Full Moon

Since a full moon is upcoming next Friday and last night was the first quarter moon I once again gave thought to the full moon and strange behavior. I am one of those "strange, wierd" persons that I swear the full moon affects. Any given month I can tell you approximately when there will be a full moon without looking at the calendar. Ask LaVern!! I can NOT sleep when a full moon is upcoming. Usually it is only 3-4 days prior but this month it has started early. Up at 4 AM on Thursday and this morning it was 2 AM. Yikes! I am wide awake and can not go back to sleep. So I get up and find something quiet to do as LaVern is sleeping away! My understanding is that studies have been done as to why this happens to some people, even animals. “Since the gravitational effect from the moon controls the tides in the oceans and humans are mostly water (70% or so), is it safe to think that the moon could actually have some effect on us?” A good night's sleep for me is 6 hours so a few nights a month of only 4-5 hours is okay. Look at it this way, more hours in the day for those things I enjoy. I finished three small rugs this AM with binding for granddaughters, had a cup of spiced chai tea, sat in the quiet and listened. It is well with my soul.

The Wind

In human civilization, wind has inspired mythology, changed the course of history, expanded the range of transport and warfare, and provided a power source for mechanical work, electricity, and recreation.

Now I am sure you are wondering what THIS post is all about! Sometimes I wonder about my "wandering" mind. Have you noticed that the ONE topic that all people can talk about is the weather? Even if it is a total stranger, chances are good you will talk about the weather with them. Right now the chances are pretty good that sometime today someone will mention the California fires and their temperatures of over 100 degrees. Just this morning at the grocery store an acquaintance said to me, "This humidity is terrible but at least the wind isn't blowing." I LOVE the wind! Wierd, I know but let me share with you something I found years ago and have kept in my journal. I hope the next time the wind is blowing, it will cause you to stop and ponder this:

The Wind

I sit in the silence of my own mind.

Where there is no silence that I can hear.

I look all about me and yet see nothing for what I seek is unseeable.

Who am I, and where am I going?

I seek something that is constant, something that is stable.

Yet all about me is instability.

As I sit, I wait, as I wait, I listen.

Then I realize that there is one thing that I have missed.

For I have not seen it.

It is the wind, and it is always there.

It may be soft and peaceful, or at times, an all powerful force.

Even when people say there is no wind today.

I know that it is still there, we have just failed to know it.

This wind is sometimes called the Spirit of God.

It moved upon the face of the earth even before God created man.

It is the very breath of God.

We may not see Him, or sense His presence, but He is there.

If we but seek Him, we can find Him.

If we can be still in our hearts, we can hear Him.

Listen to the Wind.

Summer Kitchen

Early settlers kept their homes cool in the summer by doing all the cooking, baking and washing in the "summer kitchen". This was either a separate room off of the main house or a small "shed" just a few steps from the back door of the main house. It would have open windows to let cooler air in and not heat up the main house. Pioneer women in our area used such things as prairie grass, corn cobs or buffalo dung for fuel. I read somewhere that it took a bushel and a third of cobs to heat the oven! Anyway, I have a summer kitchen of sorts! Not as primitive as the pioneer women (although I would LOVE one some day!) But just the same, the idea is there. I have a stove in our cellar. It is an electric stove (which I dispise so maybe that is why it is in the cellar) but the oven works great. The access to the cellar is outside which I don't mind at all. I do ALL my summer baking there. That way I do not heat up the kitchen or house! I do alot of crock pot cooking also during the summer. LaVern LOVES chocolate, nuts and caramel so here is a recipe that combines all three. Enjoy!
Turtle Cake
1 chocolate cake mix (I use the cheapest I can find)
1/4 c. evaporated milk
3/4 c. butter
1 (14 ox.) pkg. caramels
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. walnuts

Mix cake mix as directed on box. Pour 1/2 of the batter into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake 15 min. Melt caramels, butter and evap. milk. Pour caramel mixture over 1/2 cake batter. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Top with remaining batter and finish baking. Mine takes about 15 more minutes. Rich, gooey and oh, so good!

The Gift of Old Age

Received an email this morning, one of "those forwards" that was about things learned at various ages of life. After much thought I have decided old age is a gift. I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometimes despair over my body...........the wrinkles, the baggy eyes and the sagging boobs and butt. I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving husband and family for less grey hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that raspberry scone with a cup of spiced chai tea, or for not making my bed, or for buying that piece of turquoise that I didn't need. I am entitled to overeat, to be messy, to be extravagant. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging. Whose business is it if I choose to read or hook a rug until 4 a.m. or sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60's and 70's. I will play my flute while sitting on a stump at the park, making a fool of myself. I will wear my hair in a braid, put on round wire rim glasses and wool socks with Birkenstock sandals despite the glances from the younger set. They, too, will get old. I am sometimes forgetful now. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten! I can say "no", and mean it. I can say "yes", and mean it. As you get older, it is easier to be positive! You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong. I like being old. It has set me free. I like being the person I've become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. I will do my best to do what God wants me to do with what is left of the rest of my life. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance!!

Van Morrison