What Would Kate Do?

Hi.  Ter here.  I heard something interesting earlier this month that got my wheels a-spinnin'...which made me yearn for a time before my own.   I heard that a financial institution came to a screeching hault and was turning people away because their computers were down.  People couldn't get their money!  This made me wonder: when did we become less capable than a robot or a machine?  Why, when machines spring a sprocket, do we panic and spring a sprocket of our own?   Where is our backup plan and why can't we seem to find it?   I found myself asking:  What would Grandma Kate do? 

I never met Grandma Kate, but from hearing stories of her and the glorious generation she comes from, I bet she would have been able to overcome a sprung sprocket and find Plan B lickity-split.  If the problem happened at a bank, I bet Kate would have counted the money by hand and noted down who took what and when - to adjust the account later.  If it was at a grocery store, I bet they would have started a tab and the patron wouldn't be asked to just "put everything down and come back later for it" - because what if, for instance, they needed to feed their children now?   Why, in this day in age, are we so quick to say "No", and not help our fellow man? (Sure, there are plenty of logical and rational reasons, but it's still so sad!)

Grandma Kate was in my mind for the rest of the day as I performed my tasks. How would she have made a phone call? Certainly not while driving, as I did.  She would have maybe sat at her kitchen table with the *corded* phone. Certainly she would be able to be more attentive to the person she called, than I was.  Of course I couldn't write down the information I was given--my hands were at ten and two (or rather just one at twelve :( ). 

How would Grandma Kate buy that tool her husband needed?  She wouldn't have looked it up on her phone, found, purchased, and confirmed it was shipped within minutes.  She would have dressed, gone to town, talked with folks at the store, and purchased the item.  It would have taken her much longer, but she would have been able to communicate with another soul while I was just glued to a screen.

Grandma Kate, and all those in generations before my own, would have found Plan B simply and quickly because they knew how to communicate with one another.   We may lack trust in our fellow man these days, but maybe it's partially because we don't communicate with them.  Just a thought rattling around in my head...what do you think?  Does our technology"unite us or divide us?  Are we better for having it, or worse because of it?  Feel free to comment below.

ter

Hello & Welcome To Our Blog~From Shell

Thanks for stopping by!  I am honored to be a part of this collaboration, along with my Mom and my Niece, only two of Kate Macke's oodles of granddaughters! 

I live with my husband, Brad of 19 years in a little cedar house at the top of Wisconsin.  When we are not working together at our pizza parlor, we love to go day tripping,
snowshoeing, mountain biking and we just adore hanging out with our two German
short-hair pointers, Kona & Sieben.  As for me, I love reading, writing, creating and learning about people and what insparks them.

My two co-bloggers are amazingly talented women who intrigue and enliven me everyday.  They both have a love of life and would give you the shirts off their backs.  Especially for the past two years, they have been my rocks of never ending support in my very rocky life. 

I hope you are inspired as much as I am about  the beauty in life's little things.  And I hope to be inspired by you!

Baking Kate's Bread

 Bread, mmmmmmmmmmmmm!  For the past three days I've been on a bread-baking marathon.  This year we are gifting our homemade bread for those we care about.  My grandma Kate taught me how to bake bread.  She baked every week: big, golden brown, aromatic loaves.  Her way of teaching was subtle, letting me watch..answering my simple questions; letting me taste.  She had a quiet way about her...but so much strength lie in those quiet ways.
And now, my bread is from her bread, although prepared differently.  Kate would have gasped at the fact that I don't knead the bread.  And I don't proof the yeast.  And I prepare the loaves in a free-form -not traditional bread pans.  But I think she would approve mightily of the taste...still very much Kate's bread in the end.
And me, I think I am very much Kate's granddaughter too.  I have tried to be like her in many ways in my life...achieving that goal sometimes...falling short other times.  But mostly, I think she would have liked the adult I turned out to be.I know she would have given a gentle nod of approval to her great granddaughter Shelly, who is my daughter; and to Terra who holds the title of great-great granddaughter to Kate - my granddaughter.  Both of these young women celebrate life with their curiosity, their individualism and their amazing fortitude.  They continually amaze me.
My interests lie in cooking and baking.  In growing vegetables and some pretty flowers and oh, yes those tantalizing, sometimes delicate herbs.
I love to travel too and to learn of other cultures.
I teach some of what I know, and I truely enjoy that as well.


So, with the rich scent of fresh bread wafting through my home, I send you thoughts of bread, family and love, thoughts of being Kate's granddaughter, and learning how to live on this misty December morning.  And I welcome you to our blog.