Friday, April 25, 2008

Friday Five

Singing Owl at RevGalBlogPals posts the following:

Yesterday I had two separate conversations in which people were musing about how much change is occurring. The WW II generation, of which my mom is a part, went from horse and buggy to automobiles, saw the lessening, or even the end of many diseases, went from widespread use of kerosene lamps and outhouses (in the country, and most folks were rural)) to a totally electrified and plumbed society. The fastest means of communication was a telegraph. The second conversation--gulp--was about MY generation and how much change occurred in the last half of the 20th century. The person said his 13 year old had not seen a vinyl record album until a few days before, couldn't remember a time without cell phones, and on and on.As for the questions!

1. What modern convenience/invention could you absolutely, positively not live without?
I'm spoiled and I admit it! I could live without most of our conveniences today, but I love having the ability to connect via internet and yes, cell phone.

2. What modern convenience/invention do you wish had never seen the light of day?Why?
VideoGames (for my son) and Computer Card Games (for me). We get less from them than they cost us. We lose time for outdoor or reading activities as well as genuine interaction with other people. On the other hand, manBoy and G&T now have common music knowledge as Guitar Hero has some great oldies - make that classics-on it. manBoy plays them on Guitar Hero. G&T plays them on the real thing. Last night he was playing on his newish Les Paul and manBoy named most of the songs within the first few notes.

3. Do you own a music-playing device older than a CD player? More than one? If so, do you use it (them)?
We have a working turntable, and more than one cassette player along with multiple CD players and more mp3 players than we have people in our house. We seem to collect ways to listen to music. We also still have about 40 LP's to play on the turntable, but we rarely do it. Usually it's when we are telling manBoy about some group or song from our youth. We don't have an 8 track tape player. I burned mine up playing Best of Bread over and over again in High School. I tried to get G&T to ditch some of the cassette tapes recently, but he fears he will need to listen to a song for a band gig at some point.

4. Do you find the rapid change in our world exciting, scary, a mix...or somethingelse?
I'm assuming that I'm in the same generation as Singing Owl. Rapid change is all I know. It's neither scary nor exciting. It just is.

5. What did our forebears have that we have lost and you'd like to regain?
Homemade Jelly - specifically the plum jelly my grandmother used to make.

Bonuspoints if you have a suggestion of how to begin that process.
Well, I am not gifted in the cooking area, so perhaps what I will do is go to the local farmers market where they sell homemade jellies and support their efforts.

8 comments:

Di said...

farmer's market jam... yummy!

Lesley said...

Of course, farmers' markets! I'm no jam-maker either, and I've wondered occasionally what Man Friday will do when my Mum eventually gives up providing him with a supply of hers. Now I know.

Auntie Knickers said...

I admit too, I'm more likely to go to the farmers' market or join a CSA than actually grow my own tomatoes. I think maybe you're a little younger than Singing Owl and me, though, if you were listening to Best of Bread. We were more the Beatles, Donovan, early Simon and Garfunkel era.

RevDrKate said...

Homemade jelly is actually not all that hard, and kind of a fun thing to get people together to do, while listening to the Best of Bread especially! Cell phones and laptops for me too...it's that need to connect, eh?

zorra said...

Best of Bread--hee hee. I still have the LP, and the turntable to play it on!

I like your new template, by the way. Easier on the middle-aged eye.

RevAnne said...

mmm...plum jam. My grandmother had Damson plums, the little sweet-tart ones. She would press them thru a ricer to remove the skins, something my mom would never do.
Farm markets are something special. This year I'm growing my own tomatoes.

Dorcas (aka SingingOwl) said...

Homemade jelly! You know what else doesn't happen much anymore? Homemade cake--no box--made from scratch. Homemade lots of things. I love convenience in cooking, but I am a bit sad when I realize how many kids have never had a biscuit cut on a floured board, or a homemade cake, or jelly, or even cranberry sauce. There are times for quick and easy, but there are also times for slow and a bit harder--and usually better.

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

Hi sweetie! email me your email address so I can hook you up with your partner.

princessandthebeads@gmail.com