things to consider

 Today, according to my west coast brother is "International Coq Au Vin Day."  This does sound delicious.  Who doesn't love chicken pieces and vegetables stewed in a wine sauce?  My spouse, that's who. He is not a chicken eater so I won't be whipping up Coq Au Vin for dinner.  

What my WCB forgot to mention is that today is also "National Biscuit Day."  My spouse will definitely eat biscuits, especially with butter and honey.  It's also "Paperclip Day" and "Learn About Composting Day."

I think we have some inadvertent composting going on right now in our back yard.  An amazing amount of seed shells and other debris is accumulating under our bird feeder.  Based on observation, I blame most of it on the Blue Jay.  He is beautiful but he is not neat.

I am happy to learn that it's "Paperclip Day."  I have a great fondness for paperclips and they should be celebrated.  Ever since I've had desks, and I have had them since childhood, I have had an ample supply of paperclips.  I admit that I am a bit of a paperclip hoarder.  I will pick them up off the floor anywhere I happen to be.  Some people pick up coins, I pick up paperclips.  I do not, however, make paperclip chains.  I like them individually, not in tangled clumps. 

But seriously, today should be "Samuel B. Fay Day." He invented the paper clip in 1867.  Sadly, unlike coins, paperclips aren't dated, so I have no way of knowing if I have any valuable antique paperclips in my collection.  

keeping busy...

 My west coast brother (my baby brother) will be retiring in 64 days.   I have assured him that he will have plenty to keep him busy once he is retired.  In his case he and his wife live on a small ranch with chickens, goats and other animals to care for so it won't be all fun and games.  

My spouse and I sometimes wonder, only half jokingly, how we ever got everything done when we were working full time.  I was thinking about that today.  We both keep busy now with a variety of volunteer work, most of it involving desk time at our computers for some part of every day.  

But here's the big difference with being retired.  There is usually no rush.  After we complete our morning exercise routine (today is "Senior Health and Fitness Day" by the way) we can linger over breakfast and coffee for as long as we want to.  We've been lingering even longer recently to watch the birds.  We now have some regulars at our bird feeder, one stunning Blue Jay and a pair of House Finches. The male has a red head and breast while the female is a blonde beauty.  

That's just one example of the joys of retirement.  There are others like being able to pick up and go when we feel like it, whether it's out to dinner, a weekend with family, or an ocean cruise.  Or, and I have no idea how we got ourselves into this one, having time to work on a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle. 

I'm sure my brother will soon agree with me that life is fine and fun when you're retired.  

PS Today is also "The Slugs Return from Capistrano Day."  I'm not sure where the slugs are returning to but, if you're retired and they're coming your way, enjoy the slow migration.  

Drive on...

 It's so satisfying to have your doctor or NP or PA give you or some one you love the news that everything is fine.  You have a clean bill of health.  Personally, the older I get, the more important this is to me. 

Possibly the next best thing is to take your car in for a simple oil change and get the same good news.  The time had come for my car's oil change, according to the little sticker on the upper left corner of my windshield, so today I drove it to my dealership, the one with the big flag out front, to get it done.  I'm always a little bit afraid that the time will come when they say "Sorry but we don't service your kind of car anymore."

This particular dealership sells Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram vehicles but eleven years ago it also sold Fiats.  They don't sell Fiats anymore, but they do still service them, at least for today.  I have a great fondness for my 2015 blue Fiat 500L. It has served me very well for over ten years and I hope to keep it for another ten or until I know it's time to hang up my car keys.  Because almost all of my driving is just around town I have only driven it 36,000 miles.  But back to that clean bill of health.  When the very friendly clerk came to find me in the waiting room when my car was ready to go, she quickly started listing all the good points about my car - great brakes, no wear on them, tires are fine with more than half their life left, lights, ac, and everything else is working just fine, and by the way my next oil change will be free. What a great check-up.

remembering

 Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all of you who have served in the military.  Today I am going to pay my respects to my family members who have served, blessedly none of whom were injured or killed in battle:

Daughter Beth, Army and Air National Guard, Iraq, Saudi Arabia

Son-in-law John, Air National Guard, Iraq, Afghanistan

Brother Tom, Air Force, peacetime 

Brother John, Army, Viet Nam

First husband, Tom, Army, Korean Occupation

Father, Fred, Army, World War II

Father-in-law, Clarence, Army, World War I

I honor them all.

the 500

 Today was race day and in Indiana that means the Indianapolis 500.  It was a great day to be at the race as a spectator, cloudy and cool, but not so great if you were driving one of the cars.  Evidently the surface of the track was cooler than usual and this caused some problems early on in the race.  My spouse and I were not there in person, but we did watch it on TV.  We actually worked on a jigsaw puzzle as we watched; a very pleasant way to spend a holiday afternoon.  

