For the first time in about a month, I was able to take my dogs for a 5K walk. We all needed it. And as usual there was a nut or two loose on the running path, and I do not refer to the acorns blown down by last night's violent thunderstorm.
A young woman with a Blue Heeler was coming toward me as I neared the end of my walk, with maybe less than a kilometer and a half to go. Blue Heelers are often difficult to train unless you are my brother. Since the young lady obviously was not he, she was having a little bit of a hard time. When she saw us approach, she made her dog sit. The dog was not happy with this turn of events, but it did as it was told.
Behind the girl came an old guy toddling along as best he could. Seeing that the girl was struggling with the dog, he suddenly screamed for all to hear, "Kill it!! Kill it!! They aren't any use to anybody and all they do is make a mess in the park!!!"
By this time I had passed them both and did not observe the girl's reaction, but I felt myself included in the old fart's opinion because I was certainly within his shouting range. And he for sure was not referring to the Blue Heeler breed but to dogs in general.
A number of come-backs occurred to me as I went on, but it seems the real problem is that this miserable old fool doesn't have a cause in life better than getting angry at dog owners, and it is really a shame to get to old age so embittered and angry. We are all going to get old, but to get there feeling unsatisfied, unloved, or immersed in a world we don't understand is a tragedy. And don't ask me what the secret is, either, because I don't know. All I can say is that people I've known who have stuck with a rotten marriage, or think their children are disappointments, or think no one appreciates them, are usually the cause of their own misery.
If you want to get psychoanalytic about it, that poor old guy was screaming about himself...
On a lighter note, although not for long if I eat them, I got all the ingredients for chilaquiles and intend to attempt my daughter-in-law´s spectacular recipe. The tomatoes I will use are from my square foot garden. The plant got so huge I had to remove it and make different plans for a new plant, but in the meantime I have tomatoes that actually have flavor!
lunes, 10 de junio de 2013
sábado, 8 de junio de 2013
Vampires
There are certain kinds of people in life that seem to suck up every pleasure, every small achievement, every tiny happiness, every moment of kindness and relaxation, every quiet enjoyment of nature that you might experience.
They seem to find it imperative to point out faults, failures, or human errors in everything you do, write or say. These are the parents who wind up alienating their children, folks who drive away spouses who have sense enough to leave, who when angry, upset or depressed will take it out on others in order not to have to recognize what is happening to them.
It isn't that many of these pathetic people can't love; their self esteem is so low that having to acknowledge it would kill them, that having to feel the depth of their self-loathing would be a mortal blow.
Everything you do is judged by them. It's as if they are ever on the alert to find a fly in the ointment, or the minute grain of sand on a pristine floor. They often manage to hook up with people who need to go through life being judged, so as couples they form the ideal mesh of pathologies until someone manages to change--if it ever happens.
There is a certain kind of envy in psychology that goes beyond the "I wish I had what that guy has" type, the garden variety envy that all of us feel. These emotional vampires feel an envy so corrosive that if they cannot have or be what they envy, they want to destroy it in the other person. It is a hideous, soul-killing envy that injures everyone around them.
Others, however, prefer to provoke irritation or anger in the rest of us so we have no chance of exploring what they are all about; the black fear that someone might discover how worthless they really are makes them guarantee their safety by getting everyone else angry, a sure-fire way of avoiding intimacy and everything it might reveal.
In my experience with family and friends who suffer from this kind of emotional rabies, they may have every kind of courage in the world except one: the courage to face their own feelings about themselves. Their most horrific fear is having to find out how they feel about themselves in all its ghastly detail, in spite of the fact that once done, it seems to be a case of much ado about nothing.
They hide behind a wall of judgmental criticism and fault-finding that keeps everyone out--because who in his right mind would want to go there? And yet they yearn for affection, admiration, and closeness while making sure it will never happen.
It is a nightmare to be this kind of vampire. Keep it in mind next time you come across one, but don't put up for a minute with his/her attacks. It constitutes psychological abuse, and tolerating it only prolongs the vampire's capacity for self-deception. And surely you deserve more than this.
They seem to find it imperative to point out faults, failures, or human errors in everything you do, write or say. These are the parents who wind up alienating their children, folks who drive away spouses who have sense enough to leave, who when angry, upset or depressed will take it out on others in order not to have to recognize what is happening to them.
It isn't that many of these pathetic people can't love; their self esteem is so low that having to acknowledge it would kill them, that having to feel the depth of their self-loathing would be a mortal blow.
Everything you do is judged by them. It's as if they are ever on the alert to find a fly in the ointment, or the minute grain of sand on a pristine floor. They often manage to hook up with people who need to go through life being judged, so as couples they form the ideal mesh of pathologies until someone manages to change--if it ever happens.
