The Two Whos

A friend of Yun’s lost her cell phone to ‘water’ a couple of days before her long trip to The East Coast.  Her friend is frustrated about losing all the info in her contacts.

Upon hearing and news, Yun thought to herself: “Where is my old phone? She can use it for now.’”   So, Yun searched her house for the phone, but could find no trace of it.

“Hmmmm.  It must be treated as a  toy by the kids.” Yun was saddened by the thought.

The phone Yun was looking for was the phone she used four years ago, an old Motorola phone: chubby and sturdy.  Three years ago, ATT send her a sleek flip Moto phone to replace the old chubby one.  A year and half ago, on Christmas, she activated the old phone for her son Patrick for emergency use.

Then, last year, when ATT sent Yun a fancy touch screen phone, the sleek flip Moto phone was past along to Patrick.  So the old chubby phone was cast aside.   However, it is still in its prime age: functional and good looking, but simply out of style.  That’s the phone Yun thinks her friend might use until she gets enough money to buy a new one.

“Where is the phone? I just saw it a couple of months ago!”  Yun looked and looked, and she got frustrated….  “in the toy chest? In the electronic junk box? in the draws?”

All this time, this old phone has little value  to Yun or anyone in the family. However functional and high tech it is, it is less useful (and valuable to Yun) than a roll of toilet paper.  Of course, it was until now…. because now its functionality is needed to serve her friend in need.

So, what’s the value of things?  By its face values of how much it costs in the store, or by its usability in serving a purpose?  Yun tends to think that a good thing does not mean valuable until it serves a purpose.  Now, if she finds the old phone, the old phone would be much more valuable to her and her friend than the old phone’s store value.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

It is tempting for  a parent to think that their child belongs to them, so they can do anything to them in the name of discipline.  So, they might treat their  kids like a property that they can do anything to…remodel this, hammer that, remodel this… shape  them the  way they  want them to be…. like a “Mini Me”   This poem from Kahlil is a gentle reminder that we should treat our kids as a precious gift and a life force itself.   Our job is to protect them and love them, and allow them to develop into  themselves.

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

“Bye for NOw” from The Two Whos

About The Mid-Week  Symphony: Since Wednesday is hump day, we have decided to take this moment  and have a bit of down time from the writing.  Each Wednesday, we would like to bring you a symphony of ideas, a harmony of thoughts, beauty, silliness and all things that make the fullness of life.  When we started this blog we wanted it to reflect our entire personalities and interests..and that means yes…. Cece loves  the Far Side Cows and Yun loves the mumble jumble philosophical books.   Yun and Cece have many varied interests and we would like to share some of them with you each Wednesday.

Wheeeeee!  Cece is excited to help her new friend  buy a bike.   Cece and Yun   signed her  up for the century ride for Team In Training in the fall. Both Cece and Yun have already signed up.  Now, this  girl  needs a bike and Cece has her favorite  place to go.  So, off they went!  They went to a shop, where the men who work there are very skillful and kind, so much so that Cece calls the shop her “boyfriend”.  When Yun brought her bike in to be fixed  at this shop a while back, they fixed her bike and told her she did not need  a new tire, which other shops had  told her.   They also have Yun’s vote for honesty and expertise.

Well, today, Cece was experiencing something new.  As Cece watched her friend investigate the purchase of a new  bike, Cece is glowing with joy.  Every time her friend  shiftted gears,  she smiled this bright smile full of pearly white teeth!   Her eyes twinkled and  she was full of joy!  Cece giggled and laughed, and when Yun called Cece, all Cece could say was:” I will have to call you back in a few.  I am having too much fun…”   (OK, Yun makes up the last sentence).

The joyful trip tickles Cece’s fancy: What is it about happiness?  Why do we get happy from trivial events as such?   Is it seeing  a  friend?  Is it from purchasing?  Is  it from the thought of using the purchase?  Is it from something internal that is wired in us?  Can we find joy and happiness in the little every day tasks?  Apparently we can , if we feel like it!

Buying  gears  for your favorite sport is one example… but there are many other things that people do that give them joy.  Yun’s favorite things are watching her sons having fun and doing good work.  She would smile from ear to ear just seeing the school bus approaching and watching her boys go off to school.   Watching her kids play soccer or pretending to play baseball are better than watching the  pros play.  Cece has another thing, playing with  her cats and making funny pictures of her cats.  Yun likes solving tough math problems and investigating human interaction  issues, Cece likes solving a complicated puzzle  and helping people to untangle the knots in their lives. She likes to adventure and explore and see the beauty of the earth.  There are many little things that make us happy, what do you do that makes you happy?

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos.

Yun saw a MeetUp from Albuquerque Hiking and Outdoor group: “Up Whitewash, strenuous hiking and climbing,  off trail bush whacking… Only short breaks uphill…  I will set the pace…”

“I can do it!”  She snarled at the announcement and arrogance of the organizer’s attitude.

