Creative Writing – Carlanne.com

Romance and/or Travel: the journey or the destination?

Travel. The word can bring forth thoughts, memories, feelings. Yet, it is just a word. A six-letter word. Looking up definitions for such a word, I found many variations. As a verb, travel was defined as early as the 1300’s:

travel (v.)

c.1375, “to journey,” from travailen (1300) “to make a journey,” originally “to toil, labor” (see travail). The semantic development may have been via the notion of “go on a difficult journey,” but it may also reflect the difficulty of going anywhere in the Middle Ages. Replaced O.E. faran. Travels “accounts of journeys” is recorded from 1591. Traveled “experienced in travel” is from 1413. Traveling salesman is attested from 1885.

Sometimes the romantic travel of our lives seems just like this definition – travail. Finding a soul-mate seems even harder than finding comfort in economy/coach class airline seats.

TSA Checkpoint The good thing is that airline travel is a temporary thing, whereas the saga of finding a soul-mate seems to last a lifetime. Given the difficult journey of finding someone to enjoy spending time with, maybe one would be better off standing in the TSA line for the rest of their lives.

Charming

Have you ever thought about the word, “charming”? I recently began ruminating on the word. Dictionary.com describes the word as an adjective:

Charming – adjective

pleasing; delightful.

using charm; exercising magic power.

One of the interesting words of this description is “power“.

Charm: to act upon (someone or something) with or as with a compelling or magical force.

One of the things I was thinking about is how it seems to be a male descriptor. After all, Cinderella, Snow White, what the heck, the wicked Witch of the West, were never described as “charming”. But Prince Charming was most sought after…..

Prince Charming is a fairy tale character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell.

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Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Having received 24 ounces of rather large white button mushrooms, I took 10 of the roughly 20 mushrooms and made a great little afternoon snack for my husband and I. The stuffing can be made of pretty much anything you have in the refrigerator as long as you stick to one or two basics: softened cream cheese and bread crumbs.

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Possessions – positively memorable or evil reminders?

I used to sell our possessions on Ebay when we either grew tired of them or they no longer were useful. I had an excellent online reputation and sold an amazing number of items of technology, tools, clothing, bric-a-brac, nostalgia, antiques – you name it nothing was sacred. If we were tired of a possession, I sold it so we could buy a new item. I won’t say I made a profit but the way we looked at it, we had the use of an item until it no longer was useful. Then someone else got the joy of owning it. Continue reading “Possessions – positively memorable or evil reminders?”

Food: Part sustenance, part social, part historical

As I have mentioned in previous entries, I have been listening to a great courses daily podcast on “Food: A Cultural Culinary History”. I own a domain name and website called “Our Healthy Eating“. I have been investigating recipes and am working on adding cooking techniques, recipes, and more to the site. It is slower in advancement than this site is. Continue reading “Food: Part sustenance, part social, part historical”

Privilege versus doing the right thing

I have been reflecting a lot on “doing the right thing” (higher moral ground?) versus what one might have the “privilege” of doing as an autocrat or totalitarian. Privilege, from the dictionary sense, as defined as a noun:

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Classical Music – Piano lessons carried forward

Some 60 (OMG!!!) odd years ago, my mother required me to take piano lessons. I believe, though I can’t swear to it, that my sister may also have been required to take the initial lessons but managed, at her more mature age, to wiggle out of them. She was, after all, some 8 years older than me. I hold her accountable for that today. <grin> I am still thinking of ways to get even <grinning louder>.

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#MeToo – The next segment

In my previous entry I related my first #MeToo experience. Next came the second in a continuation of a long line of such experiences. Until recently, I thought it was all my fault. I thought that I was the problem. But then, don’t we all?

1976: Determined to find a sales position and earn a good living for myself, I applied to every job in the want ads under sales. One in particular tweaked my interest. It was a blind ad with a PO mailbox address and I sat on it for several days wondering if it was real. I finally mailed my resume and cover letter.

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#MeToo affects almost everyone

I doubt there is any woman over the age of 50 (and maybe even 40) who has not experienced some form of discrimination or harassment at the hands of an authoritarian individual or employer. I have watched the movement unfold, with a lot of high ranking individuals being called out for their attitudes and behaviors. I simply could not bring myself to participate in the movement on Facebook or wherever because it is not going to change any aspect of my past #MeToo experiences. I have evolved to a point in my life where, even before this movement, no one is going to discriminate or harass me because I am a woman. I have received threats and attempts to discredit my efforts & my reputation while I was on our Condo’s Board of Directors, but those were not gender-biased.

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Meet the “Stripe” of StripedPot(dot)com

Meet the inspiration for one of my websites: http://stripedpot.com

“Stripe”, as it is fondly called here at the McBennett’s home, was discovered in a store room at the apartment building where we lived for about 12 years. It was about to be tossed in the trash during a clean out. It was dirty and dusty without a lot of character. But I saw the beauty beneath the crud and asked for it to come home with me. The maintenance person cleaning out the storeroom was more than happy to hand it off to me. Continue reading “Meet the “Stripe” of StripedPot(dot)com”