Opportunity Knocks (X3)

We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another. ~Luciano de Crescenzo


Her Dogness and I were headed for the park when we saw the person walking up the road carrying a couple of market bags from our local grocery chain. We live on a dead end road that is about three miles or so long. It is probably about three and a half to four miles from the end of the road to the bus stop so not a lot of people use it and there isn't much foot traffic down here. There are a few people who hike up to the bus stop now and again but I had not seen this person before. I think what got my attention was that I couldn't tell if it was male or female. Tall and square shouldered, the person had a waist length ponytail and a gimmie cap pulled down over the top of it. Even a glance in my rear view mirror offered no clue but did reveal a walking cane.

It was a muggy day that promised to be hot a sweaty really soon. I wanted to get on with our walk and get back to the house before that happened if possible. We spent about twenty minutes or so in the park and headed home. As we made the hard left and started into the straight away that leads to our house, we saw the same person. This time, her loose hair was dancing wildly in the breeze of a passing truck as she struggled along the side of the road with her loaded bags. With a car just a few feet on my tail, I slowed down but was unable to stop. I got home and cleaned up a little, had a snack, gave Lani water and completed a few other mundane tasks that I can't remember before heading out again to fun some errands. I was almost to the end of the road when I saw her yet again. She had only gotten a few yards farther along from where she had been the last time I'd seen her. A truck close behind me but I stopped anyway.

"Do you need some help?"

"Oh, yes! I'll give you a couple of bucks to take me up the hill. Just get me up the hill and I'll be able to make it the rest of the way."

"Let me go up there and turn around."

The road is a narrow two lane affair with a center stripe but no sidewalks. I had to go about fifty yards to a driveway to turn around. Meantime, she is standing in knee high weeds.

"I can't thank you enough. I didn't think I'd have to do this today. I didn't know how I was going to make it up that hill."

There is a low water crossing just below my house, after which there is a sharp rise in the land which forms a short but steep hill.

"Where are you headed?"

"Just let me out anywhere after the S curve. I can make it the rest of the way."

"I might as well take you on home. I have to turn around somewhere anyway."

"You know where Etta (St.) is?"

"Sure, I used to live just past it."

I took her to her mobile home where there were a couple of cars in the driveway. She explained that her battery was dead and that they hadn't had time to jump start it.

"If you ever have trouble, I hope someone stops to help you."

"They already have."

She tried to give me two bucks but I was backing out of her drive already.

I passed her by twice before I stopped to help. I wonder how many others had passed her as she struggled with those bags. How desperate had she become to walk almost two miles to the bus stop and try to make it home with those heavy bags? I am grateful that I was given that third opportunity to make a difference for someone else.

Soundtrack for this post: Chuck Brodsky's We Are Each Other's Angels (I just found this version and I love it. I hope you will give it a listen.)

A Southern Tradition

Tomorrow, Stephen (aka Yankee Boy since he ate Ritz Crackers with his chili the other night) and I will partake of an old Southern tradition. We will eat black eyed peas on New Year's Day. Usually I make a big ol' pot of black eyed pea soup. That way I can add some tomatoes, cumin, onion and what ever else suits my fancy in order to give the peas a little flavor since they don't have much of their own. Dried peas are starchy and bland but contain a fair amount of protein and, like all legumes, are often used as a meat replacement.

This year, I asked Stephen to pick up some peas at the store and he brought back a couple of cans since that is what he saw first. That's OK with me. We never eat all the soup and I end up throwing a lot of it out. Anyway, with canned peas I can make Texas Caviar. This means that I drained the peas and added red and green onions, read and green sweet peppers, some red wine vinegar and really good olive oil along with a little salt and pepper. It is now marinating in the fridge overnight and will be a quick and easy side dish tomorrow.

The tradition of eating black eyed peas on New Year's Day dates back to the Depression. It was said that if you still had peas by the first of the year, you were lucky. Some traditionalist insist on adding turnip greens and cornbread to make the meal complete but I have always settled for the peas. I make cornbread if I make the soup. You just have to have something to soak up the juice.

A man who lived in the town in which I grew up had been a young man during the Depression. Until the day he died, he said that he always tipped his hat to a pea patch because peas kept him and his family from starving to death during those hard years.

