Euphemism

Terminal illness and fatal illness are now called “life-limiting illness.” That’s what a hospice facility in Topeka calls it on its web page. In addition, “hospice” means hope, comfort and support at all times,” according to the web page.

Well, well, well. Where does the hope come in? Is it hope of heaven and better times ahead? Does a nurse stroke one’s brow and murmur “There, there, Jesus is coming to get you?”

Personally, I’d rather get real and call it terminal illness. I’d rather the hospice nurse would say, “You are going to die soon. We will try to ease your way into the great beyond.” And I just hope it won't hurt too much.

What a great experience death must be if one is allowed to die in peace or by surprise. You’re here and then you are not. Back to before you were born, I believe, but I’m a nut.

Our friend Tim is in hospice care now, in the very facility whose web site I quote above.  God help him.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer

Ah-choo!

When the sneezing fits started a couple of days ago, I looked outdoors for the culprit. Sure enough, right on schedule, the elm trees are in bloom. They’re nothing much to look at – just fuzz on the twigs – but their pollen sure packs a whallop.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer

How Does Enmity Arise?

I’ve been thinking about enmity now and then for the last couple of years. The burning question for me has become: how does enmity arise? Finally, I decided to learn what others have opined on this subject. I started with Dictionary.com:

enmity |ˈenmitē|

noun ( pl. -ties)

the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something : enmity between Protestants and Catholics | family feuds and enmities.

Next I found Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Part Four, Friendship and Enmity. He had a lot to say about friendship, but skimped on enmity. He didn’t speculate on how it arises. He lingered on the difference between anger and hatred. He said that anger can be cured by time, but hatred cannot. Whether both anger and hatred are enmity or lead to enmity, he does not say.

A couple of centuries later, in Tetrabiblos, Ptolemy blamed enmity on the stars – opposing astrological signs of the parties involved. I’m sorry, that’s not helpful.

Thinking of the enmity between Muslims and Muslims, Jews and Muslims, Christians and Jews, and so forth, I decided to discover what those religions have to say on the subject. I guess they’re all too busy quarreling and killing each other to ask how enmity arises, because my quest turned up nothing.

Confucius wrote, somewhat enigmatically, that one should respond to enmity with excellence. What does that mean?

At the end of an afternoon of on-line research, I’m no closer to an answer than when I began. I just hate not understanding how enmity arises.

I did, however, learn afresh something I've always known. Aristotle wrote “… we can prove people to be friends or enemies; if they are not, we can make them out to be so; if they claim to be so, we can refute their claim; and if it is disputed whether an action was due to anger or to hatred, we can attribute it to whichever of these we prefer.”

This thought resonates with me because I believe that once we have set ourselves against another (or others) we can perceive them only from that point of view. In other words, enmity sustains itself through mind set.

Although I'm no closer to understanding how enmity arises, Robert Frost’s poem “Fire and Ice,” describes its tremendous power precisely.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer

Super Water

We are advised to drink eight glasses of water every day.  It’s a good idea, but why not make it super-water?

Recently I’ve become interested in herbal alternatives to pharmaceutical products, which have many undesirable side effects. One is hibiscus tea. Who would guess that red hibiscus flowers pack so many health benefits, benefits – lowering blood pressure and cholesterol as well as benefiting the liver? It’s also rich in vitamin C.

Drinking hibiscus tea has deep cultural roots. In Jamaica, Mexico and Central America it is called "Agua de Flor de Jamaica" It is also a traditional drink in North Africa, Asia and Italy. Although the traditional drink is sweetened with sugar, I’ve been making plain hibiscus tea to mix with my morning orange juice.

I’m also drinking oat straw tea, a mildly sweet, grassy tea. Oat straw has just about everything one could need: calcium, magnesium, vitamins A and B complex. It’s good for insomnia, estrogen deficiency, thyroid conditions, depression and anxiety. It boosts the immune system and lowers cholesterol. Oats are native to Scotland but have spread to many parts of the world. It was the Scots who first made tea from oat straw.

In the following photos I’ve already started my daily oat straw tea and am ready to brew hibiscus tea. The proportions are one tablespoon oat straw to one cup of water and one-fourth cup hibiscus flowers to two cups of water. Hibiscus flowers and oat straw are available in bulk at your local health food store.

Here I’ve just poured boiling water over the hibiscus flowers. Quickly the water turns red.

Here the teas have finished brewing and are ready to be strained. I let them cool completely before straining.

Let's drink to the health benefits and delightful tastes of super water.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer

Nouveau Ragout

Rain fell all afternoon and evening yesterday. The last traces of snow disappeared, revealing tulips, daffodils, narcissus and oriental poppies several inches high. Although my rain-starved soul rejoiced, a trip to the grocery store on a rainy afternoon had no appeal.

Instead, I stayed home, listening to raindrops on the roof, watching raindrops roll down the windows and figuring out what to make for supper using ingredients at hand. I had a bunch of kale, three poached skinless, boneless chicken thighs and several kinds of cheese.

What I came up with was surprisingly good! In fact, I’ve written down the recipe so I can make it again. If you enjoy the tang of feta cheese and want to eat more kale, you may want to try it yourself.

Nouveau Ragout

2 tablespoons flour

½ cup half and half

1 bunch kale, stemmed and coarsely chopped

1 ½  cups chicken broth or water with chicken base

3 or 4 cups cooked chicken, diced

2 tablespoons butter

4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Stir the flour into the half-and-half and set aside. Steam kale in ½ cup of the chicken broth until tender. Add remaining broth, diced chicken and butter. Bring to a low boil. Stir in the half-and-half and continue to cook until slightly thickened. Stir in 3 ounces of the feta cheese.

Serve over rice, mashed potatoes, polenta, or even toast. Sprinkle each serving with some feta cheese.

Next time I'll try adding mushrooms.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer

Tough Guys and Wimps

Over the weekend when the snow began to melt Dennis went out to open the cold frame.

Inside, despite bitter cold days and deep snow cover, all is well with the spinach, lettuce and arugula. These tough guys just need a good drink of water.

Now the covers are down again, free of snow so the sun can shine in.

Inside the house, where we wimps live, a hot weather crop is about to get started. No tough guy when it comes to cold, the sweet potato faints and dies when touched by frost. Starting sweet potato “slips” is as easy as putting a sweet potato in water and setting it in a sunny window. Tiny buds are already forming on the little one, which is a Beauregard. The big ones are a garnet yam on the left and a Japanese yam on the right.

Who says you can’t garden the year around? You just have to know the tough guys from the wimps and treat them accordingly.

To be fair, when hot weather comes the tough guys will become wimps. As the dys grow warmer they will start going to seed to secure their posterity. That's when the wimpy sweet potatoes come into their own, growing vines that criss-cross in a tangled mass and head off in all directions.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer

A Case of Mistaken Identity

As Annie Hall so often said when nonplussed, “Well, la-di-da, la-di-da.” Ever since we returned from Galveston I’ve been searching for the dirty clothes I packed to bring back separately from clean ones. I remember putting them in a kitchen trash bag and topping them with my black dress shoes.

Just now as I was doing laundry a light bulb came on: when Dennis packed the car he mistook my dirty clothes for trash and put the bag in the trash cart at Canal Breeze. My clothes are gone – underwear, jeans, T-shirts and shoes – gone to the Galveston dump.

Well, la-di-da, la-di-da.

Never mind. The scenery around Paradise has been soft and monochromatic. The snowy fields with silos and trees…

The Rural Water District No. 2 water tower, providing a spot of soft color…

And the memorial in our yard where ashes of some departed friends are scattered.

Who cares about a few clothes and a pair of shoes? Beauty is all around.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer