#91 A WOMAN'S BRIEFS -- GIFTS

Three years and a few months ago, a friend gave me a gift, a book of 711 pages and this title: The Religion of the Occident. The first thing I had to do was look up the word, “Occident.” Yeah, maybe you all know that is a word for countries of the West (to be contrasted to “Orient”) but I didn’t. The book begins in 3000BCE with Egyptian concern for the afterlife.

At the time, Egyptian artists were working in a two-dimensional twisted perspectives, a person’s head and legs in profile, and the torso facing forward. Go ahead, try that stance. In fairness, the Egyptians were working on several levels of perspective.

I’ve made it to page 253 where the Jewish Essenes are pretty much saying everyone else is wrong about every religious idea other than their own, but, if the book is right, the Essenes borrowed heavily from the Zoroastrians who may have borrowed ideas from the Persians and Assyrians, so what can I say.

A GOOD SOURCE FOR A BLOG, SAY SOME

I should be finished with the book in a few more years, then you are welcome to borrow it. I’ll want it back because it was a gift, and my friend, Bill, wrote in the front, “Ideas for your blog,” and who knows, that could happen.

 It’s been so many years that I can’t remember when I was given this “Surrounded by Love” figurine. Today I am surrounding the giver of this gift with love as she faces scary heath issues. The figurine has taken a prime spot on my desk as I wait with her for the results of a biopsy.

A GIFT OF LOVE

I have in a kitchen drawer these little spatulas. I bought one for myself and one for my friend, Linnea, a master chef. Her’s was a gift. Not an impressive one, but a useful one. Now it is a treasure.

CAN YOU SEE HER WRITING?

 Shortly before Linnea’s death, she gifted back the spatula. You might see what I saw when it was returned to me, my name with a little heart on either side. Dear god, what a gift. What if I’d never thought to give so silly a little thing to a friend?

 I treasure a verbal gift given a few years ago from a radically conservative (my definition) neighbor who said to me, a radical liberal (his definition), “You know, Barb, I really like you.” See? I’m still remembering that one.

 I treasure the memory of a small cardboard box mailed in 1992 from Camarillo, California to my new home situated on Dyes Inlet, Washington state. I loved our home on the water, nestled among cedars, pines, and rhododendrons, but I missed orange blossoms and lizards.  My friend, Betty, couldn’t package a lizard, but she sent me a sprig of orange blossoms, and when I opened that little box, when the trapped fragrance flew free, it settled in my heart. Thirty years later it is still there. What a gift.

Just the day before yesterday, I was anonymously given the gift of a “fun size” Snicker’s candy bar. I am curious about who knows that, other than See’s Chocolates, the one candy I’ll fall for is a Snickers (well, that and my friend Barbara’s Toffee).

I will open it and consume it after I take a picture of it for you, and after I ask why there is a big “K” on the little label. I’m curious.

A MINI SNICKERS WITH A '“K”

AI says the Mars company pulls letters from the name and “brands” the label. I’m not curious about why.

I did find this interesting. My Snickers bite weighs about 52.7g, down from its 1980 weight of 58.7. The price? Well in the 1970s, a regular sized bar sold for around .50¢. In 2026, be ready to pay $2.00 for a slightly smaller bar. The “fun size” bag from which my bite must have come, holds a steady price of around nine dollars.

OH! Welcome a new word: “Shrinkflation.” These mini pieces are about 30% smaller and the package has decreased in weight by about 14%. If you are caring about calories, it takes about six minis to equal one standard Snickers bar.

Researching Shrinkflation, I ran into news about the world’s chocolate shortage. Well, no wonder, the massive increase in the cost of the cocoa; a surge of over 400% in the last year. 

Have I digressed? Of course I have, all because of a little tasty gift. It’s what I do frequently in my mind. Words mingle there and shape whole new ideas for me. Today, the word is Gift. Here’s a final one.

Seven years ago, I cut open two avocados. I tossed the skins, I used the meat for guacamole, and instead of tossing the seeds into compost, I anchored them in water knowing that a seed bursts with willingness to show what’s hidden inside.

I don’t remember how many weeks passed before the seed sprouted, or how many months passed before the sprouts were moved to dirt, or how long it was before I moved those plants to the large pots where they now live on our balcony, seven years since their initial dip into water. Avocado trees really don’t belong in Washington state, so they require some extra care. We bring them inside when outside temperatures reach freezing.

INSIDE TO AVOID OUTSIDE FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Here they are living outside my office window.

SUCH PLEASURE, WORKING AT MY DESK BY AVOCADO TREES

  I am everyday grateful to the gift those seeds have given back after I gave them opportunity to say what they had to say.

Here you go. Some of you will know the tune to the Shaker hymn, “Tis a Gift to be Simple.” Here’s verse five, a gift from me to you.

Tis the gift to have friends and a true friend to be,
'Tis the gift to think of others not to only think of 'me',
And when we hear what others really think and really feel,
Then we'll all live together with a love that is real.

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