I Can’t Dance If You’re Standing On My Laces

Creative thought is just like a pair of dancing shoes lying dormant. Until you place them on your feet and wrap the laces around your ankles, they have no use … up to that point. So, too, is creative thought bound by distraction and negative thoughts hovering like thunderclouds that embrace flashes of lightning. Our thoughts just like the dance within, is longing to break free and stretch into the meaning of their promise. We have a power deep within us that lies dormant until we tap and use it. It is up to us to sidestep the pitfalls of outside thinking or circumstances. We can avoid letting them out or we can allow those outside voices to suppress our inner purge of torment or joy. Being creative also has to do with timing and temperament. We do not choose to be this way but it is up to us to allow the expressive dance to emerge, to be seen, to be revealed. To believe that this talent sprang from our everyday living is not the way we truly are. What we have inside was there from the beginning. Do not allow another to quell your purpose. Do not permit another to stand upon the laces of your dancing shoes.

Theresa H Hall

Freelance Writer & Independent Contractor

Do You Ever Cut Your Own Hair?

The first time I cut my hair I really messed it up. I whacked-off my bangs until there were hardly any left. I cunningly blamed it on the little girl downstairs (I hope she has forgiven me still … although I’ll never ever know for certain), and lied to my parents while wearing a straight face. I was five at the time and I knew better. It didn’t take my intelligent parents long to investigate all the facts and they made me apologize to the neighbor’s daughter. Inwardly I shrugged my small shoulders and hoped I wouldn’t get my bum soundly spanked. Picture if you will, the shortest bangs ever and that was the way I appeared until they grew out. It took a few weeks before I was back to my normal style. 

A Time For Plums

Over the next few days I am going to locate a recipe to prepare using fresh plums. Because they are a fruit I seldom buy, I will be trying something new for the impending holidays. By making the recipe ahead, I will understand how this fruit performs and if I need to tweak the recipe I finally decide on making. I have found that plums are used in cakes, puddings, tarts, salads, jams, jellies, sauces, as an accompaniment for poultry and pork, and in tarts and pies. I’ll figure out the best way to make them and show you how the dish turns out.

Were I A Fish … I’d Look Like This

Were I a fish … I’d look like this. This isn’t by accident. The proof is all around us. 

Sound Advice

“Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.”

Jim Rohn

I’ve Got A Thing For You (nice song)

Singing in my head …

“I’ve Got A Thing For You”

Photo #20 of Fantasy Cabin

Taken by: Carafitti

 

 

It’s Almost Monday

"Stop This Pain, by Vineet Radhakrishnan"

I can hear the morning trumpets being tuned, to be in readiness to play whence the sun rises over the East.

I know to transform from Sunday to Monday will be like removing the pain in my heart.

Theresa H Hall

Freelance Writer & Independent Contractor

Do You Appear Mean-Spirited, Bitter and Ugly?

Unfortunately this can and does happen in cyberspace and in the eye of the public. Social Media affords many benefits but it has drawbacks as well. This is the reason I find it a good practice for people to be on their best behavior when rubbing shoulders with crowds, especially on the Internet. You never know when they might decide to turn on you.

Airing ones’ dirty laundry for the world to see, making a public spectacle of someone else, doing your best to tear down a reputation is abhorrent and downright cruel. Shame on you for not handling the matter in a more circumspect manner. In private. In a civilized way. Championing a few by acting as leader of a disgruntled and bold bunch might be perceived as bravery, but it can also be perceived as weakness and cowardice. Two wrongs do not make a right. Move on and get over it. If you cannot forgive then discuss it quietly among yourselves. Don’t let things get out of hand. If you’ve moved on … well then … move on!

Theresa H Hall

Freelance Writer & Independent Contractor  

See What a Few Minutes In The Kitchen Will Get You

 

It only takes a very few minutes to put something together for a meal or dessert.

Death Can Make You Sleepwalk

Since the deaths of two in-laws (Brother and Sister) this past summer, it feels as if I have been sleep-walking. Apparently mourning takes on a new twist after tears have abated. I find the approaching holidays somewhat dimmed and it is simply because these two wonderful relatives are not to be present. To say they will be sorely missed is an understatement.

For those of you who have lost someone dear … it’s perfectly sensible to miss them at the most inopportune moments. Realize that mourning is intimate, personal and different each time. Remember these cherished loved ones and know that they are just where we may not see or touch them right now. Our memories of them will help keep us company until we meet again.

Sometimes I Just Read Your Blogs

Being a long-time member of BlogCatalog and their sister site, BrooWaha, I have such a variety of writers and bloggers from which to choose. I literally spend hours scrolling through blogs, old ones, new ones, my friends’ blogs, crafting blogs, travel blogs, technical blogs … well you get my meaning. There is such variety that I never grow bored or have a lack of entertainment. BlogCatalog offers its hundreds of thousands of bloggers a beautiful place to gather and support the efforts of fledgling writers, as well as polished authors. It is a beautiful spot where we may showcase our hard work and express ourselves while being a part of a professional social network. On BlogCatalog your blog(s) can get the attention you want them to have.

Millions of readers land on the BlogCatalog Home Page and if you are really lucky they might find your blog. The absolute best way to achieve this would be to become a VIB (Very Important Blogger) and get your blog to show up on the home page on a rotation basis. Your international readership will go up and your blog will become better known. Imagine trying to do this all on your own! 

Only Nine More To Go!

119,991 visitors to this site since June 2007. Only Nine More To Go To Reach 120,000! HooRay! Thanks to all of you and have a fabulous day!

Tears For Andy Rooney

I am very surprised this morning to read that one of my favorite essayists has passed away. Andy Rooney died last night from complications from a surgery he under went recently. I am saddened to learn of this and I will just say that I will mourn him and the excellence he so generously shared with the world. Peace be with you and thank you for being my Historical Treasure.

Here is a recent post I wrote in tribute to him.

Recycle Ripened Bananas!

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Banana Bread 

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned into measuring cup and leveled)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Measure into a small bowl and set aside

~~~~~~~~~~~~

3/4 cup sugar

1 stick butter (softened)

2 large eggs

1/3 cup whole milk

1 tsp pure vanilla

1 cup ripened bananas  (two to three mashed and measured)

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1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

No Cure For Hot Hands

(This story was originally posted on my BrooWaha pages on February 10, 2010)

"Chocolate Cake"

The assignment was to cut the cake: “No matter how I tried I was a wretched mess!” (Imagine Lucille Ball!)

Culinary Schools are the best environment for learning the intricate methods for achieving perfectly prepared meals. That was the main reason I attended L’Academie de Cuisine, one of the top ten culinary schools in the United States, right outside Washington, DC. I wanted to turn out those gorgeous, divine French concoctions of confectionary perfection. Eight months of schooling, including about three to four months of simultaneous externship for Pastry Arts and I’d be ready to graduate.

During the second month of classes students are introduced to the complexities of cocoa beans, and the labor-intensive production methods that are used to produce those tasty decadent desserts and candies we have come to adore. There are hours of listening to Chef lecture on the mysteries of this bitter nut. Percentages of solids and fats, temperatures and tempering, are repeated during the next few days in order to impress upon the students that chocolate is complex, sometimes difficult to work with and can be really difficult to master. After those classes, I can never look at another chocolate candy bar in the same way. I really had no idea.