Daily Prompt: Howl at the Moon and Other Stuff

I have eaten healthy most of my life. Thankfully they did not have fast food when I was young and we were too poor to over indulge in anything, thank God!
orangemoon2

Love the local farmers market at harvest time!

Had to start sticking to a very low sodium diet lately in hopes of keeping my blood pressure at a more normal level. I’m so jealous of people who can eat anything and they’re fine. That’s amazing to me. I recently decided to change-up the usual pasta and sauce by baking it. Used an odd larger pasta called Gigli, made my own sauce with a tomato paste base and very low salt, mostly herbs and spices and layered it with some cheese I mixed up with low-fat sour cream, which is naturally low in sodium compared to cheese. Made for a nice creamy base. Recipe to come later on the Recipe page I’m working on.

Low sodium organic canned beans and fresh/frozen green bean salad with vinaigrette dressing.
Low sodium organic canned beans and fresh/frozen green bean salad with vinaigrette dressing.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Endurance

Found an old barn and silo going to see family in Howell last month.  Per the historical sign in front of the barn, it’s a Michigan Centennial Farm which means it’s been owned by the same family for over 100 years.  Living in a city for the last 10 years, I really miss these small towns that still have farmland on them.  The Endurance of the American Farmer cannot be over-stated.  They have always been the back bone of this country and will hopefully stay that way no matter what stunts our government tries to pull.

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Fray

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Enjoy the various frayed effects that all these flowers afford.

Bark of a Birch
Bark of a Birch
The delicate leaves of the fir tree.
The perfectly constructed bird’s nest.
All the natural fall elements appear frayed.

Daily Prompt: “Rectum, Darn Near Killed ‘Um!”

When I used to work in the Automated Collection System for the Internal Revenue Service there was an email that made the rounds that someone started to make us feel better about our highly stressful position.  It claimed that there was someone who actually tested the anal thermometers so I guess that was supposed to make us feel better about the daily reamings we received dealing with the angry taxpayer calls when they found levies on their bank accounts or liens on property.  We did the dirty work for them.

According to Snopes.com, it was a joke.  Click on the site if you wish to hear the whole story.

DntMsWIRS5

Vintage Labor Day Fun

Like many low middle class families back in the 1950’s, it was a much simpler and happier time.  Not many years out of the great depression, there weren’t a lot of distractions from the real world.  The waters were much cleaner back then and even the birds sang sweeter to me.

I wanted to share some of my early vacation pictures in Michigan.  The oldest of six children, one of my Aunt’s loved taking pictures of me when I was little so our family had a glut of baby and toddler pictures of just me or me with another family member.  We don’t have many pictures of my father because he took off when I was a teen so we don’t have any pictures as a family after the one where we at the park having a picnic.  My father was so fun and talented, but very impulsive with a drinking problem at times.  I wanted to post the few pictures I had of having fun with my father for Labor Day.

We used to camp all over the state of Michigan when we were not visiting my Aunt and Uncles cottage on Black Lake.  I only feel good when I am out in nature and still find myself walking the trails as often as I can taking pictures of the beauty I find.

Dad and me at the cottage.
Not sure what game we were playing.
In my wading pool in our Detroit backyard.
Got dad to play dolls with me!
Dad and me cooling off.
Swimming in my undies missing dad.
Dad and me playing on the Seesaw. I used to be so scared of those things!
Dad with me, my sister and my oldest brother probably in Lake Erie somewhere.
From our ages, we are probably somewhere in the Upper Peninsula.