Our Little Community is Thriving

Eagle Scout project shines light on city's need for youth facilities
R.J. Morin, 19, of Woonsocket, catches some air on his skateboard during the "Get Out, Get Up and Ride" event last Thursday at Woonsocket Middle School. Danny Marszalkowski put on the event as part of his Eagle Scout project. (Valley Breeze photo by Charles Lawrence)
By SANDY SEOANE, Valley Breeze Staff Writer

WOONSOCKET - Kids could be seen in every direction: talking, biking, skate boarding, roller blading and generally having good time.

"Get Out, Get Up and Ride," an event put on by Danny Marszalkowski as his Eagle Scout service project for Troop 2 Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, was held on the grounds of the Woonsocket Middle School for five hours on a hot Thursday afternoon.

Despite the high temps, a constant stream of kids rolled by to try out Marszalkowski's handmade ramps and rails, built with lumber donated from local businesses.

"Craft Skate Shop really inspired me to reach out to the youth in this way," Marszalkowski said of his employer, a Main Street store owned by Susan Kirwan.

Kirwan, who opened the store just steps away from City Hall in 2013, aims to provide local youth with both a place to go and a positive way to direct their energy. An advocate for creation of a skate park, Kirwan also encourages kids to be involved in their communities and to give back, with projects like community clean-ups.
The Holiday Retirement Residence

In edition to encouraging local youth to get outside, the event aimed to draw attention to the need for youth facilities in the city and the economic benefit such a resource could bring.

"We want to show people in the city that kids will come out for a good event, and they will spend money," Kirwan said.

To reach out to kids outside his social circle, Marszalkowski pounded the pavement, handing out flyers for the event wherever he could find people, like the local bike path. It took him two days to build around a dozen ramps and rails with lumber donated by Pepin and Beauchemin.

The event included a DJ, an obstacle course, and contests like a tug-of-war and the "sponge bucket" challenge. There were raffles of Craft merchandise - such as helmets, grips and padding - and the Kona Ice food truck was on site.

"The point is to promote both physical fitness and riding safety," Marszalkowski said. Plus, he said, it highlighted the need for more activities for local kids.

"We're trying to interest the city into doing the same kind of thing," he said. "We need something."

The event was dedicated to Troy Rivers, a young man from Woonsocket who died last week, as well as Constance Grant-Kirwan, Susan Kirwan's mother, who died last Saturday.
On a scooter, is 10-year-old Avyanna Palmore, of Woonsocket.
Also taking part in the "Get Out, Get Up and Ride" event is George Lopez, of Woonsocket.
Eagle Scout candidate, center, Danny Marszalkowski poses for a picture with Matthew Goyette and Susan Kirwan, supporters who encouraged him in the "Get Out, Get Up and Ride" event. Article

String Bean Meditations

Yesterday morning I got in a swim before our SLATER PARK PAWTUCKET PARADE performance and I even had a few moments to rinse and decapitate my big bag of string beans so I could make a garlic stir fry when we came home hungry. As I was doing this chore I realized it was a perfect calming and meditative activity. My friend Sally was occupying my thoughts. Sally Larrick is an excellent cook weaver musician photographer and a Buddhist. She has the ultimate meditations in the kitchen approach to making food. She one made a pecan pie starting with picking and shelling the pecans, and making the crust from scratch. She also makes etouffe a French New Orleans shrimp butter sauce that she fed me over brown rice. Her husband made their gorgeous oak kitchen table. She is a weaver by trade and she dyes the wool before threading the loom. She may even chase down and shear the sheep. She can sing and play upright bass and she can sew anything from a bolt of fabric. She once made a fold up foam rubber couch-chair-bed. I slept in when I visited. She's made a bathrobe a dress shirt and a gorgeous blouse.

The String beans cooked with my simmered all day garbanzo beans and sauteed garlic were amazing over rice for supper at ten PM. Food is healing.

Rathbun Street Renaissance

Our Street is having a Renaissance! New landlords are coming and fixing up their properies and the police have chased away all of the drug dealers and chop shops. Maybe we're ready for a Street Fair.

Ivan Pavlov

Today is the birthday of physiologist Ivan Pavlov, born in Ryazan, in central Russia (1849). His father was the village priest, and Pavlov was all set to follow in his footsteps - even enrolling in theological seminary - when he read Darwin's work and became interested in the study of science. He left the seminary and began a course of study in physics, mathematics, and natural sciences at the University of St. Petersburg; later he received his medical degree at the Imperial Medical Academy. He left religion behind because he couldn't reconcile his passion for scientific proof with a life of faith, and was surprised when he came across other scientists who were religious. One day, walking to his laboratory, he saw a medical student cross himself outside a church. "Think about it!" Pavlov told his colleagues. "A naturalist, a physician, but he prays like an old woman in an almshouse!"

