Community Chat

[PamfromCT]

Hello Dear @Enufstuff,

My iPad makes up words - meant to say DD was at an international place.  

You certainly were a great mom to your large family!  I give you so much credit for the way you brought up your family while learning and achieving so much.  You continually amaze with all the talents you have.

My DD was the oldest, followed by DS four years later.  They were both blue-eyed blondes, but very different people.  Of course, we are all different from one another.

Our DS was always very active, but in first grade was having a hard time being attentive.  His doctor recommended consulting with a neurologist who had experience in diagnosing hyperactive children, as well as treating him.  There are no definitive tests, but he thought our son was a borderline hyperactive child.  Said, "I think you can forget about college for this boy."  An idiot.  Talked about potential meds.  Well no, we would not give drugs to a growing child.

An angel appeared (figuratively) in the form of a friend of my mother.  A retired teacher.  She steered me to read a good amount on the subject, particularly Dr. Feingold.  The thesis is that certain children are very sensitive to artificial colors and flavors.

I, like you, never fed my children junk.  But the American diet is full of artificial colors and flavors in so many foods.  I spent many hours in supermarkets just reading labels.  Yes, fake colors abound, even in what you might think are healthy foods.  For example, butter is not naturally yellow.  Many so-called healthy cereals, wheat bread, have caramel coloring,  alt flavoring, artifical colors and flavors galore.  To save $,

artifical vanilla is commonly used.  

To further confound the problem children who are very fair are very sensitive to many things.  Natural fruits, etc.  I put him on a strict allergy diet, including so many foods.  When his system was totally clear, I could see an immediate reaction to an offending food.  Raspberries brought a terrible reaction, for example.

His eye doctor related to me that to dilate a person with dark eyes, the eyes would return fairly quickly to normal.  With blue eyes, it took much longer to return to normal.

My little son realized how much better he felt on this diet.  The whole family was, with the exception of some fruits.  It was before the movement to natural foods.  His teacher called me out of the blue and told me he was much calmer and focused in school.  Whe. I told her about the Feingold diet, she said she was a believer.

Unlike his sister, DS was not a star student.  He came alive in high school, and did very well in college.  Never got into any trouble.

Yes, it was a journey.  

This was Part 1.  Onto Part 2.

[PamfromCT]

My dear @Enufstuff,

Your eyes must be rolling back in your head with all my yakking!

I must say I feel so badly for you.  What a tremendous amount of weight you have lost on your tiny frame.  I am most sorry that you have a very sensitive system to traditional medications and such.  One would think modern medicine could deal with this, but obviously not.

I care for you and hate the fact you have gone through so much.  And face so many challenges.

You are a little trooper!  An inspiration to all who know you.

All my best.

Your friend,

Pam

[SportyShorty07]

@PamfromCT  Thank you for such sweet words, Pamfrom CT- you are so kind ! I'm hoping to land a great career by next year or atleast be on my way to one.  I have little and big dreams to accomplish before the New Year and I've just got to keep pushing forward and believe in myself.  My family loves my cooking and it really is such a confidence booster for me to cook dinners and hear all of the praise from them .  That's wonderful that your children are great cooks and I am sure that you cook nice dishes too. Japanese takeout sounds delicious- I bet you, your hubs and your grandchildren enjoy it and it really is a very healthy and exotic cuisine.  

    I haven't heard of Penzeys, but I bet the store smells amazing with all of the differetn spices inside- i'll check out their website to see what they have .  That's wonderful that you've eaten at The Culinary Institute of America and even toured around New York State- its must be so beautiful there with the trees, land and architecture. I will make sure to share my delicious creations with you and everyone and thank you very much for the wonderful encouraging words about my goals and my cooking !

[Enufstuff]

@PamfromCT   Hi Pam,

                           The weekend was very busy here, with my birthday and Mother's Day.  I had put away all my sewing materials and supplies, but yesterday, I set up again to make my next Toni Doll outfit. I have been posting the outfits here, occasionally and the ladies seem to enjoy seeing them. They are a throwback to the 50s and for many, it brings back memories of a simpler time.

  I'm so glad that you did not take the doctor's advice and medicate your son. You were very wise to treat him naturally,

eliminating artificial additives and sugar. There are so many additives in our foods, medications, supplements and cosmetics. A lot of them are not so good. It is wonderful that your son could feel the difference when you eliminated all the

artificial stuff and that his teacher could see the difference too.

  You mentioned vanilla. Pure vanilla is more costly, but that is all I use. I like real flavors, not artificial. I know that butter, cheese and margarine are colored with annatto, but that is natural and derived from annato seeds. I only use real butter,

never margarine.