Tomorrow we will eat the peas because it is a tradition and because it is said that to do so brings good luck during the coming year. We will be reminded that there have been times when people in this country were not as fortunate as we are now and we will be grateful for our peas and for everything else we have. Mostly, we will be grateful for each other.


Photo of peas from http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/547632/2/istockphoto_547632_black_eyed_peas.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/%3Fid%3D547632%26refnum%3D315636&h=304&w=380&sz=64&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=bG0WH1mvckhQhM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=123&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dblack%2Beyed%2Bpeas%2Bplants%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGLG,GGLG:2005-47,GGLG:en%26sa%3DN

Happy Thanskgiving

I haven't made a Thanksgiving meal in years. I used to make huge meals every year for people who, quite frankly, did not appreciate my efforts. I would slave for a day and a half only to have at least one person complain loudly that this or that dish was not made the way grandma used to make it. One of the things I am most thankful for today is that I no longer have any those people in my life. I eventually retired from making holiday dinners and have had some varied and fun experiences since. Thanksgiving dinner at Threadgill's is something everyone should try at least once. A couple of years ago, we went to San Antonio and walked around the river walk on Thanksgiving day. The weather was warm and most of the businesses were closed so we got to walk and look at everything without having to deal with a crowd. It was Stephen's first trip down there and we has a blast. Happening upon a hotel that had only been open for two weeks and had very few reservations for their Thanksgiving meal, we got to eat from a gourmet buffet with no planning what so ever.



This year is a little different. I have a chicken roasting in the oven and will roast or saute some of the vegetables from last Saturday's trip to the farmer's market. Since I made mozzarella a few days ago, I had whey with which I made bread yesterday. I have been doing this on a regular basis because store bought bread has way to many things in it that I can't pronounce and the last loaf we bought stayed in the cabinet for a month without going bad. That scared me!



I found meyer lemons at the farmer's market and Mistrel Boy reminded me of this recipe that I had been wanting to try whenever I was fortunate enough to find meyers. I had tried making a Shaker pie years ago with a recipe that I had come across somewhere. It tasted like citronella and left me thinking that I would never make another one. I have to agree with MB. It Rocks. Out. Loud.


I cheated on the crust but the rest of the recipe is exactly what is on his site. Next time, I may put some candied ginger in it or substitute some ginger syrup for part of the sugar.








soundtrack: Joel Raphael's Lemon Grove or anything from his Woodyboye or Woodeye cds 'cause it is good to remember that not everyone is fortunate enough to eat like this.

Persephone's Smile

After looking the other way the past two years, Persephone is smiling on central Texas as she emerges from the underworld. Demeter’s tears of joy at the reunion with her daughter are filling our almost dry lakes. The multicolored cloths of their picnic are scattered on the hills in ever changing patterns.

We cherish spring in the Texas hills because we don’t have it every year. The past two years Hades has tried to follow his part time lover and been stopped here where he has decided to fume and wait for her until mid October. It has gone from winter to 80 and 90-degree days in March and has gotten hotter as the summer has worn on. Our lake levels have been at record lows and our summer temperatures have been at record highs. We were even betrayed by El Nino` last winter when he sent us no rain.

Now spring is here and seems to be sticking around long enough for us to become reacquainted. We are extremely grateful.

Her Dogness

I have enjoyed the companionship of dogs all of my life. There have been times when I felt that my only friends were of the four-legged persuasion. I had been without a dog in my life for more than eight years when we adopted Lani, although it is probably closer to the truth of the situation to say that she adopted us. Our agreement with her is that we buy her kibble, toys and treats and take her to the vet when she needs it and in return, she makes us laugh. She keeps up her end of the bargain and then some.

We had been working through the local golden retriever rescue group and had become frustrated with the bureaucracy they had developed and the time it was taking to go through their process. I finally came to realize that we had given power over something very meaningful to us to someone who did not really know us at all. At this point, I began looking at other sources for our dog.

