December 7, 2011 - "Kim meet Kelly - Kelly meet Kim"; a cosmic introduction

Background – My yoga instructor Kim stopped me after class to ask me how I knew a woman named Angela Westbrook.  Angela is Kim’s neighbor and Kim had seen Angela on my list of Facebook friends and wondered how I knew her.  I told Kim that she had once been my neighbor as well, many years ago.   This should have been the end of the conversation, but for some reason I felt compelled to ask Kim if she also knew another of my old neighbors, Kelly Stanley.  Kim didn't recognize the name or any of the other details I was pouring out about Kelly; she has three boys, they play football, she has blond hair, she lives out in Leesburg… the only thing I didn’t mention about Kelly was Kelly’s husband, Hardy.  Kim continued to insist that she had no idea who I was talking about and I finally let the subject drop, wondering myself why I was so obsessed with connecting Kim to Kelly.  I had this strange feeling that they had to know each other.

S.C.O.U.T. – One week later I received a text from my dear friend Kelly informing me that she had met my yoga instructor Kim, having absolutely no idea that I had been interrogating Kim about this soon-to-be (but currently non-existent) relationship only a week before!  I assumed Angela had given a party in which both Kelly and Kim were invited and texted Kelly a message to that effect.  Kelly replied with “???, what does Angela have to do with this?  I met her at Hardy’s holiday party.  Louis (Kim’s husband) and Hardy work together!  Isn’t that crazy!”

What a Strange Case Of Uncanny Timing!  In addition to this weirdness, Kim has, for all the five years I’ve known her, always reminded me of Kelly and I often think of her when I’m in Kim’s class.  Is it just a cosmic coincidence that they would randomly meet?  Was I having a premonition that they were about to meet?  Did I somehow “attract” this meeting?  These are the questions I ask myself, and then I wait.  I wait and I wonder if the answer will ever be revealed.

My goofy dog Scout just gives me his wise, knowing look.  A look that says “patience, all will be revealed time…”  I scratch him between the eyes as he drops his heavy head into my lap, and I continue to wait, and to contemplate.

Cause and effect, premonition, or nothing but a coincidence?

Background -  On Monday I found myself thinking about my cheap, little fake diamond earrings.  It was just a random passing thought as I took them off before bed.  You see, I eventually lose one from the pair and am forced to go buy another.  I have to come to accept it and is one of the reasons why I like the fake ones, there is no stress or guilt or call to the insurance company when one goes down the air conditioning vent in a hotel room in Paris!  I spun the little glittering jewels around in my hand and thought back to when I had purchased this pair.  It was dawning on me that I had had this particular set for quite some time now; in fact, I soon placed their purchase date as the week following my trip to Paris where I had indeed lost the mate to the former pair.  That was over three years ago!  I chuckled at what a run I was on.  I couldn't believe that I had actually held on to this pair for over three years and proceeded to gently place them in my jewelry box as carefully as if they were the real thing.

S.C.O.U.T. -  On Tuesday I lost one of the earrings.  I was reaching behind me to grab my seat belt and brushed my left ear with my hand.  I felt the backing slip completely off and both it and the earring fell onto my shoulder... at least that's where I think they fell.  The very first thought I had was "you've got to be kidding me!" and the next was "go slow and feel for it, it can't have gone far".  Fifteen minutes later, and with dirty knees from crawling around on the pavement out side my car door, I conceded that the earring was not to be found.  I spent the next few hours wondering about the the question posed in the title of this post and worked to shake the feeling that that little jewel had seemingly just vanished into thin air.

My goofy dog Scout doesn't get the whole "jewelry" thing to begin with and therefore refuses to contemplate with me ;)

September 1, 2010 - Zucchinis from heaven

Background – Stuffed zucchini was one of my mother’s specialties and one of my favorites!  It was best if you could get a hold of an enormous, freshly home-grown zucchini and cook it up right away.  My mother, who was much beloved at her place of work, had a friend who would, every now and again, provide her with just such a zucchini; this friend I speak of not only grew the most enormous zucchinis I have ever seen to this very day, but also had an enormous crush on my adorable mom.  Worked for me!

My mother had been gone for five years that July, when I decided that my heart was strong enough from the loss of her to attempt a home grown zucchini of my own.  I was hoping to resurrect some of the fond, delicious memories from my childhood, while creating a few new ones for my kids.  The problem was that my thumbs are as pink as pink can be, not so much as a tint of green to either one.   I tried growing my zucchini in a standing planter, one similar to the Topsy Turvy Tomato Grower (I know, pathetic) and as you might guess produced nothing larger than a gherkin.  I was disappointed, but not surprised and sadly gave up my quest to duplicate my mother’s culinary masterpiece.

S.C.O.U.T. - During the time that I was fighting my gardening ineptitude and trying to produce something green and edible, I was also fighting another ongoing battle, my neighbors “garden”; which more resembled an unruly jungle with no sense of boundaries, or property lines.  On a regular basis I was forced to cut, rip and even uproot entire plants in order to try and preserve our fenced space.  I was successful in this task except for one stubborn vine; a vine that even when picked up and thrown as far as I could hurl it, would magically appear back in my yard within days, snaking its way over the fence and down into the middle of our lawn.   At first I thought that this creep show vine was mocking me and got a little freaked out when it once again defied my attempts to relocate it to the other side of the fence and appeared in my yard.

I was freaked out until, standing in my kitchen safely behind the closed door (I now wasn’t sure this thing was really just a plant), I saw a large green gourd attached to the thickest part of the vine.  It was an enormous zucchini; one that would have gotten at least a nod of recognition from my mother’s old friend.  My sweet neighbor, a very “Zen” man of Indian descent, was more than happy to give me the vegetable as it had clearly stated where it belonged.  I smiled and thanked him for his generosity, and then my mother for her gift, even as the chill crept down my spine; uncanny, simply uncanny how I had indeed gotten my large, home-grown zucchini.

My goofy dog Scout once again just smiles knowingly.  I can tell he’s thinking of my mother.  You see, she loved him too and therefore he had left this plant alone each time it appeared on our side of the fence, even as he tore through all the surrounding landscape in his game of “Destroy The Yard”; again, simply uncanny.