Living With Chronic Lyme Disease: Progress? I Think So!!

It seems like since right after Christmas, I have been in slow motion.  I have spent the past few months withdrawing from the Marshall Protocol. I have to remind myself that this is quite an accomplishment!  Before you congratulate me, I must say that I didn't graduate,  but instead made a deliberate choice to discontinue it.  I didn't  reach the point predicted, when my inflammation was to dwindle to a minimum and the weight I had gained on it, simply melted off.  No such luck for me!

In fact I have the other sort of luck mostly. I was one of two people to ever experience a stroke while on it (November 2011), likely a side effect of all the inflammation that this protocol produced. After that I seemed to develop serious skin rashes as well. Fortunately my recovery from the stroke was nothing short of miraculous. The medication taken on this protocol has organ protective qualities that I experienced first hand, but my skin lesions have taken much longer to improve and did make me wonder whether or not this treatment was the right one for me. My rashes were severe enough that they prevented me from swimming or even wearing shoes comfortably, and being sedentary was taking its toll.

My inflammation still remains somewhat high and being completely off the medication now, it continues to diminish.  I stuck with this treatment for seven long years, but questioned if I had grown sensitive to the medication as I often do.  I am not here to negate that many have seen very positive results using this atypical treatment and I know that I experienced some myself, but it seemed time to come off of it.

My decision was resoundingly supported by my hematologist when he recently evaluated me for Hemachromatosis, a genetic disease where too much iron is stored in the blood and I was found to have an elevated ferritin level. If not corrected in time it will cause pancreas and liver damage, Perhaps I was lucky to have had Babesia, a co-infection that often accompanies Lyme Disease, and causes anemia as having less red blood cells can self-correct this problem. I had been evaluated for this genetic disorder many years ago, but was not advised that this is a condition that should be checked for annually as many times in women it doesn't show up until after menopause or later in life.

Nothing is straight forward about Chronic Lyme Disease and especially when mixed with other conditions.  Too much inflammation is a deliberate result of The Marshall Protocol, which eliminates Vitamin D.  Vitamin D acts like a steroid in our bodies and by eliminating it, my own heightened immune response was supposedly better able to attack the on-going Lyme infection, or so the theory of this new and innovative treatment claims. The jury is still out regarding the effectiveness of this protocol for me, but its high inflammation levels are likely responsible for increasing my blood ferritin level (stored iron).

Knowing now that I have one genetic marker for Hemachromatosis, means that I am more susceptible to acquiring it and this became the "coup de grace" moment. Coming off the "MP", I hope to lower my inflammation and with it my ferritin level as well, and lab work is demonstrating just that! It is down almost 17 points and I hope it will drop lower yet! Periodic phlebotomies or "blood-letting" is the treatment of choice for those with this genetic blood disorder and if my reductions aren't adequate, further treatment will make it happen. I joke about getting myself a jar of pet leeches  to do the trick (sic humor--but history has it that they were very useful in this regard!!)

Hemachromatosis can cause symptoms similar to Chronic Lyme Disease: fatigue, gut and joint discomfort, heart failure, diabetes and liver damage as well. The genes usually run in caucasion people of Northern European decent and if caught before damage ensues, it is simple to treat and control, unlike the ongoing effects of chronic Lyme infection. Fortunately my pancreas and liver have not been damaged to date.

I have been very real during the seven years on the MP.  I knew that upon its completion, I would then have other issues to be addressed.  Antibiotics, anti-malarias and anti-TB medications were used to treat my chronic lyme  and all have been hard on my digestive system, knocking down my natural bacterial flora. I knew this meant problems with my digestive system. Fatigue also increased my tendencies to gain weight as well. Probiotics and nutritional supplements may be warranted. Gaining weight around my mid-section has created what is called "metabolic syndrome" which is a precursor for diabetes. Exercise is needed to reduce weight as well as insulin resistance which is a major cause for type II diabetes.

My treatment addressed only my lyme but created other health issues that will now need to be addressed and incremental steps will be the only way to address these "larger" (pun intended) issues.The body is marvelously designed, but when one system doesn't function well, many other systems seem to break down as well.  It often takes a multi-system approach to address what might seem like a simple issue.

