I was a drama and dance major, and have always enjoyed "drama". Do not like war movies or mysteries - get tangled up in the plot and forget who is white hat and who is black hat. Well, as I was researching (read wasting time surfing) Burton and Taylor, I came across "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf" by Edward Albee. On Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgxPmheEQT4&feature=PlayList&p=51742BA7D8F4D0F9&index=0&playnext=1

In 13 segments. I watched them all.

With interruptions for a) Antony to put a sale on ebay, b) for a snack and c) for a cuppa tea. But what a remarkable play. I went in London to see it on the stage in '67, when it was a couple of years 'old', and we drama students were enthralled. It marked a dynamic change in the staging of stuff. No fluff. No vaudeville. No Fred Astaire or concocted plot with a cutesy ending. This play is the stuff of LIFE put on to the stage. I will not reveal the plot, except to say that the 2 sets of professor couples, one in the 40s age bracket and the other in the 20's, are at the older profs house for an after-faculty party 'get drunker.' All get more drunk and more drunk, and private things are revealed about the 4 of them as the play continues.

An unexpected denouement takes your breath away. I do not know if Albee wrote more stuff, since right after that year of college, I married Tom and never did return to the "drama/theater" scene. I think such plays were called "Kitchen Sink Plays," like Pinter's "Look Back in Anger", since the folk spoke just as you and I would at the kitchen sink. UNHeard of!! Plays before then were unreal, the world of the imagined, and metaphorical or allegory. NOT so after WW2. time to get down and dirty! Enough of fake and fru fru. We needed reality, not like the reality tv of today, - we needed people like us who were in torment or difficulty. The Archers. And saying "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!"

And now for something completely different:

When I go to Africa in August I will try to visit the Kenya offices of "Solar Cookers dot org," and see what there is to see. Tomorrow Jesse and I are going to make a cooker and try it and see if maybe the rice I make will be, from this point on, made with solar power. Why has it taken me so long? Well, partly because I intend to use the reflective sheets for the shiny stuff, and it is so much easier to handle than silver paper wrap. I have made a cooker b4, and it has heated and cooked food, but it was cumbersome and clunky.



Photos and sucess? story tomorrow.

The celebration for July 4th is around the corner, and I have phoned my friend Marlene for the annual date that we have with one another. Every 4th, the benefactor of Wilmore/Nicholasville (and the biggest employer of the county) R. J. Corman, spends a lot of money and puts on the best fireworks display for the county. Marlene and I get a meal in a picnic basket and go the corner of the nearby site and watch. It is always AWESOME. You Juanito and fam, go to the river in Grand Rapids and they shoot off pyrotechnic excellences left and right. Well, we sit at the corner of the road and watch the $20K display and are thrilled. Marlene and I do his every year - and phone each other once or twice a year in the other months, around Christmas or something. Our boys played together in the 6th - 8th grade, but then Anto and Joze got too alternative and the friendship fizzled. Her lads now do Marching Band and other normal things. Sigh. I believe her oldest will start college in the Fall.

Another friend came by tonight and sat at the outdoor fire with me for an hour or more. Being a friend is 80% work and the rest enjoyment. However, with Angela, it is less work and more fun. She is doing her part in keeping the friendship alive.

I am very grateful to my women friends who are willing to have me - now a single (imagine!??) - in the mix of their own friends/relatives.

No picture tonight. Ah well. Nor anything philosophical. Watch this space tomorrow. Hugs.

Maybe I have too much time on my hands??

I like to make the things I use/eat/share. From scratch. Rather than buy them ready made:
paper
laundry soap
hand soap
scarves
rags from towels
greetings cards
solar oven,
but no candles as yet. Someone may show me how some day - I did in so a candle make in the pre-Christ hippie days, with someone in Ecuador probably.

I make curtains, and have just put up reflective window sheets using the "Survival Blankets" sold in the stores (to wrap around you in the event of an overnight in extreme conditions.) I heard about this 'blanket' at the CPR class I took. They are $2.79, and are like see through-ish tin foil/saran wrap, and can be used for all kinds of things - solar oven for ex. The fabric is very shiny on both sides and reflects well, and is somewhat see-through from the inside. I have to look outside in the evening to see if they are see-through from outside when the light is on. . . . hmmm.You can sort of see the two lying down blue barrels center right and the condenser bottom left. The package is orange and you see the woman wrapped up in it. Apparently all one's body heat is retained inside the wrap, and presumably all the out temp is kept out - either hot or cold. Like a Thermos. Inside out.

Here is the breakfast for kings:


The flower decoration is the first of the multicolored glads. The eggs: farm grown locally, The basil, and greens from the garden and the potatoes from the night previously. I am harvesting my own spuds now. And they are GOOOOOD.

