November 6, Food for Thought

06 Nov 2014 Leave a comment

by alightningbug in Foodie, Getting Organized, Mom Stuff, NaBloPoMo, Recipes Tags:

November 6, oh, November 6. You may be a lame, short post today.

I’m hoping I’ll have a chance to blog a better blog tonight. I have two issues I’d like to cover.

1.) Time-saving “food.”

And

2.) “Time-saving” food.

Yes, those are air quotes. And yes, there is a big difference between the first and second. Really each topic could be a single post, so maybe this will be two additions posts.

In the event I don’t get one of them completed tonight, I figure I can post this-here coming attraction and technically be covered for a November 6 post for NaBloPoMo. Hey, I can try, right?

For the Record: A Snail’s Pace

05 Nov 2014 2 Comments

by alightningbug in Mom Stuff, NaBloPoMo, Plant Life and Balcony Gardening Tags: , , , ,

For the record, in honor of NaBloPoMo, I’m trying to post a blog entry for every day in November. I’ve been struggling to keep up regular posts again, so I aim to fix that.

Some of these may be extremely short posts. And many of them will likely be written on my phone. Today’s will be a good example although it’s longer than I though it would be.

In other news, a couple of weeks ago we got several nerite snails for our two fish tanks. We were having some algae overgrowth, and instead of scrubbing the tanks we decided to try a few algae-eating snails. This is by far one of our better fish tank purchases.

Those snails have been busy! In our ten-gallon tank they have scrubbed the decorative bridge clean. After months of sporting greens, browns, and grays, that bridge is practically day-glo it looks so clean. I think the snails even ate some of the paint off. I hope it doesn’t make them sick. They don’t appear to have slowed down any. So far, so good. One has even moved on to the side of the tank, and there’s now a large clean section.

In our smaller kitchen tank there’s hardly any algae left at all. The striped snail scrubbed the rocks, the back of the tank, the sides … It has now moved on to eating and cleaning algae off the leaves of an artificial plant. It’s amazing!

I would really like a larger, omnivorous, air-breathing snail that I could set free in our living room.

Upturned Noses and Glasses and Buns

09 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by alightningbug in Mead, Tea, The Daily Prompt, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt is Upturned Noses which asks:

Even the most laid back and egalitarian among us can be insufferable snobs when it comes to coffee, music, cars, beer, or any other pet obsession where things have to be just so. What are you snobbish about?

I like to try a lot of different foods, so maybe I’m snobbish about that. I don’t quite understand people who refuse to try something new. “What do you mean you won’t try the eel scaloppine with fried mealworms in peanut butter sauce?”

I can probably be snobbish about tea and maybe mead and some kinds of food. Except that, really, I’ll still drink or enjoy just about any kind.

I adore good tea — perfect jasmine green infused with the scent of actual blossoms, not just added flavoring. That’s snobbery talk right there. A Greener oolong that has matured into a delicate floral or a darker robust oolong from Taiwan. Yum! New Darjeeling you think is great? I’ll try that too.

I like a good basic mead — Chaucer’s the kind we can get at our local Renaissance Festival and elsewhere is certainly enjoyable. Fox Hill Special Reserve which is made with a darker honey has a bit of bitterness and a lot of depth. Some Redstone Mountain Mead can be impressive too. It’s real mead made in small batches — some can be bitter and some wonderful. They even date the batches, so you’ll want to get more of the same date if you like a batch. That’s mead for a mead snob for sure.

Unless I’m allergic, it could poison me, or it’s a dish that exhibits unusual cruelty, I’ll usually try any kind of food. I read about a Japanese dish called Ikizukuri where live fish is sliced and served still moving. I think I’ll avoid that, thanks.

But I do love to taste a variety of new things! I love gourmet dishes that have the perfect balance of flavors, colors, and textures, but I also love hot dogs from gas stations that have been roasting on those metal rollers for hours thus reducing water content and enhancing flavors. You do not know a good hot dog if you turn your nose up at those things. So maybe that’s makes me a hot dog snob. Is it wrong to have a hot dog with my beautiful jasmine tea? Maybe. The darker oolong would probably be better with hot dogs.

Time for a One-way Street

07 Oct 2014 1 Comment

by alightningbug in The Daily Prompt, Writing Tags: , , , ,

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt is One-way Street which asks:

Congrats! You’re the owner of a new time machine. The catch? It comes in two models, each traveling one way only: the past OR the future. Which do you choose, and why?

Aren’t we already riding a giant time machine of sorts? I mean it’s fairly sequential and analog, but we are moving through time and space – sometimes faster or slower (usually inversely proportional to how much we like where we are). The only difference is that we can’t really skip over chunks of time forward or back. We’re locked into a sequence – now must happen before the future and after the past. Future and past touch at this single point.

I’d have a seriously hard time choosing which I’d want to jump to – the future or the past. Presumably which ever machine I choose means I must stay in the time period it takes me since the directions say that machine goes in only one direction. So I can’t return from wherever or whenever.

