Our lives rearranged. I've moved home to help restore my grown daughter's health. Bears come to mind. My cub went down. We, mother bear and I, will protect and defend our young to death, if necessary. I hold and guard the image of my child healed on every level, and I will not waiver.
With my ears tuned to her as if she were a newborn, I move throughout the house cooking, encouraging, and comforting. From scratch and organic foods are my mainstay. Family recipes with a history of "comfort and healing" are back in action. Rice pudding made with a cinnamon stick, golden raisins and cream is one. Raisin bread pudding served warm drizzled with cream is another. Organic chickens under the "Smart" label convert to chicken cacciatore, roasting, stews, chicken salad and stock. We eat multi-grain breads, use unbleached flour, and cook with butter and cream.
Peas for pain. Sounds like a commercial, but they are doctor recommended. Frozen and bagged they move around the injury independently cooling the hot spot.
Our Pistoulet dishes are bright and cheerful. Food first feeds the eye. Red stem chard cooked in a little butter with fresh ground nutmeg looks good and tastes great. Fennel bulbs cooked in butter with Parmesan cheese lend a mild licorice taste. The root of the celery stock is awesome. It takes effort to get the outside off and the inside chopped, but we'd rather have it cooked and mashed than potatoes. Fresh broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus go into creamy, cheese soups.
A small dish of cranberry relish accompanies every meal: a bag of fresh cranberries, one whole apple cored and one whole orange are chopped in the food processor. Add a small can of crushed pineapple and a little sugar, Somer-sweet, or splenda. I make a batch about every five days: lots of Vitamin C and enzymes for digestion.
Dessert finishes off her meal with tea. To chocolate brownies I add Brewer's Yeast, a smidge of cayenne, walnuts, pecans or macadamias and a scoop of ice cream. As we head into winter gingerbread tastes good served warm with cream. (We should have a cow on standby.) Years ago we spent a Christmas in Virginia at Minnie's. While there we bought a chunk of Hershey chocolate run off, and a lavender sheepskin. Back home I made cream puffs with fresh country cream and melted chocolate. They were wonderful. The food memory is fresh. The sheepskin is long gone.
I just answered my phone. Wrong number, but humorous. The lady asked if we are the family with the dairy? No, but we sure use a lot of it.
Today I made Mrs. Fields chocolate chip, oatmeal, raisin, walnut cookies with Brewer's Yeast added. Great! Kris likes crushed graham crackers, coconut, Eagle Brand condensed milk and chocolate chips made into bars. Can you tell I'm trying to put weight on her?
Kris's appetite is great as is her attitude. We are taking a positive approach claiming her healing: Thank you God for healing Kris. And so it is. It is done. Her health does improve daily.
In this trial, the blessings are huge. We are deeply grateful for the prayers, everything and everyone. It is critical we live an attitude of gratitude. God is good all the time. All the time God is good. The bad news was good news resolving her long standing health issue. And people showed up exactly as needed. We don't believe it was accidental. It was the working hand of God.
If I could give others one gift, it would be trust. Trust that God cares, knows your every need, wants the best for you, wants to help, and He keeps His word. See for yourself. Invite Him into every corner of your life. Put Him to work. Keep still and trust.
Take care and God Bless.
copyright 2006 Red Convertible Travel Series
Monday, November 20, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
Hunting Season - Rite of Passage
This weekend is the opening of deer season in Mississippi. Today hunters arrived at their camps with provisions. Rifles were zeroed in at the firing range. Tonight campfires will blaze, grills will cook pork roasts, hamburgers, hotdogs, polish sausage, and just maybe some wild hog. Talk will be about where they're going to hunt tomorrow . Deer stands are popular and the game quota strictly enforced.
In the Midwest we mostly work. Second homes/camps are unusual. In the South, most any weekend will find the guys at their second home Fri. thru Sunday. During hunting season no one gets married, and you better not die. One hunter said he's been hunting since he was a little boy. It meant everything to him. He was so excited he couldn't sleep the night before. By the size of the membership, and it isn't cheap, it still means everything to a lot of them.
Bagging the first deer is a milestone for hunters. Traditionally five fingers are dipped in its blood and spread on the hunter's face. All who see him know what he or she has accomplished. Other hunters look up to him/her. We saw a forty-four year old man so proud he glowed.
At age nine, John L. made his first kill. When he was twelve he bagged a nine point with fourteen and a half inch spread, a buck of about two and a half years. "I used a 30-30 Winchester zeroed in at 150 yards. It was a long shot at 170 yards, but I made it." He grinned. "Not only did the local paper do a feature story, it was mounted for free as the largest in its class. It is something that will always go with me, and people will talk about it for a long time. "
John's family splits the tenderloin down the center, puts in chopped bell peppers, onions, and cajun spice. Hickory smoked dry rub is spread on the outside with salt, pepper, and seasoned salt. Sealed in foil, it's placed on the grill to roast or in the oven.
We like our venison run through the tenderizer and soaked in either milk or coca cola to remove any gamey taste. We season it with worcesteshire sauce, salt and pepper, and bread each piece with milk, beaten eggs and flour and fry. Purple-hulled peas, greens and cornbread round out the meal.
They'll go out before daylight to get in their stands, wait patiently for hours, then come back cold and hungry for biscuits and gravy. There will be lots of talk about where they heard a shot come from and did they get anything. The story is the same every year. It's what they live for.
copyright 2006 Red Convertible Travel Series
In the Midwest we mostly work. Second homes/camps are unusual. In the South, most any weekend will find the guys at their second home Fri. thru Sunday. During hunting season no one gets married, and you better not die. One hunter said he's been hunting since he was a little boy. It meant everything to him. He was so excited he couldn't sleep the night before. By the size of the membership, and it isn't cheap, it still means everything to a lot of them.
Bagging the first deer is a milestone for hunters. Traditionally five fingers are dipped in its blood and spread on the hunter's face. All who see him know what he or she has accomplished. Other hunters look up to him/her. We saw a forty-four year old man so proud he glowed.
At age nine, John L. made his first kill. When he was twelve he bagged a nine point with fourteen and a half inch spread, a buck of about two and a half years. "I used a 30-30 Winchester zeroed in at 150 yards. It was a long shot at 170 yards, but I made it." He grinned. "Not only did the local paper do a feature story, it was mounted for free as the largest in its class. It is something that will always go with me, and people will talk about it for a long time. "
John's family splits the tenderloin down the center, puts in chopped bell peppers, onions, and cajun spice. Hickory smoked dry rub is spread on the outside with salt, pepper, and seasoned salt. Sealed in foil, it's placed on the grill to roast or in the oven.
We like our venison run through the tenderizer and soaked in either milk or coca cola to remove any gamey taste. We season it with worcesteshire sauce, salt and pepper, and bread each piece with milk, beaten eggs and flour and fry. Purple-hulled peas, greens and cornbread round out the meal.
They'll go out before daylight to get in their stands, wait patiently for hours, then come back cold and hungry for biscuits and gravy. There will be lots of talk about where they heard a shot come from and did they get anything. The story is the same every year. It's what they live for.
copyright 2006 Red Convertible Travel Series
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