  We use Greek olive oil, made the old fashioned way, cold pressed and unfiltered. My hairdresser is from Greece and owns olive groves there. His brothers live in Greece and care for the groves and he goes there every year for the harvest and production. He ships back hundreds of bottles to the U.S. It takes a couple of months for the shipping. His olive oil is so good and is pure, not cut with cheaper oils as many store brands are. We try to have natural foods and ingredients.

 Over the years, I have heard of children being medicated for ADD and ADHD. I never liked the idea of that. Doctors always want to treat with medications, when finding and eliminating the cause of the problem, to my mind is a better way to go.

 That doctor was so wrong about your son, I'm glad that you found the better, safer path to treat him. So many people just

follow what doctors tell them, thinking that they know best

and they medicate their children.

 Your children must have been adorable, little blue eyed blondes. My mother came from a family of eight blonde children. My two brothers were blonde and I am dark like my father. I did have three blonde children, two with brown eyes and my middle daughter has green eyes like my mother. My oldest daughter and oldest son have dark hair and brown eyes like me.

  That is interesting what the doctor said about dilating eyes and how eye color affects the recovery. Several years ago, when I went to an opthamologist, I had a problem with my eyes being dilated and they are brown.

  My right eye would not go back to normal. By night, it felt so terrible and I was feeling sick and nauseous from it. I had to stay home from work the next day. It took more than 24 hours for my eye to return to normal. I think that the doctor put too much of the drops in my right eye.

 More often than not, medications, tests and procedures have bad effects on me. I try to avoid what I can. I have to be careful with cosmetics and anything that goes on my skin.

 Some of my children and grandchildren have sensitivities too.

One of my grand daughters would get hives after eating strawberries. When she was little, we went to a chinese restaurant and after eating, she had hives. We didn't know which food caused it. It can be difficult to determine which foods cause allergic reactions. It can be a long process of elimination.

When I was in college, working on my Food Science degree, food allergies was the topic of my research paper.

On another topic, you asked where I got my berets. It is the Village Hat Shop in California. Their website is online. The prices are very good.

In your earlier post, you mentioned having gone to a strict

Catholic girls' high school. I did also and I feel that it was a good education. We had Notre Dame nuns. They told is that we were doing college level work in math and science.

That was where I fell in love with science, biology, especially microbiology and I loved studying Latin and French.

I loved learning about the ancient world, Egypt , Greece and Rome. Those are still the topics I like to read about. I have a subscription to Archaeology Magazine and my brother gave me two books about ancient history and archaeology for my birthday.

I'm also reading a book about the ancient Egyptian obelisks and how so many were stolen and taken to other countries. One of them is in the Vatican and there is another one in Rome. I saw them both when we went there in 2006.

Are you reading anything interesting? I know that you like to read about the British royal family. It is so unfortunate that they are dealing with such serious health issues at this time.

I hope that their treatments are successful and can restore them to good health.

Well, I'm going to say good night for now.

                                                 Donna

[PamfromCT]

@Enufstuff, Hello Donna!

I have been on this site off and on, responding to little stuff.  I wanted to wait until I had the quiet time to spend with you.  

Yesterday afternoon I spent watching some shows on National Geographic about Egypt.  I can see why you have such a high interest in the topic.  A few episodes centered around a particular dig.  They featured an area outside of Memphis that revealed a large burial center for that area.  Quite a business at the time, providing processing the deceased for the family.  Guess it took about 70 days, and then the remains were buried with varying formalities.

The scientist in charge was called Dr. Ramadan (first name), and he took careful control over the large dig in this area.  Showed the difficulty of excavating several deceased. And so interesting to see how a person's wealth and social standing was evaluated.  I was so impressed with his philosophy.  He indicated a high degree of respect for those buried, indicating that these were people who had died rather than objects.

Several episodes, each lasting an hour, put on by National Geographic.  I thought of you, the whole time.  How lucky you are to have a brother who is an expert in Archaeology!  And I  bet the magazine is amazing.

I do agree that there was so much plundering of sites, and certainly the British opened the door to that.  Bad enough there had been grave robbers, but then explorers claiming their right to treasures and shipping them out of the country.

I do know the MFA in Boston. The Met in NY, and others have large displays.  We did manage to see the King Tut exhibit when here.

I do know they are still searching for Cleopatra's tomb.  I did see a program on that not long ago.  
I guess Egypt is opening a huge national museum, and hopefully these treasures will be returned to their homeland.

Yes, we were fortunate to have such thorough education in high school run by the sisters.  I was taught by Felician Sisters, and they also had a huge motherhouse for CT on the grounds.  Sadly, so few vocations, and part of their huge complex has been turned into apartments.  The school closed quite a few years back.  The biggest part of education at a certain level is "To learn how to learn."  

I stopped watching the news several months back.  Was watching too many shows, following many experts, and so forth.  I do get a synopsis every day, and that is enough.

