The Beginning Of My Health Awareness.

   I so loved the taste of chicken. I had raised chickens in the late 70s and at that time I could not eat chicken because I get so super attached to animals. I love critters. Eli May Clampet could have been my hero in life but I chose Mother Teresa instead. When I got away from the 200 or so animals I had I went back to chumping on the. In 1992 I was diagnosed with cancer. Being very poor with no income I was on food stamps for a limited time. The closest store to me was a health food store. It was there I learned from reading the literature in the racks about how meat aides cancer growth. I had my hysterectomy about three months or more after. My blood pressure kept falling to low for surgery. I went completely vegan at that time NOT even knowing what vegan was. I got through it all. I started on radiation treatments but stopped because I did not like how it felt. The lack of animal flesh rotting in my gut helped starve the cancer because cancer lives off toxins. After I was declared cancer free I very slowly went back to eating meat. I had a friend named Anita Tullos. She was such a sweet person and tiny. Her and I BOTH got diagnosed with cancer on the same day which was Nov 25 I think it was 1997. Not positive. I had skin cancer and her breast cancer. Both of us went vegan/vegetarian. I cooked meals for her. My ex boss Earl McKay the 2nd paid for the groceries. I told him what I was doing and he said heck he would pay for Nita and I both if it was coming out of the same batch of food. I gave him the lists. He bought every little thing I asked for as I asked for it. Both of us eventually was declared cancer free. After Hurricane Katrina things were hard and very different. Anita again came down with breast cancer but this time on the other side. She put up the fight but she wanted no special diets because she felt she would whoop this again. Besides it was very hard getting things for awhile here. I no longer worked for Earl so I had no one to help me with the food situation. I lost Anita. She passed on ... ... ... I still miss her till this day. I had went total vegetarian until Nov 1st 2012. I went vegan. In 2013 I backslid in and out of it for holidays & then got back on vegetarian into vegan. Holidays get me. This year I was not the perfect angel but I made it a goal it had to be after a heart incident in Nov. You see ALL meat and meat products carry cholesterol. I have joined myfitnesspal.com. I eat PERFECT vegan or as close as I can get to perfect and NO cholesterol. I know in my heart and in my brain my life for now on will be vegan. I picture the little faces of the critters and think about my heart ... no contest ... I choose the vegan life for both reasons now.

Thanksgiving & Hanukkah together.

Happy Thanksgiving!!! 
Happy Hanukkah!!!

Art I Love.

During the last five months I met several new people. One had a talent that really caught my eye. Artist Raymond T. Brown paints reverse glass art (verre eglomise). His technique is unusual. He is starting to have his own website. There are facebook pages that has his art. He is an ARTIST FRIEND to me.    

This is called "Music With Meaning". For Sale.

This is my painting hanging on the wall.

Bayou Segnette State Park

http://www.stateparks.com/bayou_segnette.html

     I love going to this park which is not very far from my house. It is dog friendly. Peppy & Sable are very happy walking the trails. The park has several of them & all are easy access. I love the camping areas where there are trails also. I have enjoyed trips there with & without the dogs.

My Mom: Marie Marx.

I have not written in quite a while. No trips to talk about. Now camping & hiking story to tell. Yet I have been on a journey. A long journey. The Journey I walked with my mom Marie Marx. She passed May 26th at 6:19 in her home in her sleep with her 4 children in the house. Breast Cancer took her after she has survived many illnesses, Uterine Cancer, Skin Cancer, heart attack, & strokes in her life time. Being her caregiver was the hardest thing ever because being a veteran caregiver I knew all what I was seeing as it went along. My advice to all is to love one another, hate no one, forgive always (does not mean you must hang with them),& always be ready to move on. Take Care & God Bless. Marie Marx RIP. 

Walkin' to New Orleans

The Natchez Trace at Jeff Busby Campground.

   The trip was very nice. It was shadowed though by a death very very close to me. Veronica died at 3:04am and I left for the trip at 6am that day. 

   Jeff Busby campground is free. It is primitive but RVs are accommodated. For a free ground i found it better than some paid places I have stayed. I/others tent camped, another opened camped with tarps, A guy used a jungle hammock, and there were many RVs that pulled in for a night or two then left. The place was basicly very clean and kept up. 

   I loved the nature hiking trail. You can hike it as a long trail, slightly shorter trail, or a short trail. It is a little rough and requires some strength to endure the hilly terrain. What am I saying it is called Little Mountain Trail and that is exactly what it is. A mountain trail. It has a small waterfall. When it has rained for a while the water flow is from several flows and stronger. When a dry spell there is one lower flow.

   The road up to the top of the mountain is called Summit Road. On the top is a beautiful view from both sides of the parking lot. It is also the beginning of the trail.  

   I enjoyed all the sites that The Natchez Trace offered From French Camp to Tupelo Mississippi. There is another campground called Witch Dance between Jeff Busby and Tupelo. We stopped there to check it out. Great campground for bikers and backpackers.