WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 65

Happiness is an Attitude

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she manoeuvred her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window.
"I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

"Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room .... just wait."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied.

"Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged ... it's how I arrange my mind.

I already decided to love it ... It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away ... just for this time in my life."

Ballybrack chapel Greencastle

Rice Cakes Between Wonju and Seoul

Last weekend we drove to Gyeongju, a beautiful tourist spot, for a triathlon. It rained...a lot. We decided to take a new route home and found ourselves in horrible traffic. Eric saved time by driving on the shoulder and flashing his emergency lights. (The Korean "I'm Sorry" signal.)
As usual, merchants emerged selling rice cakes:
These rice cakes resemble the Quaker plain rice cakes, only larger and more rice-like. We opted for food at the next rest area. We both ate Western fast food. I had the chicken sandwich:

Of course, it had a "food story."

It contained mustard, cabbage, and a relish-mayonnaise sauce. Normally I would have avoided the condiments. It's funny how I've become less picky now that I can't communicate special requests.
For dessert we shared our delimanjoos, the custard-filled corn cakes:

As we neared the Banpo bridge, we saw that the lower deck was COMPLETELY flooded:

Normally this bridge has an upper AND lower deck. Also, the bike path was completely submerged! Worst flood we've seen here in four years. I'm glad we were out of town for the weekend.

Hotteok Good-bye

With only an hour of free time, my friend and I decided to go to I-Park mall. She said good-bye to her favorite bun lady and DVD man. We bought one final hotteok. It was cold and dry, the worst we had ever eaten. Definitely a sign that now is the time for departure. Thirteen more days!

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 55

Angel of Grass

An old legend says that in the beginning, when God created the world, He gave every living thing an angel to bless and guard it - an angel for man, one for the birds, one for the beasts of the forest, one for the trees, and one for the flowers.

Even the common grass had an angel. But the angel of the grass was not pleased. Humiliated, he said, "I will have nothing to do with it. That old, homely grass can grow by itself!"

The season passed. The grass shrivelled. The flowers died because the grass held no dew. The deer in the forests and the cattle in the fields died because there was no grass. Seeing the effect and further consequences God intervened.

He turned His eyes upon the angel of the grass and asked, "Was it a small thing, or a great thing that I asked thee to do?"

In shame the angel of the grass fell at the Lord's feet and begged His forgiveness, for he saw now the unsuspected greatness of his seemingly lowly task.

Rose Bennington

Foods that are better not crispy

This is a list of foods that I prefer to be flaccid:

- pizza (sometimes)
- taffy
- beef jerky
- souffles
- lunch meats
- gelatin
- soft cheeses
- ramen (sometimes)
- cookies
- bananas
- pop tarts (no wait, I think I like these more crispy)
- bacon
- pears

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 64

Thanks to Scoil Iosagain for the image....

Work Has Its Own Rewards
A wealthy nobleman was once touring his estate and came upon a peasant pitching hay. The nobleman was fascinated by the sight and he stood watching the flowing motions of the peasant's arms and shoulders and the graceful sweep of the pitchfork through the air for quite a while. He so greatly enjoyed the spectacle that he struck a deal with the peasant. He would give him a gold coin every day if the peasant agreed to come to the mansion and display his hay-pitching technique in the nobleman's drawing room.

The next day, the peasant arrived at the mansion, hardly concealing his glee at his new line of "work." After swinging his empty pitchfork for an hour, he collected his gold coin--many times his usual reward for a week of backbreaking labour. But by the following day, his enthusiasm had somewhat waned. Before the week was out, he announced that he was quitting his commission.
"I don't understand," puzzled the nobleman. "Why would you rather swing heavy loads outdoors in the winter cold and the summer heat, when you can perform an effortless task in the comfort of my home and earn many times your usual wages?"

"But master," said the man, "I'm not doing anything..."