HELP CRITTER CARE WILDLIFE BY VOTING

Critter Care Wildlife is a small (Canadian) organization that cares for wild animals found injured, or in the case of black bears cubs, abandoned, when their mothers were killed. The small staff care for the animals and nurse them back to health, or until they are old enough to manage on their own and then they are released back into the wild. Visitors are not welcome without an appointment so the animals do not get used to humans. Last year Critter Care ended up with 12 black bear cubs whose mothers had been shot. It's expensive to feed them. I've been a supported of this organization for a long time. You can check them out at http://www.crittercarewildlife.org/index.php
This is not about donating money, although that is always gratefully received, but about voting. They are try to get money through Aviva.
They need votes - one a day for the next 9 days. If they finish in the top ten they go to round two and are eligible for some of the money.  If you'd like to help them you by going to Aviva, registering and voting. www.avivacommunityfund.com
Critter Care is near the end and they have a Black Bear picture beside their name.
If you have any questions or comments about the organization let me know.
And if you vote - thanks in advance. 

WHAT ARE YOU EATING THESE DAYS?

Everyone is going vegan these days. I’m thinking of trying it, maybe not vegan, but heading toward vegetarian, or at least trying for a healthier diet. I don’t eat a lot of red meat anymore, but I still eat chicken and seafood. I’m eliminating white bread, pasta and rice. That’s not a problem. I’m increasing my vegetables and my fruit intake. I’ve switched from regular cheese to goat cheese and from regular milk to almond milk. That was easy because I like it. I don’t use sugar, but I do like salt and my family doctor keeps telling me to throw away the salt shaker. That is so hard to do. When you’re eating fresh raw veges, like tomatoes and cucumber, that touch of salt enhances the flavor.
Anyone have any good suggestions on something to replace salt and that works as well?

I’m now going to try and cut back on caffeine. I drink herbal tea, but I really need that caffeine hit in the morning. We’ll see how that goes. I’ve switched from eggs to steel cut oats in the morning – well most mornings.  I’m not sure I can give up eggs.

Is anyone else out there vegan, vegetarian or trying to switch?  Or even just trying to eat healthier? How’s it going?

Here’s a recipe I’m using to make Lemony Brown Rice. I like it.

1 c. Brown Basmati rice                                  1 bay leaf

2 ½ c water                                                         1 ½ tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt                                                  2 tbsp fresh or ½ tbsp dried parsley
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest                   
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Bring water, salt, lemon zest and juice, bay leaf and parsley to boil. Add rice, return to boil and then lower heat and cover. Simmer for 40 minutes or until all water has been absorbed. Turn off heat; keep covered and let sit for 5 min. Remove bay leaf. Add olive oil and mix gently.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress (or not). If you have a great recipe please share it.  

 

 

 

 

MY DOGS

DOGS

I just finished walking one of my dogs. I’ll call her Princess, because that describes her attitude. I took a picture of both my dogs yesterday because they were curled up tightly together on my bed. Of course when I got the camera Princess raised her head and after I took one picture she got up and left.

I took the picture because I thought it was cute, but also someone had asked us while we were camping if our Shiba dogs got along, because they had two and they hated each other. As you can see, they do.

I have two Shiba Inu dogs. You’ve seen their picture on my blog site. Shiba’s are Japanese hunting dogs, from the Akita family, except they are much smaller.  We got Princess first. She’s purebred but too small to be a show dog. We only wanted her as a pet – so we got tiny Princess. Then my husband decided we should have two of them. The silly man thought we’d get another one like Princess. Instead we got Critter, from the same breeder. (We call her several other names too.) Critter was the other end of the spectrum. She’s too big to be a show dog. She's now twice the size of Princess. She’s also a vacuum when it comes to eating, a total klutz, ungraceful (not sure that’s a word), but she's loveable. She loves everyone and squirms all over when anyone comes near her and pets her.

When we were at the Oregon beach Princess loves swimming, and she went charging into the water. Then she took a drink and looked very startled. It was salt water. She’s not quite so excited about the ocean any longer.  