I’d not want to go far forward. I might miss my daughter growing up. I don’t want to miss any of that. Too far in the past and I risk the same.

I’d love a time machine that could skip back small amounts of time – a few minutes or hours, seconds even – avoid car accidents, evacuate dangerous areas before earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanos, attacks … Maybe jump back a couple of hours to get more cleaning or organizing done because it always takes longer than I want it to. Always!

Going forward in short spurts seems kind of pointless. What, avoid long lines at airports and amusement parks? Seems like a bit of overkill and a waste of technology.

So OK, I guess I do have my answer. I’d get the time machine that goes back in time, but only use it for super short little trips back. It’s not that I want to live in the past — but it would be nice to have a few do-overs for those times that important mess-ups happen in a matter of seconds.

Life In Transit

07 Oct 2014 1 Comment

by alightningbug in The Daily Prompt, Writing Tags: , ,

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt is In Transit which asks:

Train stations, airport terminals, subway stops: soulless spaces full of distracted, stressed zombies, or magical sets for fleeting, interlocking human stories?

Sometimes I feel like all of life is just one big transportation station or terminal. We’re all movin’ on through. It’s not a stationary place or at least shouldn’t be. We may have an extended layover in certain places or phases of our lives, but if you stay for too long you risk losing your connecting flight or bus or next phase of life. That’s not really traveling efficiently, right?

As we’re all on a journey of sorts together, I feel like there’s a certain amount of bonding that can happen with our fellow travelers. People give advice or I’ll offer help back. Some people are just fun to talk to. A knowing laugh from a fellow passenger can brighten a crummy day. Many keep to themselves.

There are some who are constantly too loud and don’t know when to stop. Some who put their needs in front of those of twenty or more others just because they want to make sure they’re not cheated somehow. And in the process everybody else gets cheated of a little peace. Those folks are annoying. But, really, if you don’t let them get under your skin they can be entertaining too. I think that’s the real trick. These folks are helpful to remind me how awesome some of the other people can be. There is value in that. I’d have to say that some of my most valued life lessons were from the people who hurt me or bothered me most.

You might ride a train with a woman who has 100 barrettes in her bundled mass of hair and try to figure out if that is, indeed, a large band-aid sticking out from the right side of her sculpted locks. Is it art? A knowing look and a smile from the couple two seats behind her tells you that they too wonder a few things. Then you arrive at your stop and move on.

Welcome, Stranger (In a Strange and Not So Strange Land)

06 Oct 2014 2 Comments

by alightningbug in The Daily Prompt, Writing Tags: , ,

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt for Sunday, October 5, asks:

Think about the town where you currently live: its local customs, traditions, and hangouts, its slang. What would be the strangest thing about this place for a first-time visitor?

Hands down the strangest thing to most people who visit where I live would be the traffic. It is almost nonstop 24-7 traffic jam here. We have lots of jams all the time. And I don’t mean the sweet kind one might put on toast. From about 6:30 AM to 9:30 AM and again from about 3:00 to 6:30 PM folks from out of town who somehow manage to be on the road then will often imagine that there’s some kind of accident up ahead, but no. That’s what it’s like five days a week and some weekends depending on where you’re driving. If there is an accident or if it’s raining or snowing or the wind is kind of strong that day then expect worse. If you’re downtown DC and there’s an event or if some official is traveling somewhere that involves driving with an entourage then you can expect gridlock. They regularly close off streets just because. And off-hours, like 10:00 PM, if road crews are out making repairs or building something new you can pretty much expect a traffic jam then too.

So, there are a lot of things some people might find strange here such as the number of people who look different — from explorative hair colors to piercings to people who dress in the same things they’d wear if they were still in their own country, there’s a lot of variety. I think people kind of expect some of that around here though. I don’t even think I’d call it strange. I enjoy the number of different nationalities — the languages spoken just about anywhere, the different ethnic restaurants we have so many of. Yum!

But jams are the thing. Too few roads and too few transportation options — you’d think we’d have tons of trains or other futuristic options, but not so much — mixed with too many people trying to get somewhere, and pretty soon it’s hard to get anywhere at all. Strange.

Bark or Howl at the Moon

03 Oct 2014 4 Comments

by alightningbug in The Daily Prompt, Writing Tags: , , , , ,

Today’s Daily Prompt from the Daily Post asks:

“Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness.” — Allen Ginsberg
Do you follow Ginsberg’s advice — in your writing and/or in your everyday life?

I will try to rein in references to Ozzy Osbourne’s Bark at the Moon. I just saw that on Pop-Up Videos so I can’t get it out of my head when I read “Howl at the Moon.” I almost never watch Pop-up Videos — maybe once a year or less. Not sure how that even happened. I think Dave might have turned it on. A little dose of the 1980s isn’t the worse thing in the world for us. My daughter had no clue why we found it so entertaining. The comment bubbles on Pop-up asked if animals even bark at the moon at all. They concluded that wolves to not and apparently Ozzy was dressed as a wolfman or werewolf, so the video was just wrong. There you have it. Pop-up Science.

