Might refer to cattle that are raised outside and allowed to munch on grass and therefore the butter made from their milk is healthier.
Greek Yogurt
Greek Yogurt is filtered or strained to remove much of the liquid whey, making it more nutrient dense.
Because of the straining process there are less sugars and carbohydrates, especially for “plain” yogurt.
Low Glycemic
“Low glycemic” refers to foods that have a low score on the glycemic index (GI). The GI is a ranking system (from 0 to 100) that measures how quickly the carbohydrates in a food raise your blood sugar (glucose) levels after you eat it.
Examples of Low GI Foods: Most non-starchy vegetables (broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes), many fruits (apples, berries, oranges), legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas), whole grains (oats, barley, quinoa), some dairy products (milk, plain yogurt), nuts and seeds, lean proteins (meat, poultry, fish, eggs – which have a GI of zero as they contain little to no carbohydrates).
Choosing low GI foods can be beneficial for: Managing blood sugar levels, weight management, and reducing risk of chronic diseases, such at type 2 diabetes.
Non GMO
“Non-GMO” stands for “non-genetically modified organisms.” A food product labeled as non-GMO, means that its ingredients have not been altered in a laboratory using genetic engineering techniques.
Pasture Raised
Might refer to chickens that are left outdoors to feed. Supposedly more healthy for us.
Resistant Starch
Resistant starch doesn’t break down into sugar as it passes through your system.
Beans (pinto, black, fava, kidney, white beans, baked beans), lentils, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), and peas (especially green peas) and some nuts such as cashews and peanuts.
Sprouted Grains Bread
Theses are the breads made from sprouted grains, which are supposed to be more nutrient dense., instead of wheat.
They have a lower GI, and because of the break down of of some of the starches into simpler sugars and complex carbohydrates, there are less of these to raise blood sugar.
There is increased fiber content which controls blood sugar because it slows down the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates.
With the Mother
When you see “with the mother” on a vinegar label, it means it’s a living product with the beneficial bacteria that made the vinegar still present. It’s the murky “gunk” that settles to the bottom of a vinegar bottle.
Producing vinegar is a two step fermentation process. You need to start with sugar which is first turned into alcohol. Then add “the mother” to it to the alcohol, and the mother will turn the alcohol into vinegar. This process takes several weeks to complete.
One reason to eat healthy, a story. Many years ago a favorite cousin of mine, and I decided to pay a visit to a distant cousin of mine (a closer relative to her) who was now in a nursing home, having suffered the effects of diabetes over the years.
It was a sunny afternoon in Wilmington, North Carolina, when we arrived at the nursing home. This home was located between two one way streets, each going the opposite direction.
We went into the facility and found the sick cousin’s room and walked in. He was awake, sitting up in his bed, but we found he could not talk. I’m not sure if that was caused by the diabetes or some other disease. But, this is what I will always remember, unless I go nuts before I die.
He had no hands or feet. I do not recall how far up his arms and legs the amputations had gone, but the negative effects of diabetes had required that the doctors amputate his diseased limbs. Now, here was a man, laying in bed, unable to talk, or feed himself, or even go to the bathroom on his own. And the thing that I recall was the look on his face. I can only describe it as the look a puppy dog might give you asking for help. “Please help me,” begging for relief. And neither my favorite cousin, nor I could help him. What a helpless feeling for all three of us.
Of several images in my life of important events, I recall this one more often that I would like. So, please take my very unpleasant experience as one of your reasons for eating healthy, and if you have diabetes, or type 2 diabetes (the precursor to “full blown” diabetes), pay attention to what you eat… and keep all your limbs in working order.
OBITUARY (from the Brunswick Beacon, November 25, 1992):
MAURICE HARLEE KELLUM Maurice Harlee “Smiley” Kellum of Leland, died Nov. 18 in New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Wilmington. He was retired from Kenan Transport Company. The funeral was Nov. 20 in Andrews Mortuary’s Market Street Chapel, Wilmington, by the Rev. Wilbur Teachey and the Rev. S.L. Doty. Burial was in Gracelawn Memorial Park. He was born in Hubert on Feb. 27, 1919, the son of the late Luther Warlick and Edna Williams Kellum. Kellum was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church. He was a World War II veteran of the Pacific Theatre. Survivors include his wife, Lida Elsie Lewis Kellum of the home; two daughters, Patricia Ann Kellum and Amanda L. Maggard, both of Leland; his brother, Garland W. Kellum of Woodstock, Ala.; his sister, Daisy Sullivan of Winnabow; and a granddaughter. Memorials may be made to Leland Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 234, Leland, N.C. 28451, or to Trinity United Methodist Church, Wilmington, N.C.
St. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
(A cheap used book, but great read on paying attention to the foods that hurt & help blood sugar, and even includes a simple test to see how well you are eating well regarding blood sugar.)
I find that my favorite AI is extremely helpful in making various recipes “more diabetic friendly.” I can take a picture of a recipe in an old cookbook. Upload the pic to my AI and ask it to list the items it sees and the quantities. It is usually pretty good at this translation of an image of text, to actual text that I can paste into a word processing document or a web page, or even an online recipe program. I can also ask the AI to suggest ways to “make this recipe more diabetic friendly.” Once it makes the suggestions, I can agree or disagree, and tweak the recipe even further, either adding other ingredients or removing some. I can also ask the AI to convert the number of servings to maybe just two helpings (since I don’t want a bunch of left overs in the fridge). And the AI can guesstimate the nutritional values for the recipe such as calories per serving, and sodium/carbs/sugars, etc.
