August 12, 2010

Friends - an Over Used Term

Peace.  I feel it at this very moment.  Sitting in the dining room, in the red chair, a cool breeze blowing on my unwashed face, favourite coffee mug to my right and with a turn of my head can see my beautiful, violet morning glories trailing the side of the window.  Is this an Ah moment? 

Here's what happened.  Yesterday, the big day, August 11th my Echo asked me what time it was a thousand times anxiously waiting for four o'clock, when his buds would arrive.  When they did his face lit up with his amazing smile and it didn't leave his face all night. 

Echo doesn't enjoy parties with lots of people, so his two best buds were his only guests.  Is that unusual?  Echo says he's been at too many parties where he feels left out and he doesn't want anyone to feel that way, so this way you can spend time with one another and no one feels bad.  You don't just invite a bunch of people that you're really not even friends with just to get more gifts he says. 

My Echo is a wise lad. 

I had mixed feelings about this.  Does my child have no friends?  Oh no.  Kids today do not have the opportunities to build friendships because of society today.  In my day, we went to the playground, fishing hole, swimming nook, back field unsupervised and knew to come home when the street lights came on.  Now, and I as a parent included would not allow this independence and for justifiable reasons.  Today it is register for this activity and that program etc. to encourage our children to socialize, but they don't really make friends in these types of scheduled meets.  A friendship extends outside that realm.

The scenario really is no different for adults, once you're married and have children relationships with 'friends' change.  Office or school 'friends' if they don't extend after 5pm or 3pm...are they really friends?  I'm very proud that my Echo already has an appreciation for those individuals that he should really value. 

Like all those people that show up at funerals and they haven't spoken or seen the deceased for 25 years...why are they there?  And that's for another day...

August 8, 2010

Birthday Cake Baking Day

What's Going on Right Now...
Today I will bake my Echo's 10th birthday cake.  I'm taking on a not-out-of-the-box cake from scratch!  I'm good at decorating and creating a cake he'll love, but more often than not we admire the cake, take some pics, leave it in the fridge for a few days after and then throw it out. 

Not this year because my Echo has requested a cake he can actually eat.  I will make a Red Velvet cake.  The theme is a surprise every year for him.  So baking while he is home is a challenge.  Here I go.  Stay tuned.

Hours later...
I'm a very messy baker.  Every dish seems dirty, strewn about and the floor in the kitchen looking like it has snowed indoors from the flour.  I got 'er done though.  Without opening the oven too many times.  That's very bad when baking.  The stove was dirty with a frozen french fry burning in the bottom, so I had to remove that with a lifter ever so carefully with the oven already hot and no time to turn the self cleaning on. 

I've posted the recipe not that I can speak to taste yet for a few more days.  I will assemble on Tuesday by making the chocolate chess pieces in light and dark from molds.  Move on to experiment with fondant for the first time and colouring it black for the 32 squares I will need; a total of 64 with the 32 in white for the board itself.  The big day is Wednesday, the 11th.  A decade passes so quickly.  I still remember the fine details of when my Echo was born at home.  I'm talking with you lying on the sheets he was born on. Hey they're pretty good sheets considering their age!
And that's for another day...

August 7, 2010

Silence - What is the Point?

Writing, I have been considering this blogging idea for some time, but like millions of others the ins and outs I am oblivious to.  I figure I`ll start from today, and perhaps travel to the past when inspired. 

My only intention is to grow from my own words and those of each of you.  So please feel free to jump in and pass on whatever you have to say.  Basically, that`s my thing, and I encourage everyone I know to ``just say it!``  Of course with diplomacy and tact - it is never my intention to hurt, embarasse or offend anyone.  Too many people seem to have valuable thoughts to share and so many of us simply choose to say nothing.  Why is that? I am intelligent and can recognize those situations where saying nothing at all is better for you and the receiver.  More often though that isn't the case.  People and I'm speaking of grown men and women that don't seem to have the courage to speak their minds and share their opinions and/or contributions in either work or home environments.

This silence isn't a pet peeve of mine, but a concern.  Is it childhood shyness that followed like our own shadow?  Is it fear of one's reaction to our words or consequences? 

By no means am I out to shock and awe with verbal comments or to hear my own voice.  We all know one of those in our own backyards!  We all have pieces of this puzzle of life to communicate and I hope that my blog is the open door policy for everyone to free yourself of your own silence because I'm listening to you!  Share examples of when this has troubled you.

The Keyhole to My Mind's Closet

The Keyhole to My Mind's Closet
Blogging = cleaning = healing.

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