Mom & Me Five Archive

...that the lack of writing here isn't, at this time, anyway, indicative of problems, internal or external. A couple of projects have been monopolizing Mom's and my time and interest:

• Gardening. I've always contended that there is something "special" about the piece of property upon which we live up here in Prescott. Our recent interest in working the property continues to underline my contentions. Although we're having mixed success (I think some of our stuff was planted and replanted too late to get it going this year), there is something invigorating for Mom and me about getting out and enjoying our yard...watering, puttering, admiring, enjoying. Not that Mom has suddenly become Ms. Movement...but, at least, she's sitting somewhere else besides in the house, and her mind and attention are directed to a variety of other life aspects.
      Something, too, I've been meaning to mention, in case any readers have been following my use of St. John's Wort: One of the warnings when taking this medication is to protect oneself from sun exposure, especially those of us with light skin, which includes me. I didn't pay attention and am now nursing a sun exposure rash on my left forearm, which seems to be responding, slowly, to 1% hydrocortisone cream and SPF 45 sun block.
• A former writing partner of mine and I have reinitiated our attempt to break into the short fiction market. So far we've had no sales, although we're constantly encouraged by the personal rejection notes we're receiving.
• Mom and I are continuing our intriguing exploration of Islam through books. All of them are fascinating (we're reading a little here and a little there and rounding out our reading by referring to a copy of the Qur'an I purchased) but there's one in particular that started our exploration and I should mention because it has personal significance for both of us: The Trouble with Islam Today by Irshad Manji. We were introduced to this book through a segment of the PBS series, which aired some weeks ago, America at a Crossroads. The segment Faith without Fear featured, among other things, a conversation between Irshad and her mother about their shared religion. During the conversation, Mom piped up, "That sounds like you and me when we're talking about Christianity!" She was specifically referring to a continuing conversation in which we indulge revolving around my insistence that I'm not a Christian and her insistence that I am. Our notice of Ms. Manji and her mother provoked a later conversation about our own mother-daughter conversational fearlessless. "We should get that book," Mom suggested...and that's how our informal study of Islam began. Our study has, since, evolved into a historical curiosity about the evolution religion, in general, which we'll be shortly supplementing with a yet another Karen Armstrong book which promises to be equally intriguing, The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions.

    So, life is busy, and good, Mom is doing well, I'm doing well, we're multiply engaged and I'm continuing to maintain a light touch when it comes to monitoring her, which pleases her and keeps me from obsessing over circumstances of aging about which nothing can be done.
    Later.

...for more reasons than just the weather, which is warm (mid to high 70's), bit of a breeze, exactly to my mother's tastes. She's been out in the yard a couple of times in the last few days and is excited, as well, about Mother's Day. No company, as usual, but, this Mother's Day, she has received, or is receiving (one, I understand, will arrive today) bouquets from all her daughters. Our house is full of flowers; my mother is beside herself in flower glory! So are our cats, especially Mr. Man, who likes to nibble on them; luckily, he takes discreet bites.
    Mom wanted ham, again, for Mother's Day, but I argued that we've had ham three times since Christmas (which involves getting a bone in half ham, then having it in various guises for a week or more) and, although I don't dislike ham, I'm getting sick of it. She laughed and we ran through a variety of other possible main dishes. The one that sounded best to her was Beef tri-tip strips slow roasted in Hoisin sauce with my peculiar additives; a cheese tortellini salad with sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, Bermuda onions, green peppers, a variety of olives and a tart, lemon laced dressing; for dessert, a fresh, home made raspberry cobbler with freshly whipped cream. She's probably salivating in her sleep as I'm writing this.
    Not much to report, except that gardening is becoming a feature of our daily lives; Mom supervising, me doing the work. Which reminds me...I've got some mid-morning watering to do...better get at it.
    Later.