History

QOTD: What’s On Your Superpowers List?

/ Ally Bean / 21 Comments

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Remember back a few weeks ago when I was reading Darcy Eikenberg’s Bring Your Superpowers To Work and how it bugged me that I couldn’t figure out what my superpowers were?  

I mean, I’ve always been told that it’s more important to know WHO you are than to know WHERE you’re going.  Yet there I was on a bleak February day not knowing myself OR my path.   

So I decided to dig in and determine what superpowers I had.  Then I created this list.  Perhaps it’s a bit lighter in tone than what Darcy has in mind, but it is who I am.  Which I do believe is the whole point of this exercise.

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I am…

  • able to confirm that the color you painted your walls is not the right color.
  • able to laugh, more often than not, at the absurdities of life.
  • able to say thank you so many times in a day that it may sound insincere, but it’s not.
  • able to bring ideas and experiences together in novel ways.
  • able to determine within minutes of meeting someone if said person is a problem solver or a problem keeper.
  • able to sit on the curb and clap enthusiastically as the parade goes by.
  • able to find a way to avoid ironing anything, preferring to delegate that task to anyone with the patience necessary to get rid of wrinkles.
  • able to remember minutiae/information that doesn’t matter any more.
  • able to remember to write down minutiae/information that matters now, often remembering where said minutiae/information is after being written down.
  • able to pick myself up, brush myself off, curse about life’s inequities– and then start all over again.

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Now, I’ve shared my list. What about you, gentle readers? What are your superpowers? I’d love to know.

I’m Polar Vortexing Here

/ Ally Bean / 19 Comments

AS YOU PROBABLY ALREADY KNOW… this part of the USA, the midwest, is experiencing arctic temperatures.  Records are being broken.  Schools are being closed.  Furnaces are being taxed.  Prayers are being said.  Et cetera, et cetera.

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BECAUSE I’VE DECIDED TO STAY AT HOME DURING THIS WEATHER EVENT… I am now in charge of:

  1. running water through all sink/shower/tub faucets so that the pipes don’t freeze;
  2. opening and closing blinds/curtains to allow sunshine + warmth, when available, to come into the house;  and
  3. monitoring the thermostat, so that I can fret over the furnace’s every clink and whoosh and thunk as it continues to heat the house.

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NOW THAT I HAVE A BIT OF UNEXPECTED TIME ON MY HANDS…  I’ve started reading three books:

  1. The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance, by Edmund de Waal.  After inheriting from an uncle a collection of Japanese netsuke, the author researches his ancestors and their involvement with these objects.  Fascinating.
  2. One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd, by Jim Fergus.  Using a few pieces of real history, the author creates a novel about a white pioneer woman who, courtesy of the U. S.  government,  goes to live among the Cheyenne, with the express purpose of helping the Cheyenne assimilate into white culture.  Compelling.
  3. Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life, by Shauna Niequist.  By examining the details of her days, the author writes a charming personal memoir filled with gentle guidance for living a better life.  Uplifting.

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OF COURSE LIFE ISN’T JUST SERIOUS PURSUITS… which means that I’m playing Candy Crush Saga as often as the game will let me play.  By using this cheat, I reigned victorious over a particularly difficult level 77 in Easter Bunny Hills, but now I’m unable to progress past level 80, waiting to complete my 3 quests so that I can move across the lake to level 81 and the next episode.  Stuck in the game, stuck in the house.  😉

2 Movies, 2 Books & 1 Clever Backside Of A Truck

/ Ally Bean / 10 Comments

As part of my attempt to live a more balanced life in 2013, I have given myself the assignment to watch 2 movies and to read 2 books each month.  Here is my July report minus 1 movie.  Keep in mind that I get fidgety watching movies, so I consider it an accomplishment that I watched one movie during this hot month.  Let’s just say that I owe you 1 movie and leave it at that.    

2 Movies 1 Movie

Emma – Pretty + predictable.  I chose this movie because in college I never read Emma by Jane Austen and because I knew that Clueless was based on it.  Set in rural England in the early 1800s, Emma, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, is a single woman who lives with her widowed father.  She believes herself to be a good matchmaker, but in reality she is not.  Confusion ensues.  For a costume drama this movie was well done– not too tedious, not too pompous.  Recommended if you need a Jane Austen fix and there isn’t enough time in your life to read one of her books.

2 Books

The Witch of Little Italy –  Charming + unique.  This novel, written by Suzanne Palmieri, is a perfect summer read.  A college-aged girl, Eleanor, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and decides to go live with her grandmother & great aunts in the family home in the Bronx.  While living there, Eleanor uncovers and solves decades-old family mysteries as well as going through her own personal transformation.  The writing is smooth, the characters are well-rounded and the plot is more-or-less believable.  Recommended if you want a bit of mystery + a tad of magic.

The Book of Tea – In this book, first published in 1906, Kakuzo Okakura explains the history of tea in Japan and the proper way to make it.  He also expounds upon tea as a metaphor for life.  I enjoyed this short book [treatise?] enough to read it twice.  Recommended if you like Asian history, tea and philosophy.  [Free on Kindle]

1 Clever Backside Of A Truck

Am I the last person to understand what is going on with these REFLECTING QUALITY stickers that are on the backside of many 18-wheel trucks?  [Example photo here.]  It came to me as we were driving down the interstate in my small coupe directly behind one of these trucks.

I realized that I could see myself & Zen-Den reflected in the mirror-like finish on the back of the truck.  And it occurred to me that we were the quality that was being reflected.  That the sticker had nothing to do with the items within the truck, instead it was telling me something nice about us.  I find this all very clever now that I understand it.

Making A Good Pie: Ingenuity, Good Judgement & Great Care

/ Ally Bean / 25 Comments

My mother collected cookbooks and I still have some of them.  They provide fascinating glimpses into times gone by.  I never know what I’m going to find when I start looking through one.     

I saw the following recipe while I was glancing through The Marion County Historical Society Heritage Cookbook published [I believe] in 1975.  The Heritage Cookbook had reprinted it from an earlier cookbook.      

This recipe, with its moralizing introduction and decided lack of measurements, was originally published in 1901 in a cookbook called, Recipes Tried and True by the Ladies’ Aid Society of the First Presbyterian Church.    

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“WHO DARES DENY THE TRUTH THERE IS POETRY IN PIE”

~ Longfellow

There are plenty of women capable of choosing good husbands, or if not good when chosen, or [sic] of making them good.  Yet these same women may be ignorant on the subject of making a good pie.

Ingenuity, good judgement, and great care should be used in making all kinds of pastry.  Use very cold water and just as little as possible.  Roll thin, and ALWAYS AWAY FROM YOU.  Prick the bottom with a fork, then brush with white of egg, and sprinkle with white sugar.  This will give you a firm rich crust.

For all fruit pies, prepare as above.  Stew the fruit, sweeten to taste;  if juicy, put a layer of cornstarch on top before putting on the top crust.

Be sure there are plenty of incisions in the top crust.  Then pinch the edges.

Sprinkle white sugar on top, and bake in a moderate oven.

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[After a bit of research I found this: Recipes Tried and True. On Kindle. For free.]