A Delicious Research Project

 

I really wanted to eat a ginger cookie, 

but had none. It was time to put my sourdough starter to work ~

Sourdough Ginger Molasses Cookies

Delicious

Soft 

Now the only problem will be 

my poor self control when it 

comes to cookies, especially of 

the ginger/molasses sort. 

(I may be a distant relative of the Cookie Monster! )

Next project will be

Sourdough biscuits

“C is for cookie that’s good enough for me.”

~ Cookie Monster Sesame Street

Sourdough cookie recipe from: homesteadandchill.com

Sourdough biscuit recipe from: littlespoonfarm.com

Fast Moving Fragments

Could there be hippos in this pool of water?

Hungry hippos have really big teeth………and that’s all I’ll say about that! I’ve been muddling all day about how to approach this stem that I left for myself. Fragments of story flew through my head so fast I couldn’t catch them. I thought maybe if I researched the children’s game of Hungry Hungry Hippos it might jog some of them loose. More fast moving fragments. So I went on kidadl.com for information about hippos. Sadly, I learned that hippos are a violent species - not the cute brightly coloured hippos of the child’s game. They do eat grasses - 155lb (68 kg) - each day, are mostly herbivores and can hold their breath under water for up to five minutes.

Delving into research, any and all fragments vanished! So, tonight was not the night for a children’s story from this author.

“What a schmuck!”

~ Lemony Snicket,  The Bad Beginning

Chitter Chatter

Theories abound about 

The reasons for,

The details about,

Whys, wherefores and what ifs

The questions posed

Researchers peer into corners and crevices

to find answers to questions 

that may be age old or

possibly never thought of

except by those researchers

Theories abound when

all that data comes out 

in the newspaper

from a well coifed talking head,

on wildly prolific social media,

or casual social chitter and chatter.

Questions abound leaving us 

wondering how to respond ~

What’s it to me?

How should I include it in my life?

Will it even affect me?

Theories continue bounding

through space and time even when

we go home for supper,

read the newspaper,

listen to newscasts or

check our social media sites.

Theories abound when 

there are humans with opinions

believing what we believe without

knowing that we need to know more

about the facts for our own lives.

Theories, a-bounding like 

fields of rabbits unchecked,

allowed to roam freely,

only provides more rabbits

until we care for one at home.

“ ….the specious meditations, speculations, and theories of mankind 

are but a kind of insanity, only there is no one to stand by and observe it.”

~ Francis Bacon,  Novum Organum

Passing the Edge

Intriguing experiments are often done at home, usually not accompanied by double blind studies or are ever peer reviewed. I can say I do feel rather blind when I ask myself the question:  ‘I wonder if…….’  As for peer reviews, when it comes to attempting a new culinary challenge, I’ve had many guests ~ friends and family ~ that have provided me with a degree of peer review. Always polite, their truth of these culinary results is often in question. Especially when I know that a dish was too salty, or missing something else, bread too tough, or not strong enough to support the thinnest sandwich. 

Scientific experiments begin with a question, followed by background research and then comes the hypothesis. Clear steps to define procedure, trouble shooting, re-experimentation, results that support or do not support a hypothesis. A ‘home’ experiment really has the same steps - usually beginning with the question: ‘I wonder if…..’ There are times when I do some cursory background research, but when the experiment is about my own abilities there are times even I seem not familiar with them and there is no data base to delve into ~ except maybe years of journals, but journals do not typically provide an index. A much too time consuming bit of research, I have tried and dispensed with it. (Another experiment) But, there is usually a gut instinct that I know the answer. My curiosity often is that I want to find out if I am actually able to answer my own question. Returning to the issue of food preparation, I may wander through my cookbooks for possibilities. The best cookbooks are the ones with pencilled in side notes by previous cooks. I seldom have a hypothesis, as a hypothesis is an educated guess about how things should work. Once again, in my own home, testing my own abilities, if education about home and food is missing from my personal data base, that hypothesis merely becomes a ‘what if?’.

My longest running experiment has been this blog, Standing Still Slowly. I started it in December 2011, at a time when my mood was extremely low, I was relatively new to Victoria and was in new stages of early friendships. My question? I wonder if I can write and post one small piece a day for one year. That year has telescoped into just over seven years. I have learned so much about word crafting, and developed a daily practice for writing. Being accountable to myself and, with much appreciation, to those of you who read my posts regularly has been a real learning curve for this home experiment - no one to set rules for me. From poetry to essay, prose to story with the occasional rant thrown in, I’ve written daily despite my circumstance or my mood. I have included memorials to so many precious family and friends that have passed from this world since opening Standing Still Slowly. On days when circumstance has prevented me from writing a new piece, I have reposted from my personal blog data base.

My new experiment is: ‘I wonder if I can maintain and, at the same time, develop my writing practice both long hand and blog posts on a daily basis for this first year of retirement.’ I feel confidant that I have the ability and the authenticity to dig deeper into this most intriguing experiment, creating a richer data base for any future personal research.

“Life is a concept, like the “universe”, that expands

 as soon as we reach what we think is its edge.”

