How Does That Make You Feel?

It's time for "How Does That Make You Feel?"

My famiy’s name begins with “R” but to avoid embarrassing them I will call us the name “Ralph”.
In my family of "Ralph", a “Ralph” prize is a gift that the receiver hopes/expects to use his or herself. The recipient may not need/want it at all – let alone think about getting one.
An example of this:
Some years ago I lived in Chicago. My father came for a weekend visit. One Saturday morning I heard him banging away downstairs in the kitchen, trying to find something. He called up that he can’t find my coffee machine or any coffee – where is it located?
I explained – again – that I don’t drink coffee, so I don’t have either. I have plenty of tea.
He said no thank you, and went down to Dunkin Donuts for get his coffee.

That Christmas, he gave me a Mr. Coffee machine.


Receiving an “Ralph” prize.

How does that make you feel?

Danish Gingerbread Cookies

My mother’s best recipe is for her gingerbread cookie.
Over the years I have found when I make some for parties or giveaways, they are always loved. The recipe is often asked for.
I want to pass it on to any cookie makers looking for a new cookie for the season.

Danish Gingerbread Cookies
~100 cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.
I usually double this recipe, as I give lots away.

1 cup softened butter
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup honey
1 t grated lemon rind
1 t vanilla
1 t ginger
½ t cloves
1 t cinnamon
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
~ 4 cups of flour

Day #1
Cream butter and sugar. Add corn syrup, honey, lemon rind, vanilla and the spices.
Add the salt and the soda. Now, add the flour, a cup at a time, until it is soft dough you can pick up as one large ball. Refrigerate the ball of dough in a covered bowel overnight.

Day #2
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll chunks of dough onto a floured surface, about a ¼ inch thick. Cut out fabulous patterns using your extensive cookie-cutter collection. ( Holly leaves and Gingerbread boys taste the best ).
Place on greased and floured pans; bake for 7 minutes; cool on a wire rack to room temperature, prior to frosting.

Day #3 (can be combined with Day #2)
Frosting time!

1lb confectioner’s sugar
4 T melted butter
1 t vanilla extract
Milk (or soy milk)

Using an electric mixer, combine a 1/3 of the sugar with the butter; add the vanilla to make a paste. Add the rest of the sugar, keeping it moist via milk. You want it smooth enough to spread but not runny. (If it is too runny, add more sugar; too thick add more milk).
Use food colouring, decorating bits etc. and channel Martha Stewart.

(Or better yet, channel my mother).

This year I am making gingerbread javelinas.

The Shoulds

“Shoulds” are matters one feels badly about not doing. Guilt and/or shame arise when these are not done. Some Shoulds are philosophical or moral; others are voluntary decisions – ‘I should be doing this every day because if I don’t there are consequences”.

How many “Shoulds” can I come up with? Every day I should do the following:

A morning prayer of thanksgiving for the day.
Practice relaxation breathing techniques
Floss my teeth.
Make the bed
Eat some sort of breakfast
Drink green tea
Strain the cat’s litter box.
Read – and respond – to email.
Put any dirty dishes into the dishwasher.
Water all the plants in containers.
Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables.
Practice the piano.
Practice the pan pipes
Do another Spanish lesson on the Rosetta Stone
Take all daily prescriptions and vitamins
Fetch and open the mail
Give Someone a hug
Write all progress notes and evaluations that occurred that day.
Return all phone calls from work
Read some of the daily newspaper that arrives each morning.
Prepare and eat a balanced dinner.
Brush the cat.
Write a daily blog entry.
Visit blogs (nicknamed 'making rounds')
Do my daily routine of yoga/stretches
Read something/anything, not work related.
Write in my diary.
Evening prayer of thanks for the day being done

Somewhere in all this I am supposed to hold a job and do the things I would like to do!

(post-script: perhaps, on a good day, I do a fraction of this list. These are 'shoulds" not what I do. Such is life.)