Complex health problems are not fixed overnight and timing is critical to everything. Weight gain was a side effect of my treatment, although I worked to limit my carbohydrates and follow dietary restrictions. High inflammation levels forced me to limit exercise so as to not exacerbate yet more inflammation. I am excited to be able to increase my activity level now, but remind myself that pacing is critical. I am hopeful  about regaining at least part of what has been lost but it will be a marathon, not a sprint to get there. Consistent effort, patience, and prayer will help me achieve greater wellness in the future (God-willing!). Is this progress?...I think so!!

I write articles about Living with Chronic Lyme to encourage others experiencing such "invisible" chronic diseases. Living with on-going health issues is not so simple and straight forward as it seems, but rather a life-long journey that means taking steps forward, despite suffering set backs along the way. Patience is critical,so as to not give up on working toward the long-term goal of better health! Meanwhile sewing, reading and other hobbies serve as fun diversions!! Pleasure produces endorphins, so important for healing and I have lots of it as I create pretty things!

New materials are the best diversion! Strips all ready to stitch a new quilt top.

Progress here too! The blocks are all sewn and...

...the light printed strips ready for sashings & remaining strips for the border.

Spending an Afternoon with Our Great Grandfather, A Truly Historical Event

Back in November, I blogged about planning for company.  My cousin was coming to visit and I was so excited that I planned a gourmet lunch for the two of us.  I think it is safe to say that my cousin's visit was a truly historical event.  In our lunch conversation, she brought up the blog where I had written about some of our ancestors and she expressed interest in seeing the sources of my information. I have a special section in our basement storage area for historical data and had pictures and documents filed in a box and soon it was on my kitchen table with us pouring over it.

My Great Grandfather, Fred Kiechel.

My cousin and I had a great time rummaging through my father's collection of pictures of our ancestors, various assorted documents, newspaper articles, letters, and even my grandmother's autograph book, but what grabbed our attention most that afternoon was a copy of a newspaper article about our great grandparent's fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration! It was a very long and detailed article published in the Nemaha County newspaper in 1929. Reading it together, and piecing the other bits of information we gathered about our great grandparents, we truly felt like we got to better know them, but especially our great grandfather, Fred Kiechel.

We initially giggled at the apparent irony of the article, for although he was described as too humble and modest to address all that had come to help celebrate this glorious event, he wrote a special piece that he had his son, Walter, read to all the gathered guests. He spared no detail in expressing his pride in he and his wife's accomplishments during their fifty years of marriage.

Certificate of Marriage for Frederick Kiechel and Alvina Donze Feb 2, 1879.

Picture from the Nemaha Country Herald February 8,1929. Married 1879. 

Fred was quite clear that he and his wife and children had played a significant role in being one of the founding families of their community!  With language, that in today's standard would be described as no less than theatrical, he told of he and his wife's raising of their children by their example instead of words and wrote of his principles which guided his life in terms that were anything but modest or humble. I was later to learn that Fred was a gifted linguist, speaking fluent German, French and English.

This article went on to tell about who sang and performed for this event, as well as descriptions of the decorations and what was served. It even listed all of the guests that attended. It must have been quite a splendid time for the family and friends of this rural Nebraskan couple and its report was anything but dull reading!

According to Fred, he had waited for this glorious event to express his deepest feelings. While his French/German culture was known for keeping such thoughts "close to the chest",  I had to doubt whether Fred ever kept much to himself. It was evident from my father's collections of Fred's writings, that he enjoyed good stories and enjoyed telling them as well! I could only imagine that he didn't miss any noteworthy or historical event and was diligent about recording his thoughts and memories for posterity as well as for sharing in their local paper. My father had copies of several of his columns, "Reminiscences of Pioneer Days". It seemed he was no amateur writer!

Vina and Fred Kiechel

Emigrant from France and early pioneer in Nebraska, Fred Kiechel (left)

A great old tintype picture of Fred Kiechel (left).

