Curiosity

 I think curiosity is as important as imagination.  Having a sense of wonderment makes us all ageless.  Curiosity, along with imagination,  never grows old and it helps to keep us young.  Curiosity may have killed the cat but at least it didn't die of boredom.  How many times are your bored?  Or how often do you hear your children say they are bored.  Boredom stagnates us and gets in the way of enjoying life in the moment.



Our dog is curious about the feral cat.

I prefer to experience failure than not be curious.  Curiosity has
lead me to many adventures in my life.  Like when I  joined the Army.  I was looking for a way out of a somewhat mundane life I was living.  I was 23 years old, a two times college dropout in a dead end job.  I was curious where the Army would lead me and it was one of the wisest choices I ever made.  They used to have a motto that said "Be All That You Can Be" and in my case it was absolutely true.  As a journalist it was the perfect fit for me with my extreme curiosity. 

I had carte blanche to ask all kinds of questions, to meet all kinds of people, and to see many interesting things.  This was the perfect fit for me in the Army.  This experience helped me to use my curiosity in my professional life, also. The Army's eductional benefits provided me with my college education which eventually led to a career in the human resources field where I dealt, again with people from all backgrounds.  This is where my curiosity of the Army took me.

Curiosity drives me to experience new things all the time.  I took art classes at a vo-tech school and took an online writing college course and now I am taking horseback riding lessons.  My husband and I developed many new interests when we started camping.  Because we love American history we began visiting museums and this led to our collections of things from the past.  Our love of the outdoors led us to hiking and geocaching.

Curiosity places an important role in all these things because they require some degree of research. 
We buy books to read and research on the worldwide web.  Curiosity also plays an important role in my cooking.  I love to experiment and fortunately I've had more successes than failures.

Today's recipe of the week.

"Crockpot Vegetable Stew with Navy Beans"

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

4 carrots, sliced

2 potatoes, diced

4 celery stalks, chopped

1 can tomatoes

2 cans navy beans, drained and rinsed

1 small can of tomato sauce

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in the crockpot, cover with vegetable broth or water.  Cook on low for 8 hours.

Serve with cornbread or a crusty hot loaf of italian bread.

Enjoy.

If you use your curiosity along with your imagination,  I guarantee you will not experience one boring moment!

"You will show me the path of life;

In your presence is fullness of joy;

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore."