Sunday Morning – Edition 12

December 17, 2017

We are one week and a day away from Christmas … I cannot believe this year has gone by so fast. So much has happened – good and bad – but I guess every year is like that, however, this year seems to have all the bad’s in the lead.

This week my writing takes on a different twist. I have written recipes for years and had a food column for a couple of years on another website. I have my own food website where I post kitchen hacks and quick and easy recipes that make my life easier and hopefully for those who stumble upon it – confessionsofalazycook.wordpress.com – which needs some TLC after much neglect recently.

That being said, this week in my section I have posted a couple of recipes I wrote recently and were written to be used with a power pressure cooker. I have been converting recipes from my crockpot favorites as well as writing a few new ones since I purchased a 3 quart pressure cooker or what I call my Mini.

For those of you who are dedicated crockpot users I still have mine … in fact I have 4 ranging from 1.5 quart to 6 quart and still use them. Yes both power pressure cookers have a slow cook setting, but there are things I do in a crockpot that are not always a meal. One of my favorite things is to make Greek Yogurt in my 1.5 quart even though my Mini has a Yogurt feature which is just as easy as my crockpot method and takes the same amount of time. Using my crockpot for this frees up my Mini to cook a quick meal that I don’t want to use the 6 quart pressure cooker because it is just too big for the purpose.

With the current events of the past week I could go on a crazy rant … but I won’t right now.

While making my first post this morning, all of my tabs that I use in creating each edition decided to disappear. I have pulled back up some of the most frequently used sites and recreating the tabs for was of use, but I lost several recipe tabs that I wanted to keep handy … well Mercury is in Retrograde so I am blaming that on the technology glitch.

Have a Blessed Holiday season and a Merry Christmas … I will take a break from posting until after the New Year … hopefully the rollback of Net Neutrality won’t make that an impossibility … we all are waiting to see what happens next with our access to the internet.

This edition will not have updates for Robert Moulton, Joss Rossiter, Peggy Blackwell, Ella Ruth Morgan or my Guest Artist … I need to look through their work and have the best for my next edition.

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Sunday Morning – Edition 11

December 10, 2017

One day I will get my life together and actually publish on Sunday morning … but better one day late than never!

I am excited about the contributions this week … such wonderful writing and writers and pictures from photographers and art from artists … I am continually humbled by the talent not only around me in my little Central Texas town, but the wonderful talent of those writers, poets, and artists who are my friends through a variety of social media situations.

My guest artist is a dear friend who was there for me when I spent long crazy days recovering from a nasty upper arm fracture. She has been a mentor in my writing and gently nudged me into the world of publishing my work. Heidi is not only the writer of two book series – Obsession and Destiny – but a damned fine poet and short story writer.

The crazy vote to kill Net Neutrality this week may put an end to our access. Our ability to reach out to friends across social media, search the internet for information, read newspapers and magazines on-line, and even this little fledgling magazine may have to pack up its web address and disappear into obscurity.

It seems every day another of the things that make and have made our lives easier and more rewarding, things we take for granted, the ability to look for a recipe, look up information and research for a piece of writing we are working on, looking for just that right picture to illustrate something. It seems in the past 11 months more and more of our freedoms as US citizens are disappearing and no one is doing anything about it. If we are not careful and ever vigilant our once prosperous and highly respected country will become a sad commentary of the Hunger Games or worse. Please fight back … resist in any way you can from where you are and make sure what we have doesn’t disappear and take us back to the struggles of nearly 100 years ago. I still cannot believe my country is no longer my country and may not recover in the years left in my life. My heart aches for the children and grandchildren of the future … as well as the rest of us.

Rant over …

Sunday Morning – Edition 10

December 3, 2017

Actually this is being posted on 12/5/17 … but it is for the December 3rd edition. Life is unpredictable and sometimes gets in the way of bet intended plans. Please excuse the tardiness of this week’s edition and forgive my giving in to the effects of the universe — Full Moon/Super Moon and Mercury going Retrograde all on the same day. These occurrences seem to have their effect on me more and more as I get older. Could not stay away Sunday and most of yesterday to get things taken care of … hence my tardy posting today.

Please have the people in California fighting and fleeing a new round of wild fires … there is always a tragic event I think is related to climate change … no one is immune.

Sunday Morning – Edition Nine

November 26, 2017

I hope each and every person reading had a wonderful Thanksgiving … or some of you may still be celebrating Thanksgiving today as well.

Where has the year gone? At times it has moved at a snail’s pace and other times at ‘warp’ speed. Christmas is less than a month away and I am never ready.

I planned to begin Joss Rossiter’s section in the magazine for the first December publication, however, I can’t wait to show off her amazing art. I am the lucky owner of two of her pieces and honored to have them in my home.

I will not have a selection written by me this week … but one that I want to share written by Mary Oliver. The older I get, the more her writing speaks to me and I think this one will speak to you as well.

No updates this week for Robert Moulton, Ella Ruth Morgan, and Peggy Blackwell.

Sunday Morning – Thanksgiving Week Edition – Eight

November 19, 2017

This week we celebrate another year of being thankful as a country. This week is also the anniversary of the murder of John F Kennedy. I have wondered as an adult where our country would be had he lived … and had Martin Luther King, Jr. lived … and Bobby Kennedy lived. Too many “what if’s” but I think our country would be in a much different and much better place than today.

The news cycle for the past week has been riddled with accusations of molestation, harassment, sexual predators past and current … as well as a growing sense that my country and yours was not sold but given on a silver platter to Russia and Putin. My heart is heavy going into the beginning of the annual holiday season … thankful that we are still a free country – for now – and thankful that as a citizen of the United States I am allowed to worship as I choose – for now. No promises what the new year will bring.

My piece for this week was written last year when I was reminded of my childhood friend’s grandmother – Fat Grannie – and the events of the week when JFK was murdered – the week when I felt true fear for the first time and horror at what had happened to our president in my own state. If you were on this earth during that horrible week, I ask you to reflect on what it was like for you personally as you read my personal reflection through the eyes of a child.

This year Thanksgiving Day is also the wedding anniversary of my parents. Neither are with us and have been celebrating this day in another realm since my mother’s death in 2003 … my father preceded her in 1976. I am the last of this line of my family having no direct relatives and only a handful of distant cousins.

No updates this week for Robert Moulton, Ella Ruth, Peggy or Joss in Guest Artist. Next week I will update Ella Ruth and Peggy. Robert is currently working on the next installment of The Devil’s Slot Machine … and … beginning the first week in December, Joss will have a regular section of her art and I am extremely excited to include her each week.

Another section I plan to add beginning with the first December edition is a section of my recipes – Kitchen Poetry. In the meantime you can see some of my kitchen hack recipes at my food website confessionsofalazycook.wordpress.com

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week – hug your loved ones – tell them you love them – eat too much – watch too many football games and Christmas movies – and be thankful for every minute you have with both friends and family.

Sunday Morning – Edition Seven

November 12, 2017

I hope to get Sunday Morning actually posted by Sunday Morning next week. I am still recovering from the Cedar Fever attack and get tired really easy … but I at least am posting on Sunday rather than Monday this week!

Mama Kitty had nearly four days of freedom last week. She disappeared in the predawn hours of Monday the 6th and was ready to come back inside about the same time Thursday the 9th. She spent several chilly nights and one day and night that was cold and rainy living in the rough. She came to me late in the afternoon on Wednesday but I could not get her to come inside and I learned my lesson not to chase her because the old girl can run when she wants to. Also, I didn’t want to stress her any more than she was stressed by the weather conditions … but she seemed ready to come inside … just not Wednesday night. I tried several times and she wasn’t having it. At least she is alive, no worse for wear, and wasn’t tempted by the death traps that evil little man has all over the neighborhood. Unfortunately, two of my male barn cats have been MIA since sometime Tuesday … afraid they did fall into the death traps. Enough already!

The week of Thanksgiving is another anniversary of the murder of JFK … I refuse to call his death an assassination … it was murder pure and simple. I wrote a piece this time last year about the remembrances of my 11-year-old self during that horrible time in our country which I will share next Sunday.

This week I am so happy to be able to share not only the art but some amazing pictures of my lovely friend Joss Rossiter. She lives in London now but was a citizen of South Africa for a long long time. Joss took her dream vacation to the Giraffe Hotel in Africa recently and shared some of her pictures from that trip … as well as some art that was inspired during that trip and an early trip to South Africa this summer. You will definitely enjoy her work and will be seeing much more of her art in the future. I am honored to have two of her unique pieces of art.

Sunday Morning – Edition 6

November 6, 2017

Sorry for the late posting folks but sometimes life gets in the way of art. I have been fighting Cedar Fever since last Thursday and Sunday was the worst day of the battle. Robert Mihaly asked me if Cedar Fever was like Hay Fever … my response was WORSE.

The cedar in my area usually doesn’t cause me to have allergic reactions when the pollen is flying, but last week we had several days of hot humid south winds that blew in the dreaded Red Cedar that tries to kill me.

Today I feel mostly human again … the only lingering symptom is being very tired and a wretched cough.

I have been diffusing my favorite Young Living essential oils to fight off the dreaded Red Cedar Pollen … RC and/or Eucalyptus Blue in the kitchen diffuser and SniffleEase with E. Blue in the bedroom.

Hopefully tomorrow will find the cough on the way out as well.

This week I am showing off the talents of several writers other than their writing … Cheryl Maggie and Joe Hesch are danged good photographers and Cheryl does amazing painted tiles. Enjoy their other talents this week.

Keep me in your thoughts, I have gone through some trying times the past several weeks and struggling a bit personally. This morning was the worst. My Grand Old Lady, my sweet Baby Girl, my Mama Kitty got out the door. I chased her for nearly an hour and poof … she disappeared. I haven’t seen her all day and it has been nearly 5 years since she has been an outdoor/indoor cat due to some health issues. I hoped she would turn up at dark, but nothing. I ask for her safety during the night and her return in the morning. Things are not safe in my neighborhood for roaming cats right now and I fear for not only her safety but her very life. However, her desire for the freedom of being outside was stronger than the comforts of being inside and pampered. I hope she enjoys her last bit of freedom because I don’t think I will ever see her again.

Sunday Morning – Edition Five

October 29, 2017

Five weeks into this little experiment … I will continue because the contributors are amazing … and I plan to add more in the future. Starting small is always best and work toward a final goal … but with writing and other artistic endeavors there really never is a final goal because art and literature are infinite.

My guest artist this week is Kevin Stickler a local artist and furniture maker … check him out!

My piece this week is a rant brought on by several incidents related to our current political situation and how people are treated. I am political to an extent, but when people are treated less than human I cannot and will not stay silent.

Next Tuesday, November 7th is election day.  Let your voice be heard and VOTE. Most places currently have early voting for the rest of this week … find your polling place whether you vote early or on election day. Acquaint yourself with what is on your local ballot and exercise your constitutional right to being heard at the ballot box while it is still a constitutional right.

Robert Molton’s The Devil’s Slot Machine Part 15 – and all previous submissions are found under his name in the menu bar. If you have not read this account of Hurricane Katrina please take time and read from Part 1 to Part 15 and be ready for Part 16 as soon as it is available.

Sunday Morning – Fourth Edition

The experience continues. I appreciate my writing participants and photographers more than I can even say … they lift my soul.

No Guest Artist this week … I will have someone for the next edition.

I hope those of you who take time to read are enjoying the selections.

Comments and feedback are always welcome!

Have a wonderful week.

Sunday Morning – Third Edition

October 15, 2017

Today is very special for me … today is my late father’s birthday – he would have been 105 today. There are so many times I would love to sit down and just talk to him … he had an interesting life that ended way too soon to that dreaded disease – CANCER.

Our visiting artist this week is someone I have followed for a while on FaceBook and is an amazing writer who always makes me think when I read her words … welcome Meg Haney – The Indomitable Megnolia … read her piece and give her some love in the comments.

Robert Moulton’s The Devil’s Slot Machine will run all month long until the next installment is available in November … this is a must read from Part 1 to Part 15.

There is a feeling of fall in the air in Central Texas … hunters are roaming the stores in their camouflage gear … this is the first hunting season they are able to purchase beer and wine locally.