Time Marches Onward

Time does not stand still. You cannot place it in a bottle, neither can you buy time. Sometimes we act as if we have all the time in the world and sometimes it takes something so catastrophic and sudden to realize that time is not always on our side.

Time Marches Onward

Things are not the way they used to be and they never will be the way they once were. Time has passed, and you can’t recapture that time because that time had its time. This moment is what you have, and what you do with this time, can be a matter of living or existing, and life versus death.
-Kym Gordon Moore

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What Can You Improve Today?

Try something new! That’s right. Right now!

Let’s face it, those 2017 New Year’s Resolutions that were made on January 1st are pretty much in the wind at this point. Why? Because of commitment to set those resolutions in motion. Did you plan on losing weight? Devoting more time to improving yourself? Exercising more? Eating better? Reading more books? Devoting more time to learning something new? Had you planned to travel more? What about designating more leisure time for family?

Although this month we are observing National Self Improvement Month and International Self-Awareness Month, this does not mean you should only do something self-improving throughout the month of September. Nope! You should do something to improve your life and make a difference in the life of others every day, even if you are seeking more leisure time for yourself. You can find a laundry list of suggestions everywhere on self-improvement tips, but what are the best tips that are doable and more applicable to your lifestyle? What can you do to add more value to your life? What can you do to add more joy, love, and peace in your life? What can be done to fulfill your well-roundedness? Through your self-improvement practices, how can you contribute to making the lives of others better?

Well, as you are fully well aware of, the clock is still ticking and it certainly will not pause just because you want it to. What are you waiting for? What can you say you did, to make positive changes for a better and more productive ‘you’ that will inspire those who enter your space?

 

Hopi Corn Stew and Blue Dumplings on Food Porn Friday

Image Credit: incultureparent.com

The three essential staple foods among the Native Americans (Eastern Woodlands Aboriginal Americans) is a triad known as the Three Sisters: corn (Maize), beans, and squash. According to Native-Languages.org,

Image Source: tahtonka.com

Farming was another very important source of American Indian food materials. Native agriculture was most advanced in what is now the southern United States, Mexico, and the Andean region of South America. Native Americans from those areas used special farming techniques like irrigation, terracing, crop rotation, and planting windbreaks to improve their farms, and they usually harvested enough crops to dry and store for the winter. Some examples of southern Native American tribes who were expert farmers included the Hopi, Navajo, and Cherokee tribes. Other tribes further to the north planted crops in garden plots in their villages but did not harvest enough to last the winter, so they would split up into hunting camps during that time instead.

Today on Food Porn Friday, we are featuring Hopi Corn Stew & Blue Dumplings courtesy of thewildwest.org.

Hopi Corn Stew & Blue Dumplings

For the Stew:
2 tbs bacon drippings
1 1/2 lb ground beef or goat meat
1 medium onion-chopped
1 green bell pepper-chopped
1 tbs ground New Mexico red pepper
4 cups corn kernels
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
4 cups water
2 tbs whole wheat flour
salt to taste

For the Blue Dumplings:
2 cups blue cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbs bacon drippings
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk

Making the Stew:
Heat bacon drippings over medium-high heat in a large stew-pot or Dutch oven. Add the meat and sauté until lightly browned. Stir in onion, pepper and ground chili. Sauté until onion is translucent, 3-4 minutes.

Stir in corn, zucchini and squash and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 30-40 minutes, until meat and vegetables are tender.

Then, in a small bowl, combine flour and 2 tablespoons broth from the stew. Whisk back into the stew and simmer until thickened. Add the dumplings to the stew during the last 15 minutes of cooking time.

Making the Dumplings:
In a mixing bowl combine cornmeal, baking powder, bacon drippings and salt. Stir in enough milk to make a stiff batter. Drop by tablespoons into the stew during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Happy #FoodPornFriday

Fiestas Patrias, Chile’s Independence Day Celebration

Image Source: http://www.muniniquen.cl

Ah, the jubilation, liberation, and celebration of declaring independence. Such declaration for change is of great historical significance for generations to commemorate in years to come.

Fiestas Patrias is a Spanish phrase meaning “Patriotic Holidays” or “National Holidays”. Although in Mexico it refers to a set of Mexican holidays, in Chile it means the Independence Day celebration of Chile. This celebration lasts for two days, September 18-19.

Fiestas Patrias is often referred to as the Dieciocho, or “18th” within Chile. This holiday in Chile commemorates the proclamation of the First Governing Body of 1810 beginning on September 18. On September 19 the day is known as the “Day of the Glories of the Army”.