ChatGPT
Gemini
MyFitnessPal
My Fitness Pal is an online tool (basic features are free, extra features require a subscription). I use this online app for two main things: I record the foods I either have eaten (for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Snacks) or plan to eat each day. By being able to add foods & meals I plan to eat, I can try to provide a changing meal rotation that doesn’t bore me, and that also takes into account that I need to eat the “left overs” at some time in the future.
Once you start recording your meals, it quickly becomes obvious that you only have 21 meals in a week, and you have limited snacks. If you eat out somewhere, that is one less meal to prepare, or possibly some left overs that will need to be thrown out later, because you just can’t eat everything you prepare.
When adding foods to a meal, I can search for foods that others have already added to the database, or I can add a recipe with the exact ingredients I have chosen. e.g. I could add a recipe that I’ve copied from an old cookbook, and had my AI help me make it “more diabetic friendly.”
Oh, I also record my “resting blood sugar level” each morning, and my weight. My Fitness Pal generates a pretty little line graph for each of these items and it helps me see if I am going in the right direction over time.
I’m watching the movie, based on the Agatha Christie novel, “Murder on the Orient Express.” I’ve watched this version (2017 – Branagh/Dench/Depp/Pfeiffer/Cruz) several times but this is the first time I’ve recognized two actors. *Re-reading an earlier note, I had realized previously, that Boynton was in this film.
It started just now in that I recognized Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. I’ve enjoyed him in several seasons of “the Lincoln Lawyer.”
BoyntonRuflo
Then paying more attention, I just recognized Lucy Boynton. I think I first became aware of her when she played in another Christie story, “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?” Boynton reminds me of a better looking, Kate Beckinsale. [Boynton / Beckinsale]
Murder on the Orient Express (1974 – Finney/Bergman/Widmark/Connery/Gielgud)
Murder on the Orient Express (2010 – Suchet/Atkins/Chastain/Bonneville/Jones)
Murder on the Orient Express (2017 – Branagh/Dench/Depp/Pfeiffer/Cruz)
I’m rewatching an old Philip Marlowe “detective” movie, “The Lady in the Lake.” Robert Montgomery is playing Marlowe, and this is the movie where much of it is seen from the perspective of Marlowe. I guess you could call it a “Marlowe Cam.”
*Robert Montgomery was the father of Elizabeth Montgomery, who played the witch, Samantha Stevens in “Bewitched.” *And I just finished watching a beautiful, young woman, Elizabeth Montgomery, in the movie, “Johnny Cool” who was played by Henry Silva. **Henry Silva being the bad guy who betrayed the American soldiers in “the Manchurian Candidate.” I guess I would classify “Johnny Cool” as a “film noir.” But, I also recall Elizabeth Montgomery in an episode of the “Twilight Zone” in which she played opposite Charles Bronson.
“Bewitched” was probably loosely based on “Bell, Book & Candle.” There may have been more than one of those movies (without me checking online). Seems Jimmy Stewart and “the blonde” Kim Novak, did the later version and I think Veronica Lake (an early goddess) played the original. **Of course Stewart and Novak played against each other in Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.”
So in part of the banter between Marlowe and “the woman” (played by Audrey Totter) he says, “Why eat? You’re only gonna get hungry again.” I caught it, and thought it funny.
Now Fredric March played the President in “Seven Days in May,” which is a classic movie I like to watch, and rewatch. Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, and an assortment of well known supporting actors. I like Andrew Duggan when I see him, and Edmund O’Brien, but there are a bunch more familiar faces.
This reminded me of a film, that I only saw the ending of, but thought that I would like to watch the whole thing at a later time… as opposed to looking at it at an earlier time. “The List of Adrian Messenger” from 1963 had an all star cast: Kirk Douglas, George C. Scott, Dana Wynter, and cameos by Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra & Tony Curtis. I only caught the ending where several well-known actors peeled off heavy make-up to reveal themselves.
Every once in a while I will find an old movie and as I watch it, more and more actors & actresses that I am familiar with will show up, in really small parts, or even uncredited roles. *Not small films, but with many actors in each: “12 Angry Men,” “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World.”
For several years when my office was on the top floor in the H.L. Cook Building we (several offices along the same hall) had a problem with the acoustics. The ceiling was extremely high, the walls were made of a smooth cubicle material, and the floors were hard and smooth but the ceiling was a standard “drop” ceiling. People on the other side of the building could be carrying on a normal conversation at a communal table, and it sounded like they were just outside my office wall. The sound bounced off all those smooth surfaces. I tried to come up with cheap ways to block the sound.
I once thought you might drop several dowels from the ceiling and hang a towel from the dowel. The thought was that the towel material would muffle the sound. I still think of that problem when I see some kind of hanging item from a commercial drop ceiling. That is why I took pictures of two ceiling hangings.
I included the picture of the blood glucose meter batteries that I bought from Batteries R Us. There is a little icon of a hand with a finger pointing up, which actually means press this with your finger to cause the batteries to pop up for replacement.
I wanted to be reminded that Dollar Tree has the Sharpie Permanent Markers, which I use to label cans and other groceries that need to be dated for use.
I think the picture of the cheap milk was at LIDL’s.
The thick cut pork chops from Lee’s Fresh Market near Benson, NC are always delicious, and almost always below $2 a pound, so two really big chops have been less than $4 repeatedly. If I ever came in and they were $3 a pound, I probably wouldn’t buy them, although that would be a deal. *I do the London Broil for the chops, which is HI heat in the oven for about 20 minutes, and then flip for about 5. They always seem to be cooked through, yet moist.
