What A Gorgeous Day! A Few Other Thoughts.

Monday, September 22, 2014.

This morning the sky was so blue!  It was such a lovely azure color of the whole sky, with not a cloud in sight; my oh my, how beautiful. 

This afternoon I went to see what the Mailman left, and there were about eight or nine fluffy little white clouds scattered all over that astonishing azure sky. The Mailman did not leave those clouds, they just came to see what he was putting in everyone's mailbox. 

Late this afternoon, I went out to check on my big azure sky ~ the western sky was a lighter color, and the clouds were all gone. The outdoor temperature is seventy-seven degrees.  

The announcer on the radio just said that Autumn is going to Fall this evening at approximately 9:29 p.m. I had been wondering exactly when Autumn WOULD Fall. 

I've been getting quite tired recently, and have taken a nap a few times this past week. This afternoon I lay down for a little while, and it turned out to be about forty minutes. I'm happy that my six-month check-up at my family physician will take place on Wednesday. I would like to know what is going on with this 'sixty-six-year-old' body! 

I am going to wash the dishes now, and settle in for a more relaxed evening.  

Last evening I watched Miss Marple in A/The Caribbean Mystery, and it was quite interesting and enjoyable. When I was in my twenties, I read many of Agatha Christie mysteries, enjoyed them very much! I was on a binge for mystery novels. Miss Marple was a  character in Christie's mysteries.  

When I went to a rural school for fifth and sixth grades, I would go to the little-town little-library to borrow and read all the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales, and Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales. Now, that  was a binge, too! Before that, in earlier grades at a school, I read all the Bobbsey Twins books!  

Some of Hans Christian Andersen's quotes: 

Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale.

Where words fail, music speaks. 

That's the nice thing about the world, my friend: People.

No one's ever really alone. 

Just living is not enough ... One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

(Thank you very much, Hans!) 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

Rain and Thunder Are Forecast; A Few Other Items.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014.
Raina and Thunder Are Forecast; A Few Other Items.

Good evening, my darlings! I hope all is well with you! 

The forecast for the next day or two is for rain, possibly thunderstorms. There were storms over Arkansas but they seemed to lose their strength. 

I am so happy that the hurricane in part of Arizona has moved away a little. Some of our family lives there. I hope the storm dissipates!

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Esther and Nathaniel are supposed to fly home to Denver tomorrow. May you have a very safe flight, Esther! Our prayers are with you, and I am so happy that you and Nathaniel could visit Grandma Marion and Grandpa. I hope you have been taking photos of the four generations while you are there, too, don't forget !!!

Also, a grandchild is leaving NYC tomorrow, to fly to the Mideast: may you have a very safe journey, a happy couple of months there, and then the flight back home. Our prayers are with you! 

First Lady Michele came to visit St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis late this afternoon -- her flight was delayed, so she was a little late.  

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I was thinking today of how I enjoyed attending games, performances, and many different similar events, to see my grandchildren playing in sports, running, singing, playing instruments, performing on school stages, and more. This makes grandparents so happy. And, of course, I think of how I attended so many similar doings at our children's school. It was very often that I went to BRCS to see many of these happenings. I felt so relaxed at that school! Seeing your kids or your grandkids doing all those activities makes anyone so proud and happy about their offspring. 

I went to evening adult classes at BRCS, to learn how to paint. I think it was about 1966. That was such a joy! 

I also remember that I learned some Hispanic / Spanish from a female student from Mexico, in a daytime class. It was so enjoyable for me to learn! 

In later years, I went to Scranton University to learn about linguistics, and then happily took a semester of Spanish I. 

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I've touched on several subjects, didn't I? I'll talk about one more. There was in the fridge, less than a pint of broth, and I decided to make a little soup a couple of hours ago. I cut part of a carrot into strips, 1/3 cup of fresh tomato, cut up some of those tasty, very small, sweet peppers (about five or six of them), added some seasonings; simmered it for a while, then added 1/3 cup of cooked chicken breast, heated the soup for a few more minutes. It was time to taste it. Oh, it's so delicious! I'll enjoy the soup later this week.  

Have a restful night's sleep! 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

One of My Drawings; Rainless THUNDER.

September 6, 2014.

One of My Drawings; Rainless THUNDER.

And a few more items: Chore Guy; West Nile Fever deaths; new cookies; trying to listen to radio Garrison Keillor and TV Lawrence Welk at the same time. 

Hi, dearest ones! I hope all of you are having a very nice weekend!  

