A modest reminder

         The harp is such a melodious instrument. Combined with a fiddle accompaniment, it can express wonderful feeling. Three cheers for Celtic sounds. So what is all the rumpus about my harping anyway? Where does harping get its reputation as repetitious and nattering harassment? Well it looks like we can thank the usual patriarchal impulses to demonize the feminine. Boy oh boy it goes back a long way, this inclination, all the way to Greek mythology with the mission of the harpies. (One wonders if that name should be capitalized since they did have a rank in the celestial hierarchy though not individually.) As you well know, they were tasked with bringing miscreants before the court of judgement in sort of a feathered drone delivery system. Fantasized as a woman with wings and nasty talons, these creatures evidently had a superior on time rating, so much so that they were considered inescapable. Talk about logistics!

        There’s nothing unique about the use of this pathetic harpy cliché. There are plenty of synonyms or approximations such as: shrew, virago, beldame, scold, termagant, battleaxe, harridan, nag, scold, fury and on and on. They are all dedicated to maligning women. Some of these unflattering names are quaint and I do love old words, but really. Can we get beyond this petty condemnation just because a gentle reminder is offered? “Please be home by ten o’clock.” “And don’t come home drunk.” “Don’t forget the milk.” “Did you lock the door?” “Have you got the key?” “Did you send my mother a birthday card?” These phrases are all calculated to maintain domestic tranquility. Sometimes repetition is the only way to teach…and learn.

        You can accuse me of plenty of failings in this line, only please keep in mind that always I have your best interests at heart. In these parlous times it might not be a matter of survival but it may be a matter of health. Normally my counsel is intended to smooth the course of your well ordered and gracious life so that you endure as few foreseeable upsets as possible. This applies to everything from table settings, to design décor, to menus, to shopping experience, to environmental awareness (that sounds rather grand but not so grand as mindfulness), to hospitality in general. As with every effort toward excellence, it is the details which matter and, if I offer a reminder, it is only because a small tidbit may have escaped your notice within this whirlwind of unexpected events. Black swan anyone?

        Now allow me to harp on some simple measures. If you have any antiseptic wipes, leave a container inside every door to the house. That way guests may avail themselves and you can conveniently sanitize the hardware between the comings or goings (to-ings and fro-ings). Some smart marketer will certainly soon have a designer container that at least slightly disguises the crass commercial look of those things. That’s one of the virtues of capitalism at work, the attempt to distinguish one product from all the others. If you live in a house where shoes are removed then you are way ahead of the contagion game. If not, then keep in mind that anything on the floors like clothing, pillows or toys will mingle freely with whatever is brought in on the bottoms of shoes. That’s such a yucky thought I don’t want to explore that any further. In the mean time buckle up for the long road to Wellville. See you there!

         With huge hugs,      Celeste

Parlous Times

           These are parlous times. What does that mean? One might gather from the apparent root of the word parlous that it derives from the French parler but according to etymology scholars that would be a mistake. Parler is said to derive from parabola or parabola when one refers to speech but parlous truly means perilous or dangerous and has its own separate line of ancestry.

          So these are dangerous times no matter how you slice it. Sanitation is of the utmost importance and more than a little worrisome for those who are vulnerable and those who love them. Thank goodness pets are not afflicted. I shudder to think what the consequence might be if they were.

Anyhoo, the recipe for good sanitation is as old as Moses. Really. I don’t cite the Bible very often but it is authoritative about the proper way to maintain healthy conditions both in and out of the kitchen. Moses, the first public health sanitarian, delivered more than moral guidance for human conduct. Hygiene in spirit was meant to accompany hygiene in practical quotidian duties. One notes that this could get a little severe when men, women and child prisoners were summarily executed to prevent the spread of disease, though virgins were spared in a pragmatic demonstration of moderation.

           The good old books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy lay out a pretty comprehensive list of allowable animal food on the basis of cleanliness as well as the procedures for preparation and storage in order to ensure healthy living. That’s basic sanitation but there were also prescriptions for waste management and water protection which makes a pretty good case for public health as a priority. Coming out of the desert there needed to be some guiding principles for what might otherwise have turned into an unruly and unclean mob. Timing is everything.

           In response to the arrival of the medieval plague in Italy, the state mandated quarantine, a forty day sequestration. Today we have a pretty good idea how to cope with a pandemic without the pandemonium, but people are people and so the inevitable strays will require convincing if not corralling. Luckily we have extremely wide and instant communication so that, if we are able to filter out the misleading and patently false junky bits, we’ll be okay at the other end of this episode.

Every Irish household knows that shoes on a table bring bad luck. Isn’t this a sensible extension of the Biblical health laws? That means when you bring home your grocery bag whose bottom has rested on the floor in the supermarket you ought to remember not to place it on any food preparation surface. That would be tantamount to walking on the counter! That’s simple common sense and just one example of preventive hygiene, praise Moses!

           Stay healthy. Stay aware. Stay in attendance of the ones you love.

                    With hugs,

                                        Celeste