She surfed and she surfed searching the web
Finally finding a site, free is  what they said
She signed up and was told to verify first
She didn’t once have to open up her purse
In her back office she found many tools
To help her to learn the internet rules.

She knew there was hype about making a mint
So she was sent to the support room to get a hint
For making a mint is not an easy thing to do
But much passion and patience will help you through

She was so excited, questions going round in her head
She put on her headphones to hear what was said.
Their plan had been working  online since  1999
The support group were helpful and very kind
They said, “if you follow our steps one two three
An internet marketer soon you will be”.

Patricia

Patricia

There is only a certain ‘window’ for picking the
berries so wanted to get some for a change.
They weren’t the best since there was still many
red ones.  At least it was a taste, and hopefully
will get another chance to go find some more.

Saskatoon berries, make the best berry pie ever!
Sure, I know, you will say ‘no’ ,so and so berries
make the best pie.  I think there are certain fruits
for every area in the world which are touted as the
best.   It’s what you grow up with and what is available
but I will always love saskatoon berry pie!

To make my pie crust, I just use 2 cups of flour, a
couple dashes of salt and cut in about 3/4 cup of
Crisco shortening.  Add about 4 tablespoons of cold
water , a tablespoon at a time, until dough starts to
stick together.  Put together a ball of enough dough
to cover a pie plate, set on floured board, give a few
taps with rolling pin.  Start rolling in a circle from center
to outside all away around, lifting up dough and adding
more flour if needed.  Don’t turn the dough over.
(Actually, just follow the recipe on the Crisco box)

When your circle of dough is big enough, put in pie plate.
Trim off excess.  I use the Basic Berry recipe in my
Better Homes and Gardens cookbook which I have
had for over 40 years. It is rough shape because it
has been well used.

3 cups of berries (depending on size of pie plate)
2/3 to 1 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of cornstarch or 4 tablespoons of flour
1 tablespoon of butter
Put berries into pie.
Mix sugar,cornstarch and dash of salt, then pour over
berries. Dot with butter and then cover with the other
circle of pastry you should have rolled out.  Poke the
top crust with fork or whatever to make a vent hole.
Cook at 400*F for 40 to 50 minutes. Serve with
vanilla ice cream. Scrumptious!
I guess in the States, Saskatoon berries are called
’service berries’.

THE OLD PHONE ON THE WALL.
When I was a young boy, my father had one of the
first telephones in our neighborhood.. I remember
the polished, old case fastened to the wall. The
shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was
too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen
with fascination when my mother talked to it.

Then I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful
device lived an amazing person. Her name was
“Information Please” and there was nothing she did not
know.  Information Please could supply anyone’s number
and the correct time.

My personal experience with the genie-in-a-bottle came
one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing
myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my
finger with a hammer, the pain was terrible, but there
seemed no point in crying because there was no one home
to give sympathy.

I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger,
finally arriving at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly,
I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the
landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver in the parlor
and held it to my ear. “Information, please” I said into the
mouthpiece just above my head.

A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into my ear.

“Information.”

“I hurt my finger…” I wailed into the phone, the tears came
readily enough now that I had an audience.

“Isn’t your mother home?” came the question.

“Nobody’s home but me,” I blubbered.

“Are you bleeding?” the voice asked.

“No,”
I replied. “I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts.”
“Can you open the icebox?” she asked.

I said I could.

“Then chip off a little bit of ice and hold it to your finger,”
said the voice..

After that, I called “Information Please” for everything..
I asked her for help with my geography, and she told
me where Philadelphia was. She helped me with my
math. She told me my pet chipmunk that I had caught in
the park just the day before, would eat fruit and nuts.

Then, there was the time Petey, our pet canary, died. I
called, “Information Please,” and told her the sad story..
She listened, and then said things grown-ups say to soothe
a child. But I was not consoled. I asked her, “Why is it that
birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families,
only to end up as a heap of feathers on the bottom of a cage?”

She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly,
” Wayne , always remember that there are other worlds to
sing in.”

Somehow I felt better.

Another day I was on the telephone, “Information Please.”
“Information,” said in the now familiar voice. “How do I spell
fix?” I asked.

All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest .
When I was nine years old, we moved across the country to
Boston. I missed my friend very much. “Information Please”
belonged in that old wooden box back home and I somehow
never thought of trying the shiny new phone that sat on the
table in the hall. As I grew into my teens, the memories of
those childhood conversations never really left me..

Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the
serene sense of security I had then.  I appreciated now how
patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time
on a little boy.

A few years later, on my way west to college, my plane put down
in Seattle . I had about a half-hour or so between planes. I spent
15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now.
Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown
operator and said, “Information Please.”

Miraculously, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well.
“Information.”
I hadn’t planned this, but I heard myself saying,
“Could you please tell me how to spell fix?”
There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer,
“I guess your finger must have healed by now.”

I laughed, “So it’s really you,” I said. “I wonder if you have any
idea how much you meant to me during that time?”

