Continuous gratitude

 

3 long tables with boxes of food available from Bounty and Soul. The manager of the apartments is standing facing us right under the wreath. Several people also volunteer to help distribute the food. Lots of produce, eggs, and bread. I was number 16 in the line last week. We are certainly blessed!

So grateful for Bounty and Soul, our local food bank distributors…who come right to my senior apartment complex weekly. I don’t go there often, but I have so much food from this week, it will take lots of home cooking for me to use it all up. They also distribute in a few other locations, all of which are open to anyone to pick up their choices of food. Of course there are limitations, usually just 2 tomatoes, but this week we got 3.

Sharing with Thankful Thursday.

These people have always decorated to the hilt, though their trees were taken out by a tornado several years before the hurricane, and they were already repairing their house when that happened. So glad to see they're again putting out cheerful lights to share.

Not my photo, but it says beauty to me.

Think of all the good reading material these women promoted!

----------------

Today's goddess:

Nayarit Figure 100CB-250AD, Mexico

Thanks Jenny Mendes Ceramics on FaceBook

---------------------

10 days until Winter Solstice, the longest night of the  year.

-------------------

Inspiration for the day:

A wonderful article by Maria Popova in Marginalian Newsletter/E-zine...

The Indissoluble Filament Connecting Us All: Patti Smith on What It Means to Be an Artist

Entertainment:

"The Lost King," 2022. Available streaming on PBS Masterpiece, and Acorn TV. About Phillipa Langley, the woman behind finding the remains of King Richard III in a car park.

Wikipedia says: "Sally Hawkins as Philippa Langley; who suffers from a disabling chronic fatigue syndrome and whose marriage is broken, becomes obsessed with Richard III, joins the local Richard III Society, and embarks on a quest to find and exhume his body."

This movie also brings attention to disabilities, and especially to how misinformation is passed on through generations. Richard's scoliosis was defined as a hunchback, and associated with evil doers. The Two Young Princes in the Tower were never historically murdered by King Richard III, but his detractors changed history by many innuendoes to discredit Richard. Thomas Moore was one who wrote of his life in the promotion of Tudor Myths, also inferring that Richard was a usurper to the throne. All of this is repeated in Shakespeare's plays several hundred years later, and is still being taught today in many history classes.

So pay attention to finding out facts! It was the message underlying the main story in this film of the archaeological efforts that were promoted by a woman without any archaeological background. It has a strong message against misogynists also, to the extent that in real life, the one portrayed in the film took the producers to court...and is given an introductory message  in the film saying he's fictionized! 

In my opinion!

Some Christmas critters

 

Audrey had on some cute kitty socks!

Most of us have already seen these two, but they still bring a smile for me.

Can you possibly live without lighted reindeer? Oakland Nursery in Dublin OH offered lots of them for you to take home.

Though there were lots of stuffed reindeer, I was drawn to the penguins. since when are they part of the Christmas culture?

The first place cow on which any 2 year old could ride was so cute!

While my car was being worked on by "RT Auto" I got to see their window decorations...what kind of bird might this be?

I'm pretty sure this is a reindeer looking over the cars being fixed.

My son may have paid twice my weekly grocery money for their tree (closer to three times!) but I then spent about twice his tree price to have my car fixed!

Thursday was a real positive doctor’s visit though, where the vascular expert said my blood flow to my feet was better than last year, and so good I wouldn’t need to have it checked at all next year! I attribute it to having climbed stairs to the second floor at my son’s house for a week. By the time I left I could rely upon my leg muscles completely and didn’t have to pull myself up with my arms also on the railing! Of course I still was out of breath.

So now to get those lungs to work at a better level!

