Lightkeeper's Journal

Recipe for Homemade Success

 

 

Article by Curtis Beaird

Photography by Curtis and Norma Beaird

 

My grandmother, like your grandmother, could cook. She had killer recipes for homemade vanilla ice cream, lemon cake, spaghetti and meatballs that satisfied us all. A weekend with our grandparents without a sugar coma from consuming large slabs of her Japanese Fruitcake would not have been a complete weekend. 

All of that and her fresh tomatoes, seasoned and slow-cooked to a sauce, always made us glad as kids we were going to Nonnies house.  Home-grown. Home-cooked. Her recipe. 

It dawned on me that success, when we experience it and enjoy it, is and finally becomes a home-built process. Our success is something we cook up.  We gather a little bit of information from here, some advice from there. A friend or two gives us some insight and ideas, or we open one of the many "How To's" on the subject and glean from that what we can. 

But, mostly through trial and error we cobble together our recipe for what becomes our version of success. What follows is my attempt to sketch out a recipe for the always elusive goal of success. Like my grandmother would say, "If you think of something else you want to add, try it, there is always room for improvement."

1. Give up dependence. Choose responsibility. Seek advice, but reserve the right to decide for yourself. It is your life. Why wear yourself out serving someone else's  dream? Dream your own dreams, unless you don't want to. Then, the other person's dream might be your best bet.  Either way.  It is your choice. 

2.  Beware the person with all the answers. Ask yourself these questions:  

What or who is influencing me?

What is pushing me?

What or who is attracting me?

Why am I fascinated by this and not by that? 

3.  Know yourself is wonderful advice. The need for self-knowledge has been repeated literally for ages. The idea got its start with Socrates. It's been around awhile. 

However, while "know thyself " is wonderful advice.

Learn to manage yourself is better advice.

How we function in a given situation is up to us. 

4.  Beware the person with the resume of a savior, the ego the size of a mountain, and the financial attitude designed to impress. Charisma can be, and often is, seduction by another name.  Don't kid yourself. It might feel good, look good, even glisten like diamonds in the moonlight, but count on it - it is going to cost you.  

5.  Never make the same mistake twice. How?  Understanding how you think; how you make your decisions.  Knowing why you choose this and not that is important for you to know. Work past the easy explanation of heredity, genetics, the devil and social pressure. You made a decision. What was the reason?  This will cut down on making the same mistake two, three or four times.  Pay attention.

6.  Find a friend. Friendship is a relationship that seldom, if ever, has money as the glue that holds it together. If it is friendship, both individuals invest in the relationship. The measure:  Who calls?  Who texts?  Who e-mails? 

Equal investment is the requirement. If you are doing all the work in the relationship, you have not found a friend. If they are doing all or most of the work, you are not being a friend. Ask why, either way, the imbalance exists.  Friendship is not free.  Trust is important. Pay attention. 

7.  Define what is important to you. Half the world wakes up in the morning with a to-do-list for the other half. Where are you on that continuum? You need to know. 

8.  Define what is important to you. The entire world wakes up with a to-do-list for you to complete.  Ask yourself: 

Why am I doing what I am doing?

Why do I spend money the way I do?

Why am I here and not there? 

How did I get here?

Do I remember making the decision?  

Think about it.

9.  Never kid yourself. You decided. It was your decision. Explanations are fun to generate. They make for wonderful conversation. They eventually and finally insulate us from the obvious truth -- I made the decision. Never kid yourself. Blame no one.

10.  A corollary to number nine. Never lie to yourself. It is the mark of insanity.

  

11.  Know this truth. There are lies. Recognize them and give them their rightful name. Generate as few of your own as possible. Jesus' promise, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth will make you free" is available at all times.  Pay attention.

12.  Reserve the right to shred all advice, forget all instruction, rearrange all direction. It is your life. "They told me. He said. She made me" is no way to live the one precious life we have.  Think….. and think for yourself.  Please know. There is a multitude who are only to glad to think for you, decide for you, and bill you for their time.  

13.  Learn to learn. Education is more and generally something other than acquiring a degree. Thinking is your best asset. Your mind Is more precious than any silver and gold you will ever gather. Your brain is priceless.  Cultivate it.  Learn to learn.

