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Eating Healthy: Oatmeal or Cream of Rice

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Do you eat a lot of oatmeal? This morning, in memory of my ex/father/n/law, I ate oatmeal. He was a retired Doctor from Germany. He LOVED oatmeal! He had his ritual. He would microwave a packet of oatmeal, stir in one packet of sweetener (yellow one) and then add cream on top. FINISHED – nothing else, ie fruit/nuts, etc. Toward the end, at 99, all he would ask for was “oatmeal.”

My Italian mother, on the other hand, preferred cream of rice. Probably because it reminded her of polenta. Although, she never made polenta for us. She would cook cream of rice (for 4 kids) and stir in one raw egg. Since the cream of rice was hot, stirring in the egg cooked it. Voila – breakfast served.

My mother enjoyed something else. She would take a raw egg, some sugar and whip/whip/whip it with a fork until it was creamy like a custard and then she would eat it. Did she cook it? I don’t remember seeing her cook it, I will ask her, but I remember thinking how “odd” that was and worried she’d get SICK!

So, WHAT was IT in your house growing up — OATMEAL or CREAM of RICE?

A Message from God — On a $1 bill… YES!

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The other day, I was heading out the door to walk. I picked up cell phone, keys and “last minute” decided I should bring a few dollars, just in case. The just in case scenario was for the “end of the walk.”

Inevitably, it always happens. I’m at the end of my walk, tired with NO $$ to stop at grocery store or get a coffee. Better yet, get a $2 Lottery Ticket, never know when LUCK might strike, right. I have Apple Wallet, but have not found a grocery store that accepts it.

As I took a few dollar bills, I SAW this one with a Psalm on it. I’m Catholic, the guilt set in, this is a spiritual message, I was meant to see it — STOP — look up the Psalm. If I merely put the $1 in my pocket without looking up the Psalm, my entire walk would be ruined. Why, because in the back of my mind, I’d be thinking what could the Psalm be about, why was I meant to see it?

As you can see, a powerful Psalm indeed!

Imagine me on my walk. I was thinking/wondering — WHO wrote that Psalm, WHY did they choose that one, and WHY did they write it on the dollar bill? So many scenarios.

The Psalm brought back painful memories of when I was laid off two different jobs within seven years. YES, I went through tough times. I did stop by church, I never begged God; however, I did ask, “WHY” and “WHAT was my direction?” In early 50s, it was hard to find a job. NOW, employers are begging for employees. What a difference a few years makes, COVID changed everything.

So, I share this with you.

If you received this Psalm, what would you immediately think?

Squirrel Follow-Up –> What’s he eating?

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Remember the Squirrel from last week with that HUGE — piece of FOOD — in his mouth? Nobody knew what it could be. Such an odd “thing.”

Well, guess what, I happened to walk by a tree and as I looked on the ground, I saw it! Yes, I saw, “IT.” I saw what the squirrel had in his mouth. I picked the weird thing up. It was VERY STICKY, like sap. Imagine my surprise when it was sticking to my fingers, felt prickly and I could NOT let go of it. I had to fling it off. Horror of horrors.

As I looked at it, I noticed there were more at the bottom of the tree. So, I peered up into the tree and LOOK what I saw. YES, a bunch of them growing on the branch.

I’ve NEVER seen a tree with these “things” in my entire life.

I stopped people as they walked by asking what tree this was, NO LUCK! So, I did searches online. Challenging, since I didn’t know what search words to use — “sticky spikey ball in tree?”

Needless to say, my searches didn’t pull up much. THEN a brainstorm, I have a friend who used to work at the arboretum. She must know this tree, right?

She messaged, it’s a HAZLENUT tree.

I went back to the tree for further inspection. See photo of where the nuts were. The nuts are protected inside a green leaf-like hairy bract with ragged edges. Nuts in clusters of 2-5.

I LOVE hazelnuts, so this was a GREAT find.

No wonder the squirrel was dodging me left to right! He thought I was after his hazelnuts!

And you know what — NEXT TIME, I might just go after him!

Have you watched that show on Netflix called, “ALONE?” One participant was desperate for food, it was winter, hard to find food. A squirrel had stashed away mushrooms at the top of a tree. The participant cut the tree down to get the mushrooms. He apologized to the squirrel (who wasn’t there), “Everyone for himself in the wilderness! We’ve got to SURVIVE!”

Great wilderness show if you haven’t seen it!

I will have more appreciation for the hazelnuts in Nutella, Loacker wafers, Ferrero Rocher, Godiva, and Kinder Buono chocolates now!

