The Value of......

An incomplete title
A question implied
Suggestion of dollars, maybe some sense?
Boxed and squared off in categories and colours
Some words with a bad reputation could be ‘fear’, ‘death’, ‘suicide’, ‘awkward’
More are hidden beneath the detrius of society’s rules
This month, a short one to be sure, will be about
‘The Value of......’
My readers - throw me a word or idea if you choose.
See if I am able to see any value in.......

(Comment on Facebook, Twitter or Google)

“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power

of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.”

~ Aristotle

Family Time

Short and sweet
Dexter, Eva, my grand dogs
Jason, my youngest son - also very grand!
Opening with a visit tonight,
Breakfast tomorrow,
Walking the dogs in white crisp night air!
City night noises settling the neighbourhood.

“My family is my strength and my weakness.”

~ Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Furious Expectations

'Shutting down fury and fear in order to get on with my life does not mean that either go away

In strange days of date and time, edges loosen, unrecognized openings ease tendrils of black fury into day light.

What was previously 
a blank white page, is now discoloured and gray.'

                 ******

Phew!  Now that was a burst of anger!
Reminds me of the black smoke and ash
from a candle blown out with a puff of breath
curling up into the air, staining the ceiling,
tickling my nose with burnt waxy wick odor.

Rejigging my expectations of others is a disappointment.
Yet our beliefs and motives as different rocks and grass
are still part of the scenery sharing a common ground
beside the same stretch of water.

“Often expecting immediate returns for goodness

in this world is a sign of a normal human being.”

~ Adil Adam Memon

Home Time

Dry fluorescent glare opening onto soggy crisp darkness.
High atop slippery wet silver poles dampened rays of brightness shine weakly through an almost mist in suspended drift that clings and clouds a single car’s windshields.
Spiny tree branches wetly back-lit by city glow stand silently beside shiny dark asphalt.White armed vehicle sized lots lie empty and patient beneath star dark sky.

“Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected

and stepping outside your own experience.”

~ Masaru Ibuku

The Making of a Recipe

Recipes ~ ingredient list first
Listed in order of amounts
Flip through recipe books
What fits with contents stocked in cupboard, fridge and freezer
Nothing ~ almost ~ well maybe
Opening my mind and my cupboards, ideas inched forward
Historical aromas and tastes had nose a-twitch and tastebuds aquiver.
But I could use this and
I could use that and
oh, yes I’ve got this in the freezer
salt and pepper not a problem 
spices? hmmmm? rosemary’s good for taste and colour
Spices and foods shuffle and shift places in my mind til
click! ~ it all should work.
Light frying, chopping and stirring 
The recipe book lies forgotten on the cupboard
transformed into a mind booster not a recipe finder.
Cooking debris of dirtied pots and pans, spoons and stirring things cleared up, washed and put away.

No pictures ~ dinner tucked quickly away in stomachs, fridge and freezer.

Chicken with Rosemary Potatoes

Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees.

Four chicken legs and thighs
Two medium potatoes
Two Roma tomatoes
Rosemary
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
1/2 thinly sliced onion
Parmesen cheese* (optional)

Separate chicken legs from thighs. Sprinkle salt and pepper on each side.  Heat 2 Tb of  olive oil in a (cast iron) frying pan.  Brown chicken legs on both sides. Remove from pan to a baking dish.  

Put onion, cubed potatoes and cubed tomatoes in frying pan. Stir to combine, just warming to coat all with the chicken drippings in the pan. Sprinkle with small amount of rosemary.

When thoroughly coated, spoon over chicken in baking pan.  Sprinkle again with pepper and salt (optional). Scatter two tablespoons of rosemary over all.

Place in preheated oven for two hours. Fifteen minutes before two hours are up, sprinkle parmesen cheese to taste over the vegetables and tomatoes.

Serve with a salad or other hot green vegetables! Mmmmm good!

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. 

In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”

~ Julia Child

Lest We Forget

Discussions about senior care in nursing homes and residences abound since the tragic fire in Quebec. Much of my nursing career has been caring for the elderly in hospitals and dementia units. While I listen to the various discussions, whether at coffee with friends, at work with colleagues, or on the radio, I hear an interesting - and disturbing - level of detachment. Discussion is about policies and protocols about safety and security, what should be done, what hasn't been done. Discussion frequently turns to the equally tragic deaths, deemed murder in the press, of patients killed by another patient in the same facility.

Opening and improving policies and protocols, and the enforcment of them, is paramount. Protection of all  patients and clients is also paramount, while respecting their individuality. These men and women, these parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers have failed and failing neurological systems. Social filters that were learned over decades for polite skills are clogged and ineffective, maybe no longer even existent. For some, learning the same sort of social skills may not have been part of their experience.

Our society has placed, quite indiscriminately, these elderly and frail of mind individuals from usually very disparate upbringings, values, education, and cultures, in closed environments, with limited numbers of caregivers and health professionals. Education and levels of experience can be as varied as the patients in their care. If there are sufficient funds and family support, there may be an opportunity to live in a more pleasing and fitting environment. If not, it’s a crap shoot - pardon my blunt cynicism.

Have we forgotten that these individuals ~ not ‘this demographic’ ~ but these individuals, deserve care that does not judge, that does not punish but that provides them with respectful and safe care? 

“Our society must make it right and possible for old people

not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of 

a civiliztion is the way that it cares for its helpless members.”

~ Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973)

Painting the Past

Broad brush strokes paint pictures lacking little dust and colour from yesteryear.
Imagined ‘what if’s’ and ‘must have beens’ fill in empty spaces.
Visiting with a someone that was there ~ growing up and growing into ~
dips the brush into other colours, suggesting sound and fury.
Some memories stream frightening or painful moments forward into light of to-day.
Given enough time and a kinder life, openings into the past may arrive.
Until they do, many questions can wait.

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”

~ L.P.Hartley, The Go-Between

Incremental Success

Rates of growth measured in outcomes

drawn on spread sheets and punctuated with dollars and cents

Which success is measured and measurable?

Business outcomes or individual outcomes?

In a business where outcomes are viewed as either side of a line to be easily stepped over,

no one can see the tiny ripples, blips and hoops to be navigated,

narrow, undulating openings with ever changing guideposts ~

like an obstacle course for seasoning new recruits, 

sideline beckoning of drink and drug ~

temptation and forward movement wrestle for control

individual success opens up in small increments, not sudden dramatic change

Ordinary individual successes play out in families, friends and community

“Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.”

~  Dalai Lama XIV