this is what should keep you up at night…

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.
Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”
Marie Curie

(Bela Lugosi as Dracula 1931)

When I was a kid, I loved watching those old black and white horror movies from the ’30s and ’40s—
Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf, The Mummy, all the way up to the vampy ’60’s with
Vincent Price’s The Pit and the Pendulum, the Creature from the Black Lagoon
along with such cult classics as Dark Shadows.

At 10, I can remember telling my mother to buy real garlic and not that powdered stuff
she kept in her spice cabinet.
I needed the real deal in order to sleep soundly at night.
Throw in a Crucifix, of which hung on my wall, and all I needed was a silver spike,
some silver bullets and I would be safe and sound.

Ode to the imagination of a 10-year-old.

As an adult, having seen snippets from those same early horror flicks,
I now get tickled seeing the ridiculous over-emphasized melodramatics.

Looking back, however, I can remember the difficulty in trying to convince my
10-year-old self, complete with an overactive imagination,
that sleeping with a strand of garlic around my neck was not exactly prudent
and totally impractical.

Thankfully, I’ve outgrown the frightful likes of Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff,
as well as Vincent Price…
however, there is one individual who does, in fact, leave me a bit
restless at night.
One whose very name can cast fear in my heart… just as he should yours.
And all because he remains more of enigma on the world stage rather than
a defined individual.

I’ve written about this individual before…
actually, all the way back in 2016 when the notion of Brexit was becoming a household word…

Of recent weeks, I’ve read a great deal concerning the global financial powers-that-be
bemoaning or gloating, depending on which side of the fence they line their pockets,
what a Brexit would do to the global economy.
The likes of George Soros, a man who has profited, or make that made a killing,
on the downward slopes of markets before (mainly the Bank of England),
is set to cash in once again.
And cash in big—but yet no one really knows how big he cashes in
as he doesn’t disclose much…
This man parlays deeply and dangerously into American politics as he gives and gives
graciously to the Clintons and their campaigns…
He plays his hand in global economies and seems to try to muscle the outcomes of elections
as well as markets worldwide—all to his benefit—

The rich and powerful trouble me.
Rich and powerful politicians trouble me.
Even our self-centered, anything and everything goes, millennials trouble me.

https://cookiecrumbstoliveby.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/should-we-go-or-should-we-stay/

Yes, George Soros troubles me.

And he should trouble anyone who loves America, democracy as well as the gift our
founding Father’s left for us.

And it’s because George Soros is determined to rewrite the Constitution of the United States.

However, this notion is nothing new and according to the authors of the book
I mentioned the other day…dark forces have long yearned to alter
The United States as you and I know it to be.

The book in question is not exactly new as it actually came out in 2006…
The Shadow Party
How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and the Sixties Radicals
Seized Control of the Democratic Party
by David Horowitz and Richard Poe

The authors explain that before there was George Soros, there were others who helped
to form Mr. Soros…just as Mr.Soros has helped to form the likes of others—
Hillary Clinton being one such individual.

Growing up, I knew early on from my interest in history and politics, and in part due to the
mystery surrounding the one time leader of the Teamsters Union, Jimmy Hoffa, that big Government
was sadly capable of just about anything.

Powerful people like…power.
Just as much as they like control.

J. Edgar Hoover
Franklin Roosevelt
Joseph Kennedy and his three famous sons
Richard Nixon
Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton
Tip O’Neil
Huey Long
Barak Obama
George Soros
Bill Gates
Nancy Pelosi
Katharine Graham

the list of movers and shakers seems nearly endless…

And there are reasons as to why we are currently watching the rise of the Fab 4
Congressional leaders.
It is not coincidental.

Reasons you and I, the average citizen, need to understand.

And so reading, as I do each evening a few pages here and there,
I have certainly been given just enough information in order to produce more than
my fair share of nightmares.

If you are left scratching your head as to why we seem to be in such a mess these days in
this nation of ours, let me simply recommend this book…
It won’t take too many pages until you’ll begin to understand.

Informed citizens or clueless and mindless entities?
…those in the shadows prefer you remain clueless and most definitely mindless.

Sometimes we vote for a candidate not so much because we love them but because
we know they are the lesser of the evils…and becasue we know garlic
does nothing to help the evil intentions…

tiny jewels

“The earth is like a beautiful bride who needs no manmade jewels to heighten her loveliness…”
Kahlil Gibran

(a tiny bowl of tiny Sun Gold and Brandywine cherry tomatoes / Julie Cook / 2014

I love cherry tomatoes—those tiny little hanging orbs bursting forth with an explosion of summer all in one small bite. My husband on the other hand does not like cherry tomatoes. I suppose with his being the manly man that he is, cherry tomatoes must seem too tiny, too girly, too not worth it when wanting a “real tomato.

He rationalizes that 50 cherries would constitute one “normal” tomato—why bother with gathering up a million little ones, when truly, one decent sized tomato will do. How on earth do you make a tomato sandwich, that quintessentially summertime favorite, with teeny tiny little red balls?! And let’s not start on the fact that there are other colors for tomatoes than red. In his world, tomatoes are red and red only. In my world, they are white, yellow, purple, black, bumpy, striped, large and small.

I like my world.

He’s more of a big beef steak fan–a hardy Big Boy, a giant Better Boy or an acidic Rutgers.
They must be peeled and sliced thin. God forbid I leave the peel on. And let’s not talk about getting too creative like, say, roasting with olive oil, fresh thyme sprig, fresh rosemary, sea salt, garlic and olive oil. Is there any thing better—that heavenly aroma wafting through the house—serve over warm pasta or add to mixed greens, a drizzle of balsamic, add crumbled feta or perhaps chèvre, or slivers of pecorino romano —ummmmmm.

Each year, in our garden, my husband graciously yields to my desire for at least one plant of cherries and one plant of plums. Plums make some of the meatier tomato sauces as they are flavorful and do not render to mush when cooked.

How was I suppose to know that out of our 10 plants, now giant bushes, that 4 of them would turn out to be cherries?! I swear I had no idea! Honest!

I’ve grown full sized Brandywines and Sun Golds before. No where did the little marker, stating the type and variety of plant, did it state Brandywine cherry or Sun Gold cherry. Only one plant’s little marker stated Sun Gold cherries. The other’s read as a regular plant.

Imagine my surprise and his alarm, when the tomatoes started to form, that half of the tomato plants would be either cherries or plums. Who knew?

Oh well.
There will still be enough “normal” sized tomatoes to make his go to BLT’s but even more tiny tomatoes for a little extra creativity in the kitchen. . . sounds pretty good to me and pretty darn tasty 😉