E Squared by Pam Grout - My First Experiment

So I came across E2 (E Squared) by Pam Grout in Barnes and Noble the other day. THe book intrigued me as it structures 9 "experiments" you can do to prove that your thoughts elicit a response from the "Field" - or whatever you want to call the unseen intelligence that permeates existence.

I started my first 48 hour experiment on Friday morning, the 25th. This experiment was to ask the "Field" (I'm not uncomfortable calling it God) to respond to my personal call for contact, by giving me a gift or blessing that in some way would make its numinous origin incontrovertibly clear. 

Since things like this have happened to me before, although never at my request, I was very happy, even excited, about the possibility that something wonderful could come about as a result of my simply asking for it.

And things did happen. It is a blessing in a way that Saturday brought about complete clarity that I cannot stay at my job no matter that retirement is less than 2 years away. I work for an extroverted business that is becoming almost maniacally social; as an introvert, I've muddled along but now I see there is no way I can handle what's coming. It was a blessing that when I got home from work my husband took me out for dinner, and we saw a wonderful sunset afterwards.

I was willing to accept all of these as real blessings and in fact they certainly are. 

But then, on the way home from our dinner out, I looked up in the southern sky and saw something unusual. It was very bright, and utterly motionless, about 2,000 feet up. 

I could not wait to get home and grab our big binoculars. What I saw through them made me catch my breath as I'd been half expecting to see a military helicopter. But no! This object was unlike anything I'd seen before: Circular and studded all the way around with stadium-bright lights. It was incredibly brilliant, real and solid-looking. My Mom saw the same ring of brilliant lights that I did, but she did not see the misty filament dropping down from the center of the ring that was apparent to me.  

I raced for my camera, knowing it would not take a good photo, but shot anyway. As expected from a little Canon Powershot, these photos did not capture what we saw through the binoculars, but I'll post them anyway.

You can see a glimpse of the round lights along the right upper curve in this shot. And yes,  that's kind of like a creepy face in the middle.

These two shots give a feeling of how bright this thing was.

I wish I'd been able to show in film what I saw with my eyes: a solid object ringed with brilliant lights.

After taking the photographs, I went inside and spoke with my Mom about it for perhaps 15 minutes. Then I went outside to look again. 

It had vanished from the sky. It was utterly gone.

So now I am dumbstruck. Within 48 hours my request for an incontrovertible sign of the numinous power of the Field (or God) was answered in a way that I never imagined. This is my first "UFO" in 40 years, and I don't follow the UFO news and never go looking for them. 

Wonder if I can ask for a job that pays more and suits my temperament better?

How I Provision

We have three freezers - the side-by-side on our refrigerator, an upright and a chest freezer. We also have 3 (rather small) pantries. I try to keep things organized in each but my husband, who is retired, manages to mess it up when I am at work. So every month I need to go through the pantries and the freezers, and sort things out. It's a good practice to revisit what's stashed, and it is an integral part of long-term menu planning.

Yes, long-term. We live 45 miles from the nearest comprehensive grocery store, although there are Mom and Pop stores nearby that stock milk, bread, eggs and an assortment of overpriced, tired vegetables and fruit. They're fine for emergency back-up, but we don't shop there. So we plan an entire day devoted to re-stocking our pantry and freezers once every month.

Actually it takes 3 days!

I make up a master shopping list for everything we need to buy to produce a month's worth of our standard meals. Then, to satisfy the need for variety, I pick out several new recipes to try and add those ingredients to the list.

The first day I get my lists together, followed by the pantry and freezer inventory, where I cross off the ingredients I already have. At this point I make adjustments to use up whatever is losing its freshness - and if we have 3 chicken meals one week, that's OK. After the inventory, and updating my lists, then I clean out the fridge. I don't scrub it, just take out leftovers and nearly empty bottles, to make enough room for shopping day.

That's because we cram most of what we buy into the refrigerator once we get home from shopping, to keep it chilled until we can portion it out on Day 3, which usually falls to my husband because I only get 2 days off at a time. 

We portion on day three because at the end of day 2 all we want to do is collapse on the floor. We usually fill 2 large coolers and 2 insulated bags and it's just a terrific project to shop and haul all this stuff. We don't do it all in one store, either - usually we hit a big box, a grocer and specialty stores too. 

After 13 years in a rural environment, we find the intensity of crowds and traffic in the city to be very draining. Whenever I think I'd like to live in town again, shopping day cures me of such ideas.

My husband has begun portioning our freezer goods in small batches now so we avoid leftovers, since we are very bad about eating them. 

All in all, I think we eat healthier this way - it's all planned, home-cooked food with very little processed food, primarily oils and sauces, with the largest focus on frozen or fresh veg and fish, chicken and a little beef.  

Cucumbers and Bibb Lettuce

 
In summer, I grow vegetables - carrots, lettuce, salad greens, cherry tomatoes, melons, corn and squash - but haven't had enough growing space to produce a surplus. Some day I will. In fact I may be able to increase my gardening area next summer. I'm excited about it!

Carrots

 So that's how I provision. We save money on gas by making only one trip, we limit the potential for random acts of bad nutrition by making wise choices and having to live with them, and we portion control as soon as we process for the freezer.

How do you provision? I welcome any comments or ideas on the topic!   

 

Mesothelioma

Heather Von St. James contacted me a short while ago and asked if I would link to her video about her experiences as a survivor of mesothelioma. 

I found her story very moving and hope you will, too. She's been through a terrific ordeal and has become an eloquent and effective spokesperson, helping to raise awareness of asbestos-caused lung disease. 

Good for you, Heather. Let's all be more aware of asbestos, which is still in the tiles and ceilings and walls of our older buildings, and remains a great hazard for remodelers of old houses and demolition crews. 

I wish you the best for your continued recovery!

Here's a link for more information: http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather/

The Stolen Backpack

The backpack was last seen hanging from a restroom hook as my elderly mother went out to check her grocery cart. By the time she realized she'd left her backpack, it was gone.

Gone - with her wallet, cash, checkbook, debit and credit card, an uncashed pension check, address book (crammed with doodles, recipes, birthdays, and observations), and a cellphone that held hundreds of photos of her grandchildren that she had been intending to take off the phone someday.

Gone.

At 81, she is taking this very hard. I find her often in tears, which breaks my heart. But I'm too busy to be sad for long, caught up in a whirlwind of damage control: Police reports, fraud alerts, replacement of bank account and credit card, stop payments, replacement of ID. I am tired and the list is long.

It's infuriating to know someone got away with this, with no concern for the pain and trouble they left behind. When I tell others about it, it seems they all have a story: Purses grabbed from shopping carts, cellphones snatched from people's hands by passing cyclists, wallets lifted from bags slung over a shoulder. I am disgusted. But there's no point in belaboring the issue. 

Have managed to lift her spirits by reframing the loss into a new beginning. And I am pleased by the simplicity of her affairs - just one ATM and credit card! It makes me wonder why I would ever need to carry more? 

TIme for a handbag and wallet review.

Haze

Everything seems a little hazy to me today. The jury duty was cancelled, thank heavens, and our tax planner has left us searching for appraisals. My dental work is not complete, sadly, and things may get worse before they get better.

But hazy goes beyond the uncertainties. I just feel foggy on the inside. So many decisions have been taken, so much set into motion, that despite my lists I feel scattered and uncertain. Things that were up in the air months ago are settling into form, and that form is not necessarily my preference. I'm juggling too much, in short. Spread too thin. 

We are going to have a cold winter. Our nights have been in the 30s already; typical for this time of year are mid-40s. My brother says his horses are growing unusually thick winter coats now.

I ordered a Plannerisms planner today for next year. Ever hopeful to find something that is both the right size and useful. 

And at the Goodwill a week or two ago I found this lovely desk organizer and pot of silk roses!

Have managed to fill the darn thing to bursting already, but at least that stuff is no longer scattered across the desktop.  

Wish I could find something to capture my scattered ideas as effectively.

It's Here!

Autumn has arrived, on the gibbous side of the harvest moon. We have glorious wind (only glorious because we've been hot and stalled for week upon week) and, overnight, heavy clouds. The air is fresh and even chilly.

There are many dull and boring concerns weighing on me right now - federal jury duty, setting up television service for my Mom (incredibly mysterious to me as I've not watched television in years & have no understanding of modern equipment), trying to coax a recalcitrant dumpster into our lives (two delivery dates missed), having dental work done, meeting with tax and financial planners and needing to set up wills and powers of attorney next. I am pretty sure I'll need to enter a year's worth of financial transactions into accounting software too, and had best set aside some time for that.

On the emotional front I'm dealing with very troublesome "friends" who poke fun at my desire to run a smoothly organized household (implying that I am losing my creative energies to these piddling projects; because these comments make me angry I suppose there is some truth to them). 

My father developed Alzheimer's disease when he was 70. It did not come on him full blown, of course; the symptoms were there long before. He had been living his RV dream at the time,and for at least a decade prior to the Alzheimer's diagnosis, his letters to me had degenerated into a recitation of itineraries. Therefore I am hypervigilant about becoming lost in routine or commonplace activities.

And I am grateful that my husband and mother show no signs of that terrible disease.