Breakfast?

*Rice crispies without marshmallows?!

Writing first thing in the morning 

before the opportunity for my growling of stomach to be satisfied had me take a *Google journey for the ‘without marshmallows’ part of these delicious treats.

Found: 
Rice Crispies without Marshmallows

honey sweet (or maple syrup), (1/2 cup)

depth with cashew butter 
(any nut butter will do, (1/2 cup)

crunchy with rice crisps cereal (4 cups)

spicy warmth of lovely cinnamon (1 tsp - more or less)

I could eat them all at once but one with fruit and coffee is my delicious treat while I write (fork and napkin handy) each morning.

“Everyone’s favourite breakfast dish can be prepared in a moment’s 

time with just a few ingredients and minimum effort.”

~ Marcus Samuelsson

Reel or Real

No bank of 'real reels' available 

Connection to the past ~

a journey in and of itself

‘memorybank movies’ ~ described by Margaret Laurence in the Diviners ~

Reels that may or may not be real are 

coloured by emotions, sensations or even ages of 2 feet tall when short and tall giants are all around always remaining real until edges fray and images fade with time and exposure to the elements. 

Real photographs, white rippled edges surrounding black and white images of years before colour and clarity, pick up some thready reminder ~ the cold damp feel of grass, the soft touch of grandfather’s roughened hand, the pungent smell of newly turned soil………..like beads of water clinging to windows after a rain ~

these connections, tenuous at best, threaten to fade when 

wiped away by someone else’s ‘memorybank movies’,

vanish into black holes from illness or fear ~ ‘Access Denied’

yet most remain real with the colour and clarity of heart and soul.

“There is one thing that the photograph must contain, 

the humanity of the moment.”

~ Robert Frank

A Risky Journey

A fresh new bean shoot

Always a risk

to climb higher each day,

vining around supports with

no knowledge

if a deer's razor sharp teeth will 

nip the steady climb toward sunshine,

no knowledge 

of cloud cover or wind

that may slow upward progress.

Taking a risk anyway ~

the only task for seeds

planted in moist, dark soil.

“A seed, after all, is an embryo, a potential plant waiting 

for its moment to grow. It has what it needs to begin. 

But it can also put itself on pause. It can wait.”

~ Robert Krulwich, journalist

The Maya: The Great Jaguar Rises - Time Travelling

On this past Sunday I met with a friend for lunch and a trip to the museum following. Recently I purchased a membership to the Royal BC Museum and took advantage of this purchase to see this wonderful exhibit ~ at least part of it. The Maya: The Great Jaguar Rises exhibit opened May 17, 2019 and will continue through December 31, 2019.  Visitors to the exhibit included families, a wide range of ages, little ones in strollers (mostly asleep) and individuals of all levels of ability in wheelchairs. So, for me it was a bit crowded, but then it was a lovely summer Sunday in early tourist season days. 

I was most intrigued by agricultural practices we 

use to this day, water conservation techniques and the literary and artistic legacies of this ancient civilization. This civilization, primarily patriarchal, grew to some 40 cities with some still to be located in the Rainforests of Mesoamerica and primarily located in the tropical lowlands of Guatemala. We were only able to see a small part of this exhibit as we had set ourselves a too short time frame. 

I also took a lot of time to read all the posted information, watch a video of what Mayan life would look like and take my time viewing the various exhibits. The Royal BC Museum allows pictures to be taken and certain replicated artifacts touched. The children are treated to some participatory activities. One game is a series of rotating blocks that show the progress of cocoa leaves into a cocoa beverage. Eavesdropping on a discussion between siblings is quite enlightening! So another trip is in the offing. What I’ve included in this post is a very tiny drop in the bucket of the history of the ancient Maya civilization.

**From the Royal BC Museum website: “This exhibition coincides with UNESCO’s year of Indigenous Languages and highlights the 30 Maya languages that are still spoken today by almost half the population of Guatemala.”

“Don’t go to a museum with a destination. 

Museums are wormholes to other worlds.”

~ Jerry Saltz, Art Critic

Attitude Changes Stigma

I’m thinking about stigma this morning. On a bright summer day when the wind is calm and the sky is blue complete with two swallow tail butterflies flitting past to the next flower. So how does that work? Sweeping my patio of all the debris the wind of the last few weeks has blown in, I let my thoughts wander. The winds had also spread some of the mulch for the gardens into the cracks and corners of the patio blocks. Spider homes webbed behind my storage bin. You see, my wandering thoughts were also about the stigmas towards a variety of chronic diseases and conditions ~ addiction, epilepsy, diabetes, cancer, mental illness, etc. and on and on ~ burdened by the attitudes of stigma. Recovering from or living with any chronic condition is enough of a challenge in and of itself. Especially if it is very fragile and difficult to manage while trying to enjoy an interesting and rewarding life at the same time.

The attitudes of stigma are like the crusted leaves, fine dirt, crumpled bits of paper and even dry discarded flower petals nestled on my patio. These attitudes, much like my patio debris, have come from somewhere, piling up in corners and crevices to be ignored until a broom comes along and sweeps it all up. But is stigma that neat? Can we just sweep stigma up and toss it in the garbage heap, in the compost or under the hedge? I don’t think so. 

Stigma resides in the cracks and crevices of our minds and heart. Where has it come from? Our own experiences with watching someone live with chronic disease? From the sometimes dubious lessons learned on the playground without challenge by any other knowledge? From gossip and conjecture in ordinary conversation? Certainly from many more people, places and situations I can suggest here. No, banishing such long held beliefs and attitudes is not as easy as sweeping a patio. Recognition of the attitude of stigma and deciding if there is any value to nurturing it any longer begins this very personal journey. With willingness of heart, changing even a long held attitude can be done.

“…the issue becomes not whether a person has experience 

with a stigma of his own, because he has, but rather 

how many varieties he has had his own experience with.”

~ Erving Goffman, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity

A Writing Saga

To write anything when

there is no beginning

obvious to my fingers

with the middle hovering 

patiently in the background

crowded with details and characters

before the ending gathers

all the wandering fragments

to tie them up with a ruffled bow of

Perfection!

Or 

That ending leaves me cold.

Or 

I wonder what happened to the characters….

“The beginning is the word and the end is silence. 

And in between are all the stories.”

~ Kate Atkinson

A Moments Notice

‘Notice what excites you….’

In retirement, excitement arrives 

in momentary packages, 

barely noticeable while the

work/life body memory of

inflexible tasks and schedules

recedes indelibly 

into the background.

Reframing each moment in sparklers on this journey is my happy task each day.

“….everyone wants to be excited by something magical and wondrous

 - to be reminded of how they once saw the world.”

~ John Geddes