Labor Day Celebration

On September 10, 2014 By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Writing1 Comment

Labor Day falls on the first Monday in September. It is intended to be a celebration of social and economic successes for American workers. What it has become is a celebration of eating food and family gatherings. (Made possible by the economic successes of American workers)

My Labor Day plans this year were to relax at home, foot elevated. I was sidelined with a broken toe, my husband Ron was out-of-town and the rest of my extended family had made other plans.

My plans were very non-specific . I anticipated a quiet day at home catching up on some reading, writing and sewing. Happily, my plans changed.

On Saturday I found out my son was coming on Monday to spend the day and my husband was planning on returning early in the afternoon on Monday. I love company and I love celebrations! I was excited I would have enough people for a quasi-celebration, but suddenly I needed to plan a meal for Monday evening.

I wanted to serve something non-traditional. Normally, we would just grill burgers and hot dogs for the guys and maybe tuna steaks or shrimp for me. That just didn’t sound appealing this time.

So stepping out from the norm, we came up with something a bit different. Our menu consisted of Jalapeño chicken and venison sausage for the meat lovers. For me, it was Lentil Hyderabad (lentils with spices and chilies) and a curry wild rice mix. We bought some freshly baked Naan bread and grilled fresh sweet potato and Irish potato spears, lightly salted. It was a wonderful meal, but even as wonderful as it was, my favorite part was the dessert. (Of Course!)

We sliced peaches, topped them with fresh blueberries, then sprinkled them lightly with a small amount of brown sugar and nutmeg.

We served the warm fruit with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was absolutely delicious and completely different from our normal holiday meal. Considering it was last minute, I think it just may be one of my favorite holiday meals.

Catching flies with honey, Why?

On September 3, 2014September 3, 2014 By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Friends, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment

The real question is can you really catch more flies with honey? And why would you want to catch more flies? Not me! But a loose translation of “nice things happen when you behave nicely” sounds a little better.

You hear a lot about people doing nice things for total strangers, otherwise known as random acts of kindness. I think that’s awesome, and I wish I remembered to do it more often.

I recently had a great experience at Starbucks and it wasn’t because I had invented and ordered the largest and most obnoxious combination I could find.

My sister, Deb and I were meeting on the road midway between our respective homes. She lives on the Texas coast and I live in Central Texas.

We met in the parking lot of a shopping center and after exchanging boxes and bags; we decided to grab a coffee for the road from the Starbucks across the street.

The store wasn’t particularly crowded when we walked in which looked promising. However, when Deb tried to pay for her drink, the computers went down. A manager came and took over the register but still couldn’t get the transaction to process. My son and I were next in line and the barista and manager kept apologizing for the delay.

My son, Rich previously managed a retail store, so he just smiled and said he understood. He assured them both that it was not a problem. It was probably only 6 or 7 minutes of waiting. Rich entertained us all, the employees included, with jokes and stories. We all laughed and enjoyed ourselves despite the situation.

When my son and I were finally able to place our order, I handed them cash, since they seemed to still be having trouble with the card reader.

The manager shook his head and said, “No charge, you guys were great. I’m sorry for the wait. ” What a wonderful surprise! Maybe our drinks would still have been free if we had grumbled and complained, but the mood would certainly have been different for all of us. (And yes my sister’s drink was also free!)

I’m not saying that I am never the grumbling complaining customer, but it was a wonderful reminder that sometimes being pleasant pays off. Thank you Mr. Starbuck’s manager for making our day a little brighter!

The Promise of Spring

On August 31, 2014 By DGThomaIn WritingLeave a comment

Sharing a post from Spring of this year.

KatrinaWightman.com

A few days ago, a lovely purple iris bloom appeared in my garden. The iris was a gift from my father’s garden. He shared it with me a few years ago, but this is the first time it has bloomed. I couldn’t help but smile when I found the bloom! It stirred memories of time spent in the garden with my dad and let me know that Spring has arrived here in Central Texas. Our roads are lined with wildflowers such as Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush, but the single iris bloom was more significant to me. I felt the stirrings of new beginnings and wondrous memories yet to be made with my children and grandchildren.

In researching the color purple I discovered that it is a combination of blue and red. Blue is calming and red represents energy. How perfect! I also learned that the color purple doesn’t often appear in…

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Why did the chicken cross the road????

On August 27, 2014 By DGThomaIn Animal Stories, Family, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment

ElginTXWPAPostOfficeMuralBG — Elgin Post Office Mural “Texas Farm” by Julius Woeltz Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson

Urban farming is making a resurgence and Austin, TX is no exception. Raising backyard chickens is popular in Austin and has been for quite some time. A few months ago, my neighbors took the plunge and started raising chickens for the eggs. We live in a rural area, just outside of Austin, and I’m sure chickens have roamed these acres many times in the past.

The adage of a rooster crowing to start the morning is a complete myth. Roosters crow all the time! They crow to establish their turf or to assert dominance. They even crow when a hen lays an egg.

My husband and I have grown accustomed to the noise and rarely notice it any longer. Our visitors are generally less prepared for around the clock crowing. Recently my son, who was visiting from out of town, commented about 10:00 PM, “That is going to drive me crazy!”

I had to smile, remembering the first weeks the rooster moved in next door. I thought I would never get used to hearing the noise.

I did get used to the noise. In fact when we drove to pick up breakfast tacos the next morning, at the local doughnut shop, it took a minute to realize I was hearing a rooster crow. As I waited in the car, a rooster strutted up to the door of the doughnut shop and serenaded everyone with his “Cock a Doodle Doo!” Continuing his rise and shine revelry, he made his way down the side walk pecking at the concrete.

Even in our community in the great state of Texas, that’s not a normal site. So now I know why the chicken crossed the road….. To get to the Doughnut shop!

Sleepless in Austin, Texas…..

On August 20, 2014August 20, 2014 By DGThomaIn Writing1 Comment

I hate waking in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep or not being able to fall asleep once I lay down. I feel shortchanged all the next day. I’m not one of those people who can sleep easily during the day. No matter how silly it may seem I feel I have lost something I will never get back when I sleep during daylight hours.

If only I could sleep anywhere, anytime!

Occasionally, the chaos of the day causes my brain to kick into overdrive just when it should be shutting down to recharge. Going to bed at my normal time, I usually fall asleep relatively quickly. On the nights that restless thoughts worm their way into my consciousness, I wake up after just an hour or so. Once I’m awake, I toss and turn and try anxiously to fall back asleep.

Recently, after having fallen asleep at 10:00 PM, I woke up at 2:30 AM. Tossing and turning for over half an hour, I finally gave up and got out of bed. I was wide awake! Since I had to be at work at 7:00 AM I decided to give up and get out of bed.

It turned into an amazing experience! I sat down and worked on some writing tasks, washed a load of clothes, ran the dishwasher, polished my nails….. Well I did a lot of things I would never have had time to do if I had gotten up at my normal 5:00 AM.

Incredibly I made it through the day smiling and alert! I was still refreshingly awake at 7:00 PM when I got home.

One of my favorite things is an unexpected “Gift of Time”. A meeting unexpectedly cancelled, or an obligation that changes and frees my time. That’s what I call a “Gift of Time”.

Although, I doubt getting up in the middle of the night on a work day is anything that I should do on a regular basis, for that one day, it was an absolutely wonderful “Gift of Time”!

Tybee Island, GA trip

On August 13, 2014December 14, 2014 By DGThomaIn Family, Travel, WritingLeave a comment

This spring, my daughter and I embarked on our second of what will hopefully become an annual trip. My daughter, Kat, planned a lovely trip to Tybee Island, Ga. I flew into Tulsa, OK on a Thursday evening so we could begin our road trip the next afternoon. We chose to take a road trip because even though flying would have been quicker, we knew we would miss a lot of experiences by flying. You just can’t duck into that little out-of-the-way shop along the way if you are on an airplane! We had a wonderful trip with a lot of great experiences.

We stayed at the Beachview Bed and Breakfast in Tybee Island, Ga. First thing Saturday morning, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of egg rolls (the name absolutely doesn’t do this dish justice), fresh fruit, pastries and freshly brewed coffee. We carried our food out onto the second floor veranda and enjoyed the delicious gourmet breakfast in the fresh island air.

After our breakfast, we headed to Fort Pulaski for a tour of the historic fort and one of the original lighthouses. With a cool breeze, we had a wonderful walk through the grounds and out to the lighthouse.

Leaving the fort, we headed to several outdoor markets for shopping. We found some wonderful, unique items for sale and enjoyed a delicious warm beverage from Tybean Art & Coffee bar.

