Mom's 72nd Wedding Anniversary - More John Rogers on Designing with Natives - My true story published in Hektoen - Sweet Potato Raisin Soup

Just got home from Part Two of John Rogers talk on helping the environment. Luckily, we got a bigger crowd tonight. Seven, including me. I got there late since I wasn't sure if it started at 7 or 7:30.

Oh, there's Ruth, said John, when I walked in.

John answers questions from this artsy-looking woman who has problems growing things in her backyard.

She had some trees taken down - they were old - and says nothing will grow under them bc the lack of topsoil.

Later I asked John where we could buy native plants around here. Remember, these plants/shrubs/trees have been growing here for 14,000 years.

Collins Nursery, he said.

I'd never heard of it.

You need an appointment to get in.  Not too far, in Roslyn.

Here's some pix I took of the slide show.

Half the migrating birds never make it!

 Planet Earth contains the same things today as it did when it was formed 4.5 Billion Years Ago.

A Walk in the Woods, he said, reduces stress and depression. Every time Scott and I get home from Pennypack, he says, That was so relaxing.

I don't find it relaxing as we trounce up and down huge hills. But I love the exercise.

***

Okay, let's get this over with already. I think Hektoen International, HQ'd in Chicago, rejected most of my work for their 2016 issue.

That is really terrible!

When I goggled myself I found this true story published last Fall 2015. Sugar High and Low.

***

 SWEET POTATO RAISIN SOUP

Gotta remember how to make it.

Dan gave me this beef broth.

See the sweet potato slices?  Dried lentils for protein. They cook fast. Onions, garlic, mushrooms, and cinnamon stick.

 Really good!

It's a pleasure to cook when you listen to good audio books. Am nearly done with



Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin. The story of the woman who Alice in Wonderland was based on.

As an older woman, she's not very likeable, a factor of her hauteur and perfectionism.

***

Just took my blood sugar.

How did it get so low?

58.

So, apparently, this sweet potato soup is a good thing to make if you have diabetes.

Am finishing up a salad I bought yesterday at The Giant.

Oh, I guess I ate most of it outside on the front step.

Just finished the slice of canned peach now.

I'll eat more so my blood sugar rises.

Scuse me.

***

Am munching on one of those Fruit and Nut Bars for when you go low. Beatriz gave it to me at our last Writers Group.

It's actually too sweet for me.

Thother night Scott and I were shopping together. I wanted a treat to eat while we were watching Sunday night TV.

Bought THREE pieces of licorice from the bin at Giant.

Very satisfying!

Then brushed my teeth.

***

I think it was on Sunday that I awoke with a TERRIBLE STIFF NECK AND ARM.

Probly from watching programs on my laptop.

Slightly better today but, boy, did it ache. It was so bad I was thinking of emailing my doctor and asking what I could take for the pain.

Bc of all my antirejection meds, only two, but I can't just take any old pain medication.

I forgot what it was like to be in pain.

Hey, maybe I should write a poem about dat!

***

The anniversary poem got lots of nice responses on FB. 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, APRIL 4

Seventy-two years ago today
my parents married. Never were
two people happier
or more in love.

Mom wore a snazzy purple dress
that showed her sexy curves
and Dad, a button-down
olive-green Marine Corps dress
suit, shiny cap a-rest on
the piano.

Home on furlough
from Camp Lejeune.

Any time I wish I can view that
suit in Mom's closet, rest my head
against the fuzzy wool
and pretend, "Why, Dad
you're still alive!" 

Excuse me as I hover over
the wedding on
Marlindale Road in
Cleveland, an
Angel Gabriel foretelling
the future.

Happiness would come
in droves. Children -
count em - six! Ruth
Donna Ellen Lynn Amy
and blue-bonnetted
David, so talented
yet so sad.

Wherever we went in
Dad's Country Squire
he'd lead us deep in
song. "When the red
red robin comes bob
bob bobbing along....
along. There'll be
no more sobbing..."

Until Dad's life was
snuffed out early, only
59 - oh, they all came
to visit - saw him curled
up beneath the Monet
print of Poppy Fields -
said their final goodbyes

Of course he's never left us
and never will. Imprinted
like a medal of valor
upon our hearts, my
father walks with me
wherever I go.

Writers meet at B's place - My poem: Early April

The moment I got home, fortified by delicious Maxwell House coffee, I went into the kitchen and saw three woodpeckers atop the remaining maple tree in the backyard.

Each pecked ferociously on the tree. I thought they were fighting for the hand of a dainty little maiden bird.

May the best genes win.

Fernando of the Argentine, thanks for bringing us empanadas. As you said, every culture has its own version of this meal-in-one, filled with ground beef, raisins, potatoes, onions and perhaps other healthy ingredients.

I injected 10 units and was 'normal' when I got home.

I like sitting on the floor. Read my short story "The Runner" and a poem, Early April, which my 12 blog readers will have the privilege of reading.

Was half an hour late as I began writing at 11 am. Took an important call for New Directions.

The support group always come first.

Martha left early so didn't take a pic.

What a wonderful poem she wrote! THE THING BETWEEN YOU AND ME.

It was about someone she does not like.

How cool is that!

Very.

Lines include

To be honest, I don't like you
disdain oozing from every crease
and wrinkle (that's from the person
she doesn't like)

The unlovely spirit in me
salutes the ugly spirit in you.

Namaste.

B took this pic of The Remster and Fernando who drove down with Allan Heller, poet laureate of Hatboro.

Rem surprised us with a new talent he has - he's a very effective mimic or impersonator. He did Ronald Reagan very well.

He read us 3 more chapters of his novella Today's the Day. As you know each chapter title is the name of a song.

Sitting in the morning sun

Smoke on the water

Peaceful easy feeling

He's got a great sense of humor and we laffed as he read it.

He began by saying "The Great Communicator was on the idiot box." This was "Ronnie" as he called Ronald Reagan. Nixon, he said was an antisemite, despite having Henry Kissinger as his 'sexy' Secretary of State.

Allan presented two excellent poems, one in the medieval form of a rondel. 

The rondel, which is very hard to write, but fine poet that he is, he had no trouble writing ARMED ONLY WITH A VIOLIN.  You've seen these people on the street or in the subway. He put a couple of dollars in his violin case.

Thother work was PLEASE DON'T SLAM THE DOOR.

Yes, people do dat who arrive in the hall of his apartment.

When I left B's house, I realized as I walked out, that I let go of the door, not knowing if it would slam or not.

I made 7 copies - perfect - of my 5-page short story, THE RUNNER.

Got the idea from a funeral I attended a couple of weeks ago.

Ideas always come from somewhere. When I told this to my daughter, Sarah, yesterday, she said Stick to your original idea, which was to write about - gee - I can't remember the main character's name. He has
schizoaffective disorder and is a race-winning runner.

Ethan said he read the book The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. It's also a movie. British movies are among my fave.

 Here I am again. Before the group, I set my timer for 20 minutes and took a nap in bed.

When that buzzer goes off, I jump out of my deep sleep.

Time to write a poem, I thought.

What to write about?

Ideas included stopping at Starbucks last night before Ethan and Sarah drove me home. There was a small brouhaha, which Ethan noticed, where some mentally ill individual was making trouble at the counter.

I was actually surprised the group liked my poem.

Hold on, I'll take a quick foto, while my pink camera is findable. Yes, I lose it a lot.

Sweet-smelling Japonica. The ground cover Sweet Woodruff, given to me by Carolyn C, who Beatriz knows, is on the ground.


EARLY APRIL

Upstairs in my study
it's opera day on
WRTI
Madame Butterfly
trills in high notes
that come forth
like a scream

Downstairs
a symphony of birds
speaks in couched
language though
they probably sing
of the same joys and
despairs as the Butterfly.

Begone, this is my
turf. It's my turn,
you idiot, on Scott's feeder.
How dare you plunge
into the bird bath before
me. I am the king - the
blue jay.

And what above love?
The chickadee is building
a nest in the green
bird house in the
front yard.

And who is that backing
into the red bird house in
the back yard?


Nests, eggs, fledglings
feathers upon the ground
souvenirs from the cold
lonely winter all of us
have survived.





 

Fifth KidneyVersity - Sarah and Ethan Plan a Great Day for Us at Reading Terminal and the Barnes Museum

 Looking out the window as the SEPTA train speeds onward. Was surprised to see a lot of undeveloped land. In the Roslyn-Ardsley area there were vast acreages of cemeteries.

What I wasn't able to shoot were the rows and rows of houses, each one different from the one next door.

Got off at Jefferson Station and walked to the Reading Terminal. Every Philadelphian should visit the Terminal at least once. Food of every variety. Today it was wall/wall people.

Why, asked Mom when I just called her.

No idea.

Loved the scenes where moms are getting their kids set up with ice cream. 

 I was about two hours early, so I hung around waiting for them, having forgotten they said they'd be there at 3 pm.

 Of course I had my i Phone but I still haven't figured out how to use it. I asked a proprietor to show me how.

Oooh, I hate talking about this.

 Long lines everywhere.

I needed to eat so I went to the Down Home Diner. Knew how good it was since last Sept I'd met my friend "Gregorious" there.

Fab meal! Garlic grits, scrambled eggs and cooked shrimp.

 Hello neighbors.

 In my home neighborhood you don't see pony-tailed men.

Down Home Diner. Changed my seat as a foul wind was blowing on me from up top.

Finally Sarah and Ethan appeared. Ethan rented a car and drove in from Brooklyn and parked it in an outdoor lot.

Getting down to the serious biz of EATING the unique and wonderful foods of Reading Terminal. 

 Sarah and Ethan took turns bringing back to the table ONE ITEM. We started out with Pulled Pork on a hoagie roll or Po' Boy.

 Ginger beer. My one sip was very enjoyable.

This was a day to Eat and Not Feel Guilty. I've had insulin-dependent diabetes for five years, due to my kidney antirejection meds. 

 The Amish have many food booths, including Miller's soft pretzels.

Top-notch!

Dip em in either a creamy Velveta-like cheese or honey mustard. Both were great.

Mom and I talked about our Cleveland years.... soft pretzels were unknown. When I attended Temple University pursuing a degree in psychology, I'd eat a soft pretzel with mustard - oh no! I've got some mustard on my jacket - every day, first thing after arriving by train at school. 

Now let's cleanse our palette with this salad with the protein of fried oysters.  The lettuce was very refreshing after the heavy pork meal.

 At last Bassett's !!!

Sarah and I shared a vanilla butterscotch caramel with bits of chocolate-covered pretzel.

Yes, it's as good as it sounds.

See the huge mounds of chocolate spilling through the curtain.

 Bassett's since 1861. A photo of Lincoln & Co were on the wall circa the 1861 years.

Careful, Abe, says wife Mary.

You've got some ice cream in your beard.

Oh shut up, he said, or I'll put you in an insane asylum. 

 Ethan had a hankering for the coup de grace:  Malted milk shake with cherry vanilla ice cream. Sarah was surprised he ordered the cherry vanilla. He saw it on the menu first - and YOU know how that is, don't you?

At the table we talked about many things including their great marriage. They never argue. I took my blood sugar and Ethan says he's gotta do dat for his brother Spencer when he visits him in Wisconsin, so he knew what my numbers meant.

Sadly, Ethan's piano teacher Sofia has dementia or Alzheimer's and is really mean to him. Told them I'd wrin two short stories addressing the suicide question IF you are aware you have it. Libby Korngold, librarian, decides to take her own life.  Max Jacobs will live till the bitter end.

We began walking to the Barnes Museum, while eating our Bassett treats. On the street there were such diverse individuals. Many smoked cigarettes.

The beautiful old bldgs we passed on our way to Z Barnes.

 Girl Scout Cookies sold for the first time. Double-click on the plaque to read about it. Hmm, maybe I should email this to little Bella, who sold me two boxes of thin mints.

 We passed the Meridian Hotel where Ethan and Sarah spent the nite before next morning's early operation. Sarah went right to sleep. Not Ethan, who stayed up most of the night.

We shared our kidney story with the well-dressed door man.

 Spring trees burst into bloom.

Below is a sculpture to honor Copernicus, who said, au contraire, we revolve around sun, not vice versa.

 Huge fountains below. Coins had been dropped inside. What would YOU wish for. Please make a wish now.

This area of Philly, leading to the Art Museum on the furthest end of The Parkway, is called Logan Circle. Whew, I just remembered the name Logan Circle by the end of the sentence.

At last, we reach The Barnes. Wonder why I'm tipping over? Might I believe I'm a rocking horse? 

Sculpture by Ellsworth Kelly made for the Barnes. I rather like it, do you?

 A decoration in the far distance.

 Rectangular pools sway in the very warm weather.

Today's First Friday Entertainment was the band Freedom Calling.

 Clothing, men and women's both, were very imaginative.

Lovely bathroom. Everyone got their own large stall.

Below, what you can''t make out is that this older couple of women are about to dance with one another. 

The three of us explored the Barnes Museum. Ethan thought it was one of the best museums he's ever been to.

Sarah couldn't believe the plethora of impressionist work. Who is Daumier? Soutine? AND not only paintings. Picasso and Matisse made pottery.

Ethan and Sarah spent their tenth anniv in Paris. They brought me a bag full of postcards. They both love a Renoir of a dancing couple.

They'll soon receive it back with my clever comment. 

Since my Polymer Clay Class was canceled for the second time, I got some great ideas of objects to fashion. There was a small creation shaped like a bathtub.

Will make my own version of it. Marce, will dedicate it to you, my supplier of CLAY.