Christmas Prizes

My grandmother called gifts ‘prizes’. Example; ‘what kind of prize did you get for your birthday?” and “I don’t want any prize for Christmas”. The expression would have died off but my mother could not stand it. She thought it sounded we had to earn/win something. So, we kids picked the expression up in merriment and as spoof of Grandmother.
To this day my family gives and exchange prizes.
An annual Thanksgiving tradition is ‘prize discussion’ at dessert time. Over pies and tea and coffee, we discuss ‘how we are going to do it’ this Christmas.
You would think after 40 or so years we would have a routine but every year some new sort of system is proposed. The explanation for this may be simple; the family keeps expanding with marriages and children.
I suspect it mostly comes from our need talk and organize and reorganize and make lists.

So, I want advice. We have the 2 parents, an uncle (with little $ but we want him as part of this), 4 brothers, their 4 spouses. There are 4 children now. That totals 15 people.
This year’s modest proposal is each person draws a name out of a hat and there is a limit to spending. Reasonable enough, but it is already unraveling (as is the wont). People feel the four children should get something from everyone.

So, for bloggers with big families – how do you “do Christmas?”

Desert Museum of Tucson

Today we went to the Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson.
We saw the local flora and fauna.
Here are some cacti for the area.

Here is a local deer.

Here is a Mexican Wolf for Mr. Foxy Stone.
Here is a dear little javelina.
The black bears were not cooperating for the photographers.

So here is a photo of our two friends Stan and James.
My but I have woofy friends.

The Alphabet MEME

A is for age: 44
B is for beer of choice: Watney’s Red Barrel
C is for career: Physician; Board Certified in Neurology and Psychiatry
D is for favorite Drink: Tea (2nd growth Darjeeling)
E is for essential item you use everyday: A pill box
F is for favorite song at the moment: In the Bleak Midwinter
G is for favorite game: Cryptic Crossword Puzzles.
H is for hometown: Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan
I is for instruments you play: piano and the pan pipes
J is for favorite juice: grapefruit
K is for kids: 2 nephews rather
L is for last kiss: today
M is for marriage: Maybe next year, when we do the 10th year anniversary?
N is for name of your best friend: Scott AKA Scooter
O is for overnight hospital stays: mid 90s, for pneumonia; while in hospital my telephone was stolen.
P is for phobias: tarantulas, and being late to the airport.
Q is for quote: “Only the wounded physician heals.”
R is for biggest regret: I wasn’t brave enough to go to the northwest when I could.
S is for Shirts: I have made 3 dozen so far
T is for time you wake up: 530 AM
U is for underwear: Mostly boxers.
V is for vegetable you love: Homegrown tomatoes
W is for worst habit: ruminating on things
X is for x-rays you have had: chest and wrist
Y is for yummy food you make: gingerbread cookies (I will post the recipe next month)
Z is for zodiac sign: Cancer

Happy Thanksgiving

As today is Thanksgiving, I am canceling How Does That Make You Feel? Thursday to write something else.

For which I am thankful

I am well
I have Someone
I have a loving family
I have good friends. My best friend Scott would walk the world over to get a blade of grass that I wanted if I asked him.
I have a house
I have great neighbors.
I have employment.
I have enough money really.
I have health insurance.
Despite several dark times, I have survived them.
I have the blogger world - with 40 new friends and probably more to come.
I have seen most of the places in the world I have wanted to see.
I have spent my entire adult life trying to ease the sorrow of my fellow man, so I believe my life has not been a waste, or a regret.

(And)

Homegrown tomatoes
Tea
Wine
&
Soup

Mozart
Mahler
Brahms
&
Arvo Part

Enya
Loreena McKennitt
&
The Boswell Sisters

Shakespeare
James Joyce
&
Dickens

And the Marx Brothers.

Lorreena

Now that the holiday season is approaching, I can get out the Christmas CDs. I have plenty. I wanted to share with you one of my favorites albums, by Loreena McKennitt.

