When your luck is down you should always look up. Throughout a lifetime, it is given that any human will find a spot where they are down on their luck. When you find yourself in that position, when you just need a small item or two to get by, where do you turn? Where can you find a blessing to get you by?

Mincey’s Musings
Year Two, Week Thirteen

To many he was a burden from the moment of conception. He was so unwanted by his birth mother that she tried to abort him six months into her pregnancy. Her efforts failed, but resulted in his premature birth with handicapping conditions that he was to endure for his entire life. There were many who pitied him and felt him nothing more than a prisoner in a deformed body.

Genesis 1:2 KJV
[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Researchers found that frequent, persistent back pain is associated with earlier death in a study of more than 8,000 older women. The researchers found that disability measured after back pain helped explain the association.

I watched the sky grow darker and darker. Each passing second brought the severe storms closer and closer.

It was May 2016 and I was attending a writer’s conference with my dear friend and fellow author, Paula Mowery. It was held at the Ridgecrest Conference Center, which is about 17 miles west of Asheville, NC.

In an earlier article I discussed the use of astrological signs to know when to plant garden and farm crops and have kin that still hold to them. Another method is using moon signs, or more properly moon phases to tell not only when to plant but also when it’s a good time to kill unwanted vegetation. In researching the subject, I have found no scientific backing for using the Zodiac or body signs, but planting by the moon may have something to it. The moon exerts strong influences on the earth, such as light, gravitational pull, and magnetism.

I have been hungry for cookies lately. Today I broke down and made some. They were from an old cookbook I found somewhere or other. What a disappointment. I have many tried and true recipes that turn out fine every time. Why, oh why, do I continue looking for new ones. Anne reminds me of that fact every time I have a cooking disaster.

Depending on who you talk to, ramps are either the world’s most noxious, disgusting smelling plants or the nectar of the gods.

I was first introduced to ramps when my family was invited up to Tellico Plains one spring by a dear friend, Verlin. Every year, Verlin and his wife made this a family reunion, and friends were considered family. Several days before the Saturday festivities, he would go up the Cherohala Skyway, at least as far as it was completed at the time. Parking by the side of the road, he’d go down into the hollers and find ramps.

If you follow my online writing, you might recall my last article about honey bees and how they forage for the stuff of survival using surprisingly complex methods. If you don’t recall or haven’t read my ramblings before, then go read that article now. I’ll wait here.

https://www.historicunioncounty.com/article/all-bees-report-dance-floor

Like many of my contemporaries, I had a collection of things (drawings, sports photos, awards, short essays, and so on) from when my two children were growing up and still at home. In my case, one wall of my study was covered in family memorabilia. Not organized in any way, just accumulated as the years went by. The last memento was pinned up over ten years ago.