This is a Childrens story that I have written, it is my orginal story

    Once there was born into a family of sparrows, a healthy fledgling boy sparrow-quite common you see-for all around him other sparrows hatched out just the same carbon-copy as he. Ben the sparrow quickly developed into a fine quite common ordinary sparrow. Except his parents never told him he was ordinary. In fact Ben often cheeped that he felt far from common. I"ll never be content to be like the other birds around me.
     One day Ben heard the nightingale sing; he knew he could sing like that-for it was in his heart. However try as much as he could, he simply could never match the nightingale's pitch.
     One day Ben saw the redbird known as a cardinal, What a beauty!If I could only exchange my drab feathers for bright red feathers.
     Ben saw the bluejay strong and sassy. He sighed for bigger wings and bright blue feathers.
     Ben saw the wren warble and flit about; how he wished to be sassy like that! Ben saw the golden feathers on the warblers and canarys, and he thought, "Oh to be sunshiny yellow.
     The crows cawed out,"you are only a sparrow and soared away to their own mischief.
    Ben looked down at himself, I am so ordinary. he looked at all the other sparrows who looked just like him. They all seemed to be content. They did not seem to mind just being a sparrow.
     Ben flew as high as his wings would carry him, until he saw Mr. Hawk the destroyer. Everyone knows hawks love to eat sparrows. So Ben flew into a thicket hiding. But Ben was not made to go into hiding forever. As soon as the hawk disappeared, he hurried back to his own home. However Ben was still not happy. He hated being Ben sparrow ordinary common everyday sparrow.
     Ben's father was old and wise. Son let us have a talk, he said, "You are Ben sparrow and it is true sparrows are common and there are a lot of us. You need to know just because you are a sparrow that you do not have to be discontent.
   Be happy. God made you to be a sparrow. You don not have to be ordinary. Enjoy your life- observe and see, really see all that is around you. So Ben jumped from grass stem to grass stem; the wind swayed the tall grass and Ben laughed in glee at the joy of the free ride. He ate his seeds and was thankful. he played with all the other sparrows- always he said thank you- always he pointed out the beautiful.
     He flew into the sunrise in the morning, and always at night he would pause for the beauty of the sunset.
    Storms came and rain. Ben grew up.
    His father was now very old. Ben you were born a sparrow but God our creator made you into a sparrow and God never misses a sparrows funeral. You will never be ordinary when you realize you were created for a reason.
    You are Ben sparrow and you are not ordinary. Ben looked down at his reflection in the creek. he realized at that moment he had developed into a beautiful white throated sparrow. He lifted his head and sang the sweetest song any song sparrow has ever sung. All around him the other birds paused to listen. Even Mr. hawk flew by feeling rather ashamed of his aggressive ways.
    Ben looked around and saw Lizzie sparrow. That is when love came to them both. They ventured into their life journey, always assured they would teach everyone else that no one is ordinary.







Please over look my grammar errors.

cooking on a budget

     I thought I might write about ways we used to save money and still eat very well. First and foremost , if you can grow a garden then by all means do it. My folks used to grow a large garden. My mom would can and freeze what they grew. /she inherited that from her mother who lived in the country and struggled to make ends meet. My early memories are of my grandma in the garden with her homemade bonnet, the brim had slats that she had inserted cardboard in, pellon being not available then.

     One way to live on a budget is to buy dried beans. Learn to measure out the amount that your family will eat. Mom would tell me you need to look the beans. so when you get a sack of beans the first thing to do is spread them out in a colander, usually there will be bits of sand or small stones or a bad bean to pitch, -then you wash, wash, wash them. There is a lot of different opinions about the next step- some people say you need to soak them over night and then rinse them, we always just put them in the pan with a lot of water, bring to a boil, and then turn the burner down to a very slow simmer, I usually keep the lid tilted, and you want to make sure you keep an eye on them as if the water gets low they could burn., If you are simply to busy to keep an eye on them the best think to do is cook them in the trusty crockpot. We usually added some crushed garlic and olive oil. The old timers used to add a bit of bacon or fatback.. The best- is ham- you can add left over ham, or you can use those little cans of ham that sell for cheap.

