Welcome Gratefulness on the Longest Day

 It’s officially summer.

Time for a rewatch?

The season kicks off with the longest day in the northern hemisphere and the shortest in the southern hemisphere. People who live in the far north got to see the midnight sun and in a few places, the sun won’t set for another month or so.

I admit that I’m not the biggest fan of summer. I prefer the start of planting season in mid-spring and the crispness of autumn. Living where I do, the heat is accompanied by extra strength humidity. Plus, I no longer get the summer breaks I did as a kid…because I work full time.

However, there are a few things I’m grateful for during the summer season.

1) Going to the beach - as a kid, I grew up going to the sandy beaches on Lake Superior and the Jersey Shore (DTS? My Jersey friends). Both could have very cold water depending on when in the summer season I went in, but both were a staple of summer fun. I am still able to occasionally go visit - though rarely in the same year.

2) Harvesting from my garden - this is the first year in many that I have more than a balcony garden (I still have one on my deck). Since buying a house with a small yard, I’ve been excited to grow fruits, (mostly) vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Right now my peas are about at their end, so I’ll plant more in late July, but my cherry tomatoes, green beans, and strawberries are just starting to ripen. Hopefully Wilhelmina can keep the birds at bay (not really since she’s an indoor only cat. I sadly did have one tomato plant snap in half, but it’s already regrowing and might have some fruit by August.

3) Festivals - DC and surrounding areas have a ton of outdoor festivals in the summer. While I am (highly) unlikely to do anything for the 250th, I have gone to a few other festivals this year. This weekend, in honor of the solstice, the Smithsonian’s were open until 11:00pm and had a ton of programs available. The Pride festivities were also this weekend. Usually, in late in July, is the Folk Life Festival (always a fun one to attend). Music festivals are also big in DC like Kerfuffle (though that one is in May).

4) Late night walks - I admit that having it stay really bright so late messes with my sense of time, but I do love a late night after dinner walk. There’s usually a cool breeze and fireflies to light the way. The nature trails behind my house are a great place to spot ducks, deer, foxes, and the very rare bobcat and bear.

5) Summer storms - nothing, and I mean nothing, beats a summer storms. My favorite are the ones late in the evening that are mostly electrical. They zap the heat right out of the air and bring a relaxing, if hard, rain. When I used to house sit in rural Virginia, I’d have a storm every night. It was a little spooky, but also comforting (it was very warm in that house). One of my favorite memories is watching my California cousins see a thunderstorm for the first time. Where they lived in CA, thunderstorms were rare. That summer night, we pulled down the beach chairs for them to sit in the garage and watch the lightening dance across the sky.

6) Grilling and BBQ - I hope World Cup attendees are having fun trying American food (and some countries don’t think we have a cuisine) because it’s grilling and BBQ season! I finally have a grill. My aunt gave it to me last year. I’m not very good at using it by myself, but I enjoy setting it up every now and then. I hope our visitors came plenty hungry. We promise plenty of ranch.

7) Camp and Bond Fires - while I do go camping in the spring and autumn as well, summer holds my fondest memories of camping. I was 8 when my parents sent me to overnight camp for the first time (and may not have changed my socks for a week). I had a blast and at the end of each night, we’d gather around the campfire for s’mores and songs. It’s a smell I’ll never get out of my mind. Neither does the memory of all the mosquito bites I ended up with.

8) Pools and Water Parks - sadly my new neighborhood doesn’t have an outdoor pool. I joined a rec center that has an indoor pool, but that isn’t one to relax by. However, there are a few county water parks and pools I can go to. I love lounging in a lazy river or floating in a wave pool.

9) Farmer’s Markets - it is peak farmer’s market season. This week I picked up peaches, strawberries, and corn. The stalls are overflowing with fresh produce. Yes, prices are a little high - which is why I only use cash and go twice a month.

10) Socializing - summer is when most people have outdoor gatherings or plan trips to meet up with friends and family. This summer, I’ll be traveling to visit friends and family in different states. And to kick off this season, I met up with friends to go mini golfing and a backyard BBQ. I’ve also signed up for some outdoor group activities on Meetup and through my library (though there’s a waitlist for those).

So there’s ten things I’m grateful for in the summer time. What are you grateful for this time of year? Do you have plans to hang out with friends? Or maybe you’ll be at a party celebrating the 250th anniversary of the USA or the World Cup. 

