Uncluttering My Life

I have been reading the book - 7 Simple Steps to Unclutter Your Life - and I have concluded that the author seriously underestimates the clutter in my life!














I can't even unclutter my reading table in seven easy steps... (Let alone my life...) But I do keep on trying!

He Followed Me...

Congratulations! I heard you got married during the summer. I said to an attractive young Afghani woman when I saw her in the hall the first day of school. Do I know your husband? Does he go to school here?

No, she replied. He's been in Canada for a long time. He followed me for three years. Finally he asked my father if he could marry me... My father asked me if I wanted him... And I said, Yes.

He followed you? What does that mean? I asked. I had heard the expression before (from a young Iranian woman who told me that young men often "followed" girls home from school in her country.)

My student explained: It means he likes me. Girls in my country don't go out on dates, so if a guy likes a girl, he follows her.

Does he talk to her?

No, he just wants to see where she lives, so that he can ask her father if he can marry her.

Your husband followed you for three years?

Yes. Then he told me that he wanted to ask my father's permission to marry me... And I said, okay.

Hmmm. In Canada, if someone follows someone else, we consider that "stalking"... I commented. "Stalking" is against the law. If you follow someone, that person could call the police and complain.

The young woman stared at me in disbelief...

As she walked away, I'm sure she was thinking: What strange ideas Canadians have!

Early July Flowers

I love driving up our street, welcomed home by the orange tiger lilies at the end of the driveway. They don't last very long - and I am always sad to see them go...














Daisies waving in the breeze also make me happy. Some came from the garden of a former colleague, Soo, who developed a severe allergy to mold, plastics, and other staples of modern life. (She now spends most of her time outdoors.)














My tiny pink rose bush, near the daisies, is full of blooms this year.














I don't cut it back. In fact, I don't do anything to it... and it certainly is thriving!














Newly blooming in early July are these star-shaped yellow flowers.














And the yellow day lilies...














Also these yellow flowers we used to call "Brown Eyed Susans," growing here amid the hostas.














I'm glad some plants last a while - the Knautia are still blooming - more profusely than ever!














Also these purple-blue geraniums...














I dead-headed the lamium flowers, and they're blooming again!














The carnations (is that what they are?!) in the back garden bed are almost covered with overgrowth... I really have to cut those green and white leaves back. They are very invasive - they just take over!














The clematis beside the back deck are also flowering profusely!














I moved this green hosta from the front flower bed to a shady location under a pine tree, and it seems to be doing better. In fact, it's now in bloom!














And the flowers that I keep indoors over the winter - like this geranium - are also beginning to bloom!














From mid-June through July, my garden is at its best. So now I'm on the lookout for flowers that bloom in early spring - and late summer - to balance things out.

Called to Pray

I have prayed for almost as long as I can remember! I remember (as a child) praying for perfect vision. (I just hated wearing glasses!)

That prayer wasn't answered the way I had hoped (instantly - miraculously - the way blind men were healed when Jesus touched them.)

He told them that according to their faith, it would be done to them... And they could immediately see... I opened my eyes after praying, and my vision was still blurry!

Don't I have enough faith?! I wondered. (It's a question I pondered for years!)

Then, when I was 18, I got contact lenses. (At last, I was free from my rain-speckled, winter-fogged glasses!) And last winter (many years later) my lifelong dream for perfect vision... was fulfilled... when I had laser eye surgery! (So now I only need glasses... to read!) Was this an answer to that childhood prayer...? (I wonder.)

But I no longer wonder about having enough faith... I have faith... After all, I pray... But sometimes God has a better plan...

Over the years, I have prayed for many things, for myself and for others. Some prayers were answered almost immediately (miraculously, filling me with awe). But more often I have waited a long, long time (or so it seemed)... for a husband, for children, for peace with this person or that, for a writing life... Did the waiting help me? Did I develop patience? Or did I really appreciate it when the prayer was finally answered? (I think that is closer to the truth!)

And so the dialogue continues - as I talk to God in sometimes silent, sometimes written, sometimes audible prayer. And I feel God's nearness - which is why I know He hears. (Fortunately it doesn't depend on my inadequate faith.) And sometimes - occasionally - God replies in words.

Sometimes - when overwhelmed with a problem - I have asked others to pray for me... (These days, I usually send a quick email to Breakthrough - a prayer organization I trust.) I rely on the prayers of Breakthrough Intercessors - and praying friends - to get me through a particularly hard time...

Prayer is a thread that has run through the whole fabric of my life... Every crisis - every need (for work, for a place to live, for wisdom, for strength..), every time I recognize my own inadequacy, I simply pray... and wait.

Flowers? Or Weeds?

I'm often puzzled by flowers that some call "weeds."














My mother (who studied agriculture in science classes - in rural Alberta - back in the 1930s) used to quote a definition she memorized back then: A weed is a plant growing in the wrong place.

I like the idea of not classifying plants as "good" and "bad" - the word WEED implying an evil invader. I mean, if I ate dandelion greens in salads, I'd probably view the host of dandelions I find in my lawn as a blessing! To me (who have never studied agriculture or horticulture), weeds are uncontrollable, unwanted plants - amazingly high on the survival list!














