Four Hundred, You Say?

I got involved because I volunteered.  My church's pastor gave a sermon that involved a pie chart and the idea was born that, to help illustrate the pie chart, pie should be served to each congregational member. 

This idea was floated about in August and, at the time, it seemed like a simple idea, until September 26th arrived and the time was nearing to actually put the idea into action.  "How many pieces are needed?" was the question asked.  "Four hundred pieces." was the answer given. 

Four hundred pieces of pie - now that's a lot of pie.  Then the thought wheels began to turn about how to serve four hundred pieces of pie.......then the thought wheels began to turn about how to make four hundred pieces of pie.  At even nine slices per pie, the thought of making that many pies was, well, mind-boggling. 

Thus, the decision was made by the Baker Herself (not me) that lemon bars would instead be made and cut into tiny, pie-slice-like pieces.  The Engineer Himself created a diagram that demonstrated how a 9X13 pan of lemon bars could be cut into the maximum number of tiny, pie-slice-like pieces. 

It was a profile in ingenuity - all of those tiny pie-slice-like slices of lemon-bar dessert.  The pans of lemon bars were frozen in order to make the slices easier to handle.  Napkins were quartered, slices transferred to the napkins and trays were loaded. 

Now came the hard part.  Keeping the slices from being eaten until AFTER each service.  Kids and adults alike were drawn from the farthest corners of the church by some instinct that told them a dessert was lurking somewhere in the building.  Even after the trays were tucked away in the corner of a room (with a window in the door), kids would peek around the corner, through the window - perhaps hoping for a lapse in pie-slice guarding - but the pie guardians were not to be distracted from their jobs of keeping the slices safe until after the services. 

In the end, the majority of pie-slice-like pieces were served to the congregants of the three services.  Any leftover pieces were frozen and will be used on one of the other four, future Sundays that involve a pie chart. 

Four times four hundred.  That's a lot of tiny, pie-slice-like pieces.

Ancora imparo

My Chi Is Off

My Chi.  Sounds like a good Chinese dish, doesn't it?  I must say that the mere mention of Chinese food makes my mouth water!  There are no good Chinese restaurants near where Capt. SO and I float about.  Then again, with all of the arsenic/rice warnings abounding right now, perhaps Chinese is not what I should be salivating over.

First Chi Disruption:  Rice not good for you?  Practically un-American!

Second Chi Disruption:  Cooking (heating up, actually) sauerkraut in a small, enclosed space. 

I thought I had a great dinner idea to use up some sweet Italian sausage from our Aqua RV freezer.  I mean, at home, there would be nothing tastier than bratwurst-type meat simmering in a crockpot with sauerkraut.  Yesterday I discovered not-so-much on an Aqua RV.  Yes, the concept was appealing but when Capt. SO returned from wherever he'd been, he was feet away from Das Boot when he got this pained look on his face and he said to me, "What's that awful smell?"

First of all, that is not what you should say to your spouse (under any circumstances) when the dinner hour is near.

He proceeded to immediately open the cabin door and place a fan in front of it to try to draw out the sauerkraut "aroma".  I took the large pan off the stove, placed the contents in a covered casserole dish and took it to the outside back deck, where we could share the aroma with fellow boaters.  Fortunately for them, both slips on either side of us are empty (boats pulled out for the winter), and the people on the boats nearest us are not here.  Because I had nothing else planned for dinner, we spooned what we wanted on plates, heated the food up in the cabin's microwave for as little time as necessary, and then rushed the plates up to the upper deck, where the wind was whipping up to near gale-force anyway, easily wafting the aroma of sauerkraut far beyond our Aqua RV.

Final Chi disruption (for now):  Accepting the fact that floating season is over.

While this factoid is present each year, it never-the-less comes as a shock just the same.  The realization that play-time has eneded is akin to having the recess bell ring at school - signaling the sign that it is time to return to the classroom and hunker down, once again, for learnin', cipherin', and readin'. Our larders are slowly emptying and soon it will be time to begin a serious weight-loss program. Perhaps a daily diet of gruel, sauerkraut, and stone soup will be on the menu for some time.  In the meantime, I have pledged to Capt. SO NEVER to cook sauerkraut on Das Boot again.

Darn!  It sounded good - on paper!

Ancora imparo
 

Does Apathy Have Health Benefits?

Over a recent delicious Italian meal of lasagna, veal piccatta, veal parmigiana and pollo (chicken) parmigiana the conversation turned to American politics.  Diverse opinions abounded between people of both "right" and "left" persuasions.  All remarks, observations and statements were lively yet respectful.  Laughter was frequently present and genuine.  During the course of the evening's meal, one person commented that she had decided that apathy was the way to survive in our nation's current political and social upheaval.  She remarked that she was tired of partisanism (my word) where civil discourse was practically impossible on any subject.  Her words somehow hit home and resonated with me throughout the night and into the next day.  Three days later, I am still processing the concept of apathy as a method of social survival.

I suspect that some people who espouse apathy are not actually apathetic underneath their proclamations of apathy, but it certainly can serve as an escape mechanism when verbal exchanges become heated and uncivil.  Apathy tends to keep one's mouth shut, which definitely protects against the outrage of those who disagree with you, me or us.

It is unfortunate that, for those of us who are committed middle-of-the-roaders and politically independent, many individuals of the outer persuasions cannot nor will not accept any view other than theirs.  I have long given up professing most of my opinions publicly on any topics other than sea salt, marching band precision, cat litter, font size, and bathrobe fabrics.  These former topics seem to be safe from vitriolic outbursts and hateful statements in response.  I'm certain that if I ever revealed my innermost opinions and viewpoints anywhere other than to my perennial hateful kitty (She dislikes everyone so I'm safe.) I'd be blacklisted from everywhere and everyone. 

When did it become unsafe to express opinions on education, milk chocolate versus dark chocolate, decaf versus caffeinated coffee, types of car tires, government regulations regarding miles per gallon, the ingestion of meat, and fancy car tires versus "regular" car tires. 

Am I apathetic?  When it comes to caring about who the recently divorced super-model is dating, what happened yesterday in Honey Boo-boo's life, or whether or not the decidedly beautiful and devastatingly charming Dutchess of Cambridge is with child.............yest I am. 

On the subjects about which I care deeply, passionately and opinionatedly..........you'll hear as little as possible.  Just have dinner with me. 

Ancora imparo

One At A Time

In a recent email I wrote about how the promise of fall is in the air.  Mother Nature is teasing us midwesterners with the occasional low-humidity, mid-seventies daytime temps and nighttime temps slipping below the sixty-degree mark............occasionally.  Then She flexes her meteorological muscles and throws back some upper-eighties along with laser-beam sun and high humidity.  But, the winds of change are coming as evidenced by geese gathering, school beginnings, fall-type activities starting up, the ever-shortening number of daylight hours, Friday night football, pumpkin-patch displays and apple cider doughnuts.

One of the ways I mark the passage of fall time is the gradual disappearance of fellow aqua RVs.  It is practically unseen how the aqua RV's slip away, sometime within hours.  You can be gone for an hour to run errands and when you return yet another boat slip is empty.  Walking the docks at the hour of 8:00 p.m. finds total darkness both from the sky and docks.  Last night only three slips had lights of any kind.

Yes, fall is right around the corner.  Fall means the inevitable hard frost which will end roadside markets teaming with cucumbers, sweet corn, string beans and tomatoes.  In their place will be bountiful displays of squash, potatoes, apples and pumpkins.  Fall apple varieties are plentiful, juicy, and oh-so delicious.  Who can resist the numerous types of squash?  Large, small, dry, higher-water content........there is a squash for everyone just as there is an apple for every appetite and pie-maker.

I love the seasons.  Each season offers something different to the lovers of seasonal activities.  While I am a decidedly winter "unappreciator", I can enjoy the occasional pristine snowfall...........as long as I do not have to drive in it!

One day at a time.  Every day brings changes - most of which we have no control over.  I await tomorrow.

Ancora imparo     

Details, Details

As I was sitting with my laptop this morning, attempting to wrangle all the minutiae floating through my brain, I found myself resorting to list-making.  For some unknown reason, list-making is highly comforting to me, perhaps because it forces me to compile, sort, and categorize my seemingly random thoughts into cogent patterns that might actually help me remember and accomplish necessary tasks.  I rely heavily on lists, although perhaps I keep them in a few too many places - like in my Franklin Planner (yes, I still use paper), on my smart phone (but having both reminder and note spots in which to make lists is not necessarily a good thing), and on random sheets of mini-legal pad paper which then get tucked in to the front flap of my Franklin Planner. 

After I compiled my lists and attempted to empty my brain, I thought of the phrase, "The devil is in the details." and I became curious about the origin of the phrase and what it really means.  Of course, I resorted to Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge, true and accurate.  According to Wikipedia, the phrase may have originated with a German man in the late 1800's AND the phrase may have originally been worded, "GOD is in the detail". 

Now, this new wrinkle was very interesting.  There is a big difference between God being in the detail and the devil being in the details.  I can tell you, from personal experience, that when it comes to details, the devil is surely lurking there because if you miss or misplace one detail, things can definitely come back to bite you in the posterior........usually big time.   It is more my experience that if you get the details right, the devil stays out and you can feel the presence of God. 

Details do count.  Others may make fun of you, chide you for being "anal" (a descriptor for being highly organized that I absolutely hate and despise), and needle you endlessly, but, in the end (pun intended), these are the same people who will run in the opposite direction when something goes amiss.  Needlers never have your back, but they will stand behind you and criticize. 

I'd rather have one compadre who appreciates detail and will stand with me than one hundred needlers who declare, "I've got your back!"  

Details, details.  So far, I've got them under control.  I'm hoping the devil stays out of my way.

Ancora imparo