Monday, January 05, 2009

Knitting, Soup And Meandering Thoughts

So, I didn't really make any resolutions this year. There is no priority in my life greater than any other thus making it hard to choose. I will celebrate my 10th anniversary of quitting smoking on the 13th. It wasn't a New Years resolution - I'd just reckoned I'd quit after New Years.

I finished a knitting project, a 'shrug' on New Years eve. It took all of 5 minutes to join the parts that took it from a rectangle to a garment. It's one of those 'you knit it, you wear it' items that has at least one novice mistake in it, but ya just don't want to waste it either. I thought I should finish on something that felt satisfying and comforting. Gods know we need some of both these days.

Some friends have been talking about putting together a 'Stone Soup' feast. We've all done it with various groups of friends off and on over the years. I'm hoping we can get together to cook on Inauguration Day so we can celebrate Obama's swearing in too. That's gonna be so cool!

To me, Obama's inauguration culminates only some of the groundwork laid by the likes of Adelai Stephenson, JFK and his brother, Bobby, Dr. King, Malcolm X, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ralph Bunche, Maya Angelou and numerous others whose aspirations were spoken of in clarion voices throughout the blossoming years of my childhood.

Now America starts a new chapter in her history and it excites me! C'mon! Can we now go back to showing the rest of the world the best of us and not the least?


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I gotta ask, whats a flippin 'Stone Soup' ...lol no matter if its knitting or no smoking... there is nothing like a sense of accomplishment to give you a grin inside....

Untill his silence on the Israeli massacres, I too had hope with Obama... but I do hope you have a brilliant day celebrating....

Someone made the comment that the stairs on which he will be inaugurated were made once by slaves... how fitting he now stands on them as President

Morgan said...

Stone soup is based on a story wherein, during a time of scarcity and poverty, a woman fed a village out of her cauldron. She started by adding water and a stone and a bit of onion. A man walking by tasted it and said, "It needs something" and he went off and came back with a turnip and a carrot and he added it to her pot. A couple people came by and "tsked" over the kettle and they too went off and came back, one with a piece of fish and the other with some herbs. Word spread about the pot of Stone oup and soon other villagers brought by whatever meager bits - potatoes, grains of rice, a tomato, and so on. They were poor but what they brought went into that cauldron. Well, the next thing people saw was the pot was brimming full and the smells were heavenly. After a while, the soup was done and the old woman invited people to eat their soup.

Stone soup is about cooperation and years ago, when we first heard the story, we though it would be a good thing to try. And it is.

I'm not sure what Obama will say about Israel and Palestine. I think right now, he's biding his time until he's sworn in before saying anything. He's not President yet and this is a policy issue that he can't pronounce upon until he's sworn in.

To be honest A'Jay, I don't have a clue as to what would be the best way to deal with either group. I'd love for them to find a cooperative way to get along and stop killing each other. Both have valid points to make but there is so much fear and resentment fueling their fight that I just don't know if they're capable of actually listening to one another anymore.