Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands
To everyone reading this, wherever you are, you are no doubt wondering what this blog will be about. Well, it’s quite literally going to be bout oats. Today I happened to spend a lot of quality time with oats. So what is an oat? It’s spelled out O A. T. Although the whole word contains three letters, the sound it produces in English is that of only two letters. So phonetically speaking, the word may be challenging for non native English speakers since the familiar A sound suddenly hides itself behind the (oh) sound of the O. The T remains as the last and sharpest sound of the word as it retains all of its corners and edgesa familiar sound for both English speakers and those learning the language. Thus, we have the word Oat(Oht).
I bet you never thought about the word oat before, and neither had I until today. So, how about the actual material thing? First, let’s examine the definition. Well, according to the dictionary on my phone… Oat – a cereal plant cultivated chiefly in cool climates and widely used for animal feed as well as human consumption. Reading this makes me wonder how it was discovered that humans and animals alike could consume it. That is research for another day. So an oat is a small cereal plant that can be used as food for both humans and animalspossibly horses, pigs, chickens, and donkeys. Truthfully, I have quite little knowledge about the oat industry when it comes to consumption by non-human beings. The oat is a singular thing, though.
A small grain-like food, similar in size to two grains of rice side by side. It is brown or tan. Looks a bit chalky depending on how it is stored, and it has a ridge right down its center of a darker brown. This ridge reminds me of the vein system a leaf shows off as it sprouts from the stem. The oat is a bit delicate and easily crushed and folded into dust if you handle it with the might and fury of a raging 5-year-old. Is this to say kids shouldn’t handle an oat? I’m not sure. But I bet you never thought of an oat like that before? A delicate little leaf. Well, again, I hadn’t either until today. Now, in all this talk I’ve been discussing one oat. Any oat. But just one of them. But what about many oats? Well, today I spent the greater part of an hour dealing with millions of these delicate morsels of food for kids and horses. Why? Well, I’m sure you are aware that we have very big plans for Argo! We are crossing the Atlantic! And guess what. Our boat is full of oats! Prior to today, oats were just oats. But today, I have discovered the essence of oats. Have you? They are beautiful, versatile, and phonetically very interesting. How many oats we have, I could not say. I never imagined I would have to count oats before, although, as I think about it, there would be no fun in counting oats. Oats are not meant to be counted; the very act would make the object completely unappetizing. And considering my boat is full of oats, they need to be consumed, so maybe it’s best if we don’t count them. Anyways, as I write this. I hear the whispering tunes of club Argo, still not yet fallen. Or perhaps it is the music festival 100 meters from my palace of oats. One might never find out for certain.
If you wish to find out what your children got up to today, while I sorted oats, among other things, such as beans, corn, pasta, and rice, although none of those things were as mesmerizing as the oats. They went on a nice hike with Charlie and Shane, and they saw thundering mountains and forever flowing canyons. They laughed and they cried! Upon returning from their travels, they were granted a tour of the famous Thor Herandyl vessel used for German study abroad high school students! They really enjoyed the tour, and we were even offered apple juice upon arrival. How lovely. Once they said their goodbyes and thank yous, they prepared the Argo of oats to sail the seas for many weeks! We are all excited! Here is to a new adventure, and the oat. Take care.