I loved mushrooms. He did not. I think it was the texture, because when I chopped them up into really small pieces…he didn’t spot any in the tuna casserole.
If his eagle eye discovered any recognizable mushroom sections, he calmly plucked them out. And arranged them in a semi-circle around the edge of his dinner plate.
When his grade school education included a science lesson on what constitutes a fungus, his delight in passing on this gem of information was palpable.
It didn’t stop me from eating mushrooms however. Fungus or no fungus. They are delicious. And nutritious.
One day last year, during my walk around the neighborhood, I spotted a clump of wild mushrooms.
Nancy Merrill is hosting a photo challenge. The theme this week: Nostalgia
When I was five years old, my Opa and Oma gave me a charm bracelet.
At least I think I was 5.
My clue?
A birthday cake charm with 5 candles that pop up if you push the lever underneath it. Pushing up with a just-the-right-size 5 year old finger. I especially remember the charms with the movable parts.
They added charms to the bracelet for many years. Birthday gifts or just because. Each charm meant something special. Several were souvenirs from their trips to Europe.
Such sweet memories…
A bicycle…I loved to ride.
A baby shoe…as I used to wear.
A mailbox…Opa and I were penpals.
Ballet shoes…my short lived stint taking lessons.
Piano…5 years of lessons and all I can still play is Chopsticks.
My favorite is the deck of cards charm. With actual cards inside – at one point I took them all out to check. And then put them all back.
It reminds me of O&O, as I called them. But especially Opa, who taught me everything I know about cards, game strategy and how much fun it is to play.
Although the 6 ½ inch bracelet no longer fits my wrist, it will always make me smile as I recall how it came to be.
(Photos taken with my new Canon EOS RP Mirrorless Full Frame DSLR. Canon RF 35mm F1.8 Macro IS STM lens)
This week share a favourite song or piece of music that is connected to a favourite genre of yours, or just share a favourite piece of music or song with us.
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It is really difficult to choose a favorite music genre. I guess it would depend on my mood. If it’s for dancing at a wedding reception. Or keeping me company on a car ride. Or background when writing a blog post. Or cleaning my office. Or drowning out the highway noise outside my window. There is music to the rescue for any occasion!
The genre that rises to the top of my list most often: folk rock.
For today, I settled on a (relatively) recent musical discovery of an American singer/songwriter/guitarist who joined my list of favorites.
She has much in common with the favorites of my youth…Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Bonnie Raitt….
Although she originally appealed to a more country music audience, I happened upon her music about 20 years ago when I heard this song.
I was hooked.
I have seen her perform several times in the last decade. Lucky for me – and the audience – she included This Shirt on the set list every time.
Mary Chapin Carpenter
performing This Shirt
Originally released on her album “State of the Heart” in 1989.
On March 13, 1994 – the hottest March 13th on record for San Francisco – my husband and I climbed Coit Tower in Telegraph Hill. All 210 feet. To reach the observation tower at the top – with its 360 degree view of the city.
We had just arrived in California for a much anticipated weeklong vacation. Jet lag hadn’t set in yet.
The long climb…well worth it.
Coit Tower Telegraph Hill San Francisco, CA
(FYI: that’s Christopher Columbus standing guard….)
This post inspired by V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #50: Acceptance
“There’s release in knowing the truth no matter how anguishing it is. You come finally to the irreducible thing, and there’s nothing left to do but pick it up and hold it. Then, at last, you can enter the severe mercy of acceptance.”
Sue Monk Kidd The Mermaid Chair
Acceptance…may mean making peace with an overwhelming, ugly truth. Living with it in your head.
My head.
The new raw reality nudges me. Breaks my concentration on a bright sunny day. I take it out. Examine it. Until a familiar gnawing sickness in the pit of my stomach makes me look away. I put it back before it drops from my shaking hands and explodes.
I’m a member of a club I never asked to join. But was accepted into anyway. I don’t belong here. But it turns out I do. Surrounded by the nameless who also lost their pasts. Exposing ragged edges of grief. Struggling to reach a place of resignation in a stark new reality. Healing measured in tiny steps.
Get over itMove onLet it go…well meaning, but frantic pleas from those who care, but…they aren’t in my head with the unimaginable truth. How could they possibly get it?
So for those of us who struggle to accept what life has thrown up on us…for those of us with battle scar tread marks on our backs…we yearn to beaccepted…frailties, brokenness and all. In order to be whole again.
Irene Waters’ Times Past challenge prompt for May is: Shoes
Have you any memories of shoes? A particular favourite pair, one that caused you pain, embarrassment or made you feel on top of the world?
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I grew up in the USA suburbs as part of the baby boomer generation…wearing shoes my mother deemed practical and sturdy.
I was a very active tree climbing, kickball playing, jump-roping child. Sturdy was a good idea. Sneakers would not have lasted long on my busy feet.
Shoe shopping was carefully planned. Piled in the car with my siblings, my mother would drive me to “Kate’s Brothers,” the downtown shoe store. Shoe polish fumes hung in the air as a salesman measured our feet with a tool called the Brannock Device.
What a fascinating place…
I loved the machine (a fluoroscope) I could slide my feet in…for a quick x-ray. Looked in the viewer…and saw my bones! I don’t remember this questionable practice lasting very long and probably for good reason. It was, however, a fun way to wait while salesmen searched in the mysterious “back room” for our shoes.
Play shoes. Party shoes. Sneakers.
Play shoes were always leather – definitely durable – with laces or sometimes a strap. Color choices limited. Usually brown, navy blue or the occasional black and white saddle shoe. My go-to footwear for outdoors. Quickly scuffed and dirty, they withstood what I put them through.
I have no idea why I am wearing them with my red dress.
Play shoes
Party shoes were black leather or shiny patent leather with a strap. Often called Mary Janes. I wore them to parties, holidays and Sunday School. The patent leather ones could be shined up with Vaseline petroleum jelly.
Party shoes at a party
Keds or P.F. Flyers were the only brands of sneakers available. White or blue canvas with white laces. Only allowed for gym class. I was very jealous of my one and only cousin – 5 years older than me – who was allowed to wear sneakers All The Time. My mother thought she was spoiled. I thought she was incredibly lucky. Sneakers were much more comfortable than tight laced up leather shoes. Better for running faster and jumping higher.
When I was 11, we moved to a neighborhood with no trees to climb or woods to explore. My active outdoor play life came to an end – for better or for worse. I didn’t need “play shoes” for hanging out with my girlfriend listening to Beatles records or 77WABC Top 40 hits on the radio.
What did girls wear in junior high? Loafers! – sometimes with a shiny new penny inserted in the slit atop each one. Earning them the nickname Penny Loafers.
They were my first slip-on shoes. Usually brown. Since they were flats, I could be comfortable and stylish at the same time. At 5’7″ in the eighth grade, flat shoes were a definite bonus.
one letter UP ~ diary 2.0 