Loreena McKennitt is a Canadian singer whom I used to know slightly. She is a friend of friend in Stratford. I remember her over at his house back in the early 80s when she was a chorus girl at the Festival. He would design some of her greeting cards. Later, when she came to Chicago for a concert, I met up with her afterwards. (The audience was half empty; me and several displaced Canadians, wild with happiness as they could not normally get a ticket to see her back home).
Over the years she has become internationally famous and I am no longer in touch with her. But I adore her music. It is a combination of Celtic, Moroccan and other folk music. She is popular with the New Age folks, Mystics, Celtic music lovers. Her lyrics often are ballads, with lyrics from the poetry of Yeats or Shakespeare. This is her “Christmas” album “To Drive the Cold Winter Away’. I use the term “Christmas” loosely as while there are carols referring to Christ’s birth the whole album has a more ancient feel to it. I call it my “Solstice” album. Missing are the usual Christmas tunes. Rather she has a combination of ancient carols (example; the Wexford Carol) and some of her own. Her song” Snow” is gorgeous.
I point it out as a marvelous holiday CD. I point her out as a marvelous singer.

By the way, she now has her new album out! It only took 10 years of waiting!

Even the Pope has a Confessor

This clever statement was coined by C.G. Jung. He is emphasizing that even caretakers need some care taking from time to time. When I attend a movie in which a therapist is talking about his/her problems with their own therapist, I often hear snickering in the audience. They think ‘how can this person be caring for others if they have to be helped themselves?” I think differently; this person is getting supervision and assistance and is a wise counselor indeed. A basic premise in psychology is one doesn’t easily see one’s own Shadow; you need others to help you see it and deal with it.

Back in Evanston I had my mentor and analytical professor across the hall for assistance. I knew he had someone as well.
In Michigan I was a member of a ‘men’s peer group’. This consisted of eight counselors, all men, who met for breakfast every other week. We discussed cases and somewhat took aided each other’s hang-ups and troubles. I miss being part of this group. I was somewhat ‘odd man out’ as they were all social workers; I was the only psychiatrist. But it kept me in touch with my counseling skills. And in exchange I helped them with ‘medication questions’. Mostly I miss the camaraderie

I don’t have such a set up here in Arizona as I don’t know anyone and my job is not set up to ‘meet people’. I work long hours; I get my lectures and updates on CD-ROMs (no longer going to conferences and conventions). I work with another doctor but when I am in clinic “A”, he is in “B” and vice versa. He is a ‘different cup of tea” so what little professional and personal interaction we’ve had hasn’t been fruitful either for ideas or for friendship.

Blogging has taken over for the mentioned group. It is where I go to escape the day, unload and to think. Now if only I could some of you over for breakfast

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas

Every few years I change jobs. I worked for 8 years in Chicago, combining a State job with a private practice. Then there were 4 years in Michigan, when I worked in two clinics.
Now I am in year #2 at another clinic in Arizona.
These changes have all been changes in location; I am considering next time a change in career.
Back in my teens I thought it would be a good idea to change careers every 10 years or so and do a variety of different jobs. It sounded exciting. Now it sounds scary. I am trained to be a physician, and one with a specialty. What else can I do? I have the yearning but no ideas. I am not trained to do anything else. I know from my patients it is hard enough to change jobs in your 40s, but change careers? I see some things that strike my fancy, such as running a Bed and Breakfast, but I only see the personae of these jobs, not the real work. And I am not a business man. My only regret from my father was not learning about how to make money.

One of my favorite short stories is by Ursula K. LeGuin. It is “The ones who walk away from Omelas”. Read it some time. It is about the brave souls who decide their present lives (and the system in which they live) can no longer suffice. They go onto something new. And they don’t know where they are going. But they go nevertheless.

I am working up the courage to “Walk Away from Omelas”.

Random Thoughts VII

We had a very nice time in Palm Springs.
We saw your chums Doug and Leon. The B and B was on the quiet side, so we had the place mostly to ourselves.
Not much was done, other than walking, shopping, eating and sleeping.
We had splendid meal at a place once owned by Gary Cooper.



Doug showed me how to put more than one photograph up in a blog entry.
I am so pleased to be on the road to more photgraphs in my entries!! Thanks Doug!

Well, I need to do laundry, some leftover paperwork from last week. After supper I look forward to seeing how everyone in blog-land is doing.

It is good to be home.

Off to Palm Springs

Well, dearies, we are off to Palm Springs for a weekend in the country.
I'll bring my laptop as I've reached the stage where I go through blog-withdrawal if I can't check in on you all every day.
However, if I can't access, I'll see you all Sunday evening.
Have a pleasant weekend!