I diced some fresh okra, and a little onion, and dropped in a few roasted garlic cloves, and sauteed them in a pan with a little olive oil and some bacon grease. I drained the liquid from a can of sliced beets, and added back some Balsamic vinegar, some red wine vinegar, some sweetener, a little salt, and then added a few of the pickled peppadews and the red pearl peppers. To the squash casserole I topped it with some crumbled vegetable chips, which included some yellow squash, zucchini and an okra chip. Another really good meal, and for some reason it even seems that the “Light of God” was shining upon the squash casserole on the plate. *I took two pictures of the same plate, but the highlighted area wasn’t in the other picture.
The day before I drove down to Jacksonville/Hubert/Swansboro I drove over to Benson, to Lee’s Fresh Market, and bought four packages of thick cut pork chops, two to a package. The price was $1.89 a pound, but here’s the clincher. There was a large sticker on each package, “Buy One, Get One Free.” Wow! That’s why I bought four packages. I kept one, and ended up giving three to Ray (one for Mary Ann).
I’m not sure how they make money, because I’ve always seemed to have paid less than $2 per pound for these thick cut pork chops, and they are always delicious. I use the London Broil method, HI heat in the oven for about 20 minutes, turn them over, uncovered for about 5, and they are done. Cooked thru, but moist on the inside, and with a little char on at least one side. I cover the chops with tin foil for the twenty minutes, and oddly, to me, they brown on the down side, next to the bottom of the pan.
I like the Sanderson Farms chicken livers and gizzards. I’m not sure if I have ever bought them from anywhere else but Carlie “C” IGA. The Wayne Sanderson Farms headquarters is located in Oakwood, Georgia, but it has regional processing plants in various states and there is one north of Lumberton, in St. Pauls, North Carolina.
I had to cook them, because if I leave them in the refrigerator past a few days they may start to smell, or I imagine they start to smell and I throw them out just in case. *I guess chicken livers and gizzards fit in the same category, for me, as avocados and English cucumbers. They are all relatively cheap, and I treat them as such, ignoring them often until they have reached the point of rot and I throw them away. No telling how much money has been wasted on these items in my life time. Can you imagine someone walking along pulling out $2.50 and just throwing it in the trash without thinking every so often? Well, in essence, that’s what I do with these.
Avocados are difficult to buy. If you wait until the day you want or need one, then all the stores have “rock hard” unripe avocados. Or you can be in a store and reach for an avocado to find it is extremely “smushy” and you know it is either already brown on the inside or will be by tomorrow. I don’t buy smushy, and often don’t buy rock hard in the hopes that in several days I will have a need of it. Elsewhere I’ve written about the analogy of having an avocado cemetery much like Arlington in Washington, DC.
Carly “C”s doesn’t always carry the Sanderson Farms brand, but I saw some a few days ago and bought a package of gizzards. My mind kept coming back to, “I’ve got to cook these before they spoil,” so I pulled them out yesterday, tore open the package and cut them all into smaller chunks.
Originally I was just going to boil the gizzards and the onions, no rice (although that is a delicious combo, but the rice is bad for my blood sugar levels). But then I started to add other things and I had things that I had bought, but never used in any recipe before. And, because I had half an avocado, I even scooped the flesh out and added it to the broth. Now that was a bold move. Avocado with chicken gizzards? I was surprised that the avocado did not break down completely. And later, I realized it had been a brilliant move. The soothing cooling fattiness of the avocado, floating in this murky greenish peppery, spicy hot stew was a perfect choice.
“THE MURK”
I must have been in a green mood because I added three odd ingredients two of which had a Hispanic influence and one that had a Thai leaning. The cilantro paste and the basil paste had a dark green tint, and the black pepper sauce was a murky dark brown.
chicken livers, (can be left out for a veggie soup)
Polska Beef Kielbasa (another alternative meat)
onion,
chicken broth,
lentils,
avocado, (absolutely necessary),
bay leaf,
cilantro leaves (chopped – optional),
basil paste,
cilantro paste,
black pepper sauce,
jalapeno,
okra, diced (optional, but good flavor),
chickpeas (optional, but I think would look neat floating the the dark green murk).
cumin (ground),
garlic (powder),
fenugreek seed,
turmeric (ground – optional),
cayenne (ground – optional),
bacon fat (not necessary, but good flavor),
avocado oil (optional).
S&P
Yeah, this turned out really well. A pleasing, spicy, peppery hot, savory lentil soup with chunks of chicken gizzards floating amongst the dollops of avocado. I didn’t add too many lentils as I often do, which kept this soup brothy, but I did add both red and brown lentils. I don’t have a problem with adding red, brown, green or black lentils in a mix because I always cook them until they are all tender, and it doesn’t matter to me that some may have “broken down” by the time the rest are fully cooked. Lentils have an “earthy” flavor. *I probably could have even added carrots or used cannellini beans instead of the lentils in this gizzard stew. The white beans would have looked neat floating in the murky dark green liquid.
I visualized the white beans in the green liquid not as cannellini beans, but as a dish I made several years ago using “Lady Cream Peas” and mixing them in with green split peas. The green split peas broke down into a bright green broth, but the Lady Cream Peas stayed whole, and each whitish bean was floating in a sea of bright green.
