Organic Granny

Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient by Norman Cousins My rating: 5 of 5 stars This little book has achieved 'classic' status based largely on the radical steps the author, Norman Cousins, had taken previously to let the world know about his success in overcoming a painful, life-threatening disease that plagued him and that 'doctors' at that time (1960s) gave no hope for overcoming. This book is an analysis of how the ill perceive their illness and the prognosis for overcoming it with/ without medical interventions and the opinions of medical experts. It looks at studies that show that placebos are often almost as effective as some of the "medications" being studied before being brought onto the market. There is a pretty clear case made for the benefits of optimism, having a clear understanding how the body and the mind work together to achieve wellness (or conversely, give into sickness), and how important it is to be persistent and creativ

Memoir of the Sunday Brunch by Julia Pandl My rating: 4 of 5 stars Memoir by the youngest child in a big family (9) growing up in a restaurant tradition with a side of Catholicism. The most fully-developed character is the dad, a.k.a. George. He is a complex make-up of a generous but penny-pinching man who takes his family, all of whom work for him at the restaurant, on fancy trips to restaurant conventions where he drops $1200 at the restaurant fancy meal, but gets into a rage over someone opening the hotel fridge and eating a can of peanuts, going out and replacing it with a Walgreen's can. He is a loving, interested father and spouse at home, but at the restaurant he strikes fear and shame into all his kids and staff. Over all, the family is very "close" and supportive of each other, and Julia, the youngest, single adult-child, appears to have a major role in caring for her parents as they age and moves back in with her father before his passing. It seems very clear

Here is a yummy plant-based version of the popular Indian Butter Chicken recipe, but without butter or chicken, and put together to cook in the American Sun Oven harnessing the free and mighty power of the Sun. It feeds 4-6 and on a bright, warm day, will cook up in about 30 minutes, although it is also possible to have it cook for several hours in the Sun Oven without burning or dehydrating while you go about doing other things at a campsite or beach or in your cool house or back garden. Learn more about the American Sun Oven HERE .  See my short video HERE . I know that an Indian person would likely be quick to disclaim this pretty bland recipe. I basically mix up all the ingredients together at one time (no sauté step) and transfer the mix to the dark 'granite' Dutch oven. I add rice ingredients to the other pot and stack it with the other pot and a lid in the Sun Oven to cook together. You won't believe how scrumptious this recipe is until you try it. To Start: Assemble

Laughter Yoga: Daily Practices for Health and Happiness by Madan Kataria My rating: 3 of 5 stars I enjoyed reading and applying this little book about how laughter is healing and promotes happiness. The author is an Indian physician who stumbled across laughter therapy when going through some adjustments to the pressures and disconnected quality of life in a large Indian city while attending medical school. He read Norman Cousin's book about his experiences with laughter and comedy in healing his painful disease and immediately set about doing personal "research" into how effective laughter would be in healing his depression. He also looked at laughter as a way to bring people together in a warm and friendly way, to reconnect humans. Using Yoga philosophy and breathing exercises, in 1995 he went about formally setting up Laughter "Clubs", first in India and then around the world. In this book he describes the way laughter yoga is practiced, the principles, an

  And there are the windfalls that need to be sorted before the bunnies gather to dine. Apples, a popular fruit worldwide, are categorized in many ways from the sort of peel through whether they taste dry or wet, sweet or tart, their colors, their time of harvest, where they originated... and the list goes on. Some apples are wonderful for eating from the tree. Some apples are more memorable as perfect 'sauce apples' or 'cider apples,' meaning, quite frankly, that they are not tasty or crisp and crunchy or juicy enough to pass the high standards for an apple eaten out of hand. The apples that are currently falling on the ground in my yard are called Yellow Transparents. They are from Russia and have a very thin, almost transparent, peel. Local friends describe them as great juice and/or sauce apples. I bake with them, put them in smoothies, and have made soups and sauces with them. They taste and smell like apples to me, and that is the point... or, for me it is. If yo

  Such a surprise today to gently reach under the 6-inch layer of straw in our garden planter box and pull out a perfectly-shaped, flawless little potato! How did that happen? In the Spring when we were getting ready to plant our veggie garden, I brought out a plastic bag with 4 eye-laden spuds in it. Could we plant these? I asked my dear husband.   The punky potatoes in the bag were organic Yukon Golds that we would have eaten, had they not so quickly sprung eyes.  Besides being full of little white googlies, they were also a bit wizened up, not at all attractive as a possible dinner item. We thought about the idea for a couple of minutes and asked ourselves: What if the potatoes whack out and go really deep and have to be dug-- somehow-- out of the planter boxes? That could be an awkward and disabling experience for two old folks like us. So, back to the drawing board (in this case, the Internet), went I. I soon came across a youtube, about someone who had planted potatoes on the top

Adventist Tomorrow: Fresh Ideas While Waiting for Jesus by Jack Hoehn My rating: 5 of 5 stars As you can tell from the title, this book is written for Seventh-day Adventist readers. The author is generously donating the financial proceeds from book sales to Adventist Today magazine. Adventist Today magazine is a "progressive Christian" publication. Each Sabbath/Saturday over the last couple of years, a number of "progressive" believers meet online (usually around 130 of us) to take part in a seminar presented on a spiritual/Biblical/cultural/political subject that has stimulated controversy within the denomination, or that has been written about in Adventist Today and sparked interest among the "progressives" reading the magazine. I came into Adventism as someone married for several years to an Adventist, a man who never pressed me to "give up" my Catholic influences or feminist views. I was wooed by his love and desire to be a supportive hu