October 1/Divorce

We say a lot about our marriages by what we say, and do not say.  Omissions are as important as the little snipes, or genuine praise.  The omissions are slow to gather strength, but in the end there is a great body of emptiness which  shows.

Aside from trauma to the people who are getting divorced, there is the trickle down effect to others, which is, I guess, as it should be.  Eight couples over, twice removed, we hear about them and we anguish.  Could this happen to us?  How did it happen to them? After all these years, why now? Could we have helped? Watching the couple suffer is wrenching.  Do we take sides, or can we be friends of both? Rarely do we say, "Damn, that was a good idea!"

September 30

Wednesday I went to daughter number three's house for two nights.  Wednesday was book club and it was at daughter number two's house.  Why am I not using their names.  I am practicing  going public with this blog, and I am not sure how to deal with names. 

At Book Club we discussed the book the Baker Towers ,a book quite worthy of discussion.  I will add it to the book list.  Some books have more to talk about than others.  I mean by that we can pretend that we are in college discussing themes, and style.  Occassionally we talk about the author's sentences. This book is about a family living in a coal mining town and the father, the wager earner miner dies. The town goes down hill.  It takes place mostly in the fifties with a view of what happens to the family, and who wants to get out of Dodge.  If you like Richard Russo, you will like this. 

Another book I am reading, If You Lived here, I'd Know Your Name,news from Small-Town, Alaska.  The author is Heather Lende, an author to which I aspire.   She and her family live in Alaska, and she writes obituaries, and a social column for the newspaper in Haines, Alaska.  The back cover says if you like the Prairie Home Companion or Northern Exposure, you will love some real news. Reading this book was reassuring to my writing.  There is a lot of meaning in everyday life.   I am going to continue to practice.  This is a book that can be read in bits and pieces.  It is a good book to carry with you when you are waiting for your kids at the school bus, or when the doctor is thirty minutes behind, or when you get in bed and do not want to read for a long time. 

Septembr 27/

For me an instruction manual is only a suggestion.  It can be used for a coaster, or a trivet to keep my counters unmarred.  All of my manuals are kept in the middle drawer of my file cabinet, and when I move out my little Japanese dished I collected from my Japanese phase, I will move the manuals back over to their drawer.  At least the manuals are kept together. 

I started an on line Sony Digital camera class, which I promoted on this blog, but the class wil probably tell you what you already know.  People are very helpful on the message boards and there are some nuggets along the way.  In my case, one  ah -ha  said to get your manual out, read it, and use it.  Such a novel concept.  Sony's manual is written for people in Japan who perceive us as already knowing a great deal about cameras. There is a lot of information, if you know what you are looking for, and where to find it.  I am now  carrying my manual around with me; this is how well I take instruction.  And you know what?  That hand that has been waving at me in the LCD screen, while I can not find the page it was explained today in the manual, I read yesterday that you are shaking the camera and it can not focus.  I knew that.  Right!

Tomorrow I am going to read the refrigerator manual. 

Yesterday I read that my printer actually needs maintenance, and if you will only read about it, the machine will do it for you. 

I am off to see some grandsons. 

September 26 /cured meats

A 1950 casserole is an example of the dating of recipes.  We have food trends. Alongside the dating of recipes has been food artisan phases. We become obsessed with the nuances.  Wine is the first that comes to mind. First it was red or white we were drinking, now it is what plot of ground does the wine come from which we are "tasting." There are microbreweries. Artisan bread is an example.  We got hold of good bread, and good-bye white fluff.  That sourish taste, the holes of the European baguettes. could be a meal before we got to the entree. Some people even got picky over the oil and vinegar served alongside.  We even learned we could make loaves ourselves, with or without a bread machine.

I read the latest artisan food movement is going to be in cured meats.  That would be salami, etc. I love salami.  I look forward to "artisan". This going to be fun!  A new set of cookbooks to look forward to.  A whole movement of taking prosciutto to a higher level.  YES! This week is a good week to serve prosciutto and melon,

September 25, apples

When I was on the women's retreat, our delightful co-host and chauffeur, (who made himself scarce), told about his mid-life departure  from teaching.  He bought an apple farm in Eastern Washington. He sold it about five years later, I can only guess why.  But he said that the American market is very fickle.  He bought a orchard of hundreds of trees of Yellow Delicious, but we, the American market, had already moved on to Granny Smith, and by now we have moved on to Fuji. think hhow log it takes to make a transition in an orchard.