Inglath Cooper's Blog, page 9
October 22, 2014
Ambrosia Apple – Best Apple I’ve Ever Eaten!
Apples are in season, and next to the colorful leaves in Virginia, they may be my favorite thing about fall.
I have great memories of going to the apple orchard every year in September with my Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. They would buy several bushels and make apple butter on a crisp Saturday morning. Friday night meant the whole family got together to peel the apples. And on Saturday, a fire was built outside under the big copper pot Grandma inherited from her parents.
The apples cooked for a long time, and Grandma always made something wonderful for us to eat while we waited. Homemade vegetable soup and loaves of homemade bread.
I think we mostly used Red and Golden Delicious for the apple butter. They are two of my favorites, but this year, I’ve discovered a new one that I love. The Ambrosia apple. It’s kind of a blend between red and yellow, but on the sweeter side, unlike the Honey Crisp and Gala apples.
Have you ever thought about how long it takes to eat an apple compared to fast food? Or how it leaves you full for a good bit after you finish eating it? That has to be a good thing. Read incredible health benefits!
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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here.
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Cute Kitten Pictures and Video? Yep!
So last Friday after my visit to the Roanoke pound, I stopped at the Franklin County Humane Society Adoption Center to drop off a very old dog FCHS had agreed to take in. I somehow managed to leave the adoption center with four four-week old kittens who needed a foster.
I’ve never fostered kittens this young, so the first night I began to panic when they wouldn’t eat. Actually, they didn’t know how. The past few days have involved some syringe feeding, but I’m happy to say they are now enjoying a tasty mix of canned kitten food and formula. It’s the cutest thing to hear them smacking away at it.
Kittens Learning to Eat - Click to watch!
In the process of having these precious little sweeties with us, I’ve discovered they might possibly hold the keys to the cure for a couple of serious world problems.
1. Loneliness – a completely unnecessary condition eliminated with the presence of kittens. Who could be lonely with these tiny munchkins crawling onto your lap, snuggling and purring?
2. Sadness – watching these babies learn to eat, sleep in a tangled bunch, play on shaky legs, swat each other with tiny paws – I just sit and smile at them. Sadness doesn’t stand a chance.
Truthfully, I do think there’s a lot of loneliness, a lot of sadness in our world. Especially in older people who have retired, watched their children leave home. Dogs bring so much joy to my life, but I think a lot of people don’t realize how entertaining cats are and what wonderful company they can be. It’s one of those stereotypes that an hour or two in the kitty room at my local adoption center will quickly dispel.
I would love to encourage anyone wishing for a pet companion, who perhaps needs one that requires less physical effort than some dogs, to please consider adopting a cat from your local rescue!
And if you’re looking to adopt a kitten, I’m fostering four of the cutest kittens in the history of kittens! 
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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here.
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October 21, 2014
You Can Find Me on Booklikes.com!
Booklikes.com is an awesome website for readers! I now have a little hut on the beach over there – drop by for a visit! If you like Goodreads, you’ll love Booklikes.com!
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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here: http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-love-dogs-free-gift
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October 20, 2014
Saving Lexie
I had not planned to go to the Roanoke City pound (RCACP) on Friday. My girls were out of school, and we were planning to spend the day around our barn with the horses and dogs.
But then I received a message from a rescue friend of mine asking if I would be willing to sponsor a dog who was about to be euthanized at the pound. A last minute rescue had been arranged, but the dog needed a sponsor for vetting and boarding because no foster was currently available.
Lexie had already touched my heart a week or so before when I saw a picture of her on Facebook. The photo was taken in her kennel at the pound, and she was clearly terrified. I have seen many other dogs in that setting with the same look of fear, and I have no words for how heartbreaking it is to me.
The pound performed one of their “evaluations” and deemed Lexie dog aggressive. This is a death sentence in a pound setting. For an American Staffordshire Terrier, it goes without saying. But I long ago lost faith in the pound system’s ability to assess dogs. The environment is one not even remotely conducive to getting an accurate picture of a terrified dog’s personality. And so for me, that meant nothing.
At that time, I offered to sponsor her if a dog rescue would come forward. A week or so passed, and no one did until the very last minute. In fact, Lexie was being taken to the euthanasia room when my rescue friend called the pound to say she had a rescue.