Don’t you LOVE life’s surprises! Thank you, Mr. Squirrel!

Sardinia, Italy — Get paid to LIVE on the Island?

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I know, you are thinking what I thought. What’s the catch? We need more specifics. Sardinia is the second largest Island (after Sicily) in the Mediterranean Sea. The Island is in green on the map.

When I was there a few years ago, there were not many American tourists. Mainly they were British and German. Also, I noticed that the Sardinians look very Spanish. They speak Sardo, not Italian. I mean, it’s Italian, but the dialect is very very different. In fact, if you read the history of the Island, through the wars, they have a strong Spanish influence.

Fast forward to now. The Sardinian Government wants to attract young people to remote areas of the Island. Goal – increase population and economic fabric of those towns. Small towns, less than 3,000 people, are in decline. People have been moving to bigger cities.

SOLUTION: Offer a grant of €15,000 to attract young people to those small towns. The grant amount must be used toward the purchase / refurbishment of a house, not to exceed half the cost of the house.

The grant is a non-repayable grant. I wonder, is a time limit for “trying” this process out? Living in a small town of 3,000 might seem claustrophobic if you came from a big city.

BIGGEST QUESTION, will Wifi work? Also, if these are small towns, I would imagine they want people who can own shops, work the land, etc. Are they open to remote technology workers?

The Sardinian Government is devoting a total of €45 million for this project; there will be enough for at least 3,000 new inhabitants.

Now, if Sardinia is not appealing, I was reading that Spain and Scotland are offering similar programs.

Time to open a map of the world — throw a dart — see where life takes us.

Squirrel – What is that in his mouth?

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I got so lucky. This squirrel posed for the camera. Look how close I got. You can tell he is hesitant. Wondering if he’s going to have to FIGHT to keep his… WHAT IS THAT in his mouth?

It started like this. I was out walking. I saw this squirrel on the sidewalk. I immediately STOPPED, because he was so darn cute with that HUGE root, dead flower (couldn’t place it) in his mouth.

At first, he wasn’t aware of me. When he got to the top of the fence… THEN I could tell, he was starting to think I “might” be a threat. You can see in his eyes and stance that he knew he had to ACT FAST or he might lose this HUGE food item. That is the motherland!

He happened to turn, I got another GREAT photo. Here he’s making an “assessment” of the situation.

This was the highlight of my walk. I’ve never gotten this close to a squirrel before. They are usually so fast to run away. Photography has become so easy with our phones. Fun getting these photos.

So, I ask you, “WHAT is that in his mouth?”

Vacuum – How long since YOU changed filters?

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I love my blue Kenmore vacuum. It’s 10+ years old. Back then Kenmore was just introducing colored machines. You can tell, this is a funky blue, but I FELL IN LOVE with it.

Me and my blue machine, on top of the world. Cleaning became fun! Similar to a bike or a car, if you LOVE the color, suddenly transportation is a joy.

Lately though, the vacuum wasn’t working properly. This little guy was pushing himself. I vacuumed and felt sad. In the back of my mind thinking, “IS THIS THE END?”

No, it can’t be!!

Before throwing in the towel, I needed to roll up my sleeves, check under the hood, find the product number, Google search, etc. Leave no stone unturned. SAVE my vacuum!!

Sure, I was a girl, not a mechanic, but there is YouTube, I could do this!! I didn’t need a vacuum repair shop… not YET!

A miracle! THANK YOU, KENMORE. The information sticker on my machine was still there. Kenmore telephone number still worked!! Hallelujah!

I spoke to a lovely Kenmore Customer Service Rep. She found my OLD Model #. She said I had two filters. An air filter and motor filter. What? Where? She sent me link to old manual.

WELL — I found the filters. Look at photos. I’m so EMBARRASSED!

No wonder my machine was MAD and not working. The air filter is supposed to be changed a few times a year. That is one dirty air filter!

LESSON LEARNED – change filters, teach daughters vacuum maintenance.

END RESULT — new filters, my machine works at full speed now. Fabulous!

Now, for the cover, it sounds like it will break when I lift it.

Am I BRAVE enough to unscrew the cover and sort that out?

I’m contemplating this…. Youtube, here I come.

August – One more thing to do BEFORE summer ends.

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DO A PUZZLE!

Puzzle of choice – BEACH FUN. I like the White Mountain brand. This one looked challenging, lots of kids/sail boats and color.

MY REWARD!

When I opened the box, RIGHT ON TOP, a puzzle piece with a HEART on it. So darn CUTE!