In 1890, he was named head of the Physiology Department at the Institute for Experimental Medicine, and five years later he was named Chair of Physiology at the Imperial Medical Academy. It was during this time that he did his most groundbreaking work. In 1903, he published a paper called "The Experimental Psychology and Psychopathology of Animals." In it, he explained his theory of conditional reflexes. Unlike innate reflexes, which are instinctual, conditional reflexes are learned. Pavlov came up with this theory in the course of studying the digestive systems of dogs. He noticed that the dogs would begin salivating when the lab assistant brought in their food; this was a natural reflex, and it didn't surprise him. But then after a while, the dogs began drooling whenever the lab assistant entered the room, even if there was no food present. Pavlov speculated that the dogs' behavior had changed because they had learned to associate the presence of the lab assistant with the presentation of food. He turned on a metronome at the same time that the dogs were fed. Eventually, the dogs would salivate whenever they heard the metronome - even without food - which meant that Pavlov had created a new, learned reflex in his subjects. He was even able to fine-tune the response so that it only happened when the metronome was set at a particular speed. He also learned that the reflex could be unlearned: if he used the metronome too many times without later providing food, the dogs stopped associating the sound with a meal, and they stopped salivating.
-Writer's Almanac

A Beautiful Sight

Today I looked out the window and saw a cluster of bubbles in the air. A man was standing in our parking lot using a bubble wand to create them. Two three year old kids, a girl and a boy were running to catch them, screaming with joy. My neighbor Laura saw them too as she was walking to her car "A beautiful sight, isn't it?" I said. "Yes it is!" she replied smiling.

Mending Sentimental Pants

I just mended two pairs of jeans that freinds gave me 30 years ago. I made new seams where they had worn away. At the very least I am brushing up on my sewing skills. It feels good.

Cyclothymic Bicycling

I'm cyclothymic. Physical exertion is crucial to my being able to appreciate, understand and manage my anxieties and exuberant energy. I have to be careful about which activities I choose to do so I don't exacerbate sleeplessness and cause hypo-mania. Besides loving to swim I will try spinning yoga pilates and zumba since they are free and the teachers are friendly and adorable. Yesterday I hunted down my old leotard and tights in the cellar and washed out the mildew smell and then repaired the holes on my sewing machine. Luckily you can't see the new seams because they're black. Now I can wear what the girls are wearing to the spin and yoga classes. Wearing leotards and racing swim suits make me feel sexy because they are springy and they hug my body. I feel good in my body and I try to listen carefully to what it says to me. It's nice to know where I stand.

Pasta Tango

Last night I prepared the semolina and egg dough with fresh basil, salt, black pepper and Adobo and had it waiting when my husband got home. I fed the dough through the hand cranked pasta machine while turning the crank and my husband caught the paper-thin sheets of pasta so they didn't stick together. It was an intricate kitchen tango requiring focus, concentration and patience. My husband hung the noodles on our clothes rack and separated and dried the macaroni while fending off the cat and dog. I told my husband, "this is so romantic and now we get to cook it and eat it. People should do this as a form of marriage counseling." I made a simple marinara sauce with fresh garlic olive oil crushed tomato, salt and oregano. Next time I will just have the pasta plain with butter and salt to really taste it. I was amazed at how much pasta came out of a cup of semolina and one egg.

The Science of the Best Fresh Pasta

Cooking

Now's the really easy part. Boil up some salted water and toss those noodles in. They'll cook quickly—I'm talking 60-seconds quickly—so be ready to taste and drain them almost immediately. That said, while fresh pasta cooks rapidly, it's important to make sure that it's thoroughly cooked. Unlike dry pasta, it actually gets slightly firmer during the first phase of cooking. If you don't cook it long enough, the egg and flour proteins won't set, your starch won't fully hydrate, and you'll end up with a kinda pasty pasta. Personally,I like my pasta cooked for around 90 seconds, but you may find that you prefer a shorter or longer boiling time. Just don't exceed two minutes—that's when it starts to get mushy.

Tah dah!

Here's another article worth reading.

A Great Gift

Waste not, want not

If you do not waste anything, you will always have enough. This proverbial saying was first recorded in 1772 but had an earlier, even more alliterative version, willful waste makes woeful want (1576).