I used to send e-mails and letters, which meant nothing.  
All I can do is to pray and to vote.  Way too disturbing to me and others, the condition of the world.  

Yes, my blondies when they were young.  Their hair darkened as they got older.  My DH with dark hair and eyes, me hazel eyes and medium brown hair.  Genetics!  My DH's sister and DH had six children, ranging from darker coloring to one who is blue-eyed and very Nordic looking.  Quite interesting!

I am so happy for you that you had a lovely time at your party! 
And I also love Lilacs. Never have ordered any soaps from VCS, but I bet they are extra special.  Should order for gifts!

You are fortunate to have a Greek connection.  I can bet that olive oil is fantastic.  So many people in Europe have such good and clean food.  Here, very sadly, we tolerate so much junk food and junk additives to good food.  I really eat very little meat anymore.  Just do not like it, and do love animals.

I refused to eat any product from a baby animal all my life.

I remember reading "Diet for a Small Planet," and I have always loved seafood.  Do you like Korres products for bath soaps and such?  

I so admire your beautiful handiwork, and love that you are sharing your talents to people here.  Perhaps you will inspire some to take up workkmg with their hands.  I loved my crewel embroidery as a young mom and still have several pieces I made displayed.  But my big love is Early American painting.  I took lessons for years.  I can draw a little, paint a little.  I also did stencil some walls in our home.  Like you, I do not admire

cookie-cutter decorating.  No one in our area gives those types of lessons anymore, and I have reached my full anyway.

Good thing!  A few years back, I was the victim of a distracted driver.  Will not bore you with details, but he slammed into my 

stopped car from the rear at a fast speed.  I did not realize what was happening - but I grabbed my steering wheel very strongly to avoid being shooved into trees.  My trusty Subaru 

suffered some damage, but my right hand was affected.

My doctor was alarmed when he saw it and lined me up with a hand surgeon.  
From the top, my hand is normal, but if turned over, it reveal damage.  An indention at the base of the thumb, where muscle "died."  Saw a hand doctor, had surgery, PT, nothing worked.

For every day things, I am ok except for very bad handwriting.

So my days of crafting would be harder.  OK, as I had a lifetime of that.

I am in a period of reading all sorts of inspirational books, and

assorted magazines.  Never much of a fiction reader.  As a visual person, loving so many documentaries on TV.  I go in phases, as you can see.

All my best to you, and I do pray for your wellness.

Your friend,

Pam

[Enufstuff]

@PamfromCT

Hi Pam,

     I was so sorry to read about that accident that left you with permanent damage to your hand. That must have been so devastating. To think that someone else's negligence left you to deal with this!

   I hardly leave the house anyomore and hate to drive. People around here are driving like maniacs, speeding, ignoring stop signs, not looking where they are going, too addicted to phones and touch screens. Aside from that, there are cannabis shops that have sprung up, it seems every half mile or so. Do we really need more impaired drivers on the road?

   At least once a week on the news, is another incident of someone driving through a building.

   My next door neighbor works at Neiman Marcus in Boston.

Last month, coming home after work, she was driving on the highway. Another driver, travelling at high speed, hit her and caused her car to plow right through the glass window of a car dealership.

  Fortunately her Mercedes had excellent air bags and she escaped injury. She was very lucky, but her car was totalled.

I would be so freaked out, I don't think that I would ever be able to drive again after an accident like that.

 The last time I drove was two weeks ago, to go to the dentist for repair on a tooth that broke. Tomorrow I return for him to make a crown. I only drive when I really need to. I have groceries delivered and my husband and son pick up a few things as needed.

  Most of my shopping is done online. Online websites offer so much more that the mall stores do. I was so disappointed when I went to Macy's a few months ago. The petite department has shrunk to next to nothing. Years ago, I loved Jones New York and Liz Claiborne petites. I found nothing that appealed to me. I even tried the shoe department for boots, nothing.

The first time ever, I walked out of Macy's with nothing. My

daughters would never have believed it.

 I feel badly that mall stores are not doing well, but they can't offer the full inventory that their online websites carry. Years ago, I loved to go shopping, but have lost interest over the past ten or so years.

  Later, I did go to DSW and found two pairs of boots and a pair of shoes.

   I'm going to continue in a second post.

[Enufstuff]

@PamfromCT   You mentioned watching an Egyptian documentary on National Geographic. I love watching those when I come across them. The  Travel and History channels show quite a few. The ancient world, especially Egyptology has fascinated me since high school.

 I love watching the ones by Ramy Romany, who is an Egyptologist who grew up in Egypt, in Cairo. He comes from a family who have always done documentaries and he started doing them with his father, when he was only 11 years old.

He went to the University in Egypt and he can read and write Heiroglyphics. He seems to be a sensitive, caring and gentle soul. His documentaries have earned him three Emmy's for his exceptional work. He has done Egyptian documentaries for National Geographic, Discovery, History and Travel.

