Knowledge

When I talk to children, I’m overtaken by a need to spout long and tiresome words.   [I'm sure that somewhere there is a word out there that describes this but I have yet to figure out how to search a definition to come up with the resulting word.]

For example,

the five year old next door happened to ask me a question that I did not have an answer for.     Did I say, “I don’t know.”?   No, I said, “Sorry, I have no knowledge on that issue.”

The kid squinted at me and cocked his head, “What’s knowledge?”

**blank**

Stunned, I was not at all sure how to answer that much more perplexing querie.       What is ‘knowledge’?    How do you explain knowledge to a kindergartner?   (Why, again, do I use such words ‘over the head’ of my young conversers – to show off my vocabulary?!    Surely, it can’t be to impress.)

I had to send him home to his parents.    I had him repeat the word back to me, to make sure when he got back to his Dad or his Mom, that he could actually say the word ‘knowledge’ – rhymes with college.   (uh oh)

I do enjoy sending these cherubs home to those who are supposed to be charmed, amused even, by their children.    He is quite a little dear.    He certainly amuses me.    But, boy, do I hate the tough questions.

I sure do wonder what they said back to him when he asked…

Cattails?

Roasted Garlic and Artichoke Pie

Roasted Garlic and Artichoke Quiche, more like it…

For David: a virtual pie!     for a Belated Happy Birthday and Father’s Day, too.

I blended a few recipes I found online:   the first being the Simply Elegant Artichoke Quiche recipe (click here, RecipeZaar) and another much simpler recipe (click here, another RecipeZaar.)

The Elegant One had a wonderfully exciting crust!    which I only altered due to not having any apple cider vinegar onhand – had to substitute Raspberry Champagne Vinegar!    I used regular bacon and dried some of my garden sage and rubbed it between my fingers;  I have no idea if what I did constitutes ‘rubbed sage’ but whatever.    I do not get carried away about being exact with my food experiments…    Anyway, I loved the crust!   I did, however, prebake it a bit too long (oops).   Thus the crust showing in my photo.

The other changes were to use shallots sauted in bacon grease, pinot grigio for my white wine and Farmers Cheese instead of Swiss.   Swiss probably would have been better but I didn’t have any – I only had the Farmers or Cheddar and decided mild and soft was the way to go here.   Parsley from my garden is a special touch, too.

I only had 3 eggs, only about 1/2 cup of half-n-half so I added milk, too and…

here’s the kicker!    I roasted a huge clump of garlic, on the grill no less, and when I got to the construction part of the quiche, I crumbled the farmers cheese, dabbed on/in the goo that is roasted garlic, dumped on the shallots/artichoke saute and some bacon pieces and then poured on the egg mixture.

I baked far longer than the original time set of 25 minutes – waiting instead till it ‘looked right’ – so I have NO IDEA how long it really baked.

But it tastes gooooooooood!      And it only gets better a few days later…   I baked this Sunday and had a slice for lunch today – fantabuBLISS!

Garlic?

Mystery plant at the neighbors…

ok, nevermind! and harps

So, I’m just bursting with ideas to post about!   all random of course…

I’m all happy,happy now that my little kite is back.  

let’s see, I was reminded of a cool story!   I’ll elaborate from the truth since I wasn’t there, but based on what I’ve been told and my imaginations filling in, here’s what happened.

A friend of mine, let’s call her Ethel, was walking through a hospital lobby….   NO, she was coming down the escalator into the lobby when she saw sunlight streaming onto a harp player playing the most lovely harp music and the beauty really struck her.

So, she wandered near the harpist and waited for an opportunity to introduce herself and offer compliments.   The harpist’s first words out of her mouth:

“There are no coincidences.   You were meant to come meet me.   Are you musical?”

My friend Ethel (not her real name) says,  “Well, yes, I love to sing.   But also, many years ago, I took harp lessons.  It was fun.”

And the harp lady says,

“You must pick it back up.  You must buy a harp.   I recommend a teach-yourself-how-to-play course, blah-blah-blah.    I am so busy I have to turn down opportunities – -  money-making opportunities!    There’s a reason we have met.   Here’s my card.  Call me when you’re ready.”

And My-Friend-Ethel-Not-Her-Real-Name is just giddy, GIDDY!  with excitement.

The end.

Well, not really, because I have to poke a bit of fun at Ethel.   She’s telling me this story, right and comes to the part about “There are no coincidences” and she says  “ya know, I just looked at her cautiously and go ‘uh huh’ “

YEA, RIGHT!   Ethel eats this shit up.  I can sense her squealing with delight.

so fun.

(and I’m giddy!  My kite is back!!!)

CuriousC's avatar

Little Ticked Off

Where’s my pretty kite avatar?  Hmm?     RRrrrrrrrr.    It really upsets me that my avatar is missing when I comment at your blogs!

AND…

When I hit “My Comments” to see the replies to my comments on your blogs, I get…

nothing.

WP tells me that I should ‘make some friends by leaving some comments.’     Hey – I do have friends and I do leave comments.   SHOW THEM.

ratsafratsarats crap.

Pears and Pecans

I found a new ice cream flavor I had to try:   Haagen-Dazs Caramelized Pear and Toasted Pecan.

