ARTICLE: A Simple Act Of Kindness

This article was originally published at Bubblews May 5, 2013, a website that no longer exists.

Have you ever come across a video that makes you go…..WOW, and puts you in a good mood? This recently happened to me as I was surfing around and lurking on some of my friend's profiles over at Facebook and came across a short video on my of my friend's profiles. The video is called Kindness Boomerang - "One Day" and is a mere 5:45 long.

Here's a very short scenario of what the video is about. It opens up with a bunch of kids skateboarding, one kid falls and lands on the sidewalk, a construction worker runs over to help the boy get up, the kid thanks the man and goes on his way. The boy now comes across an elderly woman struggling with her packages of groceries, and he decides to help carry some of her groceries and help her cross the street. The elderly woman in turns sees a woman trying to find money for the parking meter, she, the elderly woman gives the other woman change for the meter and goes on her way. The "meter" woman sees a man coming out of a store who drops something on the sidewalk, picks up the item and goes to the man to give his lost item back. The man continues on his way and sees a man struggling to take a large, heavy suitcase out of the trunk of his car, well as you can guess the man decides to help the other man carry the large suitcase. And on and on it goes with one act of kindness after another. Ah, but the beauty of it is, that as the title of the video suggests "Boomerang", since the very last scene shows a waitress who was shown an act of kindness sees a tired, sweaty construction worker and decides to give him a glass of water, yes the very same construction guy who helped the boy after he fell off his skateboard.

In our own lives we may never know what one simple act of kindness may do. I may not have the same opportunities to help someone as in the examples given in this video, but I try my best, even if it's only to say hello and give a smile to a complete stranger while walking on the street who may have a downcast expression on their face. You can't believe how suddenly their expression changes and their face now lights up with a smile back.

Here's the video over at Youtube if you wish to see it in its entirety:

Kindness Boomerang-"One Day"

I also btw fell in love with the song and managed to track it down. The music used in the video is a song called One Day by Matisyahu

Article: A New Arrival In My Life

IMAGE SOURCE~©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTO

Composite photo of "Ouija"

This article was originally written for the Bubblews website on May 7, 2013, which no longer exists

The very first article I wrote here at Bubblews was about the grief I felt with the passing of my black cat Pyewacket three years ago. I've had cats since I was five years old, and have loved them all, but some pets stick in our hearts more and have a more special meaning to our lives. In the case of Pyewacket, he seemed to have come into my life when it was the most turbulent, it was almost as if his arrival in my life at that particular time was to act as a helper during those years.

Deep inside I knew I wanted to adopt another cat, specifically a black cat, as throughout my life, on and off, I've had black cats. I never had any superstitions about black cats, especially about them being bad luck, if anything I considered them good luck and had a unique quality all their own. Still, as much as I longed to get another black cat, I just couldn't bring myself to do so. I still had my Kissy, a grey tabby and she became "queen" of the domain for nearly three years.

Then beginning last year I was starting to have what could only be described as "panicky" thoughts. Those rather dumb thoughts that circulate in one's mind over and over again. You see I was realizing that Kissy was getting on in years, she's 13 years old. And yes, I'm hoping and praying she has many, many more years of life with me, but that panicky thought came that, OMG, what if I wake up one day and found she was gone from my life. When Pyewacket died I feel into a deep depression and was almost non-functional, so the idea that Kissy might pass on would be too much for me to bear.

Then around October of last year, there was an on-line auction with the Grayson County Humane Society in Leitchfield, KY over at Facebook. There were a variety of items one could bid on, but there was also the opportunity to be a cosponsor for one of the cats at their shelter. I came across one such cat, named "Dot"…he was primarily black but with a white "dot" on his chest, so I chose him to cosponsor along with two other people. Time moved on and I thought to myself, well why not take it to the next level? Why not, instead of just being a cosponsor, why not adopt him?

It took about a month in the making. I filled out the on-line application and crossed my fingers that my application for adoption went through and was accepted. It was. Now came the tricky part. I couldn't have him right away, as transportation had to be arranged as the Grayson County Humane Society, and thus "Dot" was in KY…I'm here in the NYC area. But yes, transportation was arranged for not only Dot but for several other pets who were being transported to their new forever homes as far as Maine!