Pleasant for us, not so much for the drivers.  The first accident happened while the drivers were taking their slow laps before the race even started.  And they went on from there.  Nothing terrible enough to cause injury, thank goodness, but definitely enough to put some cars out of commission.  I think there were three cars out by the end of the third lap of the actual race.  A lot of driving went on under the yellow flag.  

By the second half most of the kinks were worked out and it turned into a very exiting race.  Alex Palou was the final winner.  He drank the traditional milk and said it was the best milk he had ever tasted.  Alex Palou Montalbo (full name) is the first driver from Spain to ever win the race.  He is from Barcelona, my very favorite Spanish city, so that makes me doubly glad that he won.  What a great race.  

PS The puzzle we are putting together has 2000 pieces.  At the rate we're going we may still be working on it next year at this time.  

delicious

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is "National Escargot Day."  It seems like it should be international because it's a French delicacy also served in the United States and, I'm sure, in other countries as well.  

My one and only experience with eating escargot (tiny edible land snails) was almost 50 years ago.  At that time the most elegant restaurant in Fort Wayne was Cafe Johnell's.  They specialized in French cuisine and their food was excellent.  Also expensive, which is why it was the place to go for special occasions if you were young married couples on a budget.  

My best friend and I, and our husbands went there, as I said, about fifty years ago, to celebrate our anniversaries.  They were married in August, my first husband and I were married in July.  Close enough to celebrate together.  As I remember the restaurant, there was lots of red velvet and gold accents, all very elegant.  

I think that I was the only one of our party who tried the escargot.  I probably had first learned about the dish in high school French and thought it sounded interesting.  Each tiny snail, smothered in garlic butter and herbs, was served in its own little shell, with snail tongs to hold the shell and a little two tined snail fork to pick out the snail.  It was delicious but I've never had it since.  It isn't on the menu of the restaurants we frequent most often.  Out of curiosity, I just Googled escargot in Fort Wayne and it appears that there are at least two restaurants that serve it.  Maybe my wonder spouse and I will get adventurous one of these evenings. 

See a penny...

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is "Lucky Penny Day."  I'm not sure how lucky pennies can be these days, since I hear that the government has decided to stop producing them. As I understand it, pennies, and even nickels, cost more to make than they are worth.  Learning this made me curious so I checked out the cost of other coins.  Pennies cost 3.69 cents a piece to make and distribute; nickels cost 13.8 cents to make and distribute; dimes cost 5.76 cents to make and distribute; quarters cost 12.3 cents to distribute; half dollars cost 34 cents to make and distribute.  Interestingly, half dollars aren't made in large quantities while quarters are the most commonly used coins.  In doing this probably foolish research I learned a new word - 'seigniorage' is the loss differential between the cost to produce and the face value of a coin.  Maybe this will become your word of the day.  I know it's mine.  

But back to the penny, the wise old saying "See a penny, pick it up. All that day you'll have good luck." may become truer than it ever was as pennies become rarer and rarer.   Keep looking down and good luck!

Odds and ends...

 First, according to my west coast brother, today is "Sherlock Holmes Day."  This pleases my spouse who is a real fan. 

Second, for my number loving friends, the next eight dates (I'm including today) are the same forwards and backwards. 52225, 52325, 52425, 52525 (my favorite), 52625, 52725, 52825 and finally, 52925.

Third, I made a quick trip to my favorite shoe store this morning and found the perfect white dressy but comfy summer shoes.  To be worn after Memorial Day, of course.

And finally, today, for the first time, I had the opportunity to use the bird book we bought a couple of weeks ago when we bought and installed our new bird feeder.  The book "Birds of Indiana, Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela, is divided by colors.  A few birds have been showing up, mostly sparrows, but today a stranger perched on the feeder and stayed long enough for us to get a good look at him.  He had red on his head and shoulders. Not a cardinal, I know what cardinals look like.  I flipped to the red section of the little book and there he was, the male House Finch.  Originally a western bird, but now found all over the US.  His picture looked just like the real bird.  

Those were the excitements of my day.  Hope yours was good too.

drink up

 According to my west coast brother, who knows such things, today is "International Tea Day." While I seem to be drinking more coffee than tea these days, because my wonder spouse makes really good coffee (his own special half-caf blend) I do enjoy a good cup of brewed tea. When I have traveled in the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand, I have always been able to get excellent brewed tea at every meal and, usually, in the evenings in the lobbies of hotels where I've stayed. 

Here, in the US (at least the mid-west US where I live) if I ask for hot tea with breakfast at a restaurant I am most likely to get a cup or, if I'm really lucky, a little tea pot of hot water and one tea bag.  This is not at all the same thing as good hot tea brewed in large urns and poured out generously or brought to the table ready to drink in large tea pots.  No tags hanging anywhere.  My all time favorite place for tea was the Duke Hotel in London where they serve you excellent tea and biscuits if your room isn't quite ready when you arrive, even if you know you're early and aren't expecting anything more than a place to leave your luggage until check in time.  Believe me their rooms are worth the wait.  This isn't a commercial for the Duke, but if you're heading for London, check them out. 

I guess this is why we are celebrating "International Tea Day" and not "USA Tea Day."  I might need to have tea this evening in honor of the day, even if it is (gasp) from a tea bag.

inevitable

 It was bound to happen, I guess.  As I have mentioned in previous blogs, my spouse and I frequently play Scrabble, and, while I did win by 80 points a few nights ago, our end scores are usually much closer.  We do not play by the traditional rules where when one person uses all their tiles the game ends and the other players must deduct the value of the tiles left in their trays from their scores. 

That rule would have worked to my advantage this evening, because when I used my last tile I was 25 points ahead.  Sadly for me, my wonder spouse was able to use his last five tiles in ways that added 25 points to his score.  He really tried for 26 but just couldn't do it, and so we tied.  For the first time ever we tied.  

Obviously we will be playing a tie-breaker game sometime soon. 

On a very loosely related note, my west coast brother informed me that today is "World Flower Day" and "Flour Day."  Both good Scrabble words.  We celebrated by having some excellent carrot cake for dessert this evening, obviously made with flour, and we enjoyed the flowers on our Catawba rosebay rhododendron.  Humm, rosebay would be a good Scrabble word.   

This is how it looked yesterday.  After all the wind and rain today I'm not sure how it will look tomorrow. 

my theory...

 I'm pretty sure it's a conspiracy.  This morning I drove west through Fort Wayne to get to a shopping area.  After realizing that my usual route to downtown wasn't viable (the big dump trucks and other machinery blocking the intersection where I usually turn were clues that I had better find another way.  I did so and really didn't loose any time getting through town.  All was well.  I did my shopping, lunched with a friend, then came back downtown for a meeting at church.  So far so good.  But the road rulers (those who decide which streets to close and when) really got to work while I was busy inside and couldn't see what was going on.  Having had no trouble getting into town two hours earlier, I began to drive my usual route home.  The first block was fine, second block big orange ROAD CONSTRUCTION and LEFT LANE CLOSED signs appeared.  I turned right onto a one way street south, then left onto what is usually another very reliable route east.  Two block later a bright orange and white barricade and ROAD CLOSED sign loomed in front of me.  I turned left (the only way I could) onto a street I wasn't familiar with, which dead ended in a one-way street heading, you guessed it, back downtown. 

