Just so

Surveying the shoddy result of some task he'd given his ten-year old son, my father admonished, "Any job worth doing is worth doing well." Much of his fatherly advice was delivered by cliché. Sadly, I've come to understand that clichés are almost unerringly true reflections of the human condition.

Worth doing well came to me this morning as I was preparing grits for my breakfast. I'm particular about my grits. Even lowly grits are worth doing well. A correct proportion of water to grits, salt in the water, frequent stirring. All are important to achieve a pleasing result. Most important perhaps is the consistency for serving. It must be "just so", stiff enough to eat with a fork without being solidly congealed and–God forbid–lumpy!

Dad would have been proud of me this morning. He might even have said, "You see, the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree."

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Flora, fauna, foliage, & fusion

Since returning to North Carolina from my life in the Arizona desert, I have been overwhelmed by greenness. Trees, bushes, vines, lawns, meadows. Green, green, green!




If there is a holy color for Earth's inhabitants, it is surely green. Some might argue that since water is essential for life, the holy color should be blue. However, water isn't really blue, it's colorless; the sky merely makes it seem blue.

In the final analysis, life is energy manifest. Water and other elements are essential ingredients, but without energy there can be no life. And from where comes our energy? All energy is fundamentally nuclear energy. Our main source is the nuclear reactor in the sky, the sun, which radiates light and heat. The heat provides a climate to support life, but it is light that is the key.

And plants are the medium through which light energy is stored and made useable by the Earth's fauna, including us. Oil, coal, firewood, vegetables, fruits, and meat–at root, all are the products of sunlight via photosynthesis.

          When you say your nightly prayer,
               Here's an item you doewanna miss.
          If for life you truly care
               Give thanks for photosynthesis.

                  Isn't green a lovely color?

Read: The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight --Joseph Chilton Pearce

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Early May evening in Waxhaw

A cool, moonless night with fireflies–"lightening bugs" here in the Confederacy. Soon there will be hundreds, perhaps thousands of them in the meadow. Tonight, as best I can determine, there are just three. But they are a game trio, bright and diligent, playing out their flash dance against the distant silhouette of the trees. As one comes close the dog growls low and uncertainly as if he senses an intruder on our evening but cannot be sure.

I watch Venus fall ever so slowly from the sky. It occurs to me that Venus does not fall at all nor for that matter does the sun set. The sun and Venus are fixed in the firmament. It is the Earth that creates their motion as it spins upward against sun and star producing an apparent descent toward the horizon.

                 But who am I to bother about such trivia.

I sip my Amaretto, its almond fragrance amplified by the warmth my fingers press through the glass. I am content, free from the cares of the day, for the moment at peace with the world of politics. My cancer is sleeping. In the profoundly ironic dying words of The Godfather (in the book, not the movie), "Life is so beautiful."

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Georgia caviar

Onto this blog, I've posted
          poems and rants,
          musings and slants,
          photos and news,
          riddles and reviews.
Why not a recipe?

As some of you are aware, I was born in Georgia, just south of Atlanta in a village with an audaciously presumptuous name–Oxford. There is actually an institution of higher learning there, no less than the original campus of Emory University, est. 1836. Emory moved to Atlanta in 1919, but kept the Oxford campus active. Formerly Emory at Oxford, the two-year school is now known as Oxford College of Emory University.

Moving along... Oxymoronic as it may sound, Georgia caviar is quite good. I received the recipe from my brother, Larry, who says he got it from our sister, Tina. From where she got it I have no idea.

Georgia caviar

Best when made the day before and refrigerated overnight. 

Serves 20 as an appetizer.

Ingredients
   4 cans (15.8 oz) Bush's black-eyed peas
   1 large sweet onion, chopped
   1 large green pepper, chopped
   1 Jalapeno pepper, chopped fine
   8 oz (more or less) Zesty Italian oil & vinegar dressing
   salt and pepper
   6-10 drops Tabasco sauce (optional)

In a large bowl...
   add black-eyed peas, drain but do NOT wash
   add chopped onion & peppers
   stir in Zesty Italian dressing, moist but not soupy
   add Tabasco sauce (or not)
   salt & pepper to taste

Serve with Frito Corn Chip "Scoops" (one family size bag)

Hmmm... I wonder if the students at Oxford College are aware of this recipe.

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Trickle, trickle...

Some politicians and economists maintain that reducing taxes on the wealthy provides investment for businesses and corporations, which will result in more jobs for workers. That is, the untaxed money will "trickle down" through organizations to the level of the individual workers in the form of more jobs and better pay.

Let's examine this premise:

In a capitalist society, why does a business or corporation exist? Answer: to make money for investors–its proprietors, its stockholders, or venture capitalists. No for-profit organization is in the business of providing jobs for the society's citizens.

So, why should a business or corporation create jobs? A business hires new workers only if there is the probability of a positive return on investment (ROI). The CEO or company president asks: Will adding an employee increase the bottom line? If the answer is yes, a job is created and a person is hired. If no, even though there may be plenty of cash in the bank (because of reduced taxes or increased profits), there will be no job creation.

            Jobs are created by demand for products and services.

If, as now, the economy is in turmoil–high unemployment, risk of inflation (or deflation), political indecision, looming governmental regulation, uncertain interest rates, etc.–where will the increased demand for products come from?

          Workers, here and abroad, are the ultimate consumers.

Consumers provide 70% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the nation. To do so, consumers must have money to purchase products and services. If too many workers are unemployed or underemployed, demand for products and services falters, which leads to lay-offs and pay cuts, creating a downward spiral of further decreased demand and increased lay-offs and pay cuts.

What do we do when that spiral reaches bottom, when all else fails? When the economy does not respond to lower interest rates, lower corporate taxes, extended unemployment benefits, tax breaks for individuals, etc. What then?

          The federal government must step in and create jobs,
           even if this must be done through deficit spending. 

The Fed can create jobs by:
   (1) providing money to the States to rehire teachers, police, and firefighters;
   (2) creating projects to improve the nation's infrastructure;
   (3) rehiring furloughed government workers at the federal level.

          Follow the money.

Federally funded jobs create income for workers. Workers spend money to purchase goods and services to meet their needs and desires. To meet the increased demand for goods and services businesses and corporations hire more workers.  The spiral rebounds, turning upward again. The economy grows. All is well.

          This is not rocket science. Think about it.

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Note: Many of the ideas expressed above are second hand. If you want to know what a real economist thinks,  read the blog of Robert Reich.

Simple gift

Though optimistic, I am not blind to the reality of pancreatic cancer. It has one of the lowest survival rate of all the cancers. Just 6% of patients survive beyond five years from their initial diagnosis. My oncological surgeon told me I have a 50% chance for two years and 25% for five years of more.

A student of existential psychology once noted, "I know only two things: I am alive today and one day I shall be dead. The questions is what to do in the interim." This is the challenge faced by all of us, of course, but with special emphasis by those of us with a terminal illness.

Time to create a "bucket list" of what to do in the interim. Time to think of a legacy of thoughts and/or material resources. Time to consider spiritual matters.

 A man or woman of 50 years is not likely to say, "Let's see, I have about 30 or 40 years to live. How shall I spend my time?" They simply live day to day with no thought of an end to life. So maybe I should consider my pc a gift?

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The Price of Unconditional Love

For reasons which will soon become clear, I call him "Romeo". According to the veterinarian's notes, he's a "Labrador-X", which I take to mean he's of dubious heritage, but mostly Lab. He showed up about a month ago having followed his nose to my brother's Rottweiler bitch, Marley, who was emitting "come hither" pheromones in abundance.

You could count his ribs ribs through his blue-black fur; his back slumped like an old plow horse; his eyes were clouded with mucous. While perky around Marley, he had a depressed hang-dog look otherwise. Sucker that I am, I took pity on him and invited him to dinner. I've been his "best friend forever" ever since.

Romeo came with no collar, no tags, and scanning by the vet found no ID chip. I posted his picture with the two local veterinarians and with Animal Control offices of both the city and the county. I even posted a "Found Dog" sign on the highway. No luck, despite indications that he had been domesticated: he's house-trained, he's affectionate, he obeys commands to sit and stay. He also insists that he's not a junkyard dog but an inside dog, i.e., he rushes an open door, he can negotiate stairs, he prefers people food over dog food, and he knows what a bed is for. So far he hasn't chewed up my shoes nor emptied the garbage can onto the kitchen floor.

               All in all, he's a wonderful pet. The thing is,
               I don't really need a pet. The space in my RV
               home is a very limited 290 sq ft. A 55 lb best
               friend under foot is cumbersome at best.

Still, I was concerned about his health so I took him to the vet, thinking I could find him a home later. He received an overall evaluation, a canine wellness panel, a parasite exam, and three vaccines. That, plus pills for the hookworms discovered, came to $238.50. The next day I was informed that the test for heart-worms was positive. OMG! I had heard treatment for heart-worms was expensive. It is: $592.80! Grand total: $831.30. Ouch!

So, I have my chemotherapy and Romeo has his treatment for heart-worms and hookworms. Our "meds" sit side by side on the table. Don't even ask why I'm doing this. Maybe it's guilt: how could I accept cost-free Medicare treatment for my "pc" and deny him relief from the not-his-fault parasites in his body? And maybe, just maybe it's those soft velvety ears and the pleading looks from those big brown eyes imploring me to return his unconditional love by buying back his good health.

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