HAPPY NEW YEAR Jessie Followers!

A Hearty Welcome to 2011-

I have not been to our blog in a while and the reasons are so many. Family stuff, tragedies and just life in general, but you know...Jessie Mae Hardaway has been through a lot of changes, and through this period of my personal life challenges, I have come to the computer many times to write and tweak and tweak and write and we are just about prepared to send Jessie's Joy to our publisher for a good "look-see". I will try to navigate something like a sneak preview of a couple of chapters to you loyal Jessie fans.

As far as I know, this is the final "Jessie" book, but who knows? God may inspire again and I may have another. My plans for life after Jessie will be to get my big book, "Minnie's Daughter" out by September of this year. It is non-fiction and the story of my life under very hard
circumstances. I am hoping that "Minnie's Daughter" will lead to a larger and more diverse reading audience, while maintaining the ever enlarging circle of friends that have blessed me in the Jessie segment of my life.

Writing the first Jessie and listening to the new voices in "Jessie's Joy" continues to be quite
the exciting ride. We get a glimpse of the original characters in different settings and situations and we get to meet the new characters who meld with the old and bring out different moods and ideas. I am really excited about "Jessie's Joy" so please know that some excerpts are coming your way.

I trust that everyone had a joyous Christmas and New Year celebrations and are thanking
God for His goodness. I look forward to serving you more and learning more about all of you as time passes, and if you have the time..please tell someone about "Jessie's House" while I continue the journey to Jessie in the upcoming book.

Speaking of writing, my son Steven Silas has written a children's book, entitled "Where Do Bubbles Go"? This book is delightful and well illustrated by my eldest ( age 44) son.
I am giving a shameless plug because I am so proud of him. He has overcome a lot, as
many of my adult children have.

All for now, just wanted to touch bases and let you know I am still here, still thinking about you all, thanking you for your love and trusting God for all the outcomes in my life!

Love and blessings!
Zee

Soup and Prayze Go Well Together

See that funny looking stuff in the jar? It is a combination of collard greens from our community garden along with chunks of beets and beet juice and "other stuff" including something called miso ( pronounced MEE-SO) which has no taste. At least to my knowledge.

It is good soup. Believe me!

When my neighbor made a batch and brought it to me week before last, I was wary to say the least, but I took it in and actually wrote a little blurb about it. She brought more yesterday so I took a photo and decided to share it with many.

Nibbles In The Night
July 19 2010
" Drink It All Gone"

Hello My Friends

Last night my downstairs neighbor knocked and when I opened the door I saw that she was holding a mason jar through which I could see an ominous looking concoction and she was smiling like Ruth Gordon, the actress who played Mrs Castavet in the movie
"Rosemary's Baby". I smiled back and took a cautious look at the liquid in the jar. I
could detect roots and herbs floating in a mixture that was murky and strange. I gave
her a look and she just kept smiling with the jar extended to me. I kept my hands
and arms at half mast. I was thinking, "What the WHAT"?

Now, you have to know that my neighbor is one of those who helps me in the garden
and helps me figure out the "what next" of my planting and weeding and other stuff.
She is also a health nut, so I could only guess what might be floating around in that jar.
This woman experiments with herbs and roots and all sorts of healthy equivalents
to regular food and I am often one of her guinea pigs. Most of her stuff is good.
Others are deplorable. Right then, I was picturing her with a black outfit with a
pointy cap, and could almost hear her mumbling something about
"Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble" but she was actually saying something to me about
the stuff in the jar...ummmm....is all that I could think at the time.

Her smile was genuine as she offered this soup made from her own collard greens with a little wild rice, this and that and something called miso. It is pronounced MEE-SO.
You can bet that as I took it from her and promised to try it, I was already looking it up in the encyclopedia of my mind. As soon as I closed the door, I went to the computer to
find out what it is. As nearly as I can tell, it is a soy product and plenty good for you! I had also gone straight to the fridge with the miso stuff and plunked it down on a shelf
where it looked back at me in a threatening manner. I checked out miso thoroughly...
You can too if you like...

WHFoods: Miso

However, I still had not tasted it. I kept going to the fridge and giving it the once over.
I even picked it up and shook it around like a jar filled pickled eggs or something I needed to shake well before use. I closed the fridge then re-opened it. I eye- balled the processed luncheon meat that really belongs to my grandson for his lunch. Wow! Just a sandwich with rich Miracle Whip and a glass of soda would hit the spot. The healthy part
would be the 12 grain bread, I surmised and was about to drag it out when I saw the
jar watching me ( I kid you not!) with it's healthy ingredients farely shouting!
The special soup glared at me but ( thankfully) said nothing! "Well FINE then, I guess if I promised to try you I better do it and get it over with" I said and snatched it off the shelf. It sloshed happily in response as I set it down hard on the counter.