I immediately searched for the heart in the puzzle picture. WHERE did that piece go? It took me FOREVER to find the heart in the picture.

HOW FAST —->>> Can YOU find it??

Lets have some summer fun!

Memories – HAUSER, Waltz No. 2

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HAUSER the famous cellist…. Waltz No. 2 was written by Dmitri Shostakovich, a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist. This Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2 was written in 1938 for the newly founded State Jazz Orchestra of Victor Knushevitsky, and was premiered on 28 November 1938 in Moscow (Moscow Radio) by the State Jazz Orchestra.

When Shostakovich began piano lessons at the age of nine it was clear he had musical talent. He was one of the major composers of the 20th century.

After reading Dave’s post, ”Child’s Play,” on Life In A Word, I was inspired to listen to Hauser play Waltz No. 2 on YouTube. Thanks, Dave. I hope you all enjoy it too.

Have an enjoyable weekend everyone!

Rhode Island – Sunset on way home.

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I’ve always wanted to see Rhode Island and this was the time. I traveled with my daughter, we stayed in Providence and took a day trip to Newport. TRAVEL TIP: Take the bus from Airport to the city – $2 / bus versus $35+ / Uber. We also took the bus to Newport about one hour 15 min ride. Again, $2 per trip versus $60+ / Uber. Can’t beat that and it was a pleasant bus ride driving through the different cities along the way to Newport.

I REALLY liked Newport. It’s on the water and has the most amazing homes, shops, etc. In fact, on our way to the Cliff Walk, I found an Irish shop and bought this cute hat. You can see a view of the Cliff walk too.

This huge home is The Breakers. Cornelius Vanderbilt II built this as a summer home between 1893-1895. In 1994 it was declared a National Historic Landmark. It’s now a tourist spot with tours, owned and operated by the Newport Preservation Society. The Society agreed to let the Vanderbilts live on the third floor, which is closed to the public. It appears in 2017, the Society wanted the Vanderbilts out. After 120 years of living there the Vanderbilts were told there were issues with electrical/plumbing, etc.

So many articles, hard to keep up with the latest. I will leave that to YOU, if you are interested. BUT there is an article stating that Trump bought The Breakers for $112M, plans to turn it into a casino? That would be sad, I hope not. This is such a beautiful area, why have a casino there.

This house is next door to The Breakers.

Many homes are hidden by bushes, so you cannot see them. In many ways, this walk reminded me of parts of Ireland on the cliffs and also the weather was sunny, then shady like it might rain.

There are a lot of nice shops down by the marina. Shop owners said they really suffered last year during COVID, not sure if they could stay open with no tourists, hard to pay the rent, so some places closed, some remained.

It’s a BEAUTIFUL area. I’d like to go back and stay a few days in Newport, explore that area more.

A Wishing Well…

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Sometimes we get LUCKY! I was in Michigan at a fair. They had an historical center with different log cabins.

A I explored the buildings, I came across this Wishing Well. I’ve always wanted to see a Wishing Well up close, throw a coin in and make my wish. Of course, I was a bit disappointed when I got closer. Turns out it was a “fake” Well, no water, and you can probably see from the photo a plastic container inside that was very shallow for a plant maybe.

So, I could not make a wish. It would have been ridiculous. Throwing a penny in, would have felt like throwing my penny in the grass – no meaning. Sigh, but from a distance, the visual of the Well was GOOD!

When I got home, I did a search for Wishing Wells. Amazon sells quite a few, people buy them as a decoration for their garden. I had no idea. I know, it sounds silly, but I live in a city, we don’t put Wishing Wells on our roof tops. I think of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairly Tales when I think of Wishing Wells.

On to my next adventure. Blueberry and raspberry picking. Take a look at this. A field of raspberries, it was amazing. They are a thorny bush, so next time I wouldn’t wear shorts. Your legs can really get scratched up.

I met some really nice people who were picking. There was an older couple in their 70s, who have been coming to the same farm for years. They said they pick about 8 lbs each time. Their grandkids love the blueberries. There was one mother who said she had been coming for 22 years with her daughter. She was sad, because this summer her daughter could not make it. Kids grow up, but she was picking some for her. Keep the tradition alive.

I got to say, it was wonderful to get out of the city and be on a farm. Smell the fresh air, hear the farm animals.

Oh, guess what, while I was getting gas, I found TWO Lucky pennies.

So, the Wishing Well DID WORK — in a round about way! Don’t you enjoy coincidences like that!