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How Did I Get Into The Race

9 Oct

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

Do you ever feel like you are losing a race you didn’t know you entered? Since the incredibly busy days leading up to the release of my daughter, Rebekah Lyn’s new novel Jessie on July 20,2014, I can’t seem to slow down my days. I feel as though life is plunging ahead and I am merely hanging on.

Last week our son, Matthew was scheduled for a long awaited surgical hip repair. God had graciously given me His assurance that he had every detail under control yet I still found myself fretting as snags popped up. Why do we do that?

The surgery was wonderfully successful and God did indeed work out every snag or worry that cropped up. After two years of almost continual pain, our son is now almost totally pain free, What joy!

A big thankful shout out to Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Dr. Allston Stubbs for accepting Matthew as a patient. I am confident even though the road to surgery and healing was long, God had this plan all along.

 

Matthew is only thirty seven years old. Contrary to what we think, hip problems are not limited to the elderly. In younger people the correct diagnosis is often missed. If you have hip problems, Wake Forest University Hip Center has an informative website.

 

I can’t end this post without mentioning the blessing  the SECU Family House was to our family. It is funded by donations from members and employees of the State Employees Credit Union. Thank you to everyone. Matt and April were made comfortable and their needs were generously met.

SECU Family House
Leaving the Hospital

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My Husband Threw My Frying Pan into the Fire

25 Sep

Frying pan burning in the fire copy

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

 

My husband threw my frying pan into the fire. Well, to be accurate, he threw two frying pans into the fire. You might think he was swearing off of fried foods and choosing to eat healthy, but nothing could be further from the truth. His idea of eating healthy is if it tastes good eat it.

The “frying pan incident” began back in the summer when my aunt Geroleen came to visit. I was getting ready to scramble eggs and pulled out my cast iron frying pan that had been my mothers. My mind flashed back to washing up my aunt’s frying pan on one of our visits with her. That frying pan was smooth and a thing of cured beauty. I was a bit embarrassed by the bubbles of built up burned grease on mine so I asked her how she kept her pans free of crud. Her answer was culinary shock and awe. She throws her cast iron frying pans into a fire! I questioned her on just how that worked and filed it in my mind. (It’s like a steel trap, you know-Ha-ha)

Weeks passed as I mulled this bizarre idea. I decided I had to try it, so I told my husband the next time he burned brush, to let me know. I wanted to add my pans to the fire.

On Monday it was a beautiful cool morning with very little wind. Mike announced it was time to burn some brush. Now burning brush is not a chore for my husband. He loves burning wood and tends the fire while practicing whittling with a water hose by his side. My ears perked up. “Wait, I said. I want you to burn my frying pans” Since he has lived with me for forty-three years, he didn’t even hesitate. When the fire was all set, he took the pans and put them on top of the heap. He said the pans literally caught fire as the grease burned. As the wood burned down, the glowing pans fell into a nest in the ashes.

Once the pans were cool, he brought them up to the house and I began the job of scrubbing them with steel wool. I was thrilled with the smooth sides and inner surface Once that was done; I washed them, coated them with oil and put them in a 180-degree oven for an hour and a half. After they cooled again, I used paper towels to wipe out the remaining oil.

The downside to this story is the pans look so nice, I don’t want to mess them up again.

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When I searched the Internet for ways to clean cast iron, this method was not listed. It’s an “old” method. Do you have any cleaning or cooking hints from the old ways that you use today?

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Don’t Let the Running Back Carry the Ball

18 Sep

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

 

On my best day, I am not a morning person. I joke that if I was supposed to be up and active early, then why do most malls open at 10 am? This morning, in the drifting time between awake and dozing, (hoping my husband was up and getting the coffee made) I realized the awful feeling of not wanting to get up and face another day was creeping back into my soul. It seems the wonderful vacation with friends last week had been a respite but not a fix. I began to silently pray for friends on my prayer list as they came to mind, and then flowed into examining why I was feeling despair.

I remembered the resentment that had flared in my heart the previous day of issues I believed I had long since forgiven, and though my husband and I laughed about my outburst, still my words were Running backhurtful. Waking from another short dozing session, my mind painted pictures of the consequences of words. One scene was pretty and my hurtful words were flowing up to God leaving my heart joyful. In the other scene Satan was like an NFL running back, ready to receive those words, tuck them firmly under his arm and run for the touchdown, wrecking havoc along the way. Not a pretty scene at all but it did prepare my heart for the morning devotional I read from “Jesus Calling”.

 

Seek to please Me above all else. Let that goal be your focal point as you go through this day. Such a mind-set will protect you from scattering your energy to the winds. The free will I bestowed on you comes with awesome responsibility. Each day presents you with choice after choice. Many of these decisions you ignore and thus make by default. Without a focal point to guide you, you can easily lose your way. That’s why it is so important to stay in communication with Me, living in thankful awareness of My Presence. From Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

 

I am choosing joy, now I am off to bake a glazed pumpkin pound cake!

DiVoran Painting Green and pink paintingpng Vertical

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A Bean Canning Fiasco

14 Aug

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

This week started well. I was busy with #MondayBlogs (if you are on Twitter check this out on Monday) and Mike went out to pick the green beans on our extremely tall green bean bushes, more like trees. As an aside, we learned from this and will NOT use ten foot poles again. Monday Blogs tend to make me anxious, so many blogs and tweets, so little time, so I took a break and helped Mike string and snap our unexpectedly large picking. We had a grand time sitting on the back porch, rocking, snapping and talking. By the time we finished I decided it was too late to can them and popped them into the refrigerator to work on the next morning.

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Tuesday morning, I cleaned my kitchen making sure I had plenty of room to wash the beans and then began the canning process. I was expecting around eight pints but by the end of nine pints I had a lot of beans left. No worries. I decided to  start the others in the pressure canner then jar up the rest in quarts. I had five quarts!

I can outside using a Coleman stove and my husband set it all up for me. In my haste, I neglected to look at the pressure gauge. It was new last year so I assumed it was fine. We waited for the canner to vent, put the jiggler on and sat down to wait for it to work it’s magic.  I was dreaming of bragging about my beautiful green beans.  All was good until my husband said, why is the pressure gauge on fifteen? I, of course, suggested he had the flame turned up too high. After much “fiddling” we decided the pressure gauge was bad.

I was distraught? No, frustrated is a better word. I called the Macon County Agricultural Extension Office for advice. ( Surely there is an acronym for that?) and was told that Debbie the canning girl was not in, call tomorrow. Tomorrow? I had two canners of beans NOW. In the end, I cooled the pints(and myself) and put them in the refrigerator. I  froze the quarts. (That is a long  tale too traumatic to speak of at this time)

I am happy to say, that Wednesday, my husband was able to tinker with the gauge and zero it out and the MCAEC ^^^^ confirmed it was now accurate. I didn’t trust it though, so I pulled out one of my mother’s old canners with a weighted jiggler and finally canned the beans. The next time we pick, I think we may just eat them all week and share with whomever will take them!

9 pints

I totally forgot to tell you about Gus. We call him the best porch dog ever. He belongs to the neighbors but comes to visit while they work. He was with us the whole time, faithfully offering his head for a pat and ears to scratch.

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Busy,Fun and Throw Back Thursday

7 Aug

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

Onisha Ellis

This past week was fun and busy. My aunt and cousin came to visit. We ate a lot of food and especially dessert! My aunt is a great cook and I try to learn something from her whenever we are together. My cousin is a talented crafter. I shamelessly took advantage of her to get some bows made for Christmas. In addition, she learned how to make those ruffled scarves that are so popular and she made two of them for me. Don’t tell Rebekah, but they are for her.

photo photo 1

The last Sunday they were with us, I suggested a Sunday afternoon drive. Does anyone remember doing that back in the 1950’s? We had a delicious buffet lunch in Franklin at The Boiler Room, then loaded up in Mike’s truck and headed for the hills.

