Post Two

Today has been an interesting day. I am still trying to learn this method of communication. I guess this is a method of publishing. Now I can say I am a published author. Somehow that does not have the same meaning as when I was a child. Then, if you were a published author you had worked hard and accomplished something. Vanity presses were in exsistence then but it was considered gauche to use one. Even those who did sucumb to that temptation did so only for their own friends and family. They did not broadcast it to the world. I guess that reflects the mores of the day also. You were supposed to work for what you got. Work was a good thing. It was the means whereby you put food on the table, a roof over your head and provided for your family. My hard work lessons were learned in many places. Some of them were harder learned that others. Bucking hay looked easy when I watched my older cousins do it. When I tried my hand at it I quickly learned just how difficult this work was. Milking cows was another of those jobs that looked easy when done by the experienced hand. My hands needed to be trained and I was not willing to devote much time to that lesson.

Over the years I did get many lessons in hard work. In the harvest season around my hometown the canneries were busy. I worked there once. The local winery also got the benefit of my labor for a while. Driving the sweeper and pick-up machines in the almond and walnut orchards was an agricultural activity that kept me busy two different times with two different companies. Both of these years proved to me that my stamina was sufficient for great tasks. Sometimes working thirty plus hours without sleep, putting in ninety hours in a week, lifting heavy loads, eating while in the drivers seat all let me know that I was a capable young man. Confidence comes from accomplishments. I sometimes look back for encouragement. It is good to have accomplishments to look back on. I will say that they sometimes help to propel me to the next accomplishment.

Maybe this will be my next accomplishment. I think sometime this week you will get my first restaurant review. Or, maybe a recipe; I've got some good ones. Maybe both. Southern California is a large area and has a multitude of restaurants. Some good ones are in my town, others are very close by. I try to support the local businesses whenever possible, avoiding the national chains and limiting my trips to the regional chains unless they have their headquarters locally. You will have to be the judge of my epicurean talents.

May God bless and keep you.