Last night, my husband asked, “If you had to choose one book to bring with you on a deserted island, which would it be?”
My son and I had rock solid answers.... Daniel chose the hypothetical book "Survival for Dummies." I chose "A Guide to Edible Plants and Shrubs." We thought a title like "How To Build a Raft" would also come in handy.
Kidding aside, we then discussed our favorite books of all time, and what makes a book “good” in the first place? A great writer can take any subject, I mean ANY subject, and make it the most fascinating thing on earth. Look at Susan Orlean, who wrote The Orchid Thief. At its most basic level, it is a book about orchids. And Florida. And orchid collectors. And doesn’t that sound fascinating? But because of Orlean’s talent in stringing the right words together in precisely the right way — it is.
It got me to thinking about sitting under a palm tree with my favorite book — except I haven’t been holding many books lately. The last two novels I read were downloaded from the Penfield Library directly onto my iPad. I’ve enjoyed e-books more than I thought I would. I can browse the catalog and download books anywhere, anytime. Very convenient.
Can you imagine what libraries will look like as the concept of electronic books continues to develop? Or what about our own personal bookshelves? Will we even need to have used book sales? Interesting questions for the future....
To learn more about downloadable books, click here to visit the Penfield Library website.
E-books are great, but I’d hate to see hard copies disappear forever. I can’t take my iPad to a deserted island-- it would get full of sand!
Project Eat Healthier continues, albeit with a few little bumps along the way. The calorie blow-outs of December are gone (good) but every once in awhile I hit a snag in my progress.
Like last week — I came down with a terrible head cold and was miserable. To comfort myself, I ate a lot of comfort food like pastas and breads (bad). I also felt too miserable to exercise and ruined my good track record of getting to the gym most days. When I finally did work out on Monday morning, I could tell my body was really out of it (also bad). It’s funny how missing just a few days of exercise can make such a difference!
One thing I’ve been reasonably successful at for a couple of weeks now is cutting out all refined sugar from my diet. No chocolate. No mint cookies. No gummy bears or M&Ms. Nothing. And interestingly enough, I feel a real physical difference.
Head cold aside, I have more energy during the day and don’t feel like conking out for a daily nap at 3:00. And I have almost no headaches! I hadn’t realized that my almost daily headaches might be caused by sugar. I’m sure lots of people could have told me that, but I never bothered asking. I just assumed I was one of those people that had lots of headaches. Who knew?
I even played around with it one day and had some sugar — a candy bar or something. Sure enough, I felt all sleepy about a half hour later and came down with a slight headache. I also was surprised by how sweet the food was. Almost cloying! It’s funny how quickly your body adjusts to change.
Anyone have any suggestions for getting through Valentine’s Day?
The funny thing is, I consider myself a winter person. I love the cold, the snow, and the dreary days when I can hide indoors with a good book (right now it’s "Aleph" by Paulo Coelho). My husband even calls me Morticia. But even I suffer from the winter doldrums and this year I seem to be plagued with them earlier than usual. I usually don’t get tired of winter until sometime in late-March or April, but this winter — like a lot of this year — has taken me by surprise.
I find myself dreaming about spring and summer — and forgetting to enjoy the present moment and all it has to offer. Yes, even March has something to offer! So....
Here are two upcoming events to mark on your calendar. Both are organized by the Penfield Rotary, and participating in them helps support the many programs (see earlier blog post) that Rotary undertakes to benefit the Penfield community.
For Euchre Lovers: Euchre Tournament held on Sunday, March 11 at The Legacy in Penfield. The grand prize is a 32-inch flat screen TV. Tickets are $20 per person until March 9, and $25 per person after that. Registration information is online at the Penfield Rotary website.
Not a card player? Is golf your game? Then you’ll have to wait until June for Rotary’s Golf Tournament held on Monday, June 4, 2012 at Shadow Lake. Mark your calendars now for this because the event is always a good time with prizes, hole-in-one contests etc. I’ll keep you posted as this gets closer....
Have an event you want me to mention in the blog? Let me know and I’ll do my best to work it in.
I want to thank the many people who commented on my Hiking in Spain post. All the people who wrote had recently walked the Camino de Santiago and gave me such valuable information about what I could expect on the 400ish mile journey. Many pilgrims offered websites for further information, or gave me the names of specific guidebooks that were particularly helpful. I am grateful for your assistance.
