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 |   Drop by drop the snow pack dies, watering the arid lands below. |
    Other Blogs and Journals containing the continuing writing adventures of Prosperous Snow celebrating   "The Snowflake Chronicles"  "More Snow Melt" "Writing in Snow" "Welcome to My Life" "Memories of Snow" "Dreams of Snow " Poet999's Thoughts about Writing and Other Stuff http://poet999writingthoughts.blogspot.com/ Poet999 - A Butterfly Emerges From Her Cocoon http://poet999.blogspot.com/ |
| Love Hobo Stew because you can put anything in it and it still tastes great. The more different things you put in it the better it taste. Right now, I have a Tupperware container of Hobo Stew starter in the fridge. I also have the slow cooker heat a batch of it up at this moment. I don’t always use a starter for Hobo Stew, but I fixed a kittle of beans last week. In the beans, I put an onion, a can of corn and a can of peas. We didn’t eat it all so I put it in the fridge and then added some oatmeal Saturday. The Hobo Stew in the slow cooker has franks, chicken noodle soup, chilly and some of the beans from the Tupperware container. We will eat what’s in the slow cooker today. Then tomorrow I’ll fix some potatoes and add the stuff in the Tupperware container. I have plenty of ingredients for Hobo Stew so that is what we’re eating the rest of the month; unless I get to take Mom out on her birthday. The reason I like Hobo Stew is you can fix it with so many different ingredients. I can use the beans in the fridge and add noodles or rice to it for a completely different dish. To make good Hobo Stew takes creativity and a willingness to eat my own cooking. If I make a batch that I don’t like I remember what ingredient didn’t work that time and don’t use it again. The interesting thing is, I have never found any ingredient that doesn’t work in Hobo Stew. Almost anything, I put in my Hobo Stew works. It is wonder to have a dish that I can make anytime without worrying about not using the leftovers I have in the fridge. I can make Hobo Stew with just leftovers or I can make it from scratch with whatever I have in the cupboard or the fridge and it always taste great. My mother keeps telling me I should write down my recipe for Hobo Stew. The problem is that I don’t have a recipe for it, because I make it with the ingredients available I always make it differently each time. Leading entry for "Follow the Leader" [13+] by mood indigo  |
| "Crying Children" attract attention; that is the reason they cry. They either want changed, fed, cuddled or simply some attention. In order to get what they want they cry. Fortunately, as they grow older the learn other ways of getting what they want, but until they learn other methods, they cry. In many cases men and women react differently to crying babies and for good reason. Man (the hunter) went out (without small children) to get food, while woman (the gatherer) had to take the children with her when she gathered. She had to make sure that the small child with her did not attract too much attention, so when the child cried she responded appropriately. Unfortunately, in the modern world parents do not always respond appropriately to the cries of attention their small children make. I have no small children and yet a crying baby will wake me up. It is the maternal instinct. It does not matter where I am when I doze, a crying child will wake me up immediately. I can sleep through thunder and lightning storms. I can sleep through the neighbor's dog barking all night. I can sleep through a telephone ringing in my ear. I cannot sleep through a child crying in the next room with the door closed. Crying children bless their hearts are the future of the world. To quote Jerry Seinfeld: "Make no mistake about why these babies are here - they are here to replace us.” All the crying children in the world are our replacements. |
| ‘Idál (Justice), 4 ‘Alá (Loftiness), 164 B.E. – Wednesday, March 5, 2008 about 5:25 PM PST The fun begins tomorrow, Thursday, March 6, 2008 when the Follow the Leader: Redux contest starts. I'm looking forward to reading the leading entries. My normal method of writing a response is to read the entry and then write what ever comes to mind. However, I'm going to try something new this time around. I'm going to read the entry, then before writing my response I'm going to pray and meditate. After that I'll write the response. I'm not sure what effect, if any, this will have on what I write, but it's a different approach then I normally use. I found out this week just how much fun getting out of the normal routine can be. Monday I had my first chemical peel, I think I wrote something about that earlier. I'm not sure which blog I wrote it in and I'm not going back and read my proceeding entries just yet. I will reread them eventually, but not until after March 21. I have several things to work on and I need to work on them. |
| Fidál (Grace), 3 ‘Alá (Loftiness), 164 B.E. – Tuesday, March 4, 2008 about 3:27 PM PST I listen for the voice of gratitude Rising above this scarlet poverty; There are moment of delight when nothing Except the voice of the Beloved is heard. I hear the voice of fear echoing from A point where memories of past weaknesses Dwell inside scrapbooks of an over active imagination. The illusion of a child who thought that no one loved her When in reality it was the separation of parents That caused her insecurity and terror; It was the alcohol which caused the divorce Not that her parents didn't love her any more. Little actions of others are remembered Small actions that mother, father, grandmother, grandfather Didn't realize would cause her self-doubt. Now these actions, blown out of preparation by a vivid imagination come back to haunt and must be delt with by an adult who still has the inner child's self-doubt. These actions are the voices of fear, the voices of terror rising out of the past to scattered the achievements of the present. I listen for the voice of gratitude and praise, I listen for the voice of the eternal Beloved I listen for voices that will help me overcome the voices of self-doubt and fear. |
| Kamál (Perfection), 2 ‘Alá (Loftiness), 164 B.E. – Monday, March 3, 2008 about 3:19 PM PST I learned something new today. Actually, I learned two new things today  It takes 5 quarts of oil to fill a completely empty engine. No, I didn't let the oil get down 5 quarts, the man put only 4 quarts of oil in. However, now I know how many quarts to keep in my trunk to calm my worst case scenario fears about oil in my engine. The routing number on the bottom of a deposit slip in a checkbook is different from the routing number on the checks. I haven't the slightest idea how I'm going to use this little piece of knowledge yet.I did something today I never did before.  I had a chemical peel today. I'm going back for my second appointment in about 3 weeks. Now I have to get to work and earn the money for the bank account when the first draft goes through. |
| Jamál (Beauty), 1 ‘Alá (Loftiness), 164 B.E. – Sunday, March 2, 2008 about 5:00 PM PST I watch the sky I look out my living room window and watch the sky I watch the sunset transforming white cloud sheep into pink lambs. I watch the sky knowing that Easter is coming and remembering Easter Sunday Services I attended as a child. I watch the sky knowing Naw-Ruz is coming and remembering the Naw-Ruz parties I attended before my life fell apart. I watch the sky knowing that when my life is back together again the pattern won't be the same as before. |
| Jalal (Glory), 5 Ayyam-i-Ha, 164 B.E. - Saturday, March 1, 2008 about 2:05 PM PST March winds Bring Aprils showers That bring May flowers March is coming in like a lion in Las Vegas. A very small and young lion compared to the winds in February, which blew down the elm tree in my front yard, but a lion none the less. I hope the wind isn't as bad as in February. I can't afford to have another tree removed from my yard for at least another year or so. March comes in like a lion March goes out like a lamb March 9 - Daylight savings time begins we spring forward March 16 - Pam Sunday March 17 - Saint Patrick's Day March 21 - Good Friday March 21 - Naw-Ruz March 23 - Easter Sunday |
| Istijlal (Majesty), 3 Ayyam-i-Ha, 164 B.E. - Thursday, February 28, 2008 about 7:47 AM PST Thinking about the birthday spanking now, at 61, it seems like an odd custom, but when I was growing up in Oklahoma it didn't seem odd or anything else. The spanking was never painful, I don't remember any of them every hurting. The spanking went something like this. The person giving the spanking would sit down in a chair and the birthday girl or boy would bend over the person's lap. Then the sibling (or whoever gave the spanking) would swat the birthday girl/boy the amount of times the person's birthday indicated. For instance, at my tenth birthday celebration each of my three siblings would give me ten swats. I don't remember my parents or grandparents every giving me a birthday spanking, but they could have and I just don't remember it. As I get older, my memory has started to become selective, with a few more senior moments. I'm finding that I remember things that I didn't a few years ago and forget things that I did remember without putting them in a date book, such as appointments. |