I was browsing in one of my journal notebooks in the last several minutes, and came across this short paragraph: 

[ I drew four similar pictures of “The yellow-throated loop-the-loop telling his pachyderm friend MakOOMba all about his flight to Sardinia the past summer.” It is cute – for the children. ]     

I have a question: WHICH FOUR CHILDREN RECEIVED THESE PICTURES? I would really love to see those four works I drew and colored. In the journal just a couple of days before, there was a sentence saying that when we (Gram B and I) had gone to a drugstore to pick up her medication, I bought some crayons to use in my drawing something for my grandchildren. This took place in the middle of February, 1993. I was staying with Gram B because of her chemotherapy and her being so sick. 

Rainless THUNDER: This is some story! The sun was shining, I was in the kitchen and the blinds were closed because of such heat outdoors. I almost never open the blinds because I cannot see much anyway. I heard a noise like someone throwing lumber into a pick-up truck. It was very sunny and bright when I glanced at the window. I kept hearing the lumber being thrown every few seconds, for about five times, and wondered who is loading lumber in the neighborhood, and how much lumber.   

I continued what I was doing, and then I heard in the distance, a soft rolling thunder. I quickly went to the back window, and was really shocked to see a very dark area on the horizon to the east. "Oooh," I thought, "that looks like a bad storm." But then I realized that the lumber-throwing sound was very close claps of thunder right over the neighbor's house.  They didn't sound like thunder, but WERE! 

Within seconds, more thunder was rolling in, closer and closer. As I looked out toward the north, it was quite dark and looked rainy. It is forecast that we have thunderstorms and rain before one a.m. tonight.  

Right now I am listening to the radio and the TV, Garrison Keillor and Lawrence Welk. Why don't these media people ask me what time they should put the programs on?  

There have been two deaths in Mississippi from the West Nile virus. Mosquitoes are apparently quite dangerous. Some computer research will tell you about how to avoid them. Some mosquitoes like certain colors, certain odors and fragrances, and there are some things that they don't like.  

One of the Chore Guys in my family lives not too far from me. A family is quite lucky to have fix-it people in their families. All four sons are 'fix-it people' and got it from their Dad. I am so grateful that my Chore Guy fixed some things this morning, like the kitchen faucet, and the mailbox. The mailbox had been "in an accident" when someone was texting as he/she passed by our place, and knocked the mailbox down. There was quite some damage to it, but of course the mystery person didn't notify us that it was his/her fault. We had it repaired by an outsider, once, and the fix-it person repaired it a couple of months after that. Today he came to do some other repairs to make the little door stay in place.  

I like very much to concoct recipes for some foods that I eat, like soup, and cookies. Do you ever do this? New cookies are great! "Try it, you'll like it!", as they say in some advertisements. 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ... 

Farmers Markets; Bill Stanek Singing Food Songs; Children's Songs.

For Saturday, August 30, 2014.

Farmers Markets; Bill Stanek Singing Food Songs; Children's Songs.

The Memphis Farmers Market has many vendors selling their farm produce. There are also vendors of  breads of many kinds, homemade candles and soap, many pretty flowers, herb seasonings and tea blends, handmade metal decorative items; the list is very long, and it seems that more and more people are using Farmers Markets to shop.

Many of the Farmers Markets also invite singers and songwriters, and musicians, to come to entertain the shoppers while they look over the items they wish to buy. I went with my son at a very early hour as he had two Farmers Markets at which to perform.

After his show, we suddenly 'bumped into' a young dear friend, and we talked for at least an hour to catch up on news. How wonderful it was to see her again. Then on we went to Cooper-Young Farmers Market, hoping the rain would wait until the afternoon.

Bill began to sing again, at eleven o'clock and sang some 'foodie' songs: "My Lover Loves Liver", "Vicky the Vicious Vegan", a Vegetable Alphabet Song, and several more. He has written many songs about various subjects.

There were children passing by with their parents, so he would sing a children's song for them. He sang "Picking Blueberries" that is loved by all kids and many grown-ups.

Another much-loved number is "The Spider Song", and almost everyone loves that one. There were some more children around, and they really had some happy moments listening to the words, also some scary moments when the spider is getting closer and closer to Mommy!

Three happy Hispanic children liked his singing so much, they joined in on the chorus of a song about school, I think it is "School Day Blues"or something similar. Their joining in was quite delightful.

The rain did come down from time to time, and as the closing time was approaching, the vendors began to dismantle their tents and take equipment to their vehicles. It does take a lot of time to set up, and much time, too, to break it all down. And then, the rain! It came down in imaginary buckets!

