Before Pictures of Colby House

A doublewide manufactured home is on the market. I am looking for a larger home, and this one is right across the street from the community swimming pool. It's also got good light and a low price. I am not sure if I can swing it, but I'd like to try. It's old and needs some work. It looks pretty awful without decor or TLC, but I can see the potential. Most of this old furniture will go, but I might save a table/chairs for the outdoor patio.

They hit you with an ad when it opens. Just click through until you get to the sideshow.

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The Ponds by Mary Oliver - a poem for all seasons

Every year
the lilies
are so perfect
I can hardly believe

their lapped light crowding
the black,
mid-summer ponds.
Nobody could count all of them —

the muskrats swimming
among the pads and the grasses
can reach out
their muscular arms and touch

only so many, they are that
rife and wild.
But what in this world
is perfect?

I bend closer and see
how this one is clearly lopsided —
and that one wears an orange blight —
and this one is a glossy cheek

half nibbled away —
and that one is a slumped purse
full of its own
unstoppable decay.

Still, what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled —
to cast aside the weight of facts

and maybe even
to float a little
above this difficult world.
I want to believe I am looking

into the white fire of a great mystery.
I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing —
that the light is everything — that it is more than the sum
of each flawed blossom rising and fading. And I do.

##

This poem absolutely kills me.

Thanksgiving 2015 - Follies of a Foodie

I cannot believe another year has swept by -- and I am very grateful to still be around!

This year, (for the first time in a long time (for guests) I'm cooking the turkey. Usually I make a small turkey breast for myself and let it go at that. But this year we're doing "orphans" and good friends, good cheer, and LOTS of good food.

I even watched a video of how to carve a turkey! I'm not sure I ever had to do it myself? It's 16 lbs. so there will be leftovers, and I bought Glad "doggy" containers so people will take home food. (It's awful to be a guest and go home without leftovers!)

THANKSGIVING MENU - 2015

Prosecco
Pinot Noir
Shrimp Cocktail with Horseradish Chili Sauce
Roast Organic (brined) Turkey
Cornbread Chorizo Sausage, Cherry & Pecan Dressing
Old Fashioned Mushroom, Apple, Apricot Dressing
Cipollini Onions
Mashed Potatoes and Turkey Gravy
Sweet Potato & Pecan Casserole
Soft Rolls and Butter
Pumpkin Pie
Homemade Donut Hole Bread Pudding
Whipped Cream

No Football. (alas, no TV).
HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY, EVERYONE!

Silenced

Do yourself a Favor and See this Documentary - "Silenced" (clicky) I found it on Netflix.

I gave up on politics after Obama disappointed me time after time. I really thought he was the one man who would not succumb to the political machine. But I was naive. I maintain that he's been better than most, but after this film, I am appalled.

Like many Americans, I had never taken the time to think about what is going on with Post 9/11 national security. Homeland Security with its multi colored warnings was made into a big joke, and the general tone of the country was frenzied fear of the Arab world, and remains so today. Not to say there aren't some good reasons for fearing the jihadists who seem bent on everyone's destruction including their own.

But in the craze of keeping the nation safe, the TRUTH is now being suppressed under the false pretense of CLASSIFIED SECRETS, and American whistle-blowers in our government are being SILENCED, and our democracy is under attack by own own government, folks.

When I watched this documentary, I was not surprised to find out the Bush Administration was deliberately breaking the law and taking away the private rights of American citizens, but I was surprised that they were even more corrupt than Nixon in their covert smear antics, and paranoia. Especially Cheney who was apparently cut-throat. But THEN I learned that on Obama's watch, more espionage charges were made than ever before -- NOT on terrorists, but on whistle-blowers, American citizens trying to call out illegalities in our government. (Clicky)

It's true that it's not a black and white thing in all cases, but watch this film and see if you can ever wrap your head around a democracy that silences its watchdogs?I didn't want to believe any of this was possible in America, much less under a White House that boasted liberalism. Something is terribly, terribly wrong in Washington.

I am silenced by the terror in my bones for our magnificent country which is inching its way to totalitarianism. Or worse.

Cipollini Onions in the Crock Pot - Folly of a Foody

A couple of weeks ago, at a business luncheon at food-fabulous The Capital Grill, I had a perfect salmon portion sitting on a dish beautifully "decorated" with little round onions that were sweet and delectable.

I had never seen an onion like that before (they were actually smaller than those in this photo) and was told it was cipollini (pronounced chip-oh-lean-ee). I found them at Whole Foods a few days later and decided I had to learn how to cook them.

Most of the recipes called for braising them in various concoctions of wine and butter and brown sugar and vinegar, and eating them immediately. But I wanted to see if I could make them ahead for Thanksgiving, freeze them, and see if it works! I decided to try the crock pot!

So, they are on Low setting with red wine (a merlot that was a shade too sweet to drink/read cheap), a little brown sugar, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar, and some olive oil. I plan on letting them do a slow cook until the liquids reduce to a glaze. If they taste right, I plan to cool them and freeze them. I'll be back later to report on the outcome. Watch this space!

Vertigo Cure!

This is a free treatment from a doctor who got vertigo herself so she figured out how to treat herself and is sharing it.

Since I get vertigo myself sporadically, I'm posting this so I never lose it!!



Thanks to my friend, Jeri for forwarding this gem to me!