Autumn, verbal kudzu and a life hack...

 September 27, 2023

It feels as if September has been the fastest-passing month of the year, so far. The sky, as we like to say here in the Ashbury household, has already “turned”. There’s a different hue to the blue up yonder in autumn than there is in summer, and we noticed that change about two weeks ago.

Of course, we’ve had a couple of chilly days—but more, a couple of nights that were a bit close to frost territory. Generally, when that happens, it’s nature’s signal that winter is headed toward us. The leaves on the trees begin their process of changing color, and garden plants begin their slide toward withering.

Our gardens are nearing the end of their season, and there are no more blossoms being produced on the tomato plants. Now it’s simply a matter of waiting for the last few tomatoes to ripen to the point that they can be picked. If we get a frost warning, we’ll likely pick the few remaining green ones and surround them with newspaper. I don’t know why that works and helps them to turn red rather than rot; I just know that it does.

We’ve had an excellent tomato season this year. We had tomatoes out the ying and the yang. We ate tomatoes, we gifted tomatoes, and now, we are darn near sick of tomatoes. We figure that in about three months, we’ll begin anticipating the next growing season and can only hope that the tomatoes are as beautiful and plentiful then as they were this year.

And next year we will plant green beans in their own darn garden—well, they could give a bit of space to the Swiss chard, but they will not be planted in the same table-garden as the tomatoes.

There are times when I feel as if Mother Nature pulled a fast one on us this year. There we were, in January and February, hoping for the warm weather and summer-time good times, and didn’t that woman just prove herself a bitch? She made summer nearly insufferable for so many people. While it was good for the gardens, it sure didn’t allow for much fun and frolic for the humans. Very funny, M. N. You would think she’d understand by now that we humans are never truly happy no matter what the weather is, and to not take all our griping and grumbling so personally.

It does become a challenge, with all the animosity online and on the television, with the deep divisions between “tribes”, to keep a good attitude in this modern world of ours. It gets frustrating listening to all the damn stupid that seems to be multiplying and taking over everything like some kind of verbal kudzu.

Yes, I am a Canadian, but I know all about kudzu.

Do y’all recall one of my favorite little sayings? The one in particular that I am thinking about today is this: “life is 5 % what happens to me and 95% how I deal with it”.

I’ve begun to apply that rule to the area of the news/talking heads/political gobbledygook onslaught we’re all suffering through lately.

The other thing I think that I need to do is to remember to just have faith.

I need to have faith that, while the stupid has never seemed so virulent as it is today, it’s still the minority state of being. I truly do believe that there are more good people than people of ill will; that “stupid” might be the loudest, but it’s not the most; that most people may not broadcast their views, but they believe in the positive values of working for a living, obeying the laws, telling the truth, having compassion, and helping others when possible.

That’s not a Pollyana-like attitude on my part, that’s just the truth. And while the talking heads are setting their hair on fire after wetting their beds because “no one is standing up to stop the stupid!”, I believe that the people of good will and basic human decency, aka the majority of us, will stand up when it’s the proper time to do so. And they will do so without theatrics and fanfare.

In the meantime, we have to be our own best friends by ensuring that we don’t let the crazies in this world get us down. So, take a look at how you spend your days. Cut down on your exposure to the crazies and take a moment to simply be grateful for all you have that is good. Give thanks for your family, your friends, and every good thing in your life.

I guarantee you that doing so is the very best way to keep your sanity in these crazy times.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

Soup, a movie...and a kitten...

 September 20, 2023

We’ve had an interesting week, that’s for certain. It was a good week, with just the right mixture of accomplishments and socialization and rest to make it all well balanced.

First, I have an announcement to make: it is the judgment of all the members of the Ashbury household that soup season is upon us.

Ah, soup season! And wasn’t it just lucky that when we got our groceries on Friday that the store had both cauliflower and broccoli on sale? I made a large pot of soup with my purchases—and yes, there is some cheese involved.

My husband was making happy tummy sounds late Sunday night when he had his first bowl of it. And it was but a fond memory by yesterday afternoon.

One weekend a month, we have two of our great-grandchildren with us from Saturday morning until Sunday after supper. They are the two who are my daughter’s grandkids. It was a good visit, with minimal hassles. Daughter took the children to the large sports complex in the next city for a couple hours swim on Saturday, and to the large park here in town on Sunday. In between times, we had a family movie night on Saturday.

Our daughter had decided to rent the Barbie movie (making her granddaughter very happy), and since my husband had apparently told her he wanted to see it, that’s what we did, all five of us. This was a movie night that harkened back to the day, when we’d go, as a young family, to our local Block Buster and rent a couple of films, make popcorn, and enjoy. The children and my beloved really enjoyed the movie. My daughter and I not quite so much. I think it’s one of those movies that doesn’t appeal to everyone.

There were, however, some very good parts and a very good message. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from seeing it.

In other news, about a year after our daughter moved in with us—with her 4 chihuahuas—she mentioned that at some point she wouldn’t mind acquiring a kitten. Before she had the dogs, she’d had a cat named Crash, whom she loved for many years. And she had a cat after acquiring the pups as well. This is her home, and we—my husband and I—both want her to feel she has as much autonomy here as we do.

When she asked me what I thought about getting a kitten—she reminded me that her dogs were used to cats—I gave her as honest an answer as I could. I told her that if God wanted her to have a kitten, He would put just the right one in her path.

That moment happened this week. Monday is her day off and she was going, finally, to take her son to brunch. She had been supposed to have done that the past two Mondays, but on the first one, something came up and then last week she said it totally slipped her mind!

A digression here. David and I both have slight memory issues as we are 71 and 69 respectively. Do you think it’s contagious?

Anyway, while at the park with her grandchildren on Sunday, she had been scrolling on her cell phone and came across a picture of two litters of kittens (at the same house); the kittens were 6 and 7 weeks old, and ready to be adopted. And the farm that had them was just one road over from where her son lives.

Our daughter is a grown adult and fully accepting of her responsibilities in life. She knew that there might be a problem with our two dogs and a kitten, but David and I both felt confident she would be able to handle it. Bottom line? She told us she had a plan B. If the new kitten didn’t work out, she knows a few people who would be happy to take the little critter.

She picked one out from the picture that she thought would suit her (yes, it’s a boy, and so cute!) and took her son with her after their brunch to get it. Sadly that so-cute one that she thought she wanted wasn’t for her. But another one, a soft furry grey one, apparently was.

This kitten, named Smokey by her great-niece (our second daughter’s granddaughter), is now in residence. While daughter goes to work, the little guy (she really wanted a male) is up in her apartment, alone, with food and water and the run of the place. When she is home, then the little guy has lots of company, and happy that is so.

One of my daughter’s dogs, the youngest, thinks she is the kitten’s mommy. The kitten thinks so too.

As for the reaction of our two dogs?

Missy, our female, could care less. No animosity, just a bit of curiosity, and content to allow it to exist. I think she senses it’s just a baby, and now a member of the family.

Our little Bear-Bear, however, was excited and happy and curious and ran up and down those steps yesterday like nobody’s business! His reaction was not at all what we were expecting.

Jennifer said that he appears to be in love. Only time will tell how this will all work out, but we can definitely say, in the case of Smokey-kitty, so far, so good.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

When your day doesn't start off right...

 September 13, 2023

I have a confession that will come as no surprise whatsoever to anyone who is a loyal reader of my essays. I am a creature…of habit.

I have often said, in one way or another, “you know what happens if the day doesn’t start off right. It’s all downhill from there.” On Monday and well into Tuesday of this very week, that proved to be the case once more.

Friends, it’s never a good sign when you are awakened because of a text ping and discover a message from your Internet service provider that begins, “We have detected a service interruption in your area.”

