Thursday, March 31, 2011

Tenderizer

There's been a hammer on my kitchen table for two days now, along with two boxes of tiny nails and four spools of cotton thread for crochet projects, silver, gold, purple, and teal. And this morning I bought a metal meat tenderizer, because yesterday I realized once again that I didn't have one, and some meat needs pounding.

At some point it occurred to me that all this was coming together for Thor's Day (Thor = hammer-wielding Norse god of thunder) in the blog, and I was taken aback.  There are articles and blog musings out there about how blogging is changing people's consciousness, as is the whole technological revolution--cellphones, iPods, iPads, texting, cloud thinking, etc., etc.

Wait! Am I My Blog?!

I'm pretty sure I am not my blog: I have a life outside it, I don't do things just to blog about them, and, as I like to tell people who ask what I'm doing or how I am these days, I have a rich inner life.

But blogging sure is fun, and I've "met" a bunch of really nice, interesting people doing it. And learned a lot of new things. So, thank you all, readers and fellow bloggers!

OK, the hammer, nails, and spools of crochet thread are related to math projects by my daughter and her boyfriend, accomplished separately but together in this house, after a trip to Hobby Lobby. Beautiful string designs on blocks of wood.

The meat tenderizer is for pork tenderloin sandwiches, eventually, yes more from the "noble pig," or, as Homer Simpson calls it, that "magical animal" that is the source of everything he likes to eat. I love the noble pig's contribution to survival on the prairie and to medical science (insulin). Thank you, noble pig.

I respect anyone's dietary restrictions against pork. (Don't read the bacon and chocolate/drunken goat cheese blog entry.) And against meat or red meat. I am gradually getting rid of red meat in my diet, and note that pork is advertised as "the other white meat." Tonight's dinner is entirely roast vegetables! Including fresh asparagus!

And I've been thinking about how the pounding life gives us can indeed tenderize us.

Tenderly yours,

Not Just My Blog

8 comments:

Hannah Stephenson said...

Social media is totally changing relationships and how we learn about the world, I think.

For the better, I'd say. I hope.

I find it amazing that when I want to know what is going on in the world, I often turn to Twitter or Facebook in addition to the news (after the recent earthquake in Japan, I wanted to see how friends and acquaintances there were, but also saw reactions from people I don't know).

A tender Thor's Day to you, too!

Kathleen said...

It's amazing, isn't it, Hannah? How we are able to learn and care about strangers at this personal level. It's something the philosopher Richard Rorty advocated when he wrote about human rights....

Kristin Berkey-Abbott said...

I, too, am intrigued by how blogging has changed me; I am often on the lookout for blog topics, but that's not a huge change, as I've always been a writer, and always seeing chunks of life as material for the writing.

I am fascinated by how much of my reading has now migrated to blog postings of others. I don't read as much that's written on paper now, but I'm keeping up with all these delightful blog characters.

Except that we're not characters, are we? We're real people--and that's been a delight to me, how many far-flung poets I've "met" and talked to about a variety of topics--and how much I'm rooting for them, and how often, I feel similar support.

It's like grad school, but it's less expensive and less stressful!

I do miss seeing people in real life, where we could share hot goat cheese and wine. But I do have hopes that as we all travel, we'll meet up at various possible points . . . some day!

Kathleen said...

I know, Kristin! It does seem like we'll have some opportunity to meet!

Collagemama said...

Does your new meat tenderizer really look like the photo? That's a very handsome, sculptural tool.

We have lives outside our blogs, but having a blog keeps us curious, noticing, and reflecting.

And definitely fresh asparagus!! Sorry to learn pork has a new slogan. Out with "The Other White Meat" which popped into my mind regularly when shopping or planning meals. In with "Pork: Be Inspired"--So far, I am not inspired except contemplating making life-size papier mache hogs.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110306/NEWS19/103060341

Kathleen said...

Oh, no! No more "The Other White Meat"?! Clearly my blog is not "curious, noticing, and reflecting" enough to keep up with the times. I suppose "Beef, it's what's for dinner" is gone now, too.

Good thing I roasted the vegetables. (I am trying so hard not to title the next entry "Asparagus Pee.")

Kathleen said...

And, yes, my tenderizer looks exactly like this. I have not tried it on meat yet. My husband saw it and said he has something like that among his carpentry tools....

ron hardy said...

Kathleen, I think I will have to get you a t-shirt with the words "Asparagus Pee" on it.
Also when I met you for the first time I noticed a little hologram of the word "comments" wavering on your chin.