Where is the winter storm the alarmists were crowing about yesterday? I went to sleep thinking I would wake up and see snow on the garage roof. While the temperatures have dropped to a very un-April-like temperature, as of yet I see no snow.
In the “this is my life, not a lifestyle blog” category, last week was a disturbing mix of events. They all involved people I love and want to protect, so I’ll refrain from disclosing the dramatic details. And because this is generally a “Susie Sunshine with just a sprinkle of sarcasm” type of blog, I feel a certain obligation to remain optimistic about humanity. Some weeks are harder than others, as you will soon see.
Here’s a sprinkle, written in such a way as to protect the anonymous.
Yesterday was the long-awaited Missa Solemnis performance at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston. I wrote a feature about it for the local paper and the writing project was a wonderful learning experience.
The event itself was quite luxurious; unfortunately, some “grey hairs” sitting behind me didn’t have their hearing aids turned up sufficiently and I could hear everything they said before the performance began. For instance, during the welcoming remarks, I heard one of them say something disparaging about each of the three speakers. It was unbecoming and untoward for “women of a certain age” to be randomly blatting out every thought that crossed their minds in a public place. The loudest of the three, not being a trained singer, may not have realized the volume and dimension of her voice. Or maybe it’s just that she didn’t know the woman sitting in front of her had bionic hearing and a blog. Nevertheless, it was a “teachable moment” for me and a good reminder of how I don’t want to behave in public “when I am an old woman” in spite of the current spirit of the age.
I’m sure they’re perfectly lovely ladies.
On a lighter “lifestyle blog” note, I’ll be blending up a spinach smoothie soon and I think I’ll make a broccoli and cheese frittata for dinner tonight. We’ll have salad on the side with some homemade blue cheese dressing.
Despite the number of bumper stickers proclaiming humanity’s confusion about the “hokey pokey,” that’s what it’s all about.
Julie-Ann Baumer 
Life is rarely neat and tidy, although the writers of television scripts have socialized us to expect our dramas to wrap us nicely around the 58 minute mark.
We are living in the age of “blat,” with people very comfortable in “randomly blatting out every thought that crossed their minds in a public place.” How else to explain Facebook, especially the particular fixation of late with the locals and superficial responses to grief and loss. Actually, this surface response to life’s mysteries (and its demise) is just one characteristic of social media, but one I find particularly distasteful.
There is a certain amount of “blatting” inherent in blogging, I suppose. I know that you consider what you are about to “blat,” however, as do I and more times than I care to count, I have deep-sixed a completely-written entry because it didn’t seem right to post it.
Your comment “Actually, this surface response to life’s mysteries (and its demise) is just one characteristic of social media, but one I find particularly distasteful” strikes a powerful chord with me. Life and death are mysteries and society’s lack of reverence for both are the barometers of a culture in decline. Thank you for your “unblat-like” comment.
Is it too late to request the Spinach smoothie recipe? J2 or Sistah!
I don’t have a recipe, per se. I use approximately one cup of yogurt, 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup, one banana, and as much spinach as it takes to turn the whole thing green. Then, I grind up 2 tablespoons of flax seeds and blend them in at the end. That’s what it’s all about!
Hello there Sistah! I hadn’t the opt to check back to your blog before beginning my Spinach smoothie experiment (for real). So I jotted down your recipe on the back of a envelope from a recent bank statement, and took a photo just for safe keeping:) Your spinach smoothie was green, mine wasn’t. More N likely due to the 16 oz of blueberries involved. Stuff was thick enough to be pudding and needed sum-thin more to sweeten it up plus thin it down, so in goes an apple; sweeter, yes, thinner no! What’s missing is liquid and what liquid will do? Something with Moxie in it for sure. Yup! That’s the ticket. And so it goes, the birth of another, romping, stomping, Moxie lovers delight. And to all the other soda distributors out there “Try not not to turn green with envy”.
Good Night! Oops, it’s morning.
Thanks Love!
Sounds like just a little too much Moxie for you, my friend! 🙂