IsThisThingOn?

When I butter toast, I almost always think of John K, who once came to visit and put his buttered toast back in the machine for a little last heat. It came out sizzling and bubbly butter, chewy and delicious. While I don't always re-toast mine once buttered, I always think of him.  And I wonder if he realizes that such a tiny moment for all we've done together over the years would revisit me like that, so many a morning. My pal Colleen had me over for dinner when I lived in California. She was pregnant and making one of her super healthy dinners.... And while I'd made asparagus many times, she said, "Look, instead of cutting of the bottoms before steaming, you just run your thumb up the stalk until it snaps naturally."  In that moment I learned that the asparagus itself will let you know the point where the tough becomes tender.  Now I grow asparagus and as I snap them off from the ground, or take them from where I store them to cook, I think of Colleen -I can s...

Topic for discussion: I've been teased repeatedly by someone who actually was among the first to support a cause I have given a lot of my time to. Always little zings about what gain there is for me, or expressing a little judgement if not puzzlement that someone would sacrifice some personal things to do it. I finally "teased" back, asking, "Is it so strange that someone might do something just because it seems the right thing to do?" I saw the realization sink in. I wonder and worry about the effect what has been growing with this toxic election in our faces every day. It has brought out so much divisiveness, not just with what may have been able to once be contained to "Them" but thanks to social media, is obviously between friends, family and neighbors. And we are all hurting from it. That can come out in subtle ways, like not believing without suspicion when you see good being done. Speaking for myself it's personally imperative that ...