Not only are his documentaries about Egyptian antiquities, archeology and mummies, he has directed and produced documentaries in Peru, Argentina and Antartica.

I just love watching him. He is so handsome and so much like a boyfriend that I had in the 80s, before I met my husband.

My Ahmed was put in a British boarding school in Egypt after his mother died, when he was 5 years old. He came to the USA

to attend Northeastern University to become a civil engineer.

 His looks and demeanor and manner of speaking was so much like Ramy Romany. He was a sweet, gentle soul also.

Today on youtube, I watched Ramy Romany's personal story, titled, "Out of Egypt". It is about his life, living in Egypt , meeting his American wife and their dangerous escape, with their baby to the U.S. during the Egyptian revolution uprising in 2011. Then how he found his way to L.A. and a new life. This extraordinary documentary made me love him even more.

 There are a lot of his documentaries on youtube. I think that I will be watching some of them. Just yesterday, I watched one of his documentaries on the History channel. He has made more than 100 documentaries.

  I used to like to watch the Egyptian documenteries by Zahi Hawass, the famous archeologist who once was the Minister of Antiquities in Egypt. But he can be arrogant and abrasive. There was a young woman archeologist working on a dig with him. After I heard the disrespectful way he spoke to her and treated her, I lost respect for him. I don't think that he likes woman very much. Ramy is my man now.

  How wonderful that you got to see the King Tut exhibit. My sister in law and I were so excited to see it when it was coming to Boston in 2020. But Covid happened and it was cancelled.

 I did get to see the Ramses exhibit when that was in Boston.

The museum of Fine Arts and The Museum of Scince have had some great Egyptian exhibits and lectures.

 My brother and his wife had some exciting news when they came to visit on my birthday. They are going to Greece in October. This will be their first visit to Greece and their first trip since we all went to Europe for the Viking Danube cruise,

just before Covid.

 He started going to Italy about twenty five years ago, when he would go to the American Academy, in the Bay of Naples, to work on Latin programs and to translate ancient Latin inscriptions. He did that in the summer, when school was out.

 He did many school trips, taking his students to Italy. For many years he and my sister inlaw would rent an apartment in Rome and travel Italy in the summer. I always wondered why he never went to Greece. Now at 72, he is finally going. I must say, I'm happy for them, but a little envious.

I don't think that my husband is up for travelling to Europe again. He will be 86 next month and he had a hip replacement

this past winter.

You mentioned how your little blondes turned darker as the got older. The same happened with my three. One daughter with the very light skin and freckles, colors her hair red and it works for her. She has the green eyes like my mother and looks very Irish. Her father was half Irish and my mother was one quarter Irish.

My younger daughter's hair will still get some blonde highlights in summer and she stayed blonde longer than  the other two. It's funny, she has the kind of skin that will tan in a day, just like my mother's sister, who was also blonde with brown eyes. My daughter and my aunt looked so much alike.

I remember reading "Diet For  Small Planet" years ago. It could still be in my stacks of books.  We all love seafood too, but it has become very expensive and not as plentiful as it was when we were growing up. We only get it occasionally. I love haddock and swordfish. With concerns about mercury, I only eat swordfish once a year. Lemon pepper swordfish is my

favorite.

   It's wonderful that you still have your crewel embroidery pieces. I have a few, but not on display. I loved doing crewel work. Remember the Erica Wilson kits? I did one of those with an owl. That was when I was collecting all things owls. There is a pillow that I did with all little woodland animals, for my oldest daughter's room, when she was little. I should get that out and give it to her. The only thing that I have out is a pillow that I did for my mother. It has a Siamese cat on it. She had a Siamese cat and she loved the pillow that I made for her. That was one of the things that I kept when we had to empty out the house after she passed away. I kept a lot of her dolls too.

  Well, I need to get ready for bed, I have that dentist appointment tomorrow.

                                      Have a good night.

                                                           Donna

[PamfromCT]

@Enufstuff @Hello Donna,

Just a few little thoughts before I go to sleep.

I don't ever go shopping at our Macy's store anymore, but they offer quite a bit online, and I have gotten some good bargains I am very happy with.  The store is a wasteland !

Speakimg of dentists - I just had a post in last week, prep for an implant.  Yes, I have several.  Then a crown on the other side of my mouth was loose, and my made fist told me there was not much left to hold the glue - future implant.

 I likely have several months to go, but yet another implant.

I have my father's teeth.  No matter how hard I try on my own and alternate visits every three months with my dentist and my periodontist, stuff happens!  

I do try to look for the good - there are ways of fixing things.

When distracted driver hit me, I was really done with all my handwork anyway.  I did not start out that way in life, but I do try to be grateful.

You are indeed a person who has that attitude, also.

Your friend,

Pam