Blog2019-10-03T03:47:51+00:00

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Frederick Douglas

20190926 001038 3 minutes Political, Sociological, Fear, African-American The following quote, by Frederick Douglass, is worth remembering: “ Though the colored man is no longer subject to barter and sale, he is surrounded by an adverse settlement which fetters all his movements. In his downward course he meets with no resistance, but his course upward is resented and resisted at every step of his progress. If he comes in ignorance, rags and wretchedness he conforms to the popular belief of his character, and in that character he is welcome; but if he shall come as a gentleman, a scholar and [...]

Fear of Economic Change in the Balance of Power

Political, economics, fear. 20190922 001037 5 minutes To this I would add an insidious, but very real, fear in those who maybe think of themselves as unbiased: economics. Being brought up in England - that land of Magna Carta etc., where freedom is supposed to reign, but the class system still thrives - for ten years I attended a strictly WASP girls’ boarding school. We had one token Catholic and one token Jew. The teachers really tried to be Christian, in the best sense of the word, but it was difficult there in the ‘40’s, and at home the Kipling-esque [...]

Homesteading: Laugh and the World Laughs with you. Cry and you Dilute Your Beer, continued..

Memoir, reality, countrylife, salt free, DIY, survival, blood pressure, vegitarian, Homesteading. 19 minutes. 20190922 00106db 10 minutes. (Continued from the last.) Three months later, a letter from the Health Department told me that the plans the architect had given me made the building illegal, not legal. Luckily I hadn’t given up my regular job so continued to work full time, and in trying to pull the chestnut out of the fire, B&Bed the “inn” on weekends. It couldn’t possibly work and, after five years’ struggle, in the end it didn’t. My lawyer said my only option was bankruptcy. First foreclosure, [...]

Lost

Lost Where did it go? 20190800112 6 minutes It’s such a shame! Long ago, in the days of our parents and grandparents, life was not only simpler, (maybe,) but we still had a sense of wonder and excitement, about our lives. Christmas started on Christmas Eve. Thanksgiving, for most people, was a one day event. For the matriarch of the family it started at least the week before, and it may have extended over the whole weekend for those who travelled to join other family members at the family homestead. Similarly, July 4th and Easter were single days to anticipate, [...]

Homesteading: Laugh and the World Laughs with you. Cry, and you Dilute Your Beer

Homesteading: Laugh and the World Laughs with you Cry, and you Dilute Your Beer (Dark beer is what I like, preferably Guiness, not weak beer, diluted with tears!) Memoire, reality, countrylife, salt free, DIY, survival, blood pressure, vegitarian Homesteading. 19 minutes. 20190919 00106da35 9 minutes Several people have asked me: “Why do you do all this canning and preserving? It’s very interesting; and it obviously matters to you, but why this compulsion to spend half your life preserving/canning, when everyone else just goes to the supermarket every week? Why don’t you?” “You’ll have to go back fifty years for the [...]