Serials and Scenarios ~ A Breath of Fresh Air

Fresh Air has been available to my family nearly every day of our lives. In Iowa we are full of fresh air, sunshine and the singing of birds. Over the last week I've even been seranaded, as I've tried to sleep, by some strange screeching animal. But, I digress.

I received an e-mail from an organization that I've never heard of. And it made me stop and think a bit. I'm passing the information along to you. If fresh air is something you want pump into a city kid, check it out.


What is Fresh Air?


In 1877, The Fresh Air Fund, an independent not-for-profit organization, was created with one simple mission — to allow children living in disadvantaged communities to get away from hot, noisy city streets and enjoy free summer experiences in the country.

When The Fund began, New York City was overflowing with poor children living in crowded tenements. Many of these youngsters were hit by a tuberculosis epidemic, and “fresh air” was considered a cure for respiratory ailments.

More than 130 years ago, the Reverend Willard Parsons, a minister of a small, rural parish in Sherman, Pennsylvania, asked members of his congregation to provide country vacations as volunteer host families for New York City’s neediest children. This was the beginning of The Fresh Air Fund. By 1881, the work of The Fund was expanding so rapidly that Reverend Parsons asked for and secured support from The New York Tribune. By 1888, The Fund was incorporated as “The Tribune Fresh Air Fund Aid Society.” Today, Fresh Air continues to benefit from the support of the media with invaluable assistance from The New York Times.

The Fund’s tradition of caring provides children with a much-needed respite from the inner-city streets. Thousands of youngsters enjoy summer experiences with volunteer hosts or attend one of five Fund camps in upstate New York.

The simplicity of our program is its strength. Looking back to 1877, we can reflect on how much has changed, and how much has stayed the same. The Fund began with a small group of youngsters heading for the country and went on to benefit more than 1.7 million needy children.







Right now any gift you make to The Fresh Air Fund will be matched dollar for dollar by a group of generous donors! If you can give $25 that means $50 for inner-city children. $50 becomes $100!

But you must make your donation by June 30th to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity!

Donate now!

Shut-Ups! Mango Salsa

Mango Salsa

1/2 to 1 whole skinned and diced mango (depending on your taste)

4 diced smallish tomatoes

1/2 to 1 full can of diced hot peppers

1/2 cup chopped red onion

juice of 1 lime

1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro

(to make this really easy, we used one can of Ro-tel diced tomato and peppers. And one of tomatoes with lime and cilantro to replace the diced tomatoes, hot peppers and cilantro. We still added the lime juice.) To make it even easier, use prepared salsa, add lime juice, cilantro and the mango.

This will keep 2-3 days in the fridge.

Add the following if you want:

1 drained can of black beans

1 diced avocado

For a delish healthy "chip" preheat oven to 250. Grab a package of whole grain tortillas and a pizza cutter. Roll the pizza cutter over several stacked soft tortillas into pie shapes and then cut the pie slices one more time into funky shaped triangles (math folks, help me out, would this be the infamous isosceles?). Repeat til you have lots of triangles. Place them on cookies sheets and bake until crisp. (check them at 20 minutes and then 35). They will get a little darker. Good stuff.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ When the Cat's Away...

The fish will pay...(apologies to any PETA folks)

In celebration of his first year of teaching having gone well and being OVER...Rob went on a tiny fishing trip.

Day one...Monday... he called and said it was so windy he hoped to actually be able to fish fabulous Star Lake, Minnesota.

Day Two... I get pictures of a small but just right fish pile plus this one. Obviously the wind died down.

Day Three...we'll see. He's supposed to come home tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I still wait for my computer part. Gotta love extended warranties. It's covered. It's free, as in pre-paid by the extended warranty purchase. It was even easy. One phone call did it all.

However, as they confirmed the way too easy transaction the very friendly man mentioned the travel time from them to moi as 10-14 business days. I think we are entering day number 8.

Maybe Rob will pull into the driveway as the UPS driver pops in with my computer part. Now I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. : )

Serials and Scenarios ~ Mark Mynheir's Night Watchman

My Review:

I love that Mynheir is a real-life detective. His latest novel contains a bit of teaching element as his anti-hero, Ray Quinn, schools the ultimate anti-hero Crevis Creighton on the details of real life crime solving vs. what you see on television.

Ray’s best friend, Jim, lives with him and helps his deal with pain from a recent debilitating shooting and the death of his partner. Jim helps with the aftermath of the forced retirement, the new job as night watchmen, and chronic physical pain. Unfortunately, that friend, Jim, is Jim Beam of the whiskey family and Ray is not dealing well at all.

While going through the motions and countless Sudoku puzzles at a small apartment building, Ray spends his down time avoiding Crevis or sending him on wild goose chases. Until a body is discovered, and Ray finds himself in the midst of a tangled mess that is hard to resist.

The mystery is satisfying. Plenty of humor and quirk. A solid but not overdone faith thread runs throughout the novel. Loads of police procedure but not overly technical. Mynheir has a solid and engaging voice.

I love Ray and Crevis and hope to see much more of them in future books.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Great Day Check-List

Awaken to singing birds instead of a squawking alarm. Check.

An hour later than usual. Check.

Coffee with a favorite peep. Check.

A long walk-run with two furry friends and a favorite peep. Check.

Finishing up the garden, watering what's already flourishing. While the dogs wrestle, stalk and play and the birds continue to sing and the sun beats down on shoulders bringing the sweat of hard work and resulting satisfaction. Check.

A haircut in the driveway. Check.

A short nap in the cool cross breezes in a room that smells of white citrus. Check.

Reading a few chapters of a good book. Check.

Catching up on writing reviews, e-mails and just getting stuff done. Check.

Hope yours was fabulous just like mine.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Bird in a Hand er Pocket?

Of course it's logical to follow a cat day at Dregs with a bird moment.

E-Mail FW: legend claims that a nest of larcenous birdies crawled into the car wash coin return pocket and made off with over 4K.

Crazy, yes. True? Who knows. Funny. Definitely.

Happy Weekend, Y'all.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Patience

Birdie sent me this picture. She couldn't resist after enjoying a laugh while contemplating cat yodeling.

The look on this feline face is very similiar to the one I sport while pressing my nose against the glass door, patiently waiting for the UPS driver to arrive bearing my new computer juice.

Let's hope I'm connected soon. Otherwise I might scare the UPS man away. He is already a little iffy after his Lily/Lola encounter.