Gina and I are training again

At Anytime Fitness in Westchase Florida, my wife Gina and I have resumed our regular gym training routine. We prefer this gym because of its convenient location and excellent facilities. It is the perfect place for us to achieve our fitness goals.

During one of our gym sessions, we decided to take some videos of ourselves goofing around. I was showing off my chest bouncing skills, while my wife Gina was demonstrating her incredible strength by doing pushups. And let me tell you, these were not your typical girly pushups. Gina performed them with pushup bars, adding an extra level of difficulty and showcasing her impressive upper body strength.

I have to admit that I was surprised by how many pushups Gina was able to do. She managed to complete an impressive 13 pushups with ease, which is a testament to her hard work and dedication to fitness. As for me, I continue to work on building my pecs and getting them to bounce to the beat.

At Anytime Fitness, we have access to a wide range of equipment and classes, which makes it easy to mix up our workouts and keep things interesting. We are constantly pushing ourselves to reach new fitness milestones and enjoy the process of becoming stronger and healthier.

So, if you’re looking for a great gym in the Westchase Florida area, we highly recommend Anytime Fitness. It’s a welcoming and supportive environment that caters to people of all fitness levels and goals. Come join us and see for yourself how fun and rewarding fitness can be!

Curtis Matthews bouncing his Pecs at Anytime Fitness in Westchase
Gina doing pushups at Anytime Fitness in Westchase Florida

Unique flavors of Ethiopian food Orlando

Ethiopian food in Orlando, Florida Unique flavors

On Valentine’s Day, while spending a few days in Orlando, Florida, we decided to explore Unique flavors of Ethiopian food for the first time. A quick search on Google led us to a restaurant close to the Hilton Grand Vacations SeaWorld, with an impressive 4.9-star rating Selam Ethiopian & Eritrean. We were excited to try something new and experience the unique flavors of Ethiopian food.

As we perused the menu, we noticed that injera was a staple of Ethiopian cuisine. Injera is a soft and spongy circular pancake that serves as the foundation of Ethiopian food. It is made from a grain called Teff, which is ground into flour, mixed with water, slightly fermented, and then fried in a heavy skillet. The result is a lightly sour and flavorful base that pairs perfectly with the various stews and dishes that accompany it.

We were eager to try the injera and ordered a few different dishes to go with it. To our delight, the food did not disappoint. The stews and dishes were flavorful and aromatic, with a variety of spices and seasonings that we had never tasted before. And the injera was the perfect accompaniment, soaking up the sauces and enhancing the overall taste of the meal.

Coffee from Ethiopia

After our satisfying meal, we contemplated finishing off the evening with a cup of coffee, but my wife cautioned me that it might keep me awake. So, we decided to save the coffee for the next day and headed back to the same restaurant to try it out. We had heard that coffee from Ethiopia was renowned for its complex flavor notes, and we were eager to sample it for ourselves. As expected, the coffee was bright and fruity, with subtle sweetness and a floral aroma. We could detect notes of citrus and berries, and the higher acidity made it feel refreshing and lively. To complement the coffee, we indulged in a delicious Tiramisu cake, which proved to be the perfect dessert.

Overall, our Valentine’s Day in Orlando, Florida, was a unique and memorable experience, thanks in part to our exploration of Ethiopian cuisine and coffee. We highly recommend trying Ethiopian food and coffee to anyone looking to expand their palate and try something new.

The Poem/Song that never ends

O.K. here is a long poem. Grace the Dove lady wrote it in 1998, a time when many poems came to her. I was singing a song that Shari Lewis had Lambchops sing, and it turned into a poem for me. So here goes. Warning. It is very long.



This is the poem that never ends
It just goes on and on my friend
One day I started writing it
Not knowing what it was
And I continued writing it forever just because

I know you want this poem to end
For it to not begin again
And I’m going to end it soon
The message to ensue
Will show you that your acting out
A cycle like this too.

For so many do complain
Talk about their grief and pain
We’ve been talking about it now
Since day one did begin
For when we split the cell in two
We started saying me and you

Mine and Thine became our theme
And mine, not thine, we echoed too
It happened each and every time
When we got into fear
The fear you see became control
Saying things would make them so

So we began then to create
And we created with our fear
Thinking that there was a you and me
Our oneness disappeared
Until our fears piled up so high
We forgot our descent from the sky.

Pretty much we were earthbound
And we keep going round and round
We didn’t realize that with our words we could create
So when we put our brother down
Those words we said, they would rebound.

You know that fear turns into hate
And yes with hate we could create
We had thought that we were only
Trying to survive
And so we thought of many ways
In order to provide

Security became our quest
And so we started to devise
There were oh so many things
Our minds were cooking up
The fun we had,, the terror too
The dramas then that would ensue

We came into a time of fear
Cause we no longer knew our place
Had been to be a God descended from above
We didn’t know our mission here
Was to become the Love

We wanted only to survive
And many times in order to
We would take from others what they were
Holding in their hand
We forgot that our purpose here
Was to serve our fellow man

So we started to complain
About all the grief and pain
And our talking about the things
Our eyes would look upon
Made things not change
Our words you see
Were creating our reality.

So I am writing this long poem
It’s my way to make it plain
To get a lot of us to just start looking at our thoughts
The way you know to get control
Is to lose the fear but then you know,

It won’t happen if we allow
Ourselves to be choked up with fear
And recounting all the things we see as being bad
The telling of it ore and ore
It’s such a pain, it’s such a chore.

To talk about them is just like
This poem that goes forever on
Forever we could talk about
The things we’re calling wrong
Until we finally realized, it’s taking way to long

So I have made a long long poem
To show you of our Father’s plan
Not to call the things we see
For that’s not the way of God
For we can call what is not
Just as though it were.

