Grugger’s Way

Not Bear Skins, nor Bare Skins, but PEAR skins.

I baked a pear in the microwave this morning, first slicing it in half lengthways and removing the seedy and stringy area.  I did this on a whim. Since I heard that pears can be used instead of apples in most baking recipes, I thought I would see what a “baked” pear would taste like.  

I overheated the pear, but that’s beside the point I was going to make:  I ate it with a spoon and tossed away the skins.  The skins of some varieties of pears are tough and bitter, but it seems that throwing them in the garbage is not such a good idea.

Very Healthy Food Facts about Pears that I did not know:  

• Pears contain a lot of antioxidants, fiber (aahhh) and vitamin C, ALL of which are MOSTLY in the Skin!  The gritty pear skin fiber is the insoluble type, which means pears are an excellent laxative (aahhh).
• Pears can improve blood glucose levels, so are good for diabetics.
• Pears are hypoallergenic and is the only fruit that someone undergoing tests for food allergies is allowed to eat.
• Hydroxycinnamic acid in pears helps to prevent stomach cancer.
• Pears can reduce the inflammation of mucous membranes, colitis,  arthritis, and gout.
• Pears contain the antioxidant and anticarcinogen “glutathione,” which aids in preventing high blood pressure that can lead to strokes. 

And finally, there are 5000 (five thousand) varieties of pears, so “bon appetit!”

Or, are Old People just moving too Slow?  

I remember my Father saying that he didn’t understand why everyone was in such a big hurry.  The place he noticed it most was at the grocery store checkout:  

• “My God, people get upset if you want to write a check nowdays,” and, 
• “they act like it is the end of the world if they don’t just ZIP through the check out!” 
• “A lot of times they don’t even look up at the checker or say anything at all.”
•  ”Young people are not even the worst.” 

He noticed that it appeared to him that middle-aged people, men and women, were the most impatient, and were always stressed out.  Yes, I think many of us do try to squeese too much into each day and into each trip.

What a pleasure it is to not be in such a big hurry anymore.  The other day I was sitting in my car at a bank drive-through, along with about six other cars. We were waiting for the tellers to finish our deposits, etc., when we all overheard one lady yelling at the tellers.  She had pushed the call button and informed them that she couldn’t sit here all day…and asked the teller, “are you new?”   “All the slow people work on Mondays and Fridays…”   “I need to get home…!”

Wow.  I could hear other people comment on how rude this woman was acting.  I was sitting right next to the teller window and could see the reactions of all the tellers, although I couldn’t hear what they were saying except when they pushed the microphone button and talked to a customer.  They handled it all pretty well, I thought.  Every teller looked to be under 25 years old, and they were the ones who displayed patience.

I think we eventually become more patient in our older years. 

I guess we learned a little something from all our hurrying when we were younger:  it didn’t gain us any extra time. 

And, as a matter of fact, considering how we all end up eventually, it makes no sense at all to be in such a big hurry. 

Melancholy: 

• Grave or even gloomy in character
• Gloom, dullness, great sadness or depression
• Low enthusiasm for activity
• Thoughtful sadness
• Moroseness or wistfulness

My Seventh Grade Teacher maintained an evaluation sheet for each student’s “out loud” reading ability.  At the top of MY evaluation sheet was the single word, “Melancholy.”  It wasn’t written on a particular line or in a special block or square; it was simply written at the top of the sheet.  Melancholy.  That described me.  What was I to do with that?

First of all, I didn’t know what the hell it meant!   My first action was to LOOK IT UP!   I found lots of variations on the word’s meaning, even checking in more than one dictionary.  We didn’t have internet in 1959.  Just the old-fashioned Webster, you know?

I can tell you that my discovery surprised and confused me.  “My” teacher had one word to describe me–melancholy–and it didn’t seem like a very good word.  I was upset.  I was saddened.  I became–melancholy!

Teachers can hurt young souls more than help them.  Self-fulfilling prophesy, I guess.  I wasn’t supposed to see the evaluation sheet–it was the teacher’s private stuff–so I certainly wasn’t about to ask her why or what I should do.  I didn’t tell my parents either.  Partly because I was embarrassed to be deemed “melancholy” and partly because I thought they would talk to her and she would find out I was peeking at her notes.

Oh, Oh.  Then she would have been able to write some other words to describe me.  Ummm.

So I lived with being “melancholy” and not understanding why, and that was seventh grade.  Things pretty much went down hill from there.   (1)  The eye exam person said I needed glasses; (2) The hearing test person said I was hard of hearing in my left ear like a 65-year-old,  (3) I was caught copying off another student’s paper, and (4) I got in MUCHO trouble for going to a GIRL’S birthday party where there were boys and girls TOGETHER which was NOT PERMITTED by the parochial school I attended.

On the bright side, I was NOT melancholy at the party.   

Having grown up in the 1950’s, I was introduced to the hula hoop at a young age, and though I was never very proficient and I certainly NEVER considered it to be “exercise,” I always appreciated the skills that some of my school mates developed.

Today, the hula hoop is having a bit of a revival, and you may expect this to gain momentum now that we hear Michelle Obama likes to hoop it up once in a while too.

Most recently, I watched Marisa Tomei demonstrate her substantial skills with the hoop on the Ellen Degeneres Show.  She was limber, smooth, athletic, very sexy and fit too!

She said she used the hoop to keep in shape and it was her “favorite” exercise. My favorite is watching her hoop it up and around.

Ellen also invited a member of her studio audience to demonstrate hooping skills, and the 50-something woman was REALLY good, and looked Very Fit indeed.

The word is, hula hooping burns 200 calories per 30 minutes.  That doesn’t seem like a lot, and I have NEVER seen anyone hoop for more than about five minutes at a time.

So, while I heartily endorse the hula hoop fitness craze, I will pass up the experience THIS time around, leaving it to others.  However:

I love watching others show off, and

I do have two hoops in our basement storage area!