[06/21/25]: I just made this again and it is delicious. I am going to call it “the Murk.” This time I left out the chicken gizzards, but I did put in a couple of small tomatoes, diced. I also added some diced okra, but did not think to add the garbanzo beans. I think they would look and taste good in the murky green broth. Also, I think chopped cilantro leaves would look and taste good in this. I’m already using the cilantro paste, so we know the flavors work.
I don’t see how this can’t be “diabetic friendly” even with some bacon grease.
Why do I think that the avocado is absolutely necessary? Well, the cool, creamy, fat of an avocado contrasts well with the spicy (peppery) hottness. I’ve made the simple “Chicken, Chipotle, Avocado” Soup for several years and I was always interested in how the avocado went so well with the hot chipotle peppers.
540 mg High Sodium10 mg Low SodiumBraun MultiQuick Kitchen Tool
Black Beans & Quinoa
As an option to refried beans as a base for the Mexican themed meal, I found a recipe for “Black Beans & Quinoa.” This recipe takes about 25 minutes to prepare and includes the following: quinoa, black beans, cilantro (leafy), whole kernel corn, cumin (ground), chicken stock and S&P. This base is very flavorful and works well with salsa and guacamole. Just add some Blue Corn Tortilla Chips, or add the other items in a Blue Corn Taco shell. *You could also add chicken to this.
Guacamole
Avocado
Cilantro (green leafy)
Cumin (ground or whole)
Tomatillo (optional)
Refried Beans
I pretty quickly realized that if you wanted to control the amount of sodium (salt) in your “refried beans” you would need to buy low sodium beans and make the refried beans yourself. This is super easy. Pintos are the classic bean, but I prefer Black Beans. *Puree 2/3s of a can of beans, and then mix the whole & pureed beans on the stove top, mashing some of the whole beans to get a “rough chop.” Avocado oil or even water work well, and a smidge of bacon grease might even provide extra flavor.
Salsa
Bell Pepper (Sweet, Y/O/R)
Cilantro (green leafy)
Cumin (ground or whole seed)
Sweet Onion
Tomatoes (Diced Fire Roasted/Garlic)
Green Chilies Diced (gv WAL)
Ground Beef & Diced Tomatoes w/ Chilies
As an option to salsa, this is cooked. Brown ground beef, dice some onion, colorful bell pepper, jalapeno or poblano, diced tomatoes w/ green chilies, add cilantro and season with garlic powder and ground cumin.
Pollo Sofrito
Shred some chicken tenders, dice some onion, colorful bell peppers, jalapeno or poblano, diced tomatoes w/ green chilies, add cilantro and season with garlic powder and ground cumin.
Adding other types of peppers (hot or other flavors – aji, jalapeno, poblano, Trinidad perfume, biquinho) to the salsa offer variety. The Aji Dulce is a mild pepper with some flavor. I’ve bought it at Compare Foods (a Hispanic grocery chain). Add some Blue Corn Tortilla Chips, or combine the other items in a Blue Corn Taco shell. Warm the shell first in the microwave.
Black Beans & Quinoa
A few ingredients and easy to follow steps to make this perfect every time. The quinoa cooks for 20 minutes and if done according to the recipe, it is tender and moist without being watery right at 20 minutes. If you use frozen corn, you have to give that about 5 extra minutes to heat through at the end, and the black beans and cilantro don’t need any extra cooking time. This is just a good base for salsa and guacamole.
I mentioned adding chicken to this, and you might buy a rotisserie chicken at Harris Teeter and shred part of it and mix it into the Black Beans & Quinoa. Recall that a whole rotisserie chicken, for about $8 is an excellent deal. You could make about 5 good meals out of this one chicken, and then use the carcass to make homemade chicken stock. Recall also that you save and freeze the following for making stock (beef, chicken, pork): onion, carrots & celery.
Whether you make your own stock, or buy it at the store, stock flavors beans and soups so much better than just water, and homemade stock usually adds even more flavor.
Hummus (made from ground chickpeas, black beans, navy or cannellini beans) can be the foundation for a vegetarian meal. Cut up various veggies for dipping in hummus: sweet, colorful bell pepper, onion, carrots, celery. I also like Smoked Oysters & olives with hummus, and maybe even raw diced okra.
I stopped in to the First Citizens near the Mall to cash a check yesterday. I took the paperback book I had gotten from Chappell’s Peaches a few days ago, with the intent that if the young cashier, with the 3 star tattoo on her hand (a reference to Harry Potter, on each page of his books), was still working as a cashier there, I would give her the book. “She’s a reader.”
I didn’t recognize her, but when I asked if the girl with the 3 star tattoo on her hand still worked there, she lifted her hand to show me the tattoo, and smiled. I said, “Well then,” as I held up the book and handed it to her, “this is for you.” It may have been almost a year ago that I first met her in First Citizens. Actually 3/4s of a year, because I think I was telling her about the Cumberland County Library Book Sale that was going to be in August, and now the next one is going to be in August. I think it was probably about three weeks ago, last year, so maybe July 2024.
Anyway, she said it “made her day” and it added to mine. I really do like performing these little vignettes where I surprise someone by remembering something special about them, and maybe even leaving a little gift. I have no dark ulterior motives, no sexual undercurrents. It’s just fun “playing” with people.
As I was walking out to my car, I stopped and looked across the parking lot to a cigar shop. There was also a line of people waiting outside the ABC store next door to the cigar shop. I tried to make the analogy of people standing in long lines, overnight for the latest Apple product or updated gaming system, but I couldn’t quite name everything correctly.