In one article he told about the local "lynching" of a citizen of their town. He used the word lynching rather than execution though his article described a person that was legally tried and convicted and according to Fred, deserving of the death penalty, which in those days was done by hanging. There was another article about how he, his mother and siblings, along with his maternal grandparents immigrated to America from Alsace Lorraine. His mother was newly widowed with small children and later remarried. It seems that this is how Fred went from being born a Sturm to becoming a Kiechel, having been adopted by his step-father.

My great grandfather's citizenship papers  dated 9/29/1896

I liked Fred, and as my cousin and I read on, and pieced the various details of his life together, the more real he became. Days later I was still thinking of him. Perhaps Fred's life wasn't much different than my own?  Taking notes of the events around him, I think he realized he was living the history of future generations. Fred might have led a simple life but his attention to detail in his future stories demonstrated that he was living his life in large ways!

Likely Vina (Emma Alvina) Donze and her brother, Charles.

When I was young, I had heard my mother tell the story that when Fred was playing with his first- born son, the child's head accidentally bumped on a piece of furniture close by, leaving him injured and as a result, he died at age four. My grandmother was born the year that he died and she was named Addie Rose, having the same initials as her deceased older brother, Albert Robert. My cousin's knowledge and mine seemed to mesh, much like working a jig-saw puzzle that all starts to fit together.

Fred's heart, no doubt grew in love through tragedy and grief, as well as hard work, good fortune and blessings. His pride in his accomplishments as well as his reported humbleness made more sense to me as I better understood this duality in his life. Like many, Fred's life had both joy and sadness. He took himself seriously and wrote stern words in my grandmother's autograph book when she was but a young girl, telling her that she "needed to take great care to never shame the family", though, if I have the story straight, he likely lived with regret about the accident with his first son. His life continued just as each of ours does, no matter how sad we might be about something that we have done, or not done. He lived with this loss for the rest of his long life and no doubt it changed him in many ways, just as significant events change us.

The facts written in great detail by himself and others indicated that he worked hard to be all he could be for his family and his community and was "a very God-fearing man" and raised his children accordingly. His emotional words bespoke of the sincere and earnest way he approached his life, including his challenges. This anniversary article bespoke of the best of his life and what he and his wife had accomplished. I gave much thought to how they both moved on with their lives, despite the loss of their son. He did write of his love of his wife and his family and he indeed had much to be proud about.  My grandmother and her three brothers, were all raised to be "upstanding pillars of their communities".

Fred and Vina 1910.

I say, "Good for Fred!"...he really is a mixture of what is most human as well as what is most noble and good.  He lived well and clearly this article along with his writings gave his descendants a lovely summary of he and his wife's life. His story demonstrates much strength, making peace and accepting what they couldn't change, and living their lives to the best of their abilities.

This old tin type picture adds credence to Fred's stories of early pioneer days.

My cousin and I laughed and enjoyed our great grandfather's colorful writings that revealed all that was so likable about him. We had a wonderful afternoon getting to know him.

"Thank you Fred! We enjoyed spending the afternoon with you and what is more important, is you left us memories of your life that made us reflect on our own lives and appreciate our common humanity. You also made us aware of how important it is that we record bits about our own lives so that one day our future ancestors can know us better and smile, knowing that they didn't fall far from the tree!"

I thank my cousin whose perspective and depth always "adds" insights into my learning. I will in the future post some of Fred's writings so my readers may smile and laugh as we did. His use of language is anything but boring, no matter who he is related to!

Following this fun day, my family decided to surprise me with a six month subscription to ancestry.com for Christmas. It is the complete membership that includes world-wide searches as well those in the United States, so there is more fun to come, and "Yes,Veronica, I am finding all sorts of new information out about my family and chuckling with my husband comparing each side."  It takes all kinds and guaranteed our ancestral tree seems to have a full variety of fruits*!!

(Note that for any of my relatives or those scrutinizing the accuracy of my ancestors lives, please feel free to correct any misinformation. It is my wish that my writings regarding my ancestors be factual versus fiction, though I do openly share my loving speculations about Fred's life based on the records we have.)