| 1 Ayyam-i-Ha, 164 B.E. - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 about 7:33 AM PST I did a survey this morning about beans. The survey quoted the old song about this magical fruit. Beans, beans the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot. Actually, that isn't the way I remember the song at all, not that I haven't heard that particular version of it. The verse I remember goes something like this Beans, beans they're good for your heart, the more you eat the more you fart. Other things I remember about beans is that Jack had magic beans that grew into a huge bean stalk, which he climbed and stole some items from a giant. I think he took three items, but I can only remember two of them. I know he stole a goose that laid golden eggs and a magic harp. I can't remember what the other items was, but I do know it must have been unusual. I wonder what the giant thought about a Juvenal delinquent coming into his castle and stealing his stuff. I know that the story must have given Jack a good motive, but I'm not sure what it was. It's been a long time since I read Jack and the Bean Stalk. I doubt that Jack's reason would stand up in a court of law, but it might. One never knows about things like that. I know Jack and his mother were poor, but I don't think the moral of the story was suppose to be if you're poor you can take someone stuff without their permission. I don't remember what the moral of the story was. Maybe it was not to sell your only milk cow and means of support for magic beans. |
| Jamal (Beauty), 18 Mulk (Dominion), 164 B.E. - Sunday, February 24, 2008 about 10:17 AM PST Note about the following piece. This was posted to my yahoo journal writing group and I thought I would put in in this blog today. I have no idea who the author of this piece is. Coffee A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers, got together for a visit with their old university professor. The conversation soon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work and life in general... Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal - some plain, some expensive, some quite exquisite. Quietly he told them to help themselves to some fresh coffee.. When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old professor quietly cleared his throat a nd began to patiently address the small gathering... ''You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up first , leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only natural for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is actually the source of much of your stress-related problems." He continued... ''Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In fact, the cup merely disguises or dresses up what we drink. What each of you really wanted was coffee, not a cup, but you instinctively went for the best cups... Then you began eyeing each other's cups....'' ''Now consider this: Life is coffee. Jobs, money, and position in society are merely cups. They are just tools to shape and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not truly define nor change the quality of the Life we live. Often, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee that God has provided us... God brews the coffee, but he does not supply the cups. Enjoy your coffee!'' The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything they have... So please remember: Live simply. Love generously. Care Deeply. Speak Kindly. And remember - the richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least. |
| Istiqlal (Independence), 16 Mulk (Dominion), 164 B.E. - Thursday, February 21, 2008 about 8:30 PM PST I am finally feeling like myself again after a week of moods depression and wanting to cry. I received a prepaid credit card through the mail from one of the survey panels I participate in. It was only $10, but it paid one of Mom's meds, a large bag of cat litter (Food 4 Less green tag special) and a large can of coffee (Food 4 Less store brand), with about $0.14 left over. I made coffee this evening, for the first time in seven days. I am happy. I think I was going into caffeine withdrawal. The only thing we had in the house was herb tea. I feel like myself again. I am getting too old to go through this lack of coffee for a week. I think from now on when I am in the 99 cent store I am going to buy a little bag of whatever coffee they have and put it in the freezer for an emergency. I love coffee. Coffee and chocolate are about the only real vices I have. I do not drive fast any more and I say a prayer of protection before I pull my car out of the garage. I cannot do without coffee for long periods of time because I think it effects my mood. Even if it does not effect my mood, I still cannot do without it. I do not think I should have to do without it, so I am going to start an emergency fund for coffee. |
| Fidal (Grace), 13 Mulk (Dominion), 164 B.E. - Tuesday, February 19, 2008 about 10:01 AM PST My Microwave is dead, it departed for Microwave heaven yesterday now I have only a slow cooker and a toaster oven to use. I would like to know why stuff like Microwaves go out at the most inconvenient times. I know what Murphy's laws says, but that doesn't answer my question. Why do things like this happen when you can least afford a new one? Cooking chicken and meat isn't a problem because I can use the slow cooker. The toaster oven will work for toast, grilled cheese and franks. However, I haven't yet figured out how to bake a cake or cook a turkey in either of those. I can do both with a Microwave. I can cook anything in a Microwave that is working. I now may have to learn to cook those things in a slow cooker or a toaster oven. |