I went into the cigar store, and it was a large open space, but I saw a customer and a young woman clerk talking in the back. I stopped and started looking for the image of the red Avanti Cafe Mocha package on my phone to show the clerk. I finally found the image and walked up to the clerk. The other customer, a woman, had already left the store.
The clerk said they didn’t carry that brand. I asked if they had another coffee or chocolate flavored cigar, and she did find me one. A regular cigar, not small but about $6 and I did buy it. It didn’t have the same flavor, but it did burn well.
But, here was the fun part. Somewhere in the start of a brief conversation, I mentioned Clint Eastwood, and to my surprise I saw a blank look on the girl’s face, and I recognized that she had no idea of who Clint Eastwood was or is. After all, he is 90 years old or so. That’s funny, but not the first time that I’ve begun to realize that my heroes are dead or dying at an extremely fast rate (as too will I, but hopefully not too soon – 82?).
I went on to try and “catch her up.” Clint Eastwood, he played a detective, “Dirty Harry.” He had a really big gun and said something to the bad guy like, “Make my day.” *I’m trying to recall the first example of who he was, before I started on Dirty Harry, but I don’t at the moment. Rowdy Yates? No, but that would have been a good start. I guess the young people don’t watch Rawhide either. Or the Twilight Zone? **And now I recall, I mentioned “the Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” and there wasn’t much recognition on her part for that movie either. Oh well.
I was watching an old Tab Hunter movie yesterday, “Lafayette Escadrille” and here was a young Clint Eastwood playing a “bit part.” The movie was released in February of 1958, and portrayed a group of Americans that fought in WWI in French uniform & flying French airplanes, prior to America entering the War. David Janssen co-starred. And Tom Laughlin, who later would play “Billy Jack” was playing Arthur Blumental (actually Bluethenthal). Arthur Bluethenthal was born in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1891 and died on a bombing mission in June of 1918. On Memorial Day, May 30, 1928, the Wilmington airport was named Bluethenthal Field in his honor.
So I stopped and asked her, well who is the macho, leading man in movies for you. She said Chris Hemsworth. I asked, “Does he have several brother’s that are also actors,” and “yes” was her reply.
I also briefly mentioned, or tried to think of several actresses that I just didn’t like. Nicole Kidman for one, and the clerk recalled her name. I then tried to think of Melissa McCarthy, but could only think of Sandra Bullock (who I do like), but I mentioned that she attended ECU. Another blank stare and that got us on the question of where she was from.
I asked where she was from and she said Michigan originally. I told her I had a friend who’s son had just recently married up in Pontiac, MI. That was a familiar place to her. But she said she had moved to Georgia, and I asked where. I don’t recall the exact town/city, but it was in north Georgia. I didn’t think of Flowery Branch (my half sister Donna), but instead thought of Stockbridge and then we had a short conversation about the airport and jets flying out about every 30 seconds or so.
I then asked if she had ever been as far south as Thomasville, and we hit on the Florida Panhandle, and Florida State. I then mentioned that as you travelled south you came to a change in the “road kill” along the road. In North Carolina the road kill might be a possum or a raccoon, but when you got that far south, the roadkill became armadillos. And I also asked about pink flamingos, and mentioned St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay and Bradenton where I had seen pink flamingos… like we might see seagulls here.
Ask your favorite AI about why birds will in a high wind, often orient themselves to face into the wind. I don’t recall, but my guess is the wind was coming from the left to right in the above picture and the seagulls were orienting themselves accordingly.
Okay, now that I rehearse this encounter, I was long winded, but it was interesting to me at how I needed to get a new “frame of reference” of idols & symbols for the current generation. I guess I really don’t since I could probably live out the rest of my life, content with my own heroes, and not having to learn new ones. I do like Millie Bobbie Brown.
If you don’t watch TV or movies, how do you get your extended frame of reference? Online, and that probably only on the phone. I’m not sure that young Americans are cohesive enough to weather the storm. Especially since I’ve seen Donald Trump almost single handedly… well not alone, he’s had a bunch of help by a bunch of “new school” Republicans and he has dismantled some major institutions, and questioned or ignored the courts & legislators, and the media. He’s knocked out a bunch of these things that are absolutely necessary for a society to continue and thrive… and he hasn’t got a better idea, or sometimes apparently any idea of an equal or better replacement to what he has destroyed.
I just looked over at my little avatar, with his gray hair, yellow/green long-sleeved shirt and rust colored shorts. I actually have the shirt and those shorts, but I now wear black suspenders with them.
A day or two ago I was listening to an Economist, an educator, and he may have been talking before a group of young people, or people that worked with young people. The camera was focused on his chair at a table and there was no sign of people near, or behind him and the camera never panned around to show if or who he was actually talking to.
Toward the end of his talk he made a statement that we would have to change the fundamental goal of our society, from working for monetary “profit,” to something more sustainable. I don’t think we will make that change, and I see a bleak future for America, or even a future in which America, as we know it, doesn’t exist. Donald Trump and the “new” Republicans are cutting costs, lowering taxes (except for the Big Beautiful Bill in which it adds a trillion or more to the Budget Deficit).
Since 2016 I’ve seen the World turned upside down and there is little on this Earth that you can put your trust in. It may have been that way all along, but Donald Trump has “put it in your face.” Don’t trust the Media. Come to me for your news. *He said that, and it was recorded on YouTube, at one time. How stupid is that suggestion? I’d prefer to listen to multiple sources, and make my own decisions about which ones to trust, or how to combine it all to come to a truth that no one of them is purporting.
