Preserving Playtime

 

I was eating a fresh, whole carrot the other day. Fresh from a local farmer's market, and I held it up to show my barber husband and announced how I loved the core! The core? He looked up, puzzled, and examined my freshly chomped on carrot, and noticed that I had eaten my carrot like corn on the cob...he eyed it, then eyed me curiously...

He states how he never noticed that a carrot has a "core," but then again, he has never eaten a carrot like it was an ear of corn. He then said he has never seen someone eat food quite as creatively as I do.

I think my love for food started way back when I was a skinny little kid. Not so much a love for food as in eating, but a love for food as in playing with it. And I never really thought about it until this little adventure in taking photos of peaches and apples. 

As a little kid, I had more interest in playing than in eating. I remember hearing my mother at the dinner table always saying, "Eat, eat...your food will get cold..." I would eat hard-boiled eggs by eating the whites first, then the yoke. (Still do.) I eat all the toppings off the pizza first, then the crust. (Sometimes, still do.) I eat the filling out of key lime pie, then the crust.- all still do. I will eat meat sandwiches, but take it apart usually. I will ALWAYS eat my main course first, then my salad (if served together), and I have a good reason too...I like my hot food hot, and so I eat it while it is hot. 

I never noticed or gave second thought to how I "played" with my food or how I ate it...until my barber husband nudges me with "drink your coffee" when I always only take only two or three sips and I am done (my habit). Or, I tell a story with a piece of food on my fork, and my barber husband nods towards my fork and teases, "Are you ever going to take that bite?" Or, worse, he has cooked a great meal, all set up, and I have to take a photo of it, or him eating, and he finally sighs and says, "Reheating it will ruin it" and so I set my camera down. 

Yes, I finally did get around to making some peach preserves! And here I am, getting ready to wash a small second batch, and once I piled them in my antique graniteware colander getting ready to rinse them, I once again saw how the light was hitting the metal and peaches...and so...out came the camera....

And just had to play with my food just a little bit more...and I think playing with my food as I got older, never really changed, just my toys got more expensive...a camera, expensive kitchen tools, a new lens...except now, I end up with two results: food and photos!

My barber husband was so excited about the whole canning process and hearing the "pop" as the cans sealed, that an entire jar disappeared before I got a chance to get my camera out to show the results. I've been informed that we "must save" the preserves "for winter" and so I have to wait for now to take photos the contents. I believe I'm living with a budding homesteader...

So while I had fun out in the natural light away from the mess of the kitchen, I thought you would enjoy just a few photos that I did manage to snap while I was canning the apples. I made up spicy apple pie jam and while it is pretty difficult to take photos while canning, I did manage to take a few....

It does amaze me how today's generation seems to need electronics to be entertained. Computers, Iphones, texting and so on. Back when I was a kid? An Easy Bake Oven, my crayons, hopscotch, eating peanut butter and saltine crackers and riding my bike with my barbies in my basket was about as technical as it got. And for that I am grateful, because now as an adult, all it takes is a basket of apples to occupy my imagination. 

Straight from mother nature. No wiring needed or batteries.

Just some play time (note: NOT a play date) with me and my imagination - on the spur of the moment.

I hope you enjoyed my playtime with my imagination and yet, it wasn't wasted...not only was it relaxing, it also produced some tasty memories as well - just because I felt like it.

May you find some playtime and find a way to enjoy it without apology or guilt. Don't make a play date, just simply discover some time and play.

I mean, really, is it really playing if you have to schedule it???

From my house to your house,

Oh for Peach's Sake!

Well, for peach's sake... is she ever going to stop playing with these darn peaches and actually cook them or use them for something, other than props? I can almost hear that in the sigh of my patient barber husband as I tell him over the phone when he calls to ask me how the canning is going and I am tell that I "about to start." I am pretty sure he knows what "about to start" really means. It means...I'm about to start in Elizabeth's timeframe, not normal timeframe. 

In case you are a little lost, in my prior post, I shared some photos of some peaches that I am planning on making into preserves, but instead, I did a spontaneous photo gig with them as the light from my window hit them so nicely. My little gig, turned into quite a number of photos. I got caught up in the moment, playing with some settings on my camera, trying out some new things that I have been wanting to try out for some time now, and I ended up shooting a butt load of photos! So, I am breaking up my posts into a couple of sessions, to share with you. 

It was sort of like playing with paper dolls in a way. You cut out one doll, and then another, and then cut out a few dresses, and soon, you find yourself, cutting out hats, and boots and before you know it, you have all sorts of cut up paper all around you, (in my case, in my hair) gleefully cutting away with the little blunt safety scissors.  That is me and my stash of tarnished silver...pulling one out and then another...gleefully seeing what I come up with...