(* If you haven't already, please read the story about attending a friend's mother's funeral and the priest referring to my friend as one of her mother's fruits." We still laugh about her being a fruit, but aren't we all?!! You can't deny it...I have it on good authority that many of you confessed to being a fruit when you entered my "fruit pincushion contest" in May of 2014!) See http://littlehousehomearts.blogspot.com/2014/05/my-free-fruit-pincushion-give-away-this.html.

New Year's Resolutions: These Boots were Made for Walking...

For many years, we have been very careful at Little House to be sure to add our needs to our Christmas want-lists. We frequently are on a tight enough budget that we don't always have monies for both needs and wants.  With this in mind, we have all learned to shop very hard and also plan ahead. I am ready this year, not just to make New Year's Resolutions, but actually have all that I need to achieve them.

I discovered ebay and have learned I can find what I am wanting at great discount prices. My latest discovery is finding high quality "next-to-new" or " new seconds" name brand shoes for but a fraction it would cost to buy them if at full price. I have also found this to be true for bed linens as well as sewing notions, but I will share that in other blogs.

I am realizing that I have bought all sorts of things that haven't suited my needs and am learning to profit from others that are recycling such items and will follow suit to market mine on ebay in the near future. "One man's junk is another man's treasure!"

By trying on name brand shoes at the store, I found what brands work for my feet, the right size and style and then I go home and find them on line at prices I can better afford. There is even an enlarging lens on ebay that you can use to carefully inspect pictures to find items with little signs of wear that are "like new". Some may feel this is less sanitary, but how often do we try on shoes at stores that someone else has tried on and I am finding that these next-to-new shoes aren't much different, as there are hardly any scuffs on their soles.

Need some good shoes or boots, try ebay!

These boots and shoes were examples of such buys that were so significantly reduced that instead of one pair, I have purchased three, though only pictured are the two that I will use for my new walking and hiking needs. This year instead of simply making New Year's Resolutions, I have prepared to make them happen.

My "new" playroom/guestroom, great for exercising!

I have been on the Marshall Protocol for the past 7+ years to treat Chronic Lyme Disease.  It is a program that increases inflammation in order to fight infections that aren't killed off with lesser sorts of treatments. I eagerly planned for when it would be discontinued and I could return to exercising, albeit slowly. New dumb bells, an exercise ball, a hand-me-down recumbent bike and a cushy rug moved to our newly emptied extra playroom/guestroom and my workout room is ready to go complete with TV.  I even signed up for some physical therapy this last year so as to be prepared for a more active exercise program. Home exercises with resistant bands continue to be part of my daily program at this time. I even made a check list to help me remember them all, so as to maintain as well as continue to strengthen my body. I will have no excuses for NOT taking the time to make my New Year's Resolution to "get healthier" happen in 2016! Sometimes our plans aren't always so straight forward, especially when it comes to chronic illnesses, so if you aren't to this point, don't despair, but rather plan ahead for when you can tackle whatever it is you want to achieve. Sometimes that is the best we can do!

To establish new habits: exercise band, dumb bells, and exercise chart, 

My "new" hand-me-down recliner chair to watch TV!

I would likely never be comfortable without a TV to entertain me!!

For those of you that don't have physical challenges, all this planning and preparation may not be so necessary. I am looking forward to being able to do more, having weaned myself off the Marshall Protocol for the past several months. It has been a treatment that I hope helped to decrease what was thought to be an active ongoing chronic infection. But cured or not, I am now looking forward to working toward my ultimate goals of getting back to lap swimming and walking safely inside and out, on level and un-level ground, though I am real that it will only happen gradually and with effort. Being able to move well is not something I take for granted and how necessary it is to keep moving to gain or at least maintain strength!

"These boots were made for walking....and that's just what I'm gonna  do...one of these days, I pray that these boots are going to walk all over" to wherever I want to go!! Of course 2016 will also bring sewing, writing and reading therapies as well!  Happy New Year to you all!! May your New Year's dreams come true in 2016!!

"One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over to where I want to go!"

Holiday Greetings to All My Readers

Holiday Greetings from our Little House to yours!