As President, during his first term, he sat on his fat ass in the Whitehouse as those sorry pieces of shit Republicans attacked the U.S. Capitol. He actually wanted them to force, along with V.P. Pence performing unlawful actions, a reversal of the valid Election results, in which HE LOST! IT WASN’T STOLEN. HE’S A POOR LOSER!
Kennedy has presented the phrase, “Make America Healthy Again.” And my first thought was, is that fat assed, McDonald’s hamburger eater in the Whitehouse going to stop eating unhealthy, as a start of this MAHA Campaign? No telling how many people will die because Donald Trump appointed Kennedy to this position. There may have been waste, but there are idiots in the World that are worse than waste.
President Trump was the wrong person to have in leadership when Covid hit, and there were a bunch of people, mostly (maybe all) Republicans that followed his ignorant leadership regarding Covid as if they were lemmings, going happily over the cliff, waving their masks in their hand, instead of wearing them to protect themselves and others. He made wearing a protective mask a political statement, and one which Republicans weren’t going to have “the Government” forcing them to wear masks. And, “the Government” wasn’t to be trusted and they weren’t going to be taking any Covid injections, because loyal, good Republicans stand together. *Please, please stop the band from playing “God Bless America.”
That’s just stupid to make protective mask wearing a political issue. I grew up in a society that trusted Science and medical doctors. And now it’s almost as if we’ve taken a bunch of steps backwards into an age of voodoo and witch doctors. Donald Trump and his Cabinet member, Kennedy, don’t trust science nor medical doctors, or their years of scientific research. What in the hell is an “anti vaxxer?”
I knew there were people, often women, who totally distrusted vaccines, and would never have one of their children injected with anything. *I’m not saying that certain medicines can’t harm or kill you, but with a bunch of research, that’s how to reduce the risks, and humanity, at least in recent years, has managed to pull itself out of the Dark Ages. That is until now, and now it seems that you’ve got the inmates driving the bus. *I know it’s the inmates running the asylum., the crazy person driving the bus.
The only trouble with giving them enough rope to hang themselves, is that the decisions they are making will take themselves AND a bunch of others down at the same time. If their decisions only screwed themselves, then let them have at it. But if their decisions are going to mean that research doesn’t continue regarding protecting the Public from infectious diseases, and that MY insurance company isn’t going to pay for me having an updated Covid booster shot (which I’ve never had any serious negative reactions to the Covid shots or boosters I’ve had), then I’ll definitely have a problem with that… until they succeed and I am dead.
And even if “they” don’t succeed, I will still be dead in a few years, but just not at THEIR hands. On one hand, “I don’t want to die,” but on the other hand, “I don’t want to remain past my ‘Sell by Date.'” I’m enjoying my retirement because I have enough money & time that I can pretty much focus on whatever I deem important. *I may die before, but the age of 82 came to me several years ago, as the age at which I would die. Not sure why, but “82” has been the number for quite some time. But, I’m also aware that if I live to be 81 (and that’s only 10 years from now), I might get a little antsy, and want to renegotiate with God. But I really don’t want to live beyond my usefulness. I’ve had a productive work life, with computers and the Internet at an institution of higher learning for many years, and hopefully during that time I helped professors, admins and students provide & receive a better education using some of the tools I was in charge of.
When the time comes that I’m no longer reasonably healthy, and am stuck at home or in a “care” facility, then I definitely want to go on.
I added some Agave Nectar as I had seen a slightly different recipe that added sweetener (optional). Still, I’m not happy with the finished product. The peppers aren’t distinctive, and I may have toasted the garlic or nuts slightly too much.
Unless I find a “store bought” version of Salsa Mancha that is more pleasing, Spicy Chili Crisp wins, “hands down.”
As I started to walk down the hallway to my room for the first time, I began to realize that I had never walked down a hall this long, and it was also going downhill. I said to myself, “I’ve only walked in hallways like this in my nightmares.”
The picture above is not an optical illusion. No mirrors at the end of the hall, or I would be showing in the photo. The hallway actually drops (or rises depending upon which way you are walking along it).
When I went outside to my car, I looked at this motel building. It is actually built going down a hill. There was no attempt to bring in a bunch of soil to build on level ground. Fortunately the rooms are level, but how odd to walk past three rooms and then have the hallway drop, no steps, the floor just slants (undulates), and do this all the way down the hall. Great exercise in the morning when you are walking up the hall to the free breakfast. *But, this hallway just screams that whomever built this building was “half assed” about it. You just wouldn’t be this slack an architect. **The AI just gave me the justification for my thinking that this long hallway, with the undulating floor, was odd. It provides problems for accessibility.
I did like the lighted bathroom mirror, and it might have even been heated in the center because when I was taking a bath, I noted that the mirror was foggy except for a rectangle in the center of the mirror.
I realized that I had forgotten two things. One was a brush for my hair, after I showered. I had one in the car, but still, I used to think ahead and include a tooth brush, and tooth paste, a brush for my hair and maybe even a few cotton swabs for my ears to get the water out. I had noted on the WRAL weather report that it was supposed to turn cooler on Tuesday evening, so I had brought along a long pair of pants and a bright yellow/green long sleeved work shirt (they’re cheap at Walmart – about @$8. But, what I hadn’t done was bring another short sleeved shirt (like what I was wearing when I left home) for the next day, and I could tell while going up for breakfast, and watching the morning news, that it was going to be a hot day. *I thought it odd that there was nothing showing the WIFI password in my room. Only a week later, at home, as I was about to throw away the key card, did I notice the WIFI password written on the sleeve of the key card. Ha!