We decided to take one of our favorite quiet drives, Balsam Mountain road off the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a one-way drive through natural forest. It does not have spectacular vistas but it is perfect if you want the whole woods experience without snakes and bugs. Just before the entrance to the drive is a fantastic picnic area. Fantastic if you like a quiet picnic in what looks like an enchanted forest. The tables are big stones set on stones with logs for benches. We loved it. Next we left the picnic area and began the drive.

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Time to wrap up this post. We are going to a picnic tonight by the creek of someone at church. Since today is Throw Back Thursday I will add  that  thirty or so years ago, I was busy with another creek bank. My friend Sharon and i worked with the children in our church on a musical, “Down by the Creek Bank” My favorite line from the play is “aren’t the stars pretty?”. I’m not sure I can stay awake long enough to view the stars tonight!

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Chow Chow Memories

31 Jul

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

 

As I was scrolling through Facebook this week, I came across a recipe for Hot Chow Chow Party Dip. That made me think of all the chow chow I have eaten in my life. Many of my aunts made it every year and I remember tales of hands being irritated from all the hot pepper they chopped up. Usually when they came to visit us in Florida or we visited them in North Carolina, someone would share a couple of jars of their latest batch. So, needless to say, I will be trying out this recipe but I won’t have any homemade chow chow to use. If you still make homemade chow chow, I would love to read your recipe!

chow chow copy

 

Chow Chow Party Dip

 

Ingredients

– 1/2 C Foods of the Smokies Hot Chow Chow (Or any brand you can find)

– 8 oz. softened Cream Cheese

– 1/4 C Mayonnaise

– 1 t Celery Seeds

– 1 t Garlic Pepper or Garlic

– 1/2 t Paprika (optional)

 

Directions: Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate at least one hour. Serve with you favorite crackers, chips, or vegetables.

 

Recipe courtesy Sabrina Dickson, Alabama

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Beans Gone Wild

24 Jul

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

 

We returned to North Carolina after nine days in Florida celebrating the launch of our daughter, Rebekah Lyn’s new novel,  Jessie. I couldn’t wait to see if our tiny garden had survived the days of neglect. I would say it has survived!

Beans Gone Wild

Beans Gone Wild

 

Gardening in North Carolina clay is very different from gardening in Florida  so our  garden is  an experimental project. The past two years we grew bush beans and they did quite well. This year we decided to try runner beans. Is this height normal? I suspect we may have made the poles too high as we have more vines than beans.  I picked this morning and the majority of the beans came from two bush bean plants  from last years seeds.

Picked beans copy

 

There should be enough for my husband and I to have one serving each for dinner tonight.

We have decided to give up on bell peppers. We just don’t have enough sunlight for them. The first year we planted, our tomato plants grew great but the last two years have been awful. We did plant them in different locations but it hasn’t helped.  Nasty greem tomato worms love to eat the foilage and have to be picked off by hand and smashed. This so grosses me out!  If anyone has suggestions for deterring them without pesticides please leave them in comments.

In the Fall we add in compost from our compost heap and in the Spring add mushroom compost to enrich the clay soil.  I have to admit, I took the Florida sand for  granted. I had no idea it was such a great soil for growing. So far, in North Carolina  we haven’t been able to germinate flower seeds directly in the soil, unlike Florida where one simply  fluffs the soil, spreads the seeds and gently push a thin layer of sand over the seeds. Within a week, the seeds have popped up.

Do you have any gardening tips you can share?

If you would like the chance to enter a super easy giveaway from Rebekah Lyn 

CLICK HERE

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Apollo 11 and One Proud Mama

17 Jul

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

 

Ok, I am going to come right out and say it, no finesse or beating around the bush. I am one proud 3d cover Jessiemama.  Jessie, the newest novel by my daughter Rebekah Lyn released yesterday.  She has written other three novels  but this one is special to me.  It is an historical fiction that covers 1960- 1969 and set in the town where she and her father were raised.  Even though she wasn’t alive during this time, through extensive research and conversations with locals she has managed to capture the spirit of the decade consumed with the race for the moon.

