The tradition of Thanksgiving

As I prepared our holiday feast and it is a feast, I searched in my mind the possible waste from a 13 lb bird, granted a few pounds are bone, for only two adults to enjoy family traditions. I must admit Thanksgiving is my favorite meal of the year. We have broken traditions a few times on Christmas but Thanksgiving is homemade rolls, cranberry salad, green beans, candied sweet potatoes, scalloped corn, gravy, dressing, turkey, of course, mashed potatoes, relish dish of pickles and dessert which this year was apple dumplings. My hubby finally admitted he doesn't care for pumpkin pie that much, although he does love a pumpkin roll cake I make with creamed cheese and orange zest, etc.

In creative mode to use all the turkey from Thursdays meal I came up with soups including turkey vegetable, a salad with green grapes and celery, mashed potatoes with turkey and dressing, turkey dumplings, turkey and noodles, oh maybe that will use it up. So tomorrow's dinner just may be that first suggestion of turkey soup with veggies. A good way to savor soup with healthy veggies. Best of luck to anyone wanting to accomplish the same lack of waste.

Winter months and more running of car engines

Walking for exercise up hills and around the neighborhood lake always brings a sadness to me during winter months and in the heat of summer. Why people drive to a place to stare out of car windows is beyond me. The sadness is the ignorance tied to running engines and contamination of air for no reason. One man I approached about thought that because he had bought a hybrid, it was OK to run the engine while his wife walked the dog. Does she not drive or can not drive so in delivering her to walk the dog it is ok for him to sit in the car, engine running to read the paper in the same comfort of home, heating or AC. While the lake is a small man made lake even a fast walker it takes 7 to 10 minutes times that by 7 days, times 365 and that is a lot of waste gas and more pollution in the environment.

Blinders are not good. We see blinders everywhere. Grocery stores, Costco, Sams Club, Home Depot everywhere people stand gawking at products with big carts blocking the aisle...I walked into Publix today and three managers were blocking the main aisle when customers first walk into the store. Blinders...Americans are so good at blinders, wasting resources, wasting money, wasting the environment, not their problem, oh yea, think about not having clean air for your great grandchildren to breath.

Have we gone too far?

I work in the technology field but I am beginning to wonder if we have gone too far.
Not only do computers have all kinds of poison materials inside them so does many electrical objects. God gave me a brain and yes, we all do stupid things but my brain works very well. I use it daily during work, during prayer, during relationship making and maintaining, during worship, during hygiene, during cooking. My brain works.

Now the way this all relates to technology and electronics is this; I want to use my brain, I do NOT need for a piece of electronics to do my thinking. First of all I respect geeks, we need them, but I do need them assuming I do not want to use my own brain whether running a computer or the washing machine.

Again the correlation is this; my machine will not allow me to adjust the cycle once the cycle is started. This happens to be a GE appliance. Now that is nothing against GE. It is against the way we are wasting natural resources because someone somewhere decided everything needs a brain (electronic brain). Electronic brains are not as smart as someone who has been doing laundry a very long time. Well I have news here. Just as I do not need a robot to cook for me I do not need a dumb appliance to make my decisions. American companies have gone too far over my boundaries. I love this country and feel blessed to have been borne here but this is ridiculous. I had to waste a entire tub of water this morning to get one load of laundry clean because my washer was thinking for me. That does not make me a happy camper on the washing machine side of life. Fewer computers in fewer consumer goods please!

Blessings of Fall

During a professional photo shoot today we choose to be outside. The photographer was great and in 40 minutes we must have done 50 photos. The trees this fall have been absolutely gorgeous with deep crimson, brillant orange, golden yellows. When I stand in the mist of nature the awe I feel is breathtakingly wonder. God gave us a beautiful place to live. We should do everything to protect nature and preserve for future generations. Interviewing a CEO in the wood industry, he said after using the water and land we use, we need to give back to the community as much as possible.

Enjoy this beautiful time of year, nothing can be more beautiful then the colors of fall.