The Kindness of Strangers....

 

I have heard before, the phrase, "The Kindness of Strangers."  Well, I truly experienced it today. My husband and I drove to town to run some errands. After those were completed, he dropped me off at the Goodwill store to look around and he drove about a mile away to a farm supply store called Bomgaars in our town. It was cold and rainy and a bit windy and he didn't want to come into Goodwill with me, so he went to the other store to window shop. I was supposed to call him on his cell phone when I got done and he would come pick me up.

Well, I ended up not buying anything, and was going to call him to come and get me, but I had left my cell phone in my library bag IN THE CAR. So, I couldn't call him.  And since my phone is way smarter than I am, I couldn't even remember anyone's phone number to come and help me. 

What to do... what to do... I decided to walk to Bomgaar's. Not long after I set off, a very kind woman opened her car window and called out, "Do you want a ride?"  I replied, "Yes!", and she drove me to Bomgaar's I went in and walked the whole store and my husband was not there. I went out into the parking lot and our car was not there either!

What to do... what to do... I decided he probably had gone back to Goodwill to wait for me. Once again, I took off walking and this time was walking down a rather dangerous highway. There are no accomodations for pedestrians there. At one point, I carefully ran across the highway to the other side, and shortly a very kind man came across and asked, "Are you okay?"  So I told him what was going on.  He asked "Can I walk with you?"  and I gratefully agreed. He walked with me all the way back to Goodwill. It was cold, It was windy and misting hard. But I was not alone! He wanted to make sure I got back there safely. Fortunately, my husband was there waiting in the car. He had no idea this had happened and was very sorry. The man who walked with me said I looked "Scared" and I was, a little.  I am 75 years old.

It was not the most pleasant experience, but I will always treasure it because of the two angels who came to my rescue. God bless them, please.

I have heard before, the phrase, "The kindness of I sI have heard before, the phrase, "The kindness of strangers...." Well, I truly experienced it today. My husband and I drove to North Vernon to run some errands. The last thing we were going to do - he dropped me off at the Goodwill store and he was going to go to Bomgaars and I was supposed to call him when I was done. It was cold and rainy outside, and he didn't want to come into Goodwill, so he went to Bomgaars to window shop. I looked around and didn't end up buying anything, so I was going to call him. Oops. I had left my phone in my library bag, IN THE CAR. So, I couldn't call him. What to do... what to do... since my phone is way smarter than I am, I couldn't even remember anyone else's phone number to call to help me. I decided I'd have to walk to Bomgaars, so I started out from Goodwill on foot. Shortly, a very nice woman named Nancy opened her car window and called out, "Do you want a ride?" "Yes!" I said, so she took me to Bomgaars. I walked the whole store and my husband wasn't there, so I went out to the parking lot and our car was not there either. Oh... great... I guess he drove back to Goodwill to wait for me. So... I decided I'd have to walk back to Goodwill. The highway is not exactly pedestrian friendly, but I had no choice. Fortunately, it wasn't raining hard, just misting hard and a bit windy. After a bit I crossed over to the other side of the road and a man came across the road and asked, "Are you okay?" I told him what was going on and he said "Can I walk with you?" And I gratefully accepted his offer. His name was Michael. He walked me all the way back to Goodwill and my husband was there waiting in our car. I am 75 years old. Michael said I looked scared, which I was, a little. It wasn't the most fun experience, but I will always treasure it because of the two angels that helped me today.

trangers...." Well, I truly experienced it today. My husband and I drove to North Vernon to run some errands. The last thing we were going to do - he dropped me off at the Goodwill store and he was going to go to Bomgaars and I was supposed to call him when I was done. It was cold and rainy outside, and he didn't want to come into Goodwill, so he went to Bomgaars to window shop. I looked around and didn't end up buying anything, so I was going to call him. Oops. I had left my phone in my library bag, IN THE CAR. So, I couldn't call him. What to do... what to do... since my phone is way smarter than I am, I couldn't even remember anyone else's phone number to call to help me. I decided I'd have to walk to Bomgaars, so I started out from Goodwill on foot. Shortly, a very nice woman named Nancy opened her car window and called out, "Do you want a ride?" "Yes!" I said, so she took me to Bomgaars. I walked the whole store and my husband wasn't there, so I went out to the parking lot and our car was not there either. Oh... great... I guess he drove back to Goodwill to wait for me. So... I decided I'd have to walk back to Goodwill. The highway is not exactly pedestrian friendly, but I had no choice. Fortunately, it wasn't raining hard, just misting hard and a bit windy. After a bit I crossed over to the other side of the road and a man came across the road and asked, "Are you okay?" I told him what was going on and he said "Can I walk with you?" And I gratefully accepted his offer. His name was Michael. He walked me all the way back to Goodwill and my husband was there waiting in our car. I am 75 years old. Michael said I looked scared, which I was, a little. It wasn't the most fun experience, but I will always treasure it because of the two angels that helped me today.

