On the Lake Front

Whether we like it or not it all starts with ourselves. Inner acceptance that some things are just the way they are and we have to go on despite them is a hard lesson to learn. The acceptance that we have to love ourselves first to be loved and give love is also a hard concept. Having faith in something larger than ourselves is practiced throughout religions but how many people truly believe it from the inside out? Below is what is on a sign on the wall of Shishu Bhavan, a children's home in Calcutta built by Mother Teresa. No matter what name you give the keeper of your soul this rings true:

Labels: Peace

Posted by Lara Croft at 5:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

Bathed in blue light, lost in her screen and living her life surrounded by Peace Globes, Mimi has pulled me in! Though I’m new to the blogging life and I’m not always the most up to date person in the blogging sphere of technology, I am definitely hooked on this woman’s writing and her mission. I participated in June and was overwhelmed with the responses to my post on peace and moved by the one’s I read. I felt like it was New Year’s Eve when even in a crowd of strangers, everyone knows everyone else when the clock strikes midnight.
Although I’ve been writing almost all my life I could never keep a journal or diary when I was growing up or as an adult for that matter. So I was not sure what I was going to do with my blogging space when it was given to me as a birthday present. No offense to anyone but I was just not interested in writing about my life and problems, I dwell on those enough. But the idea of being able to make a difference to someone else does interest me and so when I happened upon Mimi’s site through my wanderings in Thursday Thirteen, I was delighted to jump on the band wagon. I think you will too –
You can go directly to http://mimiwrites.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-to-get-your-peace-globe-november.html and get all the info to make your own Peace Globe and display and post about Peace on November 7th, 2007. Or stay awhile http://mimiwrites.blogspot.com/ and get to know this spirited person who I’m sure did not know what she was getting herself into when she started but who has succeeded in making the world a little smaller for those of us out here who need to know that there are others who willing participate in seeking Peace. Take care and see you November 7th!

Labels: Peace

Posted by Lara Croft at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

I worked Cy-Fest this past weekend at the college where I work. It is a Fall Festival of sorts with about 3000 participants. It was great fun and we were blessed with great weather. I was struck though by how careless people were with their trash. I was working the food area and was grateful to see those who were recycling their water bottles and throwing away their trash in the appropriate receptacles but disheartened by those who did not. There was one woman who actually threw away her unopened water bottle because it had gotten warm and she wanted a cold one! I politely (and in a friendly voice) told her that next time she needed to take that home and water her plants with it! It made me start wondering if people think to do that with unfinished bottles of water that are left in the car or their purse, or when it gets too warm? We have become a society of convenience and usually we pay a price that is not always noticeable right away. The one that seems to hit home the most is cost. So please remember the next time you have left over bottled water or water in a pan from cooking a sealed bag of vegetables, or non greasy water from washing a few dishes; your plants love soap and by recycling your water instead of watching it go down the drain you save money and do a favor for our environment! For more tips and information go to http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/. See you on the Greener side!

Labels: Living Greener

Posted by Lara Croft at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

Here are some of my favorite plants to grow. I'm sure I would have followed in Georgia O'Keeffe's footsteps if I had been a painter. My grandmother could grow anything and loved flowers the best. I do better with greenery than flowers but I try!

Cala Lily.

Gardenia


Lemon Tree









Sweet Memory


Voodoo Lilly

Bleeding Heart


Dogwood




Japanese Maple




Saucer Magnolia








Angels Trumpet

Bougainvillea







Hibiscus






My grandmother's favorite and mine: Vegitables

Labels: Thursday Thirteen

Posted by Lara Croft at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments

Thirteen Things That Suck About NOT Blogging:
1. My life if boring, only doing work. New position and broken arm do not mesh to make my life easier. Something had to give and blogging was one of them.
2. I’m not doing any self-discovery or discovering some insight that will turn my life around.
3. Missing out on reading everyone else’s blogs and seeing how they are doing.
4. Makes me feel like a failure because when I do read what everyone else has been up to and they’re still blogging I feel inadequate.
5. Miss writing period! Writing is the one true creative outlet that can satisfy my craving for creating without fail. If I do it.
6. Nothing to look forward to.
7. When I’m not writing/blogging I feel like I am missing a piece of myself. This is the one constant I have kept throughout my years, this and music.
8. Miss meeting new people.
9. Miss sharing other people’s blogs with my family. It starts conversations. Some stories make us laugh, some make us think, other’s have made us cry. But it’s fun to talk about them all.
10. Feel out of the loop and caught in a vacuum called ‘work and no play’.
11. Missed sharing about going to David Mathews Band concert with my daughter and what a blast it was. She is so delightful to be with and funny, I needed the laughter.
12. Missed sharing about the funk I’m in and getting everyone’s input on how to get out of it. Well maybe it’s a good thing for everyone else that I missed this one.
13. Don’t miss fighting with my 2 dogs over the fact that they are not getting attention because I’m engrossed in writing on the computer.

Labels: Thursday Thirteen

Posted by Lara Croft at 5:23 AM | Permalink | Comments

Cooking: These are some of my favorites to cook and some of my family and friends requests from my kitchen:
1. Full buffet breakfast with homemade biscuits and gravy.
2. Fresh fruits combined to create exotic flavor and I love to serve fresh fruit with all my meals.
3. I love seafood and grew up with it but enjoy cooking shrimp the most. Shimp Creole and Shrimp Brochette are my favorites.
4. Homemade macaroni and cheese made with a white sauce. Indulgent but wonderful!
5. The macaroni and cheese usually has to be served with salmon patties made with onion and cornmeal and fried to a golden brown.
6. Chicken Salad made with fresh grilled chicken and other secret ingredients.
7. Omelets the size of medium pizzas filled with sautéed veggies and cheese.
8. King Ranch Chicken served more like nachos than casserole.
9. Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, a recipe I learned from friends in Louisiana.
10. Fresh green beans blanched for no more than 10 minutes, come out with perfect color and a slight crispness.
11. Slow cooked spaghetti sauce with fresh garlic and veggies.
12. Home brewed sugared ice tea from a simple syrup made before steeping the tea.
13. A good old pot of beans and home made cornbread.

Labels: Thursday Thirteen

Posted by Lara Croft at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments

Hi everyone! Came back from out of town with a broken arm so writing will be sparse over the next few weeks. But here is my Thursday Thirteen -
Singing: 13 things I like about singing.

1. Something that I’m still not as confident as I would like to be but I’m good.
2. I was told my whole life I couldn’t sing by people in my life who could not stand the idea that I might have the same talents as them. So “Ha!”
3. My friends pushed me and now I’ve been in 3 productions on stage, nothing big, but it’s a start and its fun!
4. When you sing it can bring you to a zen place.
5. I have a soothing talking voice and there are those who think my singing voice is soothing also.
6. Singing fantasy: To perform at the Mamapalooza Festival. http://www.mamapalooza.com/
7. I think if you wrote your own songs and performed them that is the ultimate in creativity because then you get the instant feed back from the audience.
8. I wish I could play an instrument so I could try my hand at writing music.
9. This is probably not a good testimony to how good I am, but one of my dogs loves my singing and will wag her tail to the beat!
10. I think anyone can learn to sing and it is a confidence booster.
11. I love to sing old gospel like from O’ Brother.
12. My first time singing solo in public was my grandmothers funeral.
13. My last memory with my grandmother when she was dying was me singing to her for an hour before she fell asleep.

Labels: Thursday Thirteen

Posted by Lara Croft at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments