General Store

I have decided to make this site more of a General Store, as far as what you might find here.  I write poetry and recently found a lot of poems I wrote while our children were growing up, and a lot of them are worth reading.  I also love cooking, and although I don't really measure things when I'm cooking, I will attempt to put measurements down for your convenience.  I may post a poem and a recipe, I may just talk about things going on in my life at present, or a story I wrote when I was taking correspondence courses with the Institute of Children's Literature.  I finally did get my diploma, but in the busy scheme of my life before I retired, I didn't put it to use.  Now I have all the time in the world and if I find one that I think is particularly good, you may find that here as well.  I am not as fluent a writer as my husband, and I may not have such a variety of things to talk about.  Nonetheless, I will attempt to entertain, amuse, and just chat about things in general.  

When our children were young, my youngest didn't like to sleep in complete darkness, so we put night-lights up.  She also had night's when she'd be afraid and she'd come to sleep with my husband and myself.  I was thinking about it one day and I wrote a poem for her while I was at work.  It goes as follows:

                                                  Shadows

                                Such a shadow just ahead of me!
                                What can it be?

                                Shall I run to see?  Or shall I flee the
                                shadows?

                                Closer it comes...  Is it stalking me?
                                A stranger it must be.

                                What?  Rain has begun to fall on me!
                                Now I see!  The shadow was but a
                                cloud passing by.

                                And I feared for naught.   Once the
                                shadow passes, the rain falls, but
                                the sun shines once more.

                                Shadows are but clouds passing by.
                                After each one, and there are many,
                                the sun will come again.

                                So little daughter, fear the shadows no
                                more.  They are only clouds passing over.

                                The blue waits for you...just beyond that
                                cloud!

Another very short one of my poems that I like has no title, but I'll put one on here that seems to fit the bill:

                                             Confusion

                                Should I offend you by my sometimes
                                sudden bursts of confusion, consider...
                                You no doubt also have confusion.
                                Always hidden, griefs never aired,
                                dreams never shared...confusion.

                                The mirror of the dreams of the soul
                                ...in need of cleaning, so the dreams
                                can clearly shine.

                                What is confusion to you, are merely
                                dreams of mine!


The other night I was pondering what to fix for dinner, and the recipe that follows is what I came up with on the spur of the moment.  It turned out to be great, so this is one of my own, from scratch, recipes.

Ingredients:      Tilapia (Or your favorite white fish)
                             Apple Cider Vinegar (1 tbsp)
                             Dried Basil (1 tsp)
                             Dried Thyme (1 tsp)
                             Margarine (1 tbsp)
                             Liquid Smoke (to your liking)
  
Directions:        Melt margarine in medium skillet 
                          Add apple cider vinegar
                          Dry fish with paper towel & set aside
                          Add basil and thyme to margarine
                          Add as many filets as you need and brown lightly
                           on each side.
                          Add liquid smoke to each fillet in qty desired, but
                           I usually put a cap full on each fillet
                          Cook till fish flakes with fork and serve with
                           steamed broccoli in melted margarine
         

Hope you find something here to your liking, and if you do, let me know by just leaving a brief comment and I'll be sure to add more of what pleases you. 

For now, enjoy and I wish you good fortune in the New Year!