As you all know, I have not written but a few blogs for several weeks now.  Besides the holiday craft shows, we have been very busy here at Little House.  My oldest daughter has moved and moved and moved!! Though we knew that she had a house full of stuff all packed into Little House right along with all of our belongings, we were amazed at just how much she managed to pack into her rooms and spaces. We have been very busy turning her rooms back into "functional" living spaces!

Her downstairs room was turned into a "play den", and a second guest room.

While working on the duvet covers made for last year's Christmas gifts!

All of this has taken place with holiday sewing and decorating to boot!

Christmas decorating: My husband's antique toy rocking horse.

....and Christmas music boxes given to my kids by their grandmother.

These music boxes come out only at Christmas!

...and are then tucked away...

...until next year!

Little cross-stitched  Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus and an Avon music box.

...and another little holiday music box from my favorite aunt, Aunt Catherine.

...and my oldest daughter's latest creche set!

...and nutcrackers on the piano with Christmas Carols and holiday books.

...and this sums up our style of celebrating...Santa and the Christ child!

My Christmas letter details the many changes that have taken place at Little House this past year and as you know, everything with me becomes a story, so read on:

Dear Family and Friends,

Many years ago when I was a psychiatric nurse, I learned that denial can serve a useful purpose.  It buys the time needed for a person to muster the inner strength and fortitude needed to face what appears to them to be too difficult to face.  It might seem to an outsider that instead of working hard to avoid the challenge, it would simply be easier to face their issue and "get on with it".  And so it is with me this year regarding the holiday season!  Here we are well into the Advent Season, and I have at last decided to quit denying that Christmas is almost here and simply get on with preparing for it!

Little House Tradition: a live tree, ornaments, antique balls and red bows. 

I am realizing that denial seems to be a theme in my life, be it Christmas 2015 or growing old!  I am finally realizing the futility of hanging onto my college wardrobe until I lose weight.  Mini-skirts at age 69 might not be as cute with varicose veins and long and thinning, mouse-gray hair! I seem to be operating on Standard Jane Time too, denying that the rest of the world is NOT doing the same!  You may NOT be as old as me in years, body or spirit, but I am finding that turning on Christmas music isn't all that is needed to sufficiently energize me as it used to, in order to prepare for what is still my favorite holiday!

Laugh as you will, I am still finishing the patchwork duvet covers that had only a few day's worth of work left to finish them last year at this same time.  I am however proud to say that I haven't given up on completing them this year in time for Christmas, though in Standard Jane time, that will likely be a few days after Christmas?!

Mary Engelbreit Panel/Patchwork  Duvet Cover for first daughter.

Backside of second daughter's reversible Mary Engelbreit Panel Duvet Cover.

Top of  reversible duvet cover. Whoops, forgot to clear the messy dressers!

Close up of this Mary Engelbreit Duvet Cover.

Jesus is coming soon and as one of my soon-to-be step-grandchildren said, "We hope Jesus has the best birth ever!" Beginnings are good and I am grateful for a fresh new 2016 to start over!! Perhaps a new pair of track shoes under the tree will help me "walk faster and jump higher", or a new thimble or two will help me finish the many projects that I have started, or am I in denial again? Quilts do take longer to finish than pincushions and fleece socks, and this last year we took over 300 pair of socks to market! I am grateful for our dear Savior's renewable birth in my heart and the chance to finish what I've started, and to start even more creations, and get another run at obtaining good health and fortune! Perhaps, now I will be able to set more realistic goals for 2016 and will add a super girdle and box of hair dye to my Christmas wish-list along with the name of a good hand and machine quilter instead of waiting for my youth to return to finish my bucket list!

Now facing another challenge, I am going to attempt to update you on Little House's 2015 year, though our accomplishments seem to all be in the categories of starts, continuances and completions of developmental tasks (no matter how delayed or advanced), as well as participation in therapies.

