A Different Life II

[Lily&Me]

This turn of events, regarding the homeless vet and GoFundMe account, is disgusting, distressing and discouraging.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...=.1e84a428a427

It is difficult for me to fathom not one but three people creating such a story, so as to deceive and defraud well meaning others out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Who are these people.


I saw my chiropractor/holistic health care practitioner for a tune-up this morning...one of the long-standing, trusting, fabric of my life relationships for which I am very grateful.

If you don’t have one of these people in your life, and especially if your body seems to be falling apart, consider finding one and adding them to your routine medical care.

Wish I had found him earlier in my life.

Maggie

[Hittenstiehl]

We were also very annoyed at the latest development in the story. Although I am a positive person by nature I am also cynical, skeptical and a realist. Despite all of that I too was surprised at what has occurred.

[SteveSueMac]

Part of me says I’d rather be the trusting person who is fooled rather than the evil person who intentionally deceives.

And part of me wants thugs like this banished to some disconnected island from which we’ll never hear from them again.

Trying hard to stay on the positive side...liars like this make it harder every day....

[Lily&Me]

It was bad enough when it seemed the couple had taken and spent most of the money, to now find out all three of them were in cahoots.

I share the cynic, skeptic, realist label, which is why I am very careful where I give money...basically, I don’t, but with rare exceptions only to the Red Cross and known local charities.

These people have done a lot of damage, in my opinion.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

Part of me says I’d rather be the trusting person who is fooled rather than the evil person who intentionally deceives.

And part of me wants thugs like this banished to some disconnected island from which we’ll never hear from them again.

Trying hard to stay on the positive side...liars like this make it harder every day....

Trusting people do get fooled, and it has happened to me.

I think maybe hard labor with a pickaxe in a rock quarry, side by side, working for minimum wage, til it’s all paid back.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

And that said, about trusting people sometimes being fooled, I do believe things turn out the way they are supposed to turn out...when you find yourself in a different tunnel than the one you started out in, sometimes there’s a bell you’re supposed to ring when you get to that light, signaling a broader and better outcome than what you imagined.

If y’all don’t understand what I’m talkin’ about, that is quite alright.

Get up every day, do your part, and trust that it will all work out the way it is supposed to work out, just not necessarily the way you originally planned...that is the moral to this story.

Ohhh, the stories I could tell...

Seriously, we are all the end product of our experiences to date, and we learn what we learn when and how we are supposed to learn them.

That’s what I believe.

Maggie

[SteveSueMac]

That is some exceptionally deep and wise stuff there, Maggie!

[Lily&Me]

I have some depth and wisdom to me, is the truth, borne of pain and bad experience...I like at times to share what I have learned, so perhaps it will help others headed for the same rocks.

Maggie

[Al and Missy]

I recently saw a FB post by a friend that puts "kits" together to give to those with signs on the side of the road. He includes some non-perishable healthy food items, hygiene items like band-aids, tooth paste, toilet paper, toothbrushes,etc., bottled water, and puts baby items in some of the kits to give to those who appear to need them.

I thought this was a splendid idea. It lets him support those truly in need for not a lot of money and doesn't provide a cash handout for those just trying to beat minimum wage by standing on a corner with a sign.

Al

[Lily&Me]

That’s a good idea, Al.

I’m so put off by people begging and holding signs at intersections that I just don’t even make eye contact, and if I put a window down to hand them something like that Lily would be following with those big teeth of hers snapping.

I want to tell them how to get to the Mission or soup kitchen, but I don’t waste my breath as I feel pretty sure they don’t want to hear it.

It is a complicated issue, that is for sure.

I bought WalMart gift cards for three sleeping in their vehicles last year, though they spent all night near me they hadn’t bothered me and asked for nothing.

I would do that again, if the situation were to arise.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

I’ve been on a bit of a baking jag, as it is cold and the added heat from the oven is a good thing.

Made this banana bread with some overripe bananas the other day, and it is excellent...very moist and banana-ey. I love things baked with buttermilk.

I didn’t have quite enough mashed, ripe banana for a double batch , but had two pears left from making conserve so peeled and mashed them up to make up the difference. Came out great.

https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe...a-bread-121840

I substituted one cup of wheat flour in the four called for, and used Splenda Brown instead of the white sugar.

Some of this will go with me as I head south, perfect for quick breakfasts those early days on the road, when all one wants to do is get to warmer temperatures.


And a loaf of bread today...


I had the bright idea to make some neckwarmers to donate, so am working on a pile of them for both men and women...some in pretty patterns and colors, some more simple and plain. Hmmm?

I can use up a lot of partial skeins making these, and know for a fact how warm it is to wear one as I have made several for myself...cold, windy beach walks and such require something around one’s neck.


We continue here with unseasonably cold temps, but the sun is shining brightly today and it is supposed to warm up just a bit.

My staging area for the next trip is starting to grow, and I’m making lists for my lists, so as not to go off without something critical.

I am really, really looking forward to this trip, after not getting to go last year.

Been making the rounds of various doctors, and all is going very well.

In spite of a few blips on the screen, I am very grateful for good health and the ability to remain active.


Tomorrow I will be baking pecan bars to take to my sons and making roll dough to bake Thursday morning. I don’t at all miss hosting these big holidays, but really like being the guest.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, y’all!

[Lily&Me]

I came across this quote about gratitude, and wanted to share it on this day before Thanksgiving.


“Any day above ground is a good day. Before you complain about anything, be thankful for your life and the things that are still going well.”
― Germany Kent


Isn’t this the truth?

Being grateful is a huge quality of life issue, in my experience, and it is a conscious choice that we make, every day...to look up, rather than down, and to look ahead, rather than back.

Some days it’s an effort, but it makes such a difference.

Doug will soon have been dead 5 years , and at times I am struck by how different I feel and how different my life is than that first year or two.

So much I miss, but so much I still have.

Doing some baking and prep for tomorrow, “if Doug were here...” goes thru my mind often.

Things he liked...like Chex mix ...help he would provide ...it’s all changed.

But, we are fine, and in fact we are good.


And, my yard guys were here at 8am with their huge leaf blowers, and cleared out and hauled to the curb all the leaves and debris from the back yard and the tree line.


I am fortunate, and I am grateful...for many things in my life and many of the people in it (not all of them), for my reasonable good health, and for my opportunity to travel.

A good thing.

[farafield]

On this day of Thanksgiving, I just want to thank you for your post. You are inspiring to me. I never found that soul mate or whatever you want to call it so it would be easy for me to say "at least" you had Doug for the time you did but... the loss of that is unimaginable to me (I have a hard enough time when I lose one of my four legged family members!) so I won't say "at least" but admire how you are finding your way in your new life and happy that for a time you had a wonderful love.

On another note, is that sourdough bread? I have been making sourdough bread from my own starter for a couple of years now. It's challenging! But fun. Always exciting when I pull the lid off the dutch over after the first part of baking! I'm trying to make all whole wheat loaves now which makes it even more funky!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

[Lily&Me]

Thank you, Kim, for those kind words!


That is not sourdough, but a no knead, Dutch Oven bread that has become the only one I use the last 5 years or so.

So easy, mix it one day and bake it the next.

I’ve done sourdough, and love it, but ya know you have to keep using and feeding that starter, and there’s just me.


Have a great Thanksgiving, and thanks for dropping in.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

Since Lily was rescued, starving and dehydrated, from under a bush in a state park in Louisiana about 8 years ago, she has become so accustomed to creature comforts that she considers them her due.

I had bought her a rather flimsy, paw print covered, fleece blankie when we first brought her home...for the bed I also bought that she will no longer sleep in...but it has been washed so many times over the course of the last 8 winters that it has lost its “soft blankie” feel, and is pilly and textured as cheap fleece can become.

So, tho I have continued to lay it across the foot of my bed in cold weather...she preferring my bed and to be close since Doug died...she won’t lay on it as of this year.

She much prefers positioning herself at the head of the bed, next to me, where she can lay her most deserving doggie head on my flannel sheets.

I can redirect her to the foot of the bed, but wake up in the night to her having assumed her most deserved position and spot...and dog hair of course is on the sheets and bedspread, finding their way onto my face, in my eyes, etc.. over the course of every night.

And, by the end of a week when I remove sheets to wash, that area is dark with black dog hair.

Ummm, no.

Threw the old, pilly and rejected blankie out...tho it had no holes, so that was hard for me ...and bought her this sweet and inexpensive one the other day from the vast selection of Christmas offerings at WalMart, and she looooves it.

When I told her it was “Lily’s new blankie”, she snatched it gently in her teeth, tossed it in the air, and then rolled in it.

Needless to say, she has returned to the foot of the bed, my bedspread and flannel sheets are once again my own.

Booger dog.

[Lily&Me]

This article in the WP today is about the same photographer who took all the photos early last century of child laborers in this country.

This one is about Ellis Island, those who came thru there and the many he photographed...recording history, once again.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/histo...=.8bc91ddcb163

I would like to see all of the photos, as my paternal grandparents came thru there in the early 1900’s...maybe they were photographed, and I could pick them out.

[Lily&Me]

Rain, turning to sleet, turning to snow overnight, with a windchill of 7 degrees this morning...

We will be staying in today.

[Hittenstiehl]

Brrrr, says the story thru the window.

I think we can hear the stove crackling in the background.

[Lily&Me]

Yes, it is doing just that...

I am going to be making firestarters and finishing up a batch of hats and neck warmers today.

The city plow will be thru, eventually I will shovel and salt, as temps aren’t going to be above freezing for days so there will be no melting til the end of the week.

Winter in the Midwest.

[featherbedder]

I would think twice before shoveling this snow as very very wet and heavy I just finished plowing my drive with skid steer [bobcat] with 8 ft western plow, was very difficult bieng so wet & heavy would not roll of plow just ball up then tires spun,this is on bare black top behind plow. Shoveling not good this kind of snow spec. for older people. Don't mean to be mean about this but use caution & take care. I no I won't shovel, if plow won't move it so be it, let nature take it's course. Bill