You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November 2009.
There are so many things I am thankful and greatful for.
My wonderful family and friends, my ability to find joy in the tiniest of things during times when I cannot see the whole picture, my resilience and courage to work back to seeing the whole picture, my health, my life, and everything in it each day!
Happy Thanksgiving.
As I write this, the river Forth is racing over it’s banks and flooding our boathouse. The homes along the river in the Stirling area are still safe but if the rain returns that might not be the case. Two nights ago the rain and wind were so strong I thought the wall was being ripped off my bedroom! The rain hung around for most of today, making it the perfect day to stay inside and warm up the oven!
One of the facts of life of being an ex-pat is that frustration arises periodically, sparked off by the simplest of things! Earlier this week I found out that the University basketball teams were both playing games on the same night. I made plans with a friend to head up and watch and was irrationally excited about it all day. I had not watched a live (non-rugby) sports game-well, ever-here. I looked forward to sitting in the stands, watching the game, having a chat with my friend, a lovely night it seemed. When I called the university to ask where to go for the game and if there was an entry fee, the woman on the phone was surprised that I planned to watch the game. (How dare I want to cheer for the team!). The basketball courts where they play do not have stands. There are no spectators! Well, this exchange left both of us as flabbergasted as each other. My friend and I hung out anyway and the disappointment was soon forgotten. The fact that my simple expectation of fans at a sports event was not met, however, has not been forgotten!
Today, I went to the supermarket in search of aluminum pie tins. I went to another supermarket. And then back to the first after frantically wondering what to do. A friend is hosting Thanksgiving this year in Edinburgh and has talked up my pies. I do love my pumpkin pies. Well, he has talked them up to the guests and I was quite excited to deliver…until I thought that I may have to forgo the pies in favour of pumpkin bread. I have one pie tin but needed to travel with at least three pies. Eventually, I kicked myself into reality and reminded myself that when living in another country (a fact that escapes me most of the time because this is my social world), you have to adapt things sometimes and I’m lucky enough to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving at all. So, I present to you, my six rectangular pies!
They are in medium disposable foil trays (20.3 x 13.6 x 4.7 cm for my future reference), with each holding exactly half of the filling of my regular pies.
After the pie pan incident left me slightly harried, I was not going to take chances with the oven in my flat and hauled everything over to invade a friend’s kitchen for several hours. I am glad I did because hanging out with her centred me again, reminding me that it is not the shape, but the taste of the pies that matter!
Sometimes the shape of life is so different that it looks bizarre when glanced at from a momentarily alien eye, but the second I come back to myself and remember what is really important and the people I have around me, I remember that everything is perspective.
As I waited for the dough to cool, I whipped up a few white knots for Marriage Equality!
The pleasures I have enjoyed recently include…
…volunteering at a conference for an organisation I really believe in and seeing several good friends there…
…’Receiving’ the trousers I had asked for. Three pairs all at the same charity shop…
…Brand new Marks & Spencer’s clothing for £1 each at another charity shop. While boxers and a white button shirt haven’t been a priority, they were missing and help to round my wardrobe out…
…A friend showing me just how close the beach is to her house. “…for whatever we lose (like a you or a me) it’s always ourselves we find at the sea” (e.e. cummings). Examining new things and thoughts…
…and discovering that the last of my inner turnmoil is already washed away…
In my new flat, the oven doesn’t seem to hold a consistent temperature so I have been baking less until I figure out a way to deal with it. This makes my bread machine all the more important!
I had a gift certificate and planned on adding £25.00 out of pocket for the purchase of a bread machine. The store only carried it in their cataloge so I had to pay for it and get it delivered to the shop. As I walked into the mall to place the order, I went by a new-ish charity shop that seems to carry a lot of home goods- appliances, kitchenware and boardgames seem to be its forte. I saw the same model of food processor that I had in the old flat and stood around guarding it while thinking. I have ‘learned’ time and time again to not try to rationalise charity shop purchases but just to go with my gut. Still, I always try to make a rational choice. I told myself I didn’t really need a food processor but in the end decided to splurge the £12.50 anyway.
As I arrived to the chain store with food processor in tow, I was told that the bread maker was on sale. The balance after the gift certificate was only going to be £13, bringing the total for two appliances to the price I was prepared to pay for one. That is when I remembered that I should always follow my gut: I was meant to walk by and buy that food processor. Bread, hummus, pumpkin puree…these are things that form my basic food needs. I am being watched over.
I have a few highlights of my week to share. They’re not very crafty as I have had an injured wrist for about a week and a half (today it is finally feeling good enough to type and cook), but they involve life. Halloween weekend was a fantastic, extended exciting and yet relaxing time with friends. I’m again staying with a friend this weekend- this time for three nights- so I am glad that my wrist is up to food-prep. In order to be a good guest, I’m trying to bring some snacks and food along. Tonight after sending off a job application, I started a loaf of bread and began making hummus to discover that I didn’t have any lemon juice.
At the supermarket, I saw bananas greatly reduced in price. Usually, I refuse to buy any bananas that are not fair trade, but when the choice is between purchase and the dumpster I’ll pick them up. I got 3.34 Lbs of bananas for 23p! They’re not rotting! They’re about two days away from being ripe! The wastefulness of supermarkets astounds me sometimes.
So, the bananas were a little joy today. Another joy of the night was using my new (to me!- I’ll be blogging about it next week) food processor for the hummus. And, the song I’m about to share. I discovered the song today, listened to it twice and then went to amazon to buy it! It is the perfect tune for me right now! I am full of life again, connecting with old and new friends (including myself), and am reaching former and higher heights of confidence and serenity. On that note, listen to these notes:
Healing Necklace « Young Wifey’s Blog.
I wanted to show off the beautiful necklace I just received from my little sister. It is two of the colours I wear very frequently. Click over to see it in all it’s loveliness. I have worn it as shown and will also be wearing it with the sides twisted around to resemble a ‘rope’, or ancient vine!