Stay safe out there. Wear sunscreen (coral reef safe) and bug spray (triple check for ticks). Always have at least two liters of water on hand. And have fun!

Until the next week. If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Weird Dreams

I have some super vivid dreams - to the point where I sometimes confuse my memories of the dreams for reality. There's always some tiny detail that helps me realize that these memories are actually dreams, things like an extra room in my grandpa's house or I realize that I have never had a polar bear as a pet (not that I would ever want one).

The subconscious is a strange place. It isn't even a place, though it sometimes feels like it is. Scientists have been trying to find the answer as to why we humans have dreams. Some think it's a way for our minds to sort out all of the information we take in while awake to better store as memories, others find that dreams help us understand our emotions.

TV shows, movies, books, graphic novels, and other forms of media have portrayed the subconscious and the dreams we create in some way or another. I think my favorite depiction is from the play The Book of Mormon when one of the main characters has a dream about going to Disney World only to end up in "spooky scary Mormon hell." It's a depiction of his guilt about treating the other main character like crap and a manifestation of his arrogance rolled into one.

Dreams have always had a significant meaning to the human existence. Many biblical figures such as the two Josephs, Pontius Pilate, and St. John the Divine all had important dreams that shaped the course of Christianity (and in the first Joseph's case Judaism). There are dream interpretation websites and books for sale dedicated to help people interpret their dreams (mileage may vary with these).

As I wrote before, I occasionally will mix up a remembered dream for an actual event that took place. It usually takes me a couple of minutes to realize my mistake, but the dream or the memory of the dream feels so real that part of me thinks that it must have happened. Maybe it did in another timeline or universe, one where I made Y decision instead of X.

Some people believe that dreams can be used to tell the future. I'm not sure if I'm ready to believe in prophecy dreams, but I have had some weird ones that can be attributed to my ability to pick up on tiny details in my surroundings. For example, I was told as a little kid that when you dream about fish someone close to you is expecting a baby. I've had a fish dream (usually where I'm swimming in an ocean) a couple of times and each time, someone I knew was indeed pregnant. I think it's more that I picked up the signs that they were expecting before they chose to tell me that they were.

One particularly weird dream that came true involved my friend's significant other proposing. I was in a car with the two of them and the significant other turned around and said: "I'm so excited, I'm going to propose." I told my friend who totally brushed the dream off. The next week my friend and their significant figure went on vacation with my friend's family. The significant other proposed at the very end of the trip.

My friend was shocked and happy. The significant other told me to never have another dream about them again - like I can control that.

My point is, that sometimes dreams literally come true. My guess is that the subconscious picks up on something or other and makes a connection that the conscious mind can't. This is what causes these prophecy like dreams. Cultural norms and superstitions help shape the signs that stand out in our dreams that point us in the correct direction.

So, what do you guys think about dreams be they prophecy like, weird nightmares, vivid adventures, or lucid explorations? Most of the time I enjoy my dreams and wish that they had been real life experiences (I mean they were real in my head). They inspire my creative side and many a nightmare have been the basis for a short horror story.

I'll leave you guys with a strange dream I recently had. Maybe you'll find a meaning to it that I couldn't or you'll just think it was a funny dream.

A couple of nights ago, I had this really bizarre dream where I was camping on an island. It was really cold and wet in the dream, until a huge polar bear showed up. The polar bear popped out of the water and started trying to snuggle with me. At first I was scared, thinking the bear was going to attack or eat me. As the dream continued, the polar bear kept popping up, only to continue to try and use me as an unwilling teddy bear. Eventually I was just mildly annoyed by the whole situation (I think there were zombies running around too at this point), but that's when my alarm went off and I grumpily hit the snooze button. Then I started having a lucid dream about changes to the Land Pavilion at Disney World's Epcot park. I was kind of sad to lose my polar bear companion.

Until next week!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Losing a Beloved Pet

My dog, Gertrude, died on Tuesday. On some level I'm still processing that she's gone. I just saw her while vising my mom in Michigan for the holidays. On another level, I knew that it was very likely to be the last time I saw her.

Gertrude was nearly 14 years old. We had had her since she was a tiny puppy who could barely jump onto the couch. She grew until she was nearly 3 times the size that we had thought she would be (75 lbs versus 35 lbs). I especially loved her awkward puppy phase where she was nothing but legs and ears.

