recent happenings have gotten me to thinking about how complicated communication really is and how it seems that breakdowns in communication are often more commonplace than we'd like to think. there's so much interference and interpretation between what starts off as a thought in your head and ends up floating through sound waves, paper or cyberspace and into thoughts in somebody else's head.
i am finally home after, once more, going off and away for a week. this time i helped a friend drive a 15 foot moving van to jackson heights, a neighborhood in queens. this particular adventure would be one of the recenet happenings that reminded me of how complicated communication really is, even if you've known someone more than half your life!
this most recent adventure and several other instances in the past few weeks keep bringing my thoughts to rest on the whole communication conundrum. can you ever really know what someone else is trying to say? a recent encounter with a new and unexpected character in my life reminded me that, though it may be rare, you sometimes do run across another person who just seems to understand what you are trying to say and vice versa, even if you tend to speak in inspired rants! at the very moment of exchange, you both know for certain that the other person really gets what you are trying to communicate and that you get what s/he is trying to say as well. but as that moment falls more distant, and miles stretch out between you and said person, you begin to doubt if that "connection" was as real as you thought it was when it happened... who knows?
over the past few years i have come to appreciate, more and more, the saying: "To assume makes an ass out of you and me."
even if you never can really know if you are on the same page with another, i say we should all jump to attention and celebrate those wonderful, unexpected moments in life when your mind, soul and/or heart fuses with another's. on my recent adventure to the big city, i ended up finally connecting, in person, with a woman (my mom's childhood best friend) who i'd always felt as if i was dancing in some kind of strange orbit with. now, i feel that we are alligned, and i can't help but smile and feel my heart lift as i look forward to future encounters and communications with this now familiar, yet still mysterious and wonderful, lady.
the communication breakdown i've been noticing is not only with bi-peds and critters. oh no! apparently my okra did not get what i thought was a loud and clear message. when i was saying my garden goodbyes before this most recent trip, i reassured my unexpected okras that i would be home in less than a week, so please don't over exert yourselves by growing too quickly. can you guess what i came home to? monster okra!!!! i hate to waste any okra at all, because it is one of my all time favorite vegetables, and the key ingredient for so many great dishes. but when they get too big, they just aren't that edible! unless they happen to be red okra, which these are not.
no major damage though. i only had to give up five... sort of. they are still sitting on my kitchen table, because i haven't definitively decided not to eat them. i do wish my garden had consulted with me before jumping into major action, though. i am officially overwhelmed and over my head (literally) in beans, basil, beets, okra, dill and sunflowers. the rest is manageable. today i put away two gallons of beans in my freezer and found a creative way to get rid of some of my basil (how much pesto does a single girl need?). i made the most delicious hummus with ground flax seed and fresh basil:
*1 can garbonzo beans drained*, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 tablespoon tahini, 2-4 tablespoon ground flax seed (use a coffee grinder, they are best if you grind them just before you use them), 2-4 tablespoon lemon juice, 2+ garlic cloves, 1/4-1/2 cup fresh basil leaves (or to desired taste), 1 teaspoon Bragg's Liquid Aminos, 1 teaspoon tamari sauce
*save the water from the can o' beans to add to the mixture in case it needs more liquid
blend all ingredients in a food processor. add water from beans to make smooth. i tripled this recipe and froze a yogurt container's worth for a rainy day.
the funniest communication breakdown of my week: before departing judy branch in my friend's moving van (she drove up to judy branch and spend the night en route), i called neighbors bill and billy joe and left a message. i was trying to let them know that the moving van belonged to a friend that i was helping to move to nyc, i'd be back in a week, and please check in on my critters while i'm gone. when i got home, i found the critters well taken care of, but i also learned that billy joe had called both her daughters (one is my landlady, the other my neighbor) and informed them that i had moved to nyc! she nearly gave me a heart attack when she called to let me know a woman was coming to look at my house! it was only for an appraisal... nothing to do with the earlier miscommunication. (sigh!)
