Answered

Cover of The Emperor’s Club (Widescreen Edition)

Here are my answers to the questions I posed to you yesterday–some of you will see that your bliss is my bliss too:

1. What is your favourite “bliss” word?

My answers: serenity, peace, love, silence, calm, abundance, serendipity

2. What is your favourite “bliss” food?

My answer: chocolate is the first thing that comes to mind, but I love burritos, chili, a medium rare steak, prime rib and gravy, pizza, Hostess cupcakes, oh I could go on and on……

3. What is your favourite “bliss” activity?

My answer: walking – not because I love walking but because of its benefits; reading; writing; having a good conversation; listening

4. What is your favourite piece of “bliss” clothing?

My answer: soft stretchy yoga pants and a big t-shirt with nothing restrictive under it; a white shirt that can be dressed up or down; jeans

5. Who is your favourite “bliss” author or poet or writer?

My answers: Natalie Goldberg, Elizabeth Berg, Margaret Atwood

6. What is your favourite “bliss” movie?

My answer: The Emperor’s Club, a 2002 movie starring Kevin Kline–everyone should watch this–it is the best on so many levels

7. Who is your favourite “bliss” person?

My answer: I have many but my two main ones are my husband and my sister—they can both calm me down and make me feel better when I am stressed.

My least  blissful words: stress, noise, discord, loud, angry and puce

What are your least blissful words?

Answer Me This

Imagining myself walking on this path gives me bliss. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. What is your favourite “bliss” word?

2. What is your favourite “bliss” food?

3. What is your favourite “bliss” activity?

4. What is your favourite piece of “bliss” clothing?

5. Who is your favourite “bliss” author or poet or writer?

6. What is your favourite “bliss” movie?

7. Who is your favourite “bliss” person?

Answer 1 or 2 or 3 or all the questions and you will give me bliss.

 

Inspired Bliss

Yes, this is exactly how my family sits down to eat every night. I may give the butler the night off! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The shared meal is no small thing. It is a foundation of family life, the place where our children learn the art of conversation and acquire the habits of civilization: sharing, listening, taking turns, navigating differences, arguing without offending.” ~Michael Pollan, from his book, “Cooked”

I am guilty of much of what Pollan is railing against in his book “Cooked”. I have been wooed by the fast food industry, courted by the industrial food moguls, and a victim of food that is not really food. And I am now inspired to cook food from scratch and not just heat up “packaged ravioli with sage-butter sauce” and consider it a “culinary achievement”.

My Achilles heel when it comes to cooking is the fact that after a while it becomes too routine, and just getting some food to the table is an accomplishment itself—no matter where it comes from—the pizza delivery guy, my freezer, or a package.

Pollan has renewed my pride in cooking, and inspired me. And real cooking can be so simple—sometimes just a quick nuking of fresh asparagus from the local farmers market with a little butter and salt and pepper will satisfy that urging; other times a full-blown meal where one has to actually touch real potatoes, chop real lettuce, and cook some fresh meat meets the criteria.

I must confess that I will still rely on frozen packaged food at times—but I am now determined to take a little more time, take it that one step further, and serve real food on a more regular basis. And I must look at it as feeding my creative beast—there are so many ways to be creative and I no longer want to limit myself to writing literary masterpieces and somewhat lame poetry (I know I am exaggerating on both ends of the scale here).

To share a meal with those you love where you have actually put some time and thought into the effort is most satisfying. If we are going to do important things like teach the art of conversation, and share and listen and navigate differences—we should do it over fare that deserves that deliberation.

Bliss is going that extra mile and fixing “real food” if not every day at least as much as possible. What do you think?

Unblissful Signs

Coat of arms of the town of Kingsville, Ontario. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A note of explanation: As many of you know, I am the municipal reporter for my small town paper, but I also write a column. This week’s column was the subject of yesterday’s post, but I also wrote a second half. This is the second half. The woman mentioned in the article, Mary-Ann was a legal secretary and she and I worked at different firms years ago (she was a real legal secretary, I was someone  floundering in  a sea of unemployment until my father-in-law hired me). Steve, the associate editor is my colleague. The signs that I am talking about are the portable signs that seem to be popping up all over our lovely town of Kingsville in southwestern Ontario (we brag about being the southern most town in Ontario)–and as you can see from the column, I am of two minds–I believe businesses should be able to advertise and prosper, but I also wish that they could find another more attractive way to do it. I tend to stay away from opinion pieces having to do with the municipality–because I want to maintain my subjectivity–but sometimes you just have to speak out:

 On a Different Note…..

            “Signs, signs, everywhere a sign

            Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind….”

           

            Many of us of a certain age remember the song, “Signs”, from the early 1970’s. It was performed by an unknown Canadian rock group, Five Man Electrical Band and composed by Les Emmerson. It was written during what Wikipedia calls “an era of social and political change.” I would argue that all times are eras of social and political change, but that is an argument for another time.

            A few weeks ago, Mary-Ann Costa wrote a letter to the editor about the proliferation of signs in our little town that tend to take away from our quaintness. Intrepid associate editor Steve I ‘Anson then took up the gauntlet and expressed his dismay at the way some signs do not add to the attractiveness of our town.

            I usually like to sit on the fence in matters having to with do the rights of others, which is not to say I do not have an opinion but I generally do not voice it. In this case it is the rights of the business people vs. the rights of aesthetics—and to say that one is more important than the other would be wrong. I do not have a solution, but if someone came up with an attractive way to display what businesses have to offer they would be instant heroes.

            I am not crazy about the proliferation of these signs. I cover municipal council and I know that they have come up with a by-law to deal with the signs—but the matter to my mind is complicated.