She was my first Facebook profile picture and the first time someone tried to make fun of my blog, they specifically referenced how they "didn't want to hear about my dog" (I blocked them). She was a constant companion during high school and always happy to see me when I came home for a visit after I moved away. She was a Boarder Collie German Shepard mix and could fit in my dad's hand when she was a puppy. She was sort of friends with our cat, Karma. In the last years of her life, she got to play with her adopted sister Millie.

I'm glad she had a good long life.

She wasn't my first dog or even my first pet. My sister and I raised hermit crabs for a long time before we finally got our first dog. He was an equally wonderful dog who would never have allowed anything bad to happen to the family. It was tough when he died and we waited a while before adopting Gertrude.

Pets are wonderful family members, and yes they are family. It's nearly impossible not to love a dog or cat or hamster or any of the other furry critters that come into our lives. I'll even give people who raise reptiles as pets credit. The amount of pictures of cute pet snakes on Pinterest alone can have me falling into a black hole of saying "aww" for an hour or two.

There are many days I wish I had a pet with me. I'd love to come home to an excited pooch happy to see me. But it's just not possible right now. Pets are a huge responsibility and I couldn't commit to having one with my current lifestyle. Plus I'm super allergic to most pets that aren't dogs.

Instead I raise plants.

Plants aren't animals, though, and they are hard to cuddle with (especially my temperamental cactus). Also, when a plant dies, I don't feel quite as bad. Don't get me wrong, I'm still sad when I accidentally kill one of my plants, but I've taken steps to only look after really hardy plants that are really hard to kill.

My emotional attachment to a pet is a lot higher than to a plant. I am still adverse to watching any emotionally driven movie or horror movie with a dog in it. It's an almost automatic hard stop if a dog, cat, or horse dies. I've heard a number of authors state that they avoid killing a pet (especially a dog) because it will generate enough hate mail to fill their entire house.

A pet's passing is something that hits us right in our basic emotions. I cried for a few hours while I tried to process that Gertrude was gone. Other people also understood how I felt. Everyone who has heard of Gert's passing has been very nice and sending me their condolences.

I wasn't the only person in my sphere of friends to have lost a furry family member. From what I was able to gather, these beloved pets were also older and had lived good long lives. They were loved and cherished until the end.

I'm going to miss Gertrude. She was awesome.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really hit you in the feels) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to the Speed of Time

Do you guys remember a time when it felt like the school year would never end? Or when summer vacation seemed to last forever and a day? Does it sometimes feel time is now slipping away faster and faster than it did a decade ago?

Apparently this weird shift in how we perceive time isn't unusual as we age. Scientists seem to think its because our brains prioritizes new memories rather than familiar ones, which makes it seem like our childhood lasted a lot longer than a decade as an adult does.

The sense of loosing time is usually accompanied by a the feelings of regret, melancholy, and the idea that there might be missing. I also start to feel the weight of my mortality.

I'm not old. In the description of this blog, it says that I was somewhere in my twenties, at least when I started it. I'll let you guys speculate on my actual age, but it's not like I've "aged" that. What's five years to someone who has graduated college and ventured forth on their own?

This year is the sixth anniversary since the start of a show called Gravity Falls. It was a fun show on one of the Disney channels about two kids spending a summer with their Great Uncle in the middle of no where Oregon. The creator of the show always knew how it would end and that the story would only encompass one summer. The finale was shown three years ago and it lived up to my expectations.

I think you can still watch it on Hulu.

The reason I bring up this show is because the creator explicitly stated that it was inspired by his own summer vacations with his twin sister. He recalls feeling that summers felt endless and that they would be kids forever.

But nothing lasts forever and all things come to an end.

Just like the creator's summer did. Just like the summer Mable and Dipper Pines had in Gravity Falls (that was also the name of the town the show took place in).

I think that's why I get so sad sometimes. It happens when I realize how long it's been since a major life event happened or an enjoyable tradition ended. Around this time last year, I went to the beach with my mom, sister, and aunt. We used to go every year for two weeks at the end of August to this town in Southern New Jersey. I have very fond memories from this time and occasionally I like to pretend that it's still the 90s or early 2000s. But the reality is that we haven't consistently gone to this beach for at least 12(?), 15(?) years old - well it's been over a decade at least.

These are days where it makes me really sad that I can never go back to those times. It's not the same anymore. Somethings seem to be the same, but I can see where time has taken it's toll. Faded paint on the mini golf course, a new store where the ice cream parlor used to be, and the rides on the boardwalk are a lot smaller than when I was six.

Those exact moments only exist in my memories now.

Memories, though, aren't always a guarantee. There are diseases that can wipe out our fondest memories and others that prevent us from creating new ones. I like to try and record what I can, if for no other reason than writing helps me process the things going on in my life. Most I keep private, but some I share on social media and in my blog posts.

Recently, a cousin of mine passed away. Part of me didn't feel it was real until I attended her memorial service. It felt like I was talking to her not all that long ago, promising to see her again at our next family reunion. Then I remembered that that conversation had happened at my family reunion last August. Part of me still feels like I'll see my cousin in just a couple months.

Though it's been over a decade, I still sometimes hear my grandparent's laughter. I can close my eyes and explore the houses I grew up in, even when I haven't been there in years. They're very clear memories and they don't feel like they happened as long ago as they actually did.

I can only hope to create more memories of the new moments in my life and break away from my day-to-day routine whenever I can. I want to have adventures, see the world, and try everything that I can. I want to build memories and fill my life with lots of stories.

Keeping memories is a lot like writing a novel. We only keep the ones that are important to the story we want to tell. We cut out the mundane, ignore the routine, and exaggerate the awesome.

I hope that when I finish writing my story, it's one that's worth remembering.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to Comfort Food

If there's one thing I know about myself, it's that I love food. Some of my fondest memories are tied to food and family meals. I've been writing a food blog for a little over a year (for shameless advertising click here). Heck I recently found my travel journal from Japan (I went when I was 11) and I wrote a lot about the food I had.

Our culture seems to be obsessed with food. Almost every social media platform has a food section and I've seen many people taking pictures of their entrees at restaurants. And why shouldn't we love food? After all it's something we need to survive.

Eating usually starts at home and with our families. My family would either eat at the dinner table or on TV trays while watching the latest episode of our favorite show. I learned to cook from watching my parents and extended family in the kitchen and at the side of the grill. I even managed to set myself on fire once, though I'll probably never live that one down (it was only once and it did get me out of helping out with Thanksgiving after that).

I have a few comfort dishes that I love having when I'm visiting my family. I love having my mom's chicken paprikash or goulash, but she has to be the one to make the dishes. Nabe is one of my all time favorite Japanese dishes that I have when visiting my family in North Carolina. I've tried to recreate some of these dishes (with varying degrees of success), but they always seem to taste better when I'm with my family.

Most people I know have a deep connection one way or another with food. For some, it's a connection to their culture and heritage. For others it's deeply tied to family events like Thanksgiving. Or you could be like my sibling and sit in front of the Julia Child's kitchen display at the American History museum, worshiping your idol.

This past weekend, I went to one of my old roommate's birthday parties. She decided that she wanted to theme the party around food she had as a little girl growing up in Brazil. I didn't grow up eating Brazilian food, so I got to try a bunch of new things. Everything was absolutely delicious and there was so much of it that I got to take some home. My friend was so excited to share the food with her friends and it made her so happy to explain what everything was to those of us not familiar with the food.

It can be a lot of fun to experiment with flavors and ingredients, but there's something a little extra special eating the food you grew up with. It's the recipes that are passed down from one generation to the next that are true treasures. It's not just food anymore, it's a memory or an experience. I've even heard it said that parents who cook with their children are able to build stronger bonds.

I am thankful and grateful that I was able to learn how to cook from my parents. But it's not an experience everyone gets to share. Hunger is still a major problem in America and food deserts* don't seem to be going away anytime soon. There are many people who don't know where their next meal is coming from or if there will be enough to keep their children full through the night.

Food is a part of our culture. It can be tied to found memories with our family and friends. We can pass our favorite dishes down to our children and hope they pass it on to there's. We can share recipes with friends and post pictures online. We can donate to our local food pantries to help families in need.

We all need food to survive, but comfort food is for us to share.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like to hear from me. Until next week.

*According to the USDA a food desert is: "parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas. This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers' markets, and healthy food providers."