Month: February 2010

The Chicken Diva of Dunnellon

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Last weekend my husband Rob and I went to visit the Chicken Diva in Dunnellon, Florida. This is my friend Elisa, collecting fresh eggs! Visiting these friends is like staying at a B&B, with lovely accommodations.
Elisa and her husband Dario have a mini-farm complete with 5 dogs, a few rabbits, 2 roosters, and several hens. Oh, and Dario is a chef! He prepared gnocchi with a red sauce and sausages–it was fabulous! I got to help the chef; I riced the potatoes and added flour as needed.
It was interesting to watch the older rooster, Norton, run the female population around. Stellino, the younger cock of the roost, was gentle and reserved. This was unusual for a rooster.
Stellino had tried to mate with Mimi, Elisa’s free range hen and kept falling off! So, Mimi would run away from him “She doesn’t think he knows what he’s doing”, Elisa confided.
After we returned home Sunday afternoon, I called the “farm” and wanted to thank our hosts again. I was saddened by the news that Stellino had just leapt up and keeled over, dead. Perhaps the reason he was so “tender hearted” was that he had a tender (bad) heart. We’ll never know.
Here is a poem for Stellino:

Ode to Stellino

You were gentle
Crowing quieter than
King Norton who strutted
Cocky testosterone-filled
He a ladies man
You shy, untried

Rest well feathered friend
One remembers you
Who held you when
You were small
You took a peck
Of her heart
With you

Happy Valentines Day!

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Greetings Valentines!

It is the much touted romantic day of days, Valentine’s Day. We have exchanged the traditional cards and greetings with kisses.

I made pancakes this morning to sweeten the day. Baby-back ribs are planned for dinner, with sweet potatoes, baby spinach salad, and Key Lime pie for dessert. We actually travel to South Florida for the ribs, to Torchio’s in Boynton Beach. They have the best meat and have true baby- back ribs. This is not a gourmet feast like Sam, From My Carolina Kitchen, would make (check out her blog!); but, it’s simple and tasty.

Saint Valentine’s Day, per Wickipedia, “is annually held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The holiday is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius in AD 496. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by gifts,cards, etc. The holiday first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. “

Courtly love sounds so romantic, doesn’t it? I could enjoy being courted with gifts and flowers! Oh, and how about courting me with some house cleaning, or with cooking or doing the laundry? Oh romance, how you have changed! Although taking me shopping with no limits would work! Hmmm. . .
Here are some quotes for you love birds!

Soul meets soul on lover’s lips.
~ by Percy Blythe Shelly ~
I love thee, I love but thee With a love that shall not die Till the sun grows cold And the stars grow old.
~ by William Shakespeare ~
One word frees us Of all the weight and pain in life, That word is Love
~ by Socrates ~
Paradise is always where love dwells.
~ by Jean Paul F. Richter ~
The most eloquent silence; that of two mouths meeting in a kiss.
~by Unknown
~ Love is the emblem of eternity: it confounds all notion of time: effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end.
~ by Germaine De Stael ~

Lastly, here is a poem from an unpublished love anthology that I wrote for my husband, called As Souls Meld:

DÉJÀ VU

I believe
We have met before
Another time, another life
It is the only explanation
That explains our closeness
And our chemistry together

I touch you
And it feels as natural
As breathing in and out
My skin knows yours
Intimately
Our scents mingle as one

I cannot imagine
Life without you
It would be like
An empty void
Lacking all familiar

I would strain
To hear your laughter,
Your music, your voice
My eyes would search
For signs of you

But we would leave
This world
Only to be reborn
And meet again
My love-
Deja Vu

The Art of Patience

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Welcome Friends!

This truly is my Achilles heel–lack of patience! Usually I do well, throughout the day. I work with dental patients, and exercise great patience with them. Unfortunately, I tend to tire from a long day, or week of this. So, it is my private life that tends to suffer from occasional bouts of impatience. I need to learn to develop my “patience muscle”!

Here are some ideas that will help all of us to practice greater patience. First from M.J. Ryan, author of The Power of Patience (article from Womans Day 4/1/05):

1) Take 10 minutes each day to take care of our needs, and set priorities for the day.
2) Keep a pebble in your pocket and switch it to the other pocket when you are losing it!
3) Give yourself all the time you need to accomplish something–no stopwatch!
4) Snack healthy, sleep more, have less caffeine.
5) Note and compliment patience in others.

Destina Moga of MakeoversLife.com, offers a meditation exercise for patience.
1. Find a quiet spot.
2. Sit down. Get comfortable.
3. Close your eyes.
4. Clear your mind.
5. Say to yourself, “I have an ocean of infinite patience that trickles in all
of my relationships and daily actions.”
6. Repeat this phrase until you begin to feel like you are creating a space
for infinite patience in your inner dialogue.
7. End the exercise by saying to yourself, “My work is done now.
Thank you. Peace.”
8. Practicing this exercise daily will bring patience into your life.
9. In time of impatience, say to yourself, “I have an ocean of infinite patience”

Lastly Jeanne Zornes from PowertoChange.com, suggests we:
1) Laugh off Murphy’s Law
2) Lower our expectations, look for excellence instead of perfection
3) Allow others to fail you–don’t expect perfection from others, be gracious
4) Pray or meditate instead of fretting

These all seem to be great fodder for the impatience monster. I am willing to practice these suggestions. Hopefully, I will subdue the critter!

Here are some quotes:

Patience is the companion of wisdom.

–Saint Augustine

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.

–St. Francis de Sales

Patience and fortitude conquer all things.

–Benjamin Franklin

Have a peaceful and patient week!

Joan