I offered to go over and pick Lexie up and take her to the vet clinic where she would be boarding until space for her became available with the rescue group. Two of my daughters went with me, and we drove to the pound. I had never been to this particular one. Driving up to it, you are immediately aware that it looks like a maximum security prison, not a place where anyone would want to go to adopt a dog or cat.
We went inside the pound building to wait while my rescue friend made the arrangements to get Lexie out. Only her name there wasn’t Lexie. She had a number and was referred to by that. CH132, I believe. It reminded me of the time I stood in the Dachau concentration camp in Germany and listened to the explanation of how prisoners were stripped of their clothing and given uniforms with numbers on them. That was their new identity. This made it easier for the guards not to see them as human beings, individuals. Such is the role of the number at the pound. I felt sick standing in that place in Germany. And I felt sick standing in the waiting area of this facility.
When Lexie came out, she greeted us with a smile and a wagging tail. I am sure this is exactly how she greeted the person who came to get her earlier to take her to the euthanasia room. How would she have any idea what they were about to do?
I had brought her a can of food and some treats, and she scarfed the food down, obviously hungry. While we were outside, we walked by two dogs, and she paid no attention to them. So much for the dog aggressive label.
She wasn’t so sure about getting in the car, but then who could blame her? The last time she’d ridden in one, she’d been dumped at the pound.
So we lured her in with cookies and made her a nice spot in between my daughters. Lexie rode most of the way with her head resting on one of them.
It felt really nice to see her sleep peacefully and know that she was safe.
Lexie’s journey to a new family has just begun. But she is such a sweet girl, and I have faith that there are good things ahead for her.
One thing I know without question is that it would have been a complete tragedy for her life to be taken that morning. Thank you to each and every one of her guardian angels for believing in her.
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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here: http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-love-dogs-free-gift
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October 15, 2014
Have You Heard of Dr. Peter Diamandis and the XPRIZE?
Before today, neither had I.
But while listening to Tim Ferris interview him on The Tim Ferris Podcast(which I can’t recommend highly enough), I was inspired by just how BIG this man thinks.
Dr. Diamandis has been named one of “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” by Fortune Magazine. He is the CEO of XPRIZE “which leads the world in designing and launching large incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.”
I love that last part. For the benefit of humanity. Here’s one example of a current challenge.
The Global Learning XPRIZE issues a challenge to individuals or teams anywhere in the world to create an open source software that will allow children in countries without an educational system to teach themselves to read, write and do math. Imagine 5000 tablets with a software that an eight-year old child can figure out how to use from the moment the tablet is turned on. The idea is that the software will be so compelling to the child that they will want to continue following through.
The prize for this competition is $15 million. That’s a prize big enough to ensure that some REALLY smart people are working on this.
As readers, we know how whole worlds have been opened up to us through the books we have been priviledged to read. I can’t imagine how different my childhood would have been without the library at Callaway Elementary and the Franklin County Library that sent its Bookmobile out to visit our community once a month. Because of them, I had access to as many books as I could read. In parts of our world, such things don’t exist.
With this software, communities of children without access to books, where learning is not an automatic given, will be given opportunties previously unattainable. How wonderful is that?
In the XPRIZE, Dr. Diamandis has created something that truly has the power to address enormous world problems. Read more about other life-changing competitions here.
Thank you, Dr. Diamandis and the other people working with you for thinking so BIG! You’re amazing.
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If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here: http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-love-dogs-free-gift
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Mark Bustos: Living the Good Life
In a podcast interview I listened to recently, Tim Ferris asked Ramit Sethi what his definition of successful was.
Ramit said he considered Mark Bustos a successful human being and went on to say why.
Intrigued, I Googled Mark and quickly understood why Ramit saw him that way.
Mark is a very well-known hair stylist in NYC, doing high-priced cuts and such for wealthy and well-known people. Sunday is his only day off. Guess what he spends it doing?
He walks around the city, finding homeless people in need of a haircut and doing exactly that for them. He approaches each of them with the same statement: “I’d like to do something nice for you today.”
It’s wonderful to have things in this world, a job we like to do each day, creature comforts. But our time here takes on a completely new layer of meaning when we are able to use our talents or skills to help others.
Mark is an incredible example of that.
Read more about him here.
Check out photos of his acts of kindness on Instagram.
Some favorite quotes here on giving back:
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” ~ Albert Einstein
“From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.” ~ Arthur Ashe
“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own.” ~ Disraeli
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If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here.
