Life in Weyers Cave

Arche-What? This is a historical interpretive museum in the Nederlands. They have three villages (time periods) represented. One is Medieval times. One is Roman times. The third is pre-historic times. All three have villages representing how people lived in the Nederlands in their respective times. They have reconstructed a small village of each period with costumed interpreters. The areas showed all kinds of aspects of life in their times, including games, music, weaving, working with fur, canoes you could ride in, honeybees, furniture-making, firemaking, jousting, spinning, and working with metals. There was a play in the afternoon at the Roman Amphi-theater - in Dutch of course. First, they had a volunteer come from the audience -- a school group was there so their beloved principal got to show off in front of the kids. He was a good sport and it was fun to watch. Then came the rest of the play. At one point a man in a hairy beast mask came out and one of the dogs in the...

They say opposites attracts. I still don't know how we have made it. HE: Southern, poor, country background, few attended college, no alcohol SHE: Northern, rich, city background, most attended college, lotsa booze HE: Loves lots and lots of processed foods, salty, white flour (absolutely no whole grains), soft drinks, canned veggies. If you must have fresh veggies, cook them in LOTS of water until they are really soft, then dump out the water and add lots of butter or bacon fat. Meat can't have "blood running out". No sauces or gravies. No pasta, cheese, cooked tomatoes, vinegar. Fast foods are a staple. Salads on rare occasions. LOTS of potatoes. Doesn't like "surprise" textures like nuts in brownies, whole what grains in bread, and eating around chicken bones. SHE: Whole grains, fresh or frozen foods, cooked as little as possible, low salt, water to drink, as little processing as possible. Not hot dogs, bologna, spam, or canned foods. Love sauc...

Cathryn and her boyfriend Peter just called. And I don't know why? Something weird is going on. I think I need to brush up on Cathryn stories, although they aren't as much fun as the infamous Allen stories. Dianna wrote from Italy. Yes, she is loving it. I also talked to Bryan and got a letter from Allen today. He wants me to sent him some Sour Warheads, but I'm a tad hesitant to put a box through Customs with content description: Warheads. (And if you suggest I put "candy", you obviously are taking me far too seriously. That was a joke!) But if you insist on giving me advice, tell me where to find the Sour Warheads, other than the internet. I decided rutabagas are not my favorite. All the recipes want at least a 1:2 sugar/rutabaga ratio. And syrup doesn't work. I don't trust anything that requires that much sugar. I learned the hard way: don't cook them with onions, even if they do look like a vegetable.

Since Cathryn talked about her kitty I thought I could post about mine. This is Gerda. Her latest is to sit on the rail right by the front door of the German house because she knows I will give her a handful of wheat when I walk by and she won't have to share it with anybody. She and her sister Greta are the friendliest kitties and like to be picked up the most. They are always the first to come running to me when I call out "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!" Greta likes to come in the house so I can throw her out the window.

Dianna and I arrived home tonight at 9:30. It was a long trip. Allen apparently is still stuck in the airport in Fayetteville with airplane mechanical and weather problems. Poor guy.

I found a bunch of old posts that hadn't gone up, so I hit post. But didn't save the dates and now don't know where they came from. Sorry. The next five posts are out of sequence. Life is different without my kids. I stay busy: - 35 seniors I try to keep up with - teach 40 children music at church - Board of Directors of food pantry - assembly 20 volunteers a month for service at the food bank - recorder group performs at senior centers (regrouping( - political women's club - president of the Ruritans this year - taking piano lessons - little travel here and there - trying to clean stuff out of the house I will never use - sewing/embroidery/photography - not so much computers - they are leaving me in the dust. I have been studying and learning a lot about alternative medical therapies: herbs, oils, homeopathy, acupuncture, etc. I am doing WAY better than I was with traditional medicine. It is somewhat of a passion and I want to learn more!