I find it challenging to time my meals around medications that must be taken with a meal. Unfortunately, the first dose of the antibiotic given to me in the hospital was taken after midnight. I am usually sleeping at that time of the night. It is a minor inconvenience, but I notice it because I usually eat when I am hungry, not by the clock. There I was this morning, tummy rumbling, waiting for another hour to eat my breakfast, so that I could take the medication with food.
Yes, I could eat more often, but it is far to easy for me to adopt a habit of eating when I am not hungry, so I do not go there.
I am enjoying the firings in the masonry heater/fireplace. My chair has been turned to face the fireplace, and the flames give comfort, if not warmth, as the kindling crackles and snaps during the burn. We use dry pine for the curing, it burns reliably and quickly.
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The leaves around our country house are in full colour. I love the autumn, it is my favourite time of year, it makes me feel grateful, that I am warm and well fed. I think it might be a miserable time for the homeless.
Those In Need
Only one politician running for municipal office, in the three municipalities where we are entitled to vote, mentioned the issue of housing for lower income people; that one individual is a housing developer, who wants to build low-income housing (for a profit to himself), and so has a personal profit motive for his interest. None of the politicians acknowledged access to healthy food as an issue. What disturbs me most is that this silence is accepted as normal.
The affluent realtor, who has our country house listed, does have a social conscience. She regularly stocks up on items like hats, coats, food, diapers, all kinds of items that she donates to low-income families, at her own expense. And I know this because we chat, not because she makes a huge public display of her largess. No one knows she is doing it, unless they talk to her in person, or are receiving assistance from her. There is no financial or political gain for her, no tax write offs, no interest in procuring contracts for her business. Her daughter is likewise socially minded, and runs a food bank and other programs to assist those in need. Our realtor is the ONLY person in the area around our country house, who I have met, that is genuinely concerned about others, without any concern for publicity and/or profit. There may be more like her, whom I have not met; but honestly, I have met a lot of people here (population: residential 600, seasonal 6000), a lot of people, and our realtor is unique in my experience.
Our realtor is observant, without being judgemental. She has taken us through some very raunchy properties for sale. When we ran across disgusting things, in kitchens for instance, she would always point it out, and she would always observe something else in the kitchen upon which she could base a positive comment about the person living there, always. In one sentence she brought the energies of kindness, respect, and compassion to that person’s home.
If our country house sells, it makes it easier to pay the high realty commission, more than double my annual income, knowing that she uses some of her income to address the needs of others.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
17°C
Date: 9:44 AM EDT Wednesday 15 October 2014
Condition: Mist
Pressure: 101.0 kPa
Visibility: 8 km
Temperature: 17.1°C
Dewpoint: 17.1°C
Humidity: 100%
Wind: S 22 km/h
Quote
“Judge thyself with the judgment of sincerity, and thou will judge others with the judgment of charity.”
John Mitchell Mason
I am not alone in my feelings about the “community” surrounding our country house, this was how one person described it in a letter to the editor of a local paper:
“[our town] is marketing itself as an environment that is unwelcoming, fractious, non-collegial, uncompromising, litigious, inhospitable, irritable, peevish, antagonistic, hostile, unfriendly, inflexible, obdurate, and otherwise, a place where people do not play well together in the sandbox.”
I hear you fella! I think that this affects our chances of finding a happy buyer for our house, although I remain optimistic that someone will overlook the town, and find this country retreat a welcome retreat! I am hoping that this election brings some sane leadership to the area, it wouldn’t take much in the way of common sense and decency, to turn it all around.
Maggie,
Hi. I was wondering if you’re taking probiotics with the antibiotics so you don’t impair your intestinal tract? Even yogurt helps. Not many know this and it was news to me but 80% of our immune system is in the gut. Do you have to eat a whole meal to take the antibiotic? I’ve done it with just crackers. A whole meal for me means moving s-l-o-w.
Love the picture of the golden leaf maples. Cute little chipmunk too. They are such happy looking little critters. I had the pleasure of befriending two in NY at my sister’s. They were comical.
Your realtor is all heart. I love that she helps those in need. We need more folks like this. My sister, the head shrinker, belonged to a large group who shopped for those in need families during Christmas. They adopted families and had lists of things to buy. It was all anonymous. Then after everyone had their gifts in order they all converged at a newspaper company and had a wrap fest. It lasted hours. I went twice and loved it. It was uplifting and felt good.
I hope your home sells for a nice figure and to someone who understands it. It might be perfect for that right person.
Nora, I don’t think a whole meal is required, and that a snack would suffice. It is just that I fall into snacking very easily, and it can get out of hand; it is a personal weakness that I know I suffer from. I usually begin the meal a half an hour before I need to take the medication, which I take at the end of the meal.
The probiotics are an excellent idea, I should be able to find probiotic yogurt at the local grocery store.
What a great Christmas tradition, shopping for those in need! Giving is such a warm hug of a thing to do!
Thanks for the good wishes re the house sale. Our home would be lovely for a couple with an close knit extended family, as there is lots of room for company, indoors and outdoors.
You better be nominating that realtor for some local award, Maggie! Wouldn’t it be great to have the cash to buy coats and boots and other things for people who need them. Her example has given me pause.
We don’t have a “homeless” situation out here as far as I know. We don’t have a food bank either, although a town a half-hour away does. If I was a good and energetic person I’d start a food bank here. But I’m not good or energetic enough.
Oh well. Donor am I, and donor shall I always be.
She does deserve credit Kate, as does her daughter. I honestly do not think she would appreciate being singled out for an award, but what she would appreciate would be assistance with amassing items to give away, not money, but items. She and her daughter regularly travel to more urban areas with carloads of items like diapers and clothing, headed for the charitable organizations in the cities that assist those in need.
I think it would be great to have the cash to buy needed items for other people! Good people give what they can, our realtor has money, that is what she can give, so that is what she does give. There are other ways to give though, as you point out, one is as a donor. I believe in giving what you can, when you can, and anyone who does that is just “doin’ it right” in my book. One might give away kindness, compassion, respect, time spent, visits, laughter, tolerance, meals shared, information, skills taught… there is a need for all of these things, and so much more.
You made me laugh Kate, saying “but I’m not good”, too funny! Yeah, you are so.
The probiotic yogurt is very important. I know by the time DH finished his antibiotics that he was starting to have problems with his digestive tract. I have yogurt every day to start my day, so I had him start eating some of mine.
From the time we met, DH and I have never had a lot to give. Still, we’ve had more than others and help out when we can. Most of the time that’s been helping out DH’s adult sons, buying formula for grandkids when they were young, helping with moving to defray costs.
We also try to help and give outside our circle, when we can. Due to DH having savings that he accesses for Christmas, that time will usually fall at Christmastime for us. The last two years the police have had donation cars at a local WalMart, and when we go to buy toys for the grandkids we also get several toys for needy children and give them to the police standing there. (I think/hope giving toys to the police will ensure these items really do get to children who ‘need a little Christmas’.)
When I lived in Michigan they had Giving Trees there. They don’t have any here, unfortunately. I liked the Giving Trees as they requested gifts for needy people of all ages, and you could go and remove a tag that was either a reasonable cost for you or that spoke to a need you wanted to fill for someone. (I remember buying a box of artist’s pastels for one young woman, one year. That spoke to me.)
Teri, yogurt is incredibly expensive where we live, so I will be waiting until the next time we visit the little house to purchase it. However, Attila loves sauerkraut, and while I do not, we have it in the house. Guess what I will be eating for lunch today! I have never tried kefir, and would never spend that kind of money on something I haven’t tasted. Maybe I will bump into someone who likes it and has it in their kitchen, so I can have a little taste of it.
It is one of the real pleasures of Christmas, giving. I feel that all the universe needs from each of us, is that we do our best, give what we can, when we can. Going above and beyond is only required under special circumstances, which don’t occur often when everyone (particularly the wealthy) is giving what they can, when they can.
Grandpa always used to scold us if he thought we were “britching”. The term was used by him to describe a team horse who held back on his britch so that the other horses had to work harder to pull his share of the load as well as their own. The wealthy, in my opinion, are “britchers”, and are not pulling their share of the load, overworking the rest of the team, and destroying the balance in human efforts to survive.
http://www.amazon.com/Weaver-Pack-Saddle-Nylon-Britching/dp/B005BAMPBG
You’re right, about the realtor not wanting the accolades about what she is doing, because the whole point about your story of her giving and no one knowing about it is just that, that it’s done anonymously.
When I see very highly paid entertainment people on TV beseeching us, the much-lower-income-struggling-public to part with our money to help save the children in other countries, I always think that if those people just donated what they spent on their last vacation in Mexico to that same fund, it could work miracles! When I read what the elite pay for things like hotel rooms per night on some island in the tropics or on a private plane for their own personal use to jet around the world hopping from one party to another, I wonder why they need “our paltry” money so much… why not just buy one less plane and donate that if they are so “giving.” It bugs me. It’s all money wasted, IMO.
Your entry about your friend is so heartwarming. Maybe there are many more like her but just because they want to remain anonymous, then we don’t know about them. xxx
Bex, I am so glad you voiced your observations and feelings about public figures asking the 99% to give, while the public figures maintain affluent lifestyles, status, and probably have a lot of investments so that they can maintain this lifestyle for the rest of their lives. I too think it is money wasted, maintaining those lifestyles.
I suspect that is the case Bex, that there are many more like our realtor, people we will never know about, and that is why this world keeps spinning ’round, despite the greed and hubris of the wealthy.
Maggie, not sure where the discussion about kefir came from. There are lots of probiotic yogurts out there, now. Matter of fact, almost every one of them is probiotic. Not sure about where you are but we can usually get a large container of Astro or Liberte on sale for $2.99.
Personally, I’m not a fan of sauerkraut, either.
I did know about britching, though not by that name. Thanks for the link to the traces. Made me smile to see them on Amazon, of all places. Never know what you’ll find there. 😉
Where we live there is no such thing as picking something up on sale, it is full convenience store level prices, or go without until we can visit a city grocery store. We might be able to get to the city this weekend for yogurt. While I am waiting for that, I will eat the sauerkraut, there are worse things, 🙂
Kefir is a fermented food, as sauerkraut is a fermented food, both are sources of probiotics.
“Kefir is a probiotic drink made from kefir grains (see appendix 1 for photograph), which contain a benficial collection of probiotics that have been selected through thousands of years of use in fermentation processes in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, the Caucasus and Africa (Plessas, Alexopoulos, Voidarou, Stavropoulou, & Bezirtzoglou, 2011). These grains have been widely used to make fermented kefir milk, similar to yoghurt.”
Source: http://www.sgu.edu/research/research-investigators-kotelnikova-project8.html
Oh, okay. Since some of the yogurt companies also have kefir on the shelves as part of their product mix, I always thought it was another style of yogurt. Thanks for the info!