I grew up in Texas during WWII, when everyone I knew had a garden. It was considered the patriotic thing to do.  So, if a person should want to eat greens, we had spinach, turnip greens, mustard greens, a leafy kind of lettuce, and poke sallet.

Missing from the line up was kale. I never heard of it.  Later I remember it being used as a garnish to bring color to the plate — never to eat.  I guess it’s a matter of geography because in England, kale was the go-to greens grown in their victory gardens during the Great War.

But when my youngest son, who makes his home in health-conscious Oregon, ordered an Island Green (spinach, kale, mango, banana) from our favorite smoothie place … well.  I like greens okay, but not in my dessert!

So if you are interested in healthy eating: kale is in, gluten is out. It has something to do with Celiac Disease, which forces many people to stick to a gluten-free diet.

For those in the food service industry this has presented a real challenge.

And since necessity is the mother of invention … voila! … gluten-free pizza! The crust is made of chicken. It’s also no-carb so it satisfies the Keto-diet users. A downside might be that it’s always thin crust — no stuffing there.

So, at the end of the day, if we are what we eat, I want to be a chicken fried steak. Cooked Texas style, dropped in the frylator and covered with white gravy.

With a kale garnish, of course.

Since reading my friend Talya Boerner’s blog (Grace Grits and Gardening), I have thought: Rather than writing resolutions or goals for the new year, I might try choosing only one word for 2018.

According to Talya, the One Little Word concept is the brainchild of blogger Ali Edwards. The idea is to choose a single word to focus on throughout the year.

Choosing one word is in no way easier than writing resolutions. It turned out rather difficult for me, but finally I decided my one word should be EXERCISE.

• I certainly need to exercise my aging body. After battling sciatica and Piriformis Syndrome for most of 2017, I realize I must stretch and work out the stiffness each day if I am to maintain strength and balance.

• I must exercise focus to complete my novel-in-progress. For various reasons there are still gaps in the arc.

• I pledge to exercise tact, think before I speak and count ten before hitting ‘send.’

• I will exercise compassion for those who are less fortunate than I.

• I know I should exercise courage to stand up and speak up for what is right.

• I should exercise discretion about what I ‘like’ on facebook and what links I’m tricked into following.

• I’ll try to exercise patience with those who offend me, or who do not agree with my opinion.

Okay, that last one was facetious. But if I am able to incorporate all this exercise into my life in 2018, next December surely I will find myself more fit — physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

A single word for my dear readers: Blessings.

I haven’t talked about Customer Service in a while — and don’t plan to say much today — except: Have you noticed how people avoid calling Customer Service until all else has failed? Do you think that was the plan?

Folks don’t really want to deal with a C.S. representative who, A. seldom has the knowledge or authority to solve your problem and, B. lives in another country where English is not even the second language. Many people would rather have an instruction book, figure it out themselves with trial and error, or look on You tube.

This is a bit of a problem because most merchandise bought nowadays comes with no instruction book.  No help at all except maybe a web address on the packing slip.

And it seems to me that the larger and more expensive the item is, the fewer instructions you receive on how to make it work.

A copy machine for your office, a new computer, the smartest phone in the world? No instruction book. You must log into howdoesthisthingwork.com.  Or call customer service.

All this is true. Yet my $10 curling iron came with a little pamphlet telling how to wind my hair around the wand. Actually that was rather helpful.

My two-cup coffee maker from Wal*mart came with instructions on how to make coffee. Pour water in here, place coffee in basket there. And, then, “If you want more coffee, repeat steps 1 – 4.”

The printing on the bottle of hand soap I bought at Dollar Tree: 1. Wet hands 2. Put small amount of soap in palm. 3.  Lather thoroughly and rinse.

There you go. Instructions on how to wash my hands. But if I want the copy machine to collate and staple, I’m on my own.

To quote the King of Siam, “It’s a puzzlement!”