Staccato

Cool Breeze
A bird's cry
Autumn leaves

Don't you know
that I
feel a
whole lot
of peace

sitting here
in Buna, Texas
on Pop's carport.

I am certain
that I am
the luckiest girl
in the
whole
wide
world.

Two people who were TOTALLY rockin' cool!

I'm not sure if you know it, but I had the coolest Grandparents.
These three pictures don't really explain all their fabulous-ness. However, they were fabulous.
I love the two pictures of young Claude and Millie. My favorite picture, though you can't see it well, is the one where Grandpa is striding confidently across a street somewhere toward the picture taker. I'm paraphrasing the caption below it, but it says something like "I'm heading toward the drugstore where I met Millie, the love of my life."
How cool is that?

Chicken Avocado Soup

Today I tried something new from "The Lady & Sons" cookbook that I got for my birthday. I followed the recipe, but it didn't seem to turn out how I thought it would. There are no pictures in the cookbook, so I never really know exactly how the end product is supposed to look.

One issue is--I suppose--that I don't know quite how "avocados, diced finely" looks. I THINK I do, but when all was said and done, the diced avocado looked kinda funny floating around the beef bouillon.

It looked funny, but it didn't taste badly at all. So, here is how it went.


Avocado Bouillon- Serves six

Two 10 1/4 ounce cans of condensed beef broth
1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Cilantro
6-8 large leaves of Basil.
Salt andpepper to taste
1 large avocado, peeled and finely diced.

I heated the broth and water and then when it was boiling, I added the cilantro and basil. I removed the mixture from the heat and added the avocado, stirring for a few moments.

The Recipe called for the liquie to be poured at once into heated bouillon cups and to garnish with avocado slices, if desired. We don't have any bouillon cups at this home and I'm not sure I'd even know what one looked like if one was right in front of my very face. So, I just put the soup into regular cereal bowls, sliced some french bread and Pop and I dug in. As I said, it doesn't look rockin'ly cool or anything, but it didn't taste badly. In fact, it was a few steps above "sustenance."

Apples, Celery and Christmas

Yesterday afternoon, Pop and I were feeling a little peaked. So, I decided it was time for a little snack. I went into the kitchen and cut up some celery and apples and then spooned a little peanut butter onto two plates.

What was really cool about the experience was that the moment I cut into the apple, that fresh apple smell just invaded the kitchen. The same event occurred with the celery. Immediately, I had images of Christmas floating around in my mind--just from the scent of the freshly cut apple and celery.

That smell--combined with the cooler air we've been experiencing lately (For example: right now, it is 55 degrees outside here in BUNA!!) just made my heart jump a little in excitement! The Christmas Season is coming! I love the time of year between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. There is just a little something special in the air that makes the world a little different!

Now for you Scrooges out there: This doesn't mean I'm going to start listening to Christmas music now before Halloween. I'm not, but I'm still going to look forward to what is to come!

Hurry Christmas!

Things that are cool about Pop, #17

Pop and I were out on the carport watering the plants and getting ready to transplant several plants--spinach, Bibb lettuce, and Brussels sprouts. The hose was getting hung up on a chair and I was trying to do what I could do to get things
watered.
Pop noticed that I was hung up so he asked if he should move a chair so I'd have a few more inches of hose. Then he asked if that worked:

Me: It is perfect, Pop!

Pop: Yeah, I'm perfect. In fact, my middle name is perfect.

Me: Oh, Pop! Your middle name isn't perfect. It's Younger! You are Herman Younger Whitehead.

Pop: Okay. Well then, I'm Herman Younger Perfect Whitehead!