            Civic pride should not suffer at the hands of business, nor should businesses suffer at the hands of those with delicate sensibilities (my husband says I suffer from this), but there should be a solution. There must be a middle ground—a way to advertise that does not offend or to paraphrase the song “Signs”: block out the scenery breaking our minds. We need to put our thinking caps on.

            Our town is quaint and lovely and a wonderful tourist destination—but it is also a place of business. Can’t the two come together?

 What do you think? Do you have any suggestions that would make our lovely town more blissful?

Enjoy the Rest of May

 “The world’s favourite season is the spring; All things seem possible in May.” ~   Edwin Way Teale

May is a lovely transitional month—not too hot, not too cold, much like Goldilocks’ favourite bowl of porridge—it is just right.

Over the long weekend my family, like thousands of others, planted their gardens as this is the weekend it is considered safe—there should be no more frost or cold threatening our delicate plants. As foretold from my crystal ball, which is really just learning from experience, half of my vegetable garden is taken up with peppers—most of the hot, hotter, and hottest variety, as the avid gardener in the family, my eldest son has a penchant for peppers. We do have four green pepper plants for my more mild taste buds. We planted a row of radishes, a row of carrots, two rows of onions, tomatoes (a few yellow as I just love these) as well as some lettuce and chives.

And, we planted Swiss chard—that most prolific and hardy of vegetables. In fact, we had Swiss chard from last year come up in the garden this year—now that is my kind of plant! Now I just have to learn to like it a little better. I kind of like it—but do not love it.

 

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As I write this, I am multi-tasking (which may explain a lot)—because I am trying to come up with a plan to plant some flowers that take little care, yet are pretty. So far I have come up with geraniums, which are the Swiss chard of flowers–hardy yet always impressive, and my go-to flowers– Impatiens. I do think I should step out of the box a little and get something different this year, but I am not sure what.

Do you have any suggestions for easy and pretty flowers–remember I am not much of a gardener. Bliss for me is an easy care garden–how about you?

Take Two

These double pink tulips have nothing to do with this post but I thought they were pretty. My business cards are pretty too.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I was a novice blogger in May of 2011, I did not have the “following” I have now (lol). I wrote a blog that asked the question: “Have you ever received something for free that was not really free?” My sister Peggy, (who has been a faithful follower since the beginning) said: “I  get lots of free advice and I don’t even ask.” At first I missed her witicism, but then I thought her observation was hilarious.

Here is the post many of you did not read because you were not around then:

“The writer experiences everything twice.”  ~ C.D. Bowen

This is the quote that appears on my “business card” which I designed myself for free. As we all know there is no such thing as a “free lunch” and this pithy piece of advice was proven (unfortunately) correct in this instance as well. I had to pay for the shipping, which was reasonable, but on the back of each of my lovely mint coloured cards is an ad for the business that printed the cards. Had I known that this was the cost of “free”, I would have paid for the cards, or at least saved my pennies up until I could afford them sans advertisement.

Perhaps I overlooked the important (but non-existent) sentence that stated: “You can have these cards for free, plus shipping, if you agree to have an ad for our business on the back, thus spoiling them.”

Perhaps I was so taken with getting something for “free” that I was not careful enough.

Perhaps I should charge the company for “free” advertising.

Whatever the case, I now have about a zillion of these cards (which are quite lovely by the way) that I have to “make do” with. I do this by applying a label on the back and writing in my email address and a little “check out my blog: onthehomefrontandbeyond.wordpress.com”. The labels probably cost more than paying full price for the cards. Oh well, live and learn.

Have you ever received something for “free” that was not really free? Or, on the other hand, have you ever received something for free that was blissful?

It's okay and so are you

Reblogged from Joy and Woe:

Earlier this week I asked readers to send me a question, as part of this week's writing challenge.  My favourite question, and my answer, below:

Dear J/W:

Is it okay to just ask people over for coffee and dessert when you know you owe them a dinner but for good reasons cannot do it?

~ Genoise'nt Sure

One of the reasons I chose this question for a response is because of its brevity. 

Read more… 697 more words

This was my question I am not too embarassed to say and it was answered perfectly -- Read on

All Things Are Possible

A Wild Cherry in flower.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The world’s favorite season is the spring.
All things seem possible in May.” ~   Edwin Way Teale

Do you find possibilities of bliss in May?

On the Banks of the River

Village stream Avening close to bursting its banks  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting, and doing the things historians usually record; while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry, and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happens on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.” ~ Will Durant

I opened a favourite book of mine, Storycraft, by Jack Hart, and by pure chance found this quote on page 142 of Chapter 9. Now you can open a book at random and not find anything of consequence. This time I opened a book at random and found a quote that pretty well sums up all of the important things that need to be summed up.

It is the everyday, the lives that we live, the families we make (and family is a big word–you do not have to be related by blood to be family), and the things we do and create that are important. Like a headline ripped from the paper–civilization is given short shrift if you only look at the extremes.

The “story of civilization is what happens on the banks” in our everyday lives. That is the interesting stuff. Leave the other stuff to historians and the headlines. (Not all historians keep account of the killing, stealing, and shouting–Will Durant is himself a historian).

Bliss is what happens on the banks–what do you think?

Dedication

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is the first of my dedication posts. I will choose one lucky recipient a week to receive one of my fractured haiku.

Dedicated to Ms. Loony:

This delicate and highly philosophical  haiku is dedicated to my friend Cindy of photosfromtheloonybin. Needless to say she loves chocolate cake. And is a great photographer. Check her out on Fridays–she has a mystery photo post she submits every week that is designed to stump us. I think I have guessed correctly twice–and that is only because I looked at the other comments.

Cake

The very essence

Of my being calls out for

More chocolate cake.