I Remain Enchanted

On Solid Grounds

Mother Earth News Conscientious Coffees and Teas

Ever since I received the coffee table book on coffee from Marian, I have become more aware of the world of coffee. Where it's grown, who grows it, how it is harvested, dried, cleaned, shipped, roasted, packaged, stored, ground and brewed. The more I have learned, the less satisfied I am with a can of Folgers in my cupboard. On the other hand, I am delightfully transported to mountainsides of exotic lands around the world when I sip a cup of fresh brewed coffee that I have prepared with fresh ground, creatively blended, recently roasted beans from specialty coffee companies.

Coffee table book about coffee on coffee table.

I enjoy the process of trying different beans from different sources. Freshness matters. Place of origin matters. How high on the hill was it grown? Were the beans sun dried in their husks and the husks removed by washing with water? All sorts of variations in the trip from bush to brewing will show up in the flavor, and I am learning to discern the differences. I like this awareness.

Fair trade, organic coffee is some of the most delicious coffee I have brewed, and I am told it is good for the farmers and environment. I thought I might try a pound of Ethiopian from these Mother Earth people. When I talk myself into spending $7 shipping and tax on a $13 pound of coffee, I will let you know how it tastes.

Here are some more things you can do with coffee grounds that I found at Natural Home Magazine .

More Uses For Grounds;

• The coarse texture of coffee grounds is perfect for scrubbing difficult-to-clean dishes. Pack the grounds into a square sized cloth, gather the cloth’s ends and secure with a rubber band.

• After chopping garlic or other fragrant foods, rub grounds on your hands to get rid of the odor.

• Grounds can repel refrigerator odors. Use old nylons or an old sock as a small satchel filled with grounds and keep in your refrigerator or freezer.

• Diluted coffee grounds act as a natural flea rinse.

Garden:

• When garden pests dine in your garden, add coffee grounds to keep them away from beloved plants.

• Coffee grounds release nitrogen into the soil and act like a fertilizer.

• Add grounds to your compost pile to restore the nitrogen level.

• Also, worms eat coffee grounds and help your compost by moving the pile around.

Beauty:

• Coffee grounds act as a natural exfoliate. Add an egg white with ¼ cup of grounds for a facial mask.

Leaping Lizzards

Venomous Komodo Dragon

It seems that the idea of Komodo Dragons infecting their prey with bacteria was wrong. They actually produce highly toxic venom and have delivery ducts between their serrated teeth.
Read the whole story, HERE.

God Bless Our Money

The 2007, one dollar coin.

That weird email is circulating again. You know the one with the conspiracy to take God off our money? Like a lot of these emails, it claims some person or agency is out to take away our, (fill in the blank), ________. If you are a true, (fill in the blank), _________, you must send this to every email address you have in your contacts immediately or you will have doomed us all.

The 2009, one dollar coin.

In God We Trust was on the coins all the time!

I am guessing that those who believed the email;

• Had never actually looked at one they had.
• Like me, have never had one.
• Just want to believe in a conspiracy.
  

I could see, "In God We Trust", being removed for religious reasons, like the 2nd commandment; "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.", but religion is big business and their motto is; "God needs your money".

It still puzzles me. Why do people get all excited and ready to storm the castle over dumb things like God's name on money? What good does it do to storm the castle? Will it matter if I carry a torch made in China. Do we still make torches and pitchforks in America?


What Is This?

This is reCAPTCHA
Have you ever wondered about this thing at the end of an on line form?
I knew that the funny code you have to do to submit on websites is to prevent computers from flooding the site with spam, but I recently found out that I am helping to save books for posterity.

Image from recaptcha website.

If you want more information you can click, HERE.

Atlantis Leaves Hubble

Picture from Earth as Atlantis transits the Sun.

View from inside Atlantis of Earth and Hubble solar panels.

Astronaut repairing Hubble space telescope.

What a time to be alive! Life is good.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Catch A Falling Star - Perry Como

Heaven is all around you