Eagerness

I'm eager to go to my art class tonight and see how the lemons turn out.  I've stressed over them enough so far!

I did make it to the gym this morning and spent my walk looking over the downstairs section where the personal trainers usually take their captives.  There is some kind of contraption that holds a lot of different types of things, including a punching bag - a long one that can be punched and kicked as well.  I notice a lot of mostly younger folks are practicing self-defense, and today a young man was busy the entire half hour or so that I watched, using the punching bag.  

He kicked it pretty well, at least he looked sort of "kung fu", but some of his punches and jabs were pretty  sad, to me.  Maybe they would work on the street.  He did okay with one arm but punched/slapped like a girl with the other one.  (My apologies to girls everywhere--I are one!)

My dad grew up in the Great Depression, and was able to work most of the time delivering groceries.  His evenings were spent at the local gym, a popular spot for those who didn't want to spend their time on the streets.  He became a fairly good boxer, and fought in regular matches in Cincinnati.  He always told the story that if there were Italians in the crowd, the officials often pronounced his name so that he would sound like an Italian.  He sometimes boxed in Chicago where they did the same thing - maybe changing it for the Hungarians, Italians, Greeks, etc.    Fortunately he didn't stay with boxing very  long (this was before he met my mother who would never have put up with it.), but he could still show my brothers how to defend themselves.  I remember the "form" more than anything, and the guy at the gym didn't have proper form at all.  As I said though, maybe for self defense it would be ok (although he wasn't concerned about protecting his face).  A lot of women are also learning and practicing self-defense at the gym, and more power to them!

Speaking of the Great Depression, I stumbled on a Youtube video of a 91 yr old woman who did "Great Depression Cooking".  She was so interesting, and while she was preparing the food she talked a bit about how she had to drop out of high school because they couldn't afford socks for her to wear.  I was incredibly sad just thinking about how bad it must have been.   At 91 (she died at 93) she cooked a Depression meal and her grandson was waiting (and sampling).   By the time the dinner was ready he was joined by 3 of his friends who she said often appear at her house at dinnertime.  They looked very happy to be eating the food.  Who would think that  anyone today would be eager to eat the plain fare of those old days.

While I was born between the Depression and WW II, I remember some of the meals my mom cooked on a very limited budget, and I can say I ate with gusto - no complaints at all.  Some of that plain food I served my own kids once in a while, and they lapped it up as well.  I think of all the generations I know of, I have so much respect for those people who lived and survived that period in our history.  It shaped my life forever, although I doubt my children would ever give it a thought.  To this day I will do anything rather than waste, and waste of food is a capital sin in my book!

I have just a couple of hours until I leave for my class, and I should be taking a nap but I'm too jazzed up to be able to snooze.  I did my last load of laundry - towels - first thing this morning and just took them down off the line, and they are folded and put away.   I love to see an empty laundry basket, and I'm good to go for a few weeks.