This picture was taken just after Christmas, me on the left as you face it, and my cousin Shelia Babe in the early 70's with my Mom's new Polaroid Camera. You know, the kind you would take the picture, the camera then spat it out, and one would flip it back and forth until magically, a picture would appear? Yeah, we were fascinated by that.... back then. I'm thinking of this now because I am surrounded by excess. Excess in the way that our family has come so far, I now witness the kids in our family SWAMPED, almost sadly, in a way, with all they may wish for...and more. Don't get me wrong, I am THANKFUL for our collective blessings, and for my family. They are good people and my gosh, we have been blessed. But, at the time this picture was taken, my family lived in a four room house, one room of which, my Dad built onto the front, the one pictured here, the living room. We had no running water. We, my Brother Randy and me, would pack our drinking water from a hand dug spring, (my Dad, indeed dug that very Spring) several 100 ft from the house. We carried the water in the plastic milk jugs we'd save after they were emptied of the intended purpose. We carried our water to wash clothes from a creek to fill the wringer washer my Mom would use to clean our clothes, and then she would hang them out to dry on a line, Winter...and Summer. Life, was not easy, but anything worthwhile, never is.... I reckon. 

Christmas was a wonderful time of year for us though, not because we had so much, but because we appreciated what we had. I remember this very Christmas here, because you see, there is the 'Barbie Beauty Center, proudly displayed behind my Cousin and me that I picked out of a sale flyer of the local toy department. Dad, and Mom would hand the flyers to me and Randy, Robert, and then David was a baby, so..they asked us to circle what we'd like to have, and we would get ONE of those very special wishes. I can see that Bracelet on my wrist, it had big purple stones, and there was a matching necklace. I wore that proudly, felt like...Cleopatra! But, I also see those BIG RED WASHINGTON STATE APPLES that cousin and I have there. Those were Christmas treats! My Dad would go all out on Christmas! He would say "Food is a bargain at any price, just try and live without it". So, at Christmastime, on a Friday evening, Dad and Mom would go shopping together. Then, in they would come, Dad carrying in snow on his shoes and loaded both arms carrying a FULL box of these Apples, they were a sight! You'd pull off the top of the box and be almost... overwhelmed with the scent of the sweet Apples, the first layer carefully covered each in fine tissue paper that proudly heralded *Washington State*! Then, more trips into the snow to the car, yielded not a few, not bags, but a crate each of Tangerines and Oranges! With four rooms, there wasn't much space so the crates sat near the Refrigerator, which wasn't far from our Warm Morning coal and wood stove. The heat from that would warm the fruit so that all during our Christmas break from school, the house smelled like....well, fruit!

 The Christmas pine would come to us in the way of a Cedar tree my Dad would go out himself and cut. Mom would then decorate with those big hot Christmas lights, and the heat from those lights, next to the tree would permeate the house with the scent of Cedar. So, four rooms, four kids, and a Coal Miner Dad and a hardworking Mother (who had the most beautiful hands on a woman I have ever seen), no running water, toilet outdoors, 100+ Chickens, a Dog, and 2 large Hogs, deep Southwest Virginia snows, and where we all pulled our weight EQUALS Christmas memories of a little girl who felt herself to be an ancient Queen, who never failed to remember that her family was THE most important thing we can have in our lives. It's not what we have, it's how we appreciate what we have that matters.

“And yet the animals never gave up hope. More, they never lost, even for an instant, their sense of honour and privilege in being members of Animal Farm. They were still the only farm in the whole county-in all England!-owned and operated by animals. Not one of them, not even the youngest, not even the newcomers who had been brought from farms ten or twenty miles away, ever ceased to marvel at that. And when they heard the gun booming and saw the green flag fluttering at the masthead, their hearts swelled with imperishable pride, and the talk turned always towards the old heroic days, the expulsion of Jones, the writing of the Seven Commandments, the great battles in which the human invaders had been defeated. None of the old dreams had been abandoned. The Republic of the Animals which Major had foretold, when the green fields of England should be untrodden by human feet, was still believed in. Some day it was coming: it might not be soon, it might not be with in the lifetime of any animal now living, but still it was coming. Even the tune of Beasts of England was perhaps hummed secretly here and there: at any rate, it was a fact that every animal on the farm knew it, though no one would have dared to sing it aloud. It might be that their lives were hard and that not all of their hopes had been fulfilled; but they were conscious that they were not as other animals. If they went hungry, it was not from feeding tyrannical human beings; if they worked hard, at least they worked for themselves. No creature among them went upon two legs. No creature called any other creature "Master." All animals were equal.”

