Thursdays Doors April 27, 2017
Entrance to Mary Queen of the Universe National Shrine, Orlando, Florida. I took this in May 2016 during the Year of Mercy Holy Doors. They are beautiful and very detailed.
Month: April 2017
Tuesday of Texture Challenge-RGB
Tuesday Of Texture Challenge-RGB
I was playing with my yesterday. This is a shot of two trees from my my front yard. I was amazed at the different textures and hues of green that showed upon this picture.
The Snuggy
When my first grandchild was a toddler, I visited he and his family. I hadn’t seen them in a few months. He had really grown and was finally walking. I noticed he didn’t go anywhere without carrying a blue shiny satin baby blanket. I asked his mom what the deal was. She explained that it was his snuggy. She went on to explain that it was his security blanket but he called it a snuggy.
When my daughter saw how much having the blue snuggy worked to soothe my grandson, she immediately went to the store and purchased another one just like it for a back up.
Along comes my second grandson. He latched onto a blue bunny for his snuggy. Again my daughter purchased another bunny just like it for a back up. Two years later my third grandchild arrived. A girl. Now, my daughter had her hands full with the two boys and the first thing she did, was picked out a blanket to give the baby so she could also have a snuggy.
When my granddaughter was a toddler, I again was visiting. My daughter, granddaughter, and I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. We no sooner arrived when my granddaughter became inconsolable. You guessed it, mom had forgotten her snuggy. So, in the store we go and this sweet, beautiful little girl is screaming at the top of her lungs she wants her nug. As we pass a very kind looking older gentleman he says, “Lady I don’t know what a nug is, but please just give it to her.” My daughter and I just looked at each other and began to chuckle.
I said to my daughter, “Follow me.” I led them into the baby department and began the search for a blanket that was close to the one she had at home. Finally she settled on one and I opened the package and gave it to my granddaughter. She immediately went quiet and we were able to complete our shopping. As we passed that same kind looking gentleman on the way out of the store he smiled at us and winked saying, “Ahh you gave her the nug.” If he could have only seen the trial and error of selecting the blanket in the baby department.
All of this reminded me of my youngest daughter. When she was about three, she had to have eye surgery. A dear priest friend of ours came to see her when she got home from the hospital and gave her a little pink hippo. She loved it. At the time there was a kids show on TV called the New Zoo Review. Maybe you have seen it. Anyway, the hippo on the show was named Henrietta Hippo. My daughter called her hippo Henri the Etta. Now talk about security blankets. She began sleeping with Henri the Etta every night and played with it every day. It became Samantha’s security blanket. She took it with her where ever she went, even sleep overs when she was older in high school. My daughter attended college six hundred miles away from home and she continued to sleep with Henri the Etta.
Finally on one visit to her apartment when she was a senior in college, I noticed Henri the Etta was missing. I asked her about it. She told me that she still had her, but decided it was time to put her away. Then she opened the top drawer of her chest in her bedroom and there Henri the Etta was lying in wait to be needed again.
Security blankets come in many shapes and sizes. They can be a soft and cuddly blanket, a favorite stuffed toy, or be a special object that just sits on your night stand when you go to sleep or need some comfort. They are called security blankets because they cover you with comfort and reassure you that all will be OK.
Wunderlust
Visitors
My daily visitors from up the road. They love to feast on the corn I put out for them. The leader is Gus. He’s a Saddle Back Goose. The others are Spanish Geese. They are such a joy to watch marching around my property.
My Family’s Roots
A few years ago I became interested in genealogy. I realized that it would not be much longer before family members were no longer around to provide information on our family’s roots. Actually, my dad’s family is already all gone, but years ago I was able to get a lot of details from my grandmother on that side of the family. We also sat and went through all of the old family photos she had and I noted who they were.
My parents divorced in 1970, but were separated for many years before that. I went to live my dad’s mother and she essentially raised me. My mother chose not to keep a relationship with me and so I called my grandmother mom. That’s how I felt about her. She was a wonderful woman, strong, independent and very loving. But I had very little information about my mother’s side of the family. Although we were not in touch, she is a part of me and I loved her.
