Category Archives: gratitude

Juggling acts

How do you balance work and home life?

Since I never had children at home and married late in life, the balancing act was never a big concern.

Single people can work longer hours with no effect on their home life.

That’s the theory.

When you do not have family or a partner at home, you feel carefree. The truth may just be a little different from the perception.

It’s a documented fact [and we women love to cite it] that married men live longer. There could be undocumented evidence that marriage benefits women as well.

In part, we could say it’s because men are cared for; that’s just one side of the picture. They also have to care for their family or partner.

If being unattached means you are carefree, it can also mean you are free to be careless.

Married people, both men and women, have cares. They need to be careful in the best possible way.

Being without a care in the world is overrated. Caring with the worries it brings is a better place for all of us.

There may be more to balance between our homes and our offices, but we are fortunate to have all those balls in the air.

Fruit in season

List your top 5 favorite fruits.

I reason that fruit when
In season is better than
Steak from the grill. Fire
It up and let the summer 
Tastes thrill. Fruit and its
Cousin the squash, tomato 
Or even a potato can heat
Up a summer's day. Put a
Peach on the coals or add
A zucchini to roast and save
Some apricots, plums for
Dessert. Sit them beside a
Melon or pear and eat that
Tart apple while you walk.

Street furnishings

There was a time when I could furnish an apartment with stuff I found on the street.

Not now. My taste has, shall we say, evolved. In short, it’s better than other’s “what were we thinking” discards.

I did find a shelf that once properly installed was a sturdy staple in our bathroom for years.

I was sitting on the bench typing away as is my wont when a fellow traveler asked if I was taking it. My new friend had already picked up the tray table.

I said no, I will give it to you.

You can’t guess how delighted he was with his windfall.

As the saying goes, one man’s no thanks is another’s treasure.

Gateway (drugs)

People sometimes call alcohol a drug, especially in the hands of those who tend towards an addiction. For the sad lovers in Days of Wine and Roses, alcohol is not just a drug but seriously dangerous.

For most of us, it’s a beverage before, during, or after dinner.

Now that marijuana is legal, I have declassified its status as a drug. I won’t bore you with my last use of pot nearly a half-century ago.

It’s been ages, at any rate, since weed was hysterically labeled a gateway to major addiction like heroin. And to answer the unasked question in the ‘graph above, no, I did not develop a habit.

My friend D stopped for a visit bearing no less a goody than Kedem Sparkling Grape Juice.

All morning, I have been grappling with whether to consider this a gateway to wine or more exotically to Champagne 🍾 🤔.

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.

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?

Kind Friends

You have been admonished in the most colorful way. “Do more of what makes you happy” is phrase enough to make me happy.

Kindness and friendship are not activities but I am grateful for both.

The person who wrapped these lovely flowers in that lovely tote offers me both kindness and friendship.

I am a very lucky person. She is one of many kind friends that have gathered around me.

My heart swells with gratitude to all of them. You know who you are!

I have also been fortunate in having strangers come to my assistance. I may not know who you are but I am very appreciative of your aid. And, of course, your kindness in all those unexpected acts of friendship.