“I wonder,” she said, “if you know how much your call meant to me.
I never had any children and I used to look forward to your calls.”

I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I
asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister.

“Please do“, she said. “Just ask for Sally.”

Three months later I was back in Seattle .  A different voice
answered,  “Information.”
I asked for Sally..
“Are you a friend?” she said.
“Yes, a very old friend,” I answered.
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this,”She said. “Sally had been
working part time the last few years because she was sick.
She died five weeks ago.”
Before I could hang up, she said, “Wait a minute, did you
say your name was Wayne ?”
“Yes.” I answered.
“Well, Sally left a message for you..
She wrote it down in case you called.
Let me read it to you.”
The note said,
“Tell him there are other worlds to sing in.
He’ll know what I mean.”
I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.

Never underestimate the impression you may make on others..
Whose life have you touched today?
Why not pass this on? I just did…..

Lifting you on eagle’s wings.
May you find the joy and peace you long for.

Life is a journey… NOT a guided tour.

“It is no great exaggeration to say that living
is for the most part learning, and that the
remainder of life is merely the carrying on in
practice what has previously been learned.
We begin to learn at least as soon as we
begin to live; very probably the learning
process commences some time before birth.
It does not appear probable that we cease to
learn until we are in the actual clutches of death.”
Knight Dunlap (American psycologist and author)

Harry Lorayne suggests that many of us learn
to a certain point and then just work with that
knowledge for the rest of our lives.  We can’t
be bothered to take the time and effort to
learn anything more that may enhance our lives.

So in Harry’s book he is trying to show us that if
we don’t keep learning we will stagnate.
Stagnant:
1. Not running or flowing: stagnant water
(have you ever smelled stagnant water? P U )
2. Foul from standing still
3. Not active; sluggish; dull
I would say the one Harry meant was number three,
if we aren’t constantly using our mind it becomes
sluggish and basically we are probably a dull person
to be around.

This is the point of Harry’s book ‘Secrets of Mind Power‘,
to help us to learn more, for knowledgeable people not
only benefit themselves but society as a whole.  That
is as long as they use that knowledge.  As the Bible says,
‘you don’t light a lamp and then put it under a basket’.
We should make use of our knowledge and then obtain
more knowledge so we can live a full life.

Each chapter has concentrated on different ‘ingredients’
needed to learn.  Harry says, ‘curiosity is the starter;
interest and enthusiasm are low gears; concentration and
memory high gears; and accomplishment is the smooth
level ride.’

Wishing we <more..>

Have you read the first eleven chapters regarding
Harry Lorayne’s book on ‘Mind Power’? Have you
been curious enough to want to expand your mind
to see how successful you can really be?

Harry Lorayne obviously is a man who has done that.
This chapter is about being curious and his not
understanding others who don’t want to know the
“why” and “how” of new things.

He does not believe that “ignorance is bliss” as the
saying goes. He thinks that a person’s greatest
asset is a ‘sense of humour‘ and a ‘healthy curiosity‘.
Believing that curiosity may kill a cat but with people he
feels what it kills is ignorance.

He feels that those who aren’t curious about anything
go through life; “in a straight line, like a race horse
with blinkers on; not caring about or seeing anything
but their own little pleasures, frustrations and problems.”
He doesn’t think these people come up with a ‘worthwhile
idea or do anything of interest’.

Curiosity and interest are one and the same and without
either, Lorayne feels a person must be awfully bored. He
says, “the one universal cure-all for boredom is the search
for knowledge.”

He figures the American educator Nicholas Murray Butler
was talking of such people when he said, “The tombstones
of a great many people should read: Died at 30; buried at
60.”

In condensing what Harry Lorayne has written, people may
be rich or poor but if they see things only with their eyes
and not their minds they will become bored. Plus those
who aren’t quite bored yet but soon will be because they
take ‘the path of least resistance‘. Not bothering to take
the time to figure out what they don’t understand.

If you still need convincing that to be successful you do
need to be curious, continue reading <here>

Unless it has rained almost continuously off and
on for the last two months .

Back in February and April we had a lot of fog.
There is an old saying that if you get fog,
ninety days later you will get moisture of some
kind.

Well one of my neighbours kept track of the days
we got rain.  The ninety day theory seems to
be true for we have had much too much rain this
spring.  Though she says it should have ended
a day or two ago, but maybe she missed a day
or two of fog.  The rain should be finished in a
couple of days though, hopefully.

The weather man says it will be a beautiful day
on Sunday for the first football game of the year.
But they usually say that if there is going to be a
game.  Wouldn’t want fans to be discouraged,
would they?  I hope he is right since my son and
his girlfriend are going to the game, though it
probably wouldn’t bother him that much.  Well,
I guess it would depend on how much it rained.

Sorry, got off on the wrong track, was suppose
to be discussing the gravel road track.  Basically
that is what it becomes, a track.  When the rain
first starts, the road is slippery from the clay
base.  The more it rains and the more people
drive on it, it becomes a track or I should say a
rut.