————————

------

Today's goddess:

The Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük is a 8,000-year-old Neolithic baked-clay figurine unearthed at Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia which existed from approximately 7100 BCE to 5700 BCE (inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012). It depicts a nude female seated between feline-headed arm-rests. Generally thought to depict a fertile Mother Goddess in the process of giving birth, a handful of scholars now suggest that such figurines (found in great numbers at Çatalhöyük) may represent elderly women who had risen to prominence and achieved status in Çatalhöyük. The sculpture is on display at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, Turkey.

Info from World History Encyclopedia

--------------------------

Two recent events

  Saturday, July 27, was cloudy and cool. Ahhhh, I could breathe! I found I couldn't walk fast, but with pacing myself, I could tour around a bit of the market grounds.

Entertainers gave some nice classic rock and roll songs, but the female singer was the drummer, and you couldn't hear her singing over the drums. Poor mike setup.

I got a kick out of the fairy crowns, lots of pretty sparkly and flowery ones. None for me this time!

The line for baked goods, with Genevieve's jewelry display in the foreground. Genevieve is Amelia's daughter, and since we're kind of shy of other Mud Buddies showing their work, she is welcome to display and make a few sales. The little pillows are for heating or cooling, filled with rice, to perhaps put across your forehead or under your neck.

My pottery, with Cathy's plates and bears in the foreground

Amelia's pottery

A coffee pour-over cone...need to bring a paper cone for inside it next week as nobody seemed to know what it was for.

A very old bowl I made way back when...(it has a date on it)

Outside of old bowl.

Everyone had a few sales, so it was a good day. I was especially grateful for cloudy day with mild temperatures! Yay breathing!

And this next Saturday, Aug 3, will have lots of things available. Don't believe the weather forecast...usually rain doesn't come until after noon, when we've all packed up and gone home

---------------------------

Since I live in a senior community, back in pre-pandemic days, we used to have a non-profit bring fresh "day-old" produce to give out to those who wished to stand in line to select what they wanted. It stopped of course when gatherings were frowned upon as germ scatterers.

But last Wednesday we were visited after noontime by a truck giving out veggies and fruits again.

Bounty and Soul is a local non-profit which provides the donated (surplus or slightly damaged) veggies and fruits to those who can use them. They have been distributing on Saturdays for quite a while (maybe during pandemic even) at a nearby empty parking lot to all ages. But I haven't been going there.

The other side of the truck opens up to show the produce under a canopy!

So I joined my neighbors in line for a couple of pretty apples, a small sweet potato, a couple of tomatoes, and a loaf of sourdough bread. There were many other things available, onions, celery, peppers, etc. I just know I have trouble eating fresh produce before it goes bad, so didn't want too much.

What a true bounty for us! I'm very grateful for all the senior programs (though this is for all ages) that are provided by various government or non-profit organizations.

--------------------

From the movie "Past Lives" the Korean phrase is "In Yun" it translates closest to destiny ...but also is about reincarnation, Also "Inyeon" the connection between people that survives each lifetime.

---------------------

Today's quote:

Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted – a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.

RABBI HAROLD KUSHNER

Bounty and Soul

 When I go to PT, I park right next to the office of Bounty and Soul. 

They have great big green trucks with food painted on the sides...which go all over the community sharing food from the larger pantry "Manna Food Bank."

Before COVID, they would come to my apartment complex (senior citizens) and give away free produce weekly. It was a highlight of our week often, and a chance to meet our neighbors. We had to stop when meeting indoors was no longer safe, (COVID). They started giving out meals and produce in different settings, keeping up the work of feeding those in need. I think most of these silly vegetable people are volunteers.

volunteer appreciation

I have noticed how much of our town's growth depends not upon corporate finaces trickling down....but upon the backs of our volunteers (either retired people or those who can afford to give their time and energies to charitable organizations.)

And what is the return these folks get from their dedication?

Smiling faces who receive food from Bounty and Soul, and Food Connection.  Gathering with other like minded people and getting to know new friends in their volunteer work.  Education is certainly a bonus from my being a docent at the Swanannoa Valley History Museum.  I wish I could remember half of what I hear about!  And giving back to the areas that feel like blessings in my life, which is what my volunteer time at the Clay Studio of Black Mountain Center for the Arts provides for me.