However, since I can’t go to Spain at just this moment, I have chosen to trek someplace closer (and cheaper) to home: The wild land of Connecticut, with a side trip to New York City. Our family loves to travel, so my children and I decided a quick trip to see my brother and his family would be a lot of fun.
We’ll also go to New York City for the day so that my children can experience Broadway. I have no idea what we will see; we’ll stand in line at TKTS and take our chances-- which is an experience in and of itself. Then I will teach my children the fine art of standing at the stage entrance after the performance to meet the cast members. Or maybe we’ll just save some money by skipping the performance and hanging out by the stage door.
Buen Camino to you, wherever your travels take you.
God knows, I am not a perfect mother. I never taught my children to be conscientious about cleaning up their rooms. I sometimes let them go outside without a coat, and just today, I noticed my daughter was wearing flip flops outside in 34 degree weather. But there was one thing I got right....
I taught both my children how to cook.
As soon as they could stand on a chair, they have stood by me as I taught them anything and everything. There was no rhyme or reason to our lessons; if I was making it, they were helping me however they could.
Now they are "tweens" and I’ve been teaching them the incredibly personal art of making pasta sauce. It’s funny how the children have taken this one dish to make it their own.
One thing about my extended family — each woman has her own recipe for sauce. My sauce borrows from my grandmother (a little bit of sugar and a LITTLE pat of butter). My mom uses a bay leaf. I do not.
Now my son and daughter have developed their own special recipes. Daniel adds kalamata olives, shallots, garlic, and red wine to his (fear not, I handle the wine for him!) Julia, always the independent one, has gone off in her own direction- no red sauce! Hers is almost a pasta toss — shallots, garlic, sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, chicken broth, olive oil, a splash of fresh lemon juice, and fresh Parmesan cheese. They are true Italians, and do not work off a recipe. Everything is to taste.
My grandmother would be so proud!!! Plus, having kids who can make dinner is so wonderful when I really don’t feel like cooking.
I know I spent much of the last half of December complaining about how many Christmas cookies I’d been eating. But I’ve been back on track with some of the habits I’d established before December. I’ve returned to near daily exercising and I went back on my Advocare plan that I started before the holidays.
That, combined with eliminating junk food from my diet for an entire week, brought me back down to my pre-December weight. Yay!
And in another one of life’s great coincidences: While thinking about how I can eat better on a continual basis, and not just for one week, I read that Wickham Farms is starting a CSA (which stands for Community Supported Agriculture) where interested community members purchase a share of a farm’s harvest.
They are wonderful ways to support local growers, and there are many CSAs in Rochester. I’d been wanting to join a CSA for awhile, but for lots of reasons — read sheer laziness — just never got around to it. Sometimes I really need a kick in the pants! This time I had no excuse, and since Wickham Farms is practically around the corner from me, I joined.
Information about the Wickham Farms CSA is on their website along with a listing of upcoming information sessions.
It’s right about now that I start to lose motivation on my New Year’s resolutions. I have to remind myself of what Dory said in "Finding Nemo" (Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming).
I’ll see if I can remember this when I get up to run tomorrow morning.
My son and I saw the film, The Way, and now we fantasize about walking the Camino de Santiago. The Camino is an ancient route walked by religious pilgrims across Spain to the city of Santiago de Compostela, the supposed burial place of St. James. Thousands make the pilgrimage every year, some for religious reasons, some not; it is an inner journey as well as an outer one. We are completely caught up in the idea of walking almost 500 miles through a beautiful country and living so differently from our lives over here.
Now when we have a few moments, we “plan” our family trip in our head. “It’s a pipe dream,” I say. We compose an imaginary packing list, we read about the Camino in books, and we imagine ourselves walking 15-20 miles a day across Spain. My son dreams about taking his camera and filming a movie about our experience. I dream about stepping out of the minutia of our lives for just awhile to do something different.
Then I begin to wonder about the practicality of taking two young children on a 500-mile hike. Where would we sleep? Is it safe? What if one of us gets sick? Where are the bathrooms?! How much does this all cost anyway?
I read that a backpack for the Camino should be no more than 10% of your total body weight. So for my ten year old daughter that would be..... five pounds! My children are in better shape than I am; surely Julia can carry more than five pounds?
I know it’s just a dream but then Daniel asks why don’t just make the trip. Is this really possible? Maybe it’s not so far-fetched after all.
Anyone ever done anything like this? Comments welcome.
Every time I cross a town line, I am drawn to the welcome sign displaying the logos of the community organizations present in the town. Rotary’s spoke and wheel logo is a constant image, and I always wanted to learn more about the organization. Never one to pass up an opportunity, I visited and subsequently joined Penfield Rotary last year, and here’s what I’ve learned so far....
Rotary is composed of business, professional, and community leaders (both men and women) whose objective is to serve-- in Penfield, in Rochester, in the country, and in the world. From working to eradicate polio (almost done by the way!), to raising funds to drill water wells in South Sudan, to supporting the Penfield Ecumenical Food Shelf, Rotary undertakes all of these projects to promote goodwill, peace, and understanding.
Rotary’s latest avenue of service is called New Generations, and it encompasses all the programs that Rotary offers to develop and encourage youth leadership. There are an amazing nine programs (so far!) that directly benefit youth in the Penfield community: Interact clubs, scholarship programs, literacy projects, youth leadership programs, and international exchange opportunities. You can view the complete list of all the programs by clicking on the New Generations tab at the Rotary website. I think you’d be amazed, as I was, at all they do!
Here are some pics of the vocal and oratorical contests in which Penfield students have recently participated. Go Penfield! And you can always learn more about any of Rotary’s programs by attending a Rotary meeting — Tuesdays at noon at the Shadow Lake Country Club.
Three years ago, my son asked why New Year’s Day is such a big deal. I don’t like the holiday to begin with. January 1, like my birthday, only reminds me that I’m a year older.
But I thought about his question and eventually answered that New Year’s holds a lot of promise for all of us on a personal and global level. It’s an incredibly optimistic holiday -- a brand new start for each of us. Even I can get behind that.
My son’s question was interesting as I had just finished reading the book, The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family by Patrick Lencioni. Consider these three questions posed to the reader:
My son’s question wasn’t a coincidence. We know there are no such things as coincidences! It underlined how necessary it is to periodically examine family priorities. What is most important to each of our families? And do the choices we make on a daily basis bring us towards our goals, or away from them?
My thoughts often come back to Lencioni’s book. So I’m putting a re-read of it on the top of my to-do list for 2012. Re-examining goals and priorities is usually a good thing. January is the perfect time in which to do it.
Let’s see how the numbers shook out this month.
1: Days with any significant snow
5: Pounds I had lost before the month started
9: Days I was able to exercise in December when I wasn’t baking cookies
14: Batches of cookies I made during December (conservative estimate)
93,000,000: Miles from earth to the sun. And a conservative estimate of the number of calories consumed by eating said Christmas cookies and all the other foods that come along with the season
4: The number of pounds I gained back this month. How depressing....
I remember when I was about 18, my father telling me that I wouldn’t always be able to eat three slices of pizza for dinner. I distinctly remember laughing at him as I reached for my fourth slice, feeling absolutely positive that wouldn’t happen to me.
Then I turned 40.
And I don’t know what wall I slammed into, but it was a hard one. Pounds that used to slide off easily with a few days of running now are now Krazy-Glued to my body.
I joke about it, but it is a serious subject for me. I know the risks of being overweight, and I’m certainly not going to bore you with them. Losing excess weight will not get any easier for me the older I get, so I must get a handle on this.
Now. I’d like to use this blog to occasionally to help me with my goal of being healthier, and hope it will help you too.
On Dec. 19, the “Wings of Light” event was held where 270 luminaries were lit up on the grounds of Shepherd Home. We were stunned at how beautiful they all looked. There is something about firelight that is so warm and peaceful. No set of Christmas lights can compare.
While the event was a fundraiser for Shepherd Home, it clearly served another purpose that evening. The lit candle signified something more-- someone made “present” during the holiday season. I saw countless people walk over to the luminaries and start talking to them. It wasn’t strange; it was sweet and beautiful.
And while it was quiet outside the home, it was a festive (and noisy) party inside. Cookies, hot cocoa, friends and laughter flowed freely. Here is a photo of the event.
I love to visit the Penfield Arts Center for art shows, and invited co-owner Kristina Hutch Matthews to share what's going on this winter. Some cool classes are coming up, so let's take a look:
The Penfield Arts Center welcomes 2012 with a Monday morning meditation group from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., beginning Jan. 9. No previous meditation experience is necessary.
