What a treat...

 My west coast brother has informed me that, among many other foods being celebrated today, it is "Spam Day."  As it happens, I like Spam, in small doses.  My first husband liked it sliced and fried with a slice of cheese melted on top.  Of course my first husband liked just about anything with cheese melted on top.  That's how I convinced him to eat broccoli. 

But I digress.  Last summer my current spouse and I took a driving trip west.  When his son learned that our route would take us through Austin, Minnesota, he encouraged us to stop at the SPAM Museum there.  As it turned out it was a very interesting museum, full of fun facts, historical displays and tasty bites of several varieties of Spam.  Did you know that Spam is very popular in Hawaii?  Did you know that more Spam per capita is eaten in Guam than any other country?

Spam was first created in the late 1930s, and became very popular during WWII.  These days it's available at Kroger's, in case you're feeling nostalgic or just hungry.

Speaking of nostalgia, today is also "Shredded Wheat Day."  But that's a topic for another blog.  Perhaps tomorrow.  

an experiment...

 I went to lunch today with six friends at Black Canyon Restaurant, a restaurant that I hadn't been to in years. It was a farewell lunch for one of our number who is moving to Arizona and someone else in our group picked the restaurant. 

We had a wonderful time and the food was delicious.  Our waiter seemed very amiable so I decided to try something  a little different. 

I do not like lettuce so I don't often order salads in restaurants but they had one on the menu today that was very appealing - Thai Peanut salad.  It contained two kinds of lettuce, cabbage, udon noodles, peanuts, carrots, avocado, cherry tomatoes, scallions, toasted coconut, mint and salmon (my protein choice) with a Thai dressing.  

What I did that was different (at least for me) was ask our waiter if I could have the salad without the lettuce?  I told her that I knew it would be smaller but that was fine.  She said yes, as if this was a common request.  Maybe it is? The salad, when it came, still nearly filled the bowl, and it was delicious.  Also, I was able to eat every savory bite without leaving a bunch of lettuce in my bowl.  

It occurred to me, as I was eating the salad, that this was a freshly made salad, not one that had been pre-mixed.  One more positive aspect.  I think I may try this experiment at some other restaurants and see how many can make a lettuce free salad.  Meanwhile I may have to go back to Black Canyon soon. 

I know my spouse will go with me because they had French onion soup on the menu and also a really delicious looking wedge salad, his favorite. 

meow...growl...

 Today is "International Tiger Day."  It's also "National Lasagna Day" so if your tiger is hungry you know what to feed it.  I believe there is a tiger striped cat who is famous for loving lasagna so I guess the two days kind of go together.

I personally don't have a tiger although I do think they are beautiful animals, but best viewed from a safe distance, for instance, on the other side of a fence at the zoo.

I have never had a tiger but I have had a few cats who liked to let their inner tiger out from time to time.  Like tigers in the the wild, house cats lounge around a lot (it's been estimated that they sleep at least 23 hours a day) but can spring into action when called upon.  

My most memorable example of this involved my good old cat Athena.  One day a bird got into our house.  I think it had gone into the garage and got trapped in there when the overhead door was closed.  The next time I opened the door from the garage into the house it flew in, looking for a way to escape.

It was making loops around the dining room at ceiling level while I tried to figure out how to get it outside.  While I was pondering the problem my dear old Athena took things into her own paws.  

She leaped straight up into the air, caught the bird on her first try, snapped it's neck and presented it to me as a fait accompli.  Talk about instincts.  Athena was a mature, to put it kindly, declawed house cat who never went outside, but deep inside her lurked that tiger.  I'm glad she had that chance to let it out.  

 

a little bit of history

 I finished a book yesterday that I have been reading for a committee report, and when I finished it I casually tossed the book mark on my desk.  This evening, in an effort to straighten up my desk a little, I picked up the bookmark to put it away.  As I did so, I really looked at it and realized that this is a bookmark that I have had for at least 17 years.  It was lovingly, and somewhat abstractly, decorated by my oldest granddaughter which explains why I have never thrown it away.  