Since I'm writing this blog, I'm sure you've surmised that I did actually, eventually make it home.  On the way home I passed two END ROAD CONSTRUCTION signs.  I'm sure they were protest signs and I agree.  

a numbers game

 My west coast brother reminded me today that we are almost through the first quarter of the 21st century.  That made me laugh when I remembered that in my youth the year 2000 seemed like an unbelievably far away number.  "2001 a Space Odyssey" was a popular science fiction movie that came out in 1968, the year I got married the first time.  "1984" depicted a nightmarish future when it was published in 1949.  My mother-in-law was born in 1898 and died at the age of 96.  She lived through so much history including the Wright brothers, two world wars, and much more.  My father, born in 1916 remembered travelling by train, surrey and Model T, all in a weekend, when he was a toddler.

Fast forward to my grandchildren born in 2001, 2002 and 2004, all in the 21st Century.  With good health, which they all have right now, they could live into the 22nd century.  My spouse's youngest grandchild, born in 2017, will almost certainly make it beyond 2100.  I wonder when she will start looking ahead to the 22nd century.  Will she think it is impossibly far away?  

Celebrate!!

 OK, some grandma bragging.  Today my second oldest granddaughter graduated from college.  She has earned her BFA from CCAD (the Columbus College of Art and Design).  Her art is very distinctive, and I think most of it is beautiful, however her full-time day job is working in a pre-school day care center.  Her art is not yet paying the bills.  

My spouse and I made the long drive to and from Columbus, Ohio, three hours each way, to be at her graduation.  We didn't mind making the drive except for getting up at 5:00am (we are retired after all and not used to getting up early). My wonder spouse did all the driving.  After it was over agreed that we do not ever want to live in a large city, unless we have a chauffer or a self driving car. 

The ceremony itself was very interesting.  The commencement address was given by Vanessa German, an accomplished artists who has sculptures in MoMA and several other galleries.  You can Google her.  Her talk was an impassioned plea for the graduates to keep creating art, to let their creative spirits soar, and her speaking style was that of a revival preacher.  Having been an art education major myself, many, many years ago, I was inspired.  I certainly hope the students were.  I found myself thinking that yes, at 80, I am still creating with my original weavings and my writing (like these silly blogs).

My most recent pieces, off the loom and ready for finishing stitched designs.

The graduate, her fiance, and her cousin (another granddaughter). It was a great day to be together.

One of her pieces from her senior thesis show.  

It's his fault...

 In my experience, it's not at all uncommon for a child in a family to blame something wrong that he or she has done on a sibling.  "It's his fault." or "She made me do it." are frequently heard refrains.  Actually that last one goes all the way back to Adam and Eve.  While not siblings they did have to answer to one parent.  When a close-in-age sibling isn't handy a child might make up a friend to be the guilty party.  When my west coast brother was very young he had an imaginary friend named Rimrock who got blamed for many things.  

All of this is preliminary to saying that it's all my west coast brother's fault that I over indulged at supper tonight.  As you know, he often tells me about special days.  Today was "National Pizza Party Day." It was also "National Check Your Wipers Day."  Guess which one we chose to celebrate?  My brother made me do it.  

first crush

My west coast brother has informed me that today is "Relive Your Past by Listening to the First Music You Ever Bought No Matter What No Excuses Day."  I decided that this would be a great topic to blog about because the title was so long that it was practically the whole blog.  My west coast sister-in-law said that her first was "In the Ghetto" by Elvis.  My husband said that his first purchase was Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" or maybe "Leroy Anderson Conducts Leroy Anderson." I'm pretty sure my first purchase was "Blue Suede Shoes" by Elvis.  It must have been something by Elvis because he was my first major celebrity crush.  Possibly my only one now that I think about it.  I had a poster of Elvis on my bedroom wall where I could look at it every night before I fell asleep.

I actually saw Elvis in concert.  We were all very young back then.  My uncle got tickets through work and took my cousin and me (I was 12 and she was13) to see Elvis at the coliseum.  I think the year was 1957.  My uncle did not attend, just dropped us off and picked us up later.  My cousin and I luckily ended up with seats near the front and I was sure Elvis was looking right at me through the entire show.  What a thrill.

Years later I began to wonder if I had dreamed the whole thing.  No one seemed to remember Elvis ever coming to Fort Wayne, but recently a friend I've known since high school assured me that she was at the same concert.  So we share the same sweet memory.

restaurant manners....

 I generally try to be well behaved in restaurants.  I don't slurp my soup or eat my peas with a knife.  I don't shout or erupt with raucous laughter.  I try not to annoy people at neighboring tables and I never snap my fingers at a waiter.  I know which forks to use and I don't talk on my phone during dinner.  Happily, I can say the same for my spouse and friends with whom we go out to eat.  I'm certainly not always perfect but I do try to be couth. 

Today, however, I may have hit a new low.  Actually, a friend and I managed it together.  We were eating at our favorite Thai restaurant, Spice and Herb.  If you've never tried it you should.  We had managed to make it through most of the meal and were putting our leftovers in boxes to take home.  I was offered a to-go cup for what was left of my Thai iced tea, more that half a glass.  Thai iced tea is sweet tea served with a layer of heavy cream floating on top. As you stir the cream into the tea with your straw it turns a nice warm orange color.  I think it's delicious.  

As I said, I was offered a to-go cup which I naturally accepted.  I poured what was left in my glass into the cup and tried to put the lid on.  It was the correct size but I couldn't get it to click on, so I asked my friend for help.  We both agree now that I should have waited and asked the waiter for help.  Lesson learned.  As my friend struggled to get the cap to snap on, the cup actually folded in half (I watched it happen) and tea spilled all over the table, the floor and us.  Luckily neither of us was wearing white jeans.  Never before Memorial Day.  We're both old enough to still follow that silly rule.  Some habits are hard to break.  

While I frantically mopped up everything I could with the napkins on the table, the waiter (and several people at other tables) saw our distress.  She hurried over with a wet cloth and wiped everything up, table, floor, everything.  I did not know that one glass of ice tea could spread so far.  I got a few splashes on my shirt (it will wash out) but my friend got it all down both legs of her blue jeans.  She looked like she had had a more embarrassing kind of accident. After all the mess was cleaned up, l put my payment in cash in the folder provided and told the waiter that I didn't need any change.  When she saw that I had left her a generous tip (she certainly deserved it) she offered to bring me some fresh Thai iced tea in a to-go cup.  I hesitantly accepted, because I do love the stuff.  I managed to carry the cup and my leftovers out to the car with no further problems.

My only concern now is that my daughter and I are planning to go to the same restaurant for lunch next Monday.  What if they remember me and refuse to let me in?  Or worse, will only let me drink water?

jump for joy

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is "Frog Jumping Day."  I haven't actually seen any frogs jumping today, but it was raining hard enough a while ago that I wouldn't have been surprised.  

Jumping does make me think of spring though, and one particular memory.  When we lived in south eastern Ohio we lived on a three acre country lot with a horse barn and fenced pasture.  One sunny early spring morning I looked from my kitchen window toward the pasture.  Just beyond the fence I saw at least twenty bunnies leaping and jumping into the air.  I really didn't know that rabbits could jump straight up but they did.  This show went on for several minutes and they all looked like they were having a wonderful time.  Maybe they got into some catnip (I'm told it works on rabbits) or maybe they were just exuberantly enjoying spring.  

Whatever the cause, when spring rolls around, as it has now, I remember the jumping bunnies.  Hooray for spring!!!!

Where are they?

 Have you ever given a party and wondered, just before guests are due to arrive "What if nobody shows up?"  I am beginning to feel that way.  Last Wednesday my spouse and I bought a new double hook bird feeder holder (shepherd's hook) because we decided we would like to add a second feeder, one that might attract cardinals and other interesting birds.  Then on Friday we went to Wild Birds Unlimited where a very helpful clerk, who knew everything about feeding birds, helped us select the correct style of feeder with the proper perches for cardinals and other larger birds.  Then of course we needed to purchase the correct seed blend, which we did.  We also bought a book on Indiana birds.  Did you know that you get a discount if you spend over $200 at WBU?

We brought everything home, filled the new feeder with the new wonder seed blend, and hung it out with our original feeder.  That was Friday.  So far no birds have come to the party.  Perhaps we should have sent out written invitations or posted maps on nearby lampposts?  My spouse insists that the birds will come, we just need to be patient.  I certainly hope he's right.  I want to watch them as I eat my breakfast, or lunch or supper.  I really don't care when they they come, just come!  The party just isn't the same without them.

