October 10, 2024

Arugula Bean Salad

Arugula is a wonderful green, and can add flavor, and color to so many things. This is a favorite summer to fall  salad, and we hope you enjoy!

1 can green b1 can wax beans

1 can light red kidney beans

1 tomato

1 bunch scallions

pinch of crushed garlic

tablespoon brown mustard

juice from one fresh lemon

splash of cider vinager

teaspoon olive oil

dill

celery seed

salt and pepper

grated sharp cheddar cheese

drain all three cans of beans and place in bowl.

Mix lemon, olive oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic, celery seed, salt, pepper, and dill.

stir in cut tomato, and scallions

pour mix over beans, and add arugula and shredded cheese.

toss and serve with crackers, pita chips etc…

Also great with a few pieces if kielbasa

Enjoy your fall weekends!

Andi Bartruff

Photo courtesy of Edible Charlotte

 

 

 

 

A Porch Is A Porch

        This house needed to be what I call “un-remodeled”. Years ago someone thought it would be a great idea to enclose the front porch…NOT! I think that a porch is a porch… and that thinking goes double if you live in the south! Just look at the curb appeal of this open front porch, and then look at the  picture of when it was enclosed!  I have never had so much fun subtracting heated square footage from a house! The hardest challenge of this improvement project was returning the interior brick back to its orignal color. When they enclosed it, they left the brick walls exposed on the inside room  and painted them white. I know your thinking I had the brick sandblasted, but I didn’t. I painted it with a like color matching the exterior brick. I used a paint sprayer and then a sponge with a slightly lighter color of the brick to match the existing brick. I of course had to build a corner support (column) and add a handrail.

Yes, these are drapes that you see hanging outside. Drapes on a porch create temporary privacy, intimacy and they just look great! Okay… a secret about the drapes… they are not drapes. I bought painters canvas drop cloths at Home Depot. They work great as they are made to be water-resistant and that helps to keep them from getting dirty and moldy. Besides they are cheaper than buying fabric at the fabric store. I think the pictures tells the whole story as to whether I did the right thing  on this “un-remodel” project… Stephen Spurling

 

Heart.

The heart has always been a symbol of love, courage, and devotion. Heart and Soul are two words often found together,

and for good reason. It is through the heart that the soul expresses itself. The heart is the organ that keeps us alive

physically, and it is the central source of our emotions and feelings. We know when someone is speaking from the heart, and

we know when our hearts have been touched. It has nothing to do with logic or being rational; knowing is a feeling. When we say

that someones heart is in the right place we know that regardless of the outward appearance of that person’s life, his or her intent

is soul felt and honest.

How is your heart feeling? Is it sad, happy, light or burdened? Is your heart in the right place? To know what is in our hearts

takes effort and time, for we must practice listening to the voice within. Don’t go to sleep at night with a sad heart; take time

to lighten your heart with the universe. Open your heart to the universe each night before you go to sleep, and it will bring joy

to your soul and wings to your ideas.

My Heart is happy, light and full of love.

Angel Wisdom. Chabby Chaberek

Winter

Without winter, how could we possibly appreciate the spring“?

Winter is the season of reflection and challenges. In the rythm of natural cycles, it corresponds to that part of us

that must conserve our resources, draw inward, and allow ideas and situations to hibernate and awaken in their own time.

Winter is a time of opposing forces that teach us beauty through harshness. The cold both chills and invigorates us. The

snow and ice can be fierce in their fury or breathtaking in their pristine purity. The long hours of darkness make us yearn

for the day while appreciating the stillness of the night, the warmth of the evening fire. Through winter we learn the art

of patience and the joy of discovering new inner strengths, as we wait for growth to emerge.

At times in your life when you experience the chill of winter-the frieze of activity, the harshness of painful experience, the despair

of the lengthening darkness–the universe may be telling you to draw inward, to look within for understanding and solutions, and

to release the old in order to prepare ground for the new.

A Reflection: I rest in the night to be ready for the day.

Angel Wisdom: Chabby Chaberek

“Doing what you love”.

Those who do what they love are in tune with their purpose on earth.  
Too many of us have been brought up to believe that work is not meant to be enjoyed, let alone loved. Work is meant to give us a paycheck, not excite, energize, or fulfill us. The Universe knows that the opposite is true. Not only can we earn a living doing what we love;we owe it to ourselves to pursue that end. When we find ourselves in jobs we dislike, that frustrate, sadden or otherwise enervate us, our souls are telling us that we just are not in the right place.

When we are doing what we love, by contrast, we feel and radiate joy and enthusiasm, improving not only our own lives, but also out environments. The universe wants us to know that our loving can be our living, and it will instantly answer our requests for help and guidance in aligning our souls with our sources of income.

Do you believe that you can make a living doing what you love? If you would like to believe this, make a list of the jobs you have enjoyed and the ones you have not. When you discover what jobs made you happy and why, fashion the perfect job for yourself, using all the positive elements you have listed. Now visualize yourself in this job, believe that you will have it, and ask the universe to send you the energy and opportunities you need to create it.

“When I do what I love, I create the kind of environment in which abundance flourishes”

angel wisdom.

Chabby

 

“The Future”

“There is no need to go into shock over the future”

The future is the time that comes after the present. By the time you think about that, you will be in the future. The future of humankind looks pretty bleak these days, especially if you know anything about conditions in the third world countries. Some predict changes on earth in the near future, and again the picture is not bright. Most futuristic scenarios feature humans acting like programmed computers and everything being saved by technology. Is this what we are really striving for? Think about your vision of the future. Don’t get attached to it, and don’t forget that the angels are now a large part of your future.

Brighten your future with the light of the universe. The opposite of bleak is joyful, happy, colorful,bright and full of life. There is no reason that the future for you has to be bleak. Statistics are silly inventions from humans looking for certain outcomes. Don’t buy into statistics; buy onto the future of life.

I welcome the future with a joyful heart and hope filled mind.

 

Waiting…”The rain will come in its own time. The “I” Ching…

How difficult it is sometimes to wait for life to unfold, to restrain ourselves from trying to hurry it along or make things happen before their time. In our eagerness for results, we forget, waiting is as important a part of life as doing. There is a purpose to waiting; as Richard Wilhelm observes in his translation of the “I Ching”, the” Chinese Book of Changes”.”Waiting is not mere empty hoping. It has the inner certainty of reaching the goal.” It is interesting to note that the hexagram entitled “Waiting” in the “I Ching” is referred to as “Nourishment”.

The period of waiting is a valuable time, during which we can strengthen our inner resources. If there is nothing we can do about a situation except wait, we can use that opportunity to plan, relax, research, and reflect; all highly useful activities that invariably lead in the direction of Illumination. As the Norse equivalent of the “I Ching”, the Rune suggests, “When fishermen cannot go to sea, they repair nets.”

If you are currently in a position of waiting, how can you use the time productively? What do you think the purpose of waiting is in your life? Instead of becoming frustrated or despairing, try thanking the waiting for providing a breather in your life, a chance to nourish yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually as you gain a new perspective on the situation.

I know this may sound hard to grasp at times. But maybe if we each take “baby steps” towards it…Who knows…We may realize something. Namaste….”Chabby”

Angel Wisdom…T.L.Taylor and M.B. Crain