Saying Goodbye

I have opened up the doors of my home and shared with you my heart.  This blog is the essence of who I am.  You've met my husband and children and heard all about our beloved pets.  :)  This blog has been a combination of design and food and it's my take on life at home, Galatha's style.  I've gotten a bit political at times sharing my views as well as my beliefs about God.

  A home is essentially a mix of ingredients, that when combined create a finished product.  Kind of like a recipe.  Not every room and not every meal I've made has been a master piece.  I believe homes and meals are meant to be experienced and shared daily not just saved for special occasions.  These have been the spaces I have lived and shared with my husband and children.  You have seen a personal portrait of everyday life around the Schwartz' home.

All my recipes are simply prepared and family tested.  I hope you have enjoyed them and found a few for your recipe collection along the way.  I also hope I have encourage you to be all that you can be and to go the extra mile not only for those you love but for yourself.

The ornaments of my home have been and always will be my dear family and friends who frequent it.  And with that said, Thank you for stopping by the past eight years.

Always love ~
Galatha

Quote by Hafez

"Don't surrender your loneliness so quickly
  Let it cut more deep
  Let it ferment and season you as few humans or even divine ingredients can
  Something missing in my heart tonight
  Has made my eyes so soft
  My voice so tender
  My need of God absolutely clear."

  Hafez

Life

In life there are sometimes clouds, sometimes sunshine, sometimes pleasure and sometimes pain. Life is a great mixture of happiness and tragedy.  He who comes out of it rich in living, is he who dares to accept it all, face it all, and let it blow its power, mystery and tragedy into the inmost recesses of the soul.  A victory so won in this life will then be an eternal possession.

Charles Lewis Slattery

Bette Midler

Bette Midler has always been one of my favorite entertainers.  These are two of my favorite songs that she sings, one The Rose and From a Distance.....great lyrics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5q0KmjU0Qk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN4AcFzxtdE

Great Day with Star Dutch

Dutchie has helped me plant my herb garden and today we finished planting all of the tomatoes.  He is such an independent little guy, after I would show him how to do something all I would hear is "Honey, I do it, I do it."  LOL,  And he did do it.  It was a beautiful day, no wind, he was hungry and we had a break and had a little picnic.  While we were eating a bi-plane or crop duster came flying over our home and it was yellow (his favorite color).  We ran out in the field and started waving and jumping up and down.  The pilot came back and buzzed us several times.   He loved it!

Great day and great memories!

Can I Come To This Place?

Out beyond the ideas of right doing and wrong doing, there is a field, I will meet you there!

Rumi

Love

Your task is not to seek love, but merely seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

Rumi

Faith

Blessed is the man who, when the tempest has spent its fury, recognizes his Father's voice in the undertone.

He knows all is well!

Excellent Quote by Benjamin Rush

Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing to one class of Men and deny equal privileges to others; the Constitution of the Republic should make  a Special privilege for medical freedoms as well as religious freedoms.

Poem by Hafiz

I think if you have read my blog very long, you know that I love sunrises and sunsets.  I also love poetry and this is a beautiful poem by the 14th century Persian poet Hafiz.

It rises,
a glorious sun,
if one can sit quiet long enough.
Seeing it, one feels, I now have everything,
everything I could
ever want.

Oklahoma Sunrise

Ok, I'm a sucker for sunrises and sunsets!  I just can't resist.

Live Fiercely

Another Beautiful Oklahoma Sunset

Had a wonderful swim this evening and when I left the pool this beautiful sunset was waiting for me!

This Is Good !

"The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to 

   ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at 

    ourselves honestly and gently."

Pema Chodron

What Is A Grandmother (by a third grader)

A grandmother is a lady who has no children of her own.  She likes other people's little girls.  A grandfather is a man grandmother.  He goes for walks with the boys and they talk about fishing and tractors and things like that.

Grandmothers don't have to do anything but be there.  They're old so they shouldn't play hard or run.  It is enough if they drive us to the market where the pretend horse is and have lots of dimes ready or if they take us for walks they should slow down passing things like pretty leaves or caterpillars.  They should never say "hurry up."

Usually they are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes.  They wear glasses and funny underwear.  They can take their teeth and gums off.

It is better if they don't typewrite or play cards except with us.  The don't have to be smart, only answer questions like, why dogs hate cats and how come God isn't married.

They don't talk baby talk like visitors do, because it is hare to understand.  When they read to us, they don't skip words or mind if it is the same story again and again.

Everybody should try to have one, especially if you don't have a television.  Because grandmothers are the only grownups who have got time.

This was something else I found in some of my mom's things.  :)

People Cry

People cry, not because they're weak,

It's because they've been strong for too long.   Shane Koyczan

I Believe

I LOVE This!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4FFWMJQkkI

Look at These Prices!

I have a little workshop/office and I have been going thru everything in this space and once again asking myself "do I really want this."  I don't think I've ever thrown away a card that I have received from family and friends.  Well, I literally had a stack of cards 2 feet high.  I took the time and read each one.  Such sweet, kind and loving words from my family and dear friends, some hilarious.  After I had read them all, I closed my eyes and through them in the trash.  It was funny, one dear friend wrote a note at the bottom of her card and said, "now don't be a clutter bug, throw this away." Smile.

I also ran across another box of my mom's.  She was as bad as I am.  There were old letters that were special and things from her high school days and junior high days.  She was in the first graduating class from Capital Hill High School.  The things she had from junior high were at least 100 years old and so frail I thought the paper was going to fall apart.

Above is a news paper that was wrapped around a keepsake.  How about these prices!

Lots of things going to the thrift store next week and then a workshop.....clean, organized and ready for new creations.

My Date for New Years Day

I had the honor of taking Star Dutch to his first movie.  We went to see "Ferdinand" the movie about a bull who refuses to fight in the bull ring.  I loved it and I loved the message.  Ferdinand was huge and muscular just what they were looking for to be in the bull ring but he was a gentle giant.  He wanted to be in the country and he loved flowers.  :)  Just my kind of bull!

It was a great way for me to start the new year, spending the day with my grandson.  He did great at the movie.  I got him the smallest sack of popcorn and smuggled in a juice pack.  He sat in his chair and never moved, totally captivated.  He left talking about the bull. I made the point that he loved flowers and didn't want to fight.  I know, I'm promoting his feminine side.  I'm leaving the masculine up to his uncles who do a great job.

We then went to the grocery store and bought a few things for dinner.  On the way home, he had sleepy eyeballs and he couldn't keep them open any longer.  It was a wonderful day for Honey and Star Dutch!

A Good Laugh!

I thought this was so funny!

Listen to Your Heart

                                                  Listen to the wind, it talks.
                                                  Listen to the silence, it speaks.
                                                  Listen to your heart, it knows.

                                                  Native American Proverb~