7:00am, Yun showed up at the trail head with two other hikers.  She  looked at the hills ahead…they seem very manageable.  Yun was glad she came.  After the meet and greet, off they went.

500 yards into the trail, the leader tucked away his hiking poles, and the woman in front of Yun put away her gloves.  They were ready to climb.  Looking up, there was a couple of hundred feet high whitewash rising  steeply in front of her.  “Oh, that is what they mean whitewash.”  Yun, fear of height, panicked.  That would be a good point to turn back, she thought. But her stubbornness and pride kicked in, and up she went on her hands and knees…

Making it  to the top, everyone pushed on to attack the first hill. Her two hiking companions are chatting, but Yun only heard her breathing getting louder and louder.  Yun started to look for possible retreat routes.  Just about the time she wanted to raise her hands and called it quits, the two hikers stopped and waited for her to catch up.  The little encouragement gesture helped Yun to continue on as she joked: “Oh, I now know what  you mean by strenuous.  No kidding!”  The man answered: “You are doing great!  Last week, we had to turn back two hikers!”

Her legs were screaming in pain when they got to the top of the second hill.  Yun asked: “Are we going to take a break?”   Her  fearless leader looked at her with great compassion: “Do you need a breather?  It  is down hill for a while, it is just like a break, right?”   So, they pushed on.  At one point, they started jogging because the woman is a long distance trail runner.   But Yun put her foot down: “No, I can not run.  I just want to finish the hike.”  They laughed with her and decided to stick to the plan of “strenuous hiking ” only.

After 3 1/2  hours, they came to the last hills with 1200ft elevation gain, which they eventually conquered on knees and hands, and lots  of  butt sliding on the way down.  “Oh, that’s what off trail means.”  Yun had a sudden insight after an hour and half of bush wracking and close encounters with cactus’s kisses …

The 9 1/2  miles of hiking has  finally led them back to the parking lot 6 full hours later!    The woman was changing into running clothes  for her 20 mile run later  that  afternoon, and the  man was planning to go to the  gym for an hour.   Yun?  She  managed to get home, barely climbed the stairs and literally crawled into the tub.   Then she dragged herself and her  sore legs into the bed, napping away.

In her lucid dreams, she thanked  her ignorance and stubbornness.  Without them, she would have been home all morning sipping coffee with a book. Then she would have never thought about getting into ‘good’ shape, and she would have never signed up for a 10k trail run in June.  Ignorance is bliss  at times.

“Bye for Now” from The Two Whos

Years ago, Cornell University came up with a way to “amp up” their bread recipes to make them healthier for you even though they used white flour.  They called it  ”Triple Rich!”    They added a bit of wheat germ, soy flour and powdered milk to the bottom of every 2 cups of flour they measured.  Well, Cece has not done quite that much “amping up” in this recipe, but she has made it more nutritious and with a lot less fat than the original recipe that she  modified.  As you can tell from the photo, the muffins are large and puff up beautifully …AND they are delicious.  Cece serves these muffins all the time and people love them!  Here is the recipe.

Set oven for 400 degrees and bake muffins for 22-25 minutes…makes 9-10 very large muffins>

A.  1 1/2 cups flour minus 2 heaping TBS flour

2/3 cup flax seed flour

1 TBS baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 scoop protein powder (You can use whatever you like that is unflavored, but Cece used Spirutein unsweetened vanilla-soy protein)

B. 2 TBS raw sugar

      1/2 tsp allspice

C.  2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light butter, softened

1 large egg

2 egg whites (You can use white egg beaters)

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup fat free milk

D.  1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

1/3 cup blueberry pie filling (Just freeze the remainder of the can in 1/3 cups containers and put into freezer for future batches.)

Preheat oven to 400.  Line muffin tins with paper liners

Combine A in a bowl.  Combine C. in another bowl. minus the milk.  Keep milk aside.  Alternate milk and flours into the buttery ingredients.  Once fully combined, fold in the blueberry pie filling and blueberries until incorporated.

Using a spoon, heap the batter into the muffin papers in the muffin  pan.  They should come up  high over the rim of the cups.  Mix B and sprinkle over top of the batter in the muffin cups.

Bale 22-25 minutes in a 400 degree oven.  These will be moist muffins.  Let sit until cooled.  They are even better the next day as the flavors develop…if you can wait that long!  These also freeze well.

Nutrition:  1 muffin =230 calories; Pro : 7 g,    CHO 36   Fat   6 g   Fiber 3  g

The Saturday Morning Rendezvous will be a place to stop in and meet up  on a weekend morning.  Have a cup of tea or coffee, a special breakfast,  and relax and catch up from the week’s fast pace.  The Two Whos will focus Saturday’s content on physical wellness and fitness of all types.  Come back and rendezvous with us!    See you next  Saturday!  Thanks for visiting.