Happy Thanksgiving Holiday, everyone!

This year, for the first time, brother Pat and I are hosting Thanksgiving for the family at his home in Moses Lake. I am cooking the turkey and basics, other family members are bringing sides and dessert. It will be a wonderfully inclusive family and extended family time for us. I am sure we will enjoy each other's company and have fun!
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Daughter & Co. will be traveling "over the hills and through the woods" on Wednesday afternoon, or in this case, 4 hours over two mountain passes and a long stretch of interstate highway, as are a nephew and his bride, so good travel thoughts are most appreciated! No mountain snowstorms, please!
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Still trying to wrap my brain around getting up at 4 am Thursday morning to get the 20 lb. turkey prepped and into the oven for it's 6 hours of roasting time before the scheduled 12 Noon-12:30 pm call to eat. Said Daughter & Co. must travel back after our feast, hence the earlier time.
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I wish you all a very comfortable and enjoyable holiday, where giving thanks is at the forefront.

Feeling Healthy by Deb Sandella

SOM teaches us to see the divine body behind the physical body. In other words, we have a visible body and an invisible body. The visible body is physical matter, and the invisible body is consciousness. Consciousness is formed out of our thoughts and feelings, and the source of our thoughts and feelings is both human experience and divine revelation.

Our physical habits, emotional feelings, and spiritual beliefs manifest our health. Thus, good health calls us to attend to all of these levels. Taking care of the soul is a way of tending to the body, and tending to the body is a way of taking care of the soul. They are interconnected, so when they align, we feel good. A Buddhist saying reflects this understanding: "You will know you are enlightened when you eat when you are hungry, you sleep when you are tired, you drink when you are thirsty, and you work when you feel like it." Being in touch with our true spiritual nature, we thrive in an easy, natural way, trusting it all works perfectly. Today, let us try one of these suggestions and see how it feels. And as another Buddhist proverb suggests, "If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking."

Affirmation:
My spirit and body align as one magnificent beloved presence. When they speak, I listen, and when I listen, they thrive. As they thrive, my soul evolves, my wisdom grows, and joy expands!

Feeling Divine by Deb Sandella

You are a magnificent being imprinted with universal creative powers. In, around, and through you burns a divine spark of aliveness. Within you is a sacred pattern that weaves together your human persona and your divine heritage. Expressing as an exquisitely beautiful outpouring of life on the planet, you are a unique part of the One.

Some experiences help us feel our divine essence more than others. As we heighten personal awareness of this inner power, we are better able to use it wisely and effectively. If we remain ignorant of our inner power, we run the risk of misusing it by unknowingly creating what we don't want rather than what we do want. Ask your soul, "Reveal to me in dreams, signs, and intuitive knowings the practices that help me deeply feel my divine nature." As you sense that which uniquely tunes you into your sacred self, imagine partaking of these kinds of experiences on a regular basis and notice how your body responds. Maybe it's being in nature, lighting a candle, meditating, journaling, dancing, jogging, painting, sculpting, singing, gardening, cleaning, cooking - anything will do. Letting go of any need to compare with others, whatever works for you is perfect!

We are the creators of our universe. Let us use our magnificent powers wisely and intentionally to manifest a world of peace, abundance, and joy!

Affirmation: I wisely choose and release my words and actions into the universe, and the law returns them to me as fulfillment.

Final Late Season Harvest

Nantes Carrots, French Breakfast Radishes, baby greens (spinach, mache, chard)

I had hoped to go later in the season, but this is later than I've ever grown before, so all is well. The greens plants are still under plastic hoops in the raised beds, so hopefully they will survive the winter and begin early growth in the New Year.

The Right to Dry in the news again

Yes, it pops up every so often when someone wants to hang out their laundry to dry in the sun on a line, and the neighbors object, unfortunately.

Here's the latest eposide.

Second Experiment: Homemade beef jerky

Using stir-fry beef strips. (they're dark after marinating all night)

It kinda looks like worms on the drying tray, but trust me, much tastier!
And finished !

I saw a recipe on another blog, where they had adapted another recipe to suit them. I thought, why not? This recipe called for things I'm not familiar with (food adventuresome I am not!) such as tamari sauce and mirin. So I chose to do my own substitutions! I used worchestershire sauce instead, and where it called for apple cider (which they had substituted for plum nectar), I racked my brain and thought: I have cranberry concentrate! It also called for sea salt, ginger, garlic and pepper, which were all on hand.

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One word: YUM, YUM, YUM. Well worth it. I dried them at about 118º all day today, after marinating all night in the fridge. They were ready upon my return home. Wonderful treat!

First Experiment: Indoor growing

Various greens planted indoors under a grow light and a shop light. Nov. 8,2009 And today, Nov. 17, 2009
Seems to be working. Time will tell if they will sustain and produce.

The Forgotten Garden

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a great read. Can't put it down. It's a historical mystery novel set between Australia and England between 1900-2005. Chapters jump around according to the year, so that takes some getting used to, but overall, very compelling.
View all my reviews >>

television

Those of you who've known me for a while now know that I have a love/hate relationship with the tv. For the most part I do not watch it much, except PBS.

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Since the summer's conversion to HD and digital, the quality and choices on my old tv were limited, even though I have basic cable. So, a couple weeks ago I decided to upgrade my tv. Keep in mind that this was no small task for my techno challenged self, but also to my psyche, as I resist but am yet attracted to certain shows.

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So the choice was made, I ordered it online and it was delivered to my doorstep. That was painless. I chose a smaller profile unit so it does not overpower my living room. I finally got things hooked up right and the options figured out, which was an issue because all the important things (in my view) were relegated to a very small section in the back of the user's manual. Go figure.

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Having figured all that out now, I am very happy to have found I now have the option to watch PBS's Create channel! It's all of the how to's, artsy, sewing, cooking shows in one source 24 hours a day. Wow! Now when I feel like tuning something in, it's an easy choice about where to go to find something that's appealing to me.

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Have any of you found this channel and appreciate it as I am?

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Feeling Divine by Deb Sandella

What lies beyond us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. - Emerson

You are a magnificent being imprinted with universal creative powers. In, around, and through you burns a divine spark of aliveness. Within you is a sacred pattern that weaves together your human persona and your divine heritage. Expressing as an exquisitely beautiful outpouring of life on the planet, you are a unique part of the One.

Some experiences help us feel our divine essence more than others. As we heighten personal awareness of this inner power, we are better able to use it wisely and effectively. If we remain ignorant of our inner power, we run the risk of misusing it by unknowingly creating what we don't want rather than what we do want. Ask your soul, "Reveal to me in dreams, signs, and intuitive knowings the practices that help me deeply feel my divine nature." As you sense that which uniquely tunes you into your sacred self, imagine partaking of these kinds of experiences on a regular basis and notice how your body responds. Maybe it's being in nature, lighting a candle, meditating, journaling, dancing, jogging, painting, sculpting, singing, gardening, cleaning, cooking - anything will do. Letting go of any need to compare with others, whatever works for you is perfect!

We are creators of our universe. Let us use our magnificent powers wisely and intentionally to manifest a world of peace, abundance, and joy!

Affirmation:
Floating on a stream of unconditional thankfulness, I am the great creator. I wisely choose and release my words and actions into the universe, and the law returns them to me as fulfillment.

Very, Very Cool Video - Spread it Around~

Believe In It

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Saw this bumper sticker on a car yesterday. I think they should be mass produced and distributed to all of the "red" states and counties in our country, as well as all of the churches.
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Time for everybody to "see the light".

A Year on Ladybug Farm

A Year on Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am really enjoying this book about three women friends who leave the city life for a life in an old house on a farm. Good read so far!

View all my reviews >>

Colony Collapse Disorder

There's been lots of talk about bees and diseases and why and what can be done about it.

Here's a newer theory with two studies to support it: it's due to cell phone radiation from towers. Bees loose their navigational skills and are unable to return to their colonies. Read about it here.

A HUGE Sigh of Relief and Many Thanks

I have not spoken of this yet, "this" being what's been going on in my work life since the end of August. I thought it quite cosmic that right after I filled in one of those email questionairre thingys that I received and answered the question (rated 1-10): How well do you like your job? I answered 9.

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Well, things have a way of happening, don't they? Karma, cosmic or not. I am back to feeling at least a strong 8 today, thank goodness.

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At the end of August, "they" decided to add an additional 8 hours of work to my workload. I have no idea where they thought I was going to pull this out of the hat from, and perhaps they didn't even know or care, nor had thought of that. Turns out, for each week I was assigned this additional task, I got one more day behind in my normal duties. See, I already had a full load.

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So, as I approach my busiest time of the year next month, I cried UNCLE to my boss. I said I just could not sustain this beyond Thanksgiving time. They needed to find another solution. Thankfully the boss listened and today I was officially relieved of this extra duty. (I'm intentionally being vague).

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Tomorrow will be my last day on this duty as I train a different person to deal with this task.

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I felt like partying this afternoon, you know, to celebrate. I feel like a ton of bricks has been lifted off my shoulders.... which is great.... because before I felt like my.... well, I'll just leave it at that. You can imagine. Next week I will be able to focus full time on my own duties and get organized for the end of the year rush.

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Very thankful, very.

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