It's so pleasant to go to a Farmers Market. Have you tried it recently? Besides having so much produce to choose, it is quite interesting to see the people and some of their families and pets. I enjoy seeing people and I adore children. I do get a kick out of watching the doggies when they encounter certain of their species. The dogs are always leashed, so if one decides to mess with another, the owners pull them back; the negative feelings don't happen very often. A few of the vendors also have a bowl of water on the ground so that thirsty pets may have a drink! How thoughtful...


I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

At the Stove All Day! A Short Power Nap?

Saturday, August 16, 2014.

At the Stove All Day! A Short  Power Nap?

My family wonders how I am if I don't email every day or so, and to let them know that I am all right, I usually send emails of all kinds. This blog article is one of those family emails (this one I wrote on August 13, after shopping at the Mennonite Farms on the visit to my sister in Kentucky).

" Good Evening, my dears,

After buying so much produce at the Mennonite Farms and Variety Store, I am trying to prepare some of them for freezing and cooking for myself. The bags of popcorn kernels, I put in smaller containers, for the pantry. The large oval watermelon was a great challenge to me, still is, the remains are in the fridge. 

I cut into it yesterday morning (I think it was yesterday), and I've been eating it a few times each day. I put some cut-up pieces in a container in the fridge, and tested another small amount in the freezer! Yes, it is all right to freeze pieces of it, I am glad to say. There are two containers of watermelon in the freezer now, for future use.  

Probably four pounds of those very small sweet peppers has been washed today, de-stemmed and the seeds taken out, and I cut up two-thirds of the little peppers into small strips. I put much of that in the freezer, and used some today in making a Pinto Bean Stew. You should taste this stew! Very delicious, and hearty, and wholesome. I soaked the pinto beans overnight and simmered them around noontime. After that, I sauteed onions, a tomato, and the pepper strips, several seasonings, then added the soft pinto beans and cooked it for about an hour. It is something I 'invented', 'concocted', 'designed', and then called it my own recipe. Lately I've been on a binge of concocting my own recipes when I cook my meals. I might have to make a little cookbook ~ wouldn't that be a good idea?

I became so tired doing all of this until three o'clock, that I decided I must lie down to rest. (I had taken an hour to relax, while still puttering in the kitchen, to sit down now and then in front of the TV at noon-ish for two cooking programs.) I did lie down about 3:15, for a short little Power Nap. Again, this idea surprised me so much as I woke up at 4:40! Then I did up the dishes, had my dinner, and I QUIT for the evening! But I must say that it was a very successful day in the kitchen at the stove.

I've been thinking of you all day long and wish I could go to see you 'just down the street'!   


Love, Mom. " 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

Shopping at the Mennonite Farms on A Visit with My Sister.

Published on August 15, 2014. 

I was so excited to be able to go to the Mennonite Farms, when I went to visit my sister in Kentucky. She took me to a few Farms where she buys produce. We went to four farms! It took a lot of time, naturally, and I got tired - not sadly tired, but gladly tired!! The fourth place we went to was the Mennonite Variety Store that has some vitamins and salves, and other medicinal things on the shelves. They also have dried fruits, nuts, and several different kinds of flours. I'm 'Spilling All the Beans!' because I just love to buy produce at the Mennonite Farms. 

We had many bags and boxes of purchased things in the farm produce places, Regina helping me to decide, and carrying them to the check-out counter and then to the SUV. Bags, too, from the Variety Store, like dried fruits, nuts, flours, and vitamins. 

I still haven't added up the check amounts yet, I don't want to 'get sick' until I get over the excitement of working at my place with produce here in the kitchen. I worked most of the day with these things. There are still items I probably will get done tomorrow and the day after.

I even bought a large oval watermelon! HEAVY! Son Bill had to carry it in from the car to the  counter in my kitchen, because it wouldn't have been a good idea for me to carry it! The last thing I did before I stopped 'puttering' in the kitchen, was that I cut the watermelon on one end, and have about a quart or more of watermelon pieces in a baggie in the fridge. Delicious, is what I say! I might eat some more later on this evening. I love that watermelon, and I am glad I bought a large one!

I purchased a half dozen corn-on-the-cob, microwaved four of them in the current fashion, and cut off all the kernels. I put the corn in four sandwich baggies, and they are sitting in the freezer, probably saying to each other, "Jeepers, I'm cold!"       Hahahahaha!

There are two red onions, several white onions, green beans, yellow squash, one zucchini, about a pound of small red beets, three banana peppers, corn on the cob, three large peaches, three tomatoes, watermelon, a cabbage, a couple of pounds of sweet peppers the size of golf balls. These peppers will be cut up and cleaned out, and diced, then put in baggies in the freezer.

From the Variety Store, I bought two bags of popcorn kernels (pale yellow, and the other light orange), buckwheat flour (because I am gluten sensitive), GF Bob's Red Mill baking flour, dried fruits: cranberries, raisins, dates, prunes; nuts: cashews, walnuts, almonds; Vitamin B-12, Vitamin D3, lutein, and magnesium. Four pints of different jams, one quart of raw honey, and one pint of sorghum honey. Oh, almost forgot! A bag of Adzuki beans, and a bag of black beans. I hope I'm not forgetting anything. Regina will tell me if I am, perhaps. 
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Then Regina wanted to go to Kenny's Cheese Farm to buy a few kinds of cheese. I bought Horseradish Cheddar, and haven't opened the sealed cheese yet. I'm looking forward to it, because I love horseradish. Horseradish can be strong, so we have to eat a bit at a time, but it is quite beneficial and nutritious. 

After that we went to a Greek restaurant, Anna's. We had a wonderful, delicious, long lunch. I'm not sure of the exact name of the Greek Restaurant. What a lovely day with my dear sister... ( My visit lasted two nights and one and a half days. I love being with her. )

After we got home to her place, I thought I'd take a short Power Nap on 'my' bed, but do you know what happened? I slept for one hour and fifteen minutes! That means that I MUST have been very tired!! I was very surprised that I slept so long! 

It was a most wonderful trip to the Mennonite Farms! Their gardens are so large and looking so good! It kind of makes me wish I could live on a farm again. My parents moved to a farm when I was nine and a half years old, and I lived there until I was married. I loved the farm! 


I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

Two Month Hiatus; A Few Interesting Items.

July 31, 2014.

June and July were extremely busy and there was very little time for me to write. I apologize for my hiatus.

"A few interesting items"? Hmmmm... we will see.

It began this morning, when I opened the inside garage door, to file a few things in the file cabinets. As I opened the door, just three feet in front of me, on its back, lay a cockroach, about an inch long. I took a tissue out of my pocket, folded it over and laid it on the 'pain-in-the-neck', stepped gingerly on it and then picked the whole thing up and took it out to the trash cart. I didn't even want it in my kitchen wastebasket. That one was No. 2 - the No. 1 was a smaller one, a half inch, that was on the door mat in the garage, on its back, a day or two ago. 

This has been happening now and then for the last one-and-a-half or two years with smaller ones. They don't seem to be too peppy, and they might be allergic to the spray that is used once in a while. The ones I see are not moving. But two different kinds? I wasn't happy about that.  

A couple of hours later, I opened the front door to take a piece of mail out to the mailbox (the door of the mailbox isn't connected again, as the fasteners don't seem to be long enough to keep the little door on). As I was going to step out onto the porch, there right in front of me on the doorstep, was the brother of the morning cockroach. Same position, so I bent down with another tissue and collected him and took him immediately to the trash cart, then went to put the mail in the box. 

I've been wondering if the sudden changes in temperature from hot to much cooler might have something to do with these pests. There are many kinds of these vermin, and the south is well-known for them. 
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A little after noon, I was using the restroom, and as I got up, I tried to take some tissue off the holder -- this brand of TP is a bit too tough to tear -- and almost magically, the holder came off with a little bang, and I cannot put it back on. Maybe the little metal piece on the wall won't hold it anymore. Why were these things happening to me on this wonderful day? 
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About an hour ago, I was feeling peckish and looked for a snack. I thought of the little bit of Feta cheese I had in the freezer. I took it out - it's a little box with a green top, Athenos brand. There was about one-sixth of the cheese left. I thought if I'd shake it a little, it would loosen up. So with one hand I picked it up and shook it very hard in the air, and suddenly I found out that the top can be opened only half-way! (That was a BIG surprise!) There were half-inch pieces and Feta crumbs all over the floor and even a few on the counter! Oh, well, I thought, and swept it up. 
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Something tells me that I should get to bed right now (it's almost five o'clock) and sleep off this craziness. 
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"It is difficult to soar with eagles when you work with turkeys." ~  Anonymous.        
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One last item: I found a note that my Mom had written many years ago. I was delighted, of course. Today I copied that onto Word Document "Recollections of Josephine...": 
" I, Josephine, remember that when I was pregnant with Anna Mae, I ate and longed for little green apples. I also vomited for the nine months, even in labor.
When I was pregnant with Jr. [Joseph, Jr.] I ate the corner of the newspaper.
When I was pregnant with Regina, Dad vomited for the nine months instead of me. "

Were these items interesting? 


You can tell me when I will see you at the Corner Post ...