― George Orwell, Animal Farm

Dancing~

“Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music.” 
― George Carlin

Love~

I put a Fudge Pop in my mouth and it came out a heart! I reckon love IS everywhere~;)

Just living is not enough,” said the butterfly, “one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower”. Hans Christian Anderson

                        Butterflies are self propelled flowers.  ~R.H. Heinlein

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.---Buddha

Kale Chips~

I had heard of 'Kale Chips' and in my quest to become healthier, eat healthier and LIVE healthier, I am continually searching for better alternatives to the over processed, over salted and just plain overdone foods that are being pushed in our direction daily. Here's today's "Something New:

I began by searching for the best kale I could find. Luckily, we have an Oasis World Market that carries unique and fresh produce that had a fresh batch in stock~

Simply beautiful, healthy green leaves! Washed them well and placed them out on paper towels to dry-

I tore the leaves into bite size pieces and coated the leaves lightly in the olive oil.

I had received a bottle of  good Organic Sabtino Olive Oil (infused with natural white Truffle Flavour) as a Christmas gift, and I just had to try a bit on half of the beautiful leaves! Delish!

*I also used a good extra virgin olive oil as well on the other half bag. They were yummy as well~

* Note: I used about a tablespoon of good olive oil and salted them just a bit, tossed and placed in a single layer onto parchment paper. I baked them at 250 for about 20 mins, keeping a closed eye so they don't overcook. Turn them half way through cooking time just once-

The baked product:

Lunchtime sandwich side instead of greasy chips....Enjoy!

*Some nutritional information from "MyFitnessPal" :  1 cup, Calories: 43. Fat: 1.3g, Carbs: 7.3 g, Protein: 2.5g. 


*Oven Roasting doesn't affect the level of Vit. K contained in the Kale, and even though some of the beta carotene and Vit. C are baked away in the roasting process, they still retain some of these nutrients! 

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Bridget Cruise (ocarina)

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world.--Jack Layton

Edgar, the Iguana~

Edgar came to me by way of my Brother Dave. While working with a guy who owned Edgar, my Brother was invited to his house. This guy thought it amusing to pick Edgar up by one long toe on his right hind foot and allow him to flail about confused. My Brother was sickened by this and called to ask me if he could manage to get this Lizard would I be willing to take him? Sure, I said, thinking there would be no way, but.... okay~

Dave managed to trade a pack of cigarettes for Edgar and on a Saturday brought him out to me. Edgar was covered in mites, living in a small glass aquarium, had a hind mid-toe dangling and had swollen joints. He was malnourished  and lethargic. For weeks I force fed him water through a syringe with a long slender tube attachment, meal worms covered in calcium powder, dried and fresh fruit and diluted non-acidic fruit juice. I bought the best UV lamp I could find and would take him in his much larger enclosure outdoors. He swam in the bathtub, and in the beginning was so weak that he allowed me to give him several good gentle scrubs.

I took him to our local Reptile Vet who placed Edgar on an anti-inflammatory for his swollen joints. He felt the toe issue had set up arthritis, and it had spread up his right let to his knee to his right hip and across to his left hip joint. He looked like he might always have this affliction for a time.  He also gave medication to treat the mite infestation and wanted to amputate that toe but I felt that Edgar had been stressed enough and I decided against it until I felt he was stronger, that is.....if he would live to get stronger.  I continued to feed, medicate and get him in the water, and outdoors as much as possible. He stayed under the UV lamp otherwise for about 12hours a day. He had a 12/12 cycle.




He doesn't care for people, and I don't blame him. He had been traumatized early on and unfortunately, has never gotten over that. However, he bonds easily with other species, as he and my Uromastyx, Dandylion became best friends.


Click here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=101833299845763&set=a.101706956525064.3977.100000572815194&type=3&theater


I have had Edgar now for near 8 years and other than his distaste for we humans, he is doing well. I let him have his space, he watches me cautiously.

                                             Edgar, the Iguana~

“Of all the creatures, man is the most detestable. Of the entire brood, he's the one that possesses malice. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.”--Mark Twain

I have many critters and can say that I have learned much about dignity, strength and courage from each of them. How fortunate I have been to be graced by their presence.

