Jammin

I'm dallying.

Or dilly/dallying, as some would say. And I'm unsure if there should be a slash or a dash there. When in doubt, I go slash for a little added flair...although it's obvious it's not the slash. I'm going with it.

When I was young, my grandmother used to send me home with a case of jelly every year. Not just any jelly, but Elderberry jelly. She was the only person in the world who could create this concoction of tangy bitter jelly, and I was impressed. She made all kinds of things, sweating over boiling pots...I remember her making 'Apple Butter' hanging the boiled apples in a table cloth over a washtub, tied to a leaning chair. She churned her own butter and grew her own corn. I used to wonder how she'd got to cussing the way she did; she seemed hard and tired. A couple years ago, she moved on to the next world and was forever gone to me, along with all her Godly food offerings.

Here I found myself missing her jellies & jams, and decided I was going to try to make them myself. Part of it was the buying of a place with a massive fig tree, spilling over...looming 16-20 feet tall. Learning about figs was my mission, and I soon learned they don't keep. I've learned how to make fig jam! I alternate between pickled fig jam & the old standard jam, and I've made over 50 jars in the last few days.

Could I try Elderberry? Elderberries grow wild, and are free if you don't mind ticks and chiggars. I do mind those things, but Steven and Naomi were up to spending a Sunday out picking berries. The first batch they picked was definitely a learning experience.Granny, if you're out there ~ not so easy!

Elderberries are like teeny tiny grapes, but bitter. First, you have to pick them off the stems with a fork, washing them. Then you boil the berries down. Then you stick a big bowl out there, and put a strainer over it. On top of the strainer, a piece of cloth. You then spoon the boiling stuff onto the cloth. Some say squeeze, some don't. (I have been.)So you jar this purple stuff as your juice. You have to sterilize your jars & keep them hot. You have to boil a giant pot of water. You make you jelly, take out the steaming jars, fill them, stick them in the big boiler, then time them & take them out. The tricky part is you can do all this & it may still not set. (In that case, you reboil it all...)

There's that part of me that says, "Well, I really like the Dickensons Blackberry jelly, and it's $4 at the gro." Then there's this other part. The part where you are working for your food. The part where you know what went into it, and if the Earth is putting it out there, it should be used. I know, I'm boring as hell today!

So Steven & Naomi go berry picking last night. They come back with 4 trashbags full of berries...30 gallons...which have to be processed today. Yikes. Steven said they went a little overboard!

I'm sitting with you instead. I'm dallying. I'm playing here, looking up Littlest Pet Shop toys for the girlies (they lost their tupperware container with the little pets they had in the move! They had over 100!!!) They tell me they need the deer & the giraffe. The zebra. So I am trying to find these things. But it's not what I should be doing.

But where do I begin?

Then the little voice in my head says,

You begin at the beginning.

Sorry I haven't kept up better~Much love & have a cool cool day!!!Kat Lee

The finger pointing to the moon is not the moon.

buddhist saying

Slapping at the Glass

Slapping at the glass. I'm slapping at the glass,
And it's all morning everyday.
The buzzing, it's in my ear,
On my nose.
You'd think I could get it,
On my nose.

Some things you see but you just can't get.
Could be crawling cross my eyelashes,
Buzzing its busy buzzy song to my eye,
a lovesong from its legs to the closest thing on me
Resembling it.

I'm watching and listening to the hum.
Lips tight cause its on my mouth.
I think bout that thing I read
How we eat spiders when we sleep.
You'd think I could get it,
On my mouth.

The jar, a giant jar,
I wear it on my head
It contains several flies...
And my head.
I slap at the glass,
Don't do no good.

4 or 5 I take the jar off.
Sometimes 6 or 7.
I take the jars off and the flies,
They go free,
probably to their little fly houses
in the dirty dishes in the sink.

I find that when they've gone,
I'm still slapping.
Not the glass, but the table.
The wall. Anything that seems like its buzzing.
Just after the nearest thing that seems like
the thing that was on my nose.

Isn't that just how folks are?

Just checking to see if anybody is out there :)

http://www.trauma.org/images/image_library/classic013b.jpg

eye candy for you?

Hmmm, Maybe not! I'm not too sure anyone is actually reading this,
so if you are stumbling across this by accident, the link above may not be for you!
Ouch! But Welcome to my blog :)

"If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path."

