06.30.08
Posted in Uncategorized, cooking at 7:58 am by Administrator
For my sister’s birthday, she asked my youngest son, Aaron, if he would cook something for her as a birthday present. She knows that Aaron likes to cook, so this was one way of encouraging him to share his cooking abilities. (I noticed his eyes perk up when he was asked to do this, hee, hee). What to cook was left entirely up to him. The dish he chose was pancit, a Filipino dish made up of glass noodles, veggies, and meat. He had never cooked it before, so I suggested that he make a practice run of it and taste it first. I helped him in that first run since making pancit has several steps involved, and I tend to be an eyeball cook more than a measuring one. The results were very good. So, I figured he was ready enough to fly solo and prepare it for someone else. I had taken a picture of his first run, but never got around to posting it up here. However, last Friday was the day he actually cooked pancit for my sister, so I took another picture of his second go at it. I am rather tickled at how well he manages in the kitchen, so I’m sharing a pic of his creation here. This time he prepared everything himself, although he did consult me along the way. But hands on was all him. He was too shy to be in the pic cuz he had an inkling that I was going to put it on my blog. So here’s his pancit.
Not bad for a 14-year-old. All the ingredients are organic except the glass noodles. It’s a bit difficult to find organic glass noodles, and the only place that I know of that carries it charges an arm and a leg for a tiny package of it (about $7 for a small fraction of what is shown in the dish above). So we compromised and bought the regular glass noodles from a Thai market. The price was much more reasonable. The above dish used up 1/2 the package which cost about $3. The ingredients to the pancit are glass noodles, 1/2 chicken breast, about 5 jumbo shrimp, about 1/4 pound pork, a stick of carrot, a stick of celery, about 1/4 of a cabbage head, a few cloves of garlic (part for frying the meats and part for frying the veggies), green onion, 2 hard boiled eggs, a couple lemons from our tree, pepper, paprika, salt, and the chicken broth from the 1/2 chicken breast. I like to cook onions in my broth. And I use the pork fat to stir fry the veggies before the noodles are added in. For anyone interested in cooking this, know that the glass noodles should be soaked in water first before frying. They tend to come very long, so it helps to cut it up for easier eating.
Great job, Aaron! Keep it up.
Marlakins
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06.27.08
Posted in Historical Trivia, Uncategorized at 3:43 pm by Administrator
The first cottage we peaked into at Cregneash was the Turner’s cottage. The Cregneash museum is set up similar to the Staunton Farmhouse Museum in Virginia in that the cottages are original cottages, which can be entered to check out the rooms. However, the Cregneash cottages are still on their original locations unlike the farmhouses in Staunton, which were disassembled and shipped to America for the purpose of being reassembled. However, like the Staunton Farmhouse Museum, the Cregneash cottages have live guides inside carrying on daily chores as if they were living in the days of the original villagers. As you enter, the guides will stop to explain the cottage and what is being done inside, as well as answer any question there might be. In the pic below, the turner was explaining to us which types of woods were commonly used there and which trees were indigenous to the area while he worked on a wooden bench.
The cottage next to turner’s is Harry Kelly’s cottage. Kelly was a crofter who spoke fluent Manx Gaelic. The language is rarely spoken now, but currently there is effort to revive it. Manx Gaelic classes are now being offered at some schools as electives for the children.
Harry Kelly died in 1935. It was from the furnishings in his cottage which help historians to recreate the furnishings in the other cottages with traditional items so that the museum could be open to the public in 1938. The dishes are only a display. Kelly’s cottage didn’t originally house or own all these items. The arrangement below is only for the purpose of showing what types of items were available to the Cregneash villagers at the time, but not meant to indicate that they all had that many items at all.
The guide inside was explaining what we might expect to see during Harry Kelly’s time. The fireplace behind her is where food was cooked. They used iron cauldrons and skillets. We saw some lead spoons. The vest the guide is wearing she made herself, by hand, using loaghtan wool, an ancient Manx breed of sheep. She also showed us a shawl she made which was also spun and knitted using loaghtan wool.
The tour guide explained to us how she had to get there early in the morning to start cooking the bonnag, which is soda bread. I think she’s holding about 2 or 3 bonnags in her hands in the above picture. They actually cooked soda bread a few different ways. The pic below shows the different ways their bread was made. We were given sample to taste, which was served with butter.
Harry Kelly’s cottage was basically just two rooms with a sort of an attic storage. It looked like wool items were stored up there and maybe some fishing net. Between the two rooms there were two doors opposite each other that could be opened to allow the wind to blow straight through. Apparently the purpose for that was to allow threshing to be done right inside the house. When the threshing was done, one or both of the doors would be closed to block the wind.
Above the entrance of the door was a type of
charm. It consisted of two branches bound together in a cross with wool and fastened above the door entrance. Er, I forget what the exact purpose was. . . But apparently this charm was common.
Harry Kelly was a bachelor, so after his passing, he didn’t have any children to pass on his cottage. So if was fortunately passed on to the Manx Historical Society.
The next cottage I
wanted to see was the weaver’s cottage. Unfortunately, the weaver wasn’t in, nor was the spinner, sigh. . . This was about as close as I could get to the loom.
Here’s a shot of one of their spinning wheels.
I know for those of us interested in fiber arts, it’s a bummer that neither the weaver nor the spinner were there, but it’s still nice to see their equipment.
Fortunately, there was a quilter in the next cottage who was present and available to share more info regarding the craft. I’ve dabbled with patchwork quilts myself, so was very interested to see what Manx quilts looked like. I as actually a bit surprised to see that they were very similar to American country quilts (notice the log cabins) and on occasion I could see a little similarities in Amish and Welsh quilts. Below is another example of their quilts. I’m not sure how it ranks in quality, but it did appear that they had a unique way of attaching the strips by folding it over and leaving a slight puff along the edge. This is a technique I had not seen before, and is unfortunately not very visible in the pictures I took.
Here’s another sample quilt that was hanging on the wall. The quilts I saw didn’t appear to be original Manx, but rather just samples made by contemporary locals of what styles might have been seen during those times.
Also, it appears that by the 1800s, more textiles were available, so quilts could be made from purchased fabrics, not only fibers the crofters made themselves. This is likely what accounts for the variety in colors and prints. I was told that the patchwork was commonly all attached and sewn by hand.
I was a bit surprised to see these colors below. I don’t recall seeing what the material was, but it looked like silk to me. Somehow I think these were just examples from the local quilters since I can’t imagine the simple crofters of the 1800s to be making quilts like these, which look more decorative than functional. Plus the books I perused on traditional Manx quilts had nothing like this in terms of vibrant colors. Traditionally, quilts were made from cloth salvaged from other discarded garments, and I wouldn’t expect to see anything this well color-coordinated.
Okay, that’s all for now. I’m not quite finished with Cregneash, so will continue another time.
Marlakins
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06.25.08
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Uncategorized at 10:37 am by Administrator
While overall things have been going pretty well in my family, for several years now the health of my parents have been up and down. It’s become a joke around here that visiting the hospitals and doctor’s offices have become their recreational past time. In between those, they’ll try to get away on a trip. Well recently they had to cancel a UK cruise due to my mom’s health condition. They would have left on the 30th of this month, but had to cancel last week. I think my parents are both bummed about that, BUT amongst the down side, there was some good news! And that involved my dad. This is what has prompted me to blog today.
My dad was diagnosed with multiple myeloma about 6 years ago. It was discovered around the summer of 2002 when he suddenly experienced some excruciating back pain. At ER we found that he had fractured a vertebra, but since he had done nothing to warrant a fracture, the docs got suspicious and ran more tests. It turned out that he had multiple myeloma, which is a blood plasma cancer. Amongst other things, bone destruction is common, and that is what caused the fracture. My dad was in a lot of pain, and he chose the mildest treatment option that he was offered for his condition. It basically involved pulsed Decadron, and a few other meds like bisphosphonate to help the bones and another med to help protect his tummy from the steroids. He was supposed to continue on the course for 6 months, but by 5 months had to stop because the side effects of the meds were taking too big a toll on his body and mind. He was losing short term memory, passing out at each pulse which required an ER visit to hydrate him each time, he could barely feed himself, and even getting into the passenger side of the car was confusing to him. Well, to make a long story short, our family pow wow concluded that he had to stop the meds. Fortunately, during his pulsed Decadron treatment his IgGs came down nicely to “almost” normal levels–about 1,900. Normal should be below 1,500. Anyway, even though his doc was concerned that he was stopping treatment prematurely, she respected his decision. The concern at this point is that multiple myeloma is commonly quite virulent, returning quickly after treatment. Being that my dad still had abnormal IgG readings, it was expected that his MM would rebound in no time. And so that was the possible expectancy after making the decision to stop the treatments. During this time I had learned from other MMers who were interested in natural methods to manage their MM that some were experiencing positive results with Essiac Tea. They admitted that it did not cure their MM, but it did appear to control it. So I asked my dad if he was willing to try it (this also in light of the fact that I know my dad could never adhere to a strict diet like I had done). He was willing and so we started on the Essiac. To our delight, my dad’s IgG remained stable for more than a year (I’m too lazy to dig for the exact length of time, but it was a good stretch). His doc was amazed that his IgG didn’t expand like crazy. But with the stability, my dad got a bit lax with his Essiac and started to “forget” to take it. Sure enough, the myeloma started to rear it’s ugly head and his IgGs started to rise again. He quickly got back on the Essiac, but still each month his IgGs continued to rise about 100 points each month. This was very disturbing to us, but his doc assured us that his rise was slow in comparison to others. We were told that commonly once the IgGs are out of control, they rise in the thousands each month. So she was comfortable to wait and watch.
My dad continued on with the Essiac, but it seemed that he had lost some momentum with it. Although relatively slow, his IgG continued to rise even while back on the Essiac. By the beginning of this year 2008 he was already well into the 5000s. At diagnoses when he broke a vertebra he was over 8000. So imagine how anxious we are getting. I just don’t ever want to see my dad in pain like that again. It was terrible. Being that I know my parents like to travel and eat out a lot and go to parties, I hesitate to play the “food police” with them. I do try to keep them aware of better food choices when I can, but I don’t hound them. But in light of his increasing myeloma, I asked if he were willing to try anything else. I had read about Pau ‘d arco tea and thought it would be good to try. He was hesitant, but even so when Andrew and I went to the Philippines with them last January, I took some Pau d’arco with us. I left it there for them when Andrew and I left. My parents stayed in the Philippines for another 3 months after we left. But during that time, my parents decided to try the Pau d’arco that I left. . . When they returned to the states, my dad went to his hematology appt. We were all surprised to find that this time his IgG didn’t go up, but rather went down about 80 points! That means that his IgG was stable and didn’t go up 100 points each month for 3 months! Not only that, but it had even “reduced” 80 points! The next month’s appt showed another reduction of about 80 pts! Then my dad ran out of the Pau d’arco and asked me for more. The normal herb shop I pick up at was out, so I had to wait a bit. Soon my dad’s IgG was moving back up again, I think about 200 points. You can imagine the emotional roller coaster. I ordered some Pau d’arco over the net and my dad started back up on it. Last week, we got the incredible news that his IgG went down “400″ points! This would mean that his IgG has remained fairly stable all this year 2008. I am now extremely “cautiously” hopeful. My dad and I think it may be the “combination” of the Essiac Tea and the Pau d’arco tea that may be helping to reduce his IgGs.
So while my mom’s health problem is a bit disconcerting for the moment, my dad’s is showing some promise. My mom is scheduled for surgery on the 17th of July, but in the meantime she feels okay, she tells me. But mostly the reason why I’ve blogged about this is for anyone out there interested in using teas for their multiple myeloma. My dad seems to be benefiting from the “combination” of Essiac Tea and Pau d’arco. If anyone else finds benefit with this combination, I’d love to hear about it!
Marlakins 
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06.24.08
Posted in Historical Trivia, Uncategorized at 9:44 am by Administrator
After breakfast, Brian and I headed out as planned to a place called Cregneash. It is located quite close to Port St. Mary where we were staying, so it only took about 10 minutes to get there. Cregneash is currently one of the Story of Mann sites, which consists of actual Manx cottages of a village of Manx farmers and crofters from the 19th century. The cottages have been preserved and restored to their original state. For anyone who has seen the movie, Waking Ned Divine, this was the town featured in the movie. Here’s the footpath not far from the car lot.
These are the kinds of views to which I previously referred to that reminded me of story books and fairy tales. There were many lush green rolling hills. The pastures were divided by stone walls covered in foligage. The picture below shows the horses in one pasture with the sheep in another.
One of the things that Brian and I noticed was that even though there were so many animals so close to footpaths and roads, there was virtually no offensive odor, which is so associated with fed lots. For anyone familiar with California and the I-5 freeway, Harris Ranch has no doubt offended your nostrils. The fed lot is packed with cattle on what looks like dirt. The stench can be smelled for what seems like miles depending upon the wind conditions. The contrast of Harris Ranch to what we experienced on the Isle of Man was quite revealing to us. It confirmed that with proper animal management(which definitely includes minding not to overcrowd the poor animals so that they have enough pasture space and aren’t wallowing in their own filth), they don’t have to smell so horrid.
After a short distance along the foot path and pastures, we came upon the village of Cregneash.
That’s me walking down towards the Turner’s cottage reading the site guide booklet. We had just come out of the museum entrance and exhibits. After purchasing tickets, a short video is shown to help explain the history of Cregneash. Then upstairs is a small museum with articles used in the farming and crofting village such as cauldrons, skillets, ropes, lanterns, etc. along with descriptions of what life was like there when the farmers and crofters lived there. By this time, there appeared to be Christian influence and among the rural life articles exhibited was one of their Bibles.
This is a 1819 edition of “Yn Vible Cashenick,” the Manx Bible. I believe there are 4 types of Gaelic spoken in the British Isles, and one form is from the Isle of Man known as Manx Gaelic. Here’s a close up of a portion of the page on the right.
Okay, I need to get to my daily chores, so I’m gonna cut this short for now, and try to continue it later.
Marlakins
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06.23.08
Posted in Book Reviews, Uncategorized at 10:25 am by Administrator
For anyone who has enjoyed the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, I recommend The Bounty, the True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty by Caroline Alexander. Once I started reading it, I could barely put it down. I finished the 410-page book yesterday afternoon.
The Bounty was published in 2003. It tells the story of the famous mutiny on the HMS Bounty in 1789, but also delves deeper into the behind-the-scenes connections to the key members of the Bounty crew and what the circumstances were before the mutiny. Alexander exposes how family connections and friends greatly influenced the destinies of not only the Captain, Capt. Bligh, but also his crew members such as Fletcher Christian, master mate, and his shipmates, both mutineers and loyalists. I was amazed at the tangled web of family connections which obviously affected the final outcome of the courts-martial of Capt. Bligh and Peter Heywood along with Fletcher Christian’s reputation. It explains the history of the time and how world events affected the outcome of the Bounty’s purpose (to collect breadfruit trees for the purpose of transplanting them in the West Indies as a cheep yet abundant food source for the plantation slaves). Quotes from the journals of Capt. Bligh (which featured his feeling of what really happened to Capt. Cook on the Hawaiian islands) and various crew members were included in the book including letters written from several people involved with the Bounty crew and influential people such as Sir Joseph Banks. Some of these key people were involved at the outset of the Bounty voyage from how the crew members were selected to the preferential treatment during court’s-martial and for years beyond involving some of the crew members’ naval careers. Alexander goes into detail of the court’s-martial, following each mutineer’s case as it was heard in court. She follows the sentencing and the sentencing processes used explaining the differences between military and civil court cases. The lives of the crew members were followed up until their deaths, including a bit of family background of those that were known. What happened after the court’s-martial and a little of what happened to Tahiti shortly afterwards is revealed.
What happened to the rest of the Mutineers who were not apprehended is also covered, including the various versions of what really caused Fletcher Christian to lead the mutiny and how he and the rest of his crew settled on Pitcairn Island with 11 Tahitian women, 1 child, and 6 Tahitian men. But the book doesn’t stop there! We learn of the descendants of the mutineers and a little of what they were like as well.
Years ago, when I first read the story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, I found it absolutely captivating. Now about twenty years later, I read the story again, but this time with much more detail and find it even more fascinating then the first time I read it. To think that the mutiny happened over 200 years ago, yet it’s story is still so alluring is a testimony of the power of a good story! For those interested in history, particularly naval history, I highly recommend Caroline Alexander’s book, The Bounty. Apparently she is also the author of The Endurance. I think I have to get my hands on that one, too! Fascinating, fascinating. My knowledge of another corner in history has been enriched. Thank you, Caroline, for this contribution to the public. The effort and time needed to compile The Bounty was likely no small undertaking. Two thumbs up!
Marlakins
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06.20.08
Posted in Book Reviews, Uncategorized at 9:13 pm by Administrator
Since Isle of Man is such a tiny island in the middle of the sea, it’s no wonder that they have a long history of sailing and fishing. As a result, one of the Story of Mann sites is the Nautical Museum. I’ll share some pics and more info from there later, but I mention it now because it was from there that I learned of a book called, Never to Return by Hampton Creer. Our tour guide was discussing how Isle of Man was used at one point for lots of smuggling of which also intersected with the slave trade. The mention of slave trade made me ask whether the Manx were involved with the slave trade (I hoped not!) The answer I got wasn’t a definite “no,” so our guide continued to explain, and I was informed of Creer’s book, Never to Return. The slaves involved, it turned out, were not black African slaves, but white Manx slaves.
Creer currently lives on his farm, Ballabunt, on the Isle of Man. His family has lived there for generations, and it was from his interest in learning more about his family lineage that he stumbled across some information of Manx prisoners who were transported to other lands to either serve their time at other prisons or as slaves. Creer had found that one of his earlier relatives had been sentenced to transportation to Jamaica on the Speedwell, one of the first ships built specifically for the slave trade. It was Creer’s relative, Christian Hampton, who was sentenced for transportation in 1697. Her crime? sheep stealing. That revelation was the beginning of what would later become Creer’s book, Never to Return, which documents crimes committed on the IoM during the 1600s to the mid 1800s for which the sentence was either death or transportation to foreign lands. Fortunately, there were relatively few death sentences actually carried out. Instead more cases were commuted to transportation to places like Australia or Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania). I should mention, too, that there were much fewer Manx transportations in comparison to the black African slave trade. However, there were a significant number, nonetheless, and part of their history.
I found Never to Return an interesting book. It’s easy reading, but yet enlightening about how different things were in those days and how some things came to be today. Among the many differences is how much more strict crime was handled back then. Children as young as 10 were sentenced to transportation for what would be considered today as petty crimes. Certainly there were some serious crimes such as murder worthy of severe punishment, but even the more minor crimes such as stealing ribbon or some food were met with severe punishments by which a prisoner would be sent away from his homeland with no means of being able to ever return home to his family. Suspicion was often enough evidence for a guilty verdict. It was from one of the shipwreck disasters of the convict ship, the Amphitrite, in 1833 in which 130 female convicts, crew, and their children were lost that a new maritime safety requirement came into effect. Amongst those being transported and lost was a female Manx prisoner, Ann Thompson. Her death as well as the others later induced Sir William Hillary of Douglas, Isle of Man to insist on mandatory lifeboat services for all ports. That practice has persisted to this day.
Another tidbit linked to Manx history that I didn’t know about although, I read the book about 20 years ago. . ., is the famous story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. Like many people, I found it quite captivating. However, I had no recollection of Manx men on the Bounty probably because I didn’t know what they were. I had just thought they were all British in that story (which technically they were, but now the differences make a bit more sense to me). Turns out, there were three Manx men aboard the Bounty–Edward Young from Peel, Peter Heywood from Douglas, and Fletcher Christian, the famous leader of the mutiny. Captain Bligh had married a woman from Isle of Man, so also lived on the isle. From reading Hampton Creer’s book, I became curious to know more about the Speedwell. So I hunted my library catalog for anything on it, and came up with not only a book on the Speedwell, but also the The Bounty, the True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty by Caroline Alexander. Oh, my. . . the “true” story? Well, I had to check that one out, and I’m already half way through the book. Very good! Alexander’s Bounty not only relays the story, but also includes pictures and quotes from Bligh’s and other crew members’ journals and letters. Her book on the Bounty is much more detailed that the book I read years ago, which pretty much read like a story book. Alexander’s account is more historical with a documentary flare to it. I’ve always enjoyed reading exploration books anyway and especially enjoy the little details they give such as how much the crew members earned in their day for those kinds of jobs, how young they started, the conversion of currency, how the nautical day began and ended at noon, with the noon sighting, not at midnight as in civil time, etc. Also enlightening is the character of Captain Bligh. The first book I read years ago gave me the impression that Bligh was a mean and heavy handed Captain, but Alexander’s book shows him to be quite the opposite. References to Captain Cook is also revealing as Bligh’s comments seem to contradict what historically happened when Cook was killed in the Hawaiian Islands.
I’m not yet done with The Bounty, the True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, but so far it is reading very well, and I’m enjoying it. Funny how something that happened 200 years ago is still so captivating today. I have finished reading Never to Return, which I think is okay if you like reading case after case of various crimes, many being petty crimes. There are other historical points of interests such as the potato famine and a little about the economy of the time discussed in the book as well. I have yet to start reading the Speedwell, and if it reads well, I’ll comment on that later.
That about it for my book reviews today.
Marlakins
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06.16.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:57 pm by Administrator
While dinner is still being cooked, I think I can finish up my day one on the Isle of Man. Funny to think that it has taken me several days to put up only some of the pictures that only took us one day to take. One thing I’d like to mention is that Isle of Man enjoys longer daylight than we do here in Los Angeles, so it felt like we had more time to run around and see the sights before it got dark. I remember my friend telling me that he was just in from golfing and it was around 10PM. I asked how can you see the ball in the dark? Apparently, it’s not always dark until 10PM there. On our first day on the island it felt like morning time all day long to me. I think it’s because the sun doesn’t raise so high in the sky there, so they don’t seem to get that blistering heat we get here at times. Plus since the Isle of Man actually shares the same latitude as Alaska, at certain times of the year it can still be light out around 10PM. (I’ve never been to Alaska, but that’s what I hear and read about it). While we were there, it got dark about 9:30PM, which made me feel that it was just about 7:30PM because that’s about the time it gets dark around here at this time of year.
After visiting Glen Maye, Brian and I headed out to Castletown to meet up with our friends for dinner. They have a beautiful dog that is so friendly! He was so affectionate, I miss him especially when I see pictures of him. Here’s one on that night we visited for dinner (perhaps I should say, “supper” since dinner can also mean lunch there).
We met for dinner (supper) just after 7PM and ate at a restaurant called the Viking. Don’t know why I missed taking pictures there. I guess I must have been distracted with conversation. Afterwards we headed out to Langness to see the area. Here’s a picture of Brian and me at Langness near the lighthouse. Our friends were kind enough to let us borrow their jackets as it was getting pretty chilly there that evening.
See how it’s still light out? And this was after dinner (supper), so must have been around 9PM or so. Oh, and that reminds me, here in LA, we can watch the sunset go down in a matter of seconds. That is what I’ve been used to for most of my life. There on the Isle of Man it took a long time for the sun to set. It was interesting to me how sunset seemed almost frozen in time for about an hour or so, ha! For instance a view like the one below, which we took on Langness, would last an hour or so on the Isle of Man, but only a few seconds here in Los Angeles because once the sun hits the horizon, it would just go down so fast. It’s stuff like this that really helps to remind me that I was somewhere else, but yet also the kind of thing that makes travel fun.
After exploring that portion of the island, we headed back to Port St. Mary. That was the end of our first day touring the Isle of Man. We went to bed with plans to hit Cregneash after breakfast in the morning. Ah yessir.
Marlakins 
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06.15.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:07 pm by Administrator
I realize it’s a little late to wish everyone a happy Father’s Day, but I hope you all had a nice one anyway. We had a nice one and celebrated it with the two most important fathers in my life (aside from my heavenly Father, heh). They sat next to each other today, which made it a picture perfect opportunity for me.
My father is on the left, and my husband, Brian, is on the right. God has blessed me with these two fathers. Each year has gotten better. Unfortunately, I know not everyone can say the same, so I am extremely thankful to God for these two men in my life!
This year we tried the buffet at Maison Akira in Pasadena. Here’s a pic of one half of the table. I’m on the far left, my two sister’s come next with my brother-in-law sitting next to his wife (my sister). My mom, and then my dad. I hope my dad doesn’t get covered up with the text on the side, but I don’t know how to fix that yet! Grrr.
Here are my boys at the other side of the table–Brian, Aaron, Matthew, and Andrew (who I hope doesn’t get cut off on the right side, grrrr).
Here’s my sister and me. She just had a birthday last Thursday. She and I will probably go out and celebrate some more later, heheh. These days we’ve learned that one day is not enough time to celebrate birthdays properly, so we generally spread it out over the month, ha!
Oh, for anyone interested in Maison Akira, we attended their Sunday brunch, which is during the hours of 11AM-2:30PM. It’s a French and Japanese fusion restaurant, so they have a choice of French and Japanese food. I chose primarily Japanese stuff. An example of what they had is pictured below, which was my first plate. I forgot about taking pictures after that, but they did have other dishes come out that I also ate, but is not pictured here. They had plenty of desserts, which looked wonderful, but I didn’t touch except the watermelon. Price wise they are pricey, so my suggestion is to eat up!
I know my plate isn’t a good sample of what Maison Akira serves because I didn’t eat a lot of what they had to offer primarily because they aren’t organic, and I try to stay fairly low carb. So that cut out a “lot” of their buffet. That little piece of salami peeking out there, I didn’t even finish. Not sure why I even put it on my plate? Ha! Not that it didn’t taste good, but I’m sure it had ingredients that I didn’t want. At my second run to the buffet they had unagi, tekamaki, and mackeral, so I chowed down on those, too. So for those who like Japanese, they had a fair selection of sushi, but don’t expect the amount of selections available at the sushi bars.
Well, it’s getting late, so better wrap it up for now. From the father in this family and me, here’s to hoping that everyone had a nice Father’s Day! The world needs more fathers like you!
Marlakins
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06.14.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:41 pm by Administrator
I’m starting to see a pattern emerge with my blogging habits–every other day is a travelogue post. So since yesterday was a non-travelogue post, today I’ll continue with the IoM pics.
After visiting the Peel Castle, we headed off back down to Port St. Mary, but first stopping off at the Glen Maye Waterfall. This is definitely one of the main sites I wanted to visit because the Glen Maye Waterfall is where my friend’s ashes were spread about two years ago. It was one of his favorite places. The falls is located not far from the car park just down a couple flight of stairs. Here’s what it looks like walking down.
Then it takes another turn to the left. Just at the bottom of this pic is the upper bridge of the Glen Maye falls, which stretches over the top part of the falls. It’s the straight bridge just at the bottom of the steps.
When you get to the bridge over the falls, this is the view looking down farther to the lower bridge of the falls.
That’s me on the lower bridge dropping in my flower petals. Brian was sweet enough to man the camera while I ran around dropping my petals in the falls. I collected roses from my yard and saved them for this trip. Before I ran around, Brian stopped me and said a nice prayer. Here are some of my dried flowers and petals I dropped from the upper bridge.
Here’s a view of the upper bridge with the falls looking up from the lower bridge. This is the same angle shot of the postcard my friends’ parents sent to me of the falls only this time I’m in the shot on the bridge. I think it helps to give a visual of the size of the falls, which I didn’t realize from just looking at the postcard.
From the falls there is actually a footpath that leads out to the Irish sea. This is what part of the footpath looks like as you walk along.
The glen is absolutely gorgeous. I had to grab the camera from Brian and take a shot of him looking in the other direction.
Just looking at these pictures again makes me wish I could visit again. It’s another place that I wish I could just go to and sit and knit. It felt so relaxing and fresh. May was a really good time to go as the plants were so lush and the flowers were all in bloom. Absolutely breathtaking.
There were lots of these lining the pathway. It’s just lovely how God has made wild plants to grow. I remember marveling at the wild poppies in Turkey. The Isle of Man also has a beautiful array of wild plants that spring up on their own in their season. We took pics of some other plants that we saw about, but I think I’ll post those later. I’m so glad that I was finally able to visit this glen. I had looked at a picture of it many times, but wanted to know what it was like in real life. I wanted to feel and smell the air. I wanted to hear the sounds. I wanted to see what was around the falls. I thank God for this opportunity.
Marlakins
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06.13.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:14 am by Administrator
Does Friday the 13th give you the willies? I have to admit that sometimes Friday the 13th gives me the willies. I don’t consider myself a very superstitious person, but upon reflection today, I see that I do seem to have a superstition button. It’s kind of like when a black cat crosses my path, I know at times I have stopped and for a split second, I’ll think, “Ack, that was a black cat!” Then quickly, I’ll come to my senses and turn around and think, “So what?” And so it is with Friday the 13th. Today started out in the usual way. I thought nothing of the day until I got to checking my email and one of my friends wrote that she wanted to go gambling today because it was. . . Friday the 13th. . . Ack! It’s Friday the 13th! I thought, then the next second I thought, “So what?” Ah, but it did make me stop for a moment, didn’t it? . .
That some things will give me pause, while others will not, has made me wonder. For instance I have no problem throwing away chain letters. It makes sense that anyone with a superstition button (as I seem to have) would not throw away chain letters or stop chain emails, but I have no problems throwing them away or deleting them. And now I wonder why? So while I’m in the reflection mood this morning, I think perhaps it has something to do with other ways in which we guide our lives. For instance, chain letters tend to have stipulations such as if you do such and such, then good luck will befall you. If you don’t do such and such, then bad luck will befall you. Many times the good luck example will be that someone wins the lottery shortly after compliance, but another who does *not* comply will have lost his entire life’s savings along with the wife and cat. To me chain letters have the feel of gambling, and the things a person needs to do to obtain the lucky streak is the hallmark of chain letters. Since I’m not a gambler, never been one, and never had much interest in it, I think that may be why chain letters never had much weight to me. The parallel with chain letters and gambling as far as I see is that they are all about how to get lucky. I’ve always associated the saying, “Luck is the poor man’s obsession” to a gambler. Maybe I’m wrong, but that has always been my underlying feeling about it. Gambling? Not interested. Chain letters? Not interested. LOL Just for clarity, I have nothing against the poor, just that gambling, laziness, and poverty sometimes go hand in hand with luck. I’m thinking along the lines of luck vs hard work. I know it’s more complicated than that since often business deals have a element of luck in there, too, but I’m hoping you know what I mean.
While I am on the subject of chain letters, I do have a chain letter experience that I still remember today. Years ago when I was working, my friend and I both got a chain letter. We read it, looked at each other and then threw them away in the trash can. We left work that Friday and came back the following Monday. The first news my friend got was that she has passed a large check that had a stop payment placed on it, ack! The news that I got was that I was pregnant, ack! Being that my previous pregnancy and delivery was difficult for me, I was afraid to have another baby. This was a complete surprise, and I was quite nervous. After we told each other our “news,” we both turned our head in search of those chain letters we threw away in the trash! Alas the trash had been emptied last Friday, so no chance to retrieve those letters. Well as with many stories, things turned out good in the end. Money problems always have a way of being fixed, and I can confidently say today that I’m extremely happy that I was pregnant those many years ago. Today my son is one of the sweetest boys I know, and at 14 years old he’s still sweet enough to hug me every day. He is a complete joy to me, and I can’t imagine him not being around. I think of all that I would have missed had I not gotten pregnant those many years ago. So it was all good, and those chain letters my friend and I threw away long ago meant nothing.
Okay, stop the press. . . Brian was just passing by while I was typing the above and wanted to know what I was writing. So, I read it to him. His first comment to me after I read my last sentence, “. . . and those chain letters my friend and I threw away long ago meant nothing,” he said, “Well, obviously those chain letters meant enough for you to write about them these many years later.” LOL And so he’s right. While I don’t remember the content of those letters, I still remember they were chain letters to this day and that we had thrown them away and later associated them with our “news.” The other comment he made was that my post was silly. . . Oh, I said, should I just scrap it then and not post it? His reply to me was, “No go ahead and post it. So what if it’s silly. You’re silly.” LOL Blush. . .
So, I’ve experienced two revelations this Friday the 13th. Are they good or bad? Well, lemme see. . . The first revelation is that I’m a tad superstitious. Shame on me! The second revelation is that my husband thinks I’m silly, lol. Blush. . . Oh no! Maybe there is something bad about Friday the 13th after all? LOL
Okay, I “did” have more to yak about, but I think that’s enough silliness for now. . .
Happy Friday the 13th!
Marlakins
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