And you know what we can say
“My words will not return unto me void
But they will go out there
To accomplish all my will
I call it done
I call it good
And I call it in the name of “ME”

For we are Gods you see
No need to call it blasphemy
In his image we were made;
We are creators too
Our words you see
They are the key
To changing our reality

So we must watch that little tongue
For it is set on fire of hell
For the hell we make, we’re living in it now
And we can make another choice
That’s what we’re here to do

We will have heaven on earth
We are here to bring the birth
For we are the Sons of God
The world is waiting for
We’re bringing light and light is truth
And truth is Love
Unconditional Love

Unconditional Love we have
We don’t call things good or bad
We have no rules to make you follow
Nor forms of control
We won’t possess
We won’t dictate
We’ll show you how to
Give up the hate

You know sweet Earth’s evolving too
And though the workers may be few
You see it only takes a few you know
To get it done so all will know
And we can have heaven below

When we learn just how to walk
When we finally walk our talk
We’ve been going round and round you see
But now it’s time for mastery
And it begins with you and me

So let it all begin with you
You know your heart knows what to do
We’ve been playing round and round with this
And there is waiting so much bliss
Only listen to your feelings now

Don’t try to intellectualize
Don’t only look with physical eyes
For the Spirit wants to move in you
Mother Earth is pushing through
She loves the help that comes from you.

And now the world is speeding up
For kindergarten school is through
The bell has rang for all to hear
The message we make clear
We’re proud to say, no more delay
The end is near, the end is near.

Now we are going to graduate
We’re going to lift our banners high
And embrace the joy and all is well
There is no devil, there is no hell
There is only God
And God is Love

And the complaining all will end
And then my poem will dissipate
The fear that’s given us such hell on earth
Recognizes now the light
There’s no more fear, there’s no more night

And the gates are opened wide
There’s no place for fear to hide
And everyone will say
I need not belief
I know I’m love, unconditional love
God has descended from above

We have risen up to meet
Our resurrection is complete
Now as below, so, up above
The world is filled with so much love
Of which there is no end.

Oh yes, there’s more of this to come
But for now the poem is done……

Oh, about time!

GOD’S SONG IN ME

I know who I am and I know where I’m going
Because I know that I’m already there

I need not go anywhere
All that God has for me
is already inside of me.
You think there is a past
and you think there is a future

And you are going back and forth between the two.
Here’s a secret, this is what you do.
From now on the present
is the only place to be.

For the future is already here
and the past is no longer relevant

You can only take the leap of faith to decide
that now is the best time to be alive

And make the most of this Holy Instant Now

For when you do, Oh when you do.
You change the past and you change the future
for they can have no control of you.

There is no other way for you to have your way
so live within this day and change your very thought

So it can have the sway over all your by-gone days
and all your future too.

It’s really up to you, this moment that is true
depends on me and you
to cooperate, to dedicate, to contemplate, to concentrate,
to appreciate, to demonstrate, to celebrate, to officiate,

For life is for the living NOW
There is no other time
for I have made you mine.
You can only lose your mind
If you take it out of mine.

You are all a part of me and I know that you will see
ME living in you, as you, and through you.
But not for you and not only you
For I am in everyone of you
See me in everyone you see.

Don’t condemn any part of me
I am able to give you Light
When you realize to your delight
That I am the light that shines from within
each person no matter how dim.

No matter how you think of him.
For good and bad is only your way
of making your words construct things your way
Good and bad are only your rules
of what you want and what you’ll see

The truth is that I am a God of ONE
My law is Love and only Love.
You can not break it into its opposite
For nothing else can oppose it.

You are only fooling yourself to think
that you can make anything but love.
No one using hate has made anything that last

The truth about what you have made out of fear
is just that it is an illusion.
I know this sounds queer, but illusions are happening all around you.

To help you remember and to know what you can do.
You have the power within yourself
to make your world behave itself.

I have given you the dominion but you gave it away
and now you can decide to take it back.

When you can remember the one that you are is God
Then you will discover that you are one with it all.
The sunset, the trees, the sea and the breeze

the plant in the ground, the worm in the dirt
but also the star that shines above.
Your everywhere present, your everywhere love.

Oh when you remember
you re-member me.
You bring me together with love, can’t you see.

You get out your own special ways of expressing
All of the love my heart is out-pressing.

You find love in everyone only when you
know that your looking for me in them too.

For your narrow minded ways of thinking you are separate
have made for you senseless things that won’t last.
They are temporary, they all pass away.
Your doctrines, your rituals, your do-it-my-way.
Your smug little feeling of superiority
Is something you use to deny my authority.

We don’t get to heaven by refusing to see
the simple fact that everyone is me.

My love is a transforming power you see
and hate has not power to do things my way.
For hate draws the user into its own self
and nothing is possible to build that will last.

It builds nothing, it destroys nothing, it is nothing.
For you see hate is only a thought you have thought
And it is a thought you have thought because of fear

Because you won’t remember that I’m here, in you, in all.
Hate is only a thought you have thought.
I’ve given it no power but you have.

It is not real unless you make it real.
It is something that you made when you got into fear.
Your fear is your own illusion, not mine.
I won’t have any part of it, nor of anger or pain.

I’ll have no part of believing this way.
For love is my nature,
Love is all that I know.

I don’t know judgment for why would I judge
you when I see you as me?

I don’t know punishment for why should I hurt myself?

I don’t know doubt for I am certainty.

I am that I am
And you are that you are
But what are you going to make of yourself?
What is it that you are?
You can only be what you think and say.
And what you think and say are how you create.
For you are the potter
And you are the clay.

You are the thinker and
You are the thought.