UrSpo of Palm Springs nee Arizona

How Does That Make You Feel?

It's another
"How does that make you feel?" Thursday

For some time the Aliens have been away from
Spo-Reflections. They are busy at IKEA, setting up pseudo-Swedish Christmas decorations. The blue and yellow bulbs are really surveillance cameras to monitor human behavior. Bless their hearts (both of them) they want to observe the yearly ritual called ‘holiday shopping’. When Eartha Kitt’s mind is too busy, they use mine for consultation. On this topic I advised them ‘don’t bother’, but they are keen to fathom the spirit of Christmas retail shopping.
They get it mixed up with Hallowe’en, which is not surprising, considering Hallowe’en items for sale are up at the same time as the Christmas things.

They asked if I would get up early the day after Thanksgiving to go shopping.
I told them I would sooner eat rats.

Shopping the Friday after Thanksgiving!

How does that make you feel?

Some late night thoughts for a Tuesday

Well, we had plenty of food and no lack of leftovers. We will be eating off of this 'simple supper' for a fortnight. We must remember not to make so much food next time.
However, Someone was happy that his guests were happy, so I am content.

Gads, but I am tired. I am too pooped to surf the blogs and see how my 40 or so chums are doing.

Anyway, we leave for Palm Springs in 3 days! We will drive out and see Doug and the Wild One and have a pleasant weekend.

This is a photo of me from last year's trip to Palm Springs.
I like it as the lighting makes me look real butch.

OOXX

UrSpo of Arizona.

Dodo Prizes for Everyone

And the winners are....

We are going to make all of them!

I should have seen this coming. When Someone has business folks over, he gets anxious there won't be enough food. So he decided to have all the entries as entrees. We are make the 2 deserts, the ham AND the grilled tuna, and all the sides - with two appetizers.

And to start it all off - Doug's infamous salsa.

So, like in Alice in Wonderland and the caucus race, everyone wins -but oh my goodness we have a lot of cooking to do!

Food Election

Here’s a different sort of election in which to vote;
Someone is having business associates over for dinner this week.
What shall we serve? Please pick one from each category ---

For appetizer
1) Shrimp and cocktail sauce
2) Vegetarian Spring Rolls and mustard dip
3) Salsa (Doug of Gossemer Tapestry’s recipe) and Chips

For entrée
A) Honey Baked Ham or
B) Grilled Tuna Steaks.

For side
I) Green Salad
II) Edamame & Corn Succatash
III) Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (I may stuff the ballot box on this one!)

and -

For dessert
a) Carrot Cake or
b) Fresh Fruit Compote.

Vote early; vote often!

- UrSpo of Arizona. (D)

How to Tell When You Are Tired

This is a title of book I read years ago. I forget the contents, but it was about men and their long work days. The hypothesis of the book: people are driven to work more, and as a result we are a nation of tired people.
I don’t know if we are more tired than previous generations. Some studies suggest we are getting less sleep than the past generation. My issue is with technology and 21st century luxuries we should be LESS tired not just as tired as our ancestors. The labor and time saving devices have NOT saved time. They have sped up life’s conveyor belt, like Lucy in the chocolate factory scene. Speed is bad for the health.

Studies (as well as common sense) tell us we are healthier, happier, and saner people when we get enough sleep – and time off. Yet there is less and less tolerance in the work field for this. People are made to feel guilty for missing work for illness or for psychological necessity (i.e. vacation). Then there is the grandiose lie that the world will stop spinning if we desert our work post. Bosses imply it; workers believe it.

When I moved to Arizona I replaced 2 doctors. Neither seemed to have been very good, but they both worked all the time, including major holidays. I get to work before 7AM, work until 5PM, and often have hours of paperwork as well as phone calls. So I am no slacker. Yet my assumption that we did NOT work on Memorial Day, 4th of July etc was met with disbelief.
So I am disrupting the culture here; I don’t expect to work on major holidays. I take the European approach that four weeks/year is minimal not maximum time off. Both are getting me dirty looks that I am ‘not working enough’ or a poor team player. (on the other hand the secretarial staff are thrilled that for the first time they don’t have to work on Memorial and Labor Days any more, as the doctor isn’t in).

