I could never be a vulcanologist (Look it up. It’s the right word.) But, I am fascinated by volcanoes. I love to watch lava flow, from the safe distance of video.
What do you think?
No comments on Volcanoes!!!!
Category: a day in this life
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When my son was 3 or 4 years old, he couldn’t understand why I didn’t like the same foods he did. He would say “You liked it when YOU were my age!” frustrated that sharing wasn’t working. But, he was appalled by some of the things I put in my mouth, too.
One day, I found an article about taste buds. It said that in the variety and fluctuations that are our bodies, we get a whole new set about every 5 years. And that what tastes lovely to us now may get a completely different reading in 5 years. I told Christopher about that and we figured that I am 6 taste bud cycles ahead of him. That made sharing tastes, and not agreeing about them, more palatable, so to speak.
Several years later, I learned that a dear friend has a recessive genetic trait that causes cilantro to taste like soap to her. My husband adores cilantro. He adds extra to his salsa, tacos, salads. Clearly, he doesn’t have the recessive gene. I taste the soap if there is a lot of cilantro. I suspect that I am heterozygous.
Another instance of taste bud variations involves cardamom. Chuck keeps me supplied with granola. Since he makes it, it is exactly how I like it. He was making it for himself, too, when we weren’t living together. He likes cardamom and added it to his batch. I was visiting and tried it. I was completely overwhelmed by the cardamom. The next time he made it, he decreased it significantly so that I could taste it, but not be overwhelmed. The problem with that was, he couldn’t even tell it was there.
The upshot of all this taste variation awareness is that our response to “That’s too sweet” or “Ew. You have all of that.” is to laugh at how different bodies are.
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I recently learned the word “lalochezia.” It is “Emotional relief gained by using indecent or vulgar language.” That word was invented for me. I swear when I talk like some people put salt on their food. It is automatic, without thought or malice. I don’t type that way, much.
One day, I was at my parents house, in the kitchen, looking for the lid to a storage container. I was sitting on the floor, going through the huge pile of them, trying to find the one that fit and had a little litany of “shit, damn, hell, shit, shit damn, damn, damn, shit, hell, damn” going. Mostly under my breath. My dad walked in, heard me and started laughing.
I said, “What? You’re laughing because I can’t find a lid to the damn bowl?”
He said, “No, some things just don’t change. One day when you 3 or 4, I came in your room and you were looking for something in your toy box going ‘shoot, durn, shoot, durn, shoot, shoot, shoot, heck.’ You’re doing the same thing, now, in the grown up version.”
I had a co-worker complain to our manager about my language, one time. I explained that it wasn’t likely to change. I said “I don’t swear AT her. And if she hadn’t heard those words before now, she wouldn’t know what they meant to be offended by them. It’s just words.”
I have always agreed with George Carlin that “‘shoot’ is ‘shit’ with two Os” and I believe you may as well say what you mean instead of being coy.
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i want to have a conversation with people who want to know me.
Starting today.
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Chuck started stirring around getting ready for Spring. We have lots of seeds in little pots. He had already started some lettuce. Now, there are eggplants, several varieties of tomatoes, jalapenos, cucumbers, pie pumpkins, winter squash and basil are in yogurt cups and reused nursery pots.
I pulled up the sage because we haven’t used it AT ALL and I want the space in my herb bed. He offered to put his basil in that spot and I gave him a Look. That’s where my parsley will go in a month. I did put some sage pieces that had roots starting into pots to try to give to a couple of friends who would like some. I have dill seeds pending, too.
Flower seeds will wait a month be sown directly.
I am the Audience 