On Martin Luther King Day, parents can find inner calm by bringing children ages 5 – 12 for “Art and Story” activities on the morning of Jan. 16.
The Penfield Arts Center will also be offering the Creative Art Gym experience for kids ages 5 – 12 on the third Friday of each month. The theme for the first session, Jan. 20, will be Animal Storytelling Masks.
In February, Kristina will be teaching a class for 8 – 12-year-olds on Bookmaking, Writing and Illustrating.
Still in the works: Artists Kristina Hutch Matthews and Christine Waara are looking to form a dream analysis/discussion group to meet at the Arts Center. If interested, please call Kristina at 764-3493.
Additionally, dedicated young artists who have previously taken classes with Kristina are invited to join a drawing club/mentorship program, from 5:30 – 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month, starting on January 11th.
To pre-register for any of these groups or classes email penfieldartscenter@gmail.com with the name, age, address and phone number of the participant. Also indicate if there are any food allergies or other health concerns that the instructors should know about.
Thanks, Kristina!
I have attached some photos to this blog, so you can all see the results of Cookie Baking Day (Carb Appreciation Day). We were very busy. My mother joined us for this event, and we baked about 6 or 7 batches of cookies beginning at 10 a.m. and finishing at 6 p.m.
As you might guess, I wasn’t really in the mood to cook dinner that evening, so we enjoyed dinner at Chez Wegmans’ Carry Out Cafe.
Everywhere I look in my house there are carbs. Carbs everywhere. Carbs for breakfast. Carbs for lunch. Carbs for dinner. Carb Appreciation Day has turned into Carb Appreciation Weekend. And really, couldn’t December be called Carb Appreciation Month?
I put in a lot of work this past autumn trying to drop some excess poundage. I lost 5 pounds after exercising almost daily and using the Advocare program. I am determined not to undermine my hard work by giving it all back in December. I don’t need to lose weight this month (would be unrealistic, although nice!) but I do want to maintain my loss and get right back into the losing spirit after Christmas.
So beginning December 26 (okay maybe the 27th), I’ll be celebrating Fruit and Vegetable Appreciation Day, Whole Grains Appreciation Day, and Lean Protein Appreciation Day. Most every day will be Exercise Appreciation Day.... And Lisa Best, who started me on the Advocare program, will be there to guide me.
Good luck everyone with trying to get through this month. I struggle all the time with the temptations of the season.
I’ll see you at the gym....
I’ve noticed that there is a definite rhythm to the year. January and February move along a steady pace. March practically inches along as we hover between winter and spring. April arrives and we trot through the middle of the year up until early fall.
But after Halloween, we go so fast that we can’t catch our breath. Despite the holiday season with its displays and decorations that beg us to slow down and pay attention, we keep right on moving faster and faster.
In our family, we make sure we stop for at least a little bit. Cookie Baking Day is here! One day in December, both children are allowed to take the day off from school (I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but they’re not really home sick today). We stay home without interruption and bake Christmas cookies all day long.
We’ve been doing this for five years now — in November we grab all the Christmas cookie magazines that are on the stands and we sort through them, dog-earing the pages of the recipes we like. And on Cookie Baking Day, we bake as many of them as we can. We continue to make cookies right up through Christmas, but today is strictly devoted to baking.
Really, it’s about spending time with each other. And I’ve grown up enough to learn that the Gift of Time is the best gift I can give my children.
I don’t think it was a coincidence that "Meet Joe Black" was playing on cable last night. What was it Anthony Hopkins said about his 65 years: “Don’t they go by in a blink.”
I’ll put up some pictures at the end of today.....
Didn’t this morning’s snow come right on time?
OK, I fully admit that this blog is a shameless plug—I have been a Shepherd Home volunteer for nearly four years and I love supporting the home and its mission to care for the terminally ill. So I thought a blog about Shepherd Home’s event, Wings of Light: Celebrating the Angels In Our Lives might be something you want to know about.
Shepherd Home will present a luminary display on Monday, December 19 from 5 to 9 pm on the grounds of the home’s location, 1959 Five Mile Line Road. The luminaries—small bags holding sand and a lighted candle—will all be lit at once to create a glowing nighttime display during the holiday season. The intent of the event is to help the local community gather to celebrate and honor the angels in their lives, past and present, as well as raise needed funds for the operation of the home.