And speaking of history, I realized, as I examined the bookmark more closely, that the decoration is colored on an old computer punch card.  Are you old enough to remember those?  My first husband worked with computers from the time when it took a whole room full of equipment to do less than my phone does now. Early in our marriage he taught a college statistics class for a few years.  In that class his students used punch cards to do their research.  At the end of each semester he brought home boxes of used punch cards, specifically for our children to color on or use in any way they chose.  

Lots of those cards survived until my grandchildren were old enough to decorate them, hence the book mark.  

After my first husband died I downsized and all the punch cards that were left were thrown away.

This is the last remaining relic of that bygone era.  But at least it still has a function unlike my last two laptops.  

the weather...

 When I can't think of anything else new to blog about, I can always blog about the weather.  Right now Mother Nature is putting on a pretty good show, with rain gushing down outside my windows.  

It has been such a long dry summer (until two days ago) that I'm really enjoying the rain. As i sat in our nice cool air conditioned church this morning I had a flashback to hot summer Sundays when I was a child. 

There was no such thing as air conditioning in our church but we did have fans.  If you are of a certain age you may remember the hand held fans that were in the hymnal racks in the summer time. Rectangular shaped with rounded corners and a wooden handle. Picture a giant fudgesicle only flatter.  The ones in our church were provided by the local funeral home (handy if someone expired from the heat. or the energy required to get some cooling from that fan).  There was an advertisement for the funeral home on one side of the fan, and a picture of Jesus on the other.  Interesting to look at when you were too young to really care about the sermon.

I also remember from those long ago Sundays, the fervent prayers that would be offered for rain during a long dry spell.  We had lots of farmers in our congregation.  I don't think I've ever heard a prayer for rain in the down town church that I attend now.  I'm not sure anyone actually prays for rain anymore, with the relatively accurate weather reports telling us when the rain will come.  But if somewhere, in some small country church, that prayer went up last Sunday, it has certainly been answered.

remembering them

 Today, according to my west coast brother, is "Aunt and Uncle's Day" so I would like to share some memories of my aunts and uncles and something about each one.

They were Aunt Dora, Uncle Elson, Aunt Ida, Uncle Harold, Aunt Mildred, Uncle Elmer, Aunt Peg and Uncle Russ.  

Aunt Dora was the closest thing to a grandma I ever had.  My father's youngest sister, she lived in the same house she grew up in all her life, was baby sitter to half the population of our little home town, and cared for my grandfather as he struggled with diabetes.

Uncle Elson, Aunt Dora's husband, was fun loving, had a great sense of humor, had been a cowboy out west, and had an amazing tattoo of a hula dancer on his left forearm. He could make it dance when he flexed his muscle.

Aunt Ida was my father's older sister.  She had ten children, a husband crippled by polio, and the most fabulous flower gardens you have ever seen. They never owned their own home but farmed as share croppers.  She was one tough lady, and adventurous.  When she was in her 70s she took an adult granddaughter with her and travelled to Germany to see where her grandparents had come from.

Uncle Harold, Aunt Ida's husband, in a wheel chair for all the time I knew him, had the first television set I had ever seen.  Quite a lot of what we saw was 'snow' but it was still very exciting.

Aunt Mildred, my mother's sister died of cancer in her sixties.  I was privileged to spend six weeks with her the summer before she died. She was warm and funny and very classy, and certainly did not dwell on her illness.  We had a lot of fun together.

Uncle Elmer and Aunt Mildred got married after knowing each other for only two weeks.  This was during WWII.  The family story was that they told her father (a minister) that if he didn't marry them someone else would.  They had a good long happy marriage.  Some time after Aunt Mildred died, Uncle Elmer remarried and I was very happy for him.

Aunt Peg was the wife of my mother's brother.  She was a kind generous person, but they lived some distance from us and I never knew her really well.

