the eleventh hour

From Magistra Mater- loving life - loving learning - note the patterned two words, a meme:

1. Where is your cell phone?  phone it 
2.  Where is your significant other? Lorka, Spain
3.  Your hair? aerobicised mess
4.  Your mother? 68yo beauty
5.  Your father? surfing www
6.  Your favorite thing? husband masseur
7.  Your dream last night? short night
8.  Your favorite drink? glass wine
9.  Your dream/goal? playing cello
10. The room you’re in? cold study
11.  Your hobby? munching musings
12.  Your fear? no fear
13.  Where you want to be in 6 years? wiser, non-wider
14.  Where were you last night? alone, awake
15.  What you’re not? perfect mother
16.  Muffins? rather scones
17.  One of your wish list items? overseas holiday
18.  Where you grew up? Eastern Cape
19.  The last thing you did? sprain hipmuscle 20.  What are you wearing? sweaty sweatpants

21.  Your TV? big oldie

22.  Your pets? goldfish, labrador
23.  Your computer? dear husband’s
24.  Your life? blessed gift
25.  Your mood? no mood

26.  Missing someone? humorist hubby

27.  Your car? son learner-driver
28.  Something you’re not wearing? lost (wedding)ring
29.  Favorite store?  cheese deli’s
30.  Your summer?  firmer body?
31.  Like someone?  too many
32.  Your favorite color? twilight too                                                                                                    33.  When is the last time you laughed? sprained hipmuscle
34.  Last time you cried? sprained hipmuscle
                   

Whatever you do:  link, blog, comment, enjoy!

  

Have you ever thought about your values? In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl speaks of three central values - as a way to discover meaning - in life, i.e. that which happens to us, that which we bring into existence, e.g. doing a deed, and our response in difficult circumstances. Mortimer Adler, speaks of values as things that “ are good and necessary for all men whether they consciously desire them or not.”

I have some questions today (for myself actually). 

1) From the list below which values are most important to you?   

comfort    freedom    adventure    equality    competition    discipline    beauty & art    friendship    security    independence    harmony    loyalty    knowledge    success   respect    God    happiness    balance in life    health    work    money    leadership    service    marriage & family    personal growth    spiritual life    inspiration    prestige     wisdom    power    excitement    love     teamwork   recognition 

2) Can you name any books / films / songs that influenced your value system? What values did they portray?  

3) Were there (or is there) any people in your life influencing you, teaching you about values?  

4) Can you think of any experiences in your life that influenced you and your value system?

 

My mom started it. A few years ago she decided to cure olives; just for fun she entered them in an olive-tasting competition. Her olives were chosen as the best-tasting ones.  She said she only followed the recipe. This year my sister and I decided to follow suit. We bought 8kg of black olives (did you know that the only difference between green and black olives is that the black olives are ripe green olives? - i didn’t - i actually never gave it a thought) , and started with the process. We are in week three. It takes longer than three weeks. The submerged-in-cold water-phase is completed, and presently the olives float around in salt water - until the taster(s) decides when the bitterness is not so bitter anymore. My son pulled a face, my daughter says they’re ready, and our Labrador could not decide what to do: it was near suppertime, so he ate it. I decided that the batch could do with another saltwater bath. Apparently, the longer olives ferment in brine, the less bitter and more intricate their flavor become.

Have you tried curing olives?

 

For those of you that miss a loved one (I do- my husband is in Europe on a business trip) or have a husbandman loved-one, here is a poem by Amelia Josephine Burr

Where Love is

BY the rosy cliffs of Devon, on a green hill’s crest,

I would build me a house as a swallow builds its nest;

I would curtain it with roses, and the wind should breathe to me

The sweetness of the roses and the saltness of the sea.

 

Where the Tuscan olives whiten in the hot blue day,

would hide me from the heat in a little hut of gray,

While the singing of the husbandman should scale my lattice green

From the golden rows of barley that the poppies blaze between.

 

Narrow is the street, Dear, and dingy are the walls

Wherein I wait your coming as the twilight falls.

All day with dreams I gild the grime till at your step I start—

Ah Love, my country in your arms—my home upon your heart!

 

 

 

Eish, I’ve made day three in the blog world.

 

I’m still figuring out how blogging works. About me is a short exposed start on a page. 

Today is Friday, and tradition on a Friday night is pizza and movies. At home. Pizza: not ordered, home made; not fancy, simple. When I know how to link, I will link to a recipe and food section. I am called… needed in the kitchen. Ends day two.

 

It’s past levenses; it’s past lunch; it’s time to figure out how blogging works. Keep it simple, uncluttered and short for those wanting to read it. Journaling life begins in a space and web out connecting t(d)angling loose thoughts.  Ends day one.