We love out dogs and could talk about them for hours. If you have dogs I’m sure you can do. Tell me about your dog, breed or what it’s done that’s cute or funny. I’d love to hear from you.

 

 

BEGINNINGS

Thank you, Jinny for sending everyone my way and welcome everyone to my thoughts on beginnings.

Beginnings – the very word sends my mind going in several directions. There’s beginning school, beginning a new job, beginning a marriage, beginning your first book.

As has been suggested, it can be exciting, terrifying and all together nerve wracking all at the same time.

I’m sure you can all relate. How about starting that new job?  Nervous, terrified, unsure if you can handle it, what will your co-workers be like, but it’s what you want to do, you’ve studied for it, you’re excited.

What about beginning a new life with someone; moving in together, deciding who get closet space and who cleans the bathroom. Okay, maybe the last part isn’t that exciting, but don’t tell me even if you care for someone you don’t find living together exciting. It may be an experience beyond your wildest imagination, or it might turn out to be disappointing, or even downright disastrous.

I’ve experienced most of those beginnings and a few more. My latest is writing a book. It’s exciting when you start, the rejections are disappointing. However, I can’t quit, the excitement drives me. I love working out plots and traveling the journey with my characters. It’s an awesome experience. That beginning just keeps me excited and writing. I have a book published, which was another exciting beginning.

What about you? Anyone want to share a beginning they’ve had? Was it exciting, positive, or a disaster?

Please check out another member of our group and her take on beginnings, Kay Sisk at http://kaysisk.blogspot.com

IS SEPTEMBER REALLY THE START OF A NEW YEAR?

We’re ten days into September. Do you feel this is the start of your new year?

Children go back to school and it’s the start of their year, basically September to June.

Adults start college or university, again September to December, or sign up for night school classes, usually September to December, craft classes, online workshops. They decide to try new things, maybe register for a yoga class, or get back to the gym or running every day.

We set our goals for the next few months, buy new wardrobes for school for ourselves or our children and start to plan Thanksgiving and Christmas, maybe make travel arrangements.

I don’t know about you, but I’m setting new writing goals to meet by the end of the year, looking at my budget for the rest of the year and I’m going to start meditating. I think it might help with my concentration, my motivation and even my health.

What about you? Is September a new start for you? What are you planning for this fall?

I’d love to hear what you think.

The Writing Journey Through Self-Publishing

I'm on a wonderful camping trip. We're heading to Beverly Beach (Yes - the same as my name) on the Oregon Coast.  We arrive there tomorrow. The weather is spectacular - sunny and hot.  The wifi, not so spectacular. It's sporadic, depending on where we stay and I may not have any for the next 8 days, so this is a cheating blog.
I've started to write about my writing journey through the self-publishing world. It's definitely a learning process, but my first e-book in my new series, HUNTED, is now available for most e-readers. I'm writing about the process on my website, www.beverleybateman.com  under Writing News. So If you'll forgive me piggybacking off my website this time, hop over and check out my post.
And if any of you have experience you'd like to share on your personal self-publishing journey, please feel free to post them here. I'd love t0 here your stories.
And as soon as I have wifi, I'll blog again.

And the Mountians Echoed

I know, I haven't managed to come up with a basic topic for specific days of my blogs. I'm working on that.
Today it's a book review.  I wondered if anyone has read And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini.
I just finished it. It was quite different than anything I've read lately, but I did enjoy it. The man likes a lot of violence and kills off a lot of people, but he's a marvellous story teller. He kept me reading through the whole book. He brought in multiple individual stories, over fifty years and a managed to tie them all together. That alone is very difficult to do.
Some of his characters I loved. Some I hated and some I was disappointed in, but he gave you the insight to understand why most of them did the things they did.
It covered struggles in many countries.
It's the first book I've read by Khaled Hosseini but I'm sure I'll read another one.
If you've read And the Mountains Echoed what did you think about it?
I'd love to hear other people's reactions.