There is a certain kind of envy in psychology that goes beyond the "I wish I had what that guy has" type, the garden variety envy that all of us feel. These emotional vampires feel an envy so corrosive that if they cannot have or be what they envy, they want to destroy it in the other person. It is a hideous, soul-killing envy that injures everyone around them.
Others, however, prefer to provoke irritation or anger in the rest of us so we have no chance of exploring what they are all about; the black fear that someone might discover how worthless they really are makes them guarantee their safety by getting everyone else angry, a sure-fire way of avoiding intimacy and everything it might reveal.
In my experience with family and friends who suffer from this kind of emotional rabies, they may have every kind of courage in the world except one: the courage to face their own feelings about themselves. Their most horrific fear is having to find out how they feel about themselves in all its ghastly detail, in spite of the fact that once done, it seems to be a case of much ado about nothing.
They hide behind a wall of judgmental criticism and fault-finding that keeps everyone out--because who in his right mind would want to go there? And yet they yearn for affection, admiration, and closeness while making sure it will never happen.
It is a nightmare to be this kind of vampire. Keep it in mind next time you come across one, but don't put up for a minute with his/her attacks. It constitutes psychological abuse, and tolerating it only prolongs the vampire's capacity for self-deception. And surely you deserve more than this.
lunes, 22 de abril de 2013
No more running for chilaquiles, perhaps
Folks, if you haven't downloaded the HBO documentary "The Weight of the Nation", which is free, then you are missing out on a groundbreaking work. It is as important as the Time report on our medical system and its costs.
It may change your whole outlook about overweight and your own eating habits, and as terrible as the consequences to our country are, there are some bright spots that indeed shine.
But one thing is for sure: It is much cheaper to eat junk food than it is to eat a healthy diet. The U.S. governments give subsidies not to the producers of fruits and vegetables, but to those who grow corn and soybeans. In fact, fifty percent of the agricultural land in the U.S. is in those two crops. Corn is fed to cattle, who are not adapted to digest it, so they must then be given huge doses of human antibiotics to keep their livers from becoming diseased. More antibiotics are given to cattle than to human beings. Cattle have systems designed to eat grasses, not grains, and to roam free, not be penned up and fattened on crap.
The result, as can be seen in the New York Times health section after a search, or at the website of the Union of Concerned Scientists, is the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as e-coli and other infections which have spread into the human population.
The rest of the corn is used to produce high fructose corn syrup that goes into the sweet junk food we eat. Subsidised diabetes, in other words. Subsidised obesity. Subsidised vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Subsidised poor nutrition for the poorest sectors of our population.
Check out Square Foot Gardening, and grow your favorite veggies in your yard, on your roof, anywhere you have a little space and some sun. It may change your appreciation for fruits and veggies. Just a ten percent loss of weight can reverse a prediabetic condition, return liver functioning to more normal levels and reduce the fat deposited there.
Or go out and use the resource at hand: Your sidewalk.
It may change your whole outlook about overweight and your own eating habits, and as terrible as the consequences to our country are, there are some bright spots that indeed shine.
But one thing is for sure: It is much cheaper to eat junk food than it is to eat a healthy diet. The U.S. governments give subsidies not to the producers of fruits and vegetables, but to those who grow corn and soybeans. In fact, fifty percent of the agricultural land in the U.S. is in those two crops. Corn is fed to cattle, who are not adapted to digest it, so they must then be given huge doses of human antibiotics to keep their livers from becoming diseased. More antibiotics are given to cattle than to human beings. Cattle have systems designed to eat grasses, not grains, and to roam free, not be penned up and fattened on crap.
The result, as can be seen in the New York Times health section after a search, or at the website of the Union of Concerned Scientists, is the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as e-coli and other infections which have spread into the human population.
The rest of the corn is used to produce high fructose corn syrup that goes into the sweet junk food we eat. Subsidised diabetes, in other words. Subsidised obesity. Subsidised vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Subsidised poor nutrition for the poorest sectors of our population.
Check out Square Foot Gardening, and grow your favorite veggies in your yard, on your roof, anywhere you have a little space and some sun. It may change your appreciation for fruits and veggies. Just a ten percent loss of weight can reverse a prediabetic condition, return liver functioning to more normal levels and reduce the fat deposited there.
Or go out and use the resource at hand: Your sidewalk.
jueves, 18 de abril de 2013
Is it the phase of the moon?
What is it that brings the lunatics out in such force? After 9/11, there was a slew of anthrax-tainted letters sent out, and it had nothing to do with the terrorist attack, this was a home-grown nut case. Now, after the terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon, another drooling mouth-breather sent out ricin-tainted letters to a Senator and perhaps one or two other people, including the President. He really must have been smart, too, because he had already sent threatening letters to the Senator, so let's say the element of surprise was somewhat reduced.
People often think tragedies happen in threes, and if the explosion at a fertilizer factory in Texas--a terrible, ghastly event--is added to the other two attempts on human life, we have our trio of the moment. As of this writing, not much more is on the news about the cause of the factory explosion but considering the chemicals used, it sounds like a human or technical error. If not, if this was on purpose, someone needs to be strung up by his gonads (it's always men) and slowly flayed with a dull knife.
And if all this misery and pathetic human hate are influenced by the phases of the moon or the season, we'd better figure out some kind of medication for it and administer it, post haste, to right-wing extremists.
And just for good measure, to Sarah Palin...
People often think tragedies happen in threes, and if the explosion at a fertilizer factory in Texas--a terrible, ghastly event--is added to the other two attempts on human life, we have our trio of the moment. As of this writing, not much more is on the news about the cause of the factory explosion but considering the chemicals used, it sounds like a human or technical error. If not, if this was on purpose, someone needs to be strung up by his gonads (it's always men) and slowly flayed with a dull knife.
And if all this misery and pathetic human hate are influenced by the phases of the moon or the season, we'd better figure out some kind of medication for it and administer it, post haste, to right-wing extremists.
And just for good measure, to Sarah Palin...
Ditch the pessimism, gang
An important number of people have expressed a bitter disappointment because the Senate killed off any hope of background checks in order to purchase firearms. This pessimism is undue.
Many a war has been won even though a battle or two have been lost; losing battles is inevitable, but this is a war that is going to be won in the long run.
Why? Well, among other things, the senators (aka, whores) who have been bought by the arms industry (aka, the NRA) have been shown up in all their whoredom for the world to see and contemplate with dismay and disgust. You can find out which lady of the night voted which way by checking it out on Internet and then you can express your opinion that some of them aint worth two bits. And you know how low a two-bit lady of the night is!
But popular pressure aside, there is even more reason for hope. I mean, come on, when one of the principal spokespersons for the arms industry cause is someone of the intellectual stature of Sarah Palin, what have you got to lose? This lady, though not necessarily of the night, didn't know that North and South Korea were two countries until someone on McCain's team clued her in.
Oh, no, this war aint done by a long shot!
Many a war has been won even though a battle or two have been lost; losing battles is inevitable, but this is a war that is going to be won in the long run.
Why? Well, among other things, the senators (aka, whores) who have been bought by the arms industry (aka, the NRA) have been shown up in all their whoredom for the world to see and contemplate with dismay and disgust. You can find out which lady of the night voted which way by checking it out on Internet and then you can express your opinion that some of them aint worth two bits. And you know how low a two-bit lady of the night is!
But popular pressure aside, there is even more reason for hope. I mean, come on, when one of the principal spokespersons for the arms industry cause is someone of the intellectual stature of Sarah Palin, what have you got to lose? This lady, though not necessarily of the night, didn't know that North and South Korea were two countries until someone on McCain's team clued her in.
Oh, no, this war aint done by a long shot!
martes, 26 de marzo de 2013
Running for chilaquiles
Here in Mexico, around eleven in the morning, when you are dying for brunch and your stomach is roaring, chilaquiles are very often the dish of choice.
Chilaquiles are a complicated blend of red or green sauce (each in itself a complex mix of ingredients which are then cooked separately), tortillas in chips, cheese, onions, and cream. My daughter-in-law makes such delicious chilaquiles that, once having tried hers, you can forget about having them anywhere else.
When the sauce and the tortillas are put together, it has to be done right before eating. People hang around the stove, plate in hand, and wait for each serving to be ready. Otherwise, mixing the chips and the sauces too soon would make the chips soggy, a big no-no for chilaquiles. If you have the impression that Mexican cooking is labor-intensive, you are right.
On Sunday we celebrated my husband's and son's birthdays at our house, and my daughter-in-law whipped up a big batch of chilaquiles, both with red and green sauce, for the entire crowd. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she left me both sauces, the tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and chopped onion. For the past two days I have had chilaquiles for breakfast, and I intend to do so until the ingredients run out.
Chilaquiles are incredibly nutritious, but they are also loaded with calories. So I use them as a reward for getting myself out to run. The exercise alone is too minor to make a dent in the calories consumed, so yesterday I had spinach and lettuce for lunch--that was it. Same today. Sounds horrific, but the spinach is from my square foot garden and I sautèe it in olive oil and add a little garlic. The lettuce is also from the garden, and both products are almost too good to describe. It makes a world of difference to step outside, harvest your veggies, and five minutes later eat them.
