Tag: Top 10

A BUCKET LIST OF PLACES TO VISIT

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

How many items are supposed to be on a bucket list, anyway? Twenty is what I’d heard, but now I come across 101. Since this is a Tendril, we start out with 1o.

  1. The Grand Canyon. A mile down? Like an upside-down mountain? How incredible!
  2. Greece and Istanbul. Well, it would fit right in with the roots of my latest novel.
  3. Holguin, Cuba. I love the Quakers I know there. I think January would be perfecto.
  4. Alaska, taking the ferry from Seattle or Vancouver. We’re talking summer, remember.
  5. For the other nine months? Hawaii. I hear it’s about much more than colorful shirts.
  6. Nantucket. So close to home.
  7. The Adirondack mountains, from the top. Again, so close to home.
  8. Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony. Is there no excuse I haven’t done it?
  9. Carnegie Hall, from the inside. I used to know somebody who lived in the tower at the back.
  10. The Metropolitan Opera. Standing outside doesn’t count.

~*~

What places would top yours?

~*~

See what’s new at THISTLE/FLINCH.

 

TEN THINGS I LIKE ABOUT APRIL

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments
  1. Easter this year was April 1 — except for the Eastern Orthodox, who will observe it on April 8.
  2. White chocolate and malt balls. The Easter Bunny or somebody brings them.
  3. Ferns and flowers. Daffodils and irises, especially when they come indoors as cut flowers.
  4. The quality of daylight changes.
  5. Hot dandelion greens with fried eggs.
  6. The last of the snow melts despite a few spring snowstorms.
  7. Goldfinches discard their gray “duster jackets” and turn brilliantly yellow again.
  8. Bagging seaweed at the end of the road and filling the car trunk gives me an excuse to hit the beach early. Remember, the stuff makes a perfect mulch in the garden.
  9. Sitting in the loft of the barn again, catching up on some reading, now that the weather’s warmed.
  10. So many birds are actually singing in the morning. Quite rowdy, actually, at times.

~*~

What do you like about April?

Two antique forks and two paperweights on a shelf in my studio,

Of course, this is totally unrelated to the theme. Just another thing on my mind.

 

TEN THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MARCH

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 3 Comments
  1. Grow lights over shelves of seedling trays in our bay window. The 24-hour lights themselves, even before all the green shoots appear and flourish.
  2. The dramatic possibility of the biggest snows (though I could do without the digging out that follows).
  3. Arts & Letters afternoon in the Quaker meetinghouse. We have some fine painters and writers and quilters and weavers and sculptors and even musicians. Think of it as a salon without a piano.
  4. As I’ve already mentioned, a salon of Friends.
  5. Cutting pussy willows. A first harbinger of spring. Many of our friends welcome the gift.
  6. The realization we just might make it through another winter.
  7. First bulbs in bloom. Sometimes surrounded by melting snow.
  8. Bird migration. Especially the geese overhead.
  9. Flying kites at the beach.
  10. Those new wool socks from Christmas, now that they’re in regular rotation.

~*~

What do you find personally meaningful in the month of March?

Yes, an icicle. Our neighborhood can be full of these long daggers.

 

TEN YUMMY SOUPS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment

It’s prime time for hot soup. We’re not talking about anything out of a can or a package dropped into boiling water. These are the ones made with fresh ingredients – or things you froze in season for use later. Probably with a good homemade stock, too.