"Gluten Free" - I thought it was silly, until.... Chapter 1

 

 

I don't know when the current "gluten free" craze began, but for the longest time, I thought it was just another trend that would fizzle out.  Now... I've had to repent of that attitude. I have no idea what portion of the population might be sensitive to gluten. It may be that it's being overdone. Nevertheless, I discovered not long ago, that I am gluten sensitive. For a few years, off and on, I had been having episodes of extreme achiness in my body. It was not sore muscles. It didn't seem to be connected to anything I was or was not doing. It "came to a head" a couple of months ago. I was riding with my husband in his pick-up truck one evening. The pain was exquisite and intense and I was thinking "What is this???  I eat a very clean diet. I go to the gym 3 times a week. My bloodwork came back perfect. I really try hard to take care of myself, so WHAT in the WORLD is going on?"  Then it came to me. "Gluten."  Aha.  Yes.  Perhaps... so I went home and eliminated gluten from my diet. Within 2 days, all of that pain was gone. And it has stayed gone. I have been experimenting with making long fermented sourdough bread, and the jury is still out on that. 

I'd like to share with you some of the things that I've been cooking and eating instead of the grains that have gluten in them.  The first chapter is - 

CORNBREAD MUFFINS

1 cup cornmeal (I use the freshly ground from what we grow in our garden)

1 cup almond flour

3/4  teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

5 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed (I grind mine fresh and keep it in the fridge. I use a little electric coffee grinder) - this is the egg substiture

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (oil substitute)

1 cup soy milk 

Mix the dry ingredients

Mix the wet ingredients

Combine well

This will make 12 muffins. Bake at 425 F. for about 15 minutes.  Check to see if they are done by tapping the top to make sure there's no liquidy stuff in the middle. I use pan spray on my muffin tin. This is one of two times I ever use oil  in cooking anymore!  The other is when I make Belgian waffles.  I spray a little on the waffle iron. If you have the little paper liners, you could use those.

My favorite way to eat these is with Navy Bean soup. OH... that's heavenly!  Sometimes I put a little honey on a muffin. These keep well in the refrigerator for a few days. My husband likes to break the muffins up into his soup. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Here in the United States of America, on the 4th Thursday of November each year we celebrate "Thanksgiving Day."  It is a time when families and friends gather together and share a special feast and thank God for our blessings. The last time our whole family was together for Thanksgiving was in 1991.  Then our children started growing up and leaving home.  Today, partially because of the worldwide pandemic, my husband and I celebrated Thanksgiving with each other.  We had a lovely time.  

In May of this year, we began eating a "whole foods plant based" diet.  Essentially, that is a vegan diet, but with important conditions.  We eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds and legumes.  We don't use any added oils or fats.  We don't eat any meat, poultry or fish and we use no dairy or eggs. We avoid most processed foods.  I do buy whole grain pasta and certain condiments, but nothing with added fats. I make my own oat milk and it is very economical.  It's not something we really drink, but we use it on porridge and in cooking.

We started this after watching this movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1LUj3kxB9M&list=PLvFgN9QYT1HtoYPfyIEn8aiuLL3KjCM8o

My husband has heart disease, and his cholesterol level has always been very high.  Mine was high, also, but not like his.  Since changing what we eat, our cholesterol levels are normal. I know it will take time for the full benefits to happen to us, but very quickly we noticed improvement.  Here is a list of what I've noticed for myself.  

1. Within two days I had a lot more energy.  I could go out and work in the garden for hours.... work hard and never become tired.  Sometimes I got tired of being hot and would come inside for a while, but I was not fatigued. Keep in mind that I am nearly 72 years old.

2.  I was able to stop taking the things I was using for hot flashes and my hot flashes are not nearly as bad as they were.

3. My varicose veins have improved and the spider veins on my legs are nearly gone.

4. Last year I was diagnosed with "macular puckering" which caused some blurring of my vision.  That is entirely gone.  I can thread a needle now with no trouble.