On December 1, 2012, Dot officially came to my home. Kissy who is timid and will hide when strangers are about and she did indeed hide when the transporter came to my place…Kissy had no idea what she was in for. Lindsey the transporter let Dot out of the carrier and he came trotting right over to me as if we were old buddies and had been in my life all along. I was hoping that Lindsey could have stayed a bit longer, but she had to start the trek back to KY. So now it was just me and Dot, and of course, Kissy. Dot began investigating all over the place as if to check it out, in fact he explored the bedroom and hopped on my bed…LOL..this cat was taking over the joint!

I soon discovered that Dot didn't just have a white dot on his chest, but also some white on his "armpits" area and white on the lower part of his stomach. I also realized I really didn't care for his shelter name, I wanted something different. I was thinking of renaming him Shadow, but already had had a Shadow in years past, then thought of Salem, nope, then Binx, as in the name of the boy in the movie Hocus Pocus that had been turned into a black cat; nope, didn't care for that either. I was even tempted to maybe call him Pyewacket II…that idea quickly dissolved. About two nights after Dot had come into my life, it hit me. I was drifting off to sleep and the word Ouija struck me…this, Dot became Ouija.

Ouija isn't exactly a "kitten", I'm figuring he's about a year old already, but he sure as heck has kitten energy and definitely keeps me on my toes; he follows me around like a puppy dog, is very, very affectionate and loves to keep me company while I'm sleeping.

How does my Kissy take to Ouija? Uh, not too well. Even though some months have passed, she continues to hiss and growl at him, and maybe even swat him on the head when he comes near her. I often feel sorry for Ouija since I sense since he sees another kitty in the house he simply wants to play with her. I can at least be thankful that there hasn't been WWIII here, and sometimes I even catch them side by side eating from the same plate of food, even though I have two separate plates for them. I've come to the realization that the two of them aren't going to be cuddle bugs.

The photo I include here is Ouija the very first day he came to me on December 1st.

UPDATE: Sadly on Septmeber 1, 2015, my other cat Kissy did indeed pass on. She was 15 years old. I used to name her "picklepuss" due to the way she never took to Ouija. I sure miss that "picklepuss" though. Composite Photo of Kissy

ARTICLE: Flame Retardant Chemical May Prove To Be Highly Toxic To Our Pets

IMAGE SOURCE: ©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTO

This article was originally written May 17, 2013 at Bubblews, a website that no longer exists.

Beginning around the 1970s a chemical flame retardant was added to vitally everything in our home environment; the idea being that by adding this chemical could greatly reduce the chance of a fire quickly going out of control, the chemical slowed the process down if a fire occurred in one's home. The chemical was added to virtually everything from the foam padding in beds, sofas, electrical wiring and appliances, electronics (including our cell phones), even clothing. Great idea right? Wrong!!

There have been ongoing studies that are linking the connection and showing that cats, especially indoor only cats, are being greatly affected by this flame retardant chemical, it's downright killing them and an alarming growing rate. It affects cats by triggering off hyperthyroidism in which while cats may demonstrate ravenous appetites, and instead of gaining weight, actually waste away until they die. How ironic and pathetically sad. Here we are, those of us keeping our cats indoors to keep them safe, not allowing them to go outdoors as we want to protect them from the dangers of being outdoor cats; that is the possibility of them being run over by a car, or pick up diseases and instead a danger may exist right in one's home and prove deadly to our feline friends. I'm also wondering if those nice expensive cat condos and cozy beds we get for our cats may also have this flame retardant chemical. Of course, it may not be only cats affected by the chemical, but we humans as well, and especially children. Also, how many of you when you get a new set of bed sheets or towels have noticed a rather strange smell to them? I only did recently get new bed sheets and don't ask how many times I had to wash them first before I could use them. Bottom line, our homes are ticking toxic time bombs to our pets, children and ourselves.

