There's A Difference Between Psalms & Proverbs

I haven't written this story yet - think I was a little concerned about the possible family backlash.  But -- tonite I'm in a "what the heck" kind of mood. So here goes:

A while ago we had a special day,,,,it was my baby granddaughter's dedication day at my daughter and her husband's church.  A very special time, and many family and friends joined together to celebrate this beautiful little baby's dedication to our Lord.

Afterwards, a group of us, friends, and family, gathered together at a local restaurant where we were able to get a nice banquet style room and relax and enjoy fellowship and food together. My older daughter brought a lovely gift and a beautiful card for the baby as a remembrance of the day.  She is like that, my older daughter; she is so thoughtful that way, and really goes the extra mile, every time, to make things special.  I remember the card really caught my eye, a beautiful graphic on the front with a mother and daughter, as I recall, and I picked it up to read it.  She had included a Scripture reference at the bottom, Psalms 22:6, but she didn't include the words.

Well, what happened next is now a "family story" surely to be told at many a gathering from here to eternity...without a doubt!!

And....as the story was told today, my other daughter, mother of the now 18 mo old baby girl that got dedicated that day, started the story out, saying, "And mom, you know, she grabs her smart phone,,," -- my daughter holding her hands up in the air and swiping the face of the imaginary smart phone she was "holding" -- and says, "...and she's looking up the scripture,,,," (naturally I have at least 5 Bible apps on my phone in half a dozen translations, so.....)...."and then she goes, 'Oh NO!' and puts the phone down."

Now, mind you, my daughter who gave the gift and the card,.., her boyfriend was sitting next to me at the table, and he looked over my shoulder when this actually happened and asked to see the scripture -- the one I had just looked up -- the one located at Psalms 22:6.  At a glance, he shook his head, rolled his eyes, and frowned in disbelief.

You see ---- THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PSALMS AND PROVERBS!

Now ---- on that note,,,,,I'll let YOU have all the fun.

Floods and God

I have a phenomenal 6 yo grandson. 

We've been having a seemingly enormous amount of rain just lately and when it rains like this here in the Portland area, it produces rivers and lakes in no time.  Believe me! I've driven through a few of them....unwittingly of course.....and been surely thankful that "through" turned out to be the operative word !!

My grandson was riding in the car with his dad one of these nights, and as the story goes, his dad was exclaiming to him about the rain,,,,and the flooding.  "Look, Paulie, look at the flood!!" His dad remarked as they drove along.

To which Paulie adamantly replied, "Dad, it isn't supposed to be flooding!!. God said He wouldn't do that again!  Did Jesus forget?"

Yet Another Pickle

Last week a couple of things happened.  Both were in my favor. One - my car finally passed DEQ – the problem was the computer after all, and the part alone to fix it was $450.  Good news is I had the money to pay for it.  Better news is my beloved son was able to install it and everything works now!  The second thing that happened was gas suddenly dropped to $1.95 a gallon, and just as suddenly, a fill-up was about $25 !!!!!

I hollered “ROAD TRIP!”

So, let’s back up a bit and see where this story takes us. 

Recently, I watched an episode of “The Chew” featuring the likes of Mario Batali and Michael Simon to name a few – yep – another cooking show. :o) I love cooking shows.  Michael Simon was making a savory bread pudding (he called it -and it actually sounded and looked quite yummy – his idea was kind of a deconstructed everything-on-it-hamburger with egg included in a casserole dish baked with an egg custard – thus “savory bread pudding.”  When it was baked, he said, “Gotta have a pickle, you know!”  And with that the segment went out of the studio to visit a place in NYC called “Brooklyn Brine.”  

It’s only right at this point to put the link for “Brooklyn Brine” in here….so:

Brooklyn Brine

Brooklyn Brine is what I would call “a pickle boutique.”  Never have I seen the like, but then I’m not from New York City.  Who knows? There may be a whole niche market for boutique pickles that awaits, there.  :o)  I was, for sure, fascinated with the process at Brooklyn Brine.  There was no sense of a manufacturing plant there. No….just a stainless steel table with a myriad of Mason-type jars set out, and workers faithful to the pickle, dropping wonderful aromatics, pickling cukes and such into the jars at lightning speed.  Filled, they were capped, set carefully in the canning pots and Voila! Amazing pickles!  I, too, cruised the website after viewing the segment, and as I did so, I noticed a side bar that listed WHERE these pickles could be purchased.  Aha!  I scrolled carefully down through the list and don’t cha know I found Oregon,,,,and finding Oregon,,,,I found Brooklyn Brine pickles were sold at one of Portland’s all time fav and finest deli’s – Elephants Deli.  

Now you need to know I have a daughter who is, and has been for as long as I can remember,,,,a pickle-freak.  She does NOT approve of restaurants who specialize in burgers and serve NO pickles.  Pretty much a walk-out and never-return kind of deal.  Uhhhh, that and catsup.  Please be sure and bring a brand-new full bottle of catsup to the table if you are preparing to serve my daughter.  And, as for pickles, I bought her a whole gallon of Mrs. Neushin’s pickles one year for her birthday. She argues the size point, but I can still see that jar in the lower cupboard in the blue house – her pickles and hers alone!

Thus, it is pretty much a no-brainer for me to make a plan to go buy some Brooklyn Brine pickles for my daughter….especially with Valentine’s Day coming up and my wanting to do something special for her this particular Valentine’s Day.  But that’s another story.

Back to the pickle.

After a phone call to Elephants Deli, I confirmed they indeed had Brooklyn Brine pickles on the shelf – two kinds, one called the New York Deli, and another called the Whiskey Sour Pickle.

Last Sunday, in my now legal, working car, my “Road Trip” consisted of a drive from my home in east county to the Elephants Deli on “upper Burnside” to get some Brooklyn Brine pickles.

I had forgotten what it might be like at the Elephants Deli.  The place was packed to the rafters.  I believe every yuppie in Portland was there.  I walked in, up to the cash register, and inquired, “Uh, can you tell me where the pickles might be?” The young lady replied, “Oh sure, they are all the way in the back there on those shelves,” pointing to the ultimate rear of the establishment.  I looked at the throng, and at the destination point, assessed my need to go to the ladie’s room, and said to the cashier, “Hmmmm, I think I would like to use the ladie’s room first.”  She was more than obliging.  She offered to go get the pickles, (we agreed on two jars, one of each kind) while I took care of my personal matter, and said I could just come right back up to the cash register and she would have them ready for me.

Good plan, thought I. :o)

I made my way to and back from the uhhh matter at hand, and when I got back to the cash register, she said, “I have your pickles, right here, ready to go.”  I looked, and sure enough, there they were, one of each kind, Brooklyn Brine pickles.  I was tickled with the pickle.  Then she said, “That will be $33.00”  I flinched.  Kept my mouth closed for fear my teeth would drop to the floor.  But,,,,I had come this far…and by golly, I was going to COMPLETE MY QUEST!  “Allright,” I replied. Then she said, “Would you like me to put them in a gift bag?”  I looked and she was gathering up a little black bag with “Elephants Deli” imprinted on it, and I said, “Sure, that would be lovely.”  She tucked a bit of white and red into the top, and said, “That will be $34.00.”  By now I am cracking up inside.  I asked for it.  Hey.  Ok.  Let’s just get this over with.  Pulled out my debit card, finished the transaction, and made my way out the door, back to my car, and, about an hour later, back at home, my “Road Trip” was over.

Until, of course, I brought the pickles to my daughter.  Upon which I told her the Michael Simon story, the Elephants Deli story, with a detail or two left out,,,,,and simply said,,,,”believe me, honey…..those are very, very special pickles!!”

I think she liked the Whiskey Sour pickles best. :o) 

Lostine Tavern - Lostine, Oregon

This is all about the Beet Chocolate Cake I saw the other day on my Recipes Tile on my Windows 8.1.....and lost it.

I sent this email to my kids.  And it was a cool enough story to blog.  So here you go!
___________________________________________________
Dear Family,

OK, this is a trip.....

Literally....

Ok...first you have to know that I had just been reading about how beets have both anti-inflammatory AND antioxidant properties.  I had a flare up I guess it was, of "sciatica" -- and it was B A D.....wincing, yelping bad....went on for days and days.....and I was looking for R E L I E F (and it was not Alka-Seltzer) .....so when I saw that I thought - man I gotta get some beets.  Beets are ok.  And of course I should eat them in their pristine form........but then.....

I was looking at recipes on my Recipes Tile on Windows 8.1 the other day,,,,and there was this cool recipe for a chocolate beet cake ( you could call it an authentic Red Velvet Cake - which, if you want MHO, most Red Velvet Cakes are way too dry - so I was interested in this "version" - kind of a spin on a carrot/spice cake - but chocolate - with beets instead of carrots - interesting!) ..... with what looked like an awesome chocolate frosting.

AHA! Beets ! Why that makes every kind of sense in the world to someone my departed husband would say to, "You can't go by a bakery any more than I can go by a tavern..."

But....

Alas.......

I didn't think about saving it.

Mistake.  #1

Soooooo, naturally, I have been trying to find that identical cake ever since.  I remembered it had 2 1/2 cups pureed beets and it mentioned that it was a menu item at a tavern in the heart of Oregon's cattle country (which was a "LINK" btw and I didn't follow it either!) Mistake #2

I found every other beet cake there is - with my "I'm not giving up till I find that cotton-pickin' cake, doggone it!" googling.  But not a one of them was THE recipe I had seen on that first day.  

Tonite I just googled the key ingredient like this:  "2 1/2 cups beets pureed"

and started a new search...
and found....

http://zesterdaily.com/cooking/beets-dessert-cake-will-wow-crowd/

yep! that was IT....I was pretty stoked....then once again I saw the "tavern in the heart of Oregon's cattle country" link - and this time ---- I followed it....and found this:

http://lostine-tavern.com/

Pretty non-descript website - that's for sure ! Not much help here...

So I tried "yelp" ----

and found this:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/lostine-tavern-lostine

ok there are only 6 reviews but ......... but - the food looks A M A Z I N G

one of them even mentions THE CAKE :o)

https://www.google.com/search?q=125+Highway+82+Lostine+OR&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

it's been decades since I have been to eastern Oregon.....but this place is now on my bucket list ! :o)

And in the meantime----- I WILL make that cake and we can totally check it out!

:o)

Mom
p.s. the "My 5 yo Grandson" story is pretty good too :o)

My 5 year old Grandson Cracks Me Up!

My 5 year old Grandson cracks me up!

You have to have a bit of background to appreciate this little tale.  My daughter and her husband have a lovely home and recently decided to do some renovating, upgrading in the kitchen, if you will. They had these counter tops that were that ceramic-type tile, kind of cream-colored with the grouting and all.  They decided to upgrade to granite counter tops.  They chose black, with a smooth as glass finish with a bit of sparkle throughout. The sink got replaced with a new sink, all black and with a matte finish. A graceful high-flung faucet in what looks like an aged brass with a trumpet-shaped water spout competes the scene. Absolutely gorgeous!  Without a doubt!

My daughter had a penchant for paperwork and magnets all over her refrigerator (hey! look at mine, same thing!!) but, of course, hers was school papers for the kids, and pictures and all manner of kiddy magnets and even kid's toys that were magnets.  Everywhere. 

Next to the frij to the right is a sort of cubby-style desk under a cupboard.  It holds the kitchen phone and is usually covered with some more paperwork. Another counter in the kitchen was also dedicated to even more paperwork....things to review, things to deal with. You know how it goes.

But.....

When the new smooth-as-glass granite countertops appeared.....things were bound to change.

I walked in the house last Friday to take care of my precious baby granddaughter, and there was not paper one on the counter tops, not magnet one on the refrigerator which I discovered was a beautiful stainless steel with black trim,,,,,, every nook and cranny was cleared. Cleared.  (I wonder as I write this - what DID she do with all that paper?)  Shiny.  Spotless. 

Then my daughter came down from the upstairs,,,,and asked,,,,what do you think?  Did you notice?  Did I notice?  Are you kidding?  It looks beautiful!!  She said, I know, I went crazy, worked like mad, (mind you she was sick but you know, that happens when you are sick sometimes,,,,,you get a cleaning bug like you would not believe and off you go!  Maybe that is a way God has of sweating that toxic whatever you have right on out of you! Could be you know!) and cleaned everything.....she added.....come here I want to show you the laundry room.

Now I have to tell you, the laundry room was pretty full as a rule......of laundry.  After all this is a family of FIVE and three of them are female.  That oughta tell you something!  I had offered to help with the laundry because, yeah, it did look a bit overwhelming, but,,,,as other mothers will note having had the very same experience and same reaction from their daughters had they offered to do the same,,,,,"NO, Mom!  I have my OWN way of doing my laundry.  Just leave it alone."  Hey, I know better.  Don't argue with that one.

But here I was, being shown the laundry room.

GOOOD heavenly days!  It was PRISTINE!  ORGANIZED!  AMAZING!  The laundry room has a washer and dryer to your left, under all the cupboards, then on your right is one of those wheel-based clothing racks holding dry cleaning and other items of clothing hanging on hangers there, and dead ahead on the far wall, an outside wall actually, is a counter, and to its right, a sink, with cupboards below.  The counter was completely CLEARED.  Nothing piled anywhere.  Nothing in the sink.  ALL was completely organized.  It was quite a picture.  And she was pleased as punch with herself, and proud of her new space.  As well she should have been!

Then,,,,,,

She told me what Paulie said when he saw the laundry room,,,,,,,and more specifically,,,,,how he addressed the completely cleared off and spotless laundry room countertop. 

"HEY,,,,,,,, WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?"

Like - ok - wait for it - like he had never seen that counter before or even knew it was actually even there......... LOL .....and I daresay.....that may have been quite accurate....hehe

And, of course, he immediately made it into his new playground,,,,climbed all over everything,,,,the washer, the dryer, the countertop, into the sink and back again.

What better way for a 5 year old boy to spend an afternoon after school?  On the NEW (not) Laundry Room Counter. 

My 5 year old grandson cracks me up! 

[new one: my daughter tells me the other day my 5 1/2 (now) yo grandson said to her: "Mom, you are a woman who just doesn't accept things." Whaaaaaatt??? ROFLOL]

Hiway 101

I was viewing a gallery of photos of the "Most Beautiful Coastal Drives in the United States."  And after reading some of the comments I was driven myself to respond in kind as to my own personal experiences driving the Oregon Coast.  One comment in particular mentioned that there wasn't that much to see from Seaside north.  Well, that has a grain of truth but don't let us forget about Fort Stevens and the Astoria column (and the INCREDIBLE view from there).  However, I would agree that driving SOUTH from Cannon Beach you pass through some of the most gorgeous scenic routes in the U.S.A. Start early from Cannon Beach....Over Mount Neahkanie where you will take MANY pictures,,,,but watch your hat....my husband's blew over the edge and I thought I was going to have a heart attack when he and my son went over the rock wall to get it back,,,,but then,,,he was a cedar logger and very used to repelling down into the ravines where all the cedar had been left years before by loggers who then had no use for it (interesting side note).  Coming off the mountain, take a hard right down into Manzanita, stopping at the ONLY local market in town, grab a drink and a snack and go down to the beach and look back up at the mountain you were just taking pictures from; now pop down into Nehalem, stop at the parking lot across the street from the market in that town, where you can go down on the dock and feed the ducks, (decent restroom on the other side of the utilities bldg there btw), then on down through Wheeler, Rockaway and Garibaldi to Tillamook. Take 3rd street east out of Tillamook for maybe 3-4 miles or so, take the right at the fork in the road at the end of all the pastures, driving along the bay (Bayocean Rd), and if you are really adventurous go straight to what I call Road's End where the sign says to turn left to Cape Meares,,,,continue your drive out Meares Ave toward the spit, you'll see 3 or 4 other cards parked there no doubt, and climb over all the rounded stones on the spit where a very few silvery windblown trees stand, and look back north at where you just came from,,,, then back round the Three Capes, being SURE to make another hard right at the top of the hill into Cape Meares Lookout; park there and take a short walk past the restrooms veering to the path on your right to find the "OctopusTree."  If I go, I weep when I get there, so many memories, so many visits. Google it. :o) Swing down into Oceanside, great roadside park for parking, walk the beach to the tunnel to the far right that goes under that big hill, have a bite to eat at the almost 5 star Roseanna's Cafe (see TripAdvisor) and watch the sunset at Oceanside - been going there since my 51 yo son was a pre-teener; round back into Tillamook, checking out Happy Camp Hideaway along the way. Oh if you have TIME,,,,be sure to get and ice cream at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. That should do you for a day trip all right!  And a happy sleep at the end of it. And that's just one day. Hiway 101 is one Hiway that should be driven all the way into California (Bandon-by-the-Sea is WONDERFUL), and then just keep going! And when you can, south of Garberville, find the cutoff to Hiway 1,,,,,down through Bodega Bay, Point Reyes, and stop in at Bolinas, all the way to thru Mt. Tamalpais, to join up with 101 again and then......the Golden Gate. I'm ready. :o)

What to Do When You Have the Flu or a Cold !

I sent an email with all of this great information in it to a good friend of mine today.  I have been using these herbal remedies for some time now, quite some time, I might add, and I know them to be true helps for bad things.  So I just decided to copy and paste most of the email here on my My Life blog.  Just to say ---- this is good stuff, folks.  I have included links to articles and links to where I get most of my supplements on Amazon.  I have NEVER had a problem with buying through Amazon.  Or, if I did have a problem, it was HANDLED completely to my satisfaction and then some.  So.....here goes:

WHAT to Do When You Have the Flu or a Cold! 

First - here's just one fairly concise article re: Andrographis

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/herbsupplementguide/a/andrographis.htm

This article speaks to the clinical trials done with Andrographis (which is what first sold me on getting some) [note the part where it mentions eleutherococcus; i.e. Siberian ginseng]

http://healthlibrary.epnet.com/GetContent.aspx?token=e0498803-7f62-4563-8d47-5fe33da65dd4&chunkiid=21485

**Here's what I order on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002I6Q30/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Here's a fancy web page about Siberian ginseng (it is NOT the 'regular' ginseng):

http://examine.com/supplements/Eleutherococcus+senticosus/

By the way - this one is a very cool website -- can look up a variety of "supplements" there - check out ashwagandha for example.

This is often added to the combo of Andrographis & Siberian Ginseng - Schizandra:

**Here's what I order on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Way-Schizandra-Fruit-Capsules/dp/B001E8KCPK/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2UILHLLDUMCAM

Elderberry: 

I love this. Gonna see if I can make some for my young grandson.
http://wellnessmama.com/1888/how-to-make-elderberry-syrup-for-flu-prevention/

** Here's what I order on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RPL23TF1I3L50/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#RPL23TF1I3L50

I suggest reading the first review on this page (the 'snake oil' one) on Amazon.

The rest of the list are the "usual suspects" including:

Echinacea & Goldenseal in a combo:

** http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00068UA4W/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1PNXUPE6E2BJ4

You can trust Swanson's anytime - I just usually get everything from Amazon now because the prices are always right and I get free shipping with a $35 order AND they carry Swanson's anyway.

Zinc - just get a bottle at Costco and use it in combo with the above when a cold or flu hits (Pastor is the one who put me on that one and then I began to look at the ingredients in ColdEze and AirBorne [expensive] and see - AHA! - Zinc

Vitamin C - same - Nice BIG bottle at Costco was just on sale for $10

Now ------ I put all this in here and I will say this.  The other thing I hear a LOT is recurrence after recurrence after recurrence of the same type of thing.  Flu-like symptoms.  Cold-like symptoms.  Sinus infections. Chest congestion. Long durations of symptoms.   1.  Yes, I got sick finally a week or so ago.  But - I immediately started at the first sign - the regimen I have talked about here - all in gel cap form (you can see those little green herbs in there ;o)

Andrographis

Vit C

Echinacea / Goldenseal

Zinc

and

Elderberry

And yes, I was pretty darn sick.....BUT.....2. I got over it in about 7 days; and very importantly,,,,3. It DID NOT go into my sinuses, or become bronchitis in my chest,,,,OR recur!.....all of which I KNOW can easily happen if you don't NIP it....and the above (for starters) is how I NIP it.

btw -- many people I know suffer from Migraine headaches.  I did some research in particular for my son-in-law, who I watched one day as a migraine came on - it was awful and he was suffering - and so it put me 'on the case' - so to speak.  I found that Butterbur (also clinical trials proving the benefits had been conducted) and Feverfew were, in combo, PREVENTATIVE.  I got him some and he found COMPLETE FREEDOM from migraine headaches.  Now, he says he just takes it upon occasion as needed.  I'm sure he would go back to a regimen if the need occurred as well.  The problem is most people don't really get it.  A young lady at my church was another one that told me once about her 'migraines.'  I talked to her mother and sent her the info, but whether they ever picked up on it,,,,I have no idea. Nothing was ever again said that would have tended to acknowledge. So be it.  My own 22 yo granddaughter has the same problem, but instead, she is on every known pain killer and tranq there is,,,,and way too much of any of it to be beneficial!

I have a profound belief that the leaves, plants, roots, that God has already put on this planet - when wisdom is applied - are here for our use.  Yes, doctors are good, but medicine; i.e. drugs from a laboratory, is often complicated by the money mongering big pharmas.  So be it.  I will go back to my trusted sources, starting with "Back to Eden" by Jethro Kloss, who I discovered in the 60's - a born again Christian....and P U S H from there.  The article below speaks to Butterbur and Feverfew.  I get a combo from the NOW brand on Amazon.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/natural-migraine-relief_n_1666726.html#slide=1214297

I threw the above re: migraines in just cause it is pretty unknown info and IT WORKS!!!

I know this is one heck of an email to try and read and click on everything.....I am actually going to throw this info into a blog I have just because now that I have written it all out....it would be good to preserve it for future reference. 

I have a couple of blogs.  It's rare I find time to write anything in them....but here are the links...just fyi anyway.  One is mostly stories that have happened in my family, life, etc. and a lot of it is humor. It's just called My Life. Another is about things that I have found that made an impact on my thinking.  It's called - oh guess - Impact.

http://hunnytree.blogspot.com/  "My Life"

If you read ANYTHING on this blog - try to find the one that's entitled: Sandy and Me Go To The Beach.  It's pretty darn funny.

http://1corinthians2-2.blogspot.com/   "Impact!"

Haven't done much with this one in a longggg time.

Well, that was pretty much the substance of my email to my friend,,,and I decided this was a good place to put it so the info would not get lost.  I am definitely going to make that Elderberry syrup, just as soon as I figure out where to buy fresh elderberries !  :O)

When Did John Fogerty Give a Concert in Troy, Oregon?

My daughter said she answered a question on Facebook tonite about the first concert she remembered and how old was she at the time....

She said her answer was: My mom sang "Let the Midnight Special" with John Fogerty at a small concert he did in Troy, Oregon - I was 12 years old."

She was right.  And of course there's a story that goes with that comment. It goes like this ----

John Fogerty was building a house in Troy at the time, and we had become friends. My husband, Joseph, was even helping him and his crew (translate - members of his band) with the construction.  The house was being built on the bend in the Grand Ronde River there.  So did you finish the house, John, and did you live there? I remember some of the "town folk" saying the house wouldn't last the first flash flood on that river. Hmmmmm....

As for the concert, it was fantastic, except for that some lowlife stole Fogerty's white Fender guitar (no I recall it WAS a Fender, not a Gibson - altho his bio says that was a 'trademark" of his - Gibsons, that is) when he took his one and only break after playing with his band for over FOUR hours at this FREE concert (we're talking about John Fogerty here, folks, of Creddence Clearwater Revival - gotta put in a plug for the man). 


He played at the then-known-as-"The-Tack-Room" in Troy that night. There was absolutely NO advertising, only word of mouth, and yet people came from all over.  My daughter said "a small concert" -- by Troy standards, whose population is (per Wikipedia) standing at about 25-30 -- this was NOT a small concert by any means.  There were hundreds and hundreds of people that showed up. I even personally heard some say they were from Canada.

It was a great night.  I sat with his wife, Martha, in the first booth by the stage. Then -- I got to sing with the band.  And yes, I picked Midnite Special to sing.  I will never forget it. :o)  I nailed it. :o)

During our friendship I remember the Fogerty's gave us a kitten from a recent batch their lady cat had produced.  We eventually named the kitten Karellan, because he was the Overlord in our lives....after Arthur C. Clarke's novel, Childhood's End. (He also wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey - for those of you who might think Stanley Kubrick wrote it - not - Kubrick did the film - ok - genius, in either case.  (Sidetracking - but as my daughter says - a trip down memory lane.  That's why I blogged it. So you can remember too.)

Oh, I should have added - the year - it would have been 1974 - best I can figure.  I had a very young daughter at the time who was probably not more than 2 yo.