My searching for more information seems to say that this was a limited release flavor from 2007.    Eek!  and it’s just now for sale at my grocery store?   Please tell me they’ve re-released it and I’m not enjoying 2 year old ice cream.

And/but, it’s only OK.     I think it would taste better as a pie! So that’s what I’m going to do next week:   I am going to invent a Caramelized Pear and Toasted Pecan Pie.

I did find a few recipes to bounce off from when I searched “Pear Pecan Pie” but none of these required any caramelizing nor toasting, so that’s my plan!

Wish me luck.

Substitution

I logged a full day as a 7th grade math instructor today.    It went well.    No one got sent to the office and I didn’t have any of that surreal feeling of  hovering over the room when I lose control.

Not that I really had to teach anything – worked through the Problem of the Day (area of a square with side length 12.5 feet) at the beginning of each class and then handed out a few worksheets that had to be turned in at the end.

Not too stressful – multiplication of fractions, negatives, decimals, finding mean and range – that kind of stuff.

The highlight?  or maybe a point of amusement:   a few of the students wanted to write on the board during the class they call ‘Directed Study’.   They are supposed to be spending quiet time on their assignments but if they are not too distracting – they can chat.       So the one who wanted to write on the whiteboard, wrote this:

Ms. “CuriousC” is the best substitute teacher ever!

Cool, huh?    They didn’t want me to erase it.   (But I did; once that class was over.)

Ah, validation!   **smirk**

Of course, the $63.74 still is hardly worth the time…

Dear Potential New-to-Me Doctor,

Dear Potential New-to-Me Doctor,

I found you in the list of doctors that accept my insurance.   I liked your name and the fact that you are close to my age and have been an official doctor for almost 20 years.     What else do I have to go on?!     They should make you list favorite color, astrological sign and if you prefer pie or cake.

I am writing to you because I have made an appointment and wanted to save the who/what/where/blahblahblahs so we may have a productive meeting.   I have no physical complaints to present to you and I hope not to have any in the near future.

Also, I’m curious if you will respond.   Knowing you are busy and my letter to you a bit unorthodox in the ‘Choosing-A-Doctor’ process, I wonder if you will write me back.   I’m enclosing a SASE to make it a bit easier.

I’m giving you the opportunity to NOT ACCEPT me as a new patient if you decide I’m not someone you want to know.

Let’s start, shall we?     I have no kids – never quite got around to it and have since decided that our family of wife plus husband plus adorable dog is just fine.     I work out occasionally, would love to lose 5-10 pounds but don’t really care, I try to eat right, I admit to smoking cigarettes on occasion but can easily go weeks or months without one, and I partake more beer and wine than is recommended.    I’ve just started yoga and I’m liking it way more than I expected to.    Over all, life is really great and I have no complaints.     Other than my hypothyroidic condition and nasty cold sores on my upper lip every so often, I’ve got nothing wrong with me that I know about.

I love to read – do you?    What’s your favorite book?    I am recommending The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, especially if you love dogs.    Do you like dogs?     It was just a wonderful read.     I’ve set a goal to read 100 books this year and not sure I’ll make it but I’m reading quite a variety – it’s fun.      I work as a substitute teacher because I love the flexibility and because it gives me something to say when people ask me what I do.     I also volunteer at the nursing home and do free tutoring through the library for math, language and computers.

So, is this enough?   Would you like me as a patient?   If not, please save us both the time and effort and send this back with a big red line thru it.     Or fill out my little survey.     Click the appropriate circle:

O   –    Yes, would love to have you as a new patient.    I will remind myself to read this again as your appointment nears.

O   -     No, you sound really weird.     Find somebody else.

O  –      I’m passing this around the office and we’re all getting a good laugh.

O  -     Do you have no idea how busy I am?!   I’m an extremely important health professional and I do not have the time to be writing patients or filling out silly forms.   I’ll just hand this to some poor sap in the office and see if they will fill it out.

Thank you for your being open to my process of finding a good doctor.  I would love to know more about you and your philosophies of patient care and personal health and well-being.      Do you think you would be a good doctor for me?

Sincerely,

CuriousC

Awesomenessess. Sort of.

Thank you all who commented on prior post.   You rock.

Update so far is minimal – but I must say I’m very intrigued about acupuncturist idea from WriterChick.   

But here’s the update:    I called the doc who will no longer be my primary care doctor going forward and said this:

“Um, my pharmacist says he called you about a refill for my synthroid and you all told him that I’m no longer a patient?”

Gave the lady on the phone my name, what pharmacy, what drug, what dose and she said she would CALL ME BACK.

.

.

.

That was about 8:30 am.     I’ll give her through tomorrow.     I’ll maybe call in the afternoon?   if I don’t hear from them?!?!     I am hoping to at least get a ‘I’m sorry’ and an extension for a month’s supply – since I’m not suffering any symptoms and have been taking the same dose for awhile now….

I suppose I need to start thinking about finding a new darn doc or go natural.

But what really gets me nervous is what if I DO need a doctor for something serious and then WHO – WHERE will I go?        I did ask a friend if she rec’d a doc and she told me she was looking for a new one, too!!    EGADS.