Our internet service provider also is our television provider. You may recall that there was that dark, awful day about a year ago when my daughter left a message on my keyboard informing me that our provider was down, all across Canada. I think within that message was the phrase, “welcome back to the dark ages.” That was the day when I decided that we needed a radio so we could keep up on things if that every happened again. But I digress.

I didn’t let myself worry overmuch; we’d gotten through that day, and we’d get through this day, too. At that moment I wasn’t awake enough to remind myself of my personal caveat about the day not starting out right.

At first, things didn’t look too bad. I was actually able to do Wordle (the third thing I do after my devotional time and my look at my twitter notifications). But when I went to check my email, I discovered that “that site is not available”.

Neither were either of the two game sites that come next in my schedule: one that is a free acrostic game site, and one that is an all-round game site (NOT a betting site, just a playing one). After my acrostic and two other games—one a Mah Jong and one a match-three—my next step in my morning routine is getting to work.

Working is writing but it is also research. As it happens, I find that I need to stop several times in the course of writing a story to look things up. Monday morning, that was what I was supposed to be doing, and had to do before I could proceed with my work in progress.

But I couldn’t look anything up because the response to practically everything was “site not available”, or “you’ve timed out”. My usual solution to computer problems is that I go to the Geek Squad and let them deal with whatever my challenge is. But that is impossible to do if you can’t get on their site.

I sat back and practiced some relaxation techniques. Likely, this was just temporary. I had been awakened just an hour before by that message; probably, in the afternoon, all would be back to normal. So, I took up my iPad and opened to a book I was reading and went to my recliner to spend the morning there. David joined me because, of course, his computer was having the same problem.

Well, the afternoon wasn’t much better. I had Facebook; I had YouTube. But I had nothing else. I could watch videos on YouTube but that is my end-of-day-winding-down-for bed thing, because some of them quite literally nearly put me to sleep.

I turned my computer off and then on. When I turned it back on, I saw there was an update ready. Hope bloomed in my little heart. I performed the update, and when I started the computer again, there was another update notification! Alas, all updates done, still no change. I was stuck in a hell of timing out, or unavailable sites.

I went to bed confident that on Tuesday morning, all would be well. Only it was not. Another day of regular routine not started. This time I couldn’t even do my Wordle! I got out my laptop, just in case the problem was computer specific. And once I updated that, I found I had access to my emails, and other sites. But I didn’t want to use my laptop. It’s small, and while it’s good to have when away from home, it’s not my usual. But the one good thing was that apparently my problem was computer specific.

I comforted myself that I had options—I just needed to review what they were. I could do what I could about maybe scanning for a virus; I could call tech support on the phone, both the Geek Squad and my service provider. If needs be, I could take my tower into the Geek Squad and have them check it. I had a plan of action!

So, I began a full system scan on my desktop. And…. five and a half hours later I ended it. But in the midst of all that, my daughter asked, “did you try shutting the router off then on?”

I hadn’t. I should have, because I knew that if I called the ISP company that was going to be the first thing that they suggested I do. It was mid afternoon, just before David went for his nap. He has to perform the unplug/plug in because the router is under my desk, and I cannot reach it at all. So he crawled under there, he reached down and pulled the plug, waited a couple minutes, and then plugged it back in again.

And that turned out to do the trick. While David napped, I was able to ensure that all my sites were now accessible.

It wasn’t until supper time that I asked aloud why my laptop had been able to work but my computer had not (same Wi-Fi). The suggestion was made that my router—installed in 2019—was old. Four years is old? I know my eyes crossed at that point. It may be true. But I will think about that, a bit later. Maybe. In the meantime, I focused on the most important thing.  My day, but more importantly my next day, had been saved, as I knew that on Wednesday morning (today) I would be able to return to my regularly scheduled programming.

