Took my friend Patty to Beulah a couple weeks ago....

I think my friend, Patty, has not been out and around much.  Rather think she might be a city girl deep inside.  Early in the spring I took her for a ride out to Avondale to meet Sister Nancy and she was fascinated with the gardens and and countryside in general.    I thought  if she liked the ride East she would really get a kick out of the ride to Beulah.
So I gathered her up and off we went to The Stompin' Grounds coffee shop ran by my friend Jan.  I usually have soap and lotions for sale up there along with my book.  I do like to rotate my stock and since I had not been up since the Spring, off we went.

While we were in there a herd of deer trotted across the street toward the coffee shop and went out back to have a little snack on the neighbors lilac bushes.  I snuck up on them, because that is what I do!

And when I was through wondering just how I would go about butchering one of these things, I decided to sing the song she had painted on the door to her garden shed! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r0MQpUTIow

 

 

Coffee cup drained and our goodbye's said, it was off to one of my favorite places when I go to the mountains...an old cemetery.  I have an insatiable appetite for tromping around in one of those places.  When I first came to Colorado, Charlie took me to a ghost town up around the old LaVeta Pass.  I want to go back there some day, but in the meantime, I make do with the ones at the lower altitudes. 

 

 

 

I hope you are enjoying the little slide show, because I sure enjoyed making it.  And so Patty and I,   a couple frustrated but laid back hippie's bid you a fond farewell from beautiful Beulah, Colorado.  I am sure we will return here again and again.    I am sure of one thing and that is The Stompin' Grounds in Beulah is both a hippie haven and a damn good place to get coffee on a cold winter day!

 

Forgot to do the Monsanto thing!

Well, I did not forget to do it, but I did forget to do the blog!  Man I am so far behind that I may catch myself coming.  Did not do the one on Beulah either.  This slide show was taken on October 12 which is a week ago yesterday.  This was the nationwide march against Monsanto who is altering our food supply.  We want our food labeled so we know what it has been through, but Monsanto and our government has seen fit not to do that.  Consequently our cancer rate goes up, our food allergies go up, and cost of medical for this goes up.  Now I shall go into this further at a later date and I will give you statistics that will curl your hair, but for now I just want to tell you about this march and a very nice man I met there who is the counter part of my Favorite Republican in Kansas only this man is my Favorite Republican in Colorado!
So I showed up early and did a little shopping at the Natural Foods and then drifted outside to wait for someone I knew to show up and eventually they did, but in the meantime I met a little fellow in a red coat sporting a name tag that read, well, here it is.

Let me introduce you.  This is Jerry Denney, vice chairman of the Pueblo County Republican Party.  Now, you remember that my friend, Joe is my Favorite Republican holding office in Kansas, so now I have one a little closer to home.  Had a little trouble keeping his sign right side up, but once we got that mastered  we were good to go.  He drew my sign for me.  Unfortunately I do not have a picture of it.  I do have the sign.  When he drew the skull on the sign I almost jumped out of my skin.  He drew free handed and it was symmetrical!  I was right!  He was a draftsman!  They have a way of doing that.
We visited a little while and the subject of old motocycles came up and the Matchless of Sherman's was a subject he was excited about.  I promised to email him a picture of that when I got home and I did that.  I also sent him the video of the Matchless running that Dana had posted on youtube.  I just love it when I run into someone that I have something in common with even if he is a Republican!
And it just goes to show that we as people of the human race probably have a lot more in common then we think.  We did agree that if a worm is eating one end of the corn and dying, that we are not going to eat the other end of that ear.
Oh, then I found my friend Janet! And her Idle No More group.   And  Leslie.  And Paulette.  Cindy.  Sandy.  We all marched from Natural Foods on 29th to the highway waving our little signs.  Shades of Kent State, the Viet Nam War, Segregation and Gay Rights.  Seems like I have always been on the winning side!   Sure need to be on the winning side in this one.
So enjoy the little slide show.   I will post this as soon as Jerry says it is alright to use his name.  If he doesn't get back to me soonly I will just edit the little fellow out!  In the meantime, you should type GMO into a search engine and start reading.  We are one of a handful of countries that allows our food supply to be altered and we are paying for it big time!  It has to stop!  Just trust me!

I have been called some names in my time!