Uncle Russ, my mother's brother, Peg's husband, was tall and handsome.  He looked like Clark Gable (if you can remember back that far) and flew his own plane.  He thrilled us all once by flying into the little Woodburn airport for a visit.  I remember being very impressed by the fact that he could read a newspaper when we held it up across the room from him. He was a very caring person with a great laugh.

So there you have it, a quick look at my aunts and uncles.  I myself have three nieces, three nephews, three great nieces and four great nephews.  All wonderful of course.

So happy day to all you Aunts and Uncles out there.

really good news...

 I don't usually talk about my personal health.  There are so many more interesting things going on in the world and in my life.  But today I want to share some really good news.

This morning I had a follow up appointment with my urologist.  (I remember the days when I only had one doctor, but that was a long time ago.)  Today's appointment was to see how I was doing after my 'acute kidney injury' that put me in the hospital for ten days in January of 2024 (two days after our wedding - not the honeymoon of our dreams).

My spouse went with me because I appreciate a second set of ears when hearing what a doctor has to say.  My appointment was for 10:10am and I was instructed to arrive by 9:55am.  We actually got there at 9:45am.  I had signed in on line so we were told to have a seat.  The only little glitch was that their credit card machine wasn't working so I couldn't pay my co-pay.  I must remember to do that on line tomorrow.

We were soon called in to exam room #13, my lucky number.  A good sign I thought, and I was right.  The doctor came in after a very brief wait and reviewed with us the CT scan that I had had done a few weeks ago.  He pointed out that there was a little bit of scaring on the kidneys but agreed with me that that could be because they are 80 years old.  All in all he saw absolutely no problems, said I was good to go and didn't ever need to come back. Yay!

As we were walking out of the hospital to our car my spouse happened to look at the time.  It was 10:02am.  In and out in 17 minutes and all good news.  That's my kind of medical appointment. 

so cool...

 My west coast brother tells me that today is "National Refreshment Day."  This seems very appropriate to me and I was able to get some refreshment in a very cool (almost too cool) air conditioned restaurant.  It was refreshing on a couple of levels.  First I had a delicious blackberry peach iced tea, very refreshing.  Secondly, I was lunching with my daughter and the whole lunchtime conversation centered around the fact that she is going to be a grandma.  The baby isn't due until March but she is already very excited.  Of course that will make me a great grandma which is just fine with me. 

Not surprisingly, all this talk about grandchildren makes me remember my excitement at becoming a grandma for the first time. Coincidentally, my first grandchild is the father of the baby on the way.  He was a beautiful baby.  Now he has a long beard and long hair but he's still beautiful to me.

You know how sometimes mothers say "I hope you have a child just like you."?  Well, I'm tempted to tell my daughter that I hope she has a grandson just like his father.  Capers like painting pictures all over his little sister's legs with red nail polish* and eating ten bananas while hiding in his bedroom* will keep her on her toes.  Being a grandma isn't always a bed of roses but it is a wonderful part of life. I can't wait to hear some of her stories in the years to come.

*written about in prior blogs

so hot!!!

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is "Hot Enough for Ya?" Day to which I answer a resounding "Yes!"  According to the weather person on last night's news the whole US is currently under a heat dome that will keep our temperatures in the 90s for the next several days.  

It's a sad truth that the hottest summer days in north-eastern Indiana coincide with the busiest days for road construction and repair.  My spouse and I drove out (in our air-conditioned car) to our favorite Amish bakery and grocery store late this morning.  As we went, I tried to keep track of the number of orange and white barrels we passed - impossible.  Obviously where there were barrels (and cones, also orange and white, not the ice cream kind) there were workmen looking, as you might expect, miserably uncomfortable as the temperature approached 90+ degrees.  Those bright orange vests they wear are not air-conditioned.  

One orange clad worker strolled right out in front of us as we approached an intersection with barrels on all four corners.  I'm sure he trusted that we would slow down and of course my ever alert spouse did, but maybe the worker just thought that a broken leg might be a small price to pay for a stay in a nice cool hospital bed.  

Who am I to judge?

Success

 Today my wonder spouse and I were doubly successful. First we managed to get the sticky backing on a second jigsaw puzzle (our wedding picture gift from a son and daughter-in-law).  Second, we shopped for and were able to find poster frames in which we could frame our stuck together puzzles.  Now they are hanging on our basement rec-room walls.  

Excuse the reflections from the overhead lights.  Don't they look nice all framed and hanging on the wall?  In case you're wondering, no we do not plan to make this a practice with every other jigsaw puzzle we ever complete.  At least I don't think so.  My spouse may have other ideas.  

puzzles continued..

 You may remember that my wonder spouse and I recently completed a devilishly difficult 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle.  Now that it's finished we needed to decide what to do with it.  Too much work went into it to just cast it aside, and taking it all apart and re-gifting it to someone else just seemed too cruel.  So we decided to try mounting it on some special backing that is available just for that purpose.  

Once in place, the pieces of this puzzle do hold together well, so we were able to slide stiff paper under the puzzle, lay another piece on top, and working together, flip the puzzle over so it's lying face down.  This evening we put the stiff sticky backing on and it's holding together beautifully.  Tomorrow we're going shopping for a poster frame and hope to have the puzzle all ready to hang in our basement rec room by tomorrow evening.  

And there it will hang until our heirs decide what to do with it.  I hope they don't fight over who gets it.  

  

In case you don't remember, this is what the finished puzzle looks like.  If you think it would look great on your living room wall just let us know.

flower power?

 A friend was reminiscing with me the other day about how she used to make hollyhock dolls when she was a youngster.  I remembered doing the same thing - one hollyhock bulb and petals for the body and skirt, one bulb for the head, held together with a toothpick.  But the most vivid memory I have about hollyhocks has nothing to do with dolls.

My oldest brother (not the west coast one) was quite a prankster in his youth.  One summer when he was about ten years old he heard our mother lamenting about the fact that her Rose of Sharon bush was not blooming.  It was a nice healthy looking little bush but no blossoms on it.  On the other hand, we had a large number of hollyhocks growing along one side of our country house.  One day while she was in the house he got busy and, with tooth picks, attached about fifty hollyhock blossoms all over that bush.  Then he excitedly called "Mom, Mom, your Rose of Sharon bush is blooming."  She came outside and was very excited at first to see her plant 'blooming.'  She pretty quickly discovered the ruse though, and was really not amused when she discovered her denuded hollyhock plants.  

I don't exactly remember my brother's punishment but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with weeding the strawberry patch.  She figured if he enjoyed fiddling with plants so much he might actually enjoy it.  I'm pretty sure he didn't.

yummy bacon

 According to my west coast brother today is "National Flitch Day."  Not surprisingly, I had to look that one up.  It turns out that a flitch is a chunk of bacon (about the size of one side of a pig) and Flitch Day has been celebrated at least since the 1700s.  It is believed that this tradition let to the idea of "bringing home the bacon."

A flitch of bacon was awarded to the couple who could swear that they had not regretted their marriage for a year and a day.  I presume this tasty award was given to a couple who had only been married for a year and a day not a couple married for many years who could point to 366 days in their married life when they had no regrets.  

As it happens, my wonder spouse and I have been married for a year and a half with no regrets.  I think that should earn us a flitch and a half of bacon.  Sadly, I don't know who to apply to for this award.  

Perhaps the nice butcher at Jamison's would have some ideas.  I do like bacon.

remembering...

 Today a couple whom my spouse and I have known since college (we will not say how long ago that was) came to town for a visit.  We went to Wu's for a delicious Chinese lunch.  After which we came back to our house and spent several hours sipping iced tea enjoying the art of conversation.  We did not start any of our sentences with "Do you remember when....."  Instead we talked about our lives now.

  They are fully recovered from a tornado that destroyed their home of 50 years two years ago.  As with so many people who suffer a disaster, their whole attitude is one of thankfulness that no lives were lost.  Everything else can be and has been  replaced.  Meanwhile, my spouse and I are still considered newlyweds after being married for a year and a half.  They admired our remodeled kitchen and enjoyed hearing about our recent trips. 

Of course we talked about our children and grandchildren and how they are all doing.  But underneath it all, without ever saying it, we remembered our long history.  The wife and I first met in college.  She and her roommate and I and my roommate (who became my BFF and my current spouse's first wife) lived across the dormitory hall from each other for three years.  We four became best friends and after college we and our spouses gathered for at least one get-together every summer.  When we had children they came along too.  The group pictures we took tell the story of our years of friendship.

During our college years I was lavaliered to the man who eventually married the roommate of the friend who visited today, while my roommate was falling in love with and eventually married the man I am married to now, after I became a widow and he a widower.  Are you following this?

The friends who visited today met in college and she fell madly in love with him.  I remember her fits of extasy when she would come back to the dorm from dates.  It must have been true love because they have been married for over 50 years now.  

All of this is just to say that all of our lives have unrolled before us with unexpected twists and turns and that remembering is fine but living in the now is even better. 

a great gift

 One of the gifts my spouse received for his birthday was a jugsaw puzzle, but this was not just any old puzzle.  It was a picture of our wedding party (we were married a year and a half ago) made into a puzzle. what a great gift.  

Here's the finished project.  It was fun to put together on multiple levels, and trickier than it looks because of lots of weirdly shaped pieces.  Thank you, thank you A & T for this amazing gift.

Happy birthday indeed..

 Today is my wonder spouse's birthday, not just any old birthday but the big 80! We celebrated in style by going with friends to Coldwater, Michigan to see "Little Shop of Horrors" at the Tibbits Opera House, a restored theater like our Embassy but not quite as fancy inside.  The musical was very well done, with live music (I particularly enjoyed the piano parts during the dramatic scenes) and very good professional actors.  All in all a delightful play.  

After the matinee we proceeded to Marshall, Michigan to enjoy an early suppers at the famous Schuler's restaurant.  The food was very good, although I think I'm a little spoiled by all the good restaurants we have here in Fort Wayne.  The free birthday dessert was spectacular though.  It was Baked Alaska - peppermint chip ice cream on a thin layer of chocolate cake, covered with meringue, baked, then liberally coated with chocolate sauce.  Beautiful and delicious and plenty for four people to share. 

All in all, a good fun day.

I couldn't take pictures during the performance but this is a view of the theater.  In the 1880s it started life as a theater, then in the 1920s it became a movie theater first featuring silent films. It stood empty during the 50s and 60s but was then restored and opened as a theater for live productions with a company of professional actors.  The actor who played Sydney was particularly good and, of course, the people-eating plant stole the show.  "Feed Me!!!!!"

a steamy flash back...

 I do know how to iron clothes, I just avoid doing it whenever possible.  Happily most of the clothes I wear are knits of one sort or another which come out of the dryer ready to wear.  

When I was a youth my mother taught me to iron by first ironing pillow cases. From there I graduated to ironing dress shirts for my brothers and my father.  I actually found ironing to be one of my favorite chores (much nicer than weeding the garden) because I could watch TV while I ironed.  

Early in my first marriage my dear mother-in-law, who loved to iron, offered to iron all of my husband's work shirts - mostly the button up short sleeved kind with a breast pocket, in which resided a pocket protector and multiple pens. You get the picture.  After a few minutes of feeling guilty (I really should be ironing my own husband's shirts) I agreed that it would be a fine idea for her to iron those shirts and she did for several years. 

Now, as I said earlier, almost none of my or my current spouse's clothes require any ironing at all.  At least they didn't until I went shopping at Chico's, one of my favorite places, and found an ankle length light weight dress, light blue in color, that I though would be perfect for summer and for our trip to Egypt in the fall.  

The only problem was that I didn't read the care label before I bought the dress. Turns out it's linen, you know, that fabric that wrinkles when you look at it, definitely not wash and wear.

