I will be leaving for Thailand next week. If the past is any indication, I will blog more while there. I am sure that thrills the multitudes who read my blog.

Seriously, I do appreciate those who do read it and comment.

My son and I will be leaving soon for our annual summer visit to Thailand. My primary reason for going is so he can see his mother, which I believe is important.

I spite of that, I worry every year that something will happen and she won’t let him return to the USA. We have joint custody and our agreement is strictly verbal.

There has been no problem in the past and she knows it is better for our son. It is a great sacrifice for her and I admire the depth of her love for him.

We will be leaving in about a month.

Good friends in real life and nice people on the internet can do wonders for a person.

I have fewer people than ever stopping by my blog. Some of that is, no doubt, my lack of input. But I do appreciate the comments and contact that I have here and other places.

I have recently hooked up via the internet with a friend from many years ago. That has been great.

I also appreciate the kindness showed by flesh and blood friends and even strangers who smile.

Here’s a hug for you.

Such things are not left overs; they are planned overs. We make more than enough, freeze it and use it instead of retail frozen dinners.

Here’s what you do with those drumsticks.

You thaw them out.

Boil some rice

Put the drumsticks with plenty of the salsa that you saved with them in the microwave and warm them up.

You will notice that the meat is very loose on the drumsticks. Use a fork to take it off.

When the rice is done, put the meat frum the drumsticks on the rice along with the salsa.

There’s your Mexican chicken and rice.

Seventy-three employees at American International Group received bonuses of $1 million or more, with one receiving more than $6 million.

Am I outraged? No.

For me, it’s depressing and sad; the depth of greed that some people can sink to.

Among the questions I get about Thailand, because I lived there so long, relates to corruption. While the AIG shame is not corruption per se, it shares a common source, viz, unbridled greed.

Just for the record, here are a couple of definitions of greed:

1. Excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves

2. Reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins)

I will continue to live on my Social Security at a level below the poverty line. I wouldn’t trade places for anything.

OK, I am risking the wrath of the politically correct and all for a joke or, yeah, I admit it, a little attention.

Hopefully, most blog readers have outgrown political correctness and will accuse me only of being a shameless attention seeker with an obvious and substandard chicken recipe. But beat the drums if you will.

It’s appropriate because this is a recipe for hot and spicy drumsticks. Like all my recipes, I believe in keeping it as simple as it comes.

Anything beyond three readily available ingredients in a language most yanks understand (we do know words like spaghetti, salsa, burrito and even a couple of French words if we think hard). So here is the recipe.

Get a bunch of cheap chicken drumsticks. No need to take the skin off. Put them into a crock pot. Add one thinly sliced onion. Dump a jar of salsa on them. Cook in the crock pot on high for about 4 hours. Baste every once in awhile.

There ya have it. And, oh by the way, unless you are an army, you will have left overs.

On February 12, the day my son turned 10 years old, I gave him a birthday present. I told him I would not smoke cigarettes that day.

I made no promises about tomorrow. I took each day as it came. I have not smoked since then, but I make no promise about tomorrow.

Yesterday, I did not drink alcohol. So far today, I have not had any alcohol. I make no promise about tomorrow.

Somehow, we tend to move on. Learn to live with our grief and eventually it is reduced, but never leaves us entirely.

We learn to live with being poor. Our friends help us. We march on for those we love. In my case I am lucky to have a wonderful 10 year old son. He truly keeps me going.

Thanks so much to those who wrote and send their thoughts when my Mom died. Thanks for the recipes.

Thanks for being great folks.

I visited the nearest food bank to me today. It is 35 miles away. They treated my son and I with dignity and friendship.. They gave us some great food, including homemade bread and fresh produce. They gave my son a few toys.

Please help people in need. They did not chose their plight. They have hearts and souls. They are children of God too.

Please visit:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2195875/redding_california_loaves_and_fishes_food_bank_charity/

In so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.
Matthew 25

Today I am trying to deal with the death of my Mom. I thought I was ready. Now I realize that that isn’t possible.

Suddenly, at the age of 62 I feel like a child who can’t find his mother.

No matter how old she was, the fact remains that she was my Mom.