Off to the Airport Today

Dave's Limo took me by surprise. They're picking me up at 2 pm.

So much to do, including unloading my local photos.

I planted garlic cloves in my wheelbarrow full of pansies, in hopes of fooling the squirrels.

Drying rack for some clothes on my trip.

My Sox Lady diabetes pink socks are drying on my feet right now.

Scott and I, in a reprieve from my leaving yesterday, went for a walk around Masons Mill Park.

Right outside my car, I found a pair of men's ankle socks. Took em home and washed them. They're perfect for me and can't wait to show them off.

Illustration for my poem "Mail Order Couch." The poem will be published in Haunted Waters Press. The illustration? Remains to be seen.

See ya when I get back!

The Last Supper - I'll be in London and Paris from Oct 27 to Nov 9

Mom and Ellen made me a delicious dinner, per my specifications. Diabetes, you know.

I was eating mom's tuna salad when I heard a crunch.

It was one of the bones that comes in canned salmon.

It was salmon salad. Delicious!



Before I left home, I went to Scott's but he was sleeping peacefully, so he didn't come.

We also had salad, Cento artichoke hearts, and


Mom's always delicious pea soup.

No dessert, I told her. So she served



I told Mom I sent a card to her dear friend Caroline Berkman, who is in hospice at Montefiore Home in Cleveland.

Mom said Caroline's sister/law called her and said Caroline is speaking in Yiddish.

This is not good.

Caroline's problem is Heart Failure.

Most of mom's friends have lived into their nineties, like Mom herself.

She and I were searching for words.

Ellen served me this delicious tea!

"Stash makes good teas," she said.

Never heard of em, have you?

So I get home and Scott comes out.

Quick, he says. Look in the backyard.

You can't really see them, but there's a BUCK and a DOE out there. He has big antlers. You can see the eyes of the doe on the right of the tree.

Coffeeshop Writers' Group - Lots of Laffs - My poem: Sacred Ghosts at the Bonfire

Donna of the Beautiful Nails showed us her engagement ring from Denny. We told her to bring him to us so we could check him out.

Carly will meet him tonite in the King of Prussia home of a friend of Donna's. Carly's bringing her homemade lasagna.

Carly wrote a poem "My Dear Friend Donna." Am happy to say they met at our Writers' Group and clicked!

Allan Heller, the only manfellow in our group, remarked, "Imagine if I wrote a poem like this for one of my guy friends!"

 Allan read us another installment in his mystery series starring one Walt Clayton (he hates being called "Walter") about a retired man in a nursing home who, altho confined to his wheelchair, has foiled crimes being committed to the residents.

Very well-wrin and suspenseful.

"You have a great vocabulary," said Carly.

Here's Carly now with her whopping Nutter Butter Drink. She did not like it, never having tasted Nutter Butter cookies.

Adryn, the Giant counterwoman, was happy to bring her another, satisfactory drink.

We love our Giantesses!

Beatriz, who kept warm in her sweater-jacket, read an essay about the amazing world of Moths, who, here in the US of A, take a back seat to butterflies.

After reading her essay, you'll see it should be the other way around. The African Blackhawk Moth actually flies further than our beloved Monarchs!



What could be more beautiful than the cecropia moth or the



Luna Moth, which once pressed itself against my kitchen window.

Carly said that for some reason butterflies remind her of her late father.

DONNA wrote a poem about moving out of her house. Since her husband died, her son has taken it upon himself to be her financial adviser. You can't afford living there, he tells her. You've got to move.

Oh, how we protested!

Here's some nice lines: The house is tired as a porch swing... The dining room calls out for dinners.

I said, it's really hard to capture a house in a short poem, but you did it!

I captured my house in a story I got published here. 

Sadly, I received a rejection notice in the mail today about my true story "My Favorite Felon," and another online of "Leaving Joey."

DO NOT SAY YOU'RE SORRY. That's how things go.

Linda, I said, let's get your foto out of the way.

She read the start of a wonderful short story "Mr Cat's Revenge." It has elements of fantasy and sci-fi. Cats certainly do lend themselves to this sort of thing. Hello, Mr Poe.

SACRED GHOSTS AT THE BONFIRE

They, too, made fires,
the ones before us
striding easily across
the Bering Strait
before quakes severed
mate from mate
pemmican
squash
lacrosse

Then the impasse with
the acquisitive European
who twisted their Christ
to do their bidding
Land ho!
Land's ours!

Some like William Penn
in his Quaker oatmeal hat
refused to torch them
We, attuned to our
Buddha, Jehovah,
Swedenborg, and
teary-eyed Jesus
meet beneath the
covered pavilion
at Tamanend Park.

Todd rolls open the
locked iron gates
of the fireplace
ashes of other fires
like fine talcum
fill the bottom

The master stoker
adds log after log
a fire lifts itself
toward the night sky
the curling smoke
a message no Lenape
will ever receive

Only the animals
deer with their wild innocent eyes
owls, woodchucks, sleepy sparrows call
Stay away!
Stay away!
The enemy is nigh.

We move toward the fire
drawn by an ancient dream
spun a million years ago
All else vanishes
the early evening
the rising of the moon
the anxiety of
being alive one minute
struck down the next
Wasn’t it Garofola’s best friend?
felled by a heart attack at forty-five?

Helen taps the Dutch oven
that belonged to her newly
departed mother also named Helen
I hold out my paper cup
as her mother’s ladle
scoops out the hot mulled cider
I drink as I gaze at the dark fields
my lips sticky
yearning for more.

Jenkintown Whole Foods Seminar on Healthy Foods for Depression and Anxiety

Thanks to my friend Nancy for letting me know about this program. She escaped before I could take her photo. Not to worry, here she is in living color.

We sat next to each other. I wrote her a note so as not to disturb the class.

Whole Foods expanded and did a beautiful job.

Wendy Romig was our knowledgeable guide in the wonderland of foods, herbs, teas and other ingestibles to keep our bodies and minds healthy.

"Did you learn anything?" asked Helen Kirschner.

"Yes," I said at the car. "Never knew that certain teas could be helpful." From the backseat of my car, I handed Helen the big pot and ladle from our Bonfire last Saturday nite.

Her husband Larry had put it on the top of the car and it toppled off when they drove off.

Ellen Rosenberg was also there. She ran the Giant meeting this morning. We had a nice crowd. I stopped in to drop off some Compass mags.

Wendy Rorig led the group in one of the eating areas since the Conference Room was already taken. It was terribly noisy.

Wanted to get a photo of Michael, the owner of Nature's Harvest, but he was up front talking to Wendy, perhaps inviting her to speak, as did our late friend Ed Wagner, naturopath.


I chuckled internally when I saw in the audience a lovely blond woman drinking something BLUE out of a bottle.

Whatever could it be? Reminded me of when we used food coloring in Home Ec in the 7th Grade. People made icky looking blue pudding.

SEROTONIN plays out in the gut, said Wendy. It helps your gut move, so you won't get constipated. There's "G.I.-based depression," said Wendy. Serotonin is present all over our body and nervous system.


Caffeine, like sugar, causes highs and lows. She mentioned that many teas have caffeine. READ THE LABELS.

This morning I had jasmine tea, which is highly caffeinated. I entertained a therapy client and asked her if she wanted anything to drink.

She had tea with caffeine, as did I.


I was able to nap for 20 minutes with Scott before I left for the presentation.

Highlights of her talk:

Eat a rainbow of colors. They represent a colorful variety of vitamins and minerals.... antioxidants..... which are also found in caffeine.

Hard to see, but take a guess what I made for dinner?

Hint: the main ingredient is yellow and begins with an 'S.' It was delicious and I used a tube of Pesto Sauce.

EVERY CELL IS SURROUNDED BY FAT. Hmm, I wonder if I can remember that for posterity. Nice image. But is it important?

Eat your good fats, kids.... nut butters. I put olive oil in my squash dish above.


This lovely plant is St John's Wort which interacts with all your meds. What I learned from Wendy's talk is that it's used to treat PAIN, nerve pain, and arthritis. She said it can be used topically.

Below is from the Mayo Clinic website:

Nerve pain

Early study shows that St. John's wort may help neuropathic (nerve) pain. Further research is needed to confirm these results.

Excuse me but I'm gonna find Frank on Facebook and tell him about it.The man is close to suicidal b/c of chronic pain.

FLOWER ESSENCES for anxiety and depression and other maladies.

Rose for grief and depression. 

Hawthorn Leaf and Flour. 

Looks like it helps just about everything.

And don't forget Lavender, Passion Flower, and Chamomile.

Ever heard of Motherwort? Good for new moms to get them to sleep.

It's from the Mint family

Motherwort has a long history of use as a herb in traditional medicine in Central Europe, Asia and North America.^{[citation needed]} Like many other plants, it has been used for a variety of ills. Midwives use it for a variety of purposes, including uterine tonic and prevention of uterine infection in women, hence the name Motherwort.[cit - Wiki

Wendy Romig was an excellent speaker, both motivational and inspirational.

Hmmm, should we book her?

Here's the long hallway at Rydal Park, where I visited my friend Helene Ryesky.

She always dresses well.

Next time, she said, come at lunchtime, and bring me some decent food.

Finished my chores today, did you? Painting of Max, which I've wanted to do for a month

It was cold on the back porch so I bundled up.

Luxury home for Sparrows.

Using a photo from Facebook, I painted my grandson Max Atticus Deming.

I was inspired by Nude Descending a Staircase by Duchamp at the NY Historical Society.



Inspired, meaning 'taking liberties.'

What dyou think?

Will the real Max please take a bow?





Did loads of trimming in the backyard. Photo from Wiki since my batteries ran out.

I have two other creative projects on my list today. Writing a poem about The Bonfire - can she do it? - and working on The Psychic, which Ada is reading right now.

A Warm Send-off from my friends at the Willow Grove Giant Supermarket - That Pesky English Ivy

I've got all my meds and pills for my trip to London and Paris.

Erich Dietz, the pharmacist, answered an important question.

How many Novolog Pens should I bring?

Two.

Here is how I looked this morning

Got my photo tooken at the Huntingdon Valley DMV. I thanked Jeff Tidwell for taking a great photo of me. My friend, Martha, said she looks like a 'wrestling pro' in her photos. I wanted to look like an attractive woman of 28 in my picture.

Mary Ann Moylen, nutritionist, said, When buying chocolate it must 70 percent or more chocolate; otherwise there's too much sugar in it.

I bought two bars and went upstairs to see Robin Franklin, who takes care of scheduling Rooms for our Daytime Meetings and also our Free Saturday Events.

As I walked up the stairs, I smelled the heavenly aroma of coffee.

"Thanks for having my coffee ready for me," I joked.

"Would you like some?" asked Robin.

How could I refuse?

Then I broke out my chocolate and gave a slice each to Robin and Elyse Bonner and myself. We dipped it into the hot coffee.

Elyse mentioned it's also delicious when you drink it with wine. Sadly, my wine bottle must be opened with a corkscrew, which I don't have.

Since I'll be out of town - but not out of my mind (thank goodness my bipolar went away) - on Halloween, I bought candy for four of my neighbors in the Giant Supermarket bins.

Last nite I stayed up until around midnight working on a new short story, tentatively called The Psychic.

I need someone to read it to. Rob? Judy? Beatriz?

I'm out in the backyard clipping my multitude of shrubs, then carting them off in the wheelbarrow.

Then I notice the bane of the garden:

Beautiful if you can control it, but, like cancer, awful if it spreads. It takes over everything and kills.

Then I had an idea. Why not send an email to Mike McGrath of You  Bet Your Garden.





Here's what he wrote:

Herbicides are useless on plants with waxy leaves.

    And poisons are NEVER the answer. Never never.

    You need to install edging to keep it on their side and then have a pulling party to get rid of what has already crossed over. And be sure to 'invite' the neighbors to help....

For more info, Read the ivy articles in this Archive of Previous Questions of the Week

from my Public Radio show, where the alphabetical order listing should make it easy to find the topics you need; just look under the letters of your keywords. (Or click on the "A to Z Garden Answers" tab at www.youbetyourgarden.org.)

All the best, Mike McG; You Bet Your Garden

Archive of Previous Questions of the Week

In my reply I wished him a great trip to Cuba, per below. 

Join Mike McGrath on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Cuba!

Opportunities to visit Cuba are very rare, so join Mike as he leads a small, select group of travelers though the botanic wonders of this tropical isle January 14-22. Everything is included—food, lodging, airfare to and from the islands—but space is extremely limited. For details, itinerary and more information, visit

http://www.earthboundexpeditions.com/january-2014-cuba-with-mike-mcgrath