Oh, You Beautiful Doll

The other day I was visiting one of my friends who now resides in a nursing home.  We sat and visited for a while outside, enjoying a lovely summer's day together.  When we went back inside the fun began.

On the way to her room we passed through a group of elderly gentlemen who were sitting and visiting and telling elderly guy stories.  As we approached one of the men said, "There she is!" and reached for my friend's hand.  She gave his hand a warm squeeze.  Another of the gentlemen said to my friend, "I'm not even going to ask you how you are because you're always wonderful."

A third joined the conversation as we passed and said, "She feels wonderful because she was looking at me," to which a fourth replied, "No she wasn't.  She was looking at me!"  In all the years I've been volunteering at this facility I have never witnessed such a genuine and warm outpouring of admiration for true beauty.

"You have quite a fan club," I whispered into her ear.  She smiled her lovely smile.  Did I mention that my friend was in a wheelchair and is 100 years old.  I guess beauty and charm know no boundaries.  So much for the myth of youth and beauty.

Let THE SUN Shine

This isn't a book that I'm going to tell you about, but it's certainly one of my favorite reads.  And a funny thing happened on the way to my reunion.  We'll get to this good read in just a minute.

It seems that I've reached that time in life when high school reunions pop up.  This is year number 50 for me and my classmates from an all girls school.  Women were arriving from all over the United States for the celebration.  One of my good friends from high school was driving up a day early and we were going to have a pajama party.  We hadn't seen each other in 45 years and felt we had a lot of catching up to do.

Our lives had been diverse - she married to a rancher out west and raising 10 kids, while I lived in urban settings all of my adult life.  When she arrived and the hugs and lies about, "You haven't aged a bit," had been exchanged, my friend said she brought a copy of her favorite magazine to share with me.  The name of the magazine was The Sun.  I no longer buy numerous magazines but subscribe to only one.  That magazine is The Sun.  I guess that after all these years we're still pretty much alike in our tastes.  Now, I'd like to tell you why I like this publications and recommend The Sun to you.

First, I like this magazine because it's ad free.  That alone is worth about a zillion points in my book.  Next, it always has something in it that will make me think or expose me to people and ideas that enrich my life.  There's always an in-depth interview, a short story or two, and comments from readers on various topics.

On the down side, the magazine is only about 50 pages and I generally read it cover to cover on the day that it arrives.  Then I have to sit there patiently tapping my foot until the next issue arrives.

You can go to the website of The Sun, edited and published by Sy Safransky, and get a taste of what to expect.  There's even something about a free trial.  Free is good.

Do you have any favorite reads to share?  Sharing is also good.

New Twist On Tabbouleh

In the summertime I like to eat something that's nutritious, easy to make, and on hand.  Add to that, made by someone else, and it would be the perfect food!  Here's something that fulfills almost all of those goals.  It's a slight twist on one of my favorite grain salads, tabbouleh.  The twist is to substitute quinoa or millet for the bulgar wheat.

Start with 2 cups of cooked quinoa or millet.
To that add:
2 chopped tomatoes, or 1 can of diced tomatoes well drained
Small cucumber, peeled, seeded and dices
1/4 cup minced onion or thinly sliced scallions
1 cup or more finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup fresh, chopped mint 
Any other veggie that you know and love

Dressing:
1 lemon, peeled and seeded, or 1/4 cup of lemon juice
Up to 1/4 cup olive oil
Clove of garlic, or more
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the dressing ingredients into a blender or Vita-Mix and blend on high until it's well blended.  Toss it with the other ingredients.  Enjoy, or chill your masterpiece to enjoy later.

NOTE:  I leave out the mint because I don't particularly enjoy mint and I usually don't have it on hand.  Tabbouleh purists around the globe are probably up in arms and ready to tell me that I'm not creating real tabbouleh but I've already substituted quinoa for bulgar so just get a grip on yourself.  I've oftentimes made this recipe without the mint and the world continued to spin on its axis.  Whew!

Taking Time

I recently received an email from one of my granddaughters.  It was one of those emails that was full of accusations and lies.  They're easy to spot because they're done up in a lot of large red font and they talk about patriotism and our Christian nation.  They go on to rail against an individual or a company or a segment of the world population.  They're also easy to discover as lies by simply doing a Google search.

I was especially disturbed to get this from someone so young.  This particular grandchild is a pre-teen and gleefully spreading dissension.  I immediately thought about an incident I read about in one of the books by Anne Lamott.

It seems that Anne was out with one of her friends.  This woman was in the last stages of cancer and her friends would take her out in her wheelchair whenever she was feeling up to an outing. Anne took her along that day when she was shopping for clothes.  Anne set her friend's wheelchair outside a fitting room and would come out to model dresses as she tried them on, asking for input.

After trying on one particular dress Anne came out of the fitting room, turned right and left, and finally asked her friend, "Does this dress make me look fat?"  Her friend replied.  "Anne, you don't have time for that."  Her friend died two weeks later.

So with the precious time that we have upon this earth it might be good to ask ourselves, on occasion, exactly what we want to use our time for and whether activities, such as spreading dissension, is worth our time.  I'm still waiting to get an email that asks me to send to everyone I know some facts about and incredible company, human being, or segment of the population who is making this world a better place to live.  I think I might actually send on such an email.  

The Big Bang

Here is an easy project for a Fourth of July decoration that's suitable to hang over tables in the dining room or use as a centerpiece on table tops.

Supplies:
Mailing tubes
Paint - white and blue
Paintbrush
Red paper stars
Painter's tape
Glue Dots or other adhesive
Sparkly things to poke out of the top

These firecrackers were easily made using mailing tubes that we painted white.  Next, when the tubes were thoroughly dry, we taped them with painter's tape and added the blue stripes.

Red stars, cut out using a punch, were then attached to the side of the tube with Glue Dots.  The sparkly sprays that we used were purchased at Michaels for a mere 99 cents each.  We did stuff a bit of white tissue and paper toweling down the tube in order to hold the sparkly spray in place.

Lacking a shopping trip to Michaels you could also use pipe cleaners with cutout stars or sparkly beads attached.  Some red, white and blue silk flowers would also be nice, especially if used as centerpieces.

The best part of this activity?  We actually completed it well in advance of the holiday.  Funny how those holidays seem to sneak up on us.