Here's the feeder in question.  Don't you think it looks inviting?

for moms everywhere

 Happy Mother's Day to all of you who have had moms.  I hope you were blessed with a kind, loving mother.  I certainly was.  Actually I have been blessed with three 'moms' in my life.  My own mother was smart, fun loving, kind, adventurous, strict in the best way and very, very loving.  Sadly, she died at age 56.  It's a family thing.  Both of my grandmothers also died in their 50s.  Believe me, when I turned 60 I breathed a sign of relief.  My father lived to be 89.  That's my goal. 

My father remarried and my step-mom was the one who helped me with my wedding plans and was Grandma Wanda to my children.  She was a fascinating person who had spent most of World War II in Warsaw, Poland.  She had her quirks, but was a good step-mother to my west coast brother, who was only 11 when our mom died.

Then there was my dear Aunt Dora, my father's sister.  She replaced the grandmothers I never knew.  In the small town where I grew up, she was known by everyone.  Not only had she been the baby sitter for a whole generation of children, she was also custodian at our little Lutheran school.  A job that involved hugs and cuddles and so much more than just mopping floors.  When my mother died, I was teaching in another city two hours away, so Aunt Dora spent many hours each week taking care of the needs of my dad and brother.

Finally there was Helen, my mother-in-law.  My first husband was an only child, so our two children were her only grandchildren.  She was the only baby-sitter we ever had.  My kids loved to go visit Grandma.  Even our two little dogs loved to stay with Grandma.  Turns out she was feeding them (the dogs) scrambled eggs for breakfast.  Years later I learned about some things my children got away with when grandma wasn't watching, like climbing out on the porch roof from my son's bedroom window.  It's better that neither she nor I knew about that. 

But that should be enough reminiscing to get you thinking about your moms.  I hope you can dwell on the happy times.  

RACH on.....

 This evening's Philharmonic concert was entirely Rachmaninoff and it was exceptional.  The first half, Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, was beautiful music, excellently performed; our Phil never disappoints.

But the second half, Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30, blew me away.  From the opening chords played by amazing concert pianist Garrick Ohlsson to the grand, and I do mean grand finale, I was entranced.  The piano was a major part of this piece all the way through, and happily, the orchestra supported it beautifully.  

After a well deserved and lengthy standing ovation, Mr. Ohlsson played a Chopin piece as a beautiful encore.  All in all, one of the best concerts of the season.  

What a day!

 Today my west coast brother really came through for me.  Not only is it "Tear the Tags Off the Mattress Day" but it's also "Hurray for Buttons Day" and "Lost Sock Memorial Day."  I think it's rather handy that these household related special days occur together.  

I think you'll agree that tearing the tags off mattresses, or pillows for that matter, is a pretty radical idea.  After all, the tags clearly say "Do Not Remove" or words to that effect.  I'm pretty sure that the mattress police aren't going to show up at my door one day, demanding to check my mattresses, but, you know, just in case, I'll just leave them attached.  They're not hurting anything.  

As far as buttons are concerned, they are very convenient for keeping blouses and shirts discretely closed while being worn.  I find I really don't appreciate buttons until one pops off a garment I had planned to wear, or worse, while I'm wearing it.  Then of course I must go to the little blue ceramic button lady who sits on my dresser and try to find a matching button.  Doesn't that sound delightfully domestic?  The truth is, I haven't sewn on a button in years.  Admittedly, I do wear lots of pullovers, t-shirts and items with zippers.  

And that brings us to socks.  As the wonderful author Erma Bombeck once said, it is a sad truth that socks do not mate for life.  In my case there is one white sock, lying on top of my dresser right now (next to the blue button lady) waiting patiently for its mate to show up.  Which may or may not happen when the next white load comes out of the dryer.  That sock might just be blowing down the road somewhere.  You know it can happen.  Every once in a while I spot a lonesome sock, or even a shoe, lying in the road, never two, just one, and I bet you have too.  It's so sad.

happy holiday

 Well, this is interesting.  I went searching for special days celebrated on today, May 8, since all my west coast brother could come up with was "National Give Someone a Cupcake Day" and, while I do like cupcakes, I wasn't too excited about writing about food.  To my surprise, with a little searching, I discovered that today is a brand new special day.