Unfortunately, this isn't the only incident where we may be endangering the health and lives of our cats. It's been long known how deadly flea and tick products can be; many cats exposed to flea/tick products can suffer permanent neurological disorders, even death. Another danger to cats are simple household cleaners, especially anything that contains the chemical phenol, and again can also trigger neurological problems and possible death as well. The real irony is that the USA's EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has KNOWN about the dangers of of these chemicals for decades, yet have they banned them? NO!

Other articles related to this issue:

Flame Retardant Article

Flame Retardant Article 2

If you wish to read up on the dangers of flea/tick products and household cleaners, I wrote extensive articles about both.

My article about the dangers of flea/tick products:

Flea/Tick Products

My article about the dangers of household cleaners:

Dangers of Household Cleaners

Article: Close Encounters Of The Paranormal Kind: Part 3

This article was originally written June 22, 2013 at Bubblews, a website that no longer exists

IMAGE SOURCE~©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTO

The photo is a typical "set-up" I have on Samhain/Halloween. One will notice the urns and photos of my former cats Pyewacket, who passed on April 19, 2010, and of Kissy, who passed on September 1, 2015. Kissy in particular was still alive when I had originally written this article.

This is the third in a series of articles I'm writing about my past "paranormal" experiences. I invite you to read the first two of which I give a link at the end of this article.

As I previously explained in both prior articles, the mystical, metaphysical and paranormal realms were never strange to me as I grew up in such beliefs due to my way ahead. with it great grandmother. Whenever I had experienced my own paranormal occurrences to me they were normal; they never frightened nor scared me in the least. There was one experience however that was, well, a bit strange even to me. I have to confess I rarely talk about this incident since I can't help thinking that if I did, I could expect a truck with men in white coats coming after me and fitting me in a jacket….But here goes…going to reveal it now.

It was something that took place four years ago and on Halloween night…uh, perfect setting, no? What people don't realize about Halloween is that it's actually based on old Celtic pagan and wicca beliefs and is called Samhain. It is one of the known festivals celebrated by neo-pagans and wiccans of today and is considered our New Year. I say "our" since yes folks, I follow the pagan/wicca path myself.

With Samhain is the belief that the veil between worlds is the thinnest and that the spirits of the dead can visit the living. Such a concept is not only a belief among neo-pagans or wiccans but is also observed and celebrated in other cultures, particularly among people of Hispanic origins, especially in Mexico. In this case the day is known as El Dia De Los Muertos (Day Of The Dead), which by the way has its origins from pre-Columbian times. Many people may be familiar with how the image of the skull predominates El Dia De Los Muertos. Is it no wonder then with our "modern" Halloween that ghosts, ghouls, goblins and skeletons are associated with the holiday itself?

In either case, whether it's a celebration of Samhain, El Dia De Los Muertos or Halloween, it is by no means a "morbid" celebration, but a fond remembrance of those who passed on before us. Since I am of the pagan/wicca path, I too celebrate Halloween/Samhain in my own special way and have a special ritual that I do and have done so ever since I first started following the pagan/wiccan path some twelve years ago.

On this particular Halloween/Samhain four years ago, I became very reflective, not so much with wanting to honor family members who had passed on, but for some reason I had become rather melancholy with my cats of my past who had left my life. So on Halloween night, I set up my altar that I have in my bedroom, which consists of three candles, my statue of Bast (rather appropriate), my Egyptian type incense holder, and a variety of other items that had special meaning to me. I also decorated my altar with a bouquet of Chrysanthemums, and also with Halloween themed items, such as small pumpkins, fall leaves, and Halloween type candy. Then I went one step further, I opened up a can of cat food and placed it on a plate and placed the plate on my altar.

After my little ceremony, I left the bedroom with the incense still burning and the candles lit and went into the living room area and decided to get some work done in front of my computer. My computer desk is right next to my sofa and I noticed that both my cats, Pyewacket and Kissy were sound, sound asleep on the sofa; they were clearly in full view all the time that I was in front of the computer. At one point while sitting in front of the computer I remembered a book I had in my bedroom that I wanted and decided to get it. Once in the bedroom, I passed by my altar to retrieve the book. As I passed the altar again to go back into the living room, I looked down at the altar and that's when I noticed something. Something was missing. Can you guess? Yes, the plate of cat food was completely empty, not a morsel was on it. Since I can see the living room from my bedroom I still noticed both cats sound asleep, so there was no way either of them could have come into the bedroom and eaten the food.

Perhaps when I think of it, that experience really isn't so odd. I've talked with other pet owners who have had their own "encounters" of pets who had passed on and who have "visited" them; such as seeing a shadowy movement in their peripheral vision, hearing sounds, to even feeling the presence of a former pet hopping on their bed and snuggling up with them as they sleep.

There have been documented cases of people experiencing "encounters" with the spirits of pets, especially with cats. One such good read and of which I highly recommend is Dusty Rainbolt's "Ghost Cats: Human Encounters With Feline Spirits"

Have any of you experienced the presence of a former pet?

My first Paranormal type article:

First Paranormal Article

Second Paranormal Article:

Second Paranormal Article

ARTICLE: Close Encounters Of The Paranormal Kind: Part 2

IMAGE SOURCE: PHOTO FROM THE INTERNET

This article first appeared on Bubblews on June 18, 2013, a website that no longer exists

Sometime ago I had written about one of my paranormal experiences I had in my life and I include the link to it at the end of this article should you like to read it.

To me the "paranormal" realm was never a strange or foreign concept, since off and on throughout my life I've had such experiences; ironically to me they were "normal". Two experiences no doubt saved my life.

The one "occurrence" took place during the summer of 1980 when I was 24 years old. I was one of those women who would be plagued by painful cysts every month when I got my period. They would come and go, come and go. Well this one time, a cyst wasn't going away as it usually did, yet I still didn't exactly race to the doctor's to get it checked out. Finally, I gave in and decided to go to the doctor. My doctor was the type where you didn't need to set up an appointment, you just walked in and waited your turn. Upon arriving at my doctor's office though a sign was tacked up on his door indicating he was on vacation and wouldn't be back for a good two weeks or so. The sign also indicated that for any emergency to go to the hospital. I took note of which hospital and went home.

Once home I started to get into my daily yoga routine…I was laying on the floor doing my yoga breathing, my eyes closed and I was nice and relaxed. All of a sudden this very loud booming voice in my mind said, "You need help NOW!" Well maybe to some people if they suddenly hear a loud voice in their heads would probably freak out thinking they were going, well, a bit daft, but as I mentioned since I've experienced "paranormal" type events all my life, it didn't phase me in the least, but I realized, yes, maybe I needed my health problem, my cyst taken care of. I waited until both my mother and grandmother came home from work and told them that I needed to go to the hospital and told them why; I never had mentioned about my cyst problems before to them and certainly hadn't this time. We got a cab and went over to the ER of the hospital and waited and waited. Once I had a doctor examine me, among other things I had so many blood tests taken it was a wonder I had any blood left at all. Some hours passed by I was admitted to a room and right away hooked up to IV antibiotics. I never exactly questioned my admittance to the hospital, I just kind of took it in stride.

A full week would pass by with my constantly being pumped up with IV antibiotics, and then I was scheduled for surgery to drain out the cyst. All went well and it took another week for my incision to continue to drain and heal and the nurses would change the bandage everyday. Finally I was ready to go home, but before I did one of the attending nurses asked me, "Do you know what your temperature was when you were admitted?" I said no, and never even had thought to ask. She said 106.8. I think my eyes nearly popped out. You see I had absolutely no symptom of a high fever, no dizziness, no fatigue, nada, and it was due to that cyst I had that turned out to be highly infected, thus the antibiotics. Heck, I've felt worse when having a temperature of only 101.

Now we zoom up to May of 1996. I was walking along this very busy area of the neighborhood doing some errands. Upon reaching one street to cross, the light was starting to change against me, but figured I had enough time to cross it. Instead, some "hot rodder" decided to zoom down the street even before the light changed green for him. All I can say is I understand why "roadkill" occurs…here I was in the middle of the street crossing it, seeing this car coming at me at full speed ahead, and I froze…I just plain couldn't move for some reason. Any second, that car was about to hit me full impact, when suddenly I felt this tremendous push from behind me, pushing me to safety and out of harms way of that speeding car. I was notably shaken up and realized how close I had come to being a fatal statistic. However here was the weird part. When I looked behind me to see who had pushed me out of the way, guess what? No one one was there. Once again I could have been freaked out by such an experience but I wasn't…I realized that some guardian angel no doubt was watching over me and protecting me.

My first article about my "paranormal" experiences:

First Paranormal Experience Article

ARTICLE: Close Encounters Of The Paranormal Kind

IMAGE SOURCE~©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTO

Photo of my great grandfather, great grandmother and my mother circa early 1950s

This article originally appeared on Bubblews on May 21, 2013, a website which no longer exists

I think a little "background" information is needed here. Despite my having grown up in a Christian background and upbringing, from early on I was aware of the more "paranormal" metaphysical and mystical realms, thanks and due to my way ahead great-grandmother. It was she who, despite being Catholic, was into the ideas and concepts of reincarnation, ESP, psychic awareness; she was even "into" Edgar Cayce, the famous psychic who had given "readings" during the 1930s and 1940s, so the whole "paranormal" world wasn't so strange to me. In fact, I was to experience the paranormal on and off nearly all my life.

I had a very close bond and connection with my great grandmother, more so than either my mother or grandmother, which may have explained what happened during the last week of August of 1970 when I was fifteen years old. At that time my grandmother, mother and I were away on vacation in the Lancaster, PA area. One night, fairly late, we were all watching the Johnny Carson Show. All of a sudden I was overwhelmed by this scent flooding the hotel room. I recognized it as the favorite perfume of my great grandmother. I asked both my mother and grandmother if they could smell it; of course, they looked at me as if I were daft.

Very early the next morning we got a phone call. It was from one of my great grandmother's neighbors to tell us that she had been rushed to the hospital but had passed away. When? The exact time I started smelling that perfume of hers flooding the hotel room and this was hundreds of miles away from where my great grandmother was in the NYC area.

Sometime passes and now of course my grandmother, mother and I were home and my great grandmother had her funeral already. One night, very late I would say around near 3 a.m., both my mother and grandmother were sound asleep while I was still awake reading. Something compelled me to look up from my book. At the foot of my bed, I could very clearly see a female form, yes, it was the spirit of my great grandmother.

I guess for many people such an occurrence like this might totally freak a person out no end, but as I mentioned, I've had "paranormal" experiences on and off all my life…to me they're normal. Maybe I'll tell of some of my other experiences I've had at another time. A few saved my life.

Has The Internet "Cheapened" The Creative Fields?

IMAGE SOURCE~©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTO

Article Originally Published At the Bubblews Website on May 1, 2013, a website which no longer exists.

In a word yes it has, and has particularly hurt writers and photographers. I've been involved with photography ever since I was a child. Back then I used to borrow my mother's vintage Kodak Brownie camera. It wasn't until around 1976 that I got my first 35mm film camera, a Kalimar. I was instantly hooked on the 35mm film photography world, so much so I took classes in how to develop black & white film and prints. By learning how to develop my own film and prints that really triggered my love for photographing and the following year "graduated" to a 35mm Nikkormat El-W SLR. I primarily became a nature photographer, but would also set up my living room like a studio complete with lighting equipment and would do commercial type photos on a holiday theme such as Halloween, Christmas and Easter. The idea then occurred to me, hey why not try and get my work published.

Now back in those days people didn't have computers, most businesses didn't have websites, and the digital format of photography didn't even exist then, so since one couldn't simply send photos as an email attachment, one had to send their photographic work via the old fashioned way, yes, by snail mail. When it came to color photography, I primarily used the now discontinued 35mm Kodachrome slide film, it was the accepted format when submitting portfolios of ones work to a publisher or client. So here I'd be, picking out slides of my work that I thought suitable for a particular publication, mail them off and keep my fingers crossed that at least one of my photos would be accepted and published. It took awhile but lo and behold, when I sent a portfolio of my slides to Unity Magazine, my very first photo was accepted and published on the cover of the April 1980 issue (I include a photo of the cover here). This of course inspired me to keep at it, to keep sending my photos for publication, and from the years 1980 to 1986, I was a regularly published photographer. And what did I earn for my published work? On average one-hundred dollars.

"Life" intervened and I had to stop my photographic endeavors, but all the while in the back of my mind, I hoped to somehow resume my photography work. It wasn't until around 2002 that I became computer savvy and relied on library computers ; it wouldn't be until 2006 that I not only got my own first computer but a film scanner to digitize my slides, negatives and prints to digitize them. But boy, I was in for a shock at just how much times had changed for the photography world in general.

Of course by then most people had access to their own computers, most people were involved with digital photography, but something else cropped up…the microstock websites. Even way back when I was getting my work published there had been the Stock Photo Agencies and in most cases, one submitted their slides and if the company liked the work would keep them and promote your work on your behalf…payment was usually 50-50, meaning they got half of the earnings of your work. Microstock websites work differently however. One can join up these sites and upload their photographic work on-site (no more sending work via snail mail) and hope the work is chosen and published. But the rate of pay is mere peanuts! A "client" wishing for a particular photo to illustrate something can go to these microstock sites and download the image for about $2.00 and usually for "royalty free" licensing, which means once the client has purchased the image can use it over and over again without further compensation to the photographer. And what does the photographer earn with each download of their image? A mere 25¢. This is all a vast difference from the "old" licensing methods in the past, such as one-time rights, meaning the client "purchased" the image for about $50.00, $100.00 or more dollars and could only use it once. If the client wanted to use the image again, they were obligated to pay the photographer again.

The writing world has also suffered similar effects of the whole internet~computer world. Once again, in years gone by, if someone wrote an article or short story for a magazine, one had to submit a typewritten manuscript and send it by snail mail, and rate of pay was so many cents per word, and of course exclusive type articles could fetch even more. Of course all that has changed also. Yes, how easy it is now to either submit articles or short stories again via email attachment, or submit directly on-line to any magazine, newspaper, or other writing site, but as in the case of the photographic world, the writing world as I see it has suffered.

Yes there are pros about the whole internet~computer world. Either as a photographer or writer, we can submit our work via email or directly on-site, and instead of crossing one's fingers that our work may be published and perhaps waiting weeks or even months to find out if any of our work has been accepted for publication, it can be merely a few days or even instantaneously that our work is accepted and published. But at what cost? As I see it, it unfortunately means our work no longer has the value it once had. How sad.

UPDATE TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE:

There's another hiccup with the digital writing world, especially with those article writing type websites; many tend to "disappear". With so many talented writers, often times in a sense. fierce competition begins and the websites literally become overwhelmed and somewhere along the line, those writing websites just plain can't pay it's writers. This is what happened I believe with the one website I was writing for called Bubblews. One did not have to write long, lengthy "articles" or "Bubbles" to submit to the site; so what happened was, was that people often submitted several "Bubbles" in one day. The original minimum payout one had to reach before being paid was $25.00. One got "paid" every time someone viewed one's article, however, it was mere "pennies" per view of one's article. Then no doubt due to the rising "competition" going on with the website, they upped the minimum payout to $50.00, so naturally, it took a lot longer to achieve that minimum. Well, I have to confess, I didn't write for Bubblews as much as other websites I had been writing for, but I kept checking my status of how much I had earned. I had reached $47.00. Yahoo! Only three dollars short of the minimum. A few days passed, and I decided to check my status again. This is what I got:

Yes…they had disappeared! Charming. No warning of any kind and not only I, but all of the other contributing writers got screwed out of their earnings. At least when I had written for Yahoo.voices (formerly Associated Content), they had the decency to message all of us contributing writers, informing us of their plan to discontinue, gave us time to download our articles we had submitted if we so wish, and best of all, we got our final payout.

I'm still on a "quest" you might say, to find some other outlet to write for, but so far have come up blank. One of the things I would love to do, is to re-submit many of my former articles somewhere, however I've been finding a "hiccup" so far with many of the other types of writing sites: they don't allow for previously written work. So the search continues.

ARTICLE: Homemade Cooking: Is it Becoming a Lost Art? Don't People Really Know How To Cook Anymore?

IMAGE SOURCES: ©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTOS

Quiche Lorraine
Chicken Alfredo
Bœuf Bourguignon
Homemade Minestrone Soup

ABSTRACT: In today's society, many people have resorted to shortcuts in cooking, from getting processed foods, frozen dinners, and relying on fast food restaurants. Sadly, this means it seems the people have forgotten how to cook good old fashioned homemade meals.

CONTENT:

Once in awhile I reflect on different things, and only recently I was thinking of how real genuine, homemade cooking from scratch has become a lost "art' form. And yes, homemade cooking can be considered an art form, as it can take skill, time and patience. However these were qualities our ancestors seemed to have naturally; they had whether they liked it or not since there weren't the conveniences we have nowadays. Did one want to serve piping hot biscuits with their dinner? Well one couldn't simply go to the supermarket and get that pop-able Pillsbury canister, our ancestors had to make them from scratch. Did one want some kind of soup, no matter what kind? Yes, back in the old days one had to spend perhaps hours making it, from first making the homemade chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, then later adding in all the other ingredients. One couldn't simply open a can, pour into a saucepan and heat the soup on the stove or pop in a container and place into a microwave.

Another thing that kind of sparked my recent reflection of how cooking has become a lost art form was when one day I was talking to someone and I mentioned that I was planning to make homemade chicken pot pie. So here I was rattling on how I make the dough for the crust part from scratch, chop up the onion and garlic, cook up the chicken and vegetables and make a white sauce for it. The person listened to me with a great deal of interest and when I finished yakking about it, but she asked me, what is a white sauce? At that moment, I swear I was having a Hell's Kitchen Chef Gordon Ramsay moment and rolled my eyes up in disbelief.

As for myself, I must be one of those rare breeds of people. I absolutely love cooking and yes, I do things the old-fashioned way: I prefer to make everything from scratch. I must have inherited my great grandmother's skills in cooking, as she was known as THE cook of the family, while ironically my grandmother nor my mother could cook to save their lives. I had been told that in her younger days, my great grandmother would get up literally at the crack of dawn just to start making the homemade bread for the day. I do happen to know the joy of real, authentic homemade bread as I've done it myself in the past, and nothing beats smelling that yeasty aroma as the bread dough is rising, and then to actually bake it in the oven. I plain couldn't wait to "sample" a slice as the homemade bread came out of the oven and have it literally dripping with a lot of butter.

For awhile there, up until I was about five years old, my great grandmother, grandmother, mother and I all lived together. No one was really allowed to go into the kitchen as that was considered my great grandmother's domain, save for myself that is. Since both my grandmother and mother worked, my great grandmother became something of a babysitter to me, so I supposed to keep me busy and amused she actually would allow me into the kitchen to help out so to say. I remember her teaching me very, very basic things to cook at that young age, like scrambling eggs or frying up the bacon; she'd let me stir her homemade soups as they were simmering, and even taught me how to make something like homemade mashed potatoes.

After age five, my grandmother, mother and I moved out from my great grandmother's home. Well things changed. As I mentioned neither my grandmother nor mother could cook to save their lives. And yes, by that time there were more convenience foods, especially frozen TV dinners like Swanson's, other types of frozen foods like vegetables, canned soups like Campbell's, even instant mashed potatoes once could buy in a box. Yes, of course on occasion my mother would perhaps roast a chicken or form ground beef into hamburgers and fry them up, but my mother had a habit of burning everything she cooked, even the frozen dinners. Let's put it this way, growing up I often ate foods in various shades of grey or black. It's a wonder I survived my childhood!

As I got older, say in my teenage years and a bit older, yes I started to do some cooking, but very, very basic things. In other words, nothing fancy schmanchy, but at least I didn't burn anything. Then came my college years and I was about to embark on a journey so to say. It was during college that I decided to take a basic course in French. The course was entirely conducted in French by the professor but on occasion she would then speak in English and tell of various aspects of the French culture, which of course included French foods. By a coincidence one time I was watching an episode of Julia Child and she was introducing an upcoming new French chef, Jacques Pepin. Well that cinched it. I had become inspired by the talks about French foods via my French language professor and now with Jacques Pepin.

After buying a good number of French Cuisine type recipe books, including ones by Jacques Pepin of course, I now started my new "journey", that of attempting real cooking, not just scrambling eggs, frying up bacon, cooking up hamburgers and fries, I was to embark on real cooking journey and entirely from scratch. It didn't seem to take me long to acquire my new culinary skills, for as I said, I must have inherited my great grandmother's skill in cooking. Yes it did take skill, patience and time, but out of it all I was having fun with my new skills. I was making Crêpes, French Onion Soup, Bœuf Bourguignon, a myriad of French styled desserts and yes, I even did a few Soufflés.

It didn't stop with French cooking however, but I also ventured at making Italian, Oriental, German, and Mexican cooking, heck it really didn't matter what nationality, if it was food and a recipe sounded good to me I would make it. Even when I did old-fashioned American type cooking, I still would do everything from scratch, no short cuts. For example, if I were fixing a Thanksgiving Dinner, I would make some kind of homemade soup, usually Cream Of Celery, homemade stuffing of some kind, no Stove Top here! I would make homemade mashed butternut squash, the homemade biscuits, and no, Bisquick was never used and to this day, some thirty five years later i still won't use Bisquick. For dessert I would usually opt for sweet potato pie rather than pumpkin.

Don't get me wrong however since I'm not saying I don't use any kind of processed foods at all, I do as its not as if I'm making homemade pasta for instance, nor am I churning my own butter, but I do try to eliminate as many shortcuts and processed foods as possible. My freezer hasn't seen any kind of frozen foods stored in it in decades. Swanson? Lean Cuisine? Banquet? Healthy Choice? You might as well be speaking a foreign language to me. The only frozen foods I have stored are my own food that I cook in volume and and maybe some frozen vegetables, but that's it. Also, now that I'm on my own since both my grandmother and mother have passed on, I'm not exactly cooking the way I used to, but I'm still a stickler that when I cook for myself I still cook from scratch.

Now…I just might have another Hell's Kitchen Chef Gordon Ramsay moment and roll my eyes up as I wouldn't be surprised if you are wondering what a white sauce is. It's one of the most basic of all sauces to make, and basically it is a combo of melted butter, flour, milk or cream, salt and pepper; also by adding ingredients to it, it can also become Sauce Mornay, Alfredo Sauce and so forth. It's the type of sauce that is used when making chicken pot pie, macaroni and cheese, the base for creme-styled soups, potatoes au gratin and scalloped potatoes; goodness, the list is nearly endless.

To give you an idea of just how versatile white sauce can be, I've done a good number of articles in the past using white sauce and I have them listed in my Sources section.

Image Sources: ©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTOS

Quiche Lorraine
Chicken Alfredo
Bœuf Bourguignon
Homemade Minestrone Soup

Sources:

Former articles of mine using white sauce which have been published. Originally at Yahoo.voices, now on my blog:

The Many Uses For White Sauce in Recipes: Cream Soups Without the Cream

http://myfavoriterecipecreations.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-many-uses-for-white-sauce-in.html

Old-Fashioned Baked Macaroni and Cheese

http://myfavoriterecipecreations.blogspot.com/2014/07/old-fashioned-baked-macaroni-and-cheese.html

Two Special Potato Recipes to Enhance Any Meal

Part Two: The Versatile Potato

http://myfavoriterecipecreations.blogspot.com/2014/07/article-two-special-potato-recipes-to.html

The Art Of Making Croquettes:

http://myfavoriterecipecreations.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-art-of-making-croquettes-special.html

The Skill and Art Of Making Crepes
Part Two: Creative Ideas for Using Leftovers by Making Crepes

http://myfavoriterecipecreations.blogspot.com/2014/07/article-skill-and-art-of-making-crepes.html

This article had been originally published on May 23, 2014 on the Yahoo.Voices website,which no longer exists