Oh, if you are not growing something outside, you are missing such a profound sight of the Lord and His goodness.

beetles and soup

I found a new solitaire - which for the Brits amongst us - Patience. http://www.freeworldgroup.com/games/solitaire/flowergarden.html

and here's a recipe that is for lentil soup that I made:
1 bag of lentils,washed and picked (mine had NOTHING to pick out!!)
50 old peas from pods in the garden that are about ready to be too dry for anything,
organic chicken stock (thanks JJ for donating that to me, in your new 'veggie' ways)
Two garden onions, greens and all
Cook for couple of hours, and let them burn!
Take out the remains that are not burnt
Cook again with more water, ('member, they were burnt 'cos of not enough water?)
Store them overnight in the fridge and then heat again.
Strain out the lentil/onion gubbins,
and add 1 teaspoon of pnut butter.
Serve with chopped basil and toast. BINGO, W

Wonderfully nourishing soup for the family. It has not been my forte to produce food that satisfied the eaters - up till now. Jesse, the house guest/student is very pleased with my fare and there have been a lot more accolades since the house became emptier. I can only assume that my culinary skills have remained the same, but my critics have reduced in number, and I am not cooking on eggshells. I use the juicer a lot more recently too. But apples do not juice well, leaving a LOT of liquid in the mush that remains. Time for de-bugging the plants out there. This one is particularly obnoxious: the blister beetle. Its habits are odd - skittish it is - and very hard to catch. I use tongs and a mug of water with a touch of soap in it to reduce surface tension. Why do the bugs have such good camo? This one must have been placed ON the flower by the camera person! They are attracted to the cucurbit family of plants, and jump off into the ground the minute you start coming near.

Thanks for the comments. More me later.

Is anyone reading this?? You had better say so, or I will stop. That is both a threat and a promise.

The photo above is Rhoda by the cutaway Hazard hills.
I have recovered from the trauma of being at Ichthus for hours at a time - never seeing one band, but hearing several at one time since our recycle tent was at the middle of a triangle of three stages. At times it was unbelIEvably loud. Intolerable actually..

In Hazard I saw bits of KY that I had not seen before. The hills are steepsided and the roads are at the bottom of valleys where there is a stream or river. The river hanks are the places where homes are and sometimes there is a swinging bridege to carry the folk to the other side so that the car stays on this side while the homes are over yonder. I used to say "Well, it is not the boonies, but you can see them from here. . . .!" Now i have to say of Hazard's interior,"Yes, this IS the boonies and you cannot see anything BUT boonies!" Rhoda was visiting clients and i went on one visit and stayed in the car while she did a house call. AmAZINg. The photos show the cut away sides of the mountains where man has decided to put stuff!!

My garden is doing fabulously, and we are eating lots of greens and peas, and the cukes and squash will be ready soon.

I leave for Kenya and England in some seven weeks - Aug 6th. I am getting quite excited and will be able to see what my friend Rhoda and her Bishop husband do when they are not here studying/waiting for their last kid to finish HS. .

of cans and bottles

This is the tower into which the 10,000 recyclable bottles went for the duration of the Ichthus festival - well only the bottles onto which the owners had written their names and cell #s, and then there was a drawing for the winners to receive Tshirts and music CDs and the big prize was an electric guitar signed by all the big band names. The rest of the recycling was placed into large sturdy boxes and was hauled off to the center in Nicholasville. And there was a LOT. I will give figures next time. Several of us ate food that was thrown away - one looked to see how fresh it was. And the amount of consumable materials that was thrown away would feed most of Burkina Faso for a week or two.

On other matters: A friend, Josh Barkey, from our time in Peru, arrived with JJ and we talked about the "old days" in the Yarina Base there. But mostly we discussed our concept of God and how one can only relate to the traditions of the religion of Christianity if one has a progressively maturing understanding of oneself in the arena of spirituality. God does not change, only our realisations and our view of Him do. It was so refreshing to find a man for whom 'small talk' was unacceptable, and with whom one could relate and grow at the same time. Soooper. These men are few and far between. Grow Josh!

Are you too busy? these days I AM. And I will be so until I get back from Hazard. At least, I will be away from 607, and that means that there will be lots to do upon my arrival back here. I went clogging at the outdoor clog dance on Saturday, which always lifts my soul and body. Must hit a meeting soon. Maybe Ii should look in Hazard for one. Now there is a thought!!

I talked and talked to young people at the ichthus festival and found that nearly all the kids (read 12 - 25) were congenial and delightful. At least five (of 8000) had used their bodies as art canvases and had managed to cover 50+% of their bods with tattoos. Mostly religiously oriented. Hmmm. My concern with tattooing is that there is staph all over our bods ALL the time, and Hep C too. If we stab ourselves intentionally 40,000 times per sq inch, one of those 2 horrors will enter in and infect me. Sure thing! So I will remain stabfree and my lads and Phoebe have pretty much done the same. A teeny tattoo is to be found on phoebe's ankle, tasteful and fishy.

The strawberry that is above should have come from MY garden but it is from the store and I love strawberries. Mine are from a leftover patch in the garden and the results are minimal, though tasty, Sluggy year. Caterpillars on the brocolli too and in the heads of the bursielles sprouts. I will start taking a stampcollecotre tongs out side in the early AM and a jar of soapy water and remove the little blighters into the wsater. RevENGE.

Start writing Miss Aureol

I have inherited Mummu status with a family of Kenyan origin. The mother and father came to Wilmore about 7 years ago for the seminary, and are both finished with Doctorates and Masters in counseling. When I was told that my friendship had escalated to substitute mother hood for all the 5 children (30 - 14) I asked what my duties and responsibilities were - was I now expected to pay for the wedding dress? or educate the youngest at my expense? No, I was assured - it was honorary and pragmatic. Should a kid be stranded at a ball game - the ride left without them - or the trumpet be left at home and needed for the lesson - I could be called upon and of course I would run to assist and be the transportation for child or instrument. Thank God! And the parenting goes both ways. MY own children can now call upon Mummu Cheggeh for emergencies and so on. It is a cross cultural, mutually-inclusive beneficial arrangement. i love it.

I spent the last three days with Rhoda Cheggeh. We drove to Hazard, KY and she attended to some Hospice work and I lounged around in the hotel room. I had been 'instructed' to start my Memoirs. the names of the book are various: From High to the Most High is one. there are others. I wrote 6 ms pages. We'll see. There is another three day excursion of the same nature next M - W, June 15 - 17. I am to get chapter 2 and 3 done then. Hmmm

Ichthus is this weekend. You can sit on the back deck and hear the music. I have been every year (13 now) as a volunteer in one capacity or another. This year I am a recycler (one of 30 or so) and I will spend 12 hours during the weekend gathering bags of trash/recyclables, sorting them into glass, plastic and cans and transporting them in HUGE skips to the Nicholasville recycling facility. It will be exhausting and I will talk to about 300 kids/adults about the benefits of recycling rather than dumping stuff in the landfills. Last year there were 300 million drink containers - well at least 35,000. Fifteen thousand kids and adults attend Ichthus, so that is only one container a day per person. Less. And we hauled them all off the 40 acre property. It was GREAT. Pictures next blog.

Our church service today was extremely challenging - Lazarus and JC raising him from death. My notes indicate that:
Point 1. God/Jesus doesn't come as fast as we want him to. (It took 4 days, and L was then dead)
Point 2. There are purposes to pain. We must use it and believe that God thinks we are able to profit from delays. Jesus wept/was angry/loving and we can be too.
Point 3. JC confronts the obstacles to our healing. He had to get Lazarus's stone rolled away and Martha objected - "He'll smell by now!" Jesus does not mind our stench - He is there to fix things.

I shall be in the hills of Southern Kentucky for a day or two. I plan to do some writing of memoirs - at the insistence of my hostess, who will be at a conference all day and in the evening will critique what I have done. I might go to the hotel's gym too. That would be good.

What a day! 1. Pulled up daffodils at a friend's neighbor's house and scored half of the "take."
Then 2. Arrived to look at a long trailer at a house and the parents of the kids playing in the garden homeschool the family and I could just TELL!!!! How does one KNOW?? And they were planting a small table-cloth sized garden with 4 tomatoes and a few hills of something which has not come up yet. So I told the mother about my compost power point and will email it to her.
Then 3. The hot water heater under the house burst and we have no hot water until i get a whole new system. Will they want it to be "code?" Nothing in the house is up to code. Will i be evicted?
and then 4. I am just sitting doing nothing and the time is 10:12 already! Am I boring you?? I am boring myself.

How does one do it - my computer now has "lost" all my favorites since a friend put two other accounts on to the start page? Now I am no longer 'the administrator' (and that was who I used to be) and I am all aflutter. Now I am 'aureol', and the administrator has gone! I cannot access the favorites and I will have to re-do all that stuff. If YOU, (the one or two who might read this in the next couple of days,) know what to do, please CALL me!!

The rain tank is 3/4 full, thanks to two or three very enormous but short-lived cloud bursts, separated by 40 minutes of sunshine. Only in Kentucky!! Won't need to water the garden till Friday.

Looking for my pictures and it is alllll gone!! Oh dear. They should not let me alone with a computer. Where are my pictures?? Horror of horrors. Miiiiiiike!!

I like Freecycle. If you haven't signed up for the one in your region, may I suggest you do so, and do it now! One of my first 'takes' was a set of vertical blinds that Nancy Sleeth put on the Jessamine County Freecycle. I went to her house and we chatted in the front yard for about 45 minutes and her husband joined us. THEN that next Sunday, Matthew attended our church and I invited him for lunch, and our families became friends. THEN I come to find out, in the 18 months that have followed that first encounter, that these dear people are on the Christian Environment Circuit, doing more in a month for "God's green" than I could do in six months of hard labor. And they have written books and do speeches in important places. And they are just ordinary people with a passion. Nancy was the one who encouraged Carol and I to start Wilmore Creation Care. No less! Here is the logo that we have selected and the business cards are coming soon.
Some of our accomplishments: local eggs available to the community from a farmer within 5 miles; beef slaughtered and divvied up to those same folks; squiggly light bulbs all over the place; drying lines where there were none; compost piles and worm farms (I think I am the only one growing worms in the garage for the 'castings' actually, but I hope to promote the activity since it is an alternative to composting my peelings!)
So here is the bin and its contents: