The colors of tea

In my last post I mentioned I love tea.  Hot or cold - Black, Green or White.   My favorite hot tea is White tea.  And, while not technically a tea, I've been drinking (stinging) nettle tea quite a bit lately.  Though the taste of the  nettle tea doesn't seem to benefit from the addition of honey.

I especially love White tea.  Which by its name would make you wonder why it's called White tea if it still looks tan when it's brewed.


So here's some info on the tea plant.

Tea varieties

My next quest is to learn about and make honey straws.

Oh! Honey!

I love drinking tea.  Whether it's hot or cold, I LOVE tea!

As I was about to add honey to my cup of Nettle Tea this morning,  i started thinking about whether honey kept it's nutritional value when it's added to hot tea.  Seems I had heard heat makes it nutritionaless.

So after searching on Google, I went to the Livingsoft website and found out that most commercially produced honey has been pasteurized and there for most of its nutritional value is gone by the time it gets to the consumer.

OK,  so the honey that says it's pasteurized (heated to 145 F) still tastes like honey, but...

So, now I just have to be sure and buy locally harvested honey being sure to ask if it has been pasteurized or not.

I really don't mind little bee bits and pieces of, well, organic matter in my honey, cause after all isn't honey just super tasty bee spit?

Now I'm off to find some local honey...

Loom Beading Class

I will be teaching a Loom Beading class at the Common Ground on the Hill 2015  Traditions Weeks in Westminster, MD from July 5 - 11, 2015.

I don't have information on the cost yet, you will have to enroll directly through the CGOTH website, but the info is usually available after the first of the year.

Be aware, the Maryland Public School System lets their teachers/administrators take these classes for free as part of their continued education platform.  This means that the classes will fill very quickly. 

There is also a Music and Arts Festival at the close of the Traditions Weeks.  I will have a booth there with leather crafts and maybe some beaded items.  Even if you don't take a class, come see me at the Festival.

Hope to see you there!

I'm exhausted and my Dream Year

This past week I put in 59.5 hours at Amazon - long, hard hours.  But, I made it just fine but don't want to do that again for a while.

Also this week I went to a Job Fair put on by Amazon for people that hire workcampers.  National Land Mangement, Indianapolis Speedway, KOA, Fish Hatchery in KY and Beech Bend Amusement Park among others were there.  It was good to talk face to face with the decision makers.

I've got several possible jobs.

Jan - Mar I really want to volunteer at the Fish Hatchery in KY.
April - May I want to camp host at Greenbrier State Park in MD to be close to the kiddo's
June - August I want to work for Beech Bend in Bowling Green KY
September and October I want to camp host again at Greenbrier State Park in MD - again its all about the kiddos. 
October thru December back at Amazon
And, of course I'll be teaching at MD in June/July and NC in October as I have for years.

I hope all this comes to pass - It would be my dream year.

Mini things...

Thing 1:  When I came to Campbellsville in late September to work at Amazon during their peak holiday season, I decided that I'd use this 3 months to update my eBook, write more instruction pamphlets, post more videos and finally - by golly - get a a working website.

When speaking with a good friend about possible jobs after this one ends on Dec 23, he reminded me about how I was going to use this time on my website AND how I have been able to sustain my lifestyle with teaching and the book sales thus far.  So, thanks, Leonard, you have lit a new fire under an old kettle.  I've spent the last several days working on a website and getting the final revision of my eBook together.

I'll post links when its all said and done.

Thing 2:  Crunchy eggs.  I like my eggs scrambled, verrrrrry dry.  I don't want them moist, runny or fluffy.  I don't even really like eggs, but because they are a good source of nutrition, have come to tolerate them.  Oh, the crunch - its usually onion and bell pepper.  This morning (yes, I cooked breakfast at midnight) I sliced a small sweet potato very thinly and tossed that in the pan while the onion and bell pepper was cooking.

Then I scrambled the eggs and tossed that into the mix.   Ummmmm ummmm, sure looked (and tasted) good.  How did I know they were done?  When the smoke alarm went off!!!  In my little 18' travel trailer that I full time in, it has a short ceiling and when cooking I usually open the roof vent, but forgot this morning.

Glad no one called 911 when they heard my smoke detector go off.  Or, maybe they're just used to my "foods done" alarm and didn't pay it any attention.  I'm sure they've heard it before!!!

On the Road Again....

OK, sing it with me....."Just can't wait to get on the road again!!!"

Yep, this weekend I'll be moving the camper to Louisville in order to finish out the Peak season working for Amazon at their Jeffersonville location.

I'll actually get to work days - 5 10 hour days - but days regardless.

Went to a local restaurant and had a really nice mean and margarita with some fellow Amazonians last night.  It was nice to get out though there was still a lot of bitchin and moanin about how Amazon works.

I also worked on finding someplace to "land" for several months between Amazon and hopefully a job here:  http://www.beechbend.com/ for most of the summer.

I've been offered a job at a campground in Lancaster County PA (Amish country) but it is beside a shooting range and of all the reviews I've read, the sound of non stop (daytime) shooting is the most mentioned aspect of the campground.  I think working there would be like getting pecked to death by a duck.  Long - slow - process whereby I'd rather hasten the ending rather than wait for it to happen naturally.  So, at this point I'm thinking I won't go there.

I did volunteer to camp host at a Federal park in Virginia Jan - Mar of 2015, but we'll see how that pans out.

Anyway, I'm glad to be venturing off to work in a different location for the last month of my commitment.

Then, I'll store the trailer - drive to MD to visit the kiddos and then drive to OK for some medical checkup and maybe new glasses. 

Life is good.  Hope to meet you down the road sometime.

Peace to you my friends, take care.

A long way round to an old friend

Several years ago when the iPhone 4 was coming out, I got a sweet deal for my daughter and I on iPhone 3gs for $99.  I bought us both one and we were happy for many years (me and the phone.  My daughter and I are still happy as well!!!)  Anyway, a couple years ago my iPhone just died.  No warning.  It wouldn't turn on, it wouldn't charge - nothing - nada - zip.

After a brief period of mourning - because I didn't download the photos and video's from it, I bought another cheap phone from Wal Mart and life continued on.

A little while after that, my daughter bought a new iPhone and gave her old one to her daughter.  Here was my chance to get an iPhone back.  I traded my granddaughter her crappy old iPhone 3gs for a bright shiney new Android one.  She was happy, and I was too.

(lots of happiness in this blog - huh?)

Well, here, a year or so later my second hand iPhone starts acting up and not wanting to hold a charge, so I ordered a battery replacement from Amazon thinking I would replace the battery in my original iPhone (why was I keeping a dead phone - I should have gotten rid of it long ago) before putting it in the working iPhone.  Anyway, I plugged the dead phone to the charger and lo and behold the danged thing came on.  There was my old iPhone with photo's and video's and apps from long ago.  I was one happy girl.

A couple years ago I had recorded my friend Bob Kuhn singing several of his original songs and put them on YouTube.  I couldn't post any song he didn't write himself, and on this phone was our friend, Annie's favorite and my all time favorite song - Let it Be by the Beetles.

So, here it is 1:30am (I really need to get to sleep), and I've just listened to Bob sing Let it Be.

So, now, my friends.  I truly am one happy girl.

Good night.