Sitting outside, at TYBEAN Art and Coffee Bar , we enjoyed an outdoor game of checkers playing with milk jug lids! Honestly, this little interlude was one of my favorite memories.

We had many more fun and adventuresome activities on the trip, but just taking a minute out of a busy fun-filled trip to play a game of checkers with my daughter, while I sipped a delicious Chai tea, was exactly what I needed on a relaxing Saturday afternoon.

The All Too Common Condition

On August 6, 2014 By DGThomaIn Family, Food, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment

…Of having no patience. Grocery store checkouts are crazy places to be at the best of times. Our local supermarket HEB (The first initials of Howard E. Butt) is always packed with people. Ducking in for a quick minute is a complete contradiction.

Even knowing that, I still think I can just run in and pick up something quickly. Yesterday I attempted to run into HEB and grab something light for dinner. It was 3:45 PM in the afternoon. How bad could it be?

My husband was with me and we decided on a salad with some fruit and sautéed shrimp tossed on top. Splitting up to grab the ingredients, we tackled the grocery list. Mathematically it shouldn’t be possible to spend one hour grabbing 16 items, but that is exactly what happened.

One hour later we were making our way to the checkout. Of course I was guilty of leaving my cell phone in the cart and heading off to pick up some tea. In my defense, my husband was supposed to wait for me at the cheese counter and he wandered off to enjoy some of the food samples. We spent a good 15 minutes trying to find each other. I absolutely refused to have him paged over the intercom!

Finally back together and ready to head to the checkout, we counted our items. 16. All the express lines were for 15 or less. Of course! Yes, my nickname is Girl Scout at work, but I just couldn’t bring myself to get in the 15 item line and I didn’t see anything I was willing to leave behind. So, we moved to the shortest regular line we could find.

We were standing behind a gentleman who didn’t have a cart; just something in his hands and only one person checking out in front of him. Things were looking pretty good. Suddenly this woman darts in with an overflowing basket and pushes in front of us. The man looks up and smiles and says, “Man, I really hate to do this to you. This is my wife”. And she just smiles and says “Yeah, I’m a little slow”.

Shock took over and I couldn’t even respond. It is amazing how quickly your anger can flair when you are already frazzled. I left my husband and the cart and went in search of a different line. I found one with only two carts and it seemed reasonable. I motioned my husband down to get in line. The elderly customer at the head of the line, checking out was almost done and the cart in front of us was full but at least not overflowing.

Even though, the lady had been almost finished when got in line, it was taking a while and I joked to my husband, she is probably writing a check. Sure enough, that is exactly what she was doing. The checkout lady was holding the check up and reading it as if she had never seen one before. “Unbelievable!” I was thinking, still fuming a little from the first lady who cut in front of us.

Finally finished, the elderly lady gathered her purse and was being helped to her car by one of the young store clerks. The couple in front of us had their purchases on the counter and the clerk was starting to ring them up. The lady spoke up and said, “I need to pay for these school supplies separately.”

What? Now I’m normally pretty patient but I can’t believe what I’m hearing as she starts sorting the items into two stacks. At least she didn’t pay by check.

When we finally got up to the checkout, it moved pretty fast. We did only have 16 items after all.

Going home and hanging out….

On July 30, 2014 By DGThomaIn Family, Friends, Musings, Writing1 Comment

Photo courtesy of texasescapes.com/TexasPhotography/Barclay-Gibson April 2009

It seems like we never really go home until something significant happens. We visit, but we don’t go home. Recently, I received a phone call that my mother had been hospitalized. I go visit my parents fairly often, but usually I’m in and out and don’t have time to see many people or hang out. Going to the hospital in a small town forces you to slow down and just “hang out”. The hospital employees are either people that went to school with me or are the children of my classmates. The hospital in my hometown is a small 25 bed hospital. Often the census is less than 5 when I visit.

Walking toward the front door of the hospital with pecan shells crunching underneath my feet brings back a surge of memories. The pecans which have fallen from the ages old pecan trees overhead litter the sidewalk.

It seems like eons ago that I used to work at this hospital. My office was just behind that window to the right. My son was delivered down the hall to left. Many of my nieces and nephews also made their debut within these walls.

The number of times I entered through the emergency room with my accident prone son is innumerable.

I haven’t lived here in over 20 years. Now I live in a city large enough that running into someone you know at the supermarket is the exception so coming home it’s hard to get used to knowing everyone you run into anywhere you go!

