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Okay, not really a "Blog" but a handy recipe for those of you who like the seasonal flavor of pumpkin spice. When shopping recently I noticed the store was out of pumpkin pie spice, a staple for this time of year. The price on the shelf though, was more than $5.00 for a small container! It's got to be much cheaper to make it so here we go... 
Tags: Fall Seasonal Pumpkins DIY Recipes
The Native Floridians in the above titled blog are not, in fact, humans. I am speaking of the wildlife we are surrounded by in my part of the sunshine state. Summer, by it's nature, being a time of plenty for the animals, has brought them out in full force in my little corner of the world. In the last month alone we've encountered (in our immediate yard and treeline) a coyote, 4 armadilloes doing their best to destroy our lawn, a rabbit, a possum, too many squirrels and birds to count and no less than 3 snakes. The first snake was a King snake, the second a venomous Cotton Mouth Moccasin and yesterday a big Black Racer. They are harmless and eat mice and insects so we don't bother them. There's a large, very vocal and very bossy mockingbird who lives nearby and imagine my surprise to see her "chasing" and "scolding" the snake as he made his way across my driveway yesterday, into the fenced portion of my yard. I'm not sure what he was doing to alarm her, mayebe she had babies nearby. It was almost comical though. He was much larger than her and seemed to be minding his own business. She lit on him with her feet and seemed to be trying to scratch him. He scurried under a nearby stump for protection. This amused me and wanted to share while it was fresh in my memory. In the Winter we have Black Bear and lots of Deer too. I count myself blessed to share the habitat with my fellow Floridians. ♥
Tags: Wildlife Nature Florida
Well it's very hard to pick just one favorite holiday food but I'd have to say the Dressing...and yes we call it Dressing down here in the South, but whatever you call it, dressing or stuffing, it's so good and most of us ONLY have it at the holidays so I say enjoy! I mean...if we have to wait all year for it, right?! A second favorite is the sweet potatoes, baked in a souffle or casserole with a crunchy pecan topping. Also tying for second are the the yeast rolls we always have in my family. Other traditional foods include baked Ham or Pork Roast, Collard greens or Turnip greens, seasoned with ham or bacon, green beans with red potatoes, corn casserole, broccoli casserole, jello salad of all different colors and flavors (this may be a Southern thing, not sure), Deviled eggs, cranberry sauce or cranberry salad which is a yummy fluffy dessert type thing. And speaking of desserts...everyone's fav: pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie, pecan pie, custard pie, buttermilk pie, Lemon Chess pie, and any kind of cake you want to make but let's face it, Thanksgiving is pie's day to shine ♥ Hungry yet?
Tags: Thanksgiving Holidays Food
Wow, so many birthdays in the month of July! Last week I turned the big SIX-OH!! How did that happen?  Remember as kids we thought 60 was ancient? Heck, 40 was ancient. Time really does give you a perspective on such things, doesn't it? I remember as a child thinking that at 60 I would be a white haired old lady in a rocking chair. Haha. Now I think there's nothing wrong with white hair, I actually love it. I also love the sense of freedom that we get as we age. By that I mean freedom to make decisions that we once would not have made. Decisions to put ourselves first and do what makes us happy in the present. It sounds trite, but truly.... carpe diem, everyone! If you've had health problems as I have, if you have lain in ICU hooked to machines or watched loved ones go through debilitating illness or worse, it suddenly becomes crystal clear that we should take what time we're given and make the best of it. Take the trip, buy the car, write the book, whatever it is that maybe we feel like we should wait till "one day" to do. That day is now.
Also aging makes us shed inhibitions, like that built in switch that tells us to keep our mouth shut.   I guess as we age we don't feel the need to tiptoe around others' feelings. Of course we should continue to be kind as much as possible but the passage of time really does cause us to stop sugar coating our words and get straight to the point with day to day things. I find myself doing this with kids and grandkids. Just keeping it real as the kids say! Lastly I want to say growing old is a privilege denied to so many and so I intend to make the most of it. God Bless us all in our golden years!
Tags: Birthdays Getting Older Life Experience
"Hic incipt pestis"...
this translates to "here begins the plague" and was found among many writings of the 14th and 15th century and beyond. It refers of course to the Black Plague or the Bubonic Plague that killed millions across Europe in the middle ages. It's interesting to note that among the suffering and death that literary greats like Shakespeare created some of his finest works during this time, even though he lost 3 sisters and a son to the sickness.