1) I continue my reading, blog writing and sewing therapies, along with acupuncture therapy as I discontinue the Marshall Protocol treatment for chronic lyme. Am I well-cured? Perhaps like a ham? I have been in this treatment for seven long years! I am not sure if what I have now are remnants of chronic lyme or just the beginning of old age. Now I am looking for that fountain of youth, or should that be a special psychiatric therapy for chronic denial that everything takes longer than it used to??
2) My oldest daughter and my husband continue to work my craft shows, marketing Little House's wares. This has become a family busy-ness and they are doing a great job!
3) My husband finally reached retirement age and can still work AND start drawing social security. Remember when he was laid off a few years ago, short of retirement?  These are not easy times we live in and though retirement isn't as we planned, how fortunate we are that he is still able-bodied and I am still able-minded? That is a fact that will not ask other members of the family to confirm! I think together, my husband and I make a good team?!
4) My oldest daughter emancipates again from home. Her move continues, and Little House breathes a sigh of relief! Guest rooms will soon be available.  Reservations must be made in advance...and no, we don't serve breakfasts...but perhaps a brunch instead!

Guest room #1. Still need to paint this bedside table.

The rocking chair needs to be repainted too.

Guests will have their own TV.

5) Our holiday celebrations expand when my oldest daughter starts bringing her new boyfriend and his family home for them! Two additional leaves to our family table are now needed to accommodate four more!
6) My husband and I start trying out new grand-parenting roles with potential step-grandchildren. "Spoiling with no consequences" is our new rule of fun!
7) My husband and I start to enjoy a new-found freedom of having no children living at home! Whoops, this means we have to start to do our own cooking as well as start to share our oldest daughter with many others now! Adjustments aren't so easy at our age!!
8) We do, however, start smiling as we listen to our daughter's stories as she learns that parenting isn't so easy.  "What goes around, comes around" it seems! We seem to be growing smarter despite getting more senile?!
9) Our children are now financially independent! Hooray!! Just in time for them to start supporting us in our old age, OR NOT??
10) Our youngest daughter continues to bring her laundry home to do, but we are glad or we might not see her so regularly!

Now you are as up-to-date as we are!...."Oh dear, we hope that you are more up-to-date than us!" ...What I mean to say is that you have now been brought up-to-date with Little House's events of 2015...My crazy dreams and schemes keep on going and I will again be sharing them with you in the year ahead!

Another quilt cut and ready for piecing! ("Leaders and Enders" basketwork.*)

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas/ Happy Hanukkah/ Winter Solstice/ Happy Holiday and may 2016  be filled with many blessings for you and your family!!

With love to you all from our Little House to your house!! Jane, Tom and our  AACs (Alien Adult Children)

* per Bonnie Hunter, infamous and prolific quilter, a serious quilter always keeps a "Leader-and-Ender Basket" near her sewing machine so in her spare time, another quilt top is suddenly all pieced and ready for quilting! I also keep at least one quilt ready for quilting near my quilting machine as well, hoping that there are little quilting elves, like the shoemaker's elves that "make it happen" in the night while I sleep...denial or a good imagination?? "Certifiable?"
...that's already a given!!

Another Holiday Craft Sale This Saturday!

Dear Readers,

I wanted to let you all know that we will be at The Holiday Inn, Rt 7 South, Rutland, Vermont this next Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. along with many other artists and craftspeople!  We hope that you won't forget to stop in! Guaranteed you will be able to find unusual and unique holiday gifts for your holiday gift giving needs!

This is a peek at our booth at our last two shows. We continue to feature unusual pincushions, wool doorstop hens, wool lap robe, wool ornaments, kits for penny rugs and pincushions and hand-knit wool hats,  It is also a great time to pick up fleece socks at a bargain price, guaranteed to keep your feet warm and help you accomplish "great feats"! You may also find many of these items on-line and if you don't, please ask.  I would be happy to send you pictures of what isn't listed in my Etsy shop or by clicking on my fleece sock order site on the right hand side of my website!

I have not been so busy with holiday sewing orders that I have not been blogging as frequently but will soon be back to my regular weekly postings, so keep watching! Sincerely, jane

Come See Us This Friday and Saturday

We will be at The Lakes Region Farmers' Market Christmas Fair at the Poultney High School Gym, in Poultney, Vermont Friday and Saturday, Novermber 27th and 28th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  There will be all sorts of interesting home and folk arts there.  It is an event NOT to miss!! There is no entry fee and it is a great place to do some of your Christmas shopping!!

