What is a meme?

I am so glad to have learned a new word and a new concept (though it has actually been around since 1976), thanks to Susannah's tagging me to do a meme. For those who, like me, may not know what a meme is, according to my online dictionary it's "a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes." Thus, we have the meme that has been transmitted to my blog by way of many other blogs, with my meme's most recent ancestor being Susannah's blog.

First, to the rules:

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write 6 random things about yourself.
Tag 6-ish people at the end of your post [I will fall very short here!]
Let each person know that he/she has been tagged (or let them get tagged by reading your blog).
Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

Random things about me:

1. One of my favorite dishes to eat -- and my favorite breakfast of late -- is toasted rice with raisins and almonds -- yum! If you want to make some, just take some cooked (preferably brown) rice and toast it in a skillet containing some melted butter and canola oil. Add some raisins to the skillet at the beginning so they can caramalize a bit too. Leave rice and raisins in place until they are toasted on one "side." Use a metal egg flipper to scrape them up as one, more or less, and then turn them over for more toasting. Scrape all up, place in a bowl, and sprinkle with toasted almond pieces. Also sprinkle on some gomasio if you like sesame seeds and sea salt. Toasted rice is also good with toasted pecans or walnuts.

2. Continuing on a kitchen theme, my recent most favorite item in my kitchen is an electric griddle. It's a Rival, the least expensive of all those I saw at Target. I got it because it has a temperature control that allows me to set it on warm, and I wanted a warming plate for those egg casseroles at our Thanksgiving-Friday brunch. But now I've been using it for everything, from making pancakes, of course (so much faster than my old method of using two skillets on the stovetop), to frying a multitude of bacon strips all at one time.

3. I love Christmas season too. I love the smells of fir, cloves, cinnamon, cooking apples, roasting turkey, baking cake ... you name it. Christmas carols touch me way deep down. I sing them whenever possible. A few of my favorites are "In the Bleak Midwinter," "Lo, How a Rose," "Silent Night," "What Perfect Love Is This," "Lord of the Dance," and more and more. (Diane Rheme -- rhymes with meme! -- had Mary Chapin Carpenter on yesterday. Mary has a CD of Christmas songs which sounds wonderful -- I have ordered it. If you didn't hear the program, it's worth it to go to your local NPR station's website to listen to Diane and Mary's program. It may make you cry, in a good way.)

4. I am endlessly fascinated by pregnancy and birth. Egg and sperm, cells, embryo, fetus, all bouyant in the dark, liquid womb. Then emergence into the bright air, and breath. How incredible! What a gift it was for me to carry my beloved daughter and son to full term, through labor, into life. What a gift it has been for me to share seven fine pregnancies with our daughters. And what a gift many times over to be able to love and grandmother seven precious grandchildren.

5. I am a student of astrology -- have been for several decades. Not the kind of astrology that says, "You are this sun sign, so you are predestined to do thus and so." I believe our birthcharts pose certain questions, and it is up to us to decide how we will answer those questions. Each birthchart is unique, so canned astrology like you see in the newspaper is highly unreliable. Astrology is an ever-fascinating field of study. Looking at the signs and symbols over time, you start to get the sense that we are all really connected -- us and the planets and the stars and the universe -- in a real way.

6. Some of my favorite plants are the spring ephemerals. You know, those early early wildflowers that come out while the hardwoods are still bare so that these early ones get the sunlight they need for blooming. There is nothing like a carpet of trout lilies on the side of a woodland hill, or the bright white of bloodroot's bloom against the dark forest floor. Also, lavender-blooming hepatica, one of the earliest. And the wake-robin trillium, with its burgundy or pink blooms. I could go on and on ...

I would love to tag some other bloggers, but I don't know of others, except you young friends of Susannah's, and I believe you all have the meme transmission thing covered! It's been fun!