Thought for The Day - Preparedness, Thoughtful

Pastels, arranged by colors

Empty palette, prepared for painting.

It's Sunday, and later than I would normally publish the blog; my apologies. But it makes this subject no less poignant.

I remember, as a child being aware that my mom was about to prepare "one of those meals." This wouldn't be a few pieces of chicken and string bean, meal. No this would be Sunday or Holiday dinner, with one or two meats a few vegetables and a "starch." I would hear multiple pots and pans being pulled from the cabinets, the refrigerator would open and close several times and spices would be pulled from the pantry. I would hear the stove start up and a couple  of "eyes" on the stove would be fired up too. It was going to be a long day in that kitchen.

Cut to my own adult years and the sense is no less epic. My wife does the same and often, it is in preparation for the week, multiple meals are considered and prepared, with the same sense that when all is said and done, a feast is prepared!

In situations such as these, forethought "has to be" part of the plan! You can't walk in the kitchen on a whim and prepare meals like this! Actually you can, but somewhere within the last few weeks or months, you have to have gathered all the ingredients and you have to know what is available to make "whatever!" And you have to know what "good food" tastes like and what it takes to get it there. There has to be "trial and error" as part of your past, too. "Over-season", "under-season," over-cooked (burnt in some cases) and maybe under-cooked probably occurred. But in this process of learning, experimenting, succeeding and failing, you learn to not only be prepared, you become thoughtful.

Now mind you, I always "think larger" than the current application; it's part of my preparation as well! You may not be a "cook" can't tolerate the idea of rattling pans, putting your hands in or on uncooked meat and vegetables (I guarantee you everyone who thinks this way, still loves to EAT!) and your food supply might be a single egg and half a container of orange juice, but you have to prepare for anything! Including work, family, vacation or evening out! Everything requires "forethought," thoughtfulness, if you will.

Thought for The Day - "Noise" and "Traffic"

Elastic - Pastel 18 x 24

 

Each Saturday morning, an email arrives in my inbox, whether I want it or not. Yeah, yeah, that's the nature of news and email and information; whether you accept it, acknowledge or "scream" at it, "it" remains impartial and factual. Well, this email contains a link to check stats for my website. Sometimes I look at the "traffic" indicators and lately, I don't. This morning I looked at the numbers and the thought came to mind: 'what difference does it make if it doesn't equal dollars?' I'm right, I am stating a fact, but that's not only truth indicated in the numbers and graphs.

Each night, I turn on a "Sleep App" that monitors my sleep patterns for the night. It also gives stats regarding my sleep patterns, how many hours and minutes I've slept and rates the quality of my sleep. A helpful feature I've been using for a while is the "noise generator" that simulates the sound of a gentle rain. I never thought I would need anything like this to sleep and in truth, I don't usually need anything but 'opportunity' to sleep. I can sleep anywhere and any time! Heck, back in the day, working as a stock room clerk at Sears, I would catch 40 winks leaning against a stack of boxes! Anyway, this noise helps me to quiet my thoughts; sometimes that works and other times...well let's just say it takes a while to tame the mind!

Noise and Traffic. Static and Facts. Filters and Figures. I'm going to leave you to ponder where these words hang in your life...maybe they don't exist in your world at all.