Now that the orthopedist has told me it isn't my ancient joints giving out that is causing me pain, my new running program is going to be "The Great Chilaquiles Run". So far it has worked; today was drizzling and cold, but I was there, my Judi Dench haircut standing on end as if were a punk rocker. Maybe later, after I've gotten tired of chilaquiles or have used up all the sauce, we can start the "Great Tres Leches Cake Run", or the "Great French Chocolate Tart Run". I can see my lunches are going to be reduced to coffee and a breath of fresh air.
Chilaquiles are a complicated blend of red or green sauce (each in itself a complex mix of ingredients which are then cooked separately), tortillas in chips, cheese, onions, and cream. My daughter-in-law makes such delicious chilaquiles that, once having tried hers, you can forget about having them anywhere else.
When the sauce and the tortillas are put together, it has to be done right before eating. People hang around the stove, plate in hand, and wait for each serving to be ready. Otherwise, mixing the chips and the sauces too soon would make the chips soggy, a big no-no for chilaquiles. If you have the impression that Mexican cooking is labor-intensive, you are right.
On Sunday we celebrated my husband's and son's birthdays at our house, and my daughter-in-law whipped up a big batch of chilaquiles, both with red and green sauce, for the entire crowd. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she left me both sauces, the tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and chopped onion. For the past two days I have had chilaquiles for breakfast, and I intend to do so until the ingredients run out.
Chilaquiles are incredibly nutritious, but they are also loaded with calories. So I use them as a reward for getting myself out to run. The exercise alone is too minor to make a dent in the calories consumed, so yesterday I had spinach and lettuce for lunch--that was it. Same today. Sounds horrific, but the spinach is from my square foot garden and I sautèe it in olive oil and add a little garlic. The lettuce is also from the garden, and both products are almost too good to describe. It makes a world of difference to step outside, harvest your veggies, and five minutes later eat them.
Now that the orthopedist has told me it isn't my ancient joints giving out that is causing me pain, my new running program is going to be "The Great Chilaquiles Run". So far it has worked; today was drizzling and cold, but I was there, my Judi Dench haircut standing on end as if were a punk rocker. Maybe later, after I've gotten tired of chilaquiles or have used up all the sauce, we can start the "Great Tres Leches Cake Run", or the "Great French Chocolate Tart Run". I can see my lunches are going to be reduced to coffee and a breath of fresh air.
miércoles, 20 de marzo de 2013
Water retriever??
My cousin David wrote me with a number of suggestions about how to get my dogs, both supposedly water retrievers, into the swimming pool. I had already tried them, including jumping clumsily into the water myself. Neither dog seemed very impressed by that. They both had canine expressions that could easily be interpreted as "My God, is she going to drown?? What a wacko!"
And yet, my eleven-year-old standard poodle got into the water three times day before yesterday. I had to point him back to the stairs each time, but he seemed really excited at having done it.
My Spinone, however, he of the webbed toes, would only go in up to his belly even with four little girls in the pool trying to coax him in. And this dog LOVES little kids to distraction. I am going to the store later to find some kind of totally irresistible goodie that will both lure him into the water and serve as a reward as he makes progress. Just don't know what kind of goodie yet...
Here is White Lightnin' in person. Don't be fooled by that hound-like appearance and laid-back demeanor. You know all those movies that portray bloodhouds lounging determindly around the front porch while local yokels play the banjo? That is a lie. Bloodhounds need tons of exercise so you'd better be a runner or an escaped criminal, 'cause those dogs need to GO.
Well, same for the Spinone. They may not be fast, but once they get started, there are no brakes. And they weigh a lot, so step aside if one is rushing up to you for a slurp. Otherwise you may suffer permanent knee damage.
And yet, my eleven-year-old standard poodle got into the water three times day before yesterday. I had to point him back to the stairs each time, but he seemed really excited at having done it.
My Spinone, however, he of the webbed toes, would only go in up to his belly even with four little girls in the pool trying to coax him in. And this dog LOVES little kids to distraction. I am going to the store later to find some kind of totally irresistible goodie that will both lure him into the water and serve as a reward as he makes progress. Just don't know what kind of goodie yet...
Here is White Lightnin' in person. Don't be fooled by that hound-like appearance and laid-back demeanor. You know all those movies that portray bloodhouds lounging determindly around the front porch while local yokels play the banjo? That is a lie. Bloodhounds need tons of exercise so you'd better be a runner or an escaped criminal, 'cause those dogs need to GO.
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