I hope you all get enough sleep and get appropriate amounts of vacation and ‘down time’.
It is vital to your health. And don’t feel guilty for it.

I am Uncool

I’ve reached the age of ‘uncool’.

I was christened with this title last week when I flew home. It was 10PM. I announced I was fatigued and going to bed. Brother #4 was just getting ready to start the night and go out. He snorted in contempt and thought I was no longer different than the parents.
He vowed he would be different when he got to my age.

Well bro, I vowed the same thing too when I was your age.

Here are the tell-tale signs that I am “uncool”;

-The night is now for sleeping
-I have more lines than a movie script. (see above photo)
-I stopped listening to the Grammy’s as I don’t recognize anyone and besides all that racket sounds terrible anyway.
-I get cold, and need a coat.
-Stretching is a necessity, not just a pleasantry
-Gray suits are out now as they make the gray in my hair really obvious.
-I used to sing in the shower. Now I think in the shower (gee, maybe I should put down treads here).
-Vacations are turning from action time to down time. Mother’s notion of a ‘book by the pool’ no longer sounds dull and boring.
-I got my new suit at Brooks Brothers.

I would write more but my mind goes blanks these days. …….

How Does That Make You Feel?

Arizona defeated our ‘one man/one woman’ proposal.
The first state ever to do so.

We re-elected a Democratic governor and have more Dems going to Washington.

The House is ‘blue’ and the Senate is ‘bluer’.

What changes! Arizona is more purple.

How does that make you feel?

3 Way MEME

This MEME works better for bloggers who regularly read a lot of blogs.
You respond to each question by picking 3 blogs from your usual reads.

3 Blogs you are just beginning to read?
WenchynStar – a friend of Sorted and Spider. What greater recommendation is there?
Becoming Visible – a fellow who has been dropping by my blog; he/his blog seem interesting.
Lone Wolf in the Highlands – the poems and the stories alone are worth a drop by.

3 Blogs that make you smile or laugh the most?
Bunny Boofray – her ongoing reports from the trailer park are a hoot
Sorted Lives – both the photos and the entries are witty and hilarious.
Ynanger65 – how he finds the awful video clips I don’t know

3 Blog that provide you with the most learning?
Doug at Gossemer Tapestry – for bugs/butterflies and things of science
Will at DesignerBlog – for history and politics
Scott at Purple Twinkie – for food

3 Blogs that ‘look the best”?
Heather at Butterfly in Disguise
Spider at A Spider’s Web
Kelly at Stern Point of View

3 Blogs you won’t read at work?
Captain Caveman
Life is a STD
Daniel, Guy in the Desert (all for the same reason!)

3 Bloggers you wish “they would post more often”?
Joe at Mind of the Bear
Steve at Chez Stephen
Deanos at Some Call it Love

3 Bloggers that get you out of your usual mode of thinking?
Matthew at Bear in the Box
Foxy Stone at Lone Wolf in the Highlands
Hanuman at Chai and Sympathy. (alas he recently closed shoppe to my sorrow)

3 Bloggers with the best photos?
Rodger at Rodger Dodger
Jason at Let’s Say You’re Right
Andrew at The Other Andrew

3 Bloggers that make you want to reach through the computer screen and give them a hug?
Joel at Would I?
John at Open a Window
Jock at Dishonest Honesty

3 Blogs with the best ongoing story line(s)?
My Confessions
Devious Steve O
Maddog in the City

3 Bloggers with the best ongoing theme(s)?
Tony at Life’s Colorful Brushstrokes – those wonderful word games!
Spider (again) – his Sunday snippets and Tell me Tuesdays
Lemming Girl at Cliffie’s Notes – does everything pertain to fish?

And 3 Blogs that inspire you to ‘keep going” with your own.
Michael's Temporary Trouble Spots
Dan's DanNation
Homer's Homer’s World

I am supposed to tag 3 people, but it seemed a lot to do. So, if 3 (at least) want to take it up, I’d be pleased as punch.