| "Invalid Entry" because I am a dual natured creature unable to overcome my animal nature desire for the manic high. I know I will regret it, but the inability to say No to my lower self combined with a number of destructive psychological traits means that I will eventually give in. I cannot ignore the desire for the one thing I know will eventually imprison me in regret and self-loathing. Glutton that I am I know that I will pay the price, but now with my addiction willing to sacrifice for my pleasure I proclaim a resounding Yes that reverberates through my soul as I consume an entire box of Valentine's Day chocolate hearts. ** Image ID #1382532 Unavailable ** |
| I rode the Citizens Area Transit line off and on for several years. I encountered some interesting people, but never anyone who preached ""Only Jesus can kill you."" . I encountered a street poet while waiting for a CAT bus on Las Vegas Blvd. He was very good at rhyming obscene words. He also ranted against the establishment, the problem was I still can't figure which establishment he was ranting against. Because he mention the bus line, the mayor, the military and the landlord at his apartment complex. While waiting for the bus on Boulder Highway, another rider attempted to sell the rest of us medication. When someone ask him what type of medication, he said whatever we wanted. He was taking a chance because any one of us could have been an undercover cop, but apparently he never thought of that. Then getting off the bus at a Boulder Highway stop, I witness a hooker attempting to sell her services to a senior citizen. The prospective john must have been well into his seventies and he used a cane. However, I think the most intriguing passenger I have ever encountered was on the Charleston bus. He was drunk and singing Christmas songs on Halloween. ** Image ID #1382532 Unavailable ** |
If I could change one aspect of my personality, it would be my tendency to foresee the worst case scenario in anything I attempt to do. The intriguing thing about foreseeing the worst is that it never happens. However, my self talk doesn't let past experience interfere with imagining the worst, telling me about it and insisting I need to be worried about it. I will say that I have improved somewhat in the past few weeks. I am much more willing to say: "If it happens then I'll handle it!" Of course my inner critic, who is the source of my negative self-talk doesn't like that, but my inner critic seems to focus on my low self-esteem. A friend, now passed into the next world, always said that the things she worried about never happen. She said the stuff that happened was so far off the wall she never would consider worrying about them. I have found this to be true. One thing that happened recently was a wind storm that blew down the elm tree in my front yard. I wouldn't have worried about the wind blowing the elm tree down. Now I have a dead elm tree laying in my front yard. Fortunately, the tree missed the roof of the garage, it fell in the other direction. In addition, we were fortunate that it didn't take out an the electricity. However, I still have to deal with the elm tree. Another thing I never would have foreseen was my computer mouse having babies. Ok, I know that sounds a little odd and needs explaining. It all started with the original computer mouse dying. I finally go enough points in a survey account to send for another mouse. I sent for a three-button mouse and it arrived in a nice box. I connected the mouse to the computer and all went well. A week later I got another package through snail mail. I opened it and it was another mouse, smaller then the one I sent for and connected to my computer. Yesterday another packaged arrived with another computer mouse. So I have a regular sized three button mouse and two smaller three button mice. ** Image ID #1382532 Unavailable ** |