The lunch program runs on volunteers who prepare and clean up, who serve the lunches which are catered by a local restaurant in Asheville under a Council on Aging program.  The Black Mountain Recreation and Parks has a few paid employees who organize things, including trips around the area.

I know our church also runs on the backs, hands and feet of volunteers.  As a new editor for a monthly magazine for that organization, I want to feature the volunteers who don't get as much recognition as I think they should.  Others feel the same way, and hopefully will write articles for me, which I'll then add to this newsy e-zine.

But I'm also aware of many time having joined a committee, or worked to share a new creative idea, which over time doesn't seem to work as well as my original intention, and then I've just done the job that is maybe menial but I can do it. And then eventually I've "burned out."

I think appreciation is a lame way to avoid that.  There is little feedback to let volunteers know that they are doing well, or maybe need to change their approach so that their work will be more (what?)  It should be enjoyable for them, and fruitful for their particular job, and efficient in that they won't make more work for others, and appreciated by those they serve of course.

If you volunteer somewhere, how do you know that you're doing it well? How do you feel committed and invigorated in the doing?  Seriously.  Comment below, because I want to know.

It's spring here!

 There are volunteers hauling boxes of produce from a truck to a long table...here in my "senior" apartment complex.

 Bounty and Soul is part of our Manna Food Bank, helping provide the less affluent of our community with food.  Here is Sally (a resident) on the left, talking to a couple of volunteers from the Food Connection, another great not-for-profit organization.  They bring food in meals already prepared but that weren't served from various kitchens in conference centers or other dining sites in the area.  These prepared meals would have been discarded otherwise.

Volunteers talk with our elder residents while the tables are set up with the free produce.  Bounty and Soul will offer the whole Black Mountain community the same vegetables the next day at St. James Episcopal church.

 We just draw numbers out of a hat to determine what order we go through as a line to pick up the fresh vegetables and fruits.  This system is a great improvement over the old one, where first come got first served.  We came close to some fights and certainly some harsh words as to who was in line ahead of whom, in the past.

Friends Nancy and Sharon had their springtime pink outfits on the cheer everyone up.

It's Monday so it must be Bounty and Soul day

Volunteers unload produce from the Bounty and Soul truck, and then put the food in baskets for us to go by and take whatever we want, free.  Us seniors get some things that are pretty high priced in some stores, but have been donated for us to enjoy.  This week I came home with a baking potato for 2 (huge), a grapefruit, some cherry tomatoes, a lemon, a halo orange, a bag of 3 pounds of bartlett pears (unripe), a small serving of organic spinach...and I didn't take about half of the other things, 3 kinds of squash, eggplant, onions, cucumbers, bananas, apples and a few things I've forgotten.

Many of us will have plenty to eat this week, and certainly more variety in our meals.  The same outfit will offer the same foods at 2 or 3 other sites this week.  What a wonderful opportunity for those who don't receive government food subsidies, or maybe some do.  But this program is helping so many of us.  My refrigerator is full again.

I mentioned this beneficial outfit before in a post HERE.

Let's see, last week I used an eggplant and squash and onion and added some cheese, spaghetti sauce and Italian bread crumbs, drizzled some olive oil and made a faux eggplant parmesan.  And I still have some left over...so I didn't get any of those ingredients this week.  I was out with friends over the weekend, and each time I brought home a box to provide another meal...that way I justify ordering larger servings because they make 2 meals.

So getting to age 76, I've learned a few tricks...mainly to live more economically now that I'm on a "fixed income."  The only things not fixed are the prices of things I need to purchase!

There's a great thrift shop (locally owned and operated) that provides pretty much of my wardrobe these days. I've learned the Goodwill people aren't really as friendly when they refused to give a homeless man a coat (or maybe it was a shirt.) Either way, what's with these people?