My antique ladle seemed to cradle this little peach so perfectly.  And of course, I fell in love with how the light (and lack of) was hitting the tarnished silver. When alone in the house, I tend to cook/shoot/write in silence. No music, no TV. But today, as I bumped the table, to get these shots, I was very aware of how the ladle gently rocked back and forth, and the faint sound it made on the old, cracked wooden table.

The rocking sound was very soothing actually. Sort of like a large marble slowly rolling across a wooden floor. The light flickering off the metal as it rocked and cradled the peach. I think how we grownups still like to be rocked: We rock slowly in a wicker rocking chair on a porch on a breezy afternoon. Or in a hammock on a lazy day. We rock ourselves in a metal glider until we are relaxed. A porch swing will sooth us, even on the most stressful days. It isn't just the young that get rocked. The difference is, the young are cradled and soothed by another human being, while we adults tend to sooth our own selves in our own ways.

And while we may find our own ways to sooth ourselves, we are never really alone. We have ways to refresh each others' soul. 

While we may not have the answers to all the troubles, we do have ourselves to offer. And sometimes, just offering ourselves, just as we are, is how we cradle another human being.

I accidentally flicked my wet hands over these peaches when I went to wiped them before I picked up my camera again. I was amazed at how a few perfect droplets formed. I could even see the reflection of my windows in one of them! As I peered closer, amazed at its beauty, I realized, I was merely peering at the reflection of myself and my surroundings - except it was through a simple water droplet. The beauty I was amazed at was right there in my own room - I just was viewing it differently. 

And it was then I realized if we just simply offer ourselves to another, we have the ability to cradle that person with a human touch. And let them sooth themselves in their own way in their own time. We don't have to have answers, we just need to offer our own beautiful selves to them. 

The key is, I think, is to believe we have something of beauty to  offer them in the first place. No matter how simple we may think we come across, from another perspective, it is extraordinary. 

May you realize just how soothing your simple words or touch can be to another person.  May you always know how extraordinary you truly are.

From my house to your house,

Feeling Fruity

Feeling a little fruity lately...

Maybe it is the heat? Or being stuck inside for two weeks trying to get things done, but finding so many other things to occupy my time rather than doing what needs to be done?

Well, nothing like getting a big batch of peaches, ripe in the season, to put off whatever chore is nagging at you, and use that as the excuse to delay it for yet another day.

When I brought these little peaches home, I sat them down in my wooden dough bowl, as I dug out my old canning and preserve book from the days when I used to can from my garden when I lived in Texas. My barber husband has never canned before, and so this is his first. I was going to get the first batch started and then when he came home, he could help with the second batch.

Well, I found my canning book and began reading it and as you can see by the light on in my kitchen, I was setting up for business, when I returned for my prized peaches.

I was excited to get started with the sterilizing of the jars, but as you can see, the sunlight was hitting the peaches just so...and so...I had to wipe my hands and get out the Canon and shoot "a few photos" of the peaches before I drop'em in boiling water so I can "skin'em" alive. Sounds a little evil now that I type that out.

If you think I can type out long blog posts, or those of you who have received "novel" emails from me, and those few "lucky" ones who endured marathon phone calls from me, you haven't seen anything when it comes to my picture taking. I get so caught up in the moment, taking so many photos, my hair could catch fire, and it wouldn't be until I noticed falling burnt hair, would I take note...and chances are I would "style" the burnt hair on the floor because I "have to get at least one shot while the light is good" before the ambulance took me away.

Of course, in the moment (can we say at least an hour?) I have no concept of time, or how many photos I am taking, or how I am lying on the table because a water droplet has the "light hitting it just so," or how I am grunting as I squat and curse because I squat again, and again, and again for the same shot because a cloud keeps moving, and I am fanatic about getting that light. Never mind that my knee is killing me...

But you see, I don't realize what a crazy fanatic I am until I download my photos and think, "I think I will share my 'few' peach photos with my readers," and suddenly I am staring at 158 photos! Now granted, many shots are exactly alike, just different settings that I am playing with, trying out, and testing.

So my point is, I have some more photos from this fruit cup to share to share with you. I played longer than I realized. You know how toddlers have their wooden blocks? Well, I have my peaches. And never mind about not playing with your food...

Remember, we don't stop playing because we get old. We get old because we stop playing. I am pretty sure my readers know all about that.

This little peach seems like she just wanted to come right up to  the computer screen and stare back at my readers and see what's all the fuss was about.  And the other peaches are hanging back waiting for her to report back to them. 

She is my kinda peach...just fruity enough not to be a sap.

More peach photos to come (not 158 though just a few more!). In the meantime, I hope you take some time to play too.

from my house to your house,