55 Things to do when I'm 55

Tomorrow I turn 55 ... as in fifty five years old (yelp, yikes, wow)!
This event calls for a list: 55 things to do this years.

But I gotta think on this a bit. I'm not good with follow-thru but I'm great with ideas.  I don't want to create yet another opportunity for an incomplete project. I want to really give this list some thought. Make the list something that I can do. Something I really want to do. Things that will feel good to do. Good to me. It will require a little soul searching. Gotta fill in the blanks. Ask myself questions. And answer them.  Who knows, I might only have 55 years left!

Meanwhile, here is a field next to the building where I work. Am I lucky or what?

Month in Numbers

Came across this little idea today and like it. Month in numbers... goofy but fun. Just an almost random listing of the past month past numbers. For example, this would be my April:

1. Number of times I got on my bike and rode.
2. Number (each) of cats, dogs and kids I have that I still call mine.

3. Times I went to the Grocery store and forgot to buy milk
4. Number of tap classes I attended to learn 8 counts of dance.  Okay, maybe 16 (shuffle R-step-heel shuffle L step heel-shuffle R ball change shuffle R step scuff L heel R brush back scuff front heel brush back step heel).

5. # of battle-axes I know that I call friends.
22. Times I reminded the kids to unload the dishwasher. (maybe a lie, more like 45).
30. Evenings my husband fell asleep on the couch while playing Sudoku.
1,300. Daily calorie restriction I'm attempting to adhere to.

Ever just chuckle at yourself?

I enjoy a good laugh... at my own expense. Like a couple of weeks ago when I decided to cook my way through a cookbook. ME?! A bread baking book too! What was I thinking?
Uh. I wasn't thinking. It was a momentary flight of grandeur, with little basis in reality.  Because the very next week I was baking out of a box and by this week, I'd totally forgot about the whole bread baking thing!
Only by scrolling down on this very blog, did I remember I'd started the project.
There must've been a cloud passing over my head that day, carrying this idea in it. But the cloud has passed on and is probably hovering somewhere over Montana now.
Me? I'm still here in B'burg. With new clouds of ideas over my head.

My box baking foray from last week:

This handy-dandy little mix took all of 3 minutes to prep and throw in a pan. Then it baked and "TaDa!" it was ready.
My review: it didn't taste like my mom's apple cake recipie I recalled with fondness when I spotted the box at the grocery. The marketing fooled me. (Hey, sometimes T.J.'s box mixes are good.) This one didn't knock my socks off. Still, it made my kitchen smell good and that pan of baked bread looked very cozy. (Basically, the guys ate it).
What gives you cause to chuckle about yourself?

Want to help Japan?

As you watch the news coverage of Japan, do you wonder how you'd cope if this happened to you?  Do you believe the magnitude of loss hasn't even hit yet and that for every statistic reported (as of today: 9,000 dead; 13,000 still missing), there are an exponential number of untold statistics?
Things that cannot be counted.
Because for every person who lives/has lived/has loved ones in Japan, there is now a forever changed life. Broken hearts and hungry tummies. Lost histories, wiped out by a memory that will not silence for a long time.

It makes me want to do something. And I'm lucky, because I can.

I'm fortunate that one of my closest friends is Japanese.  I met Rika Morioka years ago while working at a Japanese Travel Agency in Seattle. Both of us wanted more education. We entered the University of Washington at about the same time. A few years later we happily walked together at graduation. I, with my accounting degree and young daughter, went to work. But Rika went on to get her PhD in Sociology at UCSD.  During her journey she lived in China and Burma/Myanmar. She also returned to Japan many times to visit her mother and eventually nurse her as she was dying from Pancreatic Cancer.
During her stay in Myanmar she worked for the United Nations on Drugs & Crimes, Save the Children and  the World Food Program. Currently Rika lives with my cousins in Baltimore.
Yesterday, she sent me this letter. I want to pass it on to all my friends and family who may be interested in helping directly.  Rika has the opportunity to go to Japan and work with Unicef, but she needs help getting there.  She already has the skills:

• Native Japanese speaker
• A full understanding of the culture
• Experience helping people in crisis situations (Rika was in Myanmar when the cyclone hit in 2008 and worked with the World Food Program).

Rika possesses another asset which is crucial to the task at hand:  follow-thru and commitment. I know this to be true. She has been a friend for many years, through different phases of our lives. Please read her letter:

Dear friends,

On March 11^th, northern Japan was hit by the fifth-largest recorded earthquake in human history, followed by 30 feet tsunamis.  Though I was immediately informed about the earthquake, I didn’t really realize the scale of the disaster.  After all, Japan is prone to earthquakes – not a big deal, I thought.  I didn’t even call my family.  It was only when I saw the horrifying images of water sweeping cars and houses like toys in the middle of cities, I began to realize that this was something extraordinary.   Since then, I have been glued to the upstream live TV that reported not only the plight of the people, but the impending crisis of the nuclear plant.  

For seven days, I kept contacting organizations both in Japan and the US, wanting to do something, anything that I might be able to do.  I contacted local organizations in Japan, international NGOs already in Japan, US based NGOs, faith-based NGOs, I even contacted Lutheran World Relief asking if I can be of help.   All of them told me “no” because they were not ready to accept volunteers or sending people to Japan.   I almost gave up.

Then, just a few days ago, I received email from an acquaintance from UNICEF asking if I was willing to fly to Tokyo and help them with their relief efforts, engaging in monitoring and research.  This was a perfect job for me as I have worked for emergency relief efforts by UN in Burma/Myanmar when the country was hit by a cyclone & tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people.  So I said yes.  But in reality, I had a problem.  I didn’t know anyone in Tokyo, and there was no place I could stay.  Tokyo is crowded, hotels are too expensive, and right now it is chaotic due to lack of fuel, electricity and goods… So again, I kept sending email to anyone I could think of.  And again, someone responded!  I found a woman who is willing to give me some space for my sleeping bag in the middle of Tokyo for free!

I am making a progress.  I have an agency to volunteer with.  I have a place to stay.  All I need to do is to buy tickets to Japan…   Then, it dawned on me… that I have to pay for air tickets, food, and local transportation.  I need financial help. 

So, I am writing this email asking for help of friends.  Would you help me help people in Japan?  If you have been thinking of supporting the earthquake relief, this might be one way to do it.  Any amount is helpful as I am building on my small savings.  Please respond to this email if you can.  I could come to see you if you live in the area, and tell you more about it if you like.   My number is 410-350-1349 if you prefer calling me.  If you want to send a check, my address is 14206 Sawmill Ct, Phoenix, MD 21131.

I appreciate any help you can give me, including your prayers.

Thank you for reading my long story : )

-Rika

FYI:  Rika is not a registered Non Profit. She cannot give you a tax receipt for your donation. But I vouch for her that any money you donate will go to making a difference to a life in Japan. This is her mission and she does not take it lightly. She will not squander any donations.
Please help if you can. The smallest amounts add up!!!
(The crisis is not over, even when our media moves on to something else).

Spring. It surprises me every time!

Why would spring surprise me? It's on the calendar and it happens annually 'bout the same time. Still it surprises me. Sort of catches me off guard and I'm in awe.  Or slight disbelief.
Suddenly the light is different. Sunlight spotlights things that have been hidden for months.  Like the mossy patches on the patio. Green shoots are popping up and old foliage is begging to be snipped off.  Come outside it's saying.

It's just a crazy ol' world and it keeps spinning and happening.  No matter what I'm thinking or doing.
And personally, I'm okay with that.

You've heard of Julie & Julia, right?

Ever thought about starting a  Julie & Julia type project?  You're not alone. I've played with the idea too. I read the book and loved  the movie. I've also looked at the blog. What fascinates me most is the undertaking and follow-thru. The task of putting one foot in front of the other and doing something completely. Just because you want to. You want the challenge or a hundred other things. And the process is the way.
OK. For me, nothing quite so big as the Julia Child endeavor, cause I'm a weenie cook. I can barely deal with a bloody steak. But the task of cooking through a cookbook fascinates me. To KNOW every recipe. Cookbook intimacy.

Baking also intrigues me. I've talked about a weekly baking day. I'd like my kids to have a few memories (just a few!) of coming home to fresh baked cookies or bread. Just a few. I remember coming home to the smell of fresh baked bread and cinnamon rolls.  Magnificent! And the deal is, my time is running out. One child is a senior, the other a junior. Soon they won't be coming home from school, at least not on a daily basis.
So, with those two thoughts in mind (#1-cooking all the way thru a cookbook and #2-baking for my family) I've decided to start a new project: Cooking thru a small bread baking book that's been sitting in my cookbook closet (time to come out of the closet).
I could call it The Mary and Linda Project, as the book is flavored breads by Linda Collister.  But that seems just a bit presumptuous.  I think I'll just do it and see what happens. Count it down maybe?  There are only 14 recipies (big smile!).

So, here goes. Today I'm baking  bacon and walnut fougasse, a mediterranean bread. I can't go wrong 'cause it's got BACON & WALNUTS in it for goodness sakes.  "These attractive, oval individual loaves come from Provence where .... ".
I've been to Provence. I liked Provence. Will Provence like me?
Now for the gorgeous photos that all food blogs seem to have.....dot dot dot.

Where have I been?

Why have I been gone so long, missing from sparkeltoes? Don't know exactly. But sort of know un-exactly.

We've been working weekends on our kitchen ... it's 'bout time to let the mauve-60's look go! (geesh). Then there's work and kids and pets and laundry and the short winter days of the northwest. Which don't inspire me much at all. I generally get through by spending a lot of quality time with my couch. We've got an ongoing relationship, my couch and I. And it's serious. (No comments).

Our cat Joe has a serious couch attachment too.