I would also claim that my sanity had been saved, as well. Except that I know that the jury is still out on that one.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury

A trip to St. Jacob's Farmer's Market

 September 6, 2023

Well, here we are in September! The weather had cooled some, but this week we’re back into the triple-digit heat indexes. Fortunately, tomorrow the heat/humidity combo is supposed to break. My fingers are definitely crossed.

This weekend past found us taking our annual trip to the St. Jacob’s Farmer’s Market. If you’re ever in southwestern Ontario, this market, and the village of St. Jacob’s which is about a ten-minute drive away from it, are worth a visit.

The village is smack dab in the middle of Mennonite country, so there are plenty of horses pulling buggies to be seen. But more pleasing to the aesthetic senses, there are arts and crafts, clothing, preserves, freshly baked bread and many things produced by the Mennonites available for the discerning shopper.

This year, we didn’t take a drive into the village. There were a lot of people out and about, and since we had realized this would be so on a holiday weekend, we decided ahead of time that our trip would be limited to the one stop.

Mostly, we go to the market for the apple fritters. Well, actually, those were just one of the items that was on our list this year. Our daughter drove us the forty-five minutes to the market, because both of our scooters fit better in her car, and she likes to go, too. She volunteered to get in line for the fritters. Yes, there is a line up, every time. And yes, on the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend, that line was about 35 minutes long. She told me she wished she’d brought my walker. Her knee has been bothering her as she has reinjured it, and while it will heal in time, the humidity is not her friend any more than it is ours.

Our list for this year’s trip wasn’t very large. We got the fritters, but on the list were some items from the butcher’s shop as well.

There are a couple of venders there who have meats without any added growth hormones or other chemicals. So when we can, we’ll pick up some of their bacon, and an item we all enjoy, smoked pork chops.

And of course, my husband is a true carnivore, so no visit to the market is complete without the purchase of steaks. I will tell you that we bought really good steaks and leave it at that.

I like to see all the different goods that are available. The market is quite large, with a few large buildings to tour, as well as outside stalls. Inside the buildings is where you’ll find your hand-crafted clothing and jewelry and whatnots. Outside, there are plenty of venders in of every sort around the grounds, offering everything from lawn ornaments to sunglasses. It’s an amazing feast for the senses. And of course, the scent of street food—burgers, funnel cakes, really just anything you can imagine—is free to inhale, stirring the appetite.

The only “extras” I purchased that weren’t on my list were two loaves of bread—one rye and one sour dough—made that day, and something I had been looking for but not finding: mint sauce. In this case, mint jelly, which I hope does for lamb what my mint sauce of old has always done. I’ll keep you posted.

I also had only one veggie on my list that I wanted to purchase and then put down: green beans. Our tomatoes continue to flourish, but they have deprived the beans of their true potential this year.

On Monday, David harvested some more tomatoes from our table gardens, enough that he filled one of our large bowls. Fortunately, there are a whole lot more tomatoes to come. Also, fortunately—for me at least—I was able to choose two large and two medium tomatoes so that I can make one of my favorites—stuffed tomatoes.

I make this dish once a year, usually. It’s my way of celebrating our garden. Also usually, I have a granddaughter and a second daughter who always seem to know when this dish is in the works. They’re the only other members of my family hereabouts who love stuffed tomatoes. And they’re also sure to drop by and I’m telling you, their timing is usually impeccable.

Notice the use of the word “usually”, above.

I plan to make this dish today, despite the heat. Also today, my second daughter and her daughter are not in the area. Or rather, granddaughter is, after a trip to L.A., just home late last night and off to work this morning. Poor thing, she’s probably so tired she’s likely to go home and straight to bed at the end of the day. And second daughter, why, she’s off with some friends for a nice, relaxing get-away in a quaint town in Quebec.

She comes back to us tomorrow, likely not getting to her house until the evening.

I’m not saying there will be stuffed tomatoes left for them. But I’m also not saying there won’t be. I guess we’ll just all have to wait and see.

 

Love,

Morgan

http://www.morganashbury.com

http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury