C is for CHESTNUTS AND CHOCOLATES on a Paris Walk #AtoZ

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

My daily #AtoZ posts combine two concepts in under-300-words per day:

an appealing food choice along with thoughts that spring to mind.

*** *** ***  

The fragrance of roasting chestnuts doesn’t bring flashes of holidays-past for me. Instead, I envision a sidewalk vendor on an abandoned street corner in the heart of Paris. It is a cool spring day. I am twenty-something, hoping to someday become a writer. And fancying myself sipping coffee with expatriates during those glory days following the war.

I too feel lost.
 

I ease along a side street, glancing into a sun-glazed chocolatier shop. But my rationed money stretches only to a half-order of roasted chestnuts from an oversized caldron, deftly scooped into a paper container by a faceless man bundled against the nip of late afternoon.

 

Walking toward Tuileries Garden, I chew on the rubbery flesh of a heated chestnut, thinking of the thumbnail-sized balcony attached to my hotel room where I’ve stashed a bottle of red wine, still over half-full. Like the money, I will also ration the vino, willing it to last another two weeks.

 

This trip should have ended differently.

 

As I fold the top of the paper container and stuff the remaining chestnuts into my skirt pocket for later, thoughts surface of plans unfulfilled. The future holds no wedding; no picket fence surrounding a small cottage where endless words flow onto pages of tattered notebooks; no novels rushed to an eager publisher.

 

Instead, solitary days will consist of plodding sentences, blossoming ideas, sudden inspiration. And endless possibilities of "someday."

 

Is it true that accomplishments are dreams transformed into reality?

 

A REMINDER OF HOW "TIME PASSES" #49, #50, and #51

The mind so often wanders into territory we cannot control. Reining in our thoughts takes more conscious energy than we sometimes have to spare. Lapses are normal. But complete loss of control is unbearable, for everyone involved.

#49

I Will Wait

 

A profusion of color, or dull confusion?
Photo taken at Fremont Street, Las Vegas

She knows it is time.

The waiting is over as her

feet trail along well-worn steps

in an increasing haze of confusion. 

At the landing she pauses to

survey the familiar room below.

Wonders if she could delay just until

the last pie cools on the twisted wire rack. 

Sugary apple syrup

bubbling over, sizzles on

aluminum foil inside the oven.

Certainly, no need to hurry anymore. 

Smoke billows suddenly and without

warning. Perplexed, she listens to

the harsh ring of the telephone,

or maybe what she hears is

only the treacherous
buzzing of the
stove alarm.

Best now to stand right here

And greet the inevitable.

It is past time.

Betrayed by the failing mind of age, thoughts shift and bend until the normal patterns of life masquerade as puzzles that confuse.

 
* * * * *

#50

Time Passes

 

Cherry blossoms mark

Early spring

Ambitions bloom

With the energy expectations provide 

Waves splash the summer shore

In independent harmony

With the sounds

Of childish delight 

Idealistic shards of

Yellow, orange, and red

Blanket a pregnant earth

In breathless anticipation 

Nature regenerates in white slumber

Absorbing a universe gone before

Knowledge shared, to thrive

In the next half century 

Each season offers unique insights and varied delights for adults and children, marking a pleasant though relentless passing of years, leaving ever more obvious traces of time spent and wisdom gained.

* * * * *

#51

The Next Half

Facing forward

with expectant wonder,

she counts crystals in each

purple drop

of rain. 

Thunderous silence

fills her mind with lightning,

trapping future visions in

the pulsing beat

of time. 

Joie de vivre is coursing

through her bloodstream,

soothing rhythms

casting yet

another fate. 

While moonlight

focuses on wave-tossed

beaches, and trade winds

circle ever-changing,

near horizons.

 

* * * * *

Have you reached the half-way mark of your life? Maybe you haven't yet decided when that time will be. Death isn't something we normally dwell on, or discuss daily. But whether discussed or ignored, it is inevitable. Life expectancy can reasonably be set at 100 for many people. Therefore, 50 is a practical number to choose as a half-way mark. 50 cents is half a dollar. 50 years is half a century. Once you start looking at it that way, half a century, you realize that time does indeed pass.

Joie de vivre is coursing through her bloodstream  . . . let it course through yours, also.

N o w !

#27 BREATHE DEEP from Another New Beginning

 

 

 

One of the more fun, and light-hearted poems in ANOTHER NEW BEGINNING is:

 

#27

Breathe Deep

 

Apple pie

baking in the oven;
 

Lilacs

in bloom;

It only takes a moment to breathe deep.
 

Ocean breezes;

L’air du Temps;

Fresh bread cooling on the rack;

Baby’s powdered skin.
 

Breathe even deeper.

Spring

after another hard winter.


*****  *****  *****

The sense of smell is a strong trigger for memories. Who doesn’t get a warm feeling when reminded of a special food cooking on the stove or apple pie baking in the oven as you walked in the door after school? But how did you feel about the guy in the next cubicle at the office who wore too much aftershave? Did you need an alarm clock to wake you when bacon was frying in the kitchen?

 

When someone says, “The nose knows,” everyone nods an acknowledgement. Not all “bad” odors are bad, evidenced by a newborn baby’s soiled diaper. You’re just glad the baby is so healthy! Bed wetting, on the other hand, may conjure up completely different emotions.

 

Fragrant flowers (such as: Lilacs in bloom) recall a wide variety of memories ranging from weddings and birthdays to funerals. There is the carnation fragrance of a wrist corsage from your favorite prom date; the Hawaiian plumeria lei tossed in the ocean at the end a fantastic second-honeymoon vacation; the flowers for your son’s bar mitzvah; the table bouquets at your daughter’s baby shower.

 

During the editing process of writing a story, the writer is urged to embellish scenes with greater use of the senses for description. When the reader is drawn into the scene with their senses, they become much more emotionally involved in the story rather than being a mere observer.

 

With food, smell and taste often go hand in hand. What non-food odors, aromas, or fragrances are readily recognized and generate an immediate emotional reaction in you?

 

Happy Easter Happy Spring

Easter came early this year. “The first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox” was how the Nicean council (Council of Nicaea - http://www.islamtomorrow.com/bible/NicaeaCouncil325.htm) of church leaders first established the date for Easter in 325 A.D. The Spring Equinox - first full moon - first Sunday rule still stands. One of my nephews was born on Easter Sunday in 1965 and this year his birthday falls in the third week of April. So, this year, Easter came early.

Celebrating Easter week so close to St. Patrick’s Day doesn’t give one much time to recover! One year that especially comes to mind, I raised my glass of Midori-and-Sour at the Hale Koa beach bar in Honolulu with my sister and her friends visiting from the mainland.  

 We spent one day at the Polynesian Cultural Center on O’ahu’s North Shore and enjoyed Rainbow of Paradise, The Pageant of the Long Canoes. The pageant represents eight Polynesian Island Nations: Samoa, Tahiti, Marquesas, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Hawai’i, Tonga, Fiji, and Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

 

 

After viewing the IMAX Theater presentation of The Coral Reef, we received fresh, purple orchid leis and “pigged out” Hawaiian style at the Hale Aloha authentic Ali’i Luau.

Easter was early this year, and I am eager now for spring to arrive in earnest. The celebration of spring includes a period of renewal, whether on the greening slopes of Diamond Head on Oahu; in the pleasant climates of Florida and Arizona; or following the final, crisp days of winter in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Rain showers freshen the air, flowers appear more colorful, the sun shimmers far brighter, and...

. . . you just feel like smiling!

Because Spring is the perfect time to renew those goals set on New Years Eve, I am working on renewing mine. How about you?