I was surprised when she chose four boys as her main characters. At one point during the writing process, she sighed and said “being a teen-age boy is exhausting.” Never the less, during the writing  process, each boy became a part of our family. I felt like she had given me four grandsons, but without the need to feed a teen’s ravenous appetite.

Jessie is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes and Smashwords. Visit her website for links.

http://rebekahlynbooks.com/counting-apollo-11-launch-jessie-release

Jessie already has some great reviews on Amazon. Click HERE if you want to check them out.

Thank you for stopping by and  sharing in my proud  mama moment. Of course as always giving thanks and glory to our wonderful Lord who inspires, sustains and opens doors we could never imagine. He even places people in your life like my friend Pam, with the talents you desperately need.

Oh, I almost forgot. Rebekah has been chosen to be a social media reporter on Monday July 21, 2014 and will be tweeting from Kennedy Space Center. I am not sure of the time, but I know it will be after 9am.  If you are on twitter, her handle is @rebekahlyn1

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Circle of Love

26 Jun

Thrive

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

When we left Florida last week, we traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina to celebrate the 80th birthday of my uncle, the youngest brother of my mother. My mother came from a family of twelve children and these aunts and uncles have been a blessing to me as well as to my children. I never doubted their love.

My mother and her ten other brothers and sisters have all passed on now, each one dearly missed. I’m not a poet but I wrote the poem below many years ago as my precious aunts and uncles began slipping away.

 

My circle of love grows smaller

As one by one, they fall,

The molders of my life

The molders of my soul.

 

Once so strong and sure

They led me from child to middle age,

Now they are shrunken, unsure or gone.

 

Still, memories of them-

Their laughter, scoldings and love

Echo in my heart.

 

Looking at those remaining,

My heart is heavy with dread,

They are so fragile, even frail.

I want to cling to them.

 

Yet, they loved me and released me

Allowing me to live my life,

So must I release them to live

A new life with God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Florida Whirlwind.

19 Jun

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

It has been a busy three weeks in Florida, kind of a whirlwind. It’s so much fun to re-connect with some of the best friends one could ever be blessed with, leisurely chats on the porch or lunch at the Cracker Barrel and dinner at the local pizza ristorante. Precious times.

Then there is all the work that was accomplished. Rebekah and I work well together through iChat and Dropbox, but sometimes, it is just better to be in the same place. July 16,17 and 18 Rebekah will be on a virtual book tour, her words traveling around the country and maybe even the globe, as she prepares to launch her new release Jessie. Even though she hired a tour company, a lot of blog posts and interviews had to be written and perfected. She still has a few more to write, but I believe we are over the hump. Thankfully, our friend Pam joined our  team and pulled together a great media kit for the tour.

Along with the work was a lot of fun. Elaine Wessinger  opened her home to host one of Rebekah’s Tea with the Author events.  The table theme was an elegant Victorian tea and conversation and laughter flowed easily.

Tea Table at Elaines

The following weekend was the Titusville Sea Turtle Festival and I wish you could have been there. Rebekah had a table displaying her books as well as DiVoran Lites novels. Pam Gheen and DiVoran, wearing an adorable sun hat, visited the various vendors chatting them up. Rebekah dubbed them her “streetmosphere”.streetmosphere-feature

Since the festival targeted children, Rebekah’s father built a spinning prize wheel to attract people to her table. While I helped the children, Pam talked about the books and loaded the parents up with rack cards, book marks and paper bags to hold it all. Of course the bags had Rebekah Lyn Books logo on them, working on that brand angle. Then a thunder-storm rolled in and like a  knock off  purse seller running from the law, the festival cleared out.

As much fun as this has been, Florida is getting too hot and it is time to head for the hills. Before we get there though, we will make a visit to eastern North Carolina to visit with family plus Mike wants to check on the progress of the Cabella’s sporting goods store being built near my aunt’s home.

Rebekah’s new release Jessie will be releasing July 20, 2014 which is the forty-fifth anniversary of the first moon landing. She is offering a pre-release price of $1.99, Regular price is $4.99

 

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