The wok and the stone.

The two cooking devices we most use are a steel Chinese wok and a pizza stone.  Part of the reason is that, because the house is so small, we have little room to put anything. And both the wok and the stone are big, so they are always out. Sort of out, the pizza stone lives in the oven.

They are both very versatile. Tonight, Michele stirred-fried zucchini with garlic and olive oil. It was a great, easy way to cook the zucchs and tasted very Italian with left over pulled pork from yesterday's barbecue. Yesterday, she roasted cut up potatoes on the stone – easy and like very small baked potatoes with lots of skin. So, they are available and versatile; but we have also habituated on them. Often, they are the answer and we have to go out looking for the question.

All that makes me wonder how much of my life is habituated. I suspect it is a huge amount. When I step out of my everyday life – say, to go for a weekend in the Seven Trough Range – time seems to expand. While each day seems to whiz along – at the end of each day, looking back – each day seems to have been longer, more filled.

Last weekend, my daughter was talking about how long summer already seems to her daughter.

Charlotte1-1295

My theory has always been that the speed in which time seems to pass is in direct proportion to how long we have been alive. When we were five, a year was 20% of our life and it seemed very, very long. At 40, that same year is 2.5% of our life and it goes quickly. Now, I am not so sure.

Maybe time seems to go faster as we get older because so much of what we are doing, is what we have already done. Over and over. Maybe, if that year were filled with as many new experiences as it is for my grand-daughter, it would seem to take as long.  

   

2 thoughts on “The wok and the stone.

  1. This is one of my favorite subjects – the perceived expanding and shrinking (and occasional disappearance!) of time. I agree that it is deeply tied up in newness…either having a new experience or experiencing things anew. Either way, when my mind and heart are open, my experience expands.
    Thanks again for including us Sunday. It was lovely, delicious, beautiful, inspiring, and just plain fun. Hope to see you two again soon~ xo!

  2. I was so sure of my theory A that I hadn’t thought about the expansion and contraction based on newness very much. But now that I am thinking about it, it may be the reason travel is so engaging and the memories are so strong.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *