An Unsavory Subject

I tried to think of something else to blog about this week but I couldn't find an other subject , so i guess I will just have to write about this unsavory one. When I married and bought a house, 15 years ago, the first thing we did was get a cat. The next year we got a golden retriever, years later a stray kitten showed up and joined us. This past Tuesday the oldest cat ,Tiger pasted away, he was over 15 years old . His health had been getting worse and worse ,my husband and I discussed having him put to sleep but neither of us could make that tough decision. Tiger didn't seem to be in any pain but it became more and more obvious that he was having major problems.I didn't realize till later in the week, after he died , how much the whole ordeal had been affecting me.The subject of death came up again this weekend with our assignment on challenged books. In fact the book we selected was banned because it was a children's book that dealt in part with the subject of death. It got me to thinking that for a culture that thinks it's so enlightened we still don't deal very well with this subject. We drape it in rituals and taboo and hide it from our children and our self's. I think this makes it twice as hard to deal with when the time comes and the time always comes. Every thing that's born owes a death, maybe it's not an end but a beginning, anyway I'd like to think so. I know one thing this spring when it's time to work in the garden again I will miss my gardening companion , Tiger.

Dominos and the Emperor's New Clothing

Tuesday my husband brought home a Domino's pizza. I always though their pizza wasn't that great but for mass produced pizza it was pretty good and it's cheap. Recently Domino's has been running commercial saying how they hear there customers complaints and they are going to address them by improving the product . They are going to make the crust better and add 40% more herbs to the sauce. That's great I thought, till I tasted the new product. Not only did it not taste better but, I thought thy may have substituted even cheaper ingredients. Now I am no expert but I know what I like. That got me to thinking why would Domino's say they were going to make their pizza better when in fact it's not. It's kind of like the fairy story of the Emperor's New Clothing. You remember the story the one where one person told the guy he was wearing the finest clothing. Everyone went along with it and the dude was running around in his underwear. It's the same premise ; tell people you are going to give them something better and whether you do or not 50% of them will think their getting something better.

Something To Do When It Snows

I moved into the neighborhood about 15 years ago. It didn't take long for me to meet the rowdy neighbors. Since we live in the country, it's sometimes hard to find things to do. Especially so when it snows. The satellite TV doesn't always work and the Internet connection can be spotty. So you have to get creative. Over the years we have developed some interesting traditions.One of these is called the wine walk. What is a wine walk? Well , whenever it snow the neighbor's get together and take a walk. Everybody brings their favorite bottle of wine along. I guess this only works if you live somewhere were there isn't much traffic. We are fortunate, were we live there is no traffic and the scenery is beautiful especially when it snows. Last night about eight PM. we took the traditional wine walk along the Conewago creek. A hoot owl was calling from somewhere in the woods . Even though there aren't any street lights in our area the reflection from the snow gave off a soft glow . Giving the landscape a cereal look it was truly magical. Sometimes you forget beauty and nature is just outside your front door.