Is howling at the moon much different than barking? Does it matter what kind of animal you are? Not all animals bark or howl. Can I just meow at the moon? Maybe howling comes from deeper within than barking. Is it more guttural? Maybe it’s inspired by something more specific — a light, either inner or outer. Glow. I mean any old dog can bark at just about anything, right?

Work? Optional!

21 Aug 2014 2 Comments

by alightningbug in The Daily Prompt, Writing Tags: , , ,

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt for today, Thursday, August 21, is Work? Optional!

If money were out of the equation, would you still work? If yes, why, and how much? If not, what would you do with your free time?

How on earth did it get to be August 21 already? I want more summer! With this attitude you might think that if money were out of the equation, I’d stop working. But that wouldn’t be the case. Not exactly anyway. I’d still want to work, but I’d work less.

I want to have more time with my daughter and do fun things with her. Just be there more often even if we’re not specifically doing anything. See more movies. Make more cookies. Craft more crafty projects. Just hang out.

Believe it or not, I want more time to clean and organize my home. While it is mostly windowless STILL, as repairs continue, I continue to be in need of organizing and purging in a dramatic way. I do not enjoy going through and getting rid of things. It always takes me too long, so I don’t get nearly as much done as I should. When I didn’t work full time, I was better at it. Not great, mind you, but better.

But I need my brain to keep moving. I need to get out and do something. Not just a bunch of fun things, but a job with a purpose. So I’d keep working at something even if money were no object. I feel like work keeps people young. Not overwork, but just getting out and doing. Having a goal and purpose.

Horse Sense? Extreme Maneuvers, A Short Story

20 Aug 2014 1 Comment

by alightningbug in Short Stories, Uncategorized, Writing Tags: , , ,

Please check out my latest story, Extreme Maneuvers, on Enchanted Spark.

This was written for Enchanted Spark’s last Photo Flare Contest. It’s a flash fiction piece based on two lovely photos which you can see on that site along with the story. While there, check out some if the other awesome stories, photos that inspired them, and blog posts.

At the time I wrote the story, I did not know if the horse photo was of actual Chincoteague Ponies. The photos are posted without captions.

Also known as Assateague horses, Chincoteague Ponies are a feral breed that live wild on Assateague Island. Residing on the East Coast, a few hours drive from that area, I have seen them before but not as often as I’d like.

They’re a relatively short horse and have round bellies due to the high salt content of their diet of salt marsh grasses. To offset the salt, they drink twice as much water as other breeds.

The story was inspired largely by the photo of the two ponies, but also by a water fall image that was one of several from which we could choose. It looks a lot like sections of Great Falls. I’ll have to ask where that was taken. In my story it features prominently in Wilber’s mind.

I’ve really enjoyed Enchanted Spark contests. It’s been great for me to have a goal and object of focus to help move things along – to help me propel a story into being. Thanks, Melinda and Julie and Enchanted Spark!

The Name’s The Thing, Sparky

15 Aug 2014 1 Comment

by alightningbug in The Daily Prompt, Uncategorized, Writing

The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt for Thursday, August 14 is The Name’s The Thing. It asks:

Have you ever named an inanimate object? (Your car? Your laptop? The volleyball that kept you company while you were stranded in the ocean?) Share the story of at least one object with which you’re on a first-name basis.

Oh looky here! I found a blog post. How’d that get here? Finally.

My blog has a name does that count? I don’t really talk to it or anything, though. I guess I write to it, sort of. If it has a name, but I don’t talk to it is that OK? Somehow I feel like if it has a name I should talk to it … at least sometimes.

My first car had a name. I called it Sparky. I know it’s probably not a very original name for a car. Sparks. Spark plugs. I wanted it to keep working. Keep having a spark. So it was Sparky. It was a maroon, four-door sedan. Previously owned by a traveling salesman. Nice, but a lot of miles.

I usually didn’t talk to Sparky unless I was alone with it. What I crummy friend I was to my car! I was one of those friends. I’ll only talk to you when my other friends aren’t around. Sorry about that, Sparky.

I don’t talk to my current car very often. It doesn’t exactly have a name except maybe, “Car.” I’ve said, “Sorry about that, Car,” if I let the oil get a little low. Or “I really wish people would stop crashing into you, Car.”

Because for a while it seemed like it was a magnet for other drivers to crash into it. I don’t know if it’s because it’s fairly low to the ground or if because other people weren’t paying attention to what they were doing. I threatened to tape bicycle flags to all four corners to increase my visibility. I was stopped at a red light one time and bam! A woman rear-ended me.

A giant forklift was the last to crash into it. Just the tire hit it. I was driving at the time, so it startled me. Car handled it well. I’ve been warned not to drive too close to the airport. I aim to follow that advice. Car and I need all the help we can get.

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