Planning for Company

It is only fitting that right before Thanksgiving I post this blog about planning for company, though the occasion wasn't Thanksgiving. Last week my cousin came to have lunch with me. Having company is becoming a more special occasion now that I am retired and can take time to plan a luncheon menu. I thought perhaps I would serve tuna or chicken salad, with boiled eggs and would also take a special shopping trip to find and purchase some new delectable taste treats for her visit.

Once again I returned to my trusty computer for how to boil the perfect egg! You would think at age sixty-nine I would already know how to do this, though it was only a couple of years ago that I learned about "perfecting" boiled eggs, I had just boiled them before! Just think, if I had had a computer in my young years, all of the boiled eggs in my life would have been perfectly cooked with no gray or green edges to their yolks and if I had learned while my memory cells were still intact, I would now be able to do it without looking it up each time!

I lived in the day of encyclopedias and trips to the library, and now I have a library on my tablet and on my computer in my dining room next to the kitchen. Julia Child should have had such resources at her finger tips!! I have no need now for my vast array of cookbooks or memory for that matter, as whatever I need to know is found faster and easier on my computer than in books or for that matter waiting for my memory cells to connect!! I still keep my cookbooks as all books are my best friends and you know what they say about new friends being silver, but the old ones, gold!...And about my brain connections, I am glad for them whenever and if ever they occur, but depending on them is another matter!

Fingerling potatoes...this variety came in one bag!

Having company is definitely the time to be sure that my meal preparation is done to perfection and as I said, I used this opportunity to wander the isles of the grocery store looking for interesting new things to serve. It was not only entertaining, it was physical therapy for me, walking and walking as I imagined all the possibilities for our lunch.

I found some interesting tiny potatoes in the produce department that are called fingerling potatoes and in one bag there are several varieties, including some that were dark blue, sure to impress! I also found tiny cut carrots.  I am excited about vegetables of all kinds lately, learning that they can be fixed in other ways besides just boiling them. I came home with several bags of treasured finds so I could offer my cousin a smorgasbord of choices.  She was traveling from over an hour away to pay me a visit, and I wanted to be sure that she was well fed!

Mini-carrots and colorful veggies!

My mother, who taught me to cook was limited to recipes hand-copied and stuffed in a recipe box, many of which were sent to her in snail-mail letters by her mother and sisters. She also had recipes clipped out of magazines and had a few recipe books as well. It seems like a strange way of learning about new recipes doesn't it? I remember her thinking that vegetables were to be boiled and meats roasted and cakes baked. There are no such limits with my cooking, and I have mini tutorials at my finger tips!!

Perhaps these fingerling potatoes quartered with sliced onions and other vegetables in my refrigerator would make a good sort of vegetable casserole that, I think, tastes like "Veggie Pizza", very delectable when dotted with a bit of sweet sausage and covered with melted mozzarella cheese! It makes a very colorful mixture, and would be made even more "gourmet" by adding blue fingerling potatoes to add to our lunch and the left overs would serve as dinner. I like to imagine myself as a modern day Martha Stewart preparing a great lunch and dinner all so efficiently and effortlessly and what fun I would have impressing my cousin with more than my sewing!  I saved a fingerling potato to show my cousin how cute they are and just in case she would prefer a diet-sized baked potato instead, that could be baked in only minutes! All meals, I think, should be generously seasoned with a bit of humor!

"Veggie Pizza" ready to bake, later covered with melted mozzarella cheese!

Other lunch option a diet sized baked potato? Humor is everything!

I love to create casseroles just like my mother did. They became her most popular and creative way to stretch meals to feed her growing family, I think many of them were ways to use up whatever was left over in the refrigerator and I guess I "don't fall far from the tree". Her casseroles all seemed to have unique names to convince us they were delicious like New Joe's Special, though I thought it anything but!!  It looked like slop and tasted like it too, though perhaps with my newly acquired taste for vegetables, I would like it now, as it was spinach cooked with hamburger and if my memory serves me well it had green pasta too. No doubt if I take a few minutes on-line I will be able to find it again. It was, after all, supposedly a famous dish served by a well-known restaurant in California, or so my aunt claimed in her letter!