~ Kamand Kojouri,  author, poet

If I Had a Spade

If I had a spade

to dig into the ground 

of my past

it would not be silver or gold

If I had a spade

to scrape off dust and dirt

from cardboard boxes of memories

rust stripes would decorate it.

If I had a spade

for the archaeology of drawers

filled with cards, cords, and bags of stuff

my hand would be a much more resilient spade.

If I had a spade

to retrieve wordy jewels

shelved in the darkness of my mind

my pen would breathe new life into old plans.

“Archaeologists only look at what lies beneath their feet. 

The sky and the heavens don’t exist for them”

~ Agatha Christie, Murder in Mesopotamia

A Review: Pink Boots and a Machete: My Journey from NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer with Dr.Mireya Mayor

Exploring in Beacon Hill Park September, 2014

It was the land. The exotic wildlife in the trees - silky lemurs, coiling venomous snakes and silverback gorillas. The broad, thick rivers of the Amazon and the dense jungles of Madagascar. Dr. Mireya Mayor, not allowed to join the Girl Guides because her mother felt it was too dangerous, went on to be an NFL cheerleader, went to law school and detoured to wildlife research and exploration. Always interested in animals, she told us of the menagerie of cats, dogs and other animals she had as a teenager. It was a natural progression to expanding that interest to research about animals, although it took time and daring. Even with all the cultural experiences I have had here in Victoria, Dr. Mayor gave me a trip that I, and most of the audience at the Royal Theatre this past Tuesday night, will possibly ever take. Scaling perpendicular cliffs to a three foot wide base camp where their group’s tents were secured by one spike in the cliff. Better to see that experience than participate. Traveling by boat on the Amazon. While researching lemurs in Madagascar never before researched, Dr. Mayor discovered the smallest known lemur that she was able to hold in the palm of her hand. Lemurs are very cute! Descriptions of gorilla culture and family life - both humorous and dangerous. Her presentation was accompanied by video clips of her explorations. It all excited and at the same time brought me peace while I watched and listened.

Microphones were opened to the audience for a twenty minute question and answer period following this very interesting presentation by Dr. Mayor who has been dubbed a ' female Indiana Jones' because of her adventures. This was as interesting and enjoyable as the presentation. Most of the questioners were children of, I suppose, about 10 years to 12 years old. They were articulate and curious about how to get involved in similar adventures and how Dr. Mayor developed her interest. Questions about climate change and how it affected her work. As Dr. Mayor had spoken of the poverty of the communities she had encountered. The question that arose from that was how her exploration and research was of benifit to them. She replied that they try to hire as many local people as possible, provide education about the wildlife around them for adults and children and support the conservation of the area.

For anyone interested in young people’s involvement they can go to the National Geographic website. Dr. Mayor did suggest that there are now grants for youth as well as grants for research or exploration involvement.

“But in life there are detours, and for a brief time 

I headed not toward the wilds but in the opposite direction.”

~ Mireya Mayor, Pink boots and a Machete: 

My Journey from NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer

Dr. Mireya Mayor has written a book entitled: 

Pink Boots and a Machete: My Journey from NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer with the forward by Jane Goodall

Published by National Geographic

Copyright 2011

ISBM: 978-1-4262-0721-1 (hardback)

An InDepth Survey

This morning’s post is a writing assignment for this afternoon’s writing group. I thought long and hard about this piece. Having left it to the last minute, I struggled and pulled my hair out to write it. An unfortunate habit of mine. It was kind of fun though. My laptop is still on stress leave so the picture I have chosen will only show on my Facebook page. Here is: 

An InDepth Survey

I conducted a research project this morning. There was no control group. In fact there was no group. The only subject of this research was myself. I challenged myself to listen to one of my music CD’s to prove my theory. There were actually two potential topics to write about for today. Bounce and/or your favourite song. Thinking about a favourite song, the voice of my favourite musician, Louis

Armstrong, echos in my mind. His throaty, yet soft voice. The song? What a Wonderful World, the song that opens his CD, All-time Greatest Hits, is far from bouncy. Instead it is gentle, flowing  and hopeful. It smooths any frazzled fragments in my mind poking holes in even the sunniest of days. 

I’ve never been a great dancer, except at home when no one is there to watch. My home dance steps moved from a flowing waltz to a bouncy rhythm with each song. Imagined costuming for each dance was important, changing from a pastel Ginger Rogers satin gown to a sparkling, flowing Carmen Miranda gown complete with elaborate head dress! My research was complete. I had proven definitively that my favourite song is What a Wonderful World, followed by any other Louis Armstrong songs. An unexpected finding from this survey is the bounce and rhythm of my other favourite singer, Bing Crosby, in a duet with Louis singing ‘Gone Fishin’. Their music, and most other music genres, are the ribbons woven through our lives with rhythm and colour.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. 

Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

~ Albert Einstein

Carson's Rainy Day Research

Carson's Rainy Day Research

“Challenges build character, young man.”

“But Uncle Norman, I don’t want to build character. I want to build a house…..not a real house but one from this kit I got for Christmas. And it’s dumb. How can you get a house from a bunch of popsicle sticks?” 

