The Story Lady

I am the Story Lady, El Hada de los Cuentos. Last Spring while lying in bed, thinking of my creative writing workshop endeavors, a vision came to me of myself reading stories to children in the beautiful park we enjoy in the heart of our town. So I found an image that I liked, made up the name, and decided to go to the park two evenings a week to do this reading. I mentioned it to the Library Director, a friend of mine, who put in touch with proper authorities to get "permission" to do this. Of course a free, cultural, beneficial activity, received full support from the Town Hall.

I chose different children's books each week from the library, and agreed to "borrow" and return undamaged newer titles from the local book store, and set off to do my reading.

I chose peak playground days and time: Tuesdays and Fridays at 8pm (Spanish hours you know) and brought with me a beach chair for me to sit on, a blanket for the kids to sit on, a homemade easle and poster to present the endeavor. I made flyers anouncing the activity, the days and times of my reading, and the books read that week, and handed them out to all the parents with their kids at the playground.

The first day I had 6 - 8 kids.

As July progressed the crowd grew, and a following developed: kids and their parents came specifically to hear the Story Lady. I don't know who enjoyed it more: me, the kids or the parents?

This has lead to paid reading activities for both adults and kids, in both Spanish and English through the Library. Regular paid readings at local book stores, and now I'm being approached by local publisher's sales teams to work for them in their promotional activities.

With the arrival of good weather and daylight until 9pm I am back at the park one Saturday a moth and will be there once a week in the summer, this time paid by the library. This vision has become my new path, that brings me and so many others such pleasure. I love sharing with others how ENJOYABLE reading is - for all ages and of all types of books. I am the Story Lady and my following is growing.

Take Me Back - Weekend Wordsmith

Take me back to swings and mountain breeze
Take me back to grandma's pancakes and biscuits
Take me back to the comfort and security of that crackling fire

Take me back to days of long awaited homecomings
Take me back to my favourite meals and flowers on the dresser
Take me back to being cherished and spoiled

Take me back to Redskins games on cold fall days
Take me back to the warmth of your laughter and strength of your wisdom
Take me back to story time cuddled against your side

Take me back to slow summer days filled with imagination and laziness
Take me back to playing in the creek, catching fireflies, grandpapa's piano
Take me back to garden vegetables picked that day for supper, and homemade pies for dessert

Take me back to those care free childhood times
When I was loved, protected, cherished, free to be
Take me back to those warm, wonderful embraces
when time stood still and I just was.....

Menu Follow Up

The Sunday Menu:

White fish fillets pan grilled with herbs
Accompanied by a mushroom white wine cream sauce
Garlic Rice
Steamed Aspragus
Fresh Fruit Salad

All plates bread mopped clean!

Served at a properly set table with lit candle and background Spanish ballads playing, catalyst to conversation about details of weekend activities and dates, laughter about silly anecdotes from school, memories from our own teen years and plans for the week's activities.

That's why I'm still motivated to prepare and serve proper, healthy meals, they are the catalyst and foundation to family conversation and communication in a time when TV's, computers, telephones, activities, keep us all in our own individual worlds!

What's on the Menu?

Menu:

Queso y Fruta
Verduras Crudas con “dip” especial
Roscos
Vichysoisse
Ensalada del Mar
Crepes de delicias del bosque con espárragos
Postre de fruta y chocolate
Vino Blanco y Cava

I spend a lot of time thinking about “what’s on the menu.” Out of nowhere I’ll ask my husband what he’d like to eat the next day for our “comida” (our main meal that we eat between 2 and 3pm, as is the Spanish tradition). Or he’ll ask me on a night that we both lay restless in bed what I’m thinking about, and I’ll answer “what I’m going to fix for comida tomorrow.”
“How can you think about food all the time, when you’re not even hungry?”
How do I explain it’s not only the food, but also how to schedule my day in order to fix the food, that I’m planning. It’s all based on the workshops I have, the time a dish takes to prepare, if I need leftovers because I won’t be home for lunch later in the week, and finally any ingredients I might need. Well, and of course, what I feel like eating, since they usually don’t tell me what they’d like to eat when I ask.