Vegetables can be very delicious when fixed in interesting ways and I have at last added them to my personal food pyramid, replacing many a cookie and cake.  Garnishing them with melted cheese seems to make anything delicious and I can imagine it looking a bit like a glaze or frosting! Sugar, I have learned too late, increases inflammation and has other deleterious health effects, and isn't one of the basic food groups after all! This has been a sad discovery!

In my bags were also nice multi-grained thin buns and I would use them as a "vehicle" to eat our chicken or tuna salad and as all vehicles they would be literally round like "wheels". I was clearly over-thinking this meal! A small snack-sized container of fresh fruit would be just the right amount of grapes and strawberries to garnish our green salad, that I bought all prepped and bagged. Lovely British "biscuits" were the perfect accompaniment to orange sherbet for dessert. Orange and brown, I thought perfect for a fall-colored dessert! My mother's spirit must have been loitering about as no company meal, she taught me, would be complete without way more than could possibly be consumed!

I looked forward to seeing my cousin, as I love to share memories of our common relatives and I smiled as I remembered our eldest step-aunt who was a spinster librarian by trade and kept her company menus well-ordered in her personal Dewey Decimal Card File at her home! She was ahead of the now infamous Side Tracked Home Executive sisters who organized their whole life on 3" x 5" cards, they called the SHE system.  Their system was for organizing their life as well as their housecleaning.  I had bought all their books and my family remembers the cute little wall hanging I made with our initials above the individual pouches to hold the cards that assigned each of us cleaning tasks for the week. I remember now that my family was less than cooperative and our house didn't seem to get any cleaner...but that is another story!!

Aunt Alice before she became a librarian and kept records on a 3 x 5 card file.

My aunt's card file was used to record what each of us liked to eat. She forgot that being of "the Martin clan" however, we were raised to be polite instead of honest and so our answers to her questions were always positive. Our "yeses" got us into trouble as I remember too well on a 100 degree day in Cleveland, Ohio, with no air-conditioning or fan, she served us boiled hot dogs, boiled vegetables, along with the hot vegetable water to drink so as to not waste any of their leached vitamins and for dessert we had hot stewed fruit! She was then almost blind which was perhaps fortunate for us, as we were able to switch our portions, so I ate my husband's stewed fruit to keep him from having to make bathroom stops too frequently, while I kept "regular" while "on the road"!

She relied on snail-mail letters and had carefully budgeted her company meal in advance and didn't wander about the grocery store whimsically picking up this and that the night before. A simple e-mail two days before let me know that my cousin didn't like cottage cheese. I simply used my computer to inquire about the negatives only!

It was only a year ago that I my eldest daughter helped prepare a lunch for company, but I have since reclaimed my kitchen and now use company as the excuse I need to try out some new taste treats!!  I did note that one of my more regular luncheon guests is insisting on only stopping by now to chat and not eat and it does give me cause to wonder about my menu choices?

After this lunch was planned, I realized my cousin is the same one that when visiting me as a child, was used to participating in sandwich competitions, where everyone fixed their own sandwich, most often starting with peanut butter? Perhaps my mother and my aunt didn't miss having a computer after all? Using their brains they had us kids fix our own lunch and not bother with all this fuss!

My daughter's recipe of a special peanut butter dish!

Although this event was big for me, Thanksgiving is the all-time feast of the year, and how fun it will be to get really creative and plan for this holiday and Pinterest is offering me all sorts of new menu ideas! Bon Appetite and Happy Thanksgiving!

....and here's to remembering you, Mary Margaret (another cousin) who always had peanut butter sandwiches instead of turkey and the trimmings for Thanksgiving! (If you would like to read about our family sandwich competitions see blog, A New Easy Recipe and read about my daughter's unusual open faced P.B. combo. It would have won our cousin sandwich competitions face-down! Pun intended!)

Read all about how to make it on A New Easy Recipe Blog.