Peay People I love

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1 .These are the three tables you CAN see. There are four in all, each sitting an average of 11 people. This was our last Thanksgiving at 3003.
2. One of my newest 2nd cousins (or is it first cousins, once removed?) Anyway, Timber is laughing at me over the shoulder her mother, my first cousin, Sara.
3. Sara, beautiful Sara!
4. Marcia--first cousin--and new husband, Darrell (?) I feel sorry for him cos if I can't remember HIS name properly, how in the world is he going to remember all fifty plus of us?
5. First Cousin, Michael, listening to some tunes or watching a game. Michael loves the camera and the camera loves him. (wink, wink)
6. Timber, watching someone intently, while standing next to Granny's beautiful flowers.
7. might look tough, but Douglas Paul is a big, wonderful softie. I oughta know. I've known him since the day he was born. :)
8. “No! You push THIS button!”
9. Michael BEHIND the camera!
10. Slade on his Aunt Marcia's shoulder in Granny's backyard.
11. A bunch of us in Granny's backyard.
12. John and Samantha and Michael out at Daniel's Park.
13. Axel, Marcia's boy rolling down the hill in Granny's backyard. He will be the last generation to do so. Every generation has done it--me included--and prolly even Granny!
14. Aunt Cindy's crew: Slade, Cathy, Aunt Cindy, Axel, Darrell, Marcia, Sara, and Timber.
15. Sara and I.
16. Our Generation: The Grands
17. The Kids of the Original Eleven
18. A long-disance shot of our generation. I love how we can see Timber in the right lower corner running into camera shot and up the hill!
19. The Original Eleven, with Granny and Granpa circa 1968
20. Douglas, Michael, Sammy, and John on Granny deck porch. Cousins having a good time.
21. John and Samantha at Daniel's Park.
22. The representatives from the Urbom Clan. Urbom Mom and Grandpa were brother and sister. We see that leg of the family a lot at family reunions. :)
23. A bunch of us at Daniel's Park after the memorial
24. My favorite Uncle, Steve, and his daughter, Katie
25. Claude and I. The youngest and second oldest of our generation! What a span! We go from 10 to 45.
26. Claude William!
27. Katie Beth!
28. A bunch of us at Daniel's Park
29. Clan Cappuccino: Michael, Sam, John, William, Chris
30. Michael
31. Carter, the youngest of our generations kids, excepting, of course, the one growing in Marcia's tummy!
32. Me and Carter
33. Uncle Thomas
34. Douglas Paul
35. Michael and I, he was prolly making a funny face, if I know him.
36. The Grands
37. Katie, Samantha, Uncle Steve in the background, Johannah, and Michael

Rant: Unbalanced

I'm feeling a tiny bit like a rant. Ahead of time, I'll apologize for it. Here goes anyway, though:

I was filling out my application for the VA today. I got to the part where they ask what your ethnic heritage is. They had check boxes followed by descriptions of people. They had:
-Hispanic
-native american
-pacific islander
-white
-black OR African American
-other

Okay, so when I read it, I thought, "Why do they have a choice on the line for black people? They don't have "or Caucasian" on the white line. They don't have " or Latino or Mexican" on the Hispanic line. They don't have another choice on ANY OTHER LINE. Why can't we just choose one and make that the choice? Either would be correct. I have to say: I DESPISE political correctness. It chaps my ever-lovin' hide.

The choice ought to be Black or it ought to be African American. I know many people would chose the latter, and--really--it is their right to do so. However, I won't be using it, UNLESS when you refer to me you refer to me as Irish-Scottish-English-French-Cherokee American-Indian American. See how silly it would be to describe me in that manner? But all those names belong to me. But, I just call myself an American.

Needless to say, I was irked by that particular portion of the application.

Now another thing:
In the news lately, and on the talk shows, etc., there has been a huge uproar about this young man, Tyler Clementi, who killed himself because of gay bullying.
I must say: I DO NOT think that disrespecting, bullying, beating or doing any physical or mental abuse to a person because they are homosexual is right. What those kids did to Tyler was a sin--plain and simple.

However, I believe that if a young girl moved to Rutgers at 18 from--say Iowa or something--and her roommates filmed her losing her virginity and then broadcast it. When she subsequently jumped off of the George Washington Bridge, it wouldn't have made the such an uproar in the news and amongst Hollywood's elite. It might not have even made the news at all.

This death has made the news because the young man was homosexual. People want to rise up and say "This isn't right" because it has become popular to fight for homosexuals. It is politically correct, but it is unbalanced and really, not right.

And I guess this whole rant is about fairness. Be Black or Be African American. Let's everyone choose one. AND, get outraged about EVERYONE or don't get outraged at all. Gay people aren't any more special because they are homosexuals. Just like I'm not any more special because I'm white.I I am special, but it isn't because I'm white.) Just like my uncle isn't any more special because he is black, Japanese and white. (He is special, but not for those reasons.) Just because my friend Rachel is a woman doesn't make her more special. (She is special because she is Rachel.)

Anyway, all of that has annoyed me recently. Okay, end of rant.