Sustaining Real Life

I didn't just hear about the  backyard chicken trend, I have friends that post about their chick-growing shenanigans on Facebook. Though dismissed before as an upscale doyenne, we now recognize Martha Stewart was cutting edge. Fast forward, have you seen her recent pool pic ? Yes, that Martha with her Guide to Raising Healthy, Happy Chickens at Home !  I am not a natural homemaker and serving three square meals a day remains a family survival challenge. Saving Time and Money Early in my marriage, I was taught to both inventory my pantry ingredients and plan meals for the week. This saved money when limited to once-a-week grocery runs. This also saved time ensuring nutritious meals were the reward for each hectic day of work and school, instead of last-minute, fast food fails.  I learned to laugh alongside chef Jeff Smith,  The Frugal Gourmet,  rather than stress to Martha's perfection.  My version of the domestic goddess relies on:  Recipes torn from ...

Empathy is a Virtue  I was whittling down my bookshelves for donation to Goodwill Industries when I encountered The Billionaire Who Wasn't, a  biography of Anonymous Donor (AD).  AD was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to a blue-collar Irish-American family during the Depression.  After Air Force service in the Korean War, he made his fortune as co-founder of the Duty-Free Shoppers Group , which pioneered the concept of luxury goods shopping at half the price. By 1988, Charles Francis Feeney was hailed by  Forbes Magazine  as the twenty-fourth richest American businessman alive. But secretly, Feeney had already transferred all his wealth to his foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies .  "I see little reason to delay giving when so much good can be achieved through supporting worthwhile causes today." He remained a frugal man while confronted with unimaginable wealth: Introduces himself simply as Chuck ,  travels economy class, and owns neither a house n...

Wake Up Call Sixteen-year-old activist Greta Thunberg was selected youngest  2019's Person of the Year . US news magazine Time declared that for the better, she has done the most to influence climate crisis events. What started as her skipping school to protest the Swedish Parliament in August 2018 led to her scathing speech at the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019:  "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying." April 22, 2020, i n the midst of COViD shutdown, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day was celebrated by our young digital citizens with 24 At-Home Hours of Action . Two months later on June 5, 2020, "The Mighty Earth (themed)" World Environment Day was also the day my daughter Amanda obtained her diploma from Otay Ranch High School.  Amanda developed the habit of carrying a Pathwater aluminum bottle to forgo her use of plastic water bottles. Despit...