Glacial Ice

The first memory I have is a visual one.

It is a vivid color.

It is glacial ice and it got into me through my eyes; apparently it's still there.

To date I haven't found a photo that exactly captures the intensity of what I caught a glimpse of, but these will give you a general idea. I was only just a little girl and we were on our way to Anchorage. It must have been an iceberg or some such. Whatever it was, it made such an impact on me that I can still see it when I close my eyes, as I have for the vast majority of my life. Whether that's a blessing or a haunting I'm not sure.

DIY Apple Cider Vinegar

I have to say I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, how simple this is!

DIY APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

This link is to one of many sites related to this procedure. Basically, you don't need much in order to make your own Apple Cider Vinegar. Here's the short version of how you do it.

1)  gather your apples; it doesn't matter if they're all the same kind or not - some people recommend a mix of sweet, tart, and bitter

2)  wash 'em

3)  cut 'em up into cubes of one inch or so, including peels and seeds 

4)  put 'em into a glass container 

5)  cover 'em with room temperature water that didn't come out of your tap - filtered rain water or snow melt, or filtered water from your store; make sure all of the apple pieces are covered but leave an inch or so at the top

6)  add honey or cane sugar at a ratio of about one part to five parts apple and stir until it's all dissolved; as always, raw honey is best - if you can't get it, do the best you can with what you've got to work with and call it good enough

7)  cover with a lightweight cloth and secure it around the top

8)  stir it once or twice a day for a week or so; leave it alone the rest of the time; bubbles will start forming and you'll smell the honey fermenting; the apple pieces will sink to the bottom during this time

9)  when all of the apple pieces have sunk, you've got hard apple cider; use the cloth you've had your container covered with to strain the apple pieces out; the liquid goes into either another big glass container or into glass canning jars [note: if you use lightweight apples they might never sink; strain anyhow after a week and a half if it smells like alcohol]

10)  cover the filled container(s) with cloth and secure said cloth to said container top(s)

11)  leave it alone for a month or so - yeah I realize this sounds awfully time-expensive but it doesn't take hardly any effort on your part so quit whining;  while it's sitting there a 'mother culture' will form on the top and some sediment will gather in the bottom; don't fret yourself, this is what's supposed to happen - it's turning the alcohol of the hard apple cider into acetic acid, which is what you want

12)  strain it again into the jars you'll be storing it in and put it away out of direct sunlight; your Apple Cider Vinegar will not go bad - it might grow another 'mother culture', though; you can just strain it again if you want; if it gets too strong for your taste all you have to do is dilute it with more water that didn't come out of your tap

I'm thinking that if you're reading this you already have a mighty fine idea about all the uses Apple Cider Vinegar can be put to. If not, a quick search on line will tell you in no time flat what a great thing this stuff is.

Here's a LINK to get you started. It's got a bunch of some of the most common uses.

Okay, I'll give you a hint:

Preventive medicine

Curative medicine

Hair

Face

Cleaning

Pets

...

Go take a look for yourself! It's got amazing benefits for such a darned simple thing (not to mention economical).

HERE SHE COMES

COME HELL AND HIGH WATER

Coming to Amazon and Kindle in 2016

Alianora with her husband Drustann set out to find the Truth that lies behind the Faith they are destined to pass on intact to the next Keeper.

As they Walk the Spiral, they take us with them. What we find is far ancient even when the pair embarks on their Journey (500 CE) ... and far more than anyone could have expected to find ... 

A New Book Of SONG Is In The Works

Alianora and Drustann are taking us to a place we do not want to go.

They don't want to go there either, to be honest.

Nobody in their right mind would.

You don't want to go there.

Trust me on that.

But you will.

So will I.

COME HELL AND HIGH WATER

Coming to Amazon and Kindle in 2016

      

COME HELL AND HIGH WATER

Alianora and Drustann of Dunnottar cannot stop what is to happen, but can they help their people get through it?

Earth is visited by Hell and High Water. Our folk are helpless to prevent the horror; their hands are tied by a Law that is Higher than any other. But maybe, just maybe, they can do a little something ... without breaking the Law ... 

A civilization is about to be utterly obliterated, a landscape changed beyond recognition in the course of an afternoon, a world confronted by Hell and High Water.

A routine assignment goes awry up there somewhere; humankind will pay a painful price for a very long time - maybe forever.

A thousand years of silence.
A thousand years.
And then what?