I took out a shallow bowl ( so as not to waste too much or become greedy) and poured it in. It made a sound like "GLOP". You know, the jellied cranberry sauce sound, then it sat and shivered as if it was waiting for me to put it into the microwave. It was done in less than the three minutes I set it for and I removed it and got a spoon.

Somehow it had taken on a kind of glow..you know...less lethal and more food like.
I sniffed it again and discovered that miso was hidden and un-smell able. Beets, however have a life and smell of their own, so their aroma happily ran into my scent-zone as
the only recognizable odor in the bowl. I took a spoon to it and brought it to my lips.
a silly rhyme played in my head. "Past the lips and over the gums, look out stomach, here it comes"!! And I sipped and swallowed thinking of all the movies where people ate or drank something that jacked them up for good. I thought of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and wondered if my neighbor had found some way to force me to work twice as hard in the garden...but only under a full moon. Perhaps I would fall into a deep sleep and lie someplace until the prince came to give me the magic kiss. I scrapped that idea.
You have to start out by living with seven little dudes and sing in a trembling soprano. I used to be a soprano, but early morning finds me sounding a little like Barry White...so another idea bit the dust). I thought briefly of the Nutty Professor and his potion but my thoughts were put on ice when I discovered that the concoction was actually good and there was no after shock.

In fact, I repeated the spoon-to-mouth rendition many times and then got seconds.
I waited for sudden changes. I saw no hair growing from my palms, and I could
not detect the sounds of little people singing, "Hi-Ho" as they came home from work
and I certainly knew that my neighbor was not trying to get me to join a coven of
witches. I thought about how hard it was to get my children to try new foods.
When they were small I used to say, "Drink ( or eat) it ALL GONE" and they would
announce this accomplishment with high and satisfied voices, happy to be done with
whatever wretched thing they didn't like but had to "try" in order to get to either
dessert or something they really liked. Sometimes, they had to admit that the liver
and onions or the brussel sprouts were not all that bad after all!
( Tomorrow I am adding tofu!) Stop making this face... I SEE YOU!
LOL LOL

BUT LOOK AT THIS....

I thought also about the way we stay away from God, for fear that the thing He will reveal to us will not be something that we want to or would like to hear. We try to avoid the chastisement or the reprimand, or even sometimes the "call" on our life. We run and hide from the very thing that is good for us. Oh, forget GOOD...what about the BEST thing for us! You know what? God is only GOOD. Even when we think the way is going to be hard...we must remember that He is GOOD!
Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. See that? That is GOD's TRUTH and cannot be denied!

Once you get a taste of the goodness of our Lord, you will want to keep drinking that living water until it's all gone, but the thing about that is...the well of God's goodness and GRACE...His LOVE and MERCY....never runs dry! Now, how about that?
Go ahead and praise Him for His GOODNESS! You know you want to!
Check out the Chicago Mass Choir ( My HOME TOWN FOLKS!)




You Tube - Chicago Mass Choir: Oh, Taste & See

Write to me and tell me how you like the blogs.

Order Jessie's House for yourself, your church library

and the books make fine gifts for friends.

Order from-

www.Zenobiasbooks.com

OR

Jessie'sHouse@amazon.com

COLLEGE GREENS!

Hee-Hee! My first home grown collard greens. I am so excited to be a farmer

lady! Wish I had a MR FARMER to share

my joy with, but I believe that might

be coming along soon. At least I hope

and pray!

My COLLEGE GREENS LOOK GOOD!

( yes, I know I said college...as in

Madea!)

Summer Memories Revisited

Summer Memories Revisited
June 25 2010


Hello Everyone!

I would be willing to wager that if you asked seven people of seven different generations to share their summer memories, the results would be book worthy. The reason for that is that just about everyone on every social and economic level would give a wonderful visual of summer in their period of time.

Folks from the 1920's would give you a rendition of their home made and simple games, and people from the 1930's and forties would share their decades, filled with stories of the depression and the war overseas, but the summer would still have it's moments of mindless and carefree pleasure.
A child can find happiness with the smallest amount of money because summer carries with it, a magic of it's own that no other season can top.