14.  Your best friends are curiosity, imagination and fascination. Poking around the edges of things easily becomes the one thing that leads to another, and then to another. "Seek and ye shall find" is an exciting invitation and an energizing promise. The road less traveled is more fun if only because the scenery hasn't been trampled by the lumbering footsteps of the thoughtless herd. Have some fun. Even scare yourself. Explore.  

15. Beware the comfort of large groups. They easily become mindless crowds. Observe group insanity from a distance. Reserve the right to engage or disengage.  The advantage will always remain yours. You will need that advantage.

16.  Listen. Listen to yourself, listen to the silence, listen to the wind in the trees. The still voice of God seldom shouts, almost always hints, and has an uncanny way of being heard in the silence. Quiet the noise of your wants, needs, longings and the sometimes out-of-control desires long enough to hear the calling.  Listen.  

17.  Find pleasure in discovery. "Seek and ye shall find" is a promise of involvement. Sometimes, finding your way is found in the way of waiting. Ideas, opportunities, insights and understanding often shows up like a little kid who just wanders in with his hands in his pockets.  Pay attention. 

18.  Have fun. Play is important to your creativity. Someone smart told me that. 

19.  Rest. God did.

20.  Love. God does.

21.  Live your life. Your life is God's gift to you.  He said so:

"I am come that they might have life,

and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10 

 

 

Copyright 2013, Curtis Beaird.  All rights reserved.  

 

The Bird Watcher's Power Breakfast......or Brunch!

 

 

Recipe and photo of this most satisfying dish by Norma W. Beaird

 

This is a recipe for folks who like some good eatin'!

 

"The Bird Watcher's Power Breakfast......... or Brunch"  

 

Ingredients and Items Needed:

A non-stick frying pan or a Lodge cast iron skillet with a good patina on it.  (Love me some Lodge cast iron skillets, made right here in the U.S.)

Two wooden spatulas

A bowl big enough for dipping a slice of bread into the egg mixture

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Some good quality oil with a high smoke point)

4 slices of wheat bread  (You can use one or two pieces of bread per person, depending on how hungry you are at the moment.)  

4 eggs

1 tablespoon of mayonnaise 

1 tablespoon of sour cream

Salt & pepper (to your liking......)

A cup of shredded cheese (can be any type of cheese, can be more or less, but the Mexican or Taco shredded cheese is simply fabulous)

Now, for some recipe action:

First of all, heat up some Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the frying pan (just enough to swirl around and cover the bottom of the pan.......... as though you're a real chef on the Food Network)  

Note:  Don't go past medium to medium-high heat because it may set off the smoke alarm!

Take a whisk or a fork and mix together the eggs, salt & pepper, mayo, sour cream and shredded cheese in a bowl that is big enough for dipping the bread. Be sure the ingredients are completely mixed together.  Don't leave clumps of mayo and sour cream in the mixture.  Mix it up, folks!

Now, here comes the fun part.......take a piece of wheat bread and dip it in the mixture.  Oh yes, you are getting excited now!  Be sure that both sides of the bread are completely covered in the mixture!!  This may take some intense concentration, so have a cup of Eight O'Clock coffee next to the stove.

Note:  The reason that I suggest wheat bread is because it holds up better in the mixture.  Soft white bread can be substituted, but it has a tendency to fall apart.  (Now that's some good advice right there......)

After the Extra Virgin Olive Oil has heated up, place the dipped bread into the pan.  We use the two wooden spatulas to flip the bread.  It works wonderfully (plus, you feel as though you have your own cooking show).  Let the egg mixture cook on the bread for about a minute, flip it over using both spatulas and cook it on the other side.  ("Hey Paula Deen, need a new guest for your program?")

Now, according to how "done" you want your eggs, you may want to cook the bread on each side until you see a brown crust.  This may take a few minutes.  The cheese helps to form a beautiful crunch! The key to success is to cook it slow on both sides.  (Young ladies, you can really impress the men folks with this recipe!) 

You can garnish this lovely dish with tomatoes or avocado; and, if you're in a really Southern mood, some bacon or grits.  You can also add hot sauce or picante sauce & more sour cream.  Folks, this dish gives new meaning to comfort food.    

**This dish will serve 2 people based upon 2 slices of bread per person.

Whew! That's some good eatin'!   I didn't say that it would lower your cholesterol, but I will say that you'll be full, happy & satisfied……and you'll have plenty of energy for hours to do some intense birding!!  

"Don't look at me Pistol, I didn't eat all of the peanuts!"

 

 

Copyright 2013, Norma W. Beaird.  All rights reserved.   

 

Photography as a Teacher

 

 

Article by Curtis Beaird

Photography by Curtis and Norma Beaird

 

Even Photography can be our teacher. 

 

If a mind is a terrible thing to waste, photography is an excellent way to develop it.  The world we live in is filled with ever-changing variety. While a cloud structure may be given the name Cumulonimbus, there are no copies.  Each one is original to the moment we see it. 

The view through a camera lens first engages, then immerses the mind in that time of originality.  Questions present themselves. How long will it build?  How high will it climb?  Will the rolling gray edges expand and gather into the blue? 

With face fastened to the back of the camera, with my eye intent on every advantage that sight offers, my energy builds as the intensity of concentration gathers itself through each click of the shutter.  That moment.  That single moment has come and gone, and will never be again.  I made a record of the sighting.  The moment was not lost for lack of attention or focus.  I saw it.  I remember it.  I will share it.  I am a photographer.   

 

Photography taught me focus. 

Turning or sliding the barrel of a lens produces one sort of focus. That technical process produces the mechanical reproduction of what the lens is pointed at.  The sharper the better, unless of course; we prefer the soft focus of a child's cheeks or a puppies nose.  Gentle focus is also ours to produce.  Just turn or slide the barrel a little more or a little less. 

The focus that photography offers me is more a matter of attending to the subject.  First seeing, then appreciating what I see.  As Switzer put it, "The universe in a drop of water."  It is the focus of being captured by colors.  The reds, the greens, the blues as they blend, offering that "one of a kind" moment. 

Shadows play across the edge of the rose.  Light reflects, refracts and redefines the melting ice as a mirror of wonder and enchantment. Click. Click. Click.

Paying attention becomes more like breathing than grim determination.  Strident discipline and forced concentration are non-existent.  Flow replaces the brittle edges of effort and will. "I can" replaces "I must."  The moment becomes what it is - eternity.  The tattered is stitched together.  Life is made whole.  Click. Click. Click.

 

Photography taught me Faith.

I love clouds. Their boiling immensity of grays and blues.  Their fleeting wisps of thin whites playing free and easy on a wind only they can make visible.  Both the bold and powerful, the fluffy and gauze-thin streaks playing against a blue background called sky, so rich that it takes your breath away.  It has forever held me spellbound.  

While Joyce Kilmer said, "I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree," I would say, "I think I will never see a poem as powerful, as captivating, and awe-inspiring as a cloud."  And then, it is gone.  Clouds in the spring and early summer form and reform.  They appear in all their unique wonder. I scramble for my camera. 

Where is the memory card?  It's in the slot on the side of the computer.  Grab it.  Flip the door on the edge of the Canon.  Slid.  Snap.  Move.  I'm out the door.  Back at the spot in the yard.  The perfect angle with the green of a huge pecan tree as foreground. The exact spot where I saw the cloud shaping and shifting.  But wait. What happened?  It's gone. 

Thirty seconds in the life of a cloud is forever.  Whoever said, "The only constant is change" must have learned it from a cloud. 

As it often turns out, the best cloud I ever saw has always been the last one I didn't manage to photograph.  From imagination-powered fascination to a sense of loss is a photographers periodic experience.  That is the dark side of fascination.  Some really do get away. 

The experience is common enough that we even invented a term for that moment when we are captivated by a visual moment and capture it right then and right there.  It's called the "grab shot".    

Then it dawned on me. Like the manna from heaven that was fresh every morning, there would be another cloud.  Then another and another.  Each one offered by the creator God, Who is endless with His offerings and generous with His bounty. 

Now, instead of lamenting the loss of the last and presumably the best cloud that I missed and will never see again,  I enjoy and share the many I have photographed.  I celebrate the many more waiting to appear in all their beauty and grandure. The best cloud?  I will see it tomorrow. 

Click. Click Click. 

 

 Copyright 2013, Curtis Beaird.  All rights reserved.