As the Green Hills Roll Along

The days may be near 90, but in the shade, the air is much cooler than it was.   Fall is near.  Cattails fill ditches along with Queen Anne's Lace; the sumac is turning colors.  Leaves are even beginning to fall and school has started.  I dread winter, but I love fall, and Halloween, of course.

The hills are still green, and the corn high.  There is no landscape like this, with weathered red barns here and there, and houses way to worn to be standing by themselves, but do.

I want to walk and walk through it all, to remember days with my family, now gone, when we went driving along the country back roads, looking for antique stores, or old barns holding sales, for tomatoes and sweet corn, and later, hickory nuts, taffy apples, and pumpkins.

No one buys me taffy apples any more.  Driving my Dad's car, I realize how much he loved taking to the road.  I do, too.  Long drives are when I can play audio books; I'm listening to The Hobbit, which I've read over and over.  It takes me back not just to Middle Earth, but to Saturday mornings when my folks would go out, and I would get up and dust the living room, and every other weekend, one of the other rooms of the house as well. I read, played Barry Manilow albums over and over, especially I Write the Songs, daydreamed about boys I kind of  liked, but would never approach, did my drivers' ed homework, and waited for my folks to get back so I could go to lunch with them and shop.  Life was pretty easy, and good. It included free meals out, my mom buying and washing my clothes, free books, antique shows, and vacations, sometimes twice a year.

It's different now. 

Memories sustain me, and flowers, and a whiff of pumpkin spice now and then.   

American Doll and Toy Museum: Doll Convention Season and Estate Sale Adventures

American Doll and Toy Museum: Doll Convention Season and Estate Sale Adventures: Another awesomely wild season of Virtual Doll Convention, Auctions, National Doll Festival and UFDC are coming to a rapid close, but with ...

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Pymian Pumpkins hold their own!

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Pymian Pumpkins hold their own!: These volunteered themselves.  They look very healthy, and I have hope.  Usually, I get lovely vines and blossoms, and then the vine wither...

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Pymian Pumpkins hold their own!

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Pymian Pumpkins hold their own!: These volunteered themselves.  They look very healthy, and I have hope.  Usually, I get lovely vines and blossoms, and then the vine wither...

Healthy Living, Eating, and Cooking, without Thinking!

In my immediate family, we were pretty healthy, and we didn't have cancer.  I am fairly healthy; it got me to thinking why?  I think it's because my mother cooked and served food routinely that is now considered uber healthy; here are some of the things she did:

• She cooked with olive oil, and used it in salad dressings.  Usually, vinegar, olive oil, a little salt.
• We ate a lot of tomatoes in Greek peasant salad, and often had it as a midnight treat.
• We didn't eat fast food; McDonald's was unheard of, and Mr. Quick was a special treat.
• She gave me pomegranates and cherries on a regular basis; we loved them in the summer.
• We always had grapes around, and oranges and apples.
• She didn't fry much; when she did, she drained the food well.
• She made soup from scratch, especially Lentil and vegetable.
• She skinned chicken and foul before she cooked it.
• Later on, she cooked with splenda and did healthy exchanges with butter  and sweeteners in her recipes.
• We didn't eat huge portions.
• We walked.
• We didn't drink diet pop.
• I loved blueberries, so she bought them and other berries.  I liked making blueberry pie.
• We ate a lot of nuts.
• She trimmed the fat off other meat, too.
• We were careful where we ate it.
• We never had alcohol around

It helped.  We weren't perfect, but by the same token, we weren't sick all the time, either. 

An Apologia for Countess Erzebet Bathory: July Skyward by Dr. David Levy; A Night Watchman's...

An Apologia for Countess Erzebet Bathory: July Skyward by Dr. David Levy; A Night Watchman's...: Here, once again, is a guest post from the incomparable David Levy.  Erzebet died at the time great strides were being made in astronom...

Celebrating the Legacy of Beverly Port with John Paul Port