Hot Time in the City

My husband and I went into NYC yesterday to visit our daughter. We all popped over to the MET, where outside I bought a nifty "pashmina" that I instantly lost. I am usually able to hold onto my things, particularly new things, so I was really bummed. However, some really good Karma is in store for the kind individual who returned it to the Information Desk.

The MET has opened up their new American Wing and I had not seen it. It is magnificent. There is much glass and light, and many period rooms, which seem to make the paintings, furniture and textiles come to life. We ended our visit with some Egyptian antiquities, and again the architectural elements of the room were as much art as the displays. Thanks to my daughter who explained to me how I can transfer photos from my camera phone for my blog. She is a beautiful genius.

We then schlepped across the city to meet our daughter's roommate (Mad) for dinner. This bright and lovely lass was waiting for us at Rosa Mexicano's with gifts. Mad is the Personal Assistant for Jim Serpico at Apostle Productions and brought us Rescue Me t-shirts. Thanks Mad! We love them. We are Rescue Me fans and therefore these shirts are much appreciated. Mad is a longtime friend who has been there for our daughter through thick and thin. She is a gem. The girls and my husband ordered an interesting dessert. Looks like summer!

After dinner we went back to their apartment, where we visited with their kitties, Josephine and Piepan. Piepan is my granddaughter and she showed me how bright she is and how ready for the upcoming school year. All in all it
was a super fun day.

Computers

My kids went to a magnet school where they were taught to embrace learning by being unafraid to try things and to think outside of the box. That approach to learning was in stark contrast to what I experienced growing up. I went to a private parochial school, where I was taught that there was one correct way to approach anything, one colored inside the lines, and one began reading a book on page 1 and then read each page sequentially to the end.

Consequently, when we bought our first computer I was terrified to even turn it on by myself. My son assured me that it was okay to play around with all the buttons, nothing bad would happen, and everything was reversable. He was proven correct one day when he changed the language of the computer to Dutch and we had to wait until my husband returned home to change the setting back to English. My kids have been my best teachers and I have taken their tutelage to heart. This blog is proof of that assertion. I created it all by myself, by just clicking on choices provided. I proceeded with the thought that anything I did could be undone. I was fearless, so yesterday I implemented Adsence on this blog. I was assured that Google would read the contents of the blog and place ads appropriate to the content. In my mind's eye I was seeing ads for books on knitting or gardening. The first ads to appear were about buying fig trees and rosemary plants. That was alright. I was less thrilled with the blurb for herbs to alleviate the symptoms of menopause. What frosted my cookies, however, was one big stinking ad in red print that began, "Hello, my name is Marcus...." So, I quickly tried to undo what I had done. I found out that I had to remove the HTML code that I had inserted on my page. Easier said than done. I kept getting messages that indicated that my code was not formed correctly. Yes, they had suggested that before I changed my code I copy the code template in case I needed to reverse my changes, but I didn't do that. That would not be fearless, and, truth be told, I had grown an inflated sense of my own abilities. So I was reduced to searching out a HTML "code for dummies" page and tried to figure out how one constructs correct and proper code. After multiple attempts I got lucky. Things are back to normal. I have a feeling I will be leaving well enough alone, at least for the time being. I feel like I dodged a bullet. I would have hated to bail on the blog because it took on a life of its own as a crazy dating site.

Perchance to Dream

This morning I was awakened by the phone ringing at 7:47. I was in the middle of a dream and it took me a minute to shift gears and attend to my caller. I expected the call to be from my husband, who will be winging his way home from California today. However, it was the nice man from the lumberyard, calling to say our order had arrived. He had lots of questions and I found it difficult to coordinate my brain with my mouth, which was dry and not ready to work. Two hours later my brain still felt foggy. I think it was because I was in the middle of a dream that got cut off before its time. I am a vivid, lucid dreamer. Several times each week I report, in detail, the previous night's dream to my husband. He thinks this habit of mine is rather bizarre, because he rarely remembers his dreams. Humans spend about 6 years of their lives or 2 hours each night dreaming, so I think not remembering is a shame. When I gave up smoking in 1996 and wore a nicotine patch to help me break the habit, one of the side effects I experienced was an increase in vivid dreaming and the dreams seemed extremely odd, but life like. What I know about dreams from reading about memory is our dreams appear to be part of the process we use to consolidate information in our long term memory. Sleep and dreaming are really important. Non-REM sleep, the sleep we get when we don't have Rapid Eye Movements, helps us consolidate declarative memory. That is our memory of facts, personal events, stuff we learn in school, the "what" of memory. REM sleep helps us consolidate procedural memory, the "how" of memory, such as how to ride a bike, drive a car, swim, etc. Studies show that if one crams for an exam and does not get at least 7 1/2 hours of sleep afterwards, the ability to recall the information that was studied is significantly impaired. Dreaming also replays informations to consolidate it or "re-file" the information in a new way and also delete information that is no longer necessary or useful. That may explain the crazy connections that appears in dreams.

At times the solution to problems that I have had difficulty figuring out and solving in my waking hours have been presented in my dreams. Also, a few times I have dreamt about something happening and then woke to find it happening. Spooky. These non-linear events are the kind that make dreams seem magical. For centuries people have reported visitors appearing to them in dreams, to tell them to do or not to do something. From my old Chemistry Club days in high school I remember how August Kekule sought to discover the structure of benzene, and in 1886 as legend has it, discovered the answer in a dream. So cool. There has been much speculation about the function of dreams from psychiatrists and psychologists. Freud (wish-fullfillment), Jung (commumicating with your unconsciousness), Adler (tool to help problem-solve), Hall (visual representation of thoughts), Hartmann (expressions of emotional states), Griffin (lowers stress by completing patterns of emotional expectation) and others had their own understanding of the function of dreams. All I know is that sometimes, as I wait for sleep to slip over me, I think thoughts of what I hope to dream and that sometimes makes for a lovely night.

Be the Change

When looking at the world and its problems, I think most people would like to somehow change the world for the better, but the prospect seems too grand and the problems overwhelming. On my refrigerator are a series of square quotablemagnets that have helped inspire me and that help me remember what is important and what is doable. The first magnet that I bought (What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?) challenged me to consider returning to graduate school for advanced degrees. As I needed encouragement or focus I added others:

If you are going to doubt something, doubt your limits - Don Ward

In the long run, we only hit what we aim at - Thoreau

Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do - Dr. Spock

Never, never, never give up - Winston Churchill

Be the change you wish to see in the world - Gandhi

I realized that ultimately what was important to me, to make my life worthwhile and meaningful, was to help children and change their lives for the better. I know people who change many children's and adults' lives in a big way, such as fund raising to build schools or clean water systems in Third World countries. I value, respect, and support their work greatly, and would like to think that I could be a person who could do that too. The reality is I can't, at least I can't right now. What I can do and have chosen to do is to try to change one child's world in a small way, by identifying their learning difficulties so that they can be more successful in school. It seems like a very small thing to do, but that which I am capable. Then yesterday I stopped by my office and found a package and a copy of a letter from grandparents of a child that I had assessed. The two-page letter was addressed to the new Superintendent in Greenwich and copied to the Director of Pupil Personnel Services. It praised the evaluation that I and the two other members of the Central Evaluation Team performed and declared it superior to other private prior evaluations produced by highly respected and published PhD evaluators, for which the grandparents had paid thousands of dollars. It ended saying that thanks to me and the other two evaluators, their granddaughter has a chance to become a productive member of society, rather than a burden to it. "What these professionals do matters, and matters deeply." The package contained a beautiful crystal paperweight inscribed with a quote from Garrison Keillor: Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. One doesn't ever enter into the field of education become rich, but today I feel like a million bucks.