Independence Day in many cultures is observed with great festivities to honor this momentous occasion. In Chilean culture, traditional activities associated with the Dieciocho include Chilean rodeo, dancing the cueca (a family of musical styles and associated dances from Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia), going to fondas (places that sell food and beverages during the Fiestas Patrias), and barbecue.

#HappyFiestasPatrias

Poetry: Celebrating the Anniversary of the Star-Spangled Banner

Image Credit: George Hodan

Who would have imagined that on September 13, 1814, after Francis Scott Key penned a poem which was later set to music, would go on to become a national treasure? In 1931 this poem became America’s national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The poem, originally titled “The Defence of Fort McHenry,” was written after Key witnessed the Maryland fort being bombarded by the British during the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the sight of a lone U.S. flag still flying over Fort McHenry at daybreak.

The Star-Spangled Banner Poem

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The poem was printed in newspapers and eventually set to the music of a popular English drinking tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven” by composer John Stafford Smith. People began referring to the song as “The Star-Spangled Banner” and in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson announced that it should be played at all official events. It was adopted as the national anthem on March 3, 1931.

Happy Anniversary
Star-Spangled Banner!

 

 

Grateful for Blessings

Although we will not forget the horrific September 11, 2001, events that occurred in the U.S., we are taking this moment to pause, meditate and recognize our blessings each day.

You can’t quantify a blessing but you can be grateful as a result of it. -Kym Gordon Moore

Sorrow At My Doorstep

Shawn Tonise Moore, our beautiful flower plucked away!

I realized from writing and reading obituaries, they are like cliff notes or a piece of poetry that only gives an abbreviated version highlighting a few significant attributes of that person’s life. You learn about what the person has accomplished, but you can never fully grasp the life of that individual unless you truly ‘knew’ them beyond the words on a program.

You know, when death in the family occurs, especially when it happens suddenly, such news stops you dead in your tracks, and you feel like you were violently tossed to and fro like debris from the eye of a Level 5 tornado. Last week, our daughter-in-law was suddenly plucked from our family bouquet at a very young age. She and our son were headed to what we saw as a future of achieving great things when death came in and told her it was time to depart this world as she once knew it.  This left all who knew her, in shock and devastated. She made such a tremendous impact on the lives of so many and it seems unfair on so many levels that she was taken from us so soon. This is something we have a hard time processing and understanding, although we know that life and death dwell in the same climate. Our life’s plan of this earthly existence was in place before we were even conceived. How we choose to live the dash between our born day and departure day is on us.

Sometimes you feel you don’t have an ounce of strength left to just get up, as you’ve cried so much that it seems your tear ducts will dry up at any moment or you ask when will this dreadful nightmare end? Even though people offer their condolences, everything feels so surreal and as it is with life we are never, ever fully or partially prepared for death, even when an extended illness is the cause. It’s as if our spirit has been hit with a taser shooting stun gun, only this time life has been severed from the earthly vessels we are using right now.

Sorrow At My Doorstep

Why are you here causing me such sadness
gripping my spirit with heart-wrenching pain
suffocating my throat to dare not cry out
I did not summons you to come here today

Yet here you show up at my doorstep unannounced
moving shadows of the scythe-wielding grim reaper
crossing my threshold where joy and peace reside
interrupting smiles and great joy with sorrow

consoling my grief is difficult, caught in a tug of war
laughter escapes, as I know not when it comes again
a seething sadness stabs through my wounded heart
how can I move forward and let time help me to live on?

© Kym Gordon Moore

Everyone has their own way of grieving and processing death, as the pain makes our hearts heavy, and squashes our joy like mashed potatoes. Still, it can’t kill our spirit although it tries. We get through these challenges one breath at a time, one day at a time, and while we never forget the laughter, love, and joy the people who leave us behind left in our hearts, that void can never be replaced. We use the remnants from death to fertilize and nourish seeds that birth new life. Yet, we will learn through our grief and struggles to stand again, to garner strength from our weakness and at some point begin to smile a little bit more. For such healing, we can only rely on our faith and the precious gift of time, of which neither shall be wasted on foolishness.

For our dear beloved Shawn and several others who joined her this week on their transitory journey, we may cry and ask the never-ending question of why, but in our pain we must instead ask how did her life impact ours, so that we may make the necessary spiritual adjustments to be better servants and the pure, genuine kingdom builders God intended for us to be.