~ Buddhist saying ~

The Things Dr Oz makes us do

I've been thinking about this for awhile, a long while, but not really discussed it. Here "it" is.
Last year, Dr Oz said,

"If you can read through your pee, you are drinking enough water."

What does this mean exactly? Call me simple minded (it's really okay-I know it already :(. Wasn't it me that went to the Israel Palestine class and ask why the holocaust survivors didn't just get a Hawaiian island? Yikes. So, yep, I know. But I'm learning new things everyday. Bare with me...)

So does this mean that Dr Oz is suggesting we put some sort of reading material in the toilet and pee a top it? And due to the toilet bowl full of water, people are going to be able to read through their urine regardless, won't they? I mean, well, even if you're pee is yellow, it's still going to be clear yellow; like looking through a stained glass window so to speak. :)

Perhaps it was a sly way of getting folks to pee on newspaper as a joke, saying we are all getting enough water anyway? Dr Oz, you dirty boy, I know laughter & visualization are good for your health, but to gets yours this way? Surely not.

Though he didn't mention a toilet or the fact that the clear toilet bowl water would be diluting the pee, so he may have indeed intended for this do be done outside, camp style.

If this is the case, I don't think I'm gonna do it.

But ever since Oprah's doc has repeatedly mention reading through your urine, I've wondered about trying it. When I go to flush, there's a part of my mind that now says,"Could I read through that?"

I'd love to hear about any of your experiences with this. Anybody out there tried it?

Speaking of pee, we went to the IMAX in Chattanooga with the girls Sunday. Sat middle center for Grand Canyon 3D. Shanna & I had to make everyone get up to go potty but it was too late.

The shows before and after were both sold out, so I feel for whoever had to sit in ShannaBelle's seat. Her words were,

"It was just too much water!"

If your spouse is an avid white water kayaker (like Steven) , this'll be right up their alley. It's a paddling video!

Speaking of my man, he's injured again! He was riding a downhill trail and a couple miles in, he tried to jump his tires on these little bumpy places in the trail, and his bike got off trail and flew into a tree. He was wearing a helmet, so he's mentally sound. All his teeth are still in place. This time its bruises & road rash, along with an nasty impalement into his right knee. He's crazy glued it back together and resting it with ice whenever possible.

The limp isn't too bad. I made a joke about the luck of it being the right leg, as he shattered his left ankle during a fall while rock climbing, so it offsets it a bit. He doesn't appreciate my rare form of humour. Also, he wouldn't like me saying "injured again." But if anyone needs info on how long dislocated shoulders or cracked ribs take to heal, you can feel free to email us :)

I wish the extreme sport thing would run its course. Maybe he could take up crossword puzzles. If you know him, then we both know better.

I hope everyone is doing great! Much love to you all & have a cool day ~ Kat

One Folks Turd Be Ten Flies Palace - Kat Lee

My father once told me I never had anything interesting to say. Probably not the worst of what he said during that phone call, but at the time, it made me cry.

I never had anything interesting to say. What if it were true?
What constitutes interesting? How do you get there? Education? Travel? Was this a finger pointing out all the things I lacked in myself, is that why it hit such a nerve? And all the dreams that fall away, afterwards, when you're sitting there with your handful of rocks, what are you saying if you have said nothing interesting? Did Johnny Cougar really sum it up when he said,
"Life goes on, long after the thrill of living goes on?"

Was this 'nothing interesting' based on things like me talking about breakfast cereal, or the candle I bought on sale? The thing I found under the couch?
Maybe the idea that I have nothing interesting to say is not a flaw in me, but a gift. I'm lucky that I can enjoy my cap'n crunch, my $2 candle. Let me be thankful for tiny things in day to day life. One folks turd be ten flies palace.
We aren't here to be interesting. Interesting is a seldom shared point of view.
Interesting is not and never will be a requirement.
Interested is.

There you have it, my quote for the day. For all the uninteresting people who stumble across me today, it's okay. Maybe you feel like a rock today. I know that you're really a geode, sparkly and shiny on the inside.
Spill your guts! (I couldn't resist that one...)

Have a sweet day...kat

ps. can you tell I've spent the afternoon hauling
big ass rocks from one side of my yard to the other?
hence todays rock theme...