Hang Ups

Perched, but not left in the lurch.

Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so
but, sadly it’s true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You’ll be left in a Lurch.

~ Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

The foods are not touching.  (Taken at the Hideaway Grill in Rumbley, MD.  My dinner entree of broiled flounder with a dinner roll,potato salad, and small garden salad in the bowl in the upper right corner.)

Today’s prompt from Capture Your 365 is Hang Ups.  Oh boy.  Now there’s a subject I should be able to sink my teeth into because I do have hang ups.  See how the foods are not touching each other in the above photo?  That’s one of my hang ups.  Not with all foods, mind you.  There are foods that cry out to be combined. Think Thanksgiving and the combination of turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing, or summer’s tomatoes and basil, or mashed potatoes and chick pea picatta (OMG, that’s become my favorite comfort food lately!).

There are foods, however, that my mind does not believe should be touching and mingling.  I like pickles with my sandwiches, but don’t want my sandwich made soggy by the juice from the pickle.  Beets bleed all over everything, and unless they’re in a soup, salad, or stew, need to be segregated.  I am also strange about maple syrup.  I don’t want it touching anything except the pancake or waffle it’s meant to be on.  I know some folks like it with their sausage or bacon.  I don’t, especially not on the veggie sausages we usually eat when we have sausage.

The Hideaway Grill outdoor sitting/eating/drinking area.

But if I’m eating out, particularly at someone else’s home, I’m able to deny any yucky food mingling that might be going on.  I was raised to be polite, sample what’s on the plate, say thank you, and not get hung up about what’s on the plate or how it was served. It’s about being grateful to the folks that fed me rather than be ungracious and ungrateful for the effort, the generosity, and the food served.

Crabby Mac and Onion Rings.  (Hideaway Grill.  Not my dinner, but I did sample it and it was delicious!)

I’m not too far gone when it comes to this hang up, and have been consciously working on not letting it be a hang up at all.  I use it as an example because it was the easiest one for me to represent with a recent image.

The FreeDictionary.com defines hang ups as:

n. Informal
1. A psychological or emotional difficulty or inhibition.
2. An obstacle to smooth progress or development.

n. Slang
1. a preoccupation, fixation, or psychological block; complex.
2. a source of annoying difficulty or burden.

Smoke and mirrors.  Avoiding the detailed selfie.

I avoid being in front of the camera or reflected in my images.  I suppose that could be called a hang up.  I don’t really understand the selfie fad and find it a little narcissistic, but then I think about what I just wrote and find that to be a little fuddy-duddy, especially in view of the fact that I’ve taken some self-portraits over the course of my digital camera years (nine years, if you’re counting).  Self-portraits as a prompt crop up in photo challenges.  I’m also trying to do a better job of having my mug show up from time to time because I appreciate the photos of family and friends who have passed on, and I’d hate for my grandchildren not to have some idea of who I am, even if it’s based on what I looked like.

Still retaining a little mystery, but purely for blog purposes.  And because chaos reigns in the background.  It was taken in the office which has not yet been renovated and is a holding area for boxes.  I’m not sure why I turn my head to the side when I take a self-portrait, but I’ve noticed my youngest granddaughter does that in the photos taken of her.

My biggest hang up, using the informal definition number 2, is myself.  I am often an obstacle to my own smooth progress or development.  I’m getting better, and more aware of where I get hung up, but there are still areas in which I sabotage myself.

Devil-may-care. No inhibitions here.

How about you?  Do you have any hang ups?  Or are you inhibition- and obstacle-free?

Thanks for dropping in today, and hanging around with me.  The rain continues and we’re now up to almost 5 inches of rain in two days, cutting our rain deficit in half.  The ground has been doing a good job of soaking most of it up, but we’re beginning to get some ponding, pooling, and puddling.

Morning glory rain

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Today’s joys:  Walks with Bo the Dog; cooking and freezing marinara sauce made with tomatoes and basil from our garden so we can enjoy the flavors of summer in the middle of winter; blue sky showing through the gray clouds; rain for the garden and trees; the appliances that make my life easier.