An ordinary man

The man pictured above is Randy, my cousin's husband. Randy passed away Monday, July 19th. It was sudden and unexpected. He came in from his shop, where he was working on a child's wheelchair, drank half a glass of water, and then died, with his wife by his side.

Every one is special in their own way, and everyone's life is extradordinary. But what was so special about Randy is that he was an ordinary man, in spite of the fact that he was dealt an extraordinary life.

Randy had a disease known as Polyostotic Fibrous Dysplasia. His bones were extremely fragile and he suffered from multiple fractures throughout his life. In spite of this disease, and the fact that he used crutches, and eventually a wheelchair, he led a completely normal life. He held down jobs, he married, had a healthy child, and did all the things he loved, such as gardening, camping, traveling, and riding a 4-wheeler. His heart was bigger than his stature, and he had the greatest wit.

Yesterday, the funeral home was completely packed. Every pew was full, people stood in the back, and rows of seats were added in another room for overflow. This man was beloved by family, friends, and his church family, that much was obvious.

For me, the biggest impact Randy made on my life was this: I learned, at a very young age, not to judge people by what you see on the outside, but by what you know is on the inside. And he showed me that obstacles only get in the way when you let them.

We'll miss you Randy, me and the rest of the "Outlaws."

Monday lunch

This was what I sent off in my husband's lunchbag today.

-A banana that is almost past its prime
-Ranier cherries
-Pasta sauce
-Pasta with lentil-rice balls
-Salad, comprised of raw vegges--kale, green bell pepper, squash, zucchini--and walnuts.
-Chipotle Parm. cheeze (not seen)
-A Mason jar of water (doesn't spill in his lunchbag) (not seen)
-Bottled organic tea (he's working his way through them, then not buying more) (not seen)
-Fork, spoon, and cloth napkin (not seen)

Today was his first day back at work after 2 weeks vacation! Note to hubby: Hope the cute cartoon I included made you chuckle, honey!

Cleaning out the fridge

Yesterday I decided it was time to use up the odds and ends from the fridge!

First on the agenda was using up some zucchini from our garden. They became giganto-zucchini while we were at Vegetarian Summerfest. And so I decided to make my first ever zucchni bread, and use a recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. First up was grating the zucchini.

Next up was wondering why Max was standing beside me the whole time while I was grating. So I decided to give him a taste and see if he liked it. This was actually his *second* nibble. Just plain ol' zucchini, folks, and he loves it! (And yes I scrubbed my hands after this shot! lol)

And here is the finished product. The first time I make a new recipe, I like to exactly follow the directions, unless I am veganizing it of course. So I used the entire amount of sugar and oil that was called for, which was a lot. Each time I make the bread in the future I will reduce both of those, until I reach the minimum 'goodness threshold' as I like to call it.

I had both leftover lentils and a frozen bag of brown rice, so decided to make Lentil-Rice Balls, from Vegan Lunchbox. I made over 100, and froze the great majority. Granted, they look a little dried out in this picture. That is my usual experience with them, actually. But the great thing is you don't eat them by themselves, but as a replacement for meatballs in spaghetti or on a sub with marinara, so if they are a little dried-out, you don't notice.

My mother brought over 2 cucumbers that her neighbor grew in his garden. I used

my cousin Annette's icebox pickle recipe to whip up these tasty treats.





I had 6 ears of peaches and cream corn that I boiled up. Oh my goodness! So yummy, and needs no salt or butter, just shuck and silk, boil for 30 minutes or so, and chow down!

So all total I've got 2 loaves of zucchini bread, 6 ears of corn, 100+ lentil-rice balls in the freezer, along with a bag of frozen grated zucchini.

Berries

Here is the main portion of our raspberry crop for the year, with a few early blackberries thrown in. Our raspberry bush keeps growing each year, sending up new canes all over the bed. Hopefully each year we will have more and more of these beautiful berries!

Ice cream

We made homemade ice cream one night with J. I found a Cuisinart ice cream maker at a yard sale for $10 a couple of months ago--a real steal! I think it might have been used once before, and all the paperwork was with it.






I used the chocolate ice cream recipe from "Vice Cream." I love that there is no soy or rice milk in this recipe, and that cashews are used.

J decided he would like to help.

And the verdict?

J thought his vegan ice cream, in his 'natural' ice cream cone, was yummy! He didn't miss the dairy one bit!

First movie

While J was visiting, mom and I decided to take him to his first movie! "Marmaduke" was playing, so we decded to try that one. He did pretty good, considering that he was just 2 years old! He wanted to be fed constantly, so there was a steady stream of snacks from his backpack. We took a walk once, and a trip to the restroom once, along with a stop off at the snack bar for him to have a box of chocolate-covered raisins.

At the end of the movie, he said "Bye, Ma-ma-dooook" and then the lights came up and we could see that he was *covered* with chocolate. Sounds like a fun first movie experience to me!

Reading

I just finished a book called Sarah's Garden. It is an inspirational fiction book in the Amish genre. When I first began to read, I didn't think I was going to like it. It just didn't draw me in. But it didn't take long untl I was caught up in the storyline. After that I happily made my way through the book. The main characters, Sarah and Grant, seemed realistic to me, and I hoped for some resolution for them.

The only thing that I didn't really care for was the constant italicized usage of Pennsylvania Dutch words. I didn't object to the usage of the words, but rather the italics, because my eye was constantly drawn to those words on the page. Perhaps that's just a quirk of mine, but at any rate, there were enough of those words on each page to annoy me.

All in all, the book was enjoyable, and I look forward to more novels written by Kelly Long.

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me via the Booksneeze program, in hopes that I would offer a review. No other compensation was given.