Tag: Lorie Sheffer

 

Getting down and dirty is good for the soul. By “down and dirty”, I mean digging in the dirt. A quick Internet search will turn up hundreds of articles on the therapeutic benefits of gardening. Be it flowers or be it edibles, the act of planting, nurturing and harvesting is not only good physical exercise, but also an excellent way to relieve stress.

I grew up with a garden large enough for a plow. Now there’s only space for a relatively small garden. Raised beds meant no digging up the yard, and no fear of accidentally cutting underground power lines. Large planters on the deck look beautiful when they hold herbs, and provide a constant fresh supply that can later be dried and used all through the winter months. What I was unable to grow, I purchased in season at my local farmer’s market. Buying local lets us know exactly where our food came from, it reduces the carbon footprint and it helps support our local farmers. Win, win, and win!

With autumn closing in, I have an amazing assortment of home canned jams and jellies. I’ve canned my own salsa and stewed tomatoes as well. The freezer is filled with green beans, corn, and applesauce. I’ve also used peels and ends, and even corncobs, to simmer into home made stock. The spice cupboard is filled with home dried herbs. Yes, it took some work, but the rewards far outweigh the effort. The taste is surprisingly superior, and in the cold gray months, will bring back a bit of summer.

Next Blog

 

 

Sometimes there are quotes that say it all. This is one of them:

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.  ~Samuel Ullman

Next Blog

 

 

A friend asked me if I would please pick up her mail and newspaper while she was away from home. On day one of my weeklong task I went out of my door, car keys in hand. She lives in the neighborhood adjacent to my own. As I turned the key in the ignition, it hit me: WHY am I driving when I could walk? Sunny day, low humidity, comfortable temperature. Driving is something most of us who live in rural or suburban areas rely on, and rightfully so. While it would be possible for me to walk to the nearest grocery store, it would be next to impossible to drag home what I’d purchased. I legitimately do need a car for most errands. So has heading out the door with keys in hand become a habit? Something I don’t even think about? Probably.

In the time my friend was away, I logged in an extra hour and 15 minutes of physical activity. It took me 15 minutes to walk to her house and back. All because I stopped to think if taking the car was really necessary.

Next Blog

 

 

I had to get up at 6AM, but was kept awake by the obnoxious sounds of my husband’s iPhone. The bright light was taken care of by my sleep mask. Still, midnight had long since passed and I was getting more than a little irritated by his constant grumbling.

Apparently iPhones had just gone through a system upgrade, which did not sit well with my 61-year-old spouse. He was used to the old way of doing things. He said the old system “had a feel to it”. It was just visually better; it was Steve Job’s vision. The newsstand looked like a wooden bookcase! The note pad actually looked like a note pad! It was classy. Now, it just blends in with all of the other phones. Now he was going to have to get used to this new version.  I fell asleep with him grumbling and toying with the phone.

As I sat in the kitchen early this afternoon, I noticed that Spouse was looking more relaxed. “You know, by taking some of the old features away, they increased the battery life.”  I’m sure my eyes have not rolled so far back in my head for a long time. “The more I worked with it, the more I like it. It really is more user-friendly and it has more features. It’s smoother… I’m still not used to the appearance, but that’ll just take a little time.”

At this point I’m relatively certain his problem was less with the changes and more with the fact that those changes weren’t run by him before being implemented.

Next Blog

 

 

For those of us with kids and grandkids, how can we ask them to try new things and expand their world if we are stuck in our own rut? If we’re too bored or lazy or fearful, then that is the example by which we lead. While comfort can be found in routine and tradition, it’s also important to exercise our brains with new challenges. Those new challenges don’t have to cost a fortune or involve months of planning. Small projects count, too. The point is to just have fun, not take it too seriously, and show those around us that it’s never too late to learn a new trick or two.

We live in a pre-packed, overly processed, fast food/chain restaurant world.  With that in mind, I decided my new little adventure would be to make that iconic, old fashioned, and much-feared classic, the cheese soufflé. I didn’t get off to a good start. I had trouble finding a 2.5 Qt. soufflé dish. Three hours and two sore feet later, just as I was ready to wave the white flag, I found what I was looking for; it was sitting on a clearance table at the very back of the store. Armed with a recipe I found on one of my go-to Internet sites, I went to work in my kitchen. The end result was pretty darned good, if not perfect. Another minute in the oven and it would have been a home run. Still, in spite of the tablespoon-sized area in the center that was ever so slightly too jiggly, we enjoyed a delicious dinner. If I had failed miserably, so what? We could have eaten grilled cheese sandwiches with a hilariously deflated soufflé centerpiece.

Next Blog