5. I rarely feel hungry and there are no cravings at all.  I do not miss the foods I quit eating. I remember that after two weeks, my husband said,"I don't crave chocolate anymore."  I was astounded!  He has always craved chocolate.

6. I can eat all I want and my weight stays normal.

7. I work out with weights some in our garage.  I used to do 3 sets of 5 reps squatting with 90 pounds.  Now I just go ahead and do 20 reps in one set.  It became that much easier. I've also begun a little jogging.  My husband and I walk 3 miles nearly every morning together and now I can do some jogging.  I hope I can increase that.  I have not done any running in decades.

8. My hair and nails are growing faster.

9.  I got to buy some new cookbooks!  

Here is a picture of me and our little Thanksgiving meal that we had today.  I was very proud of myself.  It was all delicious.  It's been quite a "learning curve" to get into this, but if you have health issues, or want to do all you can to avoid (or cure) heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and many cancers, you can eat very simply and be perfectly healthy this way.  In fact, you could live on sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli and be fine for a long time.  I recommend this book as a wonderful place to begin:  https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=the+starch+solution+by+dr+mcdougall+paperback&crid=136SVW9HL1NAL&sprefix=the+startch+solutio%2Caps%2C568&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_1_19

Happy Thanksgiving!

And here's one of the pier at Juno Beach.

I took a short vacation...

I was able to visit our son and his family in Florida the last few days.  He and I went out to Juno Beach two mornings ago to watch the sunrise.  Here is a picture I took out there.

A Very Rainy Year... 2019

In case you are wondering why I've not been sharing any garden pictures this year, I thought I would mention that we have had so much rain that our garden is ruined, for the most part.  I am getting little bits of things... kale, a few carrots, and am still hoping the sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes will give us something, but other than that, we've pretty well given up.

On a happier note, and for your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of our 4-year-old grandson at the airport.  :)

And now I can make a case for always canning and/or freezing more than you need, if you have the storage space.  I cleaned and reorganized the canning shelves yesterday, and can see that in fact, I really don't need to can anything this year.  I did do some baked beans and some store-bought cabbage recently. I have plenty of everything else.  I'm amazed and grateful.

I hope that if you grow food, your weather has been better!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Me and my Siamese cat, Ralph.  :)

Do you remember that baby boy that was born on Easter 4 years ago?

Well, here he is at the airport recently.  He is our grandson.  He and his mom and my husband and I all took a trip together. He was so good.  Bless his little heart.

Good old soap and water...

Go into any variety store or grocery store and you will find a bewildering array of products for cleaning your home.  Look around online and you will find many companies eager and willing to sell not only the typical cleaning products, but "natural and safe" products as well, all at an inflated price.

Being a confirmed penny pincer, I am generally skeptical of most of these items.  Not only are they expensive, but in general, most of them are not needed at all.  Let me tell you what I use to clean and disinfect with.

For general cleaning, I use plain bar soap, a wash rag and water.  If something needs to be disinfected, just get an opaque spray bottle and fill it with Hydrogen Peroxide which is very inexpensive.

If something is exceedingly greasy, I might add a little ammonia to the washing water and wear vinyl gloves when using that.

To clean windows and mirrors, here is the recipe I use.  If the windows are actually dirty, I first wash them off with the soap and water and wash rag.  Then, I spray on a small amount of this solution and dry it with a sheet of crumbled newspaper:

Window cleaning solution - to fill a 32 ounce bottle -

Mix together 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol, 1/3 cup vinegar, and add enough water to fill the spray bottle.  Shake it up a bit.  If your water is VERY hard, you might want to try distilled water, but I have never found that to be necessary.

To clean the bathtub, I rub a bar of soap onto a wet nylon scrubbing pad like these:

then I just scrub away and rinse!  There is No Need to use chemical things that can poison you and the environment. If you clean often enough, the job is very easy.  I do ours at least once a week.  If you have a larger family (there are only 2 of us) you might need to clean your bathtub a bit more often.

If I need a "scouring" powder, I just use plain baking soda.

So... my cleaning "products" are....water, plain bar soap, baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and rubbing alcohol.

If I could only have ONE of these, it would be the soap, water and a wash cloth.  

How did we ever get convinced that we need to buy (and fill our closets with) all that stuff?

From my walk this morning....

A little more weaving...

Once a month, I attend a very special hand-spinning group.  I had purchased some alpaca fiber from the friend who hosts our group and decided I wanted to make a little something for each of the women there.  So....  I spun some nice soft two-ply yarn and wove a little bookmark for each of them.  I happened to have some of my weaving labels left, so sewed one on the back of each.  Just a little remembrance.  I am the oldest person in the group, so maybe this will be something for them to remember me by.

