Five Question Friday: November 2, 2012

Good afternoon! First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers are with the folks who were affected by Sandy. She was a fearsome storm that was felt even here in Cleveland, OH. For those who have lost loved ones, homes, prized possessions, please accept my condolences. If there is a bright spot to be found amidst the devastation, it is in how neighborhoods have rallied to help their residents, often stranger helping stranger. Support the American Red Cross because they are the ones who know what to do and how to help when natural disasters strike.

Following are the questions for this week. Have a go at it if you like.

 

1. What terrifies you the most?

The thing that terrifies me the most is the possibility of losing someone I love and being helpless to do anything about it.

2. Favorite fall/winter drink?

I am an avid coffee drinker. I have started my day every morning for decades with a cup of coffee. Sometimes I like to put a cinnamon stick in it to add just a hint of spice to the flavor. I drink it year around so I don’t really know if you could call it a fall/winter drink. In fall and winter I will occasionally have a cup of hot apple cider which is also very tasty!

3. Do you and your spouse have the same political views?

Yes, our views are similar. We both have a strong sense of social justice and concern. It pains me to see the vitriol in this country that is directed toward the young, the old, the minority, the unemployed, the sick, the ‘other’ whoever the other is, etc. I just don’t get it. Social conscience is not socialism, it is caring for those who fall on hard times, or who are sick or in need. I blogged about this a while back, Homeless in D.C. My husband and I are both concerned about the radicals who dominate the headlines anymore. When we stop caring about our neighbors, or lending a helping hand to those in need, we are headed for a fall.

4. What was the last book you read? Was it any good?

I’m not sure you want to know. Everything I read anymore is very academic. The last book I read was about Existential Therapy. It was excellent, I loved it and I learned a lot. But is it a book I would recommend? Only for others in the counseling profession. I can’t remember the last “fun” book I read. Hmmm…. not good.

5. Do you look forward to the snow each winter? Why or why not?

Not really. I grew up where the weather was sultry hot. I miss it. I hasten to add though, that when I lived in New Hampshire I loved the snow. Cross country skiing was a favorite activity. People there knew how to play in the cold and that makes a difference. Where we live now, we don’t play so much. And the cold temperatures seem to bother me more now than they use to. So, give me the hot lazy days of summer any time. 😉

That’s it for another week.

Related articles

• FOUND: Seven-foot long boa constrictor missing for two months (wtvr.com)
• Boa constrictor captured in Portland yard (krem.com)
• Terror, Terror, Terror! (personalliberty.com)
• Canadians amused by American threats to move north if their candidate loses (washingtonpost.com)
• Accuweather Winter Forecast Points To Snow (boston.cbslocal.com)
• Top events and days out in November (visitwales.co.uk)

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Electricity. . .or the lack thereof!

It is a cold January morning in northern Virginia.  Just a few days ago we were blessed with the first snow storm of the year.  And as we have come to expect, it also brought a power outage our way.  Last year, when we were still living in Maryland, we had several big outages, one lasting an entire week. . .but that is another story.  This year I have learned that enduring an outage in an apartment is easier than when we lived in a house.  I don’t know why that is except that apartment dwellers get friendly with each other when there is a mutual crisis.  At any rate, besides the inconvenience, “making do” triggered some fond childhood memories of how we managed in cold weather without modern gadgets and conveniences.

Images of winters in Louisiana come to mind.  Most people outside of the state assume that Louisiana, being that far south, doesn’t really have a winter.  Compared to the northern tier states of Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, all states that I have lived in, Louisiana winters are rather “wimpy.”  But don’t be fooled, it does get cold in the winter months, at least in the northern panhandle of the state.  When we heard reports of an impending freeze, Dad would crawl under the house and swaddle the water pipes, a preventative measure against freezing or bursting.  As an added precaution, Mom would make sure that there was a continuous “drip” from the house faucets because moving water is slower to freeze than standing water.  These precautions did not always work, and there were times we had frozen water pipes, and in fact there may have been a time or two when the pipes actually burst.  It really does get cold in Louisiana.

During our present outage, as I lit the gas stove (no electricity meant I had to dig out the matches and light the stove the “old fashioned way”) I remembered the open-faced radiant gas heaters in the houses “back in the day” (1950’s and ‘60’s).  We did not have central air, rather every room had it’s own gas heater.  That way, only the rooms in use would be heated.  Not a bad idea actually—heating only the rooms that are in use makes both ecological and economical sense.  Because the flames of the small heaters were “open” flames, Mom was fearful of sleeping with the heaters on at night.  It would have been too easy for one of us kids to inadvertently toss off the bed coverings onto the flames, thus igniting a fire, or for one of us to stumble in a hazy fog on the way to the bathroom late at night and fall into the heater.  So, when we finally headed off to sleep, we would crawl into beds piled high with quilts and blankets. (Quilts were strictly utilitarian, none of this “hanging on the wall as art work” stuff.  I could point out the different pieces of fabric and tell you what homemade garment it came from.)  Once we were snuggled in for the night, Mom would tiptoe around to each of our bedrooms and shut off the heat.  Of course, that made getting up in the mornings rather abrasive.  Twenty-degree temperatures were not unusual during a cold snap.  Did I mention that there was no wall-to-wall carpeting, either?  I don’t even remember throw rugs in the bedrooms.  Mom was always vigilant about fire hazards. Not only did we arise to a frigidly cold house, walking in our bare feet on cold, hard-wood floors was like walking on ice cubes.  I remember a lot of shivering and teeth chattering.  In order to alleviate some of the distress of getting out of bed in the early winter mornings, Mom would once again steel around to each room and light the heaters about ten minutes before we had to get up and start getting ready for school.  Once out of bed, each of us four kids would quickly gather our clothing for the day, race to a spare heater, and claim it as our’s before one of the others reached it.  (My favorite heater was in the dining room because not only did I get light from the kitchen, I could also talk to Mom while I was getting dressed.) We would hold our garments piece-by-piece, beginning with underwear, over the heater to warm it up before putting it on.  Stepping into toasty-warm clothes made up for our rude, cold-morning awakenings.  Meanwhile, Mom was preparing a hot breakfast (either Oatmeal,

Still a staple in my home.

Cream of Wheat, Ralston, or occasionally grits, buttered toast from the oven—no toaster—homemade jelly, tang and powdered milk [yes, powdered milk—ghastly stuff]) because she was a believer in having a good breakfast to start the day.  Then, dressed and fed, we would head out the door to school.

At the time, one doesn’t think that mundane activities such as waking to a cold house and getting ready for school is of any significance in the scheme of life.  We take daily living for granted. . .at least I often do.  But I have discovered that the glue of life and relationships and imbuing life values in the next generation happens in the ignoble activities of “putzing” through our ordinary days.  This week as I was figuring out how to manage without electricity, I felt blessed albeit inconvenienced.  Although we had no heat, we had plenty of blankets to snuggle under. There was no refrigeration, but all the food made it nicely through the night in boxes on our balcony. There were no lights, but candles added romance to an unexpected quiet evening with my husband. And finally, I’m a photography buff, and the beauty of new fallen snow was a delight to my eyes and food for my hobby!  So, all-in-all, we managed quite nicely.