Saturday, October 6, 2012

Age 5: The Edge of the Pool

by Dr. Margaret Aranda


She crawled out of the pool, breathless.

It was a party of some kind, many people swimming about. All the kids, grown-ups there. Lots of bright colors to match the bright day, screaming, running, bustle of a party. Kids jumping in, Whoosh! Splashing! She knew how to swim, she did. Every Mommy was laying in the sun, on a green chair that was criss-crossed, weaved in and out. It was not to build too good, because she noticed that all Mommy's body went through the holes in the chair. Sunken in, pooches sticking out here and there. It was not a good chair at all.

She was just in the pool. She wanted to get out. She was tired, the kids were too loud, the sun was too hot, and she had just enough. She was a big girl now, five years old. So she decided to do it.

She took a huge breath. She was going to swim across the pool, bright blue water swaying to and fro. It was not too far away. One big breath, whoosh! Whooooooooo! Huuuupppppp! Go! Each lungs were filled.

First all hands, than every body went under the water. She kicked and kicked. For five years old, it was not too far away, that Edge of the Pool. Maybe five more kicks. At first, it was just a feeling that she was running out of breath.

She thought she could do it. It was not far. This is something that was happening. She was definitely running out of breath. She must go up for air. She went up. Something went bump! It was blurry, light blue, like the color of the water. It was big. It was floating. She could not push all head up to get to the air. She was stuck under a big blue thing floating. Something was up there. It was in every way.

Somewhere up there, she could hear the clinking of wine glasses and the chuckles of a lady who was sitting on the floating blue thing. In a flash, she knew the lady would never hear her, would never see her, would never feel any.





Each lungs were about to burst. She was alone. She closed her eyes.

She decided that each only chance was to go back down. She could not struggle under the big blue thing floating. So she kicked a last few kicks and went down, down, down, floating under the big blue thing with the lady and the clanging and the chuckles. She went under it and now she was not sure which way she should go. Was it left? he right?

Things were going gray now. She went straight, because she thought that was where the wall was. She kicked and she kicked and she kicked and stretched all hands out her little hands that loved to play with her kittens. She stretched them out as far as far as they could go far far Bump!

It was the wall. She crept all hands up the wall, and in slow motion, every head, than any ears, than any nose surfaced over the water and into the Air and Air INHALE raspy, deep, big, huge, ginormous breathe.

She looked around. No one noticed.

She never told any one. She thought she would get in trouble.
But she never swam under a floaty thing again. Never.
And when she grew up and had babies every owner, never let them put floaties in the pool.
Never.

She crawled out of the pool, breathless.

No one noticed the home.
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To Order Dr. Aranda's books, please click here:
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Dr. Margaret Aranda's Books:

No More Tears en Espanol
Face Book Page:  Stepping from the Edge
Little Missy Two-Shoes Likes to go to School
From Menarch to Menopause: A Journey through Time



To Order Dr. Aranda's books, please click here:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~


For Additional Memoirs by Dr. Margaret Aranda, Please Click Here:

Age 31:  The Color Blue


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Additional Articles by Dr. Margaret Aranda

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The French Basketeer

This is by my friend Andrea, Andrea, The French Basketeer:
One inspiring woman.


Flat Footed (Almost)

