Showing posts with label Marination Ma Kai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marination Ma Kai. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Stuff That Should NOT Happen

Something happened last night that made me think there are some things that just should not happen.

Last night I was innocently standing in the kitchen surrounded by my loved ones - my husband and three dogs - when all of a sudden I felt this sharp pain in my leg.  I looked down and saw a puncture wound and blood.  I realized I had been in the middle of a skirmish between my beloved little toy poodle and our collie.  The poodle was trying to wrest a plastic carton containing the dregs of potato salad from the collie and in so doing I had unwittingly become part of the argument and my beloved little poodle had sunk his choppers into my leg. 

He looks very innocent here.

I know it was the poodle because the plastic carton was missing and he was now under the dining room chair.  I could see the tuft of his tail peeking out from under it. And it was wagging. 

My leg hurt, but what hurt most was the reality that he was really a dog, not my new little son who would take the pain of the empty nest away.  I realized when push came to shove he would always choose the plastic carton with the remnants of potato salad in it over me, no matter how many times he sits on my lap or acts happy to see me when I come home or how many times I give him a slug of wine, and that if I get in the way, my leg will be toast.

That just shouldn’t happen.

So I started to think about other stuff that should not happen like…

  • School buses.  They should not be allowed to operate when I am out doing errands or in a hurry to get somewhere.  I know the little tykes need to get to school but we adults have enough stress to deal with besides sitting  behind a stopped school bus waiting for a mom to wind up her chatty conversation with the bus driver when we are late and we are trying to get to a meeting or happy hour somewhere. Those buses seem to be on the road at all hours of the day and especially when I am out there with them. Why can’t these kids walk to school?  I had to.

  • Gaining weight just because we are getting old. We should not gain weight just because we are a few years older.  We may be eating right and not making any changes to our diet at all, but whether we like it or not, at each additional decade to our lives, another decade of pounds will likely appear because our metabolism slows down in direct ratio to our age going up.  Now, I guess there are those of you out there who saw that coming and made the necessary adjustments to your calorie intake.  Well, good for you.  But how much fun is that?  It's bad enough getting old.  Can't we take our rocky road ice cream on the journey with us? 

  • Bad grammar.  I know it's probably too late to care, but what in hell has happened to our use of the English language?  Don't we speak English and didn't we learn the nuances of its use in practically 10 years of schooling? So why can't we speak it then?  Why don't we know the difference between "less" and "fewer?"  Why do we say "your" when we mean "you're?"  Why don't we use "to" and "too" correctly? Why is it so difficult to tell the difference between "there," "their" and "they're?"  And if you want to be taken seriously, don't say you want to be taken serious. And why the hell can't we spell?  It's a crime.  My mother's parents were Swedish immigrants but my mother is partly responsible for my command of the English language.  She was a stickler on that.  However,  I think Weird Al says it best:

  • On a more serious note and speaking of my mother - Warehousing old people. That should not happen. My son is a real tease.  He loves to pick out old peoples' homes for me.  Once when we were walking around Lake Merritt in Oakland (CA), he noticed one called The Rose of Sharon and said, "That looks like a nice place, Mom."  Thanks.  It's a bit of a joke now, but it's not going to be funny in a few years.  I am not talking about people who choose assisted living and have the means to be taken care of.  I'm talking about not having the means and ending up in a nursing home, sharing a room with a stranger, being taken care of by people who couldn't care less and ending your days with no dignity.  That happened to my mother. 

       I am privileged now to live in a county that has services to help people
       "age in place" and that is what all of us deserve.  Because of my mother,
       I am motivated to volunteer my time working on issues that affect the
       aged. I am a member of the Council on Aging and think of my mother
       every day and how I can help people live their best lives to the very end.
       No one should have to be put somewhere he or she doesn't want to be
       because no one wants the trouble of caring for them. That would be heresy
       in some countries where being old is revered.  Here, not so much. Here we
       become invisible after 50.  That shouldn't happen.

My Mother at 86
  • And here is my library plug.  Libraries should not have to cut hours or close branches, ever. Cutting library hours or worse yet, closing libraries not only shouldn’t happen, it is a travesty and a blow to democracy. Equal access to information is a basic right in a democratic society. Not everyone can buy books, newspapers, rent DVDs, subscribe to magazines, go to the movie theatre.  Not everyone has a computer and Internet access.  And every child does not have a quiet environment in which to study. Public libraries level the playing field.  Use of public libraries is free and not limited by race, religion, income, age, disability or education. Libraries should be supported, especially now when libraries are needed more than ever in these tough times.

  • I could go on and on about stuff that should not happen.  Leaving cabinet doors open in the kitchen, putting something down the garbage disposal and then it gets stopped up and you have to call a plumber, thunderstorms when you have a stair walk planned, people picket fencing when driving on the highway (Hubby's term for one car in the left lane, one in the right and they are driving as if they are walking hand in hand and no one can get by them), mornings (I hate getting up). 

  • Oh, and this probably shouldn't happen either.


 I take full responsibility.
You may have noticed that I have given you the blessing of a mercifully short blog post.  Well, a short one for me anyway. 


Because for the last two weeks I have been enjoying the company of my daughter and her husband who visited us from Virginia and my son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons who we visited in California.
We shared the joys of Seattle stair walking with our daughter and her husband,

went bike riding, played games, attended an outdoor Jeff Beck and ZZ Top concert (stay tuned for my concert round-up post at the end of the summer),

discovered a great new restaurant (Marination Ma Kai in West Seattle), played games and they cooked us a delicious meal.

When we visited our son and his family in California, my daughter-in-law treated me to a pedicure and a shopping excursion, they fixed us a lovely dinner, we dined out and we enjoyed playing with our grandsons, especially feeding the ducks. 

A highlight was playing Apples to Apples and letting the three year old take part.  He can't read yet and probably doesn't understand the sarcasm, metaphors and humor that can make up that game, but he almost beat us!  We now could write the family version for all ages!

So instead of writing my blog, I have been basking in the joys that my family can bring.  Talking, hanging out, playing with the grandchildren, sharing our lives.
And that's the stuff that SHOULD happen.


Thanks for Reading!

See you Friday for
"My Driving Pet Peeves"


The Week in Reviews

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