If you get simple beauty and nought else,

You get about the best thing God invents.

ROBERT BROWNING, Fra Lippo Lippi

Something New~

So, while at World Market in our small town  I came across Lotus Root! I am trying everyday to learn something new, or try something new. Today this would be my "something new." I began by washing, peeling and then slicing the root into about 1/8 in thick chips.

After slicing and an initial rinse, I set the root slices in a bowl of cool water, and a splash of  lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Full of fiber and other nutrients, the best way to think of the consistency is like that of a Potato.

Lotus root (renkon in Japanese) is  a popular vegetable throughout southern and eastern Asia. Having a bitter taste, it should not be eaten raw. Most of the bitter taste is in the skin so peeling the root and cooking it will fix this issue. 


*It is said that young Lotus Root may be eaten raw.

Lotus Root may be prepared in many ways like stir fry, cut up in stews or soups and even (when slightly cooked) as a salad topper!

 I prepared mine as chips. After soaking in lemon juice and water for this recipe, I set the oven to 450 degrees and put on a pot of water to boil. When the water had boiled, I cut the heat off and added some salt to the pot. I dropped the root discs into the water and let them stand for about 3-4 mins.  I then took the discs out and placed them between paper towels. I lightly coated a non stick pan with olive oil and coated each side of the root slices with the oil.  I then coated the slices on both sides with a mixture of salt and cayenne pepper. Spread them on the baking sheet and bake for 20-22 mins. I turned them once half way while baking.

The best ones are crisp around the edges and slightly chewy in the center, be careful not to over bake.  Enjoy in place of regular chips!

My Father~

The most difficult thing I have ever had to do was to give up my Father, when he passed, almost two years ago. He had been ill from Black Lung Disease and Heart Disease for several years. I had witnessed that no matter what physical episode would take him to the Hospital, he'd always come home, had mended well, and continued to live. So, even though a Nurse, I was surprised when on his last Hospitalization, the Doctor  would say that there was nothing they could do for him, and then suggested Hospice. A difficult diagnosis, as I felt my Dad still had so much living to do! Not fair, because much of his life had been a struggle.


When he was just around 5 years, his Mother was diagnosed with Tuberculosis. His Father, an alcoholic, was not ready to rear the family alone. When his Mother was in the Hospital and on my father's visit to see her, she had told him "Open up that drawer." He did what she'd asked and found what seemed to him a lot of money, but he admitted that as a child, what looked like a lot of money, was actually scattered  loose change. She told him to take some money for candy. That was the last memory he had of her. He was relocated to an area of Kentucky, to live temporarily with an Aunt until his Father could figure what to do with all the children. My Father met my Mother during this time, she from a good hard working family that would provide sandwiches to my Dad and his Sisters, as they walked past their home from school. My Dad would go down the road to where my Mother lived, and 'mess up her playhouse.' She would throw rocks and chase him away. He would laugh and say "One day you will marry me." She would declare "Never!" He was moved again, to another location in Kentucky, after his Father met and married again. My Father felt he had to quit school in the 6th grade as he said that he would have to beg paper and pencil from other students most days. The teacher would send him from desk to desk to ask each student "May I have a piece of paper?" He often said how embarrassing this was to him, and to watch his Sisters have to do without "things that girls need."  There were times he was hungry, stealing apples and food from neighboring gardens, he would later admit.


Back in the day, coal trucks would travel the dirt roads to the head of 'hollers' to the mines, and coal would spill from the sides of these trucks. My Dad would go out and collect the coal in a feed sack, cart it home on his back, to keep his Step-mother and siblings warm. This earned him the name "Coal drag" from the men who would see him pass by the local store. He hated that name.

When about the age of sixteen, his Father got him a job in the Coal Mines of Kentucky. My Father would work extra hard to load coal with a number 10 coal shovel, lying on his side in  inches of coal, when he found out that he'd be paid by the number of cars he'd fill in a day. The light he had was carbide, he'd eat his lunch lying on his side, in the mines. His Father for several weeks, would make it outside the mines, pick up his own pay and my Father's pay as well. He would spend the money on drinking binges, and women. It didn't take long for my Dad to find his backbone and tell the mine owner, to not give his pay to his father. My Dad soon learned to take his pay and spend it in groceries, and supplies his Step-Mother, step-brother and sisters needed. His Father would become verbally abusive if he thought my Dad had any money. My Dad, for the better part of two years became the supporter of the Family. 




