Learning and understanding

I thought that I’d make a change today and set up a game... let’s see how many of these you can solve! The following list is titles of blog posts (you can verify them on the main page) that are taken from various song lyrics.  The songs are a mixture of pop music (1940s-2010), songs from Sesame Street, hymns and calypsos.  All except one are English language (marked with an *)  in general, the phrase is not the title of the song...  Full marks for identifying the song and the artist.  Winner will get something in the mail from me   I look forward to seeing your responses.  I’ll publish the complete list on February 7.  Play on! Title Whole heap of zing The essence of all Dreaming of bigger things The whole year through O res mirabilis Try to bridge the emptiness Christmas changes too You can read me anything And a lots of work to be done It wasn’t me... Eat the dishes Battle lines being drawn A lifetime and the aftermath Things you don’t understan...

When the pandemic started last year, I received a chain email which I opted to keep going.  It wasn’t one of those “if you break this, you’ll have eternal bad luck,” ones (which I immediately delete.). Rather, it suggested that for the participants share recipes with the names on a list, knocking off the top name and adding your own at the end.  The theory being that there are enough people who are interested in swapping and sharing recipes to keep the chain going.  I got about a dozen recipes (some of which were sufficiently similar that they counted as duplicates) and it kicked me into enough activity to actually comb through my large collection of cookbooks to try new things.  Full disclosure, in spite of owning more cookbooks than the average bookstore keeps in stock, I’m not a “follow a recipe closely” type of cook.  I learned how to cook at the side of my grandmother, aunts and mother, and none of those meals had a written recipe. I think that I asked too ...

 The lockdown has been in effect in one form or another for 10 months.  It’s now so much a part of life that it seems strange to watch a movie from “the before time” and see crowds, or people hugging and nobody wearing a mask- except medical staff or criminals.  I was wondering what things have changed, and which changes are likely to be permanent.  I had conversations with friends, snippets of which I recount, about this. One friend, who is known for his traditional male outlook (cooking, except barbecue, is really for the woman to do) has perfected the art of sourdough bread making.  Now, I have been in the habit of making my own bread for a few years now, and I rarely buy bread,  but I haven’t tried making sourdough. I was amused at the upswing of sourdough bakers, and the flood of recipes, but not enough to begin feeding my own starter.  Besides, I’m not sure that my kitchen can accommodate a starter pack, when I have... My stand mixer. It’s a love...

Every year at this time I remind myself of how much has developed, and what has changed. Yes, it’s a new year, but it’s also the anniversary of my arrival in Canada.  This year marks 22 years that I’ve been living here.  I long ago passed the point where I had worked longer in Canada than in Trinidad; I’ve passed the point where my adult life has been mostly spent here, and in another 8 years I will have lived here for fully half of my life. A year ago, I was negotiating with my oncologist my early release from chemotherapy treatment.  (He did let me out a bit earlier) so you know that this year I’m happy not to be there.  We are in lockdown again (because people are selfish and think that the rules don’t apply to them) with the threat of curfew, so this year we won’t be celebrating in restaurants or doing much with others.  I am trying out a few new recipes, because I think that we should mark the event somehow!  This year is special for another reason - i...

 It’s the last week of the year, when the newspapers and news programs recap, in an endless loop, the happenings of the past 12 months.  So I thought that I would do the same.  I started off the year halfway through a course of chemotherapy. I finished a dose a few days before Christmas, close enough that I couldn’t eat on the day. I was able to attend cooking classes before Christmas - they were great, but I would have enjoyed them more if I could have tasted the food, though. My first treatment of January was the second week, and I almost decided that it would be my last, because I felt so dreadfully unwell.  My test results showed that my system was having a hard time recuperating from the treatment (which required that I be in the hospital to receive the drugs for 8 hours a day for 5 days consecutively, then a break of 2 weeks during which I received at-home nursing care).  I talked to my doctor about ending treatment, realizing that I could be choosing to d...

 I love Christmas carols. The ones that Marge Simpson described as “weird and religious-y” that sing about God and angels and baby Jesus in the manger.  The ones that tell of the Christmas story and the miracle of that night. The ones that, sadly, don’t often make it into the rotation on the radio.  Because of them I really love the liturgy for the 12 days of Christmas (which begin  December 26 - the day after  Christmas, and end on January 6, the feast of the Epiphany or the Day of the Kings).  Christmas Eve Mass begins with a carol concert, which includes all sorts of songs. Like, Gabriel’s message  with its haunting melody; Handel’s Messiah often features, with For Unto us a Child is Born , singing the beautiful words from Isaiah, which form part of the readings of the Christmas Eve mass (the vigil or midnight mass).  Often, the opening hymn is Adeste Fideles or O Come All Ye Faithful  which is, in its own words, “joyful and triumphant.” ...

 Everyone join in... “This year is SO different!  2020 is just THE WORST.” It’s true that this year has been challenging. Since March, when it became clear that the “virus from Wuhan” was a bigger issue than it seemed at first.  We, all of us, at first thought, “It’s another flu, it’s no big deal.”  But as time passed, it became clear that this was not just the flu, and the effects would be more serious than we expected.  When news of the lockdown broke, people began (do you remember?) to hoard toilet paper!  by the case!  Then they started selling the excess at usurious prices.  They went out and emptied shelves of cleaning products, rice, flour, paper towels, bleach, hand sanitizer and, perhaps surprisingly, beer and chips. We adjusted to limited interactions with others.  We changed, profoundly, our daily activities.  I remember looking at empty streets during the first shutdown. Where rush hour meant gridlock, there was no traffic. T...

 Here we are, a month away from Christmas, which means that the ads are in full flow!  As usual, I’m encouraged to buy, BUY, BUY! new cars, computers, electronic equipment, jewellery, toys, and to get “the PERFECT gift!”  That’s not even including the flood of emails with sale promotions promising discounts of up to 75% and reminders of shipping deadlines to get delivery by Christmas. These have been running since at least August, but are becoming more frequent as December approaches.  I understand that retailers need to make money, and the gift exchange season is when we are most likely to spend on fripperies and folderol- things like extra jewelry, electronic items, multiple ties, socks, coffee mugs, and so on.  I’m fine with them advertising all that, but is it really necessary to start  the promotions in July?  Bam smack in the middle of the hot part of the year for those of us in the northern hemisphere and six months away from the actual event. ...

 I was having a conversation about books the other day. We were discussing books that we enjoyed and it was a conversation we’ve had several times.  Now I know people who don’t read, and who have no books. That, to me, is horrifying.  How do you get through life like that?  Books and stories are so central to me, and I have bookcases that are stuffed to overflowing with material that I’ve read and reread many times... and yet, I know people who use books only as ornaments or, worse, who have no books at all!  I’m stunned speechless... My books are a comfort and a support to me.  There are those that I reread frequently, because they are light, entertaining and do not require a lot of my attention to complete.  There are others that I enjoy and reread from time to time, and the frequency of my rereads varies over time.  For instance, there were several books that I read extensively when I was younger, and they have remained with me (I can quote pas...

 I apologize in advance. This post is likely to be inflammatory, but I think that I need to write it. It is not intended to hurt anyone, but it is based on reality and the people involved will recognize themselves. I won’t identify anyone, I’m not pointing fingers, and this ultimately comes from love and concern. I’m happy to discuss the issues that I raise, but not the individuals.   St. Joseph Youth Group c. 1983  This is a photo of my church youth group.  We met originally during preparation for the sacrament of Confirmation in 1982/83. Classes were for 2 years on Saturday mornings, and our cohort became quite close. Our collective parents found themselves as hosts to a horde of teenagers regularly- almost never one or two! After we were confirmed, we went on to form a youth group, which remained quite active until we began to drift into adulthood and life continued.  The bonds are still there, although obviously not exactly the same. But this picture led to ...

Continuing on the subject of “Forgive us as we forgive” This line has been cause for much debate, at least in my religious experience.  It’s tossed around as indicating that God’s forgiveness is limited; or that God’s behaviour is controllable.  It’s used as an admonition against real human reactions.  And it’s difficult to really grasp.  In my view, it’s not a way of limiting God, it’s a way to stretch ourselves.  Like the injunction to love our neighbours as ourselves, our ability to forgive tells a lot about us.  How many times I’ve heard people say, “I’ll never forgive you for that!”  But doing that gives our tormentors to live on our peace of mind, while they go around unaware. It’s all covered beautifully in William Blake’s 1794 poem The Poison Tree.  Serendipity is real. I encountered that poem earlier this week, and later, my lay minister dropped by, as he tends to do.  The reading that day was from the Gospel of Luke, the Sermon on...

 Everyone who knows me knows how much I enjoy my food.  It is, as I often joke, the key to maintaining my girlish figure  (remarking that a circle is a figure). It’s no surprise, therefore, to learn that I list cooking as a hobby (and have, since my teen years) nor that my cooking classes are a pleasure even after a session of chemotherapy.  (It’s true... I did three classes during my last round of treatment, and told the medical team that their job was to ensure that I could make it and keep the food down.  They did, because they’re awesome and amazing 😉). So yes, cooking is a definite pleasure for me, and I’m quite happy to try new recipes and share them. However, I have to admit that I am not a fan of meal kits. You know what I mean; the kits that promise to make you a gourmet cook with recipe cards, portioned ingredients that are delivered to your home. I understand the appeal of home delivery, especially during this pandemic.  I also understand the fu...

The conversations that we have with others are a constant source of ideas and inspiration. They can challenge our thinking, reinforce ideas and open us to new possibilities. I’ve found that sometimes it’s really easy to fall into a rut, where we only talk to a few individuals, repeating the same information, and not getting any variety. It’s comforting, but ultimately deadly, because we stagnate and we all know that stagnation is death.   I noticed, over the years, that sometimes the same idea can appear in different places around the same time. “Serendipity,” you say,  In the last couple of weeks, people have been raising the idea of the things that we should be doing.  “I should  be doing yoga”; “I should be avoiding carbs”; “I should be blogging more frequently,” and so on. I’m guilty of it, and I’ve found myself feeling guilty because I haven’t done any of the things that I think that I should have done. That’s the problem though; we feel a lot of guilt, then we...