Good Things (more added)

Good Morning, my beloved Angel! I'm just home from Pearl's and I am checking in right away because I love those two pictures you posted. They are so representative of you, and that is exactly what I mean about staying in the mindset and surrounding yourself with your Good Things. Those can be anything that keep you in the mindset, in that True Place in your soul. And, you should have a workstation like that, too! I can picture you and I, on mornings like this, in a special place, maybe outdoors but it could be indoors too. And we will be playing together, piano and guitar or even two guitars. And we will be living the mindset.

Huge Love coming your way all day today, with special focus. I Love You so , so much Elizabeth! Have an awesome afternoon, I will too, and I will write more later. :):)

1:30pm : I wanted to add, too, about your poem at Lake Superior, that you still have the photo, but also you have the act of having written it on the rock. So, it is a poem about nature, written in nature, possibly eroded by nature, but - having been impressed into nature - forever in the world. 

10:10pm : It should be noted, lol, re: your UW Madison Confessions post, that I have resisted all urges thus far to call you a Cheesehead. :) But that was a funny post. They had a big cheese promotion in California a while back, complete with slogan: "California - It's The Cheese". That was back in the 80's, and they were really pushing it for a while, but we will never catch you guys. They probably gave up when they saw the Packer fans. I myself am a cheese addict (who isn't?) and one of the hardest parts of the No Fun Diet has been to curtail my cheese consumption. With my Kryptonite Foods, my problem is all about control, so if I bring a jar of peanut butter home, say, or a big bag of potato chips, it isn't gonna last very long. That's why it's easier for me not to buy those things very often. But cheese has been probably the hardest. I think Blue Cheese is probably my favorite, followed by Extra Sharp Cheddar, then Pepper Jack. But if it's cheese, I like it. And if I bring a pound home, it will last me about two days, maybe three. So (sniff, sniff, tears), I have had to really cut back. I am kinda that way with all my dairy, I consume just enough to get my needed calcium. Up to my early 40s, I ate whatever I wanted, all the time. And I still ate pretty healthy. But I ate a lot more red meat (which I basically don't eat anymore), and I drank a lot of milk, ate a ton of ice cream, tons of cheese. Now, I wanna be as plant-based as possible, for good health and longevity. I am also fortunate to have good genes. But enough about the No Fun Diet! (now I want a pizza, haha).

These past few days have been so wonderful, I think. There has been a very serene vibe that can be felt, and today I was so glad to see you post your photo of your poem on the rock. If you ever want, you can post the whole thing, or show it to me sometime. I'd like to read it. I only know your words, creatively speaking, from "Where She Walks", but those are excellent lyrics, and they have both a nature and spiritual element in them, and I love that you wrote your poem, or the first lines from it, on a rock at the shoreline, because that is so elemental in itself, if you know what I mean. I am glad that you feel so connected to nature, not just in the physical sense of being outdoors, but also in the spiritual sense. These are great days, Elizabeth, so if you are feeling "in the zone", then keep writing, keep taking pictures, keep playing, etc. Keep feeling the feeling.  These recent days have been so special, I have tried to slow them down in my daily activities, so I will sense more, notice more, remember more. Details, small things, feelings, things sensed, glimpses. These are the things that will make an ordinary-seeming day extraordinary, and it is such days that you will remember for years to come. A rock on the shoreline becomes your canvas or writing tablet on such a day.

Remember that life is a series of Days, and Days are a series of Hours, and in those Hours and Days, the more time spent Feeling These Things, and Expressing them, even inwardly to yourself, the more you are training to live as The True You. Modern civilization will try to train that out of a person, but that will never happen to you.

Because you Notice The Details, and Things In-Between.
(back in a minute......)

I'm back. Yeah, the jalepenos.......I used to get those big cans of 'em, where they are soaked in vinegar and oil, with the marinated carrot slices. I'd eat up about half the can. I have been addicted to all things hot since I was a kid, when my Dad would take us down to Olvera Street in Los Angeles for tacos & taquitos. I love hot sauce (Tabasco, Sriracha, Tapatio), salsa (the hotter the better). Of the commercial ones, I always liked La Victoria "Salsa Ranchera". I used to pound that stuff. Tortilla chips and salsa was something I ate pretty much every day, most of my life. About five years ago, they started carrying the orange colored Habanero peppers in the markets, so now that's my go-to pepper for hotness. My brother-in-law, Vickie's husband, is from Mexico City, and every Thanksgiving he brings over a salsa made with habaneros and onions and garlic (two other staples), and he tries to out-hot me, to create a salsa that I will say is too hot. But it never happens! Instead, I wind up eating more than he does. I tell him I am gonna have to ask to see his Mexican Credentials, because Gringo Me can withstand hotter salsa than he can. Now, I don't buy the #10 cans of the marinated jalapenos anymore, because they do a job on my stomach nowdays. Must be the vinegar, or the oil or something. But I still have my staples most every night: I put peppers (jalapenos, serranos, habaneros) on everything, along with onion and garlic. Those three things will keep your bloodstream flowing smoothly for many a year. And - because I watch my sodium content these days (something you don't need to worry about for a while, lol), I found an awesome Chipotle salsa at Trader Joes, a cool little market we have here in SoCal. This salsa has that chipotle smoky flavor, but with no added sodium, so I can eat jars of it. My original pepper addiction, dating back to the late 1970s, was to those super hot yellow peppers, sold in jars, by Mezzetta or one of those companies. I have never been able to find out the name of that type of pepper (little yellow jalapeno shaped things), but Good Lord are they hot! I go easy on those these days, too. But they were my original.

So, not only am I an Honorary Cheesehead, but an Honorary Mexican as well.

I Love You, my Beautiful Girl, and I will talk to you in the morn.

Big hug and kiss........   :):)