LM's Corner

 Some Tales about far away places
Present day...
A single oak leaf fell onto my office window pane. 

 It drove my cat Marley nuts as she tried to get at it. 

The window is slanted with a window sill which has all been scratched up from Marley trying to get up there by hooking her claws to the frame and hang on to sit there.  

It is an amazing view of birds passing by and high feel as you view the mountainous sprawl, when you stand on a chair. 
                               

Yesterday while I was making humus in the blender with chickpeas that I soaked overnight and cooked for an hour the next day. I had added kale, mixed frozen veggies of red peppers, onions, green bean, snow peas, a large chunk of garlic, caramelized onions and my home grown garlic chives. That was a last minute thought as the electricity had gone out as it was on grate. So I examined my rosemary plant that I have had for 6 years, it was huge; had suddenly been dying off, its leaves shriveled. So I cut off all the good stems and threw them in water vases and pulled out the roots. I washed out the plant container and transplanted my garlic chives that had out grown its pot, that’s how I came up with adding some garlic chives to my recipe. Along with olive oil, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, lemon juice and some more garlic powder. When making humus you can throw in anything with the chickpeas. I had a huge bushel of Basil growing that I brought in from outdoors and I kept throwing 2 handfuls of that in the blender. As long as you use the basic ingredients with the chickpeas such as, olive oil, caramelized onions, cumin, cayenne, garlic, pepper, salt, pepper, and lemon juice; go ahead and add anything, roasted carrots is good, so is roasted red peppers. (I soak a cup of chickpeas, use one large onion, fry it olive oil, 3 tsp or so of cumin, 11/2 tsp or so of cayenne pepper, 3 large garlic cloves, squirt in lemon juice, about 1/3  cup of olive oil, a dash of salt and pepper, taste it and add what you think needs more)  In this case I took a quarter out already that was mixed with the basics to use as humus and the rest I use to make sauces and soup. So that is why the mixed vegetable and garlic chives; If you take 2 ladle full of the chickpea mix with mix veggies I had pureed together and add it to 2 cups of water with a soup cube of either chicken or vegetable, add some macaroni noodles and fry up a little more onions in butter and pour the melted butter and fried onions, add some pepper you have delicious hearty soup for a couple of days.  The other thing I do with the left over is make sauce over linguini's noodles. I fry up some mushrooms, add some corn, then again 2 ladle full of chickpea mix, adding curry spice, turmeric, some more butter and a wee bit of mayonnaise and you have a lovely sauce to pour over noodles. When I make soup I like a little something to dip in the soup, like fresh black bread or take some butter in a pan and pita bread let one side sit and cook in the butter while adding the butter to side up turn it over and then grate Parmesan cheese let it start melting and then fold it in half and pull of the pan. It becomes crunchy and the cheese makes it very tasty while dipping it into your soup.

So now while the electricity was out. I was finding other things to do. I brought out my garbage to the main grounds outside. I swept the balconies, my one neighbor's too, (some bird seed shells had fallen down on to her space ) as well as the stairs. I refilled my bird feeder and then heard the call of the crow; so I went in and got some peanuts, geez they've trained me well. I had asked the landlord to leave me a gap in the winter panels that takes away from my magnificent view; so I could still see a bit outside and hang a bird feeder.

 I brought my camera out along with the peanuts. I have to throw longer to reach the neighbor's roof, sometimes I miss and it hits the neighbor's side paneling and falls to the ground in landlord's yard. They will find it all anyway. That day Mr. blue jay saw it. 

Mr. Blue jay was sitting on the hydro line

It was an exceptionally warm day yesterday which reflected in the sky; I reached for my camera that was sitting in the front room and I took my first shot out of the bathroom window which is where I had noticed the change in the sky.

I took a shots of the view from the window in the front room next.

I went to my bedroom next to see the view from that side of the house.

 Some Truths

As you get older you find that you feel too much 

and sometimes you don't feel enough.

At times your heart gets weary and needs shielding

there is so much to bleed over.

Loyalty is the one thing that sustains long term friendships;

some that get broken may get a hesitated second chance.

It's hard and yet familiar to trust again,

 its the bond that keeps you together

 in the spirit of forever.

 Respect is something that you either have or you don't have;

 It has never been something you can demand on command. 

When you get sad, figure out the reason behind it

 and work through it;

 a long soak in the tub and some fruity herbal tea is very soothing.

Only drink alcohol when you are happy, 

when you're not it's a waste of a good buzz; 

fueling and feeding off the woe’s, , 

is like drowning yourself over and over again,

 there's no sense in wallowing;

you get to feel pity only for a moment.

Never ever let anyone tell you, you are not good enough,

 let them make jokes, and think their what nots, 

it is there's to own, not yours to carry.

Your job is simple, to remember you are strong, beautiful, 

and know what you want; get out of your way and get it done.

Affirmation 101

©LeeMarie 

                                                        

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                                       ENGLAND 1968

I watched a series on Castles in England, one of the castles built in Cornwall, Northumberland, England, was one my brother, myself and the neighborhood kids we hung with discovered as we walked through the forest, shooting off our pellet guns at the ravens squawking way up high in the trees to make them disperse, not to harm them; we loved the sound of their wings taking off in flight. We carved out our swords from tree branches we found lying in and around our paths and reenacted the latest kings and knights we learned of in school. We had our bow and arrows and used the trees to target practice on while sharpening up our skills. 

When, one day we found ourselves so caught up in our play acting, we went further into the forest than we had ever been coming across an abounded old castle ruin. There we divide ourselves into teams and acted out our wars for our king and country and captured our soldiers from the other team and ran them down some stairs and in dungeon that still had their chains bolted to the stone wall we had them pretend they were held captive until their team mate came to rescue them. 

I was 8 years old when we moved to Cornwall, Northumberland, England. My adoptive father was a civil Engineer for Alcan. We lived off a main road with rows and rows of connected small houses built out of stone. Each one had a little gate and low walls to separate each other’s front yard. The row of houses stopped when you came upon a long drive way that had a large tree alongside it which then lead you to the front of a large white house. You could see the cobble stone street in the back of everyone's houses that had also a farmer’s stone wall that ran parallel. There were some sheds that were built alongside the backs of the stone houses that were for storing and fetching coal. This white house was our house. There were 3 bedrooms up stairs. Mine over looked a glass green house in the back, and the farmer's fields. My bed was placed by a slanted ceiling.  There was a separate bathroom for a bath and the other was strictly for urination and such.   I remember getting a metal slinky and playing with it on the heavy wooden stairs watching it fall on to each one. Outside on the left side of the house was a planted vegetable garden; I remember fondly peeling the pods of peas, that landed in a steel bowl and a few got popped into my mouth. There were rows and rows of tomatoes and there were strawberry patches that lead you to a potato garden, a pear tree and huge lawn.  We were surrounded by the farmer’s stone wall and I could smell the potato field burning, they did it at after every crop.  You could see the French veranda doors from the large lawn that lead you into the dining room. It had a little wooden horse that we would rock on. The dining room doors could either lead into the living room or lead you into an office that had a door to the outside. Off the living room was the stairs, the front door and or a very large kitchen with a walk in pantry. My brother and I did the washing up after our meals. While we were living there I was sent to Miss Brown's school for young ladies, to learn manners and etiquette, they needed to tame the wild French Canadian tomboy. So I became a young lady by day and my secret identity the tomboy came out the moment I left their grounds.  Sometimes I had to go a neighbor's house that was only a couple of doors down from ours, to wait until my adoptive mother came home. I can still remember the smell of homemade marmalade cooking as I walked in, my mouth watering I couldn't wait to sit down to eat some on this delicious stuff on thick white bread.

A few miles down the road was the sea; we would play along on the large rock when the tide was out and pick up the seed weed to toss around. Examining the clams that were glued and tossing them back in. We could always tell when to run back to shore as the water rose quickly and it wasn't too long before they would be crashing against the stone walls and rocks. 

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 Once went to a party there in one of the houses, they had miniature horses that we could ride on. We were all dressed in pretty dresses with our hats and our gloves, the boys in their suits and ties. We, the children were running around inside and outside the house, filling our bellies along the way with sweets upon sweets. 

Almost every Saturday we get into the car and drive to a peer to pick up fresh fish kippers and other fish lying in the sun from the fisherman's morning catches. My adoptive father loved his kipper and eggs on a Sunday. While we were at the peer's shores we would stop in a quaint little restaurant and order a small 3 tear tray filled with little sandwiches of watercress, cucumbers and cream cheese. A pot of tea served with scones and jam. We would sit and eat while watching the shore line not far from a warming fire place.   Every holiday we would drive somewhere; pack up the car and go. My adoptive father liked to drive; we would find ourselves in Scotland or Wales, or other parts of England.  Once we did those areas, unfortunately not Ireland there was too much unrest in the late 60’s early 70’s to put our lives in danger to discover its treasures at the time. So we went off to Europe, Germany and Holland first and then the following time we did Italy. It was so easy to drive and hop on a ferry and bob's your uncle you were in another country. We visited Austria, and Switzerland another year. I went to Spain with my school one year; by then I was in a private school in Morpeth, Northumberland, I took a bus in every morning, even stood through such thick fog, I couldn't imagine how the driver would see me standing there waiting. The school was for girls only, run by Gray nuns attached was a church. I wanted to be a nun at one point, but that only lasted five minutes. We wore a gray hat and coat, with dark blue tunics, black shoes, and light gray gloves. In the spring, summer we wore cream color hats and gloves and a pale blue jacket. 

While in Spain, it is where I had my first crush on a boy, I chased him around the pool every day, we giggled together a lot I even kissed him at some point. I pissed off the nuns as they watched my foolish behavior from the window. And there was the unfortunate incident of a girl getting her hair caught in gum, that I may or may not of left by a pillow; I used in the end scissors to cut it out, a little upsetting for everyone including her parents. I loved to go down every day to the market and walk to the white sandy shores to visit the numerous abandon dogs they had down there in Costa Brava, Spain. Go out on the boats and feel the spray of sea salt land on my face and in my mouth. We took a bus ride up a long narrow road to the top of a mountain to see a wedding, the bride all in black and visit a castle not to far away.  I was used to seeing castles, upon each entry you could smell the centuries that had seeped into the stone walls. Almost feel the energy coming of them if you are like me an empath in life. Most people don't like the energy of a handmade items from centuries ago, whilst I get a thrill off them. 
End of Chapter one...To be Continued               
             

                                    Easy Peazy

Morning has broken my eyes have just opened;

there’s a breeze that is moving the curtains to open.

I see blue skies and sunshine dawning,

I throw my covers off and leap out of bed while yawning,

I hurry along to get breakfast over and done;

then rush in to change my flowery pj’s

for a frilly top and shorts.

When I make it outside I am singing real loud.

It’s a brand new day;

won’t you come out to play?

What you gonna do with this day?

I know,

 let’s go exploring in lots of curious ways.

©LeeMarie 

         

That's all for now, in the mean time, stay active steadfast and true to you cheers XO