quote day

"I think you're beautiful," said Wilbur.

"Well, I am pretty," replied Charlotte, "There's no denying that."

I

a thrifter's lament

Is it just me, or are thrift shops getting crowdeder and crowdeder? I mean, of course I want others to discover the joy of thrifting: to experience first-hand the thrill of the barg-o-rama. I want that for others in the theoretical sense, just not in the practical sense as in the people in my actual town. To those folks I say, Back Off, Peeps. 

I mean, back in the day, before thrifting was cool, these places were a lazy haven where dust motes and a few select shameless scroungers like me would gather to paw through the wreckage. Now, it seems that Goodwill is the new Neiman's: the shop in which to see and be seen. Horrors! 

Today I hit two different shops: one Goodwill another a local brand, both packed with folks frantically looking for the Hope Diamond accidentally left tucked into the pocket of some donated jeans. Seriously. These people need to get a life. Me? I already have a life: a Goodwill life, and I was here first. 

These pictures  represent today's scanty finds. Not much, but what the heck; I had fun looking. And those other folks? Well, I guess it's okay. As long as they leave the mushrooms alone. 

beyond words

Ever notice how hard it is to trust, to keep on believing in an ultimate plan, a good plan, a wise plan. Maybe the foolishness of man is wise, maybe the wisdom of man is foolish - all I know is that I would rather believe than not believe. I am a truth seeker. 

Trust

Lord, you love me

as I am. I’m held in

your gigantic hand.

You have planned my

every way, carefully

measured out my days.

I see  your goodness

overflow, trouncing all

I hope to know.

Your grace is bleeding

o’er my heart and

I don’t know the way,

but I’m here at the start.

I’m planning to step,

though it might be to fall.

Lord, you have made

me. I trust. That is all.
             -Kimberly Laustsen

I guess one of the reasons I am drawn to writing is that I want to leave some words behind. My mom died thirty years ago, and she left no words. My grandma left a few. I want to leave more. Words have the power to do good even after we are gone. Look at Mister Rogers - I feast on his words on a regular basis and they have power. How interesting the life of words.

What We Say

The pleasure of words

     is extravagant, absurd.

The texture of letters gets

     better, better as phrases 

     jostle and age, as

     lines strain to hold

     bliss and rage.

The power of what we 

     say can never go away.

Words live on and they will,

     even when the body’s still.
          -Kimberly Laustsen

once in love with mushrooms...

... always in love with mushrooms. The day before yesterday it rained. Yesterday, I drove to the library to read the Sunday NY Times. On my way, I noticed mushrooms in the neighborhood. 

They had sprouted overnight. 

In the library parking lot were mushrooms. Beautiful bodacious mushrooms, some with yellow undersides and some with white delicately pleated undersides. 

Of course, I took them home to photograph. Once home, I scooted down the street to gather the cutie pies in yards near and far. 

Amazing how many different kinds of mushrooms sprout within a few hours once this parched land gets some rain. Here are a few pictures. 

It is my contention that

when God made mushrooms he was showing off. 

tiny food day 2

Well it's time. Time for another tiny food recipe. I love inventing tiny foods if, for nothing else, just to look at the adorableness of them. Here is how to make today's tiny food:

Citrus Apple Lychee Cups

Gather 4 apples: 2 Granny Smith and 2 crisp red apples such as Braeburn or Fuji, raisins, 1 lemon, 10 lychee,6 tangerines or mandarin oranges, sugar, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar ( I used fig balsamic), salt and vanilla, 1 cup walnuts, mint leaves.

Take 1/2 cup of raisins, mix with 1/2 cup of water and set aside to plump.Chop the apples to about almond size and put into a medium pan. Slice 5 of the tangerines in half and squeeze the juice over the apples. 

Now you can carefully peel the pithy membranes out of the tangerine halves. Discard the filling you have removed and set the empty peel cups aside. 

Take the lychees and slice off the tops, then, with a knife work the filling loose, keeping the peel in tact to use as a serving cup. Set the cups aside with the citrus peel cups. 

Remove the seeds from the fruit. Now, take a wire strainer and set it over the pot with the apples, and, working in batches, smoosh the lychee fruit into the mesh to release the juices over the apples. Clean the last tangerine, then grate the zest and add it to the apples. Add 2 Tablespoons brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to apple mixture. Bring it to a boil. Take off the heat, add 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar and 1 Tablespoon vanilla. Return to heat and simmer till apples are tender, but still hold their form. While the apples cook, chop the walnuts and lightly toast them in the oven. Cool apples a bit. If desired, you can cool all the way and serve cold, or serve warm or room temp. Now you are ready to assemble. Scoop the apples into the citrus and lychee shell cups, sprinkle the walnuts and plump raisins on top with a little brown sugar. 

This can be an appetizer or side dish, or  light dessert. For the dessert version, you can add a dollop of ice cream, creme fraiche, or whipped cream if desired. Enjoy!

I brought these to my friend Monica's house warming party. Here is the spread of yummy snacks. Below are some plates. I confess that mine is the full one at the top. Hey, it was dinner, people. A girl's gotta keep her strength up in this Texas heat.

live & learn

I've missed meeting you here the past few days. I should have just posted without pictures. I was so afraid that I had done something to cause the photo loading issue, though I couldn't think of anything different I'd done before or after the problem.

When I was twelve, I was in Canada at my grandma's cabin. It was the start of the summer and my first chance to water ski. Back then, water skiing was my all time favorite thing to do and summers were my only chance. So, on this first outing, I was hot dogging it. My cousin, who was driving the boat, took a sweep past the dock where our siblings and moms were sunbathing. I leaned into the curve spraying a high arc of water over everyone. I was just goofing off, thrilled to be back behind the boat. My cousin Ronnie thought it was hilarious, but not everyone did.

When I finished the run, Mom was furious. She thought my stunt unacceptable, even though they were all in swimsuits on the dock. Anyhow, I lost the privilege of skiing the rest of the summer, which was completely devastating to me. It changed me in some way, pushing me into the category of people for which life is not fair. Mom would not be talked out of it.


I've thought of that incident more times than I care to admit, realizing it is partly behind my fear of unintentionally making a mistake and loosing something really important because of it. I'm trying to banish that fear. So with the photo loading, I tried to stay calm and carefully work the problem. In other words, I only half-panicked, which is progress.

I spent hours deleting a few thousand pictures, thinking my computer was too full, and more time running scans and downloading different browsers and clearing cookies - all to no avail. I finally got on a user board and discovered a work around. I can't believe I am even saying that, as knowing that such a thing exists is major progress for computer clueless moi.

Also, I am onto a bigger solution, as I think it has to do with having used up 99% of my free storage on Picassa, more later on this, as I am still investigating. Why does blogger not have a troubleshooter person you can just call? I am old school, and like to talk to a person. Anyhow, this whole thing had me back into stress mode, so I need to double up on my prayer/meditation time tomorrow. I am up to 20 minutes a day. It is ludicrous how hard being still and breathing with a blankish mind is. But, what's interesting is that I am getting better, and can notice a difference after two weeks.

I will say that the skiing incident, while horrible for me, did have one good result. It influenced my parenting a lot. I never wanted the girls to be made to feel the way that I did that day. I tried to my utmost to be fair and gentle when correcting them. Live and learn, right? That's all we can do.