Good and Bad and Bad and Good

Yesterday, Theo gave me four questions to answer, two of which involved finding both the good and bad in a situation. Later, he shared this parable with me that illustrated the concept well. It has been around for a long time and the author is unknown.

Maybe, Said the Farmer

Author unknown

Once upon a time, there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.

“Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.

“Maybe,” replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

“Maybe,” answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

“Maybe,” said the farmer.

Theo's Questions

In the style of Tuesday 4, I've asked Theo to give me four questions to answer with essentially no parameters. Just like with Ward, I gave the example of asking, "What did you have for breakfast?" And just like his father, he came up with a completely different set of questions than I suggested. Which by the way, require more thought than Ward's did. Here it goes. Join me if you'd like.

My mother was in a nursing
home at this point.

1. What's one good aspect of something bad that happened recently? The first thing that comes to mind is that I spilled something on the kitchen floor. Very annoying, but when I was done cleaning it up, the floor was cleaner than it had been. A good aspect of a bad thing.

On a more serious note, my mother suffered from dementia during the last years of her life. It was a heart-wrenching thing to watch as the changes happened. But also while watching her, I learned that there is happiness to be had during all phases of life. Even when she was no longer able to communicate with words, she still expressed happiness in everyday things such as the warmth of the sun or the smell of bacon. She would do this with a little smile or a glimmer in her eye. Definitely a very valuable lesson in a difficult situation.

In general, bad things provide an opportunity to learn, always a good thing.

2. What's one bad aspect of something good that happened recently? About a year and a half ago, I got a new position at the library. The new position gave me an increased salary, as well as the ability to do more creative things. However, now I  have to work some nights and weekends, making it harder to coordinate time with Ward.

 3. What was the last new or novel thing you saw?

When we were visiting Annapolis last week, we found parking meters where you could only pay with an app on your phone. Cash or credit cards were not accepted. We couldn't get the app to load, so we had to drive around until we could find another place to park. During this search, we saw more parts of the city than we might have otherwise. I guess this is another example of a bad thing/good thing.

Last year, our first good snow was in Dec.

4. What is something you haven't seen for a while?

I haven't seen snow in a while, and that's a good thing. But that may change soon.

In general, I found these questions difficult to answer. They don't sound that hard, but I drew a blank on every one of them, I thought about them for a full day before I could come up with any answers. That makes me think, I'm not a good observer of my everyday life (I just realized that's the tag line on my blog. That needs some more exploration.)

And not to mention, I got confused with the first two. I switched my answers a couple of times before I got the right combination of bad/good, good/bad. Sometime, I will have to write my own questions and I will start with, "What did you have for breakfast?" :)

Until next time...

Halloween Memories

When I was a very young child I could tell when Halloween was coming by the dried field corn that would magically appear on our porch. I never questioned where it came from. I just knew it was a sign that Halloween was not far off. 

The corn was all part of the area's Halloween Corning tradition. Teens would steal farmers' field corn and use it to throw at things. It was a harmless prank when they threw it on porches like ours, but much more serious when they threw it at passing cars. On the dark winding roads of my county, being surprised by a handful of corn hitting a windshield was dangerous. But the teens didn't see it that way. They just saw it as harmless fun while sneaking around in the dark and surprising people with the corn.  I don't remember any serious car accidents, but one of my friends in high school had several of her teeth ripped out by a clothesline as she was fleeing the scene of a corning. Needless to say, I was not allowed to take part in any of the antics, not that I wanted to. It seemed to me it was usually the popular crowd, who were also sneaking beer, who were the main perpetrators.

So what was happening back at our boring house? Trick or treating was always a big thing. Our costumes were homemade usually from things found around the house. We had a very limited area of houses we were allowed to go to and once we reached 12 years old, we were declared too old to Trick or Treat by my mother. Even with our limitations, it was always fun to get candy. That was back in the day when people gave out apples as treats and we had to make sure there weren't razor blades in them. I was disappointed when I was too old for regular trick or treating, but happy that I was able to go Trick or Treating for Unicef. That was usually done through a church group, and we would collect coins in slotted cardboard boxes for Unicef. If we were lucky, we would get candy along with the coins.

Not everyone had the same views on Trick or Treating as my parents. We lived in town, so we got lots of visitors - sometimes in the hundreds. Kids would come in from the more rural areas to Trick or Treat where there were sidewalks. Can't blame them for that, but I realize now that it was hard for my parents to provide something for all of the kids who knocked on the door with their limited funds. However, it just wasn't the country kids. Sometimes it was adults or very old teens with the stereotypical pillowcase. My mother did not have kind words for them. 

Wally &Theo back in Houston where the
weather was often warm for Halloween.

So what about when my kids went Trick or Treating? They usually stayed in the neighborhood wearing costumes we got from the thrift shop. They would come home, sort and inspect the candy, and then I would put most of it away for later. They stopped Trick or Treating in middle school, much like I did, but I know many of their friends Trick or Treated even when they were in high school. I don't necessarily think that that is a bad thing--or at least it didn't bother me as much as it did my mother. 

More stories to tell, but it's time to get ready for the kids that will be visiting tonight. We usually have 20 or so. I'm prepared for more and if we just happen to have some Reese's Cups leftover, well so be it. :)

Until next time...

Well, That's Annoying.

Pet peeves. Those annoying little things that really bug you, but aren't that important in the grand scheme of things. Do you have any? I do. And I'm going to grouse about them now.

First is how people are totally unaware of how they might sound on the other end of a phone call. In my job, I have to get information from people over the phone to help them. And it is a lot more difficult than it needs to be. People don't seem to think that they need to be near their phones or worry about background noise while they're on a call. I often describe the calls as sounding as if the caller has a bucket over their head because of echoes and general muddiness of the sound. Many of the calls are made from cars which produce a lot of background noise. And often, the caller is holding a simultaneous conversation with someone else that has no relevance to the call. If you are making a call where you need to impart or receive information, wait until you can do it in a quiet area without distractions. And get close to your phone. Things will go a lot smoother if you do. 

Also, I get annoyed the way most popular songs repeat the same couple of lines over and over at the end. I don't mind a regular repeat of a chorus, but the other just seems like the writer/singer can't come up with anything else and is trying to fill the allotted time for the recording. But everyone seems to do it, so maybe I'm the only one who gets bored with the repetition.

And TV has gone overboard with moving graphics. We don't need a crawler, flashing logo, and advertisements for other shows all while we watch the main event. Just because it is easy to do these things doesn't mean that they have to be done. Am I the only one who gets annoyed when these extra graphics are blocking the main content? Does anyone occasionally go into sensory overload when there are so many unrelated things happening at the same time?

That seems like enough grumbling for now. Do you have any pet peeves?

A Day in the Life- Wednesday

 Yesterday, Ward and I had a morning appointment in Annapolis, MD  We left early in case we ran into rush hour traffic, and even though there was a lot of construction, the trip went off without a hitch. We had been to Annapolis a couple of times before, but not for a long time, so after the appointment, we set off to explore the area. The goal was not to see all of the sights the state capital had to offer but to figure out the ins and outs for a future visit. As part of our search, we found a great place for lunch that had been recommended by the locals where I had a veggie sandwich (with both avocado and cream cheese) and Ward had a shrimp omelet. Delicious.

Armed with literature in hand for our next visit, we headed home mid-afternoon. Even though Ward had taken the day off, he begin working on a project that had been occupying his thoughts. I on the other hand sat down to let Annie on my lap to quiet her fussing. 

Leaving a quiet, slumbering cat on the couch, I went to the kitchen to do something that I had been meaning to get to for a few weeks now - process the apples we picked from one of our trees. We have two old apple trees in our yard and for the first time this year, we actually got a few apples we could use. They were not the prettiest, but that didn't hurt their taste. They made a delicious apple crisp.

Throughout the day, I continued to work on a project I'm doing for Ward's father. I am sorting through all of the pictures he inherited from his mother. Not an easy task because most of the pictures are not labeled and I don't know many of the people. However, I am making more sense out of things than I thought I might. And I have found some gems along the way. 

We had grilled burgers for dinner and finished out the evening much like many others - reading, playing computer games, and watching TV with cats on our laps. Last night we saw HGTV's Bargain Block which is another house makeover show. It's my current favorite.

It was an uneventful, good day. I'm planning another one of those today. And the next. And the next. :)

A few pictures:

Not only is Annapolis the capital of Maryland, but it also served as the nation's capital at one point.

It is also close to the Chesapeake Bay with a lot of water activity.

And that may be one reason why the US Naval Academy is located there.

I have black-stained fingers from cutting up these apples yesterday.

But the crisp was worth it. BTW, I used flavor instant oatmeal packets for the top. Ward bought a box to take backpacking and the rest have been languishing in the back of the pantry for years now.

One of the pictures I was able to identify - a young Ward.

Until next time...