I wanted to detour to Gibsonville (I’ve been before.) but stay on Hwy. 70 and not go via I40. After trying to fight the AI, which was acting super stupid that morning… “No, I said Gibsonville, not Gibson… not Gibsonvale, Gibsonville.” I’m not making that up, and it kept starting me somewhere in Missouri, not in Greensboro, where I was sitting outside the motel in my car. I finally just stuck the AI up my ass, and manually looked at the map on my phone to navigate to Hwy. 70. I stopped in back of a funeral home one time to get my bearings. There appeared to be a Seniors high rise apartment building across the street from the funeral home. How convenient.
A short time later, and a few blocks over, I drove around a small insurance agency building (the building was small, although the agency might have been small also), on the corner of some street to get on Hwy. 70. *How odd. I see from Google Maps that this appears to be both an insurance agency, and a coffee shop. Cafégency Insurance Organic Bean Coffeehouse.
This was all near a hospital. I don’t recall if that was Moses-Cone, but I did pass between Moses-Cone, and thought that this was where Debbie had spent a good deal of her work life… and I hoped she still wasn’t having to work at age 70+. *And yes, this was Moses-Cone, I just checked on Google Maps.
Gibsonville has the intricate model train layout, “the Gibsonville Garden Railroad,” which I see appears to be, weather permitting (no rain, or fog, or wind, or too hot), run on each Saturday – April to December.
I decided to stop at a Walmart in Burlington, North Carolina to get a short sleeved bright yellow/green work shirt and put that in my phone’s GPS. What did I find in Walmart? Well, I found the shirt I was looking for and it was only $4+. I did the self-checkout, went into the bathroom up front, and changed shirts, and put the long-sleeved shirt I had been wearing in the Walmart bag with the ripped off new shirt tags, and walked out of Walmart wearing my new L(arge) short-sleeved shirt. Comfortable in the warming air.
*A note regarding how things used to be, and how nice they are now. When you were planning on going out of town for a day or more you had to contact the motel several days in advance, and get a reservation. And this was normally done by a secretary. You would also have to go to the front desk when checking out to officially check out. I can now wait until just a few hours before arrival, the same day, and reserve a room online (as long as they are available). Also, I don’t think I would have been able, as easily as I did, to buy a new shirt, for a great price, put it on in the store and walk out comfortable. *I even looked at some magnifying glasses, and setups, with the idea that the next time I lose a screw in my eye glasses, I want a magnifier, with a stand to be able to try and fix this problem myself (as I have in the past, but was close to going to the eye glass store in Walmart to have them replace the screw). My hand isn’t steady and depending upon the glasses that are still working I may not be able to see as clearly to fix the problem (“thread the needle successfully).
The free breakfast had a Belgian waffle maker, but the batter ran out for me so I almost had half a waffle. I took this as a sign that I only needed to eat half a waffle. I’m not sure if there was any sugar free syrup, because neither container was labeled. The orange juice was good. The yogurt was good, but I ended up putting syrup in the yogurt because there was no fruit. The coffee was okay and I poured some milk in because there was no creamer.
The T.V. was large and eventually I figured out how to jump from section to section. Not sure if they had HBO but I don’t think I found it. The room didn’t have a microwave, so I put the bag of un-popped popcorn I had brought back into my bag.
The air conditioner/heater was easy to use and I turned the heat mode on for a while as I prepared to take my morning shower. As if I have an evening shower too,… I don’t.
I was in Room 143, and the key card worked for the room and the outside doors. I figured out where my room was located and ended up parking my car right beside my bed. I also found the far entrance and parked near it so that I didn’t have to walk a long way down the scary hallway.
Before finding the motel, I first stopped by Whole Foods to buy some liquid Stevia sweetener, and some peach tea. I had seen a 2 oz. bottle of the Stevia online, but they only had an 8 oz. bottle on the shelf, and it was $20, but I put it in the basket anyway. They didn’t have any of the tea, so I found the nearby Harris Teeter, in the same “high end” shopping center, and got some sugar free cranberry drink.
I then went to “Sticks-n-Stones” and ordered a ‘to go’ “To Be the One” Margherita Style Pizza with fresh jalapenos. What’s that? Mozzarella, tomato sauce and some basil. I ate the whole thing in the bed, in my motel room. *I was almost able to create my Bill’s Drink on the road, but I didn’t have any orange juice, until the next morning and I added a little OJ from the Continental breakfast to my drink bottle.
I’m an old man, and I realized that staying in a motel room was no longer a pleasant experience, even if it was otherwise a comfortable room. It may be the Type 2 diabetes that make my feet sore when walking on a hard floor. My toes are stiff (this is not a new thing), and I can tell I’ve lost some feeling in both of them.
My day out of Fayetteville started by stopping at “Chappell Peaches” and buying a small bag of peaches (my second this season). I also took a free paperback book from a table, Frank Herbert’s “Dune Messiah,” to leave at some LLL. I recalled that I had left a Michael Connelly, “Bosch” novel with a girl at the stand, last year.
*I just gave this book to a teller at the First Citizens Bank. She was the one that had the three stars tattooed on her hand (Harry Potter ref.).
I bought a bag of “Desiree” peaches on my first visit and “Summer Prince” on this visit. *I took some of the Summer Prince peaches over and left them for the Hendricks.
I then headed up Hwy. 220 to Asheboro and ate lunch at No. 1 China Buffet. As I walked in, I saw a sign that lunch on Tuesday was Senior Day. The difference in lunch buffet price was about $3 less. I ended up paying about $12 total, some for a tip.