I grew up in the 1950's and sixties, in a friendly, multi cultured community where the vegetable man still used a horse and buggy to deliver the goods. There were actually horses and buggies that delivered fruit, and there was the call of the rag man, who went from door to door, collecting rags. I never knew what he did with them, but there you have it.
Summer meant not only freedom from school, which didn't mean much to me, as by age eight I had my own library card, and could easily read twenty or more books during summer and still find time to jump rope, skate a short distance in front of our building and hang out in Franklin Park across the street from our dwelling, careful not to allow the street light to "catch" me.

As I became older, summer meant Christian camp and a family visit to Meridian Mississippi where my grandparents and all of our first cousins lived. We actually gained a few pounds eating my grandmothers ongoing good cooking and I learned to churn butter, chew sugar cane ( I remember the "Country" cousins, as we called them, laughing at my brother and I who were known to them ( I later found out) as their stupid city cousins, and spit it out ( the sugar cane) instead of trying to chew and digest it. We got them back by swearing that in the streets of Chicago, you didn't have to walk anyplace. We made up stories about moving sidewalks. They didn't believe that any more than they believed that there were actual trains that were called "els" and moved above the city at lightening speed.

Still, summer was wonderful! At camp I made a thousand lanyards, or so it seemed, and stayed afloat in the water because my straight pressed hair would turn into a buckwheat look if I went under. Cultural differences had not been explored in those days and there were no perms for black folks. So, my counterparts with long blonde and brunette hair wondered why I shied away from water, with the exception of showers where I could easily dodge the stream and not have another reason to feel like an outcast. STILL, we had fun and enjoyed the sweltering days and nights.

On Wednesday night of this week, I was reminded of another summer ritual, and that is the summer date with your favorite beau. You hold hands and sigh and have an ice cream cone after the movie. At least that's what used to happen, but things have changed drastically and I had just about given up on the simplicity of dating, when my grandson and his girl invited me to a movie. I thought I might feel like a third wheel, but they invited another guy, in fact...he was a guy a little younger than myself, but we agreed on the movie, "How to Train Your Dragon". We went to this place called The Cinema Cafe and in this place, you do not sit in rows like a regular theater, you sit at little tables with really cool chairs and you order your food. Pizza, appetizers, nachos and cheese, pitchers of iced tea or soda, so anyway I had a lot to do on Wednesday, but I was just delighted that I had been asked on their "date".

We drove to the theater, my first time in a car with my grandson driving and it was so absolutely COOL. He has been practicing driving and wanted to impress me with his careful maneuvering of the car. It was a borrowed car, but he handled it well. Yes, he is twenty one and no, we do not yet have a car, but he will be ready when he gets one.
So, we get there and sit down and the guy, whose name is Roger, orders our food and treats us to a pizza feast with iced tea. The movie is not only cute but thought provoking. I would recommend it as a family movie, but for me, the experience was one that I am adding to my repertoire of summer memories. I remember when my parents divorced and my mother was dating a man who had two children and they took the four of us to a drive in theater. I do not remember if any of us were embarrassed by the fact that our parents were dating. I remember how happy I was to hear my mother laugh again and Mr George was a big and handsome man, who looked like a giant next to our tiny mother. I took his bigness as protectiveness and he was kind and gentle.

I remember the movie which was "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and I remember that they sent us all to the concession stand with LOTS of money and told us to get anything we wanted. It took me years to figure out that they wanted to steam up the windows like some of the teenagers were doing as we bobbed our way between other parked cars.

So, sitting in the dark, watching a young cartoon hero on the screen, I thought about my own dates. In fact, similar dates with the grandfather of our new young driver. I stole a glance at the two of them, and he had his arm comfortably around her shoulder and she had a look of complete joy on her face. I sighed. Young love! How sweet! And how many young people would invite the old folks on a date with them?
Well, young folks who love the Lord, and if they get married, they will have plenty of time to be alone and grown up. Right now, they are sharing their love and their testimonies with many, so I was not shocked by their involving us. "We have to do this again"! Said my grandson's intended. She has already invited me to a spa day with her mother and herself. I think it will be fun!

So, to that new summer memory I have added a song that I picked out for my grandson's betrothed long before he met or knew her. I was watching a commercial one afternoon and he was sitting on the love seat, sketching and cartooning as he does sometimes for leisure. I heard the song I am about to share with you and I said, "The girl that God brings to you will be worthy of this song". He smiled and said indulgently, "Grandma"!!!
Last night I played it for them! My grand-daughter in law to be, was all smiles. "I LOVE this song" she said.
Was I right or was I right?

What are some of YOUR favorite summer memories? The arrival of the ice cream man? COOL watermelon and cantaloupe treats? Popsicles?
Wearing lighter clothing? Or just feeling free? Remember summer love
songs? Or just plain summer songs that made you feel good and thankful
to be alive!

Maybe listening will make you recall a wonderful summer moment, or perhaps you will make more of your own.
Summer, enjoy it and be BLESSED!

Joy and LOVE!
Zenobia

YEP, I am a little square and REAL sentimental!


Click here: YouTube - Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop by Landon

Heading Towards Sixty Three..With God's Help!

Whoo-hoo....I think of this girl, this image...this woman, beaten and raped and battered in her twenties, maligned and talked about, sleeping in hallways and on the couches of strangers. I think of this girl that you see before you...the mother of eleven ( counting ALL pregnancies) grandmother to thirteen ( that I know of) having buried two children, my parents and know of the deaths of many dear friends, raised some grandchildren, got hooked on alcohol, been into street walking if you know what I mean. Shot at, hit over and over in the face, and hey, what does God do? Well, He

BLESSES His little girl. He watched sadly as I made one wrong decision after another, but He also remembered the little girl who talked to birds and read storybooks to her dolls and teddy bears. Through the platinum blonde wigs, false eyelashes, hot pants too hot to bend over in, the drunken stupors and alley fights, He saw His little girl, and when she cried out to Him, He came running and RESTORED what the locusts tried to DESTROY..God put back what had been stolen. He gave me a new song, a new outlook, a new feminine walk, He cleaned up my language, syphened the toxins from my body, caused me to walk again when the doctors said, "You will never walk again" in 2002! Whoo-hoo! Hallelujah!

Victory in Jesus is not just an idle saying to me, it is what I live and breathe. He gave me a new attitude, put a glide in my stride and a dip in my hip! AND SISTERS, it is never too late...never, never, never, never, too late. I ama living witness...and yes, there are aches and pains and forgetfulness from time to time, but I know my REDEEMER LIVES!

Don't get me started!

Love and Blessings!

Zee

Good Goobety Goop!

Remember this guy? This is Whitman Mayo...better known as Grady on the hit show Sanford and Son. "Good Goobety-Goop" was his trademark saying and usually followed some profound happening or everyday occurence that got him really excited!



Like Grady, I am kinda in that place right now. I have so many confirmations and revelations from God that I can hardly contain myself, but in the Land of Goobety-Goo, there is always some kind of twist or turn that seeks to put a damper on the fire of excitement and turn it into

major anxiety and nerve wracking second thoughts.



We consistently ask God, "Who me"? and even follow it with a more

cautious, "why me"? and I am ever happy that God does not give us

a quick-fix answer because I am sure He has heard it all before. In

fact, He had to listen to the long and drawn out prayers and questions

from Noah and Jonah and Abraham and more than likely, Joseph who

was getting ready to marry the already pregnant Mary, mother of

Jesus and you KNOW there was talk in the neighborhood! Come on

now! So, when God shoots an "impossible to man" vision at us, we

put on a brave face and tell a few trusted people and we seem to

be able to take on the new assignment with all of our faith and all of our

might, but inside...we are trembling and begging, "Does it have to be me"?



At this place in my life, I think and say out loud...."Lord, do you have

any idea how old I am"? and of course, He does not have to reply

because we have covered this ground before, and He is tired of my

"age" reminders. He will not take excuses and He will not allow me

to back down, no matter what. I am, as the kids say, "In it to win it"

but not for myself alone. I am moving forward into ministry and I

have no idea where this will all go. Stay with me, people..in prayer and

in friendship. God is leading and I am following and all I can say is

"Good Goobety Goop"!!!

Zee Is Alright

I am moving at my own pace. God is my God. I do not need to rename Him and claim anything but Who He is in MY life!
Wow! the world is turning fast and some people have reason to
believe that they have power over or influence over the lives of
others in a most unhealthy way.

I have lots of games that I play online and one of them is Burger
Shop One and Two. In Burger Shop Two, you get to serve some of the same characters as in the first game, but there are some that are new. One of them is a mime, who simply orders the same thing that the person in front of him ordered. He will even order the
same thing that he ordered as long as it is the same thing. He
never has an original order, no matter what.

I am laughing tonight because I see a similar thing happening
in my life, played out by the same played out individual. I should
start doing erratic things and see if the individual will follow me.
I must be doing something wrong if this "thing" keeps following
me! ( I am remembering something that Cody said, "It keeps
following me, Jean" when we lived on 82nd Place. I know how
he felt! LOL

I am Zee and I am so cool that I have an Imitation Zee!