     We used to serve a fine green salad from the garden, and if the weather was not to hot we served cornbread, or biscuit. When you have left over beans, which most people do- you can make bean patties- smash the beans, add grated onion, some flour and egg, a little bread crumbs, make it thick enough to shape into patties- then fry- in as small amount of oil as possible. Serve with mustard or however you choose
      Mom used to make cream of bean soup, she would smash the beans add onion and milk and season with black pepper. I used to like this as a child.

One other item you need to stock up on is rice. Rice can be used so many ways. Again the best way to cook rice is to remember the low heat, and the correct amount of liquid.  You can season rice so many ways. One of my favorite rice recipes,-   I take about 2 cps of cooked rice, and I add it to about a 1/2 lb or even less of sausage that I have cooked,
to this meat mixture I add green peppers if they are available, onion, and garlic put in some sage according to taste, now toss in with the rice and add a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese on top of it. Sometimes if I have celery this is also good with it.


Usually if you have a garden you will have potatoes, and that is a big staple for country folk. We used to eat fried potatoes, yes, I know they are unhealthy that way. You can take your left over mashed potatoes and make potato cakes--grate a onion, add some flour, egg,  and brown in the least amount of oil you can. You can add left over ham to this recipe.
\    If you are really on a budget you can use canned tuna, it is not my favorite but I can eat it. Apart from the tuna salad, you can make tuna croquettes- drain the tuna, add minced onion, teaspoon of mustard, cracker crumbs or bread, 1 egg, sometimes abit of mayoi. fry in the skillet like the potato patties.

one salad that I make is grated carrots with raisins, and add a dressing, you can use a salad dressing with a bit of vinegar, a touch of sugar,- carrots are usually cheap and they keep well in the crisper. I am writing this because I help pass food out at a food pantry and often people say they run out of food. I can write about a few more ways to stretch your meals, I know this seems obvious, but it also seems that a lot of people don't know these simple things.

    

June 24, sunday

    

Today I can say it is officially hot. The old air conditioner is whirling away. I have not been on my blog since my Dad died. Seems like a lot of changes come my way this year, some for good, and some rather unexpected. Of course that is life, is'nt it- all about change. Sometimes I want to holler out I want every thing to stay the same. That is when I realize how shallow could one be? Who would want to birth a baby and wish it to always be a baby and not grow. Who would want it to be eternal spring time, well that seems nice, but think of the autumn we would miss.- of the sunsets we would not see- of the snow falls. Who would want to be eternally young, at least down here in a fallen world?
     I inserted a photo I took of our daylilies, we have several types. They will only last for 1 day and then they are gone. Don't you think they are pretty?
     Two of my dear friends have cancer right now. I think they are doing a good battle for living, giving it all they have got. I think they will turn this trial into a positive in their life. They will be stronger and touch others for good.
    I think people should be deeply valued. Do you realize the only thing we can take to heaven with us, is each other?
     They have had alot of news lately about bullying. Coming from a strict church background I was often made fun of in school. My mother had put perms in my hair and it was damaged so badly it had splits and knots all in it. I was ridiculed  and they even tried to put bubblegum into my hair. Who wants to be last in line at school when they choose a sports team. Was I myself ever guilty of making fun of someone? I tried to think. Maybe some where I did. I probley blocked it out being so absorbed in my own little world. No body has the right to make fun of any one, even if they disagree with you. One should never be haughty. One should never feel superior? Somewhere someone said everyone should have one friend that you feel is smarter than you, and maybe one friend that seems not as smart. Don't be surprized if the lesser may sometime teach you in ways you never thought about. Everyone has a life experience that they could share. Most of us want to count. We want to contribute. Why do people not tell you that they miss you, just because you left them. Why don't people reach out and touch one another. So I did, this week I called one of my long friends, we had a nice chat and it felt good. It is not that we make demands on each other, it is just that we need each other.
     As you see the daylily above, so sometimes are lives will be short. Now is the time to make a difference. God gives us life. It is our gift. Never take pride in what you know, as pride lifts one up. Somewhere it says that Knowledge puffs, up. So today i am saying I don't know a whole lot, but I know whom I believe in- the Lord Jesus my Saviour. From my house to yours- cp