When I pick my 15 year old daughter up from school I ask what she has eaten at school (she’s the only one who doesn’t eat at home during the week, because of her school schedule) so that I can pick our supper menu accordingly, filling in the things she missed out on, and not repeating eggs or meat. Our supper is usually like an American lunch: sandwiches, soup, maybe an omelet, a salad, or a pasta dish. Often everyone makes their own, but the proper, healthy ingredients must be there.

I put a lot of my mental and physical energy in this meal planning, and the shopping that goes along with it. This supermarket here for lowest prices, this fresh vegetable shop there where the things are locally grown and, although not guaranteed organic, are more naturally produced and more flavorful. The market with the best fish this week, the butchers with the locally grown meet next week, to stock the freezer. (Luckily all this is affordable and easily available here on the Costa del Sol.) The meals must be healthy, which means no pre-prepared, highly processed ingredients. They must be balanced, which means: at least two kinds of vegetables; not huge amounts of protein; a healthy carbohydrate, and not high in fats. (OK I know many diets say we should eat proteins and carbs separately, but I often serve them together.) And legumes at least once a week. (I learned that from my Spanish mother in law.) I try and get us all to eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, not always successfully but at least it’s a conscious objective. My daughters have been hearing since they’ve been little “You have to eat your green today!”

In my planning I must keep in mind what my daughters like, so that they will fill up on this healthy meal I serve, and not the junk food they can get while they’re in town if they’ve only eaten a little because they didn’t like it. I have tried to teach them to eat everything, but…well if you’re a Mom you know how it goes.

I love to use leftovers. My challenge to myself is how to use something leftover to make a completely new and different dish. My record was at a family gathering where I used 7 things from two previous meals to make the most delicious Shepherds Pie that everyone loved.

This is the veggie pasta casserole that I made for comida this week with ground beef and chicken (broken up patties that thawed when my husband generously defrosted the freezer the night before) and sautéed zucchini and red pepper salad left over from two different meals earlier in the week, plus an array of other freshly added veggies herbs, and parmesan cheese. Not bad for making it up when I went to bed the night before trying to figure out how to feed three adults with three thin patties that had just thawed out by mistake.

And this is my version of a Greek salad I served that evening for supper, with leftover steamed green beans and broccoli thrown in that would have turned bad if I didn’t use them up quick. We had more than our 5 servings of fruit and vegetables that day!

So what’s on the menu for tomorrow? Come back and find out, I haven’t looked in the freezer (nor gone to bed) yet!

Letting Go

I have let go of the assumption that my daughters will go to university.
I have let go of pre-determined images of their adult lives.
I have let go of assuming that being intellectual is the key to their happiness and success;
- it is my key, but not everyone's.
I have let go of my desires for more and more material possessions;
- they are acquiring theirs.
I have let go of the notion that I can still "guide" my daughters;
- I can only love them and make myself available to support them when they feel they need it.
I have let go of the assumption that they will live and love like me.
I have let go of the sermons of why living like me, or like I think they should live, should be their living path.

It is a challenging road, this one of letting go.
It has been a gradual realization as we have advanced along our path;
- my values of a different generation and a different culture are not the same values by which they navigate their lives in today's Spain.

I can only hope that the core values of love, respect, integrity, understanding and giving, that we have shown them by our life examples, will have influenced them more than our words of sermons and lecturing have done.

Of all these things, as a mother, I have let go....or so I tell myself.....but have they let go of me?

From my journal dated March 17th 08

Proud to be a Liberal

I've been going round and round with this notion since early last week when I saw a CNN report on the U.S. elections that claimed that Barak Obama may have difficulty in the General Election if he cannot free himself from the liberal label. (That, of course, the Republicans and their cronies at Fox and the rest paste on Obama every chance they get) The report showed footage of one of Obama's appearances on the campaign trail going through a list of his stands and explaining why they are not liberal, as if being liberal were something terribly wrong and to be ashamed of!

Why, over the past decade or so, has it become such a negative thing to be considered a liberal? The conservatives and neo-cons are proud to stand up and defend their labels, so why don't the democrats do the same thing?

In these musings I did a Google search for the definitions of the two labels. Here are the ones which encompassed all the definitions found:

Merriam Webster Dictionary:

liberalism
Main Entry:
lib·er·al·ism
Pronunciation:
\ˈli-b(ə-)rə-ˌli-zəm\
Function:
noun
1: the quality or state of being liberal2a. often capitalized : a movement in modern Protestantism emphasizing intellectual liberty and the spiritual and ethical content of Christianity b: a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard c: a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties dcapitalized : the principles and policies of a Liberal party.

From the On Line Free Dictionary:

lib·er·al
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(lbr-l, lbrl)
adj.
1.
a. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
b. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.
c. Of, relating to, or characteristic of liberalism.
d. Liberal Of, designating, or characteristic of a political party founded on or associated with principles of social and political liberalism, especially in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States.

What is there to be ashamed of in these definitions? In this fast changing, globalized world, where nothing is the same as it was 5 years ago, we need to to be "not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox or authoritarian attitudes.." It is a time when we need to be "favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress and tolerant of the ideas and behaviour of others.." These are the principals that business and industry have been adhering to on order to grow and succeed in this fast paced High Tech Information Age.

Now take a look at the defintions for Conervatism:

\kən-ˈsər-və-ˌti-zəm\
Function:
noun
1capitalized a: the principles and policies of a Conservative party b: the Conservative party2 a: disposition in politics to preserve what is established b: a political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions, and preferring gradual development to abrupt change; specifically : such a philosophy calling for lower taxes, limited government regulation of business and investing, a strong national defense, and individual financial responsibility for personal needs (as retirement income or health-care coverage)3: the tendency to prefer an existing or traditional situation to change.

From The Free Dictionary

con·ser·va·tive
play_w("C0581800")
(kn-sûrv-tv)
adj.
1. Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.
2. Traditional or restrained in style: a conservative dark suit.
3. Moderate; cautious: a conservative estimate.
4.
a. Of or relating to the political philosophy of conservatism.
b. Belonging to a conservative party, group, or movement.

With conservatives trying to "favor these traditional views and values.., and preserve what is established.." the United States now: suffers a worrisome large gap between the haves and the have nots; struggles with mistrust and fear of those who represent change and progress; has implemented constitutionally questioable methods in the name of "conserving" America and its freedoms. These are all catlysts to the strong division bewteen and the low tolerance of one for the other that the nation suffers today. (United we stand - Divided we fall) And yet the Conservatives continue to stand up proudly for their Conservative Values, while disdainfully criticising those supporting Liberal Values.

I am disappointed that Mr. Obama did not stand up, define and defend the Liberal label and then proudly declare that yes he is a Liberal. According to all definitions I found, he is. By not doing so, he has allowed the Conservatives to succeed at converting the Liberal label into something degrading, fearful and shameful. The shame is that the liberals do not stand up and return the respectable term to its rightful, repsectful place in the U.S. political debate and options.

I share with you just such a defense that I found on my Google search:

A Liberal Definition by John F. Kennedy:
Acceptance Speech of the New York Liberal Party Nomination
September 14, 1960
What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal." (The rest of his speech can be found http://www.liberalparty.org/JFKLPAcceptance.html )

Mr. Obama, you missed the chance to draw another parallel of yourself to Mr. J.F. Kennedy on this one, and to once again eloquently expose and defend the "liberal" values of reform, progress and change that your campaign represents.

Something Lost

Something Lost

The assignment this week for the Creative Writing Group I facilitate is to write about something lost. I have been searching my imagination for a lost thing to write about, something tangible that falls behind a sofa or gets left behind in a cafeteria, but I keep coming back to non-tangibles.

Innocence lost, that happens over a period of time.
Virginity lost that happens once, in a moment.
Friendship lost that can happen over time or suddenly over an incident.
Childhood lost, left behind, forgotten or buried.
Opportunity lost, from procrastination or indecision.
Love lost through fear, selfishness or self-protection, in one form or another.
Trust lost, through lies, betrayal, or seemingly unimportant inconsistencies between words and actions.
Respect lost because of immoral, unethical, compromising behavior.

But I come back to tangibles and my mind jumps to jewelry that belonged to my mother. Crystal vases, glasses and china that belonged to my grandmothers.
Books and letters from my father.
Then I realize, it is not their things I fear losing.
It is their unconditional love, their encouragement, their comfort, their support, their physical presence and embraces in my life, which those things symbolize, that I have lost, and will not recover in this lifetime.

Something Lost.