Which is why, whenever summer comes, I puzzle over some plants that appear in my flower beds. Are they weeds? Are they flowers? Perhaps wild flowers?














I am currently puzzling over this yellow flower that has recently bloomed...














I thought it was a weed, as I saw bunches of it in nearby fields...














But then I noticed a neighbor had it (or something that resembles it) planted under his tree. And it looked nice!














Here's a closeup... (His grass looks a whole lot nicer than mine!)














Another wild flower (weed?) I like is this blue flower in bloom in a field near my house...














I don't have any in my yard, but I really wouldn't mind if I did... They're so pretty...

Unless they take over the flower bed... like some of the flowers I have planted, I don't view them as weeds!

Baking on a HOT Day

A friend recently started a cooking blog...

(I look forward to trying her grandmother's secret meatball recipe... when the weather cools off a bit...We are currently experiencing a HEAT WAVE.)

Occasionally I also post recipes on this blog - but it can be harder than it looks!

Let me give an example... Yesterday I had an idea... Why not share an easy recipe - ideal for HOT SUMMER WEATHER, those days I don't want to heat up the house?! I had come across a microwave recipe my daughter used to make.














These EASY squares use only three ingredients (four if you add vanilla, which I often don't) and they are baked in the microwave!














I assembled the ingredients... which can be mixed and baked in the same glass or pyrex pan!

I followed the instructions almost to a T... (I didn't bother melting the margarine - it was soft already - and I omitted the vanilla...)

But I apparently chose the WRONG PAN!

They burned!!














Why?

The reason.....?














(I chose a microwave browning pan that heats up like a frying pan... It got too hot in the center! The whole thing smelled like burning popcorn!)

In all fairness, those that survived the scorching tasted really good!

Here's the recipe - if you want to try.














Microwave Oatmeal Squares from The Lighthearted Cookbook by Anne Lindsay, p. 193. (Makes 25 squares - approximately 70 calories or 1 Weight Watcher point each.)

• 1/2 cup margarine (melt on high in microwave for 40 seconds to soften if necessary)
• Add 1/2 cup brown sugar
• Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (optional)
  
• Add 2 cups rolled oats

• 
  

How to make squares:

• Mix well. Press firmly down with the back of a spoon to flatten.
• Cook on high for 4-5 minutes.
• Cool before cutting into 25 squares.
  

(Note: when the recipe suggests that crumbs can be used as ice cream or yogurt topping, you can be pretty sure it will be crumbly!)

Eating is a Learned Behavior

One of the interesting things I discovered recently is that eating is not instinctive - it is a learned behavior.

I was visiting the home of a friend, an occupational therapist who works with autistic children, when someone pointed out a book on her table. It was entitled Just Take a Bite: Easy Effective Answers to Food Aversions and Eating Challenges!

That's from a course I recently took, my friend explained, and she proceeded to tell us about children who refuse to eat, after experiencing some traumatic event, like choking while eating. Sometimes a medical problem had made eating unpleasant - some children, for example, repeatedly experience a burning sensation in their throats when they eat. Associating eating with unpleasantness, such children become fearful of eating - or eat only a limited selection of foods. If eating has not been a pleasant experience for them, they have to be taught (by pleasant food experiences) that eating is nothing to fear... (The old adage - When they're hungry they'll eat - does not work with children who associated eating with pain.)

Her explanation made me reflect on several of my own eating behaviors - such as my "need" to "reward" myself with rich, chocolaty food whenever I feel sad or tired. Do I associate chocolate treats with a positive adrenalin rush? Or does the taste simply make me feel better? I don't know, but I notice that - whenever I take my mother to a stressful medical appointment - I always crave a chocolate reward. (I mentioned this in a previous blog...)

But I also wondered about another eating experience I had last fall... I was visiting an aunt and uncle, both retired, staying at their home for about five days. My aunt, a wonderful cook, prepared most of the food. As usual I monitored my early morning blood sugar levels daily... What amazed me was that my early morning blood sugar readings were significantly better when I was staying at their home!

I returned home excited! Perhaps I had found the diet that works for me! I began to replicate what I had eaten at my aunt's house - rye bread with home-made jam for breakfast, coffee, orange juice. (As a type 2 diabetic, I don't often eat bread and jam - or drink juice - as they are high in carbs.) I prepared some of the same meals as I had eaten at my aunt's. But - here at my home - my blood sugar readings rose to unhealthy levels again!

Why? I pondered... Was there anything I had not accounted for...?

At my aunt's home, we would eat together, sitting around the table, chatting, during each meal. Perhaps it was not so much what I ate - but how I ate (i.e., in a relaxed, unhurried way, talking with my relatives) that made the difference.

Years of quickly preparing meals for my family, then repeatedly getting up during a meal to bring this and that to the table have made me into a person who eats quickly. I rarely relax and chat at mealtime. And, since Terry and I find ourselves hungry at different times, we don't eat all our m meals together.

Perhaps I have to relearn eating too: eating more slowly - making mealtime a pleasant, social experience - a relaxing time... in order to be healthy again.