If you don’t want to get stuck or end up in the ditch
you have to stay in the track.  Sometimes that track
is full of water, and it usually ends up all over your
vehicle, right across your windshield.  You continuously
have to have your windshield wipers on and if you
didn’t keep your washer tank full you would have
a hard time seeing.

Most farmers this spring have gone around with a tan
vehicle no matter the real colour.  There isn’t much
sense in getting it washed either because you still
have to go back over the road to get home.

So, with most days raining and farmers driving on the
roads most days, that rut gets deeper and deeper.  If
you only have a car then forget about getting out, you
would be hung up the first few yards you traveled.  The
last steady rain nearly stopped even the trucks from
navigating the road.  If you didn’t have a 4×4 then you
could forget going anywhere.  The ruts were so deep
they were close to touching the underside of the truck
and then with water in them you needed all four wheels
to keep going.

I have to say though, that it does dry up every once in
a while and the maintainer gets to go down the road
and fill in those ruts.  It has become a weekly job for
him though, don’t know if he likes the challenge or if
he is looking forward to just regular leveling and gravel
dispersion.

I know the farmers have had enough for a very long
time.  They are getting very worried for they haven’t
been able to plant their crops.  We have a short
growing season here, so if the crops aren’t in by
the first week in June if not sooner then they might
as well forget about planting.  If they do plant then
there is a very good chance of it being frozen before
it ripens.

So as much as I like my gravel road, since it is harder
to travel on a muddy dirt road, this year has been quite
an experience.  There are always good sides to most
experiences though, I haven’t had the dust coming into
my house that usually comes from all the big trucks
going by.  We are the only ones that travel on the road
by our house because going on past our driveway is a
dirt road.  Plus it doesn’t get rutted up like the main one
that we have  to travel on to get to the highway.

In a few months  it may be so hot we will  be hoping
for rain, but that is life.  Oh well….

Patricia

Any person who would do such a thing to a child, should
have their child taken away from them.  To scar a child like
that is inhumane in my opinion.  Who can a child trust if
they can’t trust their parents!  I don’t know if this was a
true story or not but I would not be surprised that similar
occurrences have happened.

The story was the opening paragraph of Harry Lorayne’s
eleventh chapter of his book, ‘Secrets of Mind Power’.

Now to go to the rest of the chapter in Harry Lorayne’s
book on ‘Mind Power‘ does seem anti-climatic and unrelated
to that disturbing story.  The chapter though is about trusting
people and I can sure see where someone would grow up
trusting no one after that treatment.

Hopefully anyone who had an abusive parent as that
‘father‘ would meet others who could assure that person
that all people aren’t like that ‘father‘. Whether you think so
or not, that is abusive behaviour, a child’s feelings are
very fragile.  They remember actions such as those
for the rest of their life.

Patricia

Continuing with the rest of the chapter in Harry Lorayne’s
book on ‘Secrets of Mind Power‘ :
This chapter is about trusting people and I can sure see
where someone would grow up trusting no one after that
treatment.

Lorayne talks of not liking books that have no ‘meat’ or as
he says are “‘blue sky’ – nice and flowery”.  He gives an
example of books that just, “preach, ‘Have faith‘; faith in
God or faith in yourself.”  He didn’t write this to argue about
religion for he knows everyone has their own beliefs.  He
feels ‘90 per cent’ of those who read faith books know the
value of and believe ‘that faith in God is almost a necessity
for a happy life’.

He feels though that ‘God might prefer you to take care of
some of your own problems’.  He doesn’t think God expects
Him to solve all our problems, and not doing anything for
ourselves.  Which reminds me of the story of the man who
was stuck in a tree during a flood.  A boat comes by to
rescue him and he says, ‘no thanks, I’m waiting for God to
rescue me.’ More people try to rescue him, even a
helicopter, and he continues to say no, ‘he is waiting on
God’.  Having faith in God is recognizing when He is
helping you and not expecting some ‘beam me up Scotty’
rescue solution.

Lorayne states that after all we do have a brain which
we are suppose to use to think for ourselves.  He thinks
God had an ulterior motive when He gave us a brain; to
relieve some of His burden.  I don’t think I agree with that.
I think God’s only burden…

It has been raining a fair amount but I have
managed to get in about 20 rows of corn,
potatoes, beans and peas.  I have also
planted about 15 hills of cucumbers, but do
want to plant more.  Today I transplanted my
cabbage and tomatoes.  Do have more tomatoes
to put in.  It is raining tonight so probably won’t
get them in tomorrow.

The farmers won’t like this rain, they have already
had enough and most of them don’t have their
crops all in yet.  My husband and I have retired
from farming this year though we will still be
living on the farm.  We have rented the land
out to a neighbour for the year so don’t have
that stress to worry about this season.

I will be writing in my blog as yard and garden
allow me.  Hope everyone in the Northern
Hemisphere has a good summer and those
in the Southern Hemisphere hopefully have
a good winter.

Patricia