OCT 18, 19 .. SUCCESS .. FAILURE .. SUCCESS .. DON’T QUIT

Don’t Quit
by
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Life is strange with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns
And many a failure comes about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow—
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out—
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell just how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit—
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

This poem is in the public domain.

To say that it is a great challenge to come to terms with anything even vaguely resembling a healthy eating lifestyle when one is living abroad is a vast understatement. The best that I can come up with is to avoid a totally unhealthy diet of food.

If there is one thing that I feel is relatively healthy it is peanut butter. It is vegetable in nature (unless they add something) so there is no saturated fat. Peanut butter on this basic, coarse grained, dark bread is something I truly enjoy. 

And?

Outside of the U.S. peanut butter is hard to find. In fact it can be ‘nigh impossible to find.

Finally, after being in Russian Siberia for a good seven months, our friend Olga in Chita, totally out-of-the-blue, gave me a jar of Russian peanut butter.  It was to-die-for good and I knew then that peanut butter existed in Russian Siberia and for the duration of my trip, I easily found it and I enjoyed it.

In July of 2015, here in Ulaanbattar, Mongolia, not knowing any better, I found and I purchased U.S. Skippy brand chunky peanut butter. When I went back for more it was gone and never until recently could I get any more.

SUCCESS

Never until Friday October the 4th, two weeks ago today, did I find peanut butter here in Mongolia.

https://babakaps.net/?p=38103

I took the jar I found home, tried it, loved it, went right back and got three more jars.

FAILURE

Then precisely the same thing happened that happened in July of 2015. After finishing one jar and being half-way-through my second jar, last Saturday I went back to get some more. It was gone from the store shelves.

BUT I knew it existed here in Ulaanbaatar.

I have said often that I am not all alone here. I have a great team of supporters around me.

WILL THE SHADOW KNOW ?

“Deegi, will you help me to find peanut butter ?”

So out and off we two went to a local grocery store where Deegi knows the owner. I showed him the empty jar I had and he said he’d try to find it for me. Five hours later Deegi called me and said, “No luck Cap but he gave me a suggestion on where to go. Can you be ready to go in five minutes?”

(Silently I gasped and then said..) “Yes I can Deegi.”

And out and off, with Deegi driving her car, we went to first pick up her daughter Cindy from school and then to go find peanut butter.

As you can see in the below photo, it was dark. Cindy’s school gets-out at 6pm here in Ulaanbaatar.

“After a good healthy walk with Cindy holding grandfather’s hand (that being me) Deegi said..

“There is the store Cap!”

Into the store we three walked. The below photo was taken immediately after we entered the store.

Success is failure turned inside out—

SUCCESS ! ROARING SUCCESS !

EXTRA CRUNCHY JIF PEANUT BUTTER

Each 16oz jar cost 11,000 Mongolian Tug / U.S. $4.09.

And now..

THE REST OF THE STORY

The instant that Deegi’s local shop keeper told Deegi where to go..

Deegi said she just sighed and said to herself..

“OF COURSE! I know that. Why didn’t I think of this immediately myself.”

This is a special store here in Ulaanbaatar that specializes in foods for foreign residents!

The lady pulled out a recently opened full case of JIF extra crunchy peanut butter and asked me how many I wanted.

I am totally confident that my peanut butter worries are finished and over.

And now a few..

Tidbits For Patti

The below transportation chair that I recently saw here in my Ulaanbaatar pharmacy looks identical to yours in Royal Oak.

Other than smile aloud with me, can you make sense of the below photo? I couldn’t resist snapping this photo.

A blast-from-our-Chita-past. 

That’s all for today folks..

Cap and Patti

• ← OCT 17, 19 .. ANOTHER CONSTRUCTION PROJECT OUT MY WINDOW? – Part 1
• OCT 19, 19 .. TIDBITS FOR PATTI .. WHILE TRACKING BASEBALL’S GAME 6 OF THE ALCS →