I have a beautiful Loquat tree in my orchard. Loquats originated in China and grows in mild climates. It is said that the Chinese have used it for medicinal purposes for a long time. I had a nice crop of the plum-like fruit growing when we got hit with some unusually cold temps around Christmas. It got down to 18 which for this part of Florida is Coooooold. The freeze wiped out the fruit on the loquat, lemon, lime and Calamondin trees. Not being one to give into defeat, I have just made my first Loquat tea from the leaves of the plant.

According to the web, the health benefits of tea made from the leaves of the tree will make a Superman out of me. I have drank half a cup so far and I am already feeling froggy! It is supposed to be good for diabetes, cough, bone density, a general anti-inflammatory, and an excellent antioxidant.

I crumbled the leaves, and made in in the automatic coffee maker. The tea came out as a clear fluid with a pink tint, the taste is mild and a bit earthy. My next cup will have some lemon juice in it to tang it up a bit. If anyone wants a taste, I still have half a pot.

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It didn't happen before the 4th of July, It didn't happen after Aug. 8, it didn't happen before or just after the elections. It didn't happen by Thanksgiving or Christmas, it didn't happen after the first of the year and it didn't happen in Jan. What are we looking at now? Easter? Will it happen by Easter? Maybe early this Summer, or is that too close to the election?

It didn't happen before the 4th of July, It didn't happen after Aug. 8, it didn't happen before or just after the elections. It didn't happen by Thanksgiving or Christmas, it didn't happen after the first of the year and it didn't happen in Jan. What are we looking at now? Easter? Will it happen by Easter? Maybe early this Summer?

Too many petit bourgeoisie, Too few proletariats, Too much Bolshevik!

That damn damn album with the rainbow will make my kids gay!

It ain't fun having a freaking Nazi as your governor.....

I have been reading some journals and letters to and from family members from the 1830s through about 1918. If I stick with one author, I can begin to read the cursive writing fairly well, but each time the author changes, it is like trying to learn a new language. Some of the letters have beautiful script and are totally unfathomable, others are rough but readable. I watched one author over a period of may years and as he ages, his script gets really bad. (probably having something to do with failing eyesight; cataracts and glaucoma are still big in the family.)

The journals, more of a diary than a financial journal, are interesting reading as the author talks a lot about the weather, as farmers will, I can tell you this, in Jan. of 1917, it rained a lot in Northern Alabama; he was happy to see two sunny days so that he could work in the garden. Still, in '17, one of the kids is just starting electrical engineering classes out of state, You can tell how proud Papa is about it. Of course I know what Papa didn't, that next year, he will be in the Army headed to France where he would fret for some time later... (spoiler: he ends up coming home from the war in one piece)

Another letter from 1864 is from a family member who was captured in the war and was in a Yankee prison camp in Ohio. He is asking for warm clothes and Confederate postage stamps to be sent to him. He says he nearly froze last Winter. He suggests that his health had improved some; probably referring to an earlier letter. Another letter is about a family member who has gone to the hot springs hoping to improve his health. So far he has bathed three times and is not appreciably better, but he is no worse.... I don't know which hot springs spa he was at, could have been Georgia, Arkansas or closer to home. Another letter, pre-Civil War, is a communication between the Governor of Alabama and the family concerning compensation for a horse and saddle that was lost when the family member was killed fighting Seminole Indians in Florida. Officers provided their own mounts and saddles. Two hundred bucks were due! Big money in the day.

One letter was described as an angry letter from the sender, but he was so angry I can't read a word.

My claim to fame is that Francis Scott Key, who was working as a Federal government district attorney in D.C. was suing one family member for reneging on some part of a mail carrying contract on his stage coach line. Not enough information in the single letter to determine the actual problem, but I am sure it was just a misunderstanding.

As big a struggle it is to get past the writing, it is a great deal of fun to me to be able to read this moments that were saved through time. How I wish I could sit on the front porch and have a cup of coffee and conversation with some of these folks. I hope that they would be interested in hearing about my life too.

My brother sent me a link to a request for pardon and amnesty submitted to Andrew Johnson for participation in the "recent rebellion" dated 1865. It was my Great Grandfather and I believe that he was an officer in the local militia. He would have probably been exempt from front line service because of his position as a plantation owner. (with all of its evil implications) His father had apparently gathered in a heck of a lot of land, rumored to be about 100 sq. miles in Northern Alabama, by swindling the Native Americans out of it...But that is another story.

My GGF had done the paperwork and sworn the oath for the pardon , but he was denied amnesty under the 13th exception. The 13th exception was for participants whos net worth was over $20,000 dollars. Great Granddad apparently had to wait until 1868 for the universal pardon and amnesty. In the years following the war, the family lost its ill-gotten wealth to the point that my Grandfather (born in 1862) left Alabama in about 1900 with just a wagon, horse and new wife to start over in Florida. The family continued to decline to my father, who never owned a house and died, rent three months overdue, penniless, in debt, and left us, without insurance of course, to pay for his funeral on time....

When I first became interested in family history, I was warned by an elderly relative, in no uncertain terms, that it best be left unexplored. I find the history is fascinating. We don't get to pick our ancestors.

If the minority can't get what it wants it throws monkey wrenches into the machinery of the government. Republicans aren't worth a damn at carrying out the people's business, but they are good at making messes. I just wonder how this will all end up being Biden's, Obama's and/or the Clinton's faults.

Does anyone know where the Clintons are tonight?????????

It will be interesting to see what percentage of that they use selecting a leader.