Figs on My Mind

I've got figs on my mind

I've got figs on my mind

I've got figs on my mind

And there's nothing particular wrong

It's a feeling I feel inside

When I woke up early this morning

It was staring me straight in my eye

Natalie Cole sang about love. I am singing about figs. Last week I was picking up some produce in Whole Foods and I paused beside the display of figs. An employee stocking fresh lettuces shared with me her favorite way to enjoy figs. Slice the fig in half, insert a bit of goat's cheese, wrap with a slice of prosciutto, and grill for 1 minute. Brilliant! Country Living recently had 3 fantastic ways to prepare figs. The first, from Nancy Oakes, chef-owner of Boulevard in San Francisco, suggested tossing a pint of figs into an ovenproof dish, roasting the figs for 10 minutes at 350F and then drizzling then with an aged balsamic vinegar. Stephen Pyles, chef-owner of Stephen Pyles Restaurant in Dallas, combines 2 tablespoons each butter and sugar, a pinch of salt, and 3 tablespoons sweet Spanish sherry in a skillet over medium heat. Once the mixture is lightly caramelized, add 8 whole figs, toss to coat and cook until the fruit is soft. Serve over vanilla ice cream. Sheila Lukins, of the Silver Palate Cookbook, suggests halving fresh figs, slathering them with mascarpone and sprinkling with chopped pistachios. The edible fig is one of the first plants that was cultivated by humans and subfossil finds suggest that the cultivated fig may have been planted and cultivated intentionally, one thousand years before crops such as wheat or rye. The Romans were fig aficionados and used figs, among other things, to fatten geese for the production of a precursor of foie gras. Interestingly enough, the word sycophant (Greek roots skon phainein) mean to show a fig, so if one was attempting to gain someone's favor, they brought them a platter of figs. I would love a good explanation of where the expression "I don't give a fig" originated.

I have been bitten badly once again by the crafts bug. That is a great deal better than getting bitten by a spider. Yesterday I heard of 2 dastardly occurrences of spider bite. My cousin, who was to visit for dinner on Wednesday, was bitten by a spider over the weekend. This resulted in a trip to the hospital and he is now medicated and unable to travel. Another acquaintance suffered a spider bite that required 3 stitches. What the hell.... I would have been much more afraid of cleaning my basement if I had heard this news earlier. My basement was "Spider Central." While there are 12 venomous spiders in the U.S., the two most common spiders to cause such problems in the Northeast are the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse. While these photos make the spiders seem gigantic, they are usually between 1/4" and 1/2" big. Spiders like to hide amid cardboard and clutter, so if one must clean crawlspaces and basements, gloves may be a good protective idea. I tend to lead with my vacuum hose, sucking up dust, debris and spiders before they can get to me. If you do get bitten and the site hurts or has a bluish tinge, seek immediate medical treatments, because what you want to protect yourself from is a staph infections, which can accompany a spider bite.

Herbs

The beginning of August always makes me sad, because it means in a few weeks the fun will be over and I will have to prepare to go back to school, which is work. I love my job but I love better still summer vacation. Summer is such a wonderful season. My garden looks lush and I can pop out to my garden to collect hardy herbs or my deck for others that would not survive the New England winter. I have had a sage plant in my garden for years.

The Latin name for sage, salvia, means “to heal" and evidence supports its effects as an antibiotic, antifungal, antiseptic, and antispasmodic. There has even been a study that found sage was found to be effective in the management of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. I always use sage from my garden in my Thanksgiving meal, both in the stuffing and as a decorative bit of green on platters of carved turkey.

I planted chives many years ago and, despite an over vigorous weeding that eradicated many of my treasured plants, the chives have reappeared. Chives is in the allium family and is related to onions and garlic. The medical properties of chives are similar to those of garlic, but weaker; the faint effects in comparison with garlic are probably the main reason for its limited use as a medicinal herb.

A herb that is impossible to get rid of is Mint. I have a small, flowering mint which is lovely and easy to control. It's larger and more aggressive cousin
sends rhizomes underground and thrives in gardens and in our backyard lawn that is regularly cut. Mint was originally used as a medicinal herb to treat stomach ache and chest pains, and it is commonly used in the form of tea as a home remedy to help alleviate stomach pain. Mint tea is a strong diuretic. Mint also aids digestion, in a way that it breaks down the fats. Mojito anyone? During the Middle Ages, powdered mint leaves were used to whiten teeth.

On my deck this year I have parsley, tarragon, rosemary, and basil. Last evening for dinner I gathered fresh basil and rosemary to add to roasted fennel, eggplant, leeks, and tomatoes that were dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. The basil and rosemary were sticky with resinous oils and their fragrance was divine. The roasted vegetables accompanied grilled lamb chops and complemented the lamb flavor.
Basil contains large amounts of (E)-beta-caryophyllene (BCP), which might have a use in treating inflammatory bowel diseases and arthritis. BCP is the only product identified in nature that activates CB2 selectively; it interacts with one of two cannabinoid receptors (CB2), blocking chemical signals that lead to inflammation, without triggering cannabis's mood-altering effects.
When soaked in water, the seeds of several basil varieties become gelatinous, and are used in Asian drinks and desserts. They are also used for their medicinal properties in Ayurveda, the traditional medicinal system of India. Yum.

My favorite herb is rosemary. I lay branches on rosemary on a rack on which I place a leg a lamb that has been stuck with garlic and smothered with Dijon mustard and chopped rosemary. Sound like a lot of rosemary, but trust me, it is fabulous.
Rosemary has a very old reputation for improving memory, and has been used as a symbol for remembrance during weddings, war commemorations and funerals in Europe. Mourners would throw it into graves as a symbol of remembrance for the dead. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia says, "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance." In the Middle Ages, rosemary was associated with wedding ceremonies - the bride would wear a rosemary headpiece and the groom and wedding guests would all wear a sprig of rosemary, and from this association with weddings rosemary evolved into a love charm. Rosemary was also stuffed into poppets (cloth dolls) in order to attract a lover or attract curative vibrations for illness. It was believed that placing a sprig of rosemary under a pillow before sleep would repel nightmares, and if placed outside the home it would repel witches. Somehow, the use of rosemary in the garden to repel witches turned into signification that the woman ruled the household in homes and gardens where rosemary grew abundantly. By the 16th century, this practice became a bone of contention; and men were known to rip up rosemary bushes to show that they, not their wives, ruled the roost. Rosemary contains a number of potentially biologically active compounds, including antioxidants such as carnosic acid and rosmarinic acid. Studies for medicinal use suggest that carnosic acid, found in rosemary, may shield the brain from free radicals, lowering the risk of strokes and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's. Rosemary along with lavender is commonly used as an effective moth repellent. I once had a border of lavender along my back garden but a particularly cold and wet winter did it in. I will replace that border next spring. The deer don't like it because of its fragrance and I like to make sachets for closets.

The Argument

When my son was in college and considering the type of career to pursue, I told him I thought he should be an attorney, because he loved to argue. He would argue about insane topics, like in a fight to the death, who would win; cat or woodchuck? Purely recreational arguing at its best. He comes by it honestly.
My husband and I are cleaning out the basement, and in a crawl space below our family room was a cornice board that was covered with gold, black and white printed fabric. It belonged to the former owner of our home and we began to argue in what room it was used. It was a ridiculous argument to have. Even though it was low key, neither of us would concede. I then remarked that this was a silly thing to argue about and what ensued was an argument about whether we were having an argument.


