Now I have to look up the word “bemused” again. Or I could change it to “amused” which I remember the meaning of. Oh gee, I just kinda remember what bemused means and it works, but at the same time most people would find my thoughts more amusing than not.
Like, okay, I wonder sometimes what my life would have been like if I had been one of my cousins instead of myself. So many of them seemed to be so much better off than I was, but then after talking with one of them a few years ago I discovered she had wanted to be me. On reflection, I realize I’m not so bad most of the time but then again, there are always “those” days we all dread.
Good heavens and heavens to mergatroid! It’s after 4 a.m. now. Seems like it was only a few minutes ago when I woke up from my usual hour of sleep. And “mergatroid” is a word I think I made up several years ago, but then again, I might have heard someone else say it and just think I made it up. I should check a dictionary but that requires a little bit of energy that I don’t have at the moment.
Reminds me of when my daughter was in third or forth grade and heard the associate pastor say that when you point a finger at someone else you have 3 fingers pointing back at yourself. She and her best friend spent about a week trying to figure out how to point at someone else without pointing back at themselves, finally turning their hands so that the three were pointing down at the devil, something they eagerly showed the associate pastor the next time they saw him. Try it. Instead of holding your hand the normal way while pointing, turn it to a palms down position and point. Three fingers point to the ground, or as they put it, at the devil.
There are times when everything is quiet here that my mind plays tricks on me. At least I HOPE it’s playing tricks. I think I’m hearing voices. Now don’t call the shrinks yet. I know I am hearing the place settling, not voices, but sometimes I admit I try to listen to what the non-voices are saying. So far no luck, but then there’s always tomorrow. Unless of course I am hit by a bus and tomorrow won’t come.
A word or more about peas. While i love them raw, just out of the pod, I truly hate them when they are cooked with the exception of the sugar snap variety when used in a good stir fry. I did have problems with that at times though. I would get the peas and have everything ready to make the stir fry of choice before realizing I had just eaten the last of the sugar snap peas. But I found a solution to that — just stir fry the ingredients individually and eat them as I cooked the next batch. I made moo goo gai pan several times but don’t have a clue as to how it tastes when all ingredients are added together because I would gobble down each batch as they came out of the wok. Not sure what to call that but gluttony comes to mind. Hopefully just intense hunger from waiting too long between meals and having to taste everything to make sure it is cooked properly. I always had that same problem when making dumplings.
Speaking of dumplings, did you know there are several ways — well, two at least, of making them other than opening a can. One way is to roll the dough out paper thin, cut them all and dump them in a pot of broth all at once. Stir to separate and cook until they don’t fight back, producing the doughy rubbery things that are usually served everywhere — except in my family. My grandmother taught me to make them her way, roll the dough out as above, but cut larger pieces and drop only a few at a time in the pot of boiling broth. Give them a few minutes to cook on one side, then gently turn each one and let cook on the other side. The result is a thick bread like dumpling that is favored by my family.
I always made the dumplings for my family after learning how because my mom didn’t really like them. Our treat was her childhood reality from the days of the Great Depression. I would almost get depressed while making them though. I had 4 brothers who always wanted to be the official taste testers. By the time we were ready to sit down at the table I was lucky if there were any at all left. So finally I became the official taste testers while my brothers hovered around me begging for just one bite. Okay, so I am a pushover. They were all allowed to taste one from each batch, one brother at a time taking turns until I had a huge bowl full for the meal. Now I’ve made myself hungry just thinking about it all and not a dumpling or sugar snap pea available.
Well, now we’ll see if I have any luck with photos tonight — oops, I mean this morning.
Well how ’bout that! I finally learned how to add photos! Most of them are quilts I’ve made, but there are also photos of my mom packaging 150 pounds of sausage (in case you ever wondered what that would look like), my grandmothers house in the country, some of the doll clothes I made, and a photo I took from my 16th floor window. Oh yeah, the bottom one is one of my tomato plants in that 16th floor apartment. Planted in a huge pot and growing out of control, but only a few tomatoes. Must have done something wrong there.
 
KYAngel's Reflections On Life 