Memories of the Good Old Days

 

You remember the “good old days” don’t you?  Those were the days we always think back upon when we feel like today isn’t so good.  There is probably a 50/50 chance that those days were as good as it gets and since then it has all been downhill.  I remember old times and activities that are different from my current experiences.  There were the holidays when all of our extended family members got together for great dinners, music and games!  I remember when my dad or mom would sit down at the piano and play the songs everyone knew (the music of the 1930’s and early ‘40’s).  Often dad would play one of his several guitars.  One I was particularly fond of was the steel guitar. There were a lot of the big band songs, patriotic songs from the First World War and, of course, popular ballads of the time.  Sometimes we would play the old 78 RPM records—the Mills Brothers, Glenn Miller, and a lot of artists you probably never heard of.  Yes, THOSE were the good times!

Oh, come on!  Get over it!  The other 50 % of the time things were rotten!  People didn’t treat each other well, siblings weren’t always nice to each other.  And sometimes we just didn’t feel like singing, well, maybe the blues!  Depending on the era during which you made your entry to this world of wonders, you were stressed by the Great Depression (most likely it was your parents who were stressed and you “inherited” it).  Or maybe it was the hostility of a world war.  You could have come along later when nothing seem to matter—the 50’s “Beatnik” generation.  Whenever it was that you showed up, it was what it was.  Whether you ever got over it or not was up to you.  And it still is!

Sometime, sooner or later, we need to “flush” the negativity that has become our memory of those “good old days.”  Maybe the memory of the activities the family engaged in really does feel like the better times, the “home” place in your heart where what you did then represented the most important times of your life.  My image of family gatherings in early 1940’s are among the strongest I have.  Of course, I get sentimental about the home we lived in, the neighborhood and neighbors (all of whom knew each other back then).  But I also remember the neighborhood bully who ripped my Christmas Teddy Bear out of my hands and threw it in a mud puddle.  It was never quite the same after that, but I kept it for years. 

We have to be somewhat careful about how we remember the past.  There is certainly nothing wrong with having the memories, but if we tend toward thinking of them as the good that will never be in our life again, we are doomed to regress and withdraw from our current reality.  When a place where we used to live is more important to us than where we are living, we may not be really living at all in terms of benefiting from our present experience.

Christmas for 2011 is now over.  The presents have been opened and enjoyed.  For many the family has gathered, broken bread and shared in the love of being together.  For those living far apart, as most families seem to today, modern technology has made it possible to share directly through phone or Internet.  It is almost like being there, but not quite.  Whatever our experience, we have set in motion thoughts and feelings that will forever be a part of our memories.  How we choose to characterize our experience will tend to be how it influences us down the road.  It is not really what the event was like that is important.  It is how we remember it from now on.

As we look forward to the New Year and new adventures, new growth, and even new challenges, we will be making a choice as to how we face life, and thus how the events influence our future memories.    It is possible to adopt the attitude that the best is yet to be.  We can cherish the wonder of today and defuse whatever negative charge still exists in our memories by realizing that all that has gone before has made us who and what we are today.  And it is likely that we are better, richer and more blessed than we think. The New Year will be what it is.  How we choose to experience it is up to us.  It is our choice.

May you choose the best that can be!  May you make this the best year ever!

Sunday Morning

The look out the window this morning presented me with my excuse for not walking today.  Yes, today it is raining.  And yes, sometimes it doesn’t take much to discourage me from doing something I know is good for me.  But enough of that.  This morning I am going to share breakfast with you.  We’ll take the walk another day.

When I was just a pre-teen kid I learned to make biscuits and pancakes from scratch.  No pre-mixed stuff.  Get the flour, the baking powder, the shortening, etc. and mix it up.  Seems to me my chin was not much above the drain board at the time.  I credit my dad with my early lessons in cooking, since he was often the first one up.  His early rising most likely came from his days as a postal carrier when you had to get there early to sort the mail and get out on the route.  In those days the carriers made twice-daily deliveries.  (Can you imagine that?  Now they are talking about getting rid of Saturday deliveries and closing post offices.)

In the years since my early biscuit and pancake making days, Bisquick and other premixes for biscuits and pancakes came out in the stores.  Well, I was not about to give in to the lazy man’s way to cook!  Shortly after getting married, I started mixing up my own batches of biscuit mix and storing it for use through the weeks.  I think, obviously, that my mixes were every bit as good as the premixes.  Many years later I finally gave up and started using them.

Now that you have my personal cooking background, it’s time for breakfast.  Here is what was on the table this morning:  Special pancakes (recipe follows), two eggs and lots of coffee.  While I admit to starting my pancakes with a premix like Bisquick, it is all original after that.  Here goes . . .

           1 egg

           Chopped walnuts

           Cran-raisins

           All bran

           Raw oatmeal

           Milk (powdered or fresh)

           Vanilla

           Sugar

           Bisquick

Beat the egg, add all bran, oatmeal, cran-raisins, walnuts, sugar, milk, and vanilla and mix well.  Then add the biscuit mix and gently mix.  If you have to ask what portions of the ingredients to use, just forget it and go back to reading the morning paper.  I’ll finish getting breakfast!  I am an intuitive cook.  The upside is always a surprise.  The down side is that it is often difficult to get it as good the next time.  (I could tell you many stories about experiments.)  But, hey, that’s what is fun about cooking.

Oh, by the way, if you eat as many pancakes as I do, you are making a mistake!  But they are so good and the pain doesn’t last forever!  Pancake mix just isn’t good as a left over no matter what anybody says, and I don’t like waste (so I add waist instead!).

Bon appetite!

Saturday Morning

Oh, I just did not want to do it!

But as I sat at my computer getting ready to catch up on the overnight news feeds and any mail that might have come in (rare for me on Friday night/Saturday morning), I glanced out of my window and saw that the morning clouds were beginning to break.  Spots of blue sky and sun began showing up.  Instead of the rain I hoped would give me an excuse for staying in my comfy chair listening to music and reading the news, I had to get going.

So I put on my shoes, layered my shirt and hoodie and headed out into the 56-degree morning for my regular walk in Greenway Park.  For the first ten minutes or so my body protested.  Tendons tightened, muscles didn’t want to flex and my feet hurt!  What the heck am I doing out here?  Then, as magically as turning a corner, my body relaxed into the pace and a whole new world of sensation opened up for me.

The trails in Greenway Park that wander in part along Fanno Creek were rich this morning in brilliant greens.  The sun highlighted the dew on the grass.  The squirrels scurried around gathering their winter stores.  The big crows, ever present, were picking whatever they could from the grounds.  Then came the freshness of the morning air into my nostrils.  There is nothing like an Oregon morning after the rain.

We had an unusually dry summer so I have walked these trails every morning.  There are certain folks I see every morning and though we don’t break our walks to stop and speak, it feels like we have developed a camaraderie as we greet each other.

By the time I have reached my two to three miles, depending on the course I follow, I am ready to head home.  Coat comes off, hat in hand so the perspiration can evaporate helping to cool me down.  I have to admit it gets harder all the time to climb the stairs to my second floor apartment after the walk, but oh my, does it ever feel good once I have!

I plan to take my camera for my next walks.  The trees will be turning soon and a whole new beauty will grace my path.  Hope to share them with you later.

In Memorium--Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs Commencement Address at Stanford (A Must Read)

I originally posted this on June 17, 2009.

With appreciation to the folks at “The View From Outside My Tiny Window” blog, who brought this item to the attention of their readers, I am also recommending this address. Not only is it an insightful look into the life of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Corporation, but it is also a compelling story marking a path for success in business and in life. If you are a graduate or know one, I urge the reading of this address. Click the URL below or cut and paste it into the address line of your browser.

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

Bike Paths and Walkways

This post is a little different from my usual subject matter, but given the popularity of cycling today I think it is an important consideration.

I am a retired senior who takes daily morning walks of two to three miles along the Greenway Park bike/pedestrian trails in Beaverton.  It is a lovely area that serves the neighborhood well and is a safe way for bicycle riders to commute to their workplaces.  Unfortunately, the majority of those riders have not learned to use rider etiquette of announcing when they are passing a walker from behind.  Courtesy suggests ringing a bell or announcing, “Passing on your left.”  This allows the walker to safely stay to one side.  My gait is not always as straight as it used to be and from time to time I stumble to the right or left.  This has caused me to narrowly escape injury more than once from a speeding cyclist passing at the same time as I waver.

One morning this week as I walked along I met another walker coming toward me.  Just as we reached the same spot a cyclist whizzed in between us without notice.  The other walker could see him coming, but I could not and also could not hear him coming.  The path is barely five feet wide so perhaps you can guess how close the encounter was.

Before returning to Oregon and my current home after retirement I lived in the Seattle/Bellevue metro area and often rode my bicycle or walked along the Sammamish River Trail.  It goes for a number of miles between Lake Sammamish and Lake Washington.  Seldom when I walked was I passed by a rider who did not announce he/she was passing from behind.  Both the metro eastside area of Bellevue and Redmond and the Portland metro area are considered bike riding capitals.  They offer great places to ride (and walk) because of the well planned and paved pathways.  Being used to this courtesy (and safety) announcement and using it myself when I ride, I have been disappointed by the lack of this behavior, at least in Greenway Park.

So for any of you readers anywhere who may also be cyclists, I hope you will consider the safe riding behavior of announcing yourself to walkers on your path.  Pass the thought on to other riders you know.  Thanks!