After lunch I went for a short visit to the Public Library and browsed through a “My Mexican Kitchen” Cookbook by Eva Longoria. The image below shows a recipe & image of “Corn and Green Chile Soup.” This soup is enhanced with a “Salsa Mancha,” which came to my interest. As I read about Salsa Mancha, I came to realize that it is much like the “Spicy Chili Crisp” that I love to put on all sorts of food. I also used the bathroom, and this time, unlike last, both toilets were not clogged with toilet paper.
I had been planning to drive up to Winston-Salem to drive around for a few hours before heading back to Greensboro for the night, but then I decided to drive around Lexington, North Carolina. I drove down Main St. and then came back. I did some side streets, and at one point ended up in the medical community, which included the hospital.
After spending the night at the Baymont in Greensboro, and detouring to Gibsonville, and stopping at the Walmart in Burlington to buy a short-sleeved shirt, I had planned on going on to Raleigh.
I decided not to go to the Raleigh Wegman’s, but asked for the nearest Wegman’s and there were two in Chapel Hill, and the one in Cary that I’ve gone to repeatedly was also an option. I’m glad I took the Wegman’s in north Chapel Hill because it brought me to a surprising place. The GPS said to turn left on Service Rd. and when I neared the stop light, I looked to my left and there was the old Blue Cross – Blue Shield building that has been around for many years. *I see that the construction started in 1970 and was completed in 1973, so it was being built as I was attending Carolina in 1972/3. It was the trapezoid shaped, mostly glass outside building, that hasn’t been BCBS for several years now.
I turned onto Service Rd. and it led me in a snaked path to go past the old BCBS building and then there was the new Wegman’s a short distance away. I parked and went in. The nice thing about Wegman’s in the south, is that they are all pretty much laid out the same. The one key difference is that the self-checkout section is laid out in different patterns, and I think I’ve seen 3 distinct layouts. *I even made the mistake once of saying to a store employee that, “I see you’ve gone back to your old layout,” to which they replied, “No, it’s always been this way.” And then I realized that I had been in a different Wegman’s
But the bread section, and the cheese section and the deli meats section are all pretty much the same wherever you go. I bought some small red cherry tomatoes (Flavor Bombs) and later, for lunch had several with some salt and they were delicious.
There was no Hillshire Farms Pastrami, so the “friendly” butcher cut me half a pound of Wegman’s brand, and even let me try a slice of “smoked pastrami” which was delicious. I also bought a block of sliced Wegman’s White American Cheese (I love the Wegman’s flavor, better than HT.) for $3 exactly. *I pulled the plastic cheese bag out of my trash to check, and yes, the price was exactly $3. I had already put a Ciabatta Roll and a Pumpernickel Bagel in separate bags.
I think I bought a few cans of cheap beans (some as cheap as 79 cents a can), and went looking for Wegman’s Sugar Free Peach Tea. It ended up that it wasn’t the Wegman’s brand (if there is a peach tea they make) but I found the other that I liked with help from a woman staffer.
I also picked up a 2 lbs. package of bright red strawberries for a good price (under $5). *I left them out on my dining table and this morning I see where two or three of the strawberries have already started to grow white mold. I put them in the fridge.
I used my box cutter pen to slice around the outer edge of my Ciabatta Roll, and then pried it open. I put some pastrami on it and a couple of slices of the Wegman’s White American Cheese. I didn’t have any Dukes Mayo, but it was still a very pleasing sandwich. The mayo would have kicked it up a notch, but it still gave me the satisfaction of thinking that “this is a really good tasting sandwich, that I just made myself, in my car, sitting in the Wegman’s parking lot.” I had several of the Flavor Bombs cherry tomatoes with some salt, and a few of the strawberries with a little Splenda. All good, as I drank some of the zero sugar Snapple Peach Tea from my Rainbow aluminum coffee mug.
After lunch I left heading to Raleigh and wanted to stop by the State Farmers’ Market. I didn’t even need the GPS because the I40 road signs directed me into the two left lanes for the State Farmers’ Market. I normally take the right to go to Wade Ave. and Whole Foods.
There were no peppers yet but I did buy several types of squash (small white & small yellow patty pan squash, and small zucchini). I think I’m going to look for a squash casserole dish online maybe with some Panko bread crumbs and some grated parmesan cheese.
NOTE [06/12/25]: I weighed 250.2 lbs. this morning which is the highest I’ve weighed in a long time. But, after I thought about it, I ate a bunch of calories yesterday, including the Ciabatta Roll sandwich at lunch, and then made a Pastrami Reuben at home for dinner. Those are special, and I consider fixing & eating them “an event.” This Reuben has melted butter on the outside slices of seeded rye bread, and melted cheese on the inside of both slices. It has a few calories in the homemade Thousand Island Dressing, even though I substituted some Plain Greek Yogurt for some Duke’s Mayo. And then the Pastrami has a lot of fat and sodium.
I used a small 8 oz. can of Silver Floss Sauerkraut for the sandwich and the sauerkraut side dish. [end NOTE]
Silver Floss (flip the can and open from the bottom because the top of the can is oddly shaped)
Sauerkraut is going to be high in Sodium because of the fermenting process it takes to create sauerkraut. Still, it is low in carbs (1) and equal to carbs in fiber (1). I’ve made a simple side dish with sauerkraut and thousand island dressing (homemade).
Bill Gibson, II 