Birthday's are doors in our lives that lead from one room to the next. Most birthday pass with just a cake, cards from relatives and maybe some presents. However, there are some birthdays that open into new lives and phases in our spiritual development. My 60th birthday, December 24, 2006, was one of those, all though I don't think I realized at the time. I am now 61 and I am just learning what this new phase of existence is and how to handle it. Am I happy? Sometimes I am and sometimes I am not. I know I wouldn't want to be deliriously because then I wouldn't really know what was going on around me. Happiness and sadness come and go. I think to be truly happy one has to define what happiness means. I never defined that before I turned 60 and now the definition I had on my 60th birthday is changing. I do know to be happy all the components making up my life have to balance and I don't think everything has reached that point yet. Happiness is a spiritual quality and I am working on my spiritual life at the moment. 2007 was full of stress and worry, I am still in the worry habit, but I am working on changing that. There are lost of things I am working on changing in my life. Writing helps me focus on what I need to change, that is why I have an offline journal called Writing My Spiritual Journey and a Gratitude journal I call Glory. There is one thing I know for sure, that is that every 10 years a person should end or begin the decade on a high note. ** Image ID #1382532 Unavailable ** |
| It's Thankful "Invalid Entry" again and Valentine's Day. I should post a Thankful Thursday list to my Yahoo journal writing group. I haven't posted anything to hat group in several day. I'll think of ten things to be thankful for on this cold and windy Thursday morning in Las Vegas. Bitter Valentines Day Your memory is the pain in my knee, which wakes me up screaming every morning. That's the closest I can come to a Valentine's Day poem this morning. I realized today that I never received a box of chocolates or roses from any man I fell in love with. Friends have given my mother and me boxes of chocolates for other occasions, but I never received chocolates and flowers on Valentine's Day. It's probably just as well that I don't associate chocolate and roses with the guys I've been with, my love poems are bitter enough without having to avoid chocolate and roses because of bad and bitter memories. I should put that on my Thankful Thursday Valentine's Day list.  Today I am thankful that none of my ex-lovers ever sent me chocolates and roses for Valentine's Day.Perhaps I should focus more on the spiritual aspects of Valentine's Day, after all the day is named after a Saint. God did create humanity because of love, so maybe instead of focusing on the material or physical aspects of the day I should focus on the spiritual. I'd like some chocolates today, either a box or a Kit Kat bar. It's been a long time since I had a Kit Kat bar, I remember the taste fondly. Come to think of it I'd like some chocolates as well. Between Mom and myself, we've eaten every crumb of chocolate in the house. Not only that, but we didn't go to the Ethel M factory last Christmas to see their lights and take a tour of the factory. Which means we didn't get a free chocolate sample. I'm looking forward to Christmas and the tour of the Ethel M Chocolate Factory in Henderson, Nevada. ** Image ID #1382532 Unavailable ** |
| On "Invalid Entry" the alarm went off at 4:00 AM, playing a local music station. I lay in bed listening to the music echoed through the house. The clock radio is in the living room setting on the dining room table. My dining room table is in my living room because there is a hospital bed in my dining room. I'm planning on the hospital bed being gone before March 21, 2008 and then I can put the table back in the dining room where it belongs. Lion came into my bedroom about 4:30 or 5:00 AM, he doesn't like the music playing more than a half-hour. I got up, stopped at the thermostat, turned the heat up and stopped at the bathroom. Then I went in the kitchen, with Lion following and meowing all the time, to see if Prince (Lion's brother) had opened the fridge door during the night. After making sure everything in the fridge was secure, I went into the living room and turned the alarm off. I sit down on the couch, because I was cold, covered up with a wool blanket (not the best idea since I'm allergic to wool) and recited the Tablet of Ahmad a couple of times before going to sleep again. I went to sleep with Trouble's purring on my chest and Lion on the arm of the couch. Woke up between 7:00 and 7:30 AM. Realized that Mom and I needed to be at Help of Southern Nevada to get an emergency food voucher for the Methodist church. I got my mother up, she was already awake, but it was too cold for her to get up. We got dressed, Mom complaining all the time about how cold it was in the house. I don't have to complain about how cold it is because my mother does it much better then I can. Then we went out to the car, which was parked in the garage. I didn't have to open the garage door because it won't close, the remote controlling that door has new batteries so there is something else wrong. I'm going to have to have that fixed whenever I get $55 to pay a maintenance person to fix the door. My mother got in the front passenger seat and I put her walker in the backseat. I went around to the driver's side and realized that I hadn't closed the door properly on Monday. Naturally I couldn't start the