Carson had a real pout on. He was bored and the kit was the only thing left for him to do. He had been having fun outside in the pouring rain jumping in puddles splashing from the grumpy, growling clouds. Once he was too cold and too wet, he came into the house. Now he was by the fire, had everything scattered all around him and here was his Uncle Norman talking about challenges and character. 

“Well, what kind of research have you done?” Carson's Uncle Norman lowered his newspaper to talk with this favourite nephew.

Carson kept quiet: ‘And now he’s talking about research! That's school stuff.’ Carson wanted help not a school assignment.

“Research? I read the directions. But I can’t see what even a wall should look like so the directions don’t make sense.”

“I guess that’s your challenge then. Finding an answer that makes sense for you. What about that computer you are always playing games on? Can you find any pictures that will help?”

Carson’s Uncle Norman was not that great on computers even though he had to use them at work - at least that was Carson’s opinion. Uncle Norman never, ever played any games, so how would he know anything.

“Really?”

Carson scrambled to his feet, raced upstairs to his room and thundered back down already opening his little device. Once he settled on the rug again, he tapped rapidly in the search engine.  He let out a happy, excited yelp. “The Simplicity Site! I forgot all about it. We use it at school all the time. Here it is, Uncle Norman….pictures. And even a video of a guy putting a popsicle stick house together.”

Carson bent over his project, following the video and the directions, leaving Uncle Norman to read his newspaper. Quiet settled over the living room, broken only by the crackling fire, gentled rain and the odd cawing of a single crow.

“Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy.”

~ Robert Heinlein

From Research to the Front Lines

Research takes massive amounts of time. Time and massive amounts of money. Time, money and and the power of many minds, hearts and hands. Not to mention political will and the power to implement outcomes.

Stacks and stacks of journals. Rows and rows of dissertations. Tabled in task forces with sheaves of briefs. Policies and protocols developed as wordy outcomes

Working out the research takes massive amounts of time. Time and money doled out by the holder’s of schedules and purse strings. Time, money and powerful goodness of many minds, hearts and hands. Not to mention political will and the power to ‘make it so’.

“I have found so many angels trapped inside undisputed jargon 

that I find myself digging at the words, in order to release them, 

from the books that unfairly captured their soul.”

~ Shannon L. Alder

World AIDS Day - An Essay

On October 27, 1988, the United Nations General Assembly officially recognized that the World Health Organization declare December 1, 1988, to be World AIDS Day. 

AIDS -  Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. It is caused by the human immune system being depleted of it’s cells by HIV. 

HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus

The first patient that I cared for, diagnosed with AIDS, was in 1985 while I was still in Regina. The AIDS fear was palpable at that time among the populations and thus among nursing staff. The young man, our patient, was only 21 years old and terrified. He didn’t stay on our unit long as he was transferred out to a hospital in Ontario where this newly discovered disease could be treated. I don’t know what happened to him, however I do remember one of our nurses was so frightened that she would not care for him unless she was completely gowned, gloved, wore a mask and cloth boots over her shoes.

Fast forward to the present. I have had many patients and clients over the years with HIV. Gloves and gowns are no longer required in all instances. Most people are treated with a variety of different anteretroviral drugs. Viral loads and CD4 counts are monitored through blood tests to ensure that the client with HIV is not converting to AIDS. When AIDS develops, the potential for severe and awful infections multiplies and the client ultimately, and very sadly, succumbs horribly to one or several infections. Many, however, live long healthy lives. On CBC yesterday, a news report said that one of these antiretroviral drugs can be used prophylactically as a preventative measure. This research is still in early stages.

The spirit of stigma remains, and the spirit of survival remains despite stigma. The spirit of curiosity also remains and grows because this auto immune condition also remains and continues to grow. Researchers, physicians, nurses, the afflicted and many, many workers and volunteers continue to work to ensure the survival of body, mind and spirit.

 “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will 

survive but those who can best manage change.”

~ Charles Darwin

AIDS Vancouver Island, or AVI, offers those with HIV/AIDS many forms of assistance
http://avi.org

Canada AIDS  Society - a coalition of community-based AIDS organizations
http://www.cdnaids.ca

Quiet Time Recovered

Research tells stories of 
neurotransmitters
neuroscience
synapses and
receptor sites
all chattering to each other

all the little gadgety things 
tucked inside our skulls
that we can’t see
we can’t feel
but that run the show

scientists do their research - good
big pharma use the data for designing medicine - good
physicians provide us with diagnosis and treatment - good
nurses create care plans and health teaching - good
But what about the recipients of all of that knowledge?
How do we fit in?
And when?
Our hearts, our minds and our souls - they must fit in!

In recovery, it is the soul
the intention,
the will
and maybe, most of all, the desire 
for an normal life outside of a chemical, managed world.

These unmeasurable ideas and thoughts
exist in a place within each of us.
Picking them out of the air,
examining them and rearranging one’s life
whether research and programs are ready, set up ~ or not ~
is a challenge amid all the clickety clackety noise of data.

“To understand the immeasurable, the mind

must be extraordinarily quiet, still”

~ Jiddu Krishnamurti