I first spotted Lani on the local shelter’s website. She was described as a golden retriever mix. She certainly is that. We think that there is some Shepard or border collie in her ancestry. Anyway, I went to the shelter specifically to see her. She walked up to the front of her kennel, tilted her head to the left and looked at me as if to say “It’s about time you came to spring me outta this joint.” (She has climbed up on the couch beside me and appears to be looking over my shoulder to be sure I tell this story correctly.) We went to the shelter every day for a week to spend time with her and get to know her better before bringing her home. The shelter has a policy that dogs have to be neutered or spayed before they leave. On the day her surgery was to be done, I got a call from the shelter staff. I was informed that Lani was sick and they couldn’t do the surgery. Then they asked if I still wanted her. Of course, I did. She only had kennel cough which is the equivalent of a human having a cold, or so we thought. It turned out that she also had a much more serious but easily treatable condition. She had just gotten over that when she injured her knee and had to have surgery on it. I am happy to report that she is now doing very well and is a happy, healthy girl. I am grateful to have her in my life.


As much as dogs add to our lives, they also bring new levels of responsibility. In addition to the kibble, toys, and vet visits, they need lots of time and lots of attention. I have been involved in a couple of situations the past couple of weeks involving dogs who were not getting enough of these or who had not gotten enough when they were very young. My daughter went to an adoption day at a pet store sponsored by different shelter in this area. They were about to close the operation down for the day and gave her a dog that she had shown some interest in without getting much information from her and without disclosing the fact that the dog had a history of aggression. She spent a lot of money and put a lot of effort into working with the dog. It escaped from its crate while she was at work and tore up the carpet in her bathroom. She bought another crate and then had to put locks down the corners so it could not get out. She took it to the vet who put it on anti-anxiety meds. It was aggressive to every one except her. Finally, it became apparent that she could not keep the dog. One worker at the shelter humiliated her to tears when she took it back. Only then did one of the other people there tell her about its history.

At the same time this was happening, I was asked to look after my neighbor’s dogs while they were away. I got to the house and there was no heat in it and one of the dogs was in a kennel that was way to small for her. I had to call the landlords to help with the situation. Luckily, our landlady is very into dogs and is active in several rescue groups. She was able to get a bigger crate and the heat got turned back on.

I have read staggering statistics on the number of domestic animals that are put to death in shelters across this country each day. I can’t help but feel that we as humans have some responsibility for it. We did not get Lani until we had a great place for her to live. We had her spayed as soon as her health allowed. We don’t leave her outside by herself for long periods of time or while we are not at home. We don’t expect her to behave like a child. We know that she is a dog and we honor her dogness. I wish the same for every dog on this planet.

Birds Birds Birds

I have gotten into the habit of taking my dog Lani for walks down on Slaughter Creek . We are fortunate enough to get there between 9:30 and 10:00 most mornings, allowing us to have the place to ourselves most days since folks who run or walk before work are usually already gone. We take the rough trails through the park and then along the bank of the creek. A quite approach sometines enables to sneak up on the winged residents of the park without being noticed. A pair of cormorants have staked out a spot on a dead tree that hangs out over the creek just above the dam. Ownership of the tree is sometimes shared with the largest blue heron I have ever seen. All is peaceful until the swans show up. At times we have heard the ruckus before we even get to the lookout. The heron screeches and the swans honk. The cormorants just fly away.

Last Tuesday the water was clear, the cottonwood trees were bright yellow and orange and the temperature was almost 80 degrees. The birds were on the tree and for once, the swans were gliding gracefully by without disturbing the others. Even Lani was still and quiet as we watched for a few minutes. I knew that the weather was about to change and that we would not be able to return to the spor for a few days. I also thought that the birds might not be around much longer. My high school English teacher, Alta Hawkes, called such experiences "crystal moments". They are the ones you file away in your memory to be returned to again and again.

I am grateful for such moments and for all of my teachers, formal and otherwise.

I consider everyone with whom I come into contact a teacher/messenger. Sometimes they show us what we would like to be and other times they show us something we don't want to be. Always, we are shown a part of ourseslves. We get to choose how we react to that. The outcome any situation is determined by our reaction to it. It is my intent to remember that I am a teacher for everyone with whom I come into contact. At the very least, I teach them who I am in that moment.