Every nurse, every custodian or kitchen worker seemed to know my name or at least know who my parents are and that I am one of those “Greenway kids”.

I sometimes wish my parents lived in a larger city where they could receive the latest and best medical care. But when I see the personal care they receive here, I think that the benefits gained from the good will in this little town far surpasses any medical advances that may be available in a bigger hospital.

Walking into restaurants, grocery stores or hospital halls, it seems that everyone in town knows my mother is in the hospital and everyone is concerned. People I haven’t seen in 20 years call me by name. Many more remembered me than I was able to remember them. I guess it’s really true, home is where everybody knows your name, and that’s a good thing!

Planes, misgivings and singing??

On July 23, 2014July 23, 2014 By DGThomaIn Musings, Travel, Writing1 Comment

Yes times have changed and our reactions to situations are different than they would have been 15 years ago. I used to hate it when my parents would begin a story by saying, “When I was your age, or back in the day we….. (Fill in the blank).”

But I find myself starting sentences with that very phrase, more often than I care to admit. However, that being said, the aftershock of 9/11/2001 has changed the way I view travel, particularly flying.

Boarding a plane for Seattle last week, I noticed that the lady sitting behind me was very talkative. Not a big deal, but I was hoping she would not talk so loudly for the entire four hour trip. About thirty minutes into the flight, I began to wonder what on earth she was doing. She was pushing on the back of my seat and kept dropping things. Another thirty minutes passed and she began to sing very loudly. Not just a little loud, but loudly enough that the stewardesses came from the front of the plane to ask her to not sing out loud since there were so many people on the plane.

At this point my annoyance begin to give way to a little bit of apprehension. I started thinking about news stories where people have caused problems on planes and of shoes being set on fire, etc. I knew it was a silly reaction and one I would never have had pre 9/11. Still as I heard her dropping things and mumbling nonsense, I had a lingering sense of unease.

I noticed everyone within earshot was glancing her way and whispering. The people sitting beside her had to stand several times so she could try to recover the belongings she was dropping. I was glad I was in front of her instead of beside her.

As we prepared to land, I heard the stewards and stewardesses trying to get her attention so they could get her to put her seat belt on. As we all stood to disembark, three empty alcohol bottles rolled from under my seat. I felt more than a little silly, having been rattled by someone who simply had a few too many of those little bottles of alcohol the airlines sell. Now I just felt sorry for her. Still it was a huge relief to land and disembark safely in Seattle.

The Uninvited Visitor

On July 17, 2014 By DGThomaIn Animal Stories, Family, Writing1 Comment

This past weekend, my granddaughter moved into her first apartment. She graduated from high school in May and will be attending college in the fall. Her granddad and I drove 10 hours to deliver furniture and household items to furnish her new apartment. It was a wonderful opportunity to spend time together and to be a part of setting up her new life.
We cleaned, bought, organized and decorated. The weekend was full of “remember when” and lots of laughter.
After several hugs and goodbyes, we headed home and my daughter and granddaughter went to move one final small load before calling it a day. As they returned to the apartment with their arms loaded, they struggled to unlock the door without dropping everything. As the door swung open a blur of color flew past their feet into the apartment.

This little guy ran in and plopped down in the middle of the floor. Thank goodness I was
well down the road before I saw this picture! He is so very cute! As my husband put it, “he really knows how to work a room!” My granddaughter isn’t allowed pets, so my daughter quickly scooped up the uninvited guest and hurried him to her car.
I should take a minute to explain that my daughter currently resides with four cats. They are all rescues or strays that have found their way into her home. As soon as she walked into her home, her husband started shaking his head. She assured him it was only temporary and that she was taking the cat to the vet to be checked for a chip. She took the picture above to put on a found cat flyer.
The cat had no chip of course and the complex said the previous owners didn’t have a cat. The kitten has been at my daughter’s house two days while they look for his people….. to no avail. Now I’m thinking this is a pretty smart little guy. In a multi building complex with hundreds of tenants, he manages to walk into the apartment that is inhabited by cat people. Sort of like, of all the gin joints in the world…. Well you get the picture.
My daughter says her husband was a “Goner” when she walked through the door. The cat is at the vet being checked and treated. A flyer never went up, as the vet said he was probably a stray and had not been cared for very well. A name debate is under way, but for now we’ll just say Ollie has a new home with lots of cat toys, lots of square feet to roam, plenty of sunshine and four siblings, two girls and two boys. We think he is the tie breaker male.