We received about six inches of snow all told, yesterday and last night.
This morning the porcelain blue sky gently peeks through the white tangle of tree branches that surround the house. It is so very beautiful. Sometimes I try to capture it with my camera, but it is beyond my skills to harness the scene to a camera screen. The view from my easy chair is panoramic, windows all around, each offering unique version of perfect peace, and the fire crackles in the fireplace beside me. What a great way to start the day!
Yesterday Attila sold the little green car, to a local mechanic with his own home shop. He can easily fix the issues, and will be doing it as a personal project, so the expense of labour will not matter to him, nor will he need to work on a timeline. He has done work on the car for us in the past, and knows it well. What I love about this exchange is that the car will be refreshed, and resold to someone who needs transportation, and cannot afford much in the way transportation costs. The little green car will go to a good home. So much of the economy where we live in the country is aimed at the very affluent, so it is very satisfying to contribute the economy of down-to-earth, working people.
Today the insurance company was notified of the pending changes in vehicle ownership, documents were faxed, estimates were provided. The bank must be contacted to arrange for money transfers, and drafts. This sort of administrative slog belongs to me, Attila never has to think about it, and although I do not like doing it, I am very good at it. Attila is good at other things, things I never have to think about. It works for us.
While attending to all the administrative details of selling one vehicle, and purchasing another, I managed to make spaghetti sauce. My sauce takes all day to simmer. The cast iron dutch oven is perfect for an all day spaghetti sauce. The sauce simmers nicely all day long at the lowest heat setting on the range, and at supper time it is just a matter of cooking some pasta. We don’t need vegetables on the side, because my spaghetti sauce has lots of onions, tomatoes, carrots, and celery.
While reading an article by a neurosurgeon who deals with concussions in children, the doctor mentioned that while children are recuperating from a concussion they should rest their brains. He recommended limiting texting, computer use, and, gasp, reading, among other things. I looked up from the screen I was reading, and said to Attila, “how do you rest your brain?” He laughed at me and said, “you wouldn’t know how to do that.” He is correct, I have no idea what “rest your brain” would mean! A multitude of thoughts pass through my brain, memories, plans, formulas, insights… how do you stop thinking? Even when I am asleep I am thinking, and if I am awakened I usually am annoyed because I was partially through thinking through some kind of riddle, or mathematical problem.
It is getting colder out there!
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Worldly Distractions
Weather
-7°C
Date: 8:00 PM EST Friday 14 November 2014
Condition: Clear
Pressure: 102.3 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: -7.0°C
Dewpoint: -10.0°C
Humidity: 79%
Wind: NNW 9 km/h
Wind Chill: -11
Quote
“The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
1908 – 2006
Very few of the people I willingly spend time with find thinking painful, and most are a delightful mixture of conventional and eccentric views. Humans are amazing, when you think about it.
Congrats on selling the car!
We received about 2 inches of snow last night, and it even stuck on the roads and sidewalks at first. DH tells me that when he went to walk the dogs that he and Squee both went down to their knees on the ice. That’s really unusual as DH has incredible balance. Fortunately, he’s fine. Not even sore.
I also do the majority of the budgeting and billing at our house, though DH will pay some of the bills via Payees he’s created in his checking account. (We only combined our checking accounts and gave each other signing privileges about 2 years ago. A relic from both of us having had exes that were very poor at managing money.)
Yes, I’d be wondering how one would rest their brain, too. Although they say the heart “rests” between beats.
SD14 has a friend who had a terrible concussion 2 years ago. She fell and hit her head on some concrete. The poor girl was out of school for many months as she’d start getting headaches when she went into school. She also ended up having to leave very early from things like birthday parties and going to the movies. Poor thing! Her life was so restricted, and stayed that way for about a year before she finally recovered fully.
My brain never rests. Period. I wish it would. I try to force it into a resting mode sometimes, but it won’t. It races from here to there, around thoughts and back again… never stopping and never resting. What a silly thing to say…. the kid should rest his brain! I suspect it will rest only when we are dead.
Teri, glad to hear DH was not hurt! Ice under snow is so tricky, you just never know what is under the snow!
Resting the brain is a mystery! The closest I can come is to stare at the roaring fire in the masonry heater, or stare out into the trees outside the window; I guess that would be focusing on the immediate “what is”, without context, or any need to interact with the environment.
I don’t think our brains are intended to rest. It’s too big of a concept for my pea brain to comprehend, but a brain at rest, quiet, devoid of activity isn’t what I think is intended. Like you, Maggie, I find a meditative peace with pleasing vistas. I like the way you phrased it: …focusing on the immediate “what is”, without context, or any need to interact with the environment.
Maggie, Your morning sounded so comfy and peaceful. A morning with a fire going and drifting off into the scenery. Perfect.
Congrats on selling the little green car.
Your spaghetti sauce sounds different. I have never had it with carrots and celery. Hubby makes his in a cast iron pot too.
Nice photo. It looks like silence.
Resting the brain. Interesting answers. I think maybe bringing the brain into a peaceful state as you mentioned and Reens noted is more like what it may mean. My brain does not want to rest, even when sleeping. I’m about to take up meditation again. That may offer some help with focusing and bringing the brain into a more peaceful place.
At best, what I can manage for ‘resting the brain’ is not guiding my thoughts, but letting them drift as they will. It helps me to get to sleep.
I am very glad I mentioned the “resting your brain” thing here, I was wondering if there was a whole aspect of existence that I was missing entirely! Thanks Teri, Bex, Irene, Nora, and Joan, for filling in that blank for me… I feel so normal, lol!
Nora, I just started adding the carrots this year, trying to “beef up” our vegetable intake. I pre-cook the carrots and then mash them, before adding them to the sauce. They add a wee bit of sweetness to the taste, but other than that I don’t taste them, as our spaghetti sauce is a bit spicy, which masks a lot of the subtle flavours.