It was a "stay inside and make jam" sort of day. While rain poured outside, I chopped plums. The plums that were picked a few days ago to prevent the raccoons from stealing them had ripened to the perfect point for this undertaking. They were red enough to give the jam a beautiful color but not too ripe as to not add pectin. Son came into the kitchen and immediately picked up a knife to help. (This fellow can make jam with the best of them! As matter of fact, all three of my grown kids know the fine art of home canning!) I was fully appreciative as there were two large baskets of plums that, when chopped, amounted to over a gallon! As we chopped, we talked. He made mention of the fact that some of the best conversations are held in the kitchen whether at the table during mealtime or while preparing food for canning. It was then that he reminisced of times spent with "Grandma" (my mom). "We did things. It was not that she babysat. Grandma taught us stuff...useful stuff...but we did not realize that we were learning. The same with Papa (my Pop)...he taught us stuff but we thought we were having fun." I had to agree with him. Time spent with them was well spent. Later, when he was stirring the jam, he started talking again about Papa and Grandma. "I learned a lot of patience from them. It is like they had time to really listen." he said. Again, I had to agree. Yep. Both were patient and kind. They took the time to teach and encourage their grandkids not scold and berate them. They did have time. Why? Because they were not distracted by technology and "time-saving" devices. Truth be told, folks back in the day accomplished far more each day than any of us nowadays does.
During the jam making session, Son and I covered a lot of territory that lay hidden in the backs of our minds. We talked. That in itself is something rare these days. With all of the interruptions via technology, there is very little actual communicating happening. Perhaps Son is right. The best place to have a conversation is at the kitchen table. It made me long for the days before cell phones and laptops...before technology came to possess our very minds...before we became addicted to social media. It is time to disconnect, folks. It is time to get back to actually communicating. Perhaps, it is time for folks to get back to making homemade jam, snapping green beans and just spending time with each other instead of being glued to a screen. It is time to disconnect to reconnect.
It seems that with technology that is supposed to save us oodles of time, there is actually less accomplished. Back when things were "simpler", folks got things done. Believe it or not, people actually did things! Now with everything at our fingertips, we are pushed to the limit to find enough hours in the day to do what we need to do. I do blame technology. It rots the mind. At least, it rots mine. A while back, Darling Daughter introduced me to a thing called "Pinterest"! It is amazing! You can find anything there! Pinterest is a social media application that allows you to find almost anything, save the idea (pinning) AND supposedly use that information. Sadly, most folks have become "pinners" and not doers. Hours upon hours are idled away staring at what other folks are doing. We are inspired! We have high hopes! We never "get around to it" so the fantastic ideas are "pinned" and ogled but never achieved. Like I said, the site is absolutely fantastic and I do not blame the creators of the site for our lackadaisical attitudes. We mean well but, by the time our brains are filled with great ideas, we are all too exhausted to carry out any of them. If you have been living in another world and have not heard of Pinterest, you really should check it out. It is wonderful but do not expect to ever have enough time.
This week, I have been doing another purge of items that are no longer used. Two large envelopes of paper clippings were dragged to the table to be sorted. Perhaps I should have just junked the things without opening but these were Mom's and Aunt Marie's recipes! It felt like sacrilege to toss them without at least looking at them first. Not only did the envelopes contain recipes but there were a bunch of "idea" clippings in there, as well. Crochet patterns, home decor information, gardening hints and a lot of interesting tidbits such as poems, sayings and pictures. These were all cut from newspapers or magazines and tucked away for safe keeping. These were the "Pinterest" of an earlier generation!
The whole point I am trying to make is that hours spent on "time-saving" technology has left us with little time to actually do things. With earlier generations, they saved the ideas (recipes, patterns, etc) but these were actually used. It is quite evident by the condition of each slip of paper, each pamphlet, each newspaper clipping that they were viewed often. Many had added instructions handwritten in the margins such as "add more vanilla" or remarks across the top if the recipe was "very tasty".
To be honest, I could not discard all of the items in the two envelopes. If there were duplicates or tattered pieces, I tossed. The others were put in the kitchen to use. Some of the recipes brought back memories and others sounded too good not to try. As I sat sorting the papers, I thought of Mom and Aunt Marie and their reaction to the whole idea of using the computer to find a good recipe. That thought was rather amusing. Oh, how times have changed....and some of it is not for the better. Now, excuse me. I have to search Pinterest for a pirate costume pattern!
