It's a High Tech Low Tech World.
With the boys schedules taking them all over the place, we have kept up in plenty of high tech ways. Email, text messaging, skype, cells, even regular old land lines. One morning I opened up Facebook and, to my surprise, there was a GWU sports newsfeed that included a blog from Jay who was in the Bahamas with the basketball team.
For years at about this time, I have sat down to look at all types of schedules for David, Jay, David IV and me and then put together a combined family calendar from August till just after New Year's. Then around New Year's I do the same thing for January till August.
The schedules used to seem complicated when it included the boys preschool dates, work and various other things on the calendar. Then the schedules started to get more complicated as work got busier and the boys entries expanded with sports, school and all kinds of extracurricular plans.
In the early days, I synched all the calendars the low tech way - with pencil and paper on a calendar. We would tape some of the sports calendars on a kitchen cabinet door to refer to through the season for times and locations of the games.
In the high tech world, calendars can be synched using smart phones, ipads, email, desktops and laptops. David and I laugh because even though I was a high tech teacher back in the 80's, I have fallen behind and he always does a better job of the high tech calendar synch. But we have continued to use the kitchen cabinet door as a low tech backup.
So I was surprised when we were gathering schedules together and talking about our fall calendar and finally David looked at me at asked, "Do we have any poster paper?"
This happened about the time I was taping the sports schedules to the kitchen cabinet. We may have to add another cabinet door. With the nest empty, you would think the calendar would shrink, but that is not the case. It just keeps expanding.
We've kept a place for the SHS Football schedule on the cabinet. After all - once a Golden Lion Always a Golden Lion. UNC Football didn't get on the cabinet this year. Bless their hearts.
Wofford Football is on the cabinet door because the Terriers and the tailgate crowd are forever family. Gardner-Webb basketball is there with practice starting mid-October, preseason mid-November and games all the way till March 2012. My tennis calendar is scaled back to only Wednesday league this fall. There may be a golf thing or two.
A few things have been added this fall including some flights, some concerts and some pro-football.
So I found some poster paper. To make a low tech weekend calendar. With a color coded key to help us keep it straight.
Friends and family have helped keep us straight also. With David IV off to a great start in his new job, we have had the blessing of friends to check on him. And on us. The four Ms - Michael, Monica, Michelle and Marta - have been supporting from the west, while all of our family and friends have been supporting from the east.
And we have stopped to admire the Lake Lure sunset and the constantly blooming zinnias that Carol calls the workhorse flower.
High Tech and Low Tech collided again when we invited Mom and Dad for Sunday supper. We had David's pork tenderloin over charcoal, Fresh Market Vidalia Onion casserole (October 2010 post) and Stir Fry Vegetables. When supper was ready, 60 minutes was about to come on the television. We all wanted to watch it so David said, "I'll DVR it so we can watch it after we have supper." Momma and Daddy were puzzled and said, "Will we miss anything that comes on later?" David assured them that we wouldn't. And that we could enjoy conversation over supper without one eye on the tv. That the TV would just pause and we could catch up whenever we wanted. And we can zip past the commercials to watch it faster.
Eyes glazed over. Confusion ensued. And then I admitted that I don't understand it either. I don't even understand how an old tube style black and white television worked. As Cindy Sink who worked in TV used to say, "How do pictures fly through the air?"
Whether or not any of us understand the inner workings of nanotechnology, it's fun to fashion our own blend of high tech and low tech. So we can blend the fast paced life with the slow life of time with friends and family.
Stir Fry Sunday Supper
Since we were trying to fix a healthy meal for Mom and Dad on Sunday night, I was happy to see a recipe in the Sunday paper which reminded me of how easy and healthy is it to Stir Fry.
I have a Wok, but I just used a regular old frying pan and a few fresh vegetables that I had on hand. Most anything works but it's important to add aromatics like onions, garlic, peppers first and then the other vegetables according to how long you want each one to cook.
olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper
1 red bell pepper, sliced in strips
1 small onion, course chopped
1 squash, sliced on diagonal
1 zucchini, sliced on diagonal
1 bunch of broccoli, slice off tough stems
1 carrot, peel with vegetable peeler and then use peeler to make thin strips
Soy Sauce
Saute onion, garlic, salt and pepper in olive oil. Add pepper, squash, zuccini, broccoli and stir fry a few minutes over high heat. Add carrot strips and soy sauce.
For variety you can do any combination of vegetable and meats. Mushrooms, green or yellow peppers, jalapenos, nuts, shrimp, pork, chicken.
We made this the other night and added shrimp and hot peppers and then Jay threw in some peanuts. Kind of like Kung Pao Shrimp which we all love.
Stir fry anything is great served with Rice. And you know Mama likes it because it is colorful and healthy.
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