I have just recently, within the last year, found the remaining members of my mother’s family through facebook. I was so happy to find them. Three cousins from my mother’s two brothers. I had not seen them since 1958. What a wonderful thing it is to find family you have missed for so long.
When I was in Pennsylvania this past October for my husband’s memorial, my cousin Joe brought my Aunt Anne with him to the memorial and I had a wonderful visit with them. We were able to get together the next day also and I was able to weed through some more family roots with her. I gained a good bit of information from her that day. But the most important thing I received was the love she has for me. Even though it had been almost sixty years since we have seen each other.
I have also been working on my husband’s side of the family. His mother is still alive and has been a great source of information for this journey. She has always kept a diary so she had events and dates written down. I was, however, able to surprise her with some information she didn’t know. I’m thankful for the relationship I have with her and the ability to share this journey with her.
Working on my family tree has been a very worthwhile experience for me. It is such an inexplicable feeling to begin to know where I came from. To begin to understand what it took for me to be where I am today so to speak. The struggles and sacrifices that my ancestors made to ensure each generation had it better than theirs. To tender the roots of my family tree.
Roasted Garlic & Lemon Chicken, Broccoli, and Cauliflower
Just had this delicious mean for lunch. It’s paleo and oh so good.
Ingredients:
1 Roasting Chicken
1 Lemon Juiced
2 Cloves of Garlic
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 Head of Cauliflower
1 Bunch of Broccoli
Coconut Amino
Directions:
Mix lemon juice, garlic, salt & pepper together. Add in Coconut Amino. Add ¼ cup of water. Baste chicken with mixture several times during roasting.
Chop Cauliflower in food processor until consistency of rice is obtained.
Cut Broccoli into pieces and steam until cooked but not mushy.
Remove chicken from bones and cut into bite sized pieces. Mix with Cauliflower and Broccoli and heat on medium in microwave for 4 minutes or until Cauliflower is warm.
Gray
A chill comes over me
Everything is dull, shaded
The colors of life
Where have they gone?
Are they lost forever?
How could this be?
I wake and see that life’s colors remain
It was just a dream in monochrome.
I’ve Got It All Right Here
When I think back to how it was when I went to school, even high school and college computers were not a required part of our school supplies. How did we do it? Imagine having to write long papers by hand using a pen. Then later using a typewriter with a ribbon that needed to be changed and no memory back up if the dog ate your assignment. How did we make it through?
Well, it seems to me that long before computers and the verbiage it brought to the English language we were using zip files. We would learn lessons and file the info in our installed computers, our brains. We would input so much that there was a worry we would run out of room causing a melt down of the installed hard drive. So, the invention of the zip file actually happened long before computers.
Within our brains are many, many zip files with names attached to them. When we need to recall one thing or another, we simply push the key in our brains to open that particular zip file. And voila, information right at our fingertips.
Today our children have access to computers not only at home but in school. I can remember my two younger children using a computer daily in elementary school and my grandchildren began using them in pre-school. No wonder most of them are teaching us how to use computers and how to fix the problems that we have with them.
Computers are a great advantage for study I won’t deny it, but there is a disadvantage to computers too. I see that the wonderful experience of spending time in a library is in decline. You can access just about any information on just about any subject through the use of computers. What you can’t get is the feel of paper that has helped hundreds of people look up that same interesting fact, or the smell of old books, or the beautiful art that is etched onto the pages. The silent sharing of a table in the stacks as you comb through volumes of written words. The joy of being around so much knowledge.
Truth be told I would rather be without my dishwasher than my computer. I find it makes my life easier in many ways. It connects me to people I may never have had the opportunity to connect with and it gives me an outlet to stretch my abilities.
Salmon
Color your world challenge: Salmon
One of my favorite meals is pan seared salmon. I fry it up in coconut oil and the skin gets so crispy and the flavor is wonderful. My husband had many seafood allergies and just didn’t like fish too much so I never had much at home. I had to wait until we went out to eat to have my fish or seafood. Now I am enjoying cooking it up right here at home and I have salmon at least twice a week. YUM!