Just as mystery and confusion surrounds the current pandemic of COVID-19 there were many false beliefs during the black plague. People falsely believed it was caused by cats and dogs and sadly many were killed.
In fact it was carried by the fleas on black rats. Europeans could not imagine their lives would be turned upside down as ours have been now. Some of the purported cures or preventative measures included drinking vinegar, rubbing chopped up snakes or pigeons on the body or even drinking mercury or arsenic. These measures seem crazy and extreme to us in our modern era but imagine the terror they experienced and the willingness to try anything that might prevent a lingering and painful death.
I hear so many news people sounding accusatory and mystified that things are not
going more smoothly in America. My question is how do you prepare for something
like a pandemic when most people alive today have never experienced it? Yes we have history to pull from but reading accounts from the foggy and distant past is NOT the same as first hand experience. There have been many epidemics, even pandemics such as the Spanish influenza, SARS and Ebola but each disease
is different, As late as 1918 Scientists didn't understand viruses caused diseases. There were no vaccines or antibiotics for infections. In this regard we are vastly more prepared today. There is a point to be made that even with all the trial and error, and there will surely be errors, we are blessed to be living
in a time where the importance of good hygiene is acknowledged and medical
care is readily available. I, for one, am grateful.
Tags: Pandemic Sickness Plague
The COVID-19 pandemic has a grip on my country and it feels surreal. There was a police officer enforcing the face masks mandate at the entrance of the super center yesterday where I shop for groceries. As I shopped, I stopped a moment to just watch people pass. Each of us with facemasks on and hurrying through what is usually a leisurely task. The faster done the faster we can get out of the petri dish of humanity. As I paused and watched the masked people I began to feel like I was living in a science fiction story. Perhaps dystopian fiction like The Hunger Games or Divergent. But no, this is my reality now...all of ours. America under quarantine is still America. Whatever it takes and however long it takes....we'll push through these dark days like we have so many others and come through stronger for it. We can't say thank you enough to the health care workers on the front lines. They have put themselves at risk to take care of our loved ones, to be there with them when we can't.
Cover us with your grace and mercy, Almighty God.
You can spend the rest of your life saying what if.
What if I had been there? What if I had tried harder?
When it's all said and done, what ifs don't change the way things are now.
The present is what we have to deal with. During the nights, especially for me, the regrets creep in...oh, and the IF ONLYS, If only I hadn't, if only I had...Its human nature I suppose, to feel guilt when there's a crisis or in my case, the loss of a loved one. It's human nature to feel somehow responsible. Like we could or would have changed things that would somehow alter the course of life. In reality this is not even feasible and we must know that, must accept it on a deeper level. I repeat to myself each day:
TODAY I WILL CHOOSE JOY. I won't lie, sometimes I must say it more than once a day to remind
myself not to linger in a place of regret, of sorrow, of ifs and maybes. If I can't be in the here and now then I'm robbing my family, my friends but most of all myself of the gift that each day is. Grief creeps back in, it always will, but I'll be ready because I am greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved by the King. The Saviour of the World. El shaddai. Thank you Lord, for the amazing grace that is ALWAYS sufficient!
Tags: Grief And Loss
The following is an update to a blog I wrote a few years ago: They were a ragtag band of soldiers.
Ordinary citizens with extraordinary dreams.
Farmers, merchants, private citizens who left
hearth and home to fight for liberty.
They answered the call when it was needed the most.
Freedom from tyranny was the loudest call and the
only one they needed. The patriots we know; Thomas
Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin &
George Washington are all due a world of
recognition and gratitude but the ones we'll
never know deserve it just as much. They
left their jobs, their farms and homes, but most of all
left their families, many never to return again.
They fought the good fight, froze, bled and starved.
They faced privation we can only imagine.
To them we owe a debt we can never repay.
No, America is not perfect. We have our problems and there
are those who will cry about unfairness and injustice. Tell
it to those soldiers who crossed The Delaware on a freezing Christmas
Eve. Tell it to the soldiers who wintered at Valley Forge in 1777.
Tell it to the soldiers who pulled boots off their dead comrades feet
so they could continue marching in the snow. Their sacrifices will
never be in vain. Thank you to all, past and present who have
served in our country's armed forces. The price of democracy, of freedom
itself was paid with your blood. The following lyrics state it much better
than I ever could:
Oh, beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
Oh, beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
Lyrics: Katherine Lee Bates, 1859–1929
Music: Samuel A. Ward, 1848–1903
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