If this has piqued your interest, visit the Shepherd Home website to purchase a luminary. They are $10 each and can be personalized with the name of one of the “angels” in your life. If your schedule allows, come over to Shepherd Home that evening to view the display and enjoy some cocoa and cookies. The more luminaries purchased, the larger the display will be that evening...
Shepherd Home wishes to thank Sally Dixon of Concepts and Copy for writing the press release and promotional copy for the Wings of Light event, Clover Lawn and Landscape for their donations of luminary materials, Diane Fitzgerald-Harris for her graphic design talents, and Jeff Burns for website assistance. This fundraising event would not be possible without their help. A place like Shepherd Home would not be possible without yours.
Last Saturday, nearly 100 families were given Thanksgiving food baskets from the Penfield Ecumenical Food Shelf. The effort that goes into the Thanksgiving distribution is awesome and a wonderful example of our community’s generosity.
It takes a village to put together the makings of a Thanksgiving dinner for nearly 100 families. Lots of turkeys had to be collected from people willing to donate one and bring it to the Food Shelf. One local elementary school offered to collect stuffing mix, a neighborhood collected cranberry sauce, a faith formation program collected brownie and cake mix. One Penfield resident called the Food Shelf to ask what else was needed-- she just wanted to help. A few days later, she dropped off tons of canned gravy and jello.
Little by little, with everyone doing what they could, it all came together for Saturday’s distribution-- like a giant pot of Stone Soup.
The Food Shelf reminds me that you don’t have to be Bill Gates or Warren Buffet to make a huge difference in this world. Most of the time, it’s the very small efforts we put forth that have far reaching effects-- ripples on a pond. One family donating one 10 lb. turkey has huge effect on the family that was facing a Thanksgiving Day without one. One school’s effort to collect stuffing mix took care of about 100 families! It all adds up and everyone makes a difference.
The generosity of our Penfield community--that’s what I’m thankful for this year. Thank you to everyone who supports the Food Shelf on a continual basis.
More to come about the Penfield Ecumenical Food Shelf, as the winter holidays are soon upon us.....
I often wonder if our world is turning into one giant shopping mall. Two years ago, I wandered through New York City with my daughter amazed at how many Gap stores existed within walking distance of each other! Don’t get me wrong, I love Gap (and Eddie Bauer, Target, and Cheesecake Factory for that matter).
But it dawned on me that most of Times Square was one chain store after another. It took a subway ride to the Upper West Side to find something unique and different. Looking back on it now, the difference between Times Square and the Upper West Side was the presence of small business (OK, I know I’m simplifying, but you get my point).
The Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 26) is Small Business Saturday- a day that’s about supporting small businesses. The concept of this day really appeals to me, because I know I don’t think enough about the impact of small business in our area. Many of our small businesses here in Penfield (or any other town) are very loyal and supportive of our community. Small business owners often provide donations — for refreshments, raffles or auctions — which benefit our youth and several other community groups.
I’m going to make a point of patronizing small, locally-owned businesses on Saturday, November 26. More importantly, I will make a special effort to continue to support them beyond this one day.
You can learn more about Small Business Saturday by clicking here or by joining their Facebook page. Go local!!
Last month, a friend passed along the news that the Messenger Post was looking for bloggers. I love to write, and starting a blog seemed like such a neat experience - cross one more item off my “bucket list.”
My family has lived in Penfield for the past eleven years. I’ve never met kinder, more generous people, and this community felt like home from the minute we moved here. I live with my husband, Steven, our two children, Daniel and Julia, and our parakeet, Kiwi. (My kids will kill me if I don’t mention the bird.)
I suspect my blog entries might be as wide and varied as my interests: Life in Penfield — what is going on in the community and all the great people and organizations that make Penfield such a great place to live. Maybe one day I’ll talk about something completely different-- a great book I read, a new recipe, or whatever else I hope you might find interesting. Have an idea for the blog? Send it along! I also hope to have guest bloggers here too. So check back to the blog often; you might be surprised who is writing.
While I really enjoy change and new opportunities, I’ve never been so “out there” before with my writing. I am nervous, excited, hopeful... I keep telling myself that getting out of my comfort zone is a good thing. It is a good thing, right?
Marie Cinti lives with her husband and two children in Penfield. A former college academic advisor and school counselor, she is passionate about community service and blogs about life in Penfield, books, events, and more. She enjoys reading, writing, cooking, and geocaching. If you have an idea for her blog, please email Marie at sfinkels@rochester.rr.com.