Home Alone

Someone is away on a business trip until Friday.
I am Home Alone until then. Don’t get me wrong, I miss him and feel the void that he is not here. However it does give me an opportunity to do a few things that normally I don’t do when we are together. Some examples;

eat tofu (which he doesn’t like).

Make macaroni and cheese nearly every night.

Turn off the TV and play CDs he doesn't care for. Examples include any of the ‘goddesses’ such as Enya and Loreena McKennitt, or operas like Peter Grimes.

Sleep in the guest room. We have a smaller bed in a smaller room, which feels more cozy when I have the place to myself.

Change the screensaver from tasteful photos of Northwest Pacific Artwork to photos of Jack Radcliffe! (Someone worries somebody will come to the house and be shocked therewith)

Practice the piano; meaning pieces that requires repetitive attempts. The going ‘over and over’ sections is a bit hard on the ears.

Fall asleep with a cassette tape playing. Garrison Keillor reading anything from Lake Wobegon puts me right to sleep; it would wake Someone up right away (conversely, he falls asleep to TV which jolts me to attention).

Count the days until he comes home.

Back Home

It is Sunday night.
Brother #4’s wedding went well – it was indoors.
I read a poem at the wedding, despite having a mild panic attack prior to the ‘performance’ – I haven’t had one of these in years. Nasty uncomfortable things, panic attacks; anyone out there have one/them? Well, I know what to do for them and the deep breathing exercises curtailed it down to a dull roar, enough to read the poem without fainting.
The wedding took place at a golf club in Oakland County, Michigan. The last seven generations of my father’s side lived in this county. It was nostalgic to see the old familiar places. But mostly I was happy to see the present things - the family. I was delighted to see my relatives, especially the cousins.

This morning my mother had a breakfast for everyone. When we get together we tend to get talkative and excited and start bouncing off of each other. It is exhausting. I have not been to my parent’s house in over a year.
I was amazed to see how much Fleischman trains and accessories my father has bought via Ebay – there goes the inheritance!

Now I am back in Arizona. I can put away the sweater and the flannels.
Someone flew to Iowa where he has a week’s worth of business trips. So I am alone. It feels odd after so much social interaction with loved ones.
There will be photos, but Someone has the camera in his luggage.

Anyway, it is good to be home.
I am looking forward to reading everyone’s blogs and getting caught up to date this week.

I'ts frekkin COLD here!

Oh my goodness!

I get off the plane to 30 degrees and a wind chill factor, snow flurries, gray skies and 'black ice' conditions.

It's NOVEMBER IN MICHIGAN!!! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

How Does That Make You Feel?

There is no "How Does That Make You Feel?" today as the writer has been abducted by aliens.

We will observe and monitor the physiological and psychological reactions of grown children returning to their roots.

We start by placing the subject back amoung his relatives - ALL of them - for a series of human social events.

How Does That Make You Feel?

November Shirt

It is November
I associate each month with a colour. November is “Brown”. When I lived in the Midwest all seemed brown out of doors with the removal of the black and orange of October. But it was never a depressing month. Rather, with the excitement of approaching holidays – and the hopes of snow – I liked November. While others are getting ‘SAD’, mine lightens up.
This my ‘Bear” shirt. I found the fabric in Alaska. I was very pleased with this very early creation, and wore it to Bear events. Last year in Palm Springs I learned a shirt made from the same fabric is now commercially available. At first I was thrilled; I created something that became ‘fashion’. I was ahead of a trend! Then I realized my homemade shirt now seems a sloppy version of the commercial one. So I don’t wear it out much anymore.

The November Tarot Card is 2 Wands. This means looking forward to something new arriving, maybe at work/activity. Overall a good card; of anticipation.

Well folks, this may be my last blog entry for a while.
After work I have to pick up the new suit, go home, pack and get ready for tomorrow’s flight to Michigan. Spo-fans should recall Brother #4 marries this weekend. He is fortunate that all the aunts and uncles are coming, including all but one cousin. I will be glad to see all my relatives, for I like my family.

I get to read a poem at the wedding.
I promised Someone I would not to upstage the bride in being more radiant than she.

Have a good weekend. I hope our Midwest blood hasn’t thinned out too much after 2 years in Arizona. Send us warm thoughts so we don't ‘freeze’ in Michigan!