Back in April, I wrote about my gardening goals. The string beans I planted didn’t take but I did plant bush beans a few days later. They started flowering last week and the pretty purple flowers fell off and revealed these guys.
Took this close up photo on Sunday from between the plants looking upward. I’m so excited! The growth difference between the morning and the evening is phenomenal. We should have a nice bunch of green beans soon. Now, if we could just grow SPAM it would be perfect! Just joking.
Well, not really.
Easy Spam and Green Beans
1 can Spam 2 or 3 cups fresh green beans pepper to taste garlic or garlic powder to taste 1 tsp oil or margarine
Wash beans thoroughly. Slice into diagonal strips or other small sized pieces. Dice the SPAM (or cut into strips, if you prefer). Saute SPAM in oil or margarine in hot pan until heated through or when edges are slightly brown. Add sliced green beans, heat through. Sprinkle with pepper, toss together. Best served hot.
I’m setting up a Technorati Profile with this post. I’m just checking out different services and exploring. I resisted Twitter and didn’t “get it” until I gave it a spin so who knows? I ♥ Twitter. Maybe I’ll like other sites as well.
Please leave me a comment if you have any favorites you’d like to recommend.
The bush beans I planted in April are flowering and we’ve got little bean pods! I doubt the cats will try to use the garden for their own personal hygiene at this point since the plants are big enough. It feels strange to have the protective cage off but it sure makes watering easier.
Found an inspiring little clip of a man who turned all of his yard into edible planting space. He has raised beds in the front yard, side yard, back yard and driveway. He and his adult kids eat well and sell the excess to local restaurants. He believes that his family is recession proof because of their gardens and frugal lifestyle. They even make their own bio-diesel from used cooking oil they get from local eateries.
With the ridiculous price of gas and transportation, the price of just about everything we use is skyrocketing. I really like the idea of growing my own food. In addition to the veggies, I hope to someday have a few bantam chickens for eggs. (I doubt that even my meat eaters would actually want to eat the chickens after raising them!) We currently have a compost bin and I hope to also start a vermiculture set up soon.
Hawai`i is way too dependent on the import of oil and other necessities. Sad when you think that we have the perfect place for farming and aquaculture. We also have almost ideal conditions for solar, wind power, hydro and wave power, bio-diesel and even stinky geothermal.
Everyday, but especially today, on this Memorial Day, we honor our brave military and the sacrifices they and their families made. May the coming year bring back to us those who are in harm’s way and may we have the opportunity to embrace the peace for which so many gave their lives.
For each soldier that has fallen so that many may stand We honor their spirit as they pass to God’s hand For without their sacrifice we would live forever in fear We pray for their loved ones and provide a salute and a tear God help us heal the wounds of hate and the misery of war That is our gift to our fallen heroes that are amongst us no more.
"God help us heal the wounds of hate and the misery of war." I love our soldiers but I don’t support war. I wish our leaders would choose a different way.
A so called church group came to Hawaii to say that "God hates Hawaii" supposedly because they believe "Hawaii tolerates homosexuality and adultery." I’m not even going to type their name. They are the same "church" that owns and operates hate sites on the net and pickets the funerals of gays. They also protest at the services for our military killed in action in Iraq because they claim that God is punishing America for its tolerance of homosexuality. Per Wikipedia, the group expresses
. . . condemnation of homosexuality, Roman Catholics, Muslims and Jews, as well as populations it believes are supporting the aforementioned groups, including Chinese[4], Swedes, Canadians, Irish, British, Mexicans and Americans.
We all know that people can say what they want to, whether it’s true or not. One of the things about our country is it gives people the right to be deceived, if they want to. But we all know in the Bible, first John, it says ‘God is love’ and, in him, there is no hate.
Amen!
To the group members: Enjoy your stay in the islands, thank you for contributing your money to our economy and, of course, Aloha!
Added–Linkmeister also has a take on this situation here.
This is one of my favorite songs. It was released after Anna died. She would have loved it, too. She lived this way.
Like You’ll Never See Me Again
If I had no more time
No more time left to be here
Would you cherish what we had?
Was it everything that you were looking for?
If I couldn’t feel your touch
And no longer were you with me
I’d be wishing you were here
To be everything that I’d be looking for
I don’t wanna forget the present is a gift
And I don’t wanna take for granted the time you may have here with me
‘Cause Lord only knows another day is not really guaranteed
So every time you hold me
Hold me like this is the last time
Every time you kiss me
Kiss me like you’ll never see me again
Every time you touch me
Touch me like this is the last time
Promise that you’ll love me
Love me like you’ll never see me again
Oh oh oooh
How many really know what love is?
Millions never will
Do you know until you lose it
That it’s everything that we are looking for
When I wake up in the morning
You’re beside me
I’m so thankful that I found
Everything that I been looking for
I don’t wanna forget the present is a gift
And I don’t wanna take for granted the time you may have here with me
‘Cause Lord only knows another day is not really guaranteed
So everytime you hold me
Hold me like this is the last time
Every time you kiss me
Kiss me like you’ll never see me again Can you do that for me baby
Every time you touch me See we don’t really know
Touch me like this is the last time See everyday we never know
Promise that you’ll love me I want you to promise me
Love me like you’ll never see me again Like you’ll never see me again
Saturday is Anna’s birthday. I want to celebrate her life, to be proud of what she accomplished, to be happy for the time that she was here. I AM grateful for her love and friendship.
So why am I crying and missing her so much? Why am I still angry at her for dying? Why does it still hurt so deeply that it feels like my chest will cave in with every breath? Why can’t I just let her go and accept that she’s an angel driving the big rig of her dreams?
It comes and goes. Most of the time, I’m fine. Every now and then, I’m an emotional wreck.
I’m a pack rat. I hesitate to throw things away because "I might need it someday."
I have almost half a closet full of evil plastic grocery bags.
It’s been coming to this for quite a while. I am running out of space in the small hall closet and it is becoming increasing difficult to squish my vacuum cleaner and supplies in there without conking myself on the head and starting a small avalanche.
With my rather large family, I can easily fill ten shopping bags per trip if there’s a good sale and I’m not careful. We recycle the bags as trash can liners and rubbish bags. I try to go "bagless" if possible and use my pretty, purple Chico Bags. Still, the accumulation of bags in the closet is staggering. What can I do with all these evil grocery bags?
The internet to the rescue! There’s a site called My Recycled Bags.com and it has all sorts of ideas for turning the bags into nice looking purses, totes, wristlets, pot scrubbers, rugs and such. The author cuts the bags into strips and ties them together to form "plarn." Plastic yarn. She then crochets the plarn into her fabulous creations. Even better, this lovely lady "Cindy" or "RecycleCindy" shares her patterns for free! How eco-consciously cool is that?!
Making the plarn is easy enough. My challenge is remembering how to crochet. My grandmother taught attention deficit me to crochet and do embroidery (Okay, okay, she tried to teach me!) when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade and I actually crocheted a hot pink poncho some time thereabouts. I attempted a baby blanket when I was in my 20’s and didn’t finish it.
So here I am. My goal is to cut a bunch of plarn and crochet something out of it. I hope to make a bag but may start with something smaller and do baby steps. I’m sure I can find a "How to Crochet" vid somewhere to help refresh my memory. Either way, I’m making room in my closet and easing my eco-guilt.
After all, I can’t just throw them away! What if I need them later?!