I never throw anything out. I am lucky to have the space to indulge in this habit. I am not a hoarder, I'm resourceful and wise. The Great Recession caused me to dig out clothes and shoes in my attic closet dating back to the 80's. It turned out that the clothes and shoes still fit and they were actually in pretty good shape. All I had to do was cut out the shoulder pads on my shirts and sew on a few patches and buttons. Occasionally my pack rat tendency is something that haunts me. For example my paper piles in my studio are very dusty. It's too emotional to sort through them so I will just put them in big plastic bins and boxes so I can vacuum around them. The flip side of my saving habit is enjoying my ingenuity and resourcefulness. Now I understand why women made patchwork quilts. When a favorite shirt is finally worn it is lovely to use the fabric again. It keeps the memory alive. I also employ this philosophy in the kitchen and transform leftovers into new dishes. My leftover German potato salad that I had pressure cooked with beets became borscht when I pureed it with whey leftover from home made yogurt. My Grandparents must be smiling from their heavenly perch. They lived through the Great Depression and they knew about saving, sharing and recycling. Even if the economy recovers I don't think I can ever return to being a blind and impulsive consumer and that is a great gift.

Playing with Dough

We've been all excited about the rain expected today after a hot and dry summer. I baked bread today and while it was baking I mixed up a batch of pasta dough for home made macaroni. I've been dreaming about egg noodles and I found Federal Hill semolina in my freezer. Read more about how simple and fun pasta making is here.

Healing Waters

I walked to the health club at 5:45 in the predawn light. When I arrived the parking lot was lit up and full. Venus and the crescent moon were next to each other in the sky. I told the lady at the front desk to come out and see it. She loved it.

I swam in the pool while watching the sky turn violet.

Over the summer I've met lots of folks in the pool. I met a man who broke both of his legs in January who walks in the water to regain his muscles. I met a woman who had polio as a child who walks in the water to remain flexible. Yesterday I met a man who told me he's had both shoulders replaced in the past six months. This morning I met a man who had a stroke three years ago. He told me he bicycles on a three wheeled recumbent bicycle on the bike path and he swims. "You have to take care of the body" he said. When he left he said "As my Irish grandmother would say, 'Have a soft day!'"

Everyone I meet is fighting a great battle but the water is a kind and gentle healer.

Inner Learning

Receive-mode needs physical exertion to overpower the mental chatter and overwhelming anxiety. Swimming has been a godsend. Lately I'm in a phase of the early morning swim. Swimming is a perfect athletic activity for me because the way I swim does not cause hypo-mania the way dancing does. I played my saxophone yesterday and today after lunch. Breathing is grounding. Maybe I have cracked the code on receive-mode. I may actually like it once I am past the first two weeks. Transmit-mode requires a two week adjustment too but then I settle in and have to wrestle with hyperactivity and distractability. Perhaps the swimming can help me focus.

Anne Lamott

Writing: shitty first drafts. Butt in chair. Just do it. You own everything that happened to you. You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves in your heart — your stories, visions, memories, songs: your truth, your version of things, in your voice. That is really all you have to offer us, and it’s why you were born.
-Anne Lamott

My Sidewalk Community

As an orphan, my community of sidewalk friends means the world to me.

Pack Rats Recycling

Today I unearthed eight old computer monitors for recycling. It's the tip of the iceberg but nonetheless laudable. We are pack-rats and it has served us well. Now we must learn how to adapt and reclaim our work spaces.

Venus in the Sky with a Crescent Moon

The heat woke me up while it was still dark. I went out into the yard I saw the crescent moon and Venus shining bright.

Moderators

I've been thinking a lot about moderators. Moderators are the things that keep me close to the fulcrum when navigating my mood seesaw and close to the center of the Ferris wheel as my mood cycles. Moderating activities are grounding no matter where my mood-cycle has taken me and this is very important. Swimming, walking, writing, painting, and playing music are all examples of moderators.

The Demons

Going into receive-mode is agony and always renders me mute at least for a few weeks. I am grateful for my husband's compassion. It still is hard for me to feel the compassion towards my mood-cycle when I'm in emotional pain. At these times I feel as if I have done something wrong but these forces are chemical and biological and they are outside of my control. I have to dance with my demons and in this case swim with them. I have helped the transition immensely by diving into the pool next door and swimming laps. The exertion stabilizes my mood, cures sinus allergy pain, and I go home clean. It's a winning situation. Most demons are water soluble.

Sarah Orne Jewett

You must find your own quiet center of life, and write from that.
-Sarah Orne Jewett

Girls and Robots

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