everything must be made as simple as possible.  But not simpler. And the topic of this post may be summed up as: Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity.  And I'm not sure about the universe. I've written before about our needlessly complicated relationship with food, and the barrage of advertisements that assault us daily.  I've tried to ignore both and focus on other issues, but I can't do it much longer. Everyone has seen the articles about "healthy eating" and been inundated with recipes that promise to give us "guilt-free" indulgences and which tout the magical properties of "superfoods."  So here's the short, super simple guide to food: If you enjoy it, eat it. None of us are getting out alive, so to pretend that eating certain things will w

It's Ash Wednesday today, and I spent part of the morning in church beginning my Lenten period.  While there, I began to really appreciate the benefits of a pluralistic society which also supports freedom of expression. The fact that I was in a church, freely worshipping, and would leave with ashes marking my forehead to go to malls, to the office, to banks with nobody batting an eye is something we take for granted.  There are people who do not have this unconscious luxury. I have friends who tell of growing up under communist rule who had to hide their religious beliefs. Of not ever breathing a word about prayers that were said at home, for fear of reprisals.  Of the day when they were first allowed to freely worship in public, and how much it touched them. And there are others who ridicule anyone whose beliefs or practices differ from their own.  Who want to destroy the different. Rarely are they overt about it, though, thankfully.  They refuse to accept that other views have va

I'm watching Carnival unfold in its sequinned and glittering splendour. Each costume is expensive, both in terms of time and money.  Each costume represents thousands of dollars and hours for completion. It's worn for two days and then discarded. During those days, though, they are the centre of attention, and they are admired by everyone who sees them. Looking on, thoughts come to mind of how many things are like those costumes; things on which we expend time and money for a brief experience that doesn't last.  The  experience of spending time on our pleasures enriches our lives.  We relax, we expand our way of thinking and we learn new skills.  Sometimes what we learn is temporary- like how to make that special occasion dish that's very finicky but delicious; sometimes it's more long term, like developing knife skills (guess who's been cooking a lot lately?) 😃. Have you got other examples? But the main idea that I've been toying with is that we can spend

I know, January is half over and I’m only now getting to my resolutions.  In my (weak) defense, I was late celebrating Christmas, and it’s not yet the lunar new year, and it’s still January, so… Like everyone else, I make and break resolutions on a regular basis.  I haven’t given up on them yet, and maybe one day I’ll decide that there are some worth doing properly.  In the meantime, I’ve looked at the things that matter, and the things that make me happy, and here are my resolutions for 2016 and onwards. Spend time with my family and friends.  Buy and eat the good chocolate. Drink the good tea / wine / other stuff. Take the trip. Spend less time with negative people.  I don’t need to do too much explaining of any of these, I think.  What if I don’t do all of them all the time?  No problem – I do the best that I can, and then start over as needed.  But my priorities are really centred around relationships and the people in my life, not around being the best or ri