On Monday President Trump established two new national holidays. He declared November 11 a holiday to commemorate our victory in World War One.  This has been celebrated as Veterans Day for as long as I can remember, but I think he wants to emphasize the victory.  The really new National Holiday, May 8, is to commemorate our victory in World War Two.   Obviously, we didn't win either of those wars all by ourselves, but I think it's ok to remember the part we played.  So Happy May 8.

Smile!

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is the "Great American Grump Out."  This is a day set aside to focus on humor and positive behaviors.  It's a time to stop complaining, embrace joy, share laughter, tell jokes and spread smiles.  As it happens it was exactly that kind of day for me.  

I am positively happy that my brakes worked and I didn't collide with the big pickup truck that ran a red light right in front of me as I was driving down town. 

I was able to share a delicious lunch with a group of employees at my church.  Our committee sponsored an appreciation lunch for them, which they seemed to enjoy very much.  The laughter came when one of the men at the table was telling us how his 4 year old grandson has become a little confused and thinks that dead people are buried in landfills.  Then everyone at the table shared pictures of their really cute dogs, always smile inducing.

This evening my spouse, who is never grumpy, and I watched a program on NOVA which went to great lengths to simulate a five car and one semi collision to see if the dummy passengers survived.  It was a spectacular crash.  Detailed results will be explained next week. As I watched the program I was even more happy that I avoided the truck that ran the red light.  It would not have been a happy event. 

All in all a very successful non-grumpy day.

square roots

 My west coast brother pointed out to me that yesterday, Cinco de Mayo, was also Square Root Day, 5/5/25.  I'm sorry we missed it because by my calculations (please correct me if I'm wrong) the next Square Root Day will be June 6, 2036 - 6/6/36.  I like interesting dates.  My personal favorite date occurred 11 years ago.  My birthday is on December 13 and in 2014 I turned 70.  Since my birthday was on 12/13/14 and sequential number birthdays do not happen often, I held a big birthday party.  Friends and family came from as far away as Texas and Florida and we all had a wonderful time.  My next birthday will be 12/13/25.  12 + 13 = 25.  Hummm, I wonder if that's party worthy?  

May 5th

 Today is Cinco de Mayo, celebrating the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla near what is now Puebla City in Mexico.  My spouse and I did not celebrate by going to our favorite Mexican restaurant - much too crowded and noisy.   We did however play several lively rounds of Mexican Train in honor of the day.  Much like the Battle of Puebla, ours was a heated contest.  

I also, not really in honor of the day, but coincidentally, spent a happy hour with the second grader whom I tutor, who happens to be Hispanic.  We did some practice reading from an assigned worksheet but also spent some fun time looking at maps.  One of the books he was given as part of the tutoring program is a big thick book of maps and information pages about all of the United States.  From looking at the large US map at the beginning of the book, he chose several states at random to learn more about.  Oregon, Indiana, Alabama (he was interested in Space Camp) and Kentucky were among his picks.  When we got to Kentucky I mentioned the Kentucky Derby which was run this past Saturday.  We looked up the name of the winning horse - Sovereignty, and the name of the winning jockey - Junior Alvarado.  When my student heard the name Alvarado he was shocked "That's my dad's last name!"  What a fun discovery.  I don't think I did a great job of teaching reading today but we had lots of fun as he broadened his horizons.  A great way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

Chickens Little

My west coast brother informed me that today is "International Respect for Chickens Day" and he and his family celebrated by having chicken as the guest of honor at their church potluck.  I celebrated by having a chicken salad sandwich.  However I do have a great respect for chickens.  They were part of our family's income for some years. There was one chicken in particular that I had respect for.  She was one of the free range banty hens that roamed our yard and provided us with occasional eggs.  Chickens, in my experience, can't fly high, but they can get five or six feet off the ground, and that's all it took for this particular hen to get up to the crotch of the catalpa tree in our front yard.  She laid six eggs there and my mother decided that these eggs should be allowed to hatch.  We were all watching as the chicks hatched.  We were country kids and easily entertained.  Then we started wondering, how will the hen get the chicks down out of the tree?  Little chicks don't fly.  We got our answer when they were two days old, little fluffy yellow balls.  Mamma hen literally kicked them out of the tree.  They bounced as they hit the grass, then picked themselves up and started running around.  Yay!  Six more chickens for our little free range flock.  

friendly neighbors....

