Author Archives: therealtamara

For an opinionated woman such as I, blogging is an excellent outlet. This is one of many fori that I use to bloviate. Enjoy! Comment on my commentary.

En_joy_ment

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?

Happiness is fleeting, and it is also enduring. Ordinary things can be so satisfying that they bring on smiles.

When I smile, it is in gratitude for the small things.

To all the crocuses that peak out to commemorate the spring, I say thank you.

Hey, it’s a bright sunny day! Wow, that drizzling rain just feels so good.

Did you notice how adorable that hat looks on that little fella over there?

And fifth but not least, let’s be grateful for a well-toasted bialy. For today.

The object of our affection

What animals make the best/worst pets?

Creepy crawlies seem to appeal to some. Perhaps you’ve walked in the park and seen the pet-owner embraced by a rather large snake.

I cringed just writing this description. I guess that answers the “worst pets” part of the query. At least in part.

Rats, I read just this past week, are very affectionate. Not buying it. They fit my definition of creepies.

Now, what -or who- is the ideal pet? With whom do I want to share my home?

Wet noses and button eyes are very seductive, as is that head tilted quizzically sidewise.

Little dogs can be adorable but they are also frequently yappy. My favorite would be a pup who grew to 30 or 40 lbs.

I like a longish waggable tail, as well. It’s how your pet will tell his tale of happiness.

Let’s face it, we offer them so much of our affection, we want them to welcome us. A wag says “hi, so nice to see you.”

Inflation

Lexington & 80-something Street **

What is it about us as we age that we can’t recognize prices rising? You know, like when you find yourself saying, “That cab ride was $2.50 in my day.”

For two-cents plain is probably at least the above quoted $2.50 these days at any half decent soda fountain. Wait. You won’t find a soda fountain (unless you live in my nabe. **This one boasts a 75-year run.)

Whenever I pass that** soda fountain, I free-associate to the Robert Redford film 3 Days of the Condor. The movie was based on a novel called Six Days of the Condor.

All I recall from the Redford film was that he seeked a back exit to escape some baddies. The counterman pointed with a motion of his head.

In honor of the April fool

The fool, if memory serves, was a foil for the foibles of a monarch. At least, that was the case in Shakespeare’s liturgy.

The jester, in jest, could shout truth to power. The King, since it is his fool speaking, is not offended.

when thou clovest thy crown i’ th’ middle and gav’st away both parts…thou hads’t little wit in thy bald crown when thou gav’st thy golden one away.

See King Lear, Act 1 Scene 4.

Fools made mockery of great men. The Bard’s Fools told it like it was.

Although this post foolisly lags behind the day it is meant to commemorate, it carries the spirit of a beau jeste. Laugh on and be merry. Or, as Donald O’Connor danced and sang it, “Be a clown.”

This’n and that’n

Things I learned from Nat Geo and CNN Science newsletters this week

Aging pandas

Talking plants

Yolk-based paints

Stressed lizards

Mexico is home to a 33-year-old panda named Xin-Xin, who was born by artificial insemination.

It appears that plants respond to life events by making sounds. There is no evidence that they have actually developed a language.

The egg yolk found in your da Vinci is not accidental. Painters seemed to have used it to “stretch” the life of expensive paints.

Living near a noisy military base has made these lizards nervous.

Passing on knowledge gives, I think information an added value!

I did not know this

What’s something most people don’t understand?

Yang Bing-yi opened a modest shop in Taiwan in 1958. He built it into a dumpling and noodle empire, earning a Michelin star and introducing the soup dumpling to a global audience. Yang died at 96.

NYT Good Morning read

Understanding is different from knowledge. There are many things – way too many- I and you and you don’t know. If we did, or when they came to our attention, we would know them and understand them.

So now I know about Yang’s culinary contribution and appreciate his accomplishments.

I still don’t understand how you get the soup to stay in the dumpling.

Do you?

A great big word

How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?

“No” is one of the biggest words in the English lexicon.

For many of us, it is also very hard to freely express. In my case, it’s taken decades to make the case to just say no.

The impediment to saying no is the desire to be agreeable. “Go along to get along” is the meme that makes it so much easier to just say yes.

Happily there are rewards for those who stick to their guns and act in their own best interests.

It often pays to say no and let the chips fall as they will.

Bot chat

While chat bots are unreliable, or potentially divisive, partners in conversation, A.I. technology can be very helpful for our physical well-being.

Apparently, there’s a “nanobot” that will clean plaque from your arteries. The quotes are in place because I am excited and ignorant of the “device” or assistance to which we refer.

My lack of knowledge about medical applications notwithstanding, clearly A.I. can find ways to improve our health outcomes.

Weather or not

What is your favorite type of weather?

Why is the weather always everyone’s go-to small talk? Is it the only neutral topic for your office elevator ride?

My theory about our fascination with weather is that there is a climatologist manque in each of us.

Not for nothing that Groundhog Day – the film and actually Feb 2- is such a vibrant theme in our lives.

We admire the ability at prediction even if we deride the result. “Wouldn’t you know it? Didn’t need the umbrella today.”

Speaking of umbrellas, I always refuse to or forget to carry one.

It’s not only because I love the rain. It’s also because umbrellas are annoying. And I find the rain purifying.