car and the only neighbor who was home couldn't do heavy lifting or pushing to help get the car out of the garage to jump it (for those archaeologists reading this entry in a thousand year; jumping, in this case, refers to using jumper cables to start a dead engine). I finally found someone home about 4:30 PM who could get the car out of the garage and jump it. It turns out I have another problem, I need to get a small cable to go on the battery because one was loose. Once I got the car started we (Mom and I) went to Wal-Greens to get her meds. Since we were out and I didn't have a clock, but had to drive the car about 30 minutes to make sure the battery was properly charged. We went to ARCO to get gas, however, they only took debit cards and not credit cards. I went to the Western Petroleum station on the corner of Eastern and Sahara. Explained to the attendant that I needed $10 of gas and we had to use the credit card. We came home and I backed the car into the garage. It is the first time I've backed my car in and I did a good job. I hope this account of my day doesn't put anyone to sleep. However, considering that in a thousand or two thousand years archaeologists will look at blog entries to determine the daily lives of twenty-first century humans, I thought it important to go into some detail. After all, we have a responsibility to the future to let them know how we lived on a day-to-day basis. ** Image ID #1382532 Unavailable ** |
| "Invalid Entry" , why not it's one of my favorite subjects. I like M. Scott Peck's definition of love - "...The will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth." - because it places love in the spiritual realm where it belongs. Love is an attribute of God. The purpose of the individual is to know and love God. I think people have difficulty in loving God and loving their neighbor because the individual has difficulty in love him/herself. We aren't taught that it's alright to love ourselves, we aren't taught to love ourselves because we aren't taught how truly special we human beings are. So we don't consider ourselves or our fellow human beings special and worth love. In discussing God's creation of the world Baha'u'llah tells us how special the individual and the whole of humanity is when he writes. "Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him -- a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation.... Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 64) We, each individual human being, have the capacity to reflect the attributes of God. However, we can't do this until we cleansed the mirrors of our own souls or spirits. I suspect this is where the saying {c;red}love hurts comes from because cleaning anything, whether it is a mirror of the human spirit or a human body, can sometimes cause pain. Especially when the dirt is ground in and dried. Once the cleaning is done properly, then we have to keep it clean or we have to go through the painful process again. ** Image ID #1382532 Unavailable ** |
| It's "Invalid Entry" , the hope for the best that keeps us going. People surprise us and we surprise ourselves. People, the rest of humanity, surprise us by doing something we don't expect. They either come through when we don't expect them to do anything or they don't come through when we expect them to. We surprise ourselves by doing things we didn't think we could do or that we're afraid to do. The Universe is full of surprises both good and bad. Both types of surprises can change our outlook on life from the glass is half-full to the glass is half-empty or back again. The only difference between the two outlooks is perspective. One perspective leans toward the positive and the other the negative, but both are necessary for balance. We live in a balanced Universe, even though it may not seem like it sometimes. For humans to survive physically we need climates that aren't too hot or too cold. We need a diet that contains all the essential vitamins and minerals. The same thing goes for human society we need people who have different perspectives some who look at the negative and some who look at the positive, without both outlooks society and civilization wouldn't grow or advance. The same thing goes for the individual soul or spirit. Sometimes looking on the negative or the half-empty glass helps the soul to advance and sometimes the opposite perspective is necessary for spiritual growth. Both of these perspectives help strengthen faith, which is the soul's survival instinct. I've gone through a half-empty glass perspective and am now turning to the half-full glass outlook. There is absolutely no difference in the amount of milk in the glass because a half-empty glass and a half-full glass has the same amount of milk in it, it's just the way one looks at the glass. ** Image ID #1382532 Unavailable ** |
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