Once I bought a cookbook purely because
the author’s first name was Fuschia,
just like the color. I mean I also like that it
focuses mostly on Asian flavors. Almost all recipes
in it have beguiling instructions like Heat
some oil in a pan, smack the white parts
of spring onions with the back of a cleaver,
finely chop some garlic and ginger; throw
these in and stir until wonderfully fragrant.
Now every time I stand at the stove I try
to conjure that wonderfully fragrant cloud,
try to blanket the sauce and garnishes prettily
over the fish. And at the drugstore, waiting
for a prescription to fill, I like to amuse
myself walking through the aisles, reading
labels on beauty products. Nail polish, for instance:
Playing Koi, Udon no Me, Smoke and Mirrors, Queen
of Hearts, Angel Food. After my father-in-law passed away
last winter, my husband and I decided to throw in
a downpayment for a share in the family plot tucked
in one grassy section of a sprawling cemetery in Niles.
Here, just now, I must tell you I debated on the use
of graveyard vs. cemetery, until some quick research
showed that graveyard historically refers to a much smaller
burial ground annexed to a church. Also, grave comes from the early
Germanic graban, meaning to dig; while cemetery comes
from the Old French cimetiere— it means burying place, but
also hails from the older Greek koimeterion or sleeping place—
This makes me feel a new fondness for cemetery, which previously
I thought merely grey and serviceable. I started wondering
about the costs of dying today, and Googling led me to various online
catalogs of coffins. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been surprising
to find styles like “The Buckingham” (solid polished hardwood, fluted
corner pillars), “The Hainsworth” (pure new wood fibre with true green
lineage), “In the Garden” (variety of painted themes including Monet’s
garden), or “Seagrass” (woven, made from sustainable and biodegradable
materials). Why shouldn’t we care about any bit of beauty we can take
with us until the very end, before slipping into uniform darkness?
In response to Via Negativa: #amwriting.