One Saturday, while in town, my Dad ran across my Mother's brother. He struck up a conversation, played some pool and told my Uncle that to tell 'Della, I'll be over to see her next weekend." Mom was not excited to hear the news as she could only imagine the  dirty, mean boy of her childhood. Though, she admitted, she was 'curious.' Sure enough, some weeks later he visited and she was smitten, and they were married within the year.

Dad and Mom worked hard to raise five children. Dad a life long Coal Miner, and Mom a Housewife. They worked long into the night to can berries for Jam and Jellies. We'd pick these berries on weekend afternoons in the Mountains where I was raised. Garden work was a normal part of our  chores, as was collecting water from Dad's hand dug Spring, and sometimes feeding the Hogs and Chickens before school. Those were good times though, as I learned  so much about surviving on the minimum and being happy just where you find yourself. Simple, clean living. 


Dad taught himself to read and understand the Bible. He became a Minister. He lived his life a kind Man in spite of the harsh way in which he was raised. He became a great Father out of instinct. 

Dad saved me from a snake bite, as I stumbled in somewhere around the age of 4 telling he and Mom that 'a snake bit me here' pointing to my left thigh. Dad crisscrossed the area with his pocket knife, and sucked the poison out before rushing me to the Doctor. He would shake the rain from the antenna and line, when the TV picture was all snowy with static during my favorite shows. We only received one channel, NBC,  but it was all I needed....then. I was a dirty little barefooted girl, sitting on the floor on Sunday evenings, watching 'Wonderful World of Disney' while eating buttered garden fresh, hickory king corn.  I watched the Porter Wagoner Show on Saturday evening, and Hee Haw on Saturday night!  That was the life! 








Dad was a good friend. Back in the 'hollers' people actually dig graves for their loved ones who pass. Poor people, who own property, who want their loved ones near and not in some far away grave yard. The funeral home would the deliver the body once the grave had been approved. I have seen my Dad out long after dark, and after a hard days work in the mines, helping dig a grave for a neighbor. I have seen him walk home in the deepest part of winter, wet from mining water and his clothes frozen so his pants would stand on their own. I never heard him say "I don't want to work tomorrow." He may have, but I never heard those words. He would bring Dynamite, caps and wire, home from the mines, in his dinner bucket, to blow out abandoned coal banks to collect coal for winter. He and my Brother's would spend an occasional Saturday afternoon doing just this! We had no money to spend to have coal delivered. Dad had spent his life working most all the mines in those mountains, he knew where they were. No one could make this up. This was living. This was surviving.

Stories, memories, words, living. All stored in my mind. I have lived a lifetime. Gifted a wonderful Father, a wonderful family. I was with him when he passed. My Sister-in-law and I sat at his bedside. The rest of the Family was scattered about the house. She and I were verbally reliving his life. Talking to each other about his experiences, his life. Too many to recount here. He was asleep, I thought. He turned his head towards me, as I sat in a chair at the head of the bed. A single tear was in the inner corner of his left eye. I wiped it away and asked "Hey Dad, you awake? What's this tear about?"  He let out a long breath, and was gone.

I wish he could have traveled to those places he dreamed of like North and South Dakota, Montana and Arizona.  He loved Westerns, Louis L'Amour was a favorite. 




How do we give credit to those who live, but not long enough? But, I am his Daughter, I doubt I would have ever been ready to let him go.   I could go on and on. The memories, the smiles flood like rushing water in my mind. I am thankful for those memories, I am thankful to have had the gift that was my Father.

Discovering Useppa Island~

Leaving  Sanibel Island by boat and heading out across the water to the Island of Useppa. I was amazed at how quiet everything was without the sound of cars and motors, as there are none on this Island.

Flowers gloriously flourished in every direction under the tropical Sun~

Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Meandering along 'the pink path' this view is constant on my right~

Banyan tree archway over 'the pink path'-

                                         Veitchia merrillii: The Christmas Tree Palm

"A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said 'What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.' The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, 'What is the turtle standing on' 'You're very clever, young man, very clever,' said the little old lady. 'But it's turtles all the way down.'"---Stephen Hawking

Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do. -Michel de Montaigne

 

The Sleep Song: Mariee Sioux

Beauty~

                                "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," - that is all 
                                 Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.---John Keats