 I promise that this will be the last reference to 'the casserole.'  While grocery shopping for all the necessary ingredients, I was reminded of a grocery shopping experience that I remember quite fondly.  

The year was 1978, my first husband had just accepted a position with NCR in Columbus, Ohio and we had purchased a nice house in the country on three acres of land about five miles from the town of New Concord.  We soon discovered that New Concord was the birthplace of astronaut John Glen.  Going to school in that school system quickly sparked my son's interest in all things space.  He has worked in space related jobs for his entire career, but that's a story for a different time.  

Very soon after we moved in, I went to the nearest grocery store (it was in New Concord) to stock up on many, many necessary groceries.  If you've ever moved, you know what I mean.  I pushed my cart into one of the checkout lanes, watched as the contents of my overflowing cart, including ice cream, were rung up and bagged.  This was long before the era of self check-out, and also before the common use of credit cards to buy groceries.  When the total was announced, I confidently whipped out my check book and pen, ready to write a check, and discovered, to my intense embarrassment, that I had used the last check and forgotten to put a new pad of checks in the checkbook.  To those of you who are much younger than me, this won't make any sense at all, but I'm guessing that a few of you remember writing checks for store purchases.  

The clerk called for the manager, and I told him, as I had told the clerk, that if they would just hold the groceries for me, I would go home (about a ten minute drive) and come back with a check to pay for my groceries.  I was obviously flustered until the manager said "Oh, you're the family who just moved into the "Smith's" house, aren't you?  Don't worry, take your groceries home, put them away, then you can come back and pay us."  I did exactly what he said, came back after the ice cream and everything else was put away and paid my bill.

I promise you I never shopped anywhere else for groceries for the entire four years we lived there.  We soon discovered that this man was the rule, not the exception.  New Concord was the friendliest community I have ever lived in.  

the never-ending casserole

 Yesterday I blogged about, and shared the recipe for, my favorite spaghetti casserole.  It was delicious last night, it was delicious again tonight and I think my son and his wife will enjoy the big double portion I gave them.  My spouse and I still have enough for supper tomorrow night.  I don't remember this recipe making quite so much, but now that I think about it, I made this casserole most often when my children were teenagers and also brought teenagers home to visit.  Teenagers (at least my two) ate a lot.  They were never fat, they burned most of their calories in marching band, but they did eat a lot, especially my son.  His favorite daily after school snack was a box of cereal and a gallon of milk.  We were buying seven gallons of milk a week.  He was six feet five inches tall and skinny.  Thirty-five years later he is just as tall and almost just as thin, lucky guy.  But I digress.  My reason for writing this cautionary tale is to encourage you to plan on serving eight to ten people when you make this casserole, or have plenty of freezer space.  Of course you could just cut the recipe in half, but where's the fun in that?

sharing a recipe

 

This evening we had guests for supper and I decided to cook one of my favorite old casserole recipes for them.  My wonder spouse, who does know his way around a kitchen, was a great help and it turned out to be just as delicious as I remembered, so I decided to share the recipe.  Enjoy.  

Luci’s Spaghetti Casserole

1 pound spaghetti

2 pounds lean ground beef

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms or two cans mushroom pieces, drained

1 ½ cups chopped onion

1 teaspoon thyme

½ teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder

3 cans cream of mushroom soup

4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

 

In a large deep sided skillet or Dutch oven brown ground beef, onions and mushrooms.

Stir in thyme, pepper and garlic powder

When thoroughly browned, stir in mushroom soup and two cups cheddar cheese, simmer about ten minutes.

Boil spaghetti in a separate pot for about ten minutes, then drain

 

Pre hea oven to 350 degrees.

Spread a thin layer of the meat mixture in the bottom of a 9”x13” Pyrex or similar baking dish.

Cover with drained spaghetti, then spread the remailing meat mixture evenly over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes

Spread the last two cups of cheese on top and return to oven for five minutes or until cheese is melted.  Serve and enjoy.