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October 14, 2014
Abundance
My phone rang early Saturday morning, before eight, in fact. Caller id flashed the name of my vet’s clinic. I knew as I answered that it probably wasn’t going to be a good call.
And it wasn’t.
Camelot, our oldest dog, a gentle-hearted hound, had been sick the day before. I left him at the clinic for treatment and observation throughout the weekend. He had passed away during the night.
There will never be a time that I don’t cry for the loss of any of our dogs. They each become a piece of what makes up my everyday life. And as I hang up the phone, I cry for Cammy.
When the call came, I happened to be away from home, in Lexington, VA for a horse show my three daughters were taking part in. The weather was gray and heavy, and my emotions took on the same grayness. Sadness pulled at me, and I had no desire to shake it off.
I’ve had a lot of loss this year. My sweet grandmother last winter, my dear Thomas, the chocolate lab who held on to life for a year after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma.
Loss and sadness are tricky things. I think we need to feel them, but it’s a tenuous balance, trying to keep our heads above the surface.
There’s really only one way I’ve found to accomplish that. Once I’ve let myself cry, as many times as I need to, I force myself to think about the incredible life of abundance I am living. And by abundance, I don’t mean material things. The abundance in my life has been love. Both giving and receiving.
Losing Camelot this weekend made me think about how his life would have ended if we hadn’t brought him to our home to foster over a Christmas weekend when the county shelter euthanized any pets without a place to go. I thought about how doing that for him completely enhanced the meaning of Christmas in our home that year. I thought too about how obvious it was in the beginning that comfort and good care had not been a part of his previous life. I remembered his deep love for his big comfy pillow and how he grew to know the exact time of day when treats are given out in our house. You could set your watch by his accuracy.
It’s easy to focus on what we’ve lost or don’t have. But I am far more comforted by acknowledging how enriched my life is by the abundance of love I have known. And sweet Camelot let me know on a regular basis how much he loved his life. I’m grateful for my time with him. Grateful too for the fact that we made a difference in each other’s lives.
That’s the kind of abundance I for sure want to know in this life. It’s really the only kind that matters.
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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here.
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A Hound and a Raccoon: True Love
Most of us probably think Hound dogs and raccoons are natural born enemies. Hounds are supposed to chase raccoons, ‘tree them’ I believe is the phrase. But maybe that’s not so natural, after all. Properly introduced, they’re natural born friends. Check out this pair of playmates for proof!
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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here.
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October 11, 2014
He Came for Christmas and Stayed
We lost our Camelot last night.
He came to us at Christmastime a few years ago when the county shelter was full, and we were pretty much his last opportunity for getting out. What started out as fostering turned into adoption.
Camelot was an older fella who’d had very little in the way of care. We quickly learned that he loved his treats and a big comfy pillow and was content to take long naps in preparation for his next meal. Several times throughout the day, he would wander the house in search of me for a check-in and a head rub.
I am grateful to have been able to make the last few years of his life time in which he never had to worry about being cold or hungry or left in a shelter where his life would be in danger.
We love you, Camelot, sweet boy. I will miss you so much.
Read Christmas With Camelot.
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October 7, 2014
The Station Agent: A Story Gift
Good story alert: The Station Agent. This is a quiet movie that surprises you with what’s inside like a great present that arrives in brown paper. It’s only after you open it up that you see just how wonderful a gift it is.
If you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for good movies to watch. Here’s the synopsis from the movie’s website:
Finbar McBride is a man trying to live life on his own terms. Looking only to be left alone, he takes up residence in a rural town’s old train depot. But much like the station agents that occupied small town depots before him, he finds himself reluctantly becoming enmeshed in the lives of his neighbors, especially Olivia, a forty-year-old artist struggling with the break up of her marriage, and Joe, a thirty-year-old with a talent for cooking and an insatiable hunger for conversation – whether anyone wants to talk to him or not.
The STATION AGENT is about three people with nothing in common, except their shared solitude, until chance circumstances bring their lives together. Before long, from this forgotten depot, this mismatched threesome forges an unlikely bond, which ultimately reveals that even isolation is better shared.
My read: The Station Agent is a 5 Star escape!
Watch it on Netflix.
Watch it on iTunes.
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Never tried one of my books? If you like stories that take you away for a bit, feature characters looking to live fulfilled lives with love and dogs and relationships that matter, I’d love to give you a FREE copy of Good Guys Love Dogs! Please just click here: http://inglathcooper.com/good-guys-love-dogs-free-gift
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