Our world is at peace, happy and complacent. Technology and electronics are integrated thoroughly into the life of our world, providing everything we need and then some.

And oh it's a beautiful world, the perfect blending of all things.

We are not masters of our world; we are one with it. After many millenniums we have at long last come to a time of utter serenity.

Our serenity is about to be shattered, our world irrevocably changed.

Hell and High Water are about to descend on us.

And there's nothing we can do about it.

COMING IN 2016 TO AMAZON AND KINDLE

COME HELL AND HIGH WATER

Of the 'THEY ARE MY SONG' Series

ALIANORA

By Shiela Branson

SOLAR WATER CO2 POWER - YES PLEASE

http://phys.org/news/2016-02-proven-one-step-co2-liquid-hydrocarbon.html

This California team is working on a one-step use of the sun and water to make a viable liquid hydrocarbon fuel out of CO2, putting the oxygen right back into the air.

I like this. I read about another project a while back, somewhere up in Canada if I remember right (which I might not so please don't quote me on that), along this same line and liked that one too.

We'd be doing ourselves and our future generations a big favor, in my opinion, if we can make this work on a big scale. Even on a small scale it sure as heck won't hurt anything.

Getting some of the excess CO2 out of our air and adding more oxygen sounds like a winning combination to me!

The Constitution re Supreme Court Appointments

Guess what, folks.

Even if we don't particularly like or appreciate any given part of our Constitution at a particular time or in a particular circumstance, it is still the Law of our Land and abide by it we must.

If I've been derelict in my duty as a citizen of this nation, so have a lot of us.

In the past couple of hours I've learned a lot about a man I honestly knew nothing about until he died.

Probably the most important thing I learned about this man is that he was as true to our Constitution and as savvy about its intent and purpose as anyone could be who wasn't there at the time it was written. What I've gotten out of my 'education' here is that no we do not have to personally agree with every last word of it but we are by golly required to abide by it anyway.

Whether or not you and/or I happen to think it would be in the best interest of our nation for our current President to nominate/appoint a Judge of the Supreme Court is irrelevant. Whether or not ANYBODY, including any currently seated Senator, agrees is moot. 

The President of the United States is the one who nominates the Judges of the Supreme Court and, with the consent of the Senate, appoints said Judges.

That being an unequivocal given, why in the world anyone would even bother to dispute the point is beyond me. It's right there, in the Constitution, if you care to look.

If a Senator, or whoever, has a problem with it, too bad. Lots of us might have a problem with it. That doesn't change the fact of the matter. The President nominates, the Senate consents (or not), and onward we go.

I don't know about you, but I find it distasteful, disrespectful, and downright tacky that 1) said current President would so immediately jump on the replacement issue, and 2) our politicians of the opposing party would react so immediately and emphatically. That, to me, is being flat out bad-mannered.

For someone like me, who didn't know or appreciate that this man, the one who died so suddenly, had been devoting his life to protecting and preserving my rights under the Constitution for all that time, it feels distinctly wrong somehow. Here I am, barely getting to know this guy, when it's too late to get to shake his hand and say thank you, and they're already fighting. 

It smacks of a bunch of nuts starting a fist-fight at a funeral. Tacky. Nasty. Totally disrespectful.

The kicker of it is that each and all of said fighting nuts is sworn to protect and uphold the very Constitution this man fought for - ALL the time, not just when it happens to suit their fancy.

Much as it hurts my soul and embarrasses me to say it, not a one of them is acting worthy of the oath they've given. 

Not a one of them ought to be allowed to attend the funeral of this man.

Me, I couldn't go to said funeral even if I was entitled to. 

But I can show a little respect. 
I can respect the man and what he stood for. 
I can grieve. 
I can be grateful. 
And I can pray that there are more like him, out there somewhere.

I never met Antonin Scalia and now it's too late. 

I'll never get to tell him thank you for protecting ME.

Yes, me.

And you.

I'm kind of ashamed at the behavior of the 'leaders' of our nation right about now.

If I could, I would apologize to the family of this man. If I feel such an unexpected sense of loss, what must they be feeling? His job must have cost him so much time with them ... what he was doing on behalf of me, and of you, that was a cost to his family. For that we owe them big time. It hurts me to think that they might think we're all as disrespectful as some.

Anyway, the Constitution he loved and respected is also loved and respected by a lot more of us than a person might expect, given the ones who are pretty blatant in their disrespect. The fact that he has played a part in keeping that legacy intact for us does matter. It matters to me and it had better matter to you.