  1. Tomato. Seriously, my wife’s is always a hit – and the glutten-free, lactose-intolerant, or vegans aren’t left out of the pleasure. Our secret ingredient is the tomatoes we cook down and stick in the big freezer in high summer in anticipation of this.
  2. Potato-leek. Simply comforting. Again, with our own leeks. Storing them through winter is a special challenge – so far, we find peat moss works best in buckets placed at the back of the cellar.
  3. Split pea and/or lentils. I imagine there are whole cookbooks devoted to the possibilities.
  4. Ramen. Remember, Japan created restaurants purely for this. Forget that cheap stuff in the plastic bag – though if you do, add tofu, the way we do.
  5. Pho. A hearty Vietnamese dinner in a wondrously big bowl.
  6. Seafood, meaning clam chowder or lobster bisque. (OK, that’s two. I just love both.)
  7. Hot and sour. Fresh Chinese bamboo shoots can make a world of difference.
  8. White bean. Last one I had was an Iranian version with lamb’s neck and another eight or nine ingredients. It was heavenly. Or you can stick to a hambone. Just don’t disparage good beans, OK? (Well, let’s add a footnote for turtle black beans, especially as a great Cuban bowl.)
  9. Ravioli. Yes, as a soup. Slurp ’em up!
  10. Asparagus. We put those stems we cut off to work later.

Well, India’s Mulligatawany belongs on the list, too. I doubt we’re done here yet.

~*~

What would you add to the list?

They’re a threat.

 

TEN THINGS I DON’T LIKE ABOUT TURNING 70

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment
  1. Aches and pains.
  2. Memory recall.
  3. Slowing down.
  4. Ditto, the lovey-dovey.
  5. And the surviving strands are getting narrower and narrower, almost like spider-weave now.
  6. Realizing how often I have – and still do – misread social cues, unintentionally hurt others, blown opportunities. I’ll even admit to some serious regrets now.
  7. All the friendships I’ve lost along the way, moving from job to job and town to town.
  8. Too much sensitivity to hot and cold.
  9. Won’t ever hike the Appalachian Trail at this point. Or other similar heights.
  10. Realize what a gap exists between me and those 50 years younger. It’s not just the technology stuff, either.

~*~

What don’t you like about being the age you are?

Snowflake cookie cutter in a kitchen window catches the sunlight.

 

TEN THINGS I LIKE ABOUT FEBRUARY

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 7 Comments
  1. Sitting in the dark in front of the lighted Christmas tree. And convincing my wife we don’t have to take it out at least until Presidents Day.
  2. Hard cider at the tasting room at the Rollinsford mill.
  3. Cross-country skiing. Assuming we get enough snow.
  4. My wife makes a big prime rib dinner, usually just before Great Lent begins.
  5. Oh, yes, that last martini before Lent.
  6. Crisp sunlight – and days as long as they were in October.
  7. Chuck’s sauna. Out by the farm pond.
  8. Maple syrup.
  9. Watching the birds at the feeder.
  10. Wondering about bob houses and how thick the ice is.

~*~

What do you find personally meaningful in the month of February?

Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags in the icy air.

 

TEN THINGS I DON’T LIKE ABOUT WINTER IN NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 9 Comments

The sidewalks are buried in plowed snow, so you have to walk in the street. Gotta keep taking the ash out from the wood-fired stove. And it’s dark two-thirds of each day. But that’s not the worst. Just consider …

  1. Slipping on ice and shoveling snow, especially at the end of the driveway where the city snowplows pack us in.
  2. Driving in freezing rain.
  3. Comparing the weather reports to each other and to what actually happens. Rarely does anything match.
  4. Watching the woodpile shrink.
  5. Utility bills.
  6. The house is always cold – and stiff winds make it only worse.
  7. Things break.
  8. Frozen pipes or drains.
  9. Cabin fever.
  10. The rock-hard ground.

~*~

How do you feel about winter?

Sunset over the neighbors’.

TEN THINGS I LIKE ABOUT JANUARY

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 3 Comments
  1. Sitting around a wood fire in the kitchen.
  2. What’s not to like about popping corks?
  3. Seed catalogs. Even though I’m not the one ordering. It’s just a pleasure to watch.
  4. Ralph Page Legacy weekend. Big New England contradance gathering one town over. You wanna talk about characters?
  5. Daylight already getting noticeably longer.
  6. Tiny colored lights ringing our bay window
  7. Discovering more tins of Christmas cookies she’s made.
  8. Getting familiar with my Christmas presents now that the hoopla’s over.
  9. Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn’s birthdays
  10. Clear starry nights.

~*~

What do you find pleasurable about January?

~*~

We love our little Jotul.