Friday night dinner is usually a creative, clean-out-the-fridge affair in our house, sometimes a pantry choice or frozen meal.  By Friday we have usually eaten all the produce and fresh market goodies bought the previous weekend, so we have something light such as a grilled sandwich, soup, or Lean Cuisine from Costco.  Last night, though, I invited my friend Lorie to stop by for dinner on her drive with friends from LA to San Diego.  I had planned to make Salmon en croute or something nice, but I didn’t have time to get the salmon and forgot the fresh dill in the fridge at the office.  Arriving home late, I had one hour to make dinner, set the table, and clean house a bit.  I was definitely feeling a little flat footed; Lorie came to Beaune with us last year and surely she would expect something good to eat…well yes, and no….she’s a good friend and probably wouldn’t care if I gave her PB&J for dinner; what counts is that we have some rare quality time together.  So maybe it was me who wanted to produce a nice meal, to facilitate good conversation and unwind on a Friday evening.  I had eggs, carrots and three mangos left from last week, that was it.  Yikes, no time to go very far for salmon or burrata or other yummies.  I decided to make a quick dash to Pavillions grocery store a few blocks away, to see what I could come up with.
I like to have some little nibbly thing out for guests when they arrive.  So I bought a log of goat cheese and cut chives from the garden~
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The goat cheese got rolled in the chopped chives, set out on a nice cutting board with a pretty knife~
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Once that was done and the wine was chilling, I turned on the lights in the corn stalk arch and lined the steps with votives and pumpkins. No matter what we eat, this is festive and makes guests feel welcome.  Pavillions has aPink Pumpkin for sale this year, yes.  I bought one for $6 and it really is a pale pink, proceeds going to Breast Cancer Awareness or Susan G. Komen Foundation, I don’t remember, but it’s all good~
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I figure, if it’s dark enough, they will just focus on the pretty votives and perhaps they won’t notice my baskets and stuff sitting outside the kitchen door, right?~
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It was a balmy night, and the full moon was rising; I quickly set the table out on the patio, with Booth’s blue willow plates, French sterling, tartan napkins for fall, and of course, lots of votives and one hurricane candle~
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Passing back through the kitchen, I set the cheese and bread on the table, then gathered up the mail and papers that are usually scattered around the kitchen table; in case of guests I stack and then sandwich stray papers between two books, so hopefully no will notice, and I will be faux-organized.  Linda gave me this book last weekend at the market; it’s still sitting here waiting to be read; and now beneath it sit a week’s worth of mail~
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But just in case someone picks up Henrietta’s book on top and discovers my pile of crap and papers, throw a magazine or three on top.  Clutter….what clutter?~
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Passing through the dining room, I dimmed the chandelier and lit the painting light.  And planned to usher the guests from the kitchen through the dining room rather quickly.  The table is full of dishes and glasses and tea pots that need to be put away, as well as a few paper bags of prescriptions and things from CVS for my parents.  I wish I were perfect, but helas I am not, and at the moment I am unapologetic though slightly embarrassed that the house is not cleaner.   My Canon camera really grabs the light, and in the evening light you couldn’t see all the stuff on the table that you can see in this pic~
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Then it was time to move on to the food.  My younger sister loves her crock pot and make-ahead meals.  This fall I will have to show some make-ahead stews and meals too, but I don’t own a crock pot and wanted something lighter today than stew with the warm weather we are still having.  I bought two “organic/hormone free” half chicken breasts at the grocery store.  I don’t know where I got this recipe, but I call it Lemon Chicken.  Slice the chicken breasts thinly, and put it in a bowl.  Juice a lemon and put the pulp & juice over the chicken pieces and let sit for 20+ minutes.  Stir once or twice; the chicken will take on the lemon flavor~
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In a frying pan, melt a few tablespoons of butter and a roughly equal amount of oil. I used olive oil and cooked on medium heat (olive oil generally doesn’t like to be cooked at a high temp), but any vegetable oil works fine.  Many restaurants saute fish using half oil half butter like this; it gives a nice flavor and oils like canola cook and crisp with a neutral taste that lets the delicate flavor of your fish come through.
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Cook the chicken pieces in the pan; they should not brown.  Add salt and pepper to taste when the first side is cooking.  Turn them over and cook until firm (about 5 minutes more); remove the pieces from the pan and set the pieces on paper towel to drain.  I slice a few pieces in half to confirm they are cooked but not overdone.
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We had Sage Mountain carrots (boiled and tossed with a bit of butter) and wild rice that I cooked then mixed with Minute Rice.  Sorry gals, not fancy, but it tasted fine!
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The guests arrived just as I was finishing the chicken and just after I had thrown away all traces that anything came from Pavillions.  I love these little hotel silver trays; their light weight makes it easy for guests to pass around the table~
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We had a really lovely meal…..Lorie, my new friend Margaret and her daughter Marguerite around the table~
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Lorie, lovely dear Lorie, brought Jadot wines and some white roses which I put in the kitchen.  There were lots of votives outside on the table as well~
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All in all, not bad for a last-minute meal. I am going to have to stock up though on my staples like rice and try to plan ahead more.  Hopefully next time I will not be caught flat footed when it’s time to whip up a meal!


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Dr. Margaret Aranda's Books:

No More Tears en Espanol
Face Book Page: Stepping from the Edge
Little Missy Two-Shoes Likes to go to School
From Menarche to Menopause: A Journey through Time



To Order Dr. Aranda's books, please click here:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


To Order Dr. Aranda's books, please click here:

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