I was dashing off a quick email to a friend and signed my name, "Lucy Gooch."  I am sure that is not the name he expected to see and it is not one I expected to sign, but there you go.  My first husband always called me "Lucy."  I am sure it was a term of endearment and I think that he usually referred to me as Lucy except when he was mad.  When he was upset with me, it was "Nickel Bred Gutter Rat", but that is water under the bridge.
When we were kids growing up at home, I was Louella Beth.  Not Louella, but Louella Beth.  Josephine!  (Her middle name was Anne and we sometimes called her JoAnne.)  Delbert Leroy!  (And for some reason we called him "Jake".)  Donna Faye!  Mary Belle!  and Dorothy May!  Guess it was a southern thing, although I do not consider Kansas southern.  Course it is more southern than Nebraska.  And that is how we went through life with mother nipping at our heels.
The "Gooch" part came from the feed sacks and flour sacks that mother tediously unraveled the stitching on so she could have pretty fabric to sew something.  Ah, those were the good old days!  I fell heir to a pile of those recently and listed them on ebay.  Bear in mind that they were less then a yard of material and I sold one to a lady in Korea for $48.00 + shipping!  Most of them went to a lady in Georgia at $10.00 each.  I would love to come across some of those again.  Back on topic.
When I was newly divorced and working in Hutchinson, I wandered into the Red Carpet Restaurant and was hired as a cook.  The owner was named Bob and he decided I should be called "Lou" as opposed to Louella Beth.  So Lou Seeger was born.  I worked for that man 6 years before I finally opened my own restaurant which I named "Lou's Kitchen".  By that time the last name had changed from Seeger  to a couple different names.  Then came Colorado and a couple more name changes before I met my dear Kenny  Mercer.  Lou Mercer was born in 1983 and carries on to this day.   However, Kenny did not call me Lou unless he was testy with me and the only place Louella appears is on the marriage license.  As soon as we started dating I became "Luther", and Luther I remained until he passed in 2003.
And there you have it, my ramblings for today.  I miss Kenny.  I probably always will.  And Duane remains a fond memory.  If I ever meet a man and he calls me "Lucy" or "Luther", I may stick that third finger left hand in a gold band again, but I just ain't thinking that is going to happen.  Did have one that called me "Bella" for a while, but lost track of that little fellow.  And speaking of lost things, has anyone seen my glasses?
 

October 5 Ribbon Cutting at Plaza Verde Park...a bit late!

Thank you, Janet, for reminding me that I forgot to do this.  Must have been one of those days I met myself coming or going. 
For the rest of you, this is what is happening on the east side of town.  I remember not to long back when this park was nothing but an eyesore and a very good place to get in trouble.  Not so anymore!  Thanks to a few souls who really care this park has been cleaned up, scrubbed down and painted murals by a great artists.  Why did this happen?  Because the people on the east side decided that this did not belong to the gangs and druggies and decided to clean it up and take pride of ownership in the place. 
I found out about this grand opening from my friend, Janet Wallis Altmann who is most active in Chicano (and anything else that needs a hand) affairs.  She worked with Parks and Rec and Black Hills to get security lighting installed, painted the playground equipment, had the kiddies put their hand prints on it and it is now a place where families picnic.  Imagine that!
What the world needs now is more groups working together for a better world and more groups like Idle No More leading the way.  I only regret that I was in such a toot that day and did not get names so these people could be held up as role models to the world.  But I got Janet!  and I got a slide show!  and maybe the Nobel prize in literature!  Or maybe not!
But enjoy the slide show  anyway!

Want to know what I did yesterday?

First I got up and roasted 1/4 bushel of chile.  Then I peeled and canned 7 pints of tomatoes.  Then I went to church.  Then I came home and peeled the chile and canned them.  Then it was off to the Nature Center for the Peace Flotilla.  Then it was home and into bed.
This morning I tried to sleep in cause I thought it was Sunday!  There is just no winning with me!

OK, Debbie, here is the salmon from start to plate.

My daughter, Debbie, called me to tell me how disappointed she was that I did not post pictures of my experiment with the Salmon and Coconut oil, so I recreated it for her eyes only!

 

Here is my frozen piece of Salmon. 

Here is my organic coconut oil from Viva Labs Inc.

Here is the skillet with coconut oil, dill leaves and lemon pepper.

And here is the finished product.  The tomatoes are from my garden.  They received a splash of extra virgin olive oil and some fresh basil, also from my garden.  There are also 3 Tostito Black Bean and Garlic corn chips.

Ah, the elixir of the Gods!  Wish you were here!

 

 

 

Now I am an official taste tester and review writer.

Oh, the things I luck into on this Internet amazes me.  I had an email from a fellow a couple weeks ago who said he had been watching my activities on Amazon and liked my reviews.  He then went on to explain his product and ask if I would be interested in writing a review of the product if he sent me a sample.  I thought that sounded like fun, so I told him "sure".  Free is always good!
So that is how I embarked on the current learning experience.  He is with Viva Labs and the product I am trying is organic extra virgin coconut oil.  I have used coconut oil in my soap and experimented with it in lotion and lip balm, but this time I am branching out to new areas.  I received my jar a couple days ago and when I opened it, I was met with the most heavenly smell of coconut.  I tasted a little tiny bit and my taste buds went wild.  I envisioned salmon with coconut flavor.  Never had that in my life and never would have dreamed of cooking with the stuff, but off I went in search of coconut oil as a cooking fat.
It seems it is good for a myriad of things including, but not limited to lowering my cholesterol, maintaining my weight, getting rid of my "belly", antioxidant, caring for my skin and hair, and cooking!  Ah!  That was what I wanted to hear!
So I got out my little skillet and my piece of Salmon.  Into the skillet went a tablespoon of coconut oil, little bit of dried dill, and a shot of lemon pepper, just to be on the safe side.  I turned that on a low heat and slapped a lid on it and in just a few minutes, I had my lunch.  The concoction made a kind of sauce which I poured over the fish.  Yummers! 
This afternoon I am going to attempt a gluten free pie crust with coconut oil and rice flour.  I am thinking that the coconut oil is a substitute for butter and I should have a very flaky crust with just a hint of the coconut flavor.  The flavor is very subtle so that is good.  It is clear to me, that the coconut oil is going to be a keeper in my kitchen and organic is the only way to go.  Click on this link and check it out for yourself!
www.amazon.com/viva-labs-organic-virgin-coconut/dp/B00DS842HS