Pageviews all time history 500,322

I have to say, I am humbled this morning as I have discovered this blog has topped half a million page views since I started it in December of 2009.  I had NO idea how fun this would be and how many people I would be able to help out with simple recipes and ideas.  THANK YOU - all of you - my "Gentle Readers."

Remember our grandson born on Easter last year?

Here we are.  :)

"Tuna Noodle Stuff" - from scratch...

Back in 1976, my husband was teaching middle school earth science in Aurora, Nebraska.  Pay for teachers was not stellar at the time and money was tight.  We had 3 small children.  We realized one day that we had all but run out of money for food, and it would be two weeks before we could buy groceries again, so we sat down and "put our heads together" to figure out what to do.  We did have items for breakfast and lunches, but nothing for suppers.  With the amount of money we had left, we figured out that we could buy enough ingredients to make "Tuna Noodle Stuff" (as we call it) every evening for those two weeks.  So, that's what we did.  We bought egg noodles, cans of tuna and cans of condensed mushroom soup.  Fortunately, we really like Tuna Noodle Stuff.  :)

Fast forward 40 years.  I was trying to decide what to cook today and feeling a little fuzzy in the head.  In the front of my recipe box I have a list of meals that my husband likes, so I got it out and noticed Tuna Noodle Stuff.  Yes!!!  That's what I'll make!  But I made it from scratch.  Here is what I did, with the recipes involved.

First I made egg noodles and boiled them for 5 minutes.

Here are the noodles:

Here they are boiling:

Then, I made homemade cream of mushroom soup:

And combined the cooked noodles with the soup and drained canned tuna:

It is very good.  Here are the recipes:

Cream of Mushroom soup

8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced thinly

3 Tablespoons butter

1/4 cup corn starch

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1/3 teaspoon sea salt

Melt the butter and saute the sliced mushrooms until they are soft.  Combine the milk and corn starch in a jar and shake it all up well together.  Add the milk mixture to the sauteed mushrooms, and stir constantly until it is all nice and thick.  Then add the salt and stir.  Remove from heat.

Egg Noodles

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon sea salt

unbleached white flour

Using a fork, stir the salt into the eggs and then, a little at a time, add flour until the dough is not stiff, but firm.  Knead on a floured surface until smooth.  Divide in half and, using plenty of flour, roll the dough out as thinly as you can and then, using a pizza cutter, cut it into strips.  Then do the other half of the dough.

Drop noodles into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.  Then drain in a colander.  Add the noodles to the soup, add 2 cans of drained tuna, and stir well.  Serve!

By the way, you can add more milk to the soup if you want to eat it as soup.

February 10, 2016... musings on a cold winter day...

Several days ago, we went to a home improvement store to pick up some needed items, and they had a fairly large display of orchids for $5.00 each!  I have longed for an orchid for a number of years, but was simply too stingy to pay the price.  Now I have one!  I hope it survives.  My Garden Fairy has always had success with orchids, and perhaps with her coaching me....

As you can see, we've had a bit of snow and today, right now, it is 17 degrees F. here.  I have seen it much colder than this (-28 degrees F one time), but this is cold enough!

Have you seen on the internet how people regrow celery and such by saving the bottom part of the plant?  I've done that, and actually planted the celery in my vegetable garden with some success.  Right now, I have 4 different vegetables growing that way on our kitchen windowsill.

Here is some Red Leaf Lettuce:

And a "red" cabbage:

Bok Choy:

And lastly, iceberg lettuce!

They add a cheery sight to the wintry landscape for me.  We will eat the little nibbles they are growing.

So far, this winter, I've had 10 different varieties of wild birds visit my bird-feeding station.  Here is the list: 

Black Capped Chickadee

Nut Hatch

Tufted Titmouse

Junco

Cardinals

Sparrow

House Finch

House Wren

Brown Thrush

Flicker

The Flicker just showed up this morning and he seems to really favor the new suet crumbles that I made, so I'm glad I made them, even though I only saved 88 cents.  :)

I have two loaves of my Every Day natural yeast bread rising in the pans.  If you come over in maybe 3 hours, I can give you a warm slice with butter.

How does that sound?

2 Tiny Tips - Cabbage and Flexibility...

You know how it is... you buy a cabbage, take it home and keep it in your refrigerator.  Then, you cut off a piece to use in soup or stir-fry.  That's fine, but if you don't get back to use more pretty soon, the cut surface starts to oxidize and look icky.  So, then you slice off a little slice and put it in the compost - an utter waste, really.  Here is what I do: I take leaves off the outside of the head of cabbage and cut those up for whatever I am cooking, then put the cabbage head back in the refrigerator.  This is much nicer.

Now, about the flexibility...  Since we've moved into our trailer, and it is considerably smaller than our old house, I've noticed I have to be more pro-active about getting physical activity.  I do walk in the woods, most days, and in the gardening season I work quite hard.  I hang up laundry when it's warm enough outside, and I clean house, knead bread, etc... but recently I've started doing something else.  For years, when I need to get into a bottom cupboard or shelf, I squat all the way down, and that has made my knees very happy.  I started doing that 16 years ago when my knees started acting up.  Now, when I need to lean over, or reach out or anything (hard to describe) I lean as far as possible and stretch my muscles.  If you think about it as you go about your daily activities, you can work in quite a bit of stretching and your flexibility will improve.  All those little things add up.  I am happy with the results.  Now it's easier for me to do things, and also easier to get up from the floor. Think about the things you do throughout the day.  Make them just a little bit more difficult.  You'll be amazed, after a while.

Christmas from 60 years ago...

60 years ago I was in First Grade.  I made this Santa Claus on "tag board" at school and colored it with Crayola crayons.  My Mommie always tacked it to the trunk of our Christmas tree.  I still have it.  That is a picture of her there.  Merry Christmas Mommie!

Meanwhile... up on Mt. Whitney....

The Fairy's younger sister scaled Mt. Whitney the day before the Birthday Party.  I have wonderful daughters.  I think that means "full of wonder" and it fits.  :)

When we decided to have a family, we of course had no idea what we were getting into... not really.  It has been a heartwarming, challenging and priceless experience. Our 6 children are all, every one of them, good, honest, generous, hard-working, kind, intelligent people.  I am very proud of them. I hope I can stay on this earth for a while yet, but I could go to Heaven today, content with my life.

Here is a picture from long ago.  Our youngest boy had not yet been born. The Garden Fairy is in front on the left and I'm holding the youngest girl pictured above.

The oldest girl on the left above is pictured here with her youngest daughter who is our youngest granddaughter.

And here is our youngest grandson, who was born to the Fairy 6 months ago.

I cannot adequately express how grateful I am for family.

The Garden Fairy's Birthday Party...

Yesterday I posted about the cake I made for my Garden Fairy's Birthday.  We had the party this evening.  I thought I would share some pictures with you. 

 We had the party at the campsite in our woods.

 The children decorated!

 Here is her husband.

 With her two sons-

 After the weenie roast we had cake and ice cream.

 The best gift ever!  :)

 The whole group, except one friend who took the snapshot:

My favorite picture - the Fairy with her daughter - 

A Report on my 2015 garden...

The weather has been very unusual here this year.  I had a really nice garden going, and then it started to rain... and it rained and rained and rained.  When I would go out to harvest vegetables, I would remove my shoes and walk in mud up to my ankles.  Actually, that was rather fun, but one of the down sides was that I couldn't hoe in mud and the weeds took over early in the year.  I am not even going to show you a picture of how terrible it is right now.  In spite of all of that, I was able to do sufficient canning for us.  I have also made a decision.  I've decided to go with a permanent mulch system, a la Ruth Stout/Back to Eden.  I worked so  so hard this year, and it completely got away from me!  I'm getting too old for this.  If I can't make the permanent mulch work after a couple of years, then I'll just keep a very small garden, but I hope it doesn't come to that. 

So, my husband and I are clearing things out in the garden and he's going to cut down the weeds and remove what he can, and then we have a friend that has promised to deliver wood chips to us.  The picture above shows the small amount of things I found out there.  Here is some more, about 3 gallons of Yukon Gold potatoes.  I don't usually dig them this early, but I have to, and noticed the mice had just begun getting to them, so I'm glad I did.

Here are the sweet potatoes!  Not a stellar harvest, but it will be enough.  It is early to dig them also.  I was pleasantly surprised to get this much, because sweet potatoes don't like to get their feet wet, but I always grow them on a ridge of soil, so I guess it really worked this year.

There are some more Kennebec potatoes out there that I need to dig up, but then that will be all.  This year I canned green beans, tomato juice, sweet corn and salsa from the garden, as well as stewed rhubarb.  I am very grateful for what we have.  I just need to go in a different direction.  Stay tuned.