What comes to mind is The Argument from Monty Python:
Q: WHAT DO YOU WANT?
M: Well, I was told outside that...
Q: Don't give me that, you snotty-faced heap of parrot droppings!
M: What?
Q: Shut your festering gob, you tit! Your type really makes me puke, you vacuous, coffee-nosed, maloderous, pervert!!!
M: Look, I CAME HERE FOR AN ARGUMENT, I'm not going to just stand...!!
Q: OH, oh I'm sorry, but this is abuse.
M: Oh, I see, well, that explains it.
Q: Ah yes, you want room 12A, Just along the corridor.
M: Oh, Thank you very much. Sorry.
Q: Not at all.
M: Thank You.(Under his breath) Stupid git!!(Walk down the corridor)
M: (Knock)
A: Come in.
M: Ah, Is this the right room for an argument?
A: I told you once.
M: No you haven't.
A: Yes I have.
M: When?
A: Just now.
M: No you didn't.
A: Yes I did.
M: You didn't
A: I did!
M: You didn't!
A: I'm telling you I did!
M: You did not!!
A: Oh, I'm sorry, just one moment. Is this a five minute argument or the full half hour?
M: Oh, just the five minutes.
A: Ah, thank you. Anyway, I did.
M: You most certainly did not.
A: Look, let's get this thing clear; I quite definitely told you.
M: No you did not.
A: Yes I did.
M: No you didn't.
A: Yes I did.
M: No you didn't.
A: Yes I did.
M: No you didn't.
A: Yes I did.
M: You didn't.
A: Did.
M: Oh look, this isn't an argument.
A: Yes it is.
M: No it isn't. It's just contradiction.
A: No it isn't.
M: It is!
A: It is not.
M: Look, you just contradicted me.
A: I did not.
M: Oh you did!!
A: No, no, no.
M: You did just then.
A: Nonsense!
M: Oh, this is futile!
A: No it isn't.
M: I came here for a good argument.
A: No you didn't; no, you came here for an argument.
M: An argument isn't just contradiction.
A: It can be.
M: No it can't. An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition.
A: No it isn't.
M: Yes it is! It's not just contradiction.
A: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
M: Yes, but that's not just saying 'No it isn't.'
A: Yes it is!
M: No it isn't!
A: Yes it is!
M: Argument is an intellectual process. Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes.(short pause)
A: No it isn't.
M: It is.
A: Not at all.
M: Now look.
A: (Rings bell) Good Morning.
M: What?
A: That's it. Good morning.
M: I was just getting interested.
A: Sorry, the five minutes is up.
M: That was never five minutes!
A: I'm afraid it was.
M: It wasn't. (Pause)
A: I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to argue anymore.
M: What?!
A: If you want me to go on arguing, you'll have to pay for another five minutes.
M: Yes, but that was never five minutes, just now. Oh come on!
A: (Hums)
M: Look, this is ridiculous.
A: I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to argue unless you've paid!
M: Oh, all right.(pays money)
A: Thank you. (short pause)
M: Well?
A: Well what?
M: That wasn't really five minutes, just now.
A: I told you, I'm not allowed to argue unless you've paid.
M: I just paid!
A: No you didn't.
M: I DID!
A: No you didn't.
M: Look, I don't want to argue about that.
A: Well, you didn't pay.
M: Aha. If I didn't pay, why are you arguing? I Got you!
A: No you haven't.
M: Yes I have. If you're arguing, I must have paid.
A: Not necessarily. I could be arguing in my spare time.
M: Oh I've had enough of this.
A: No you haven't.
M: Oh Shut up.(Walks down the stairs. Opens door.)
M: I want to complain.
C: You want to complain! Look at these shoes. I've only had them three weeks and the heels are worn right through.
M: No, I want to complain about...
C: If you complain nothing happens, you might as well not bother.
M: Oh!
C: Oh my back hurts, it's not a very fine day and I'm sick and tired of this office.(Slams door. walks down corridor, opens next door.)
M: Hello, I want to... Ooooh!
H: No, no, no. Hold your head like this, then go Waaah. Try it again.
M: uuuwwhh!!
H: Better, Better, but Waah, Waah! Put your hand there.
M: No.
H: Now..
M: Waaaaah!!!
H: Good, Good! That's it.
M: Stop hitting me!!
H: What?
M: Stop hitting me!!
H: Stop hitting you?
M: Yes!
H: Why did you come in here then?
M: I wanted to complain.
H: Oh no, that's next door. It's being-hit-on-the-head lessons in here.
M: What a stupid concept.