Today I had to iron it for the first time.  The directions on the dress label said to iron with a warm iron.  I decided to ignore that directive.  I set the iron to linen/cotton (the hottest setting) turned on the steam and ironed that dress (shades of my daddy's dress shirts).  I've been patting myself on the back all day.  It worked like a charm.  The dress looks smooth, no wrinkles.  Of course I haven't put it on yet.  Tomorrow will be the true test.  We're going out to dinner with friends. 

I know it will wrinkle just riding in the car but maybe no one will care.  Maybe they will simply be awed by the fact that I'm wearing a real linen dress, or by the fact that I still remember how to iron.

be careful where you wade..

According to my west coast brother today is, among other things, "Pandemonium Day" and "Shark Awareness Day." It certainly seems to me that these two should go together.  As a matter of fact I can remember a particular circumstance when they did.

My best friend and her two sons, ages about 6 and 9, had come to visit for a week when we were living in rural southeastern Ohio.  My husband was working out of town at the time and my children, ages about 7 and 9, and I were happy for the company.  One day we decided to go to a nearby lake for a picnic and some swimming, it being a very hot summer day.  

One of the children, I honestly don't remember whose, suggested that maybe we shouldn't swim because there might be sharks in the water.  My friend and I assured them that there were no sharks living in our little local lake, and off we went.

My BFF and I were siting on the shore watching the kids swim and splash around in the water when suddenly all four of them came rushing up to us shouting "Shark, shark!" One of them was carrying a gray eight inch long rubber shark.  The pandemonium that ensued was of the "We told you so, we told you so.  There really are sharks in the lake." shouts with lots of loud laughter and jumping around kind.  Children love to be proved right.  

flying high...

 My spouse and I went to the Fort Wayne Air Show today.  It was a great show with lots of exciting acts.  The Thunderbirds (officially the United States Air Force Demonstration Squadron) were spectacular. This was the first air show I've gone to in a long time and I learned some things from it.

Here are my take-aways from the show (some we did, some we should have done):

    Arrive really early. The lines are exceedingly long about 10am.

    Be sure you have your picture ID with you. It will be a long walk     back to your car to get it.

    Wear a big floppy sun hat, use lots of sunscreen.

    If, after standing in line for an hour and finally getting inside the         gate, two cute young coeds in a golf cart offer you a ride to the         area you have tickets for, say "Yes, please," hop on, and hold on         tight.  It will be a wild ride but worth every bounce. 

    Try to spot some landmarks to help you remember where you             parked your car.  This is not easy when the "parking lot" is a huge         field of trampled down weeds. 

    Drink more water, less beer and wine.

    Wear sturdy walking shoes.

    I have decided that I never ever want to ride in an airplane that            flies straight up, then straight back down, leveling out at the last        possible moment.  Never, not even if it is a cute little bi-plane.

    I'm pretty sure that several of the stunts we saw were optical             illusions.  Planes are simply not made to flip over or spin around         while plummeting from ridiculous heights.

    Thunderbird pilots are insane.

    If a kind person offers you a bottle of water, take it with thanks.

    Hiking through the horrible weed field, finding your car and                 bouncing your way across the field to finally reach a road to take     you towards home will not be the best part of your day, but the AC     will feel so good that you just won't mind.

My wonder spouse took this picture, another aerial act not the Thunderbirds.  The Thunderbirds moved much too fast for good pictures, at least on a phone camera.

great news

 Today was the big day!!  My spouse and I hosted a party for 17 of our nearest and dearest.  A few other nearest and dearest couldn't make it. The reason for the party was to celebrate with four of our number who have birthdays in July, but especially with my spouse.  We served pulled pork sandwiches with a variety of sauces, coleslaw, potato chips and corn chips with dips, pizza provided by one family, salad provided by another, a fruit tray, ice tea, lemonade, beer, wine and, yummiest of all, a variety of Bundtlets from "Nothing Bundt Cakes." I put two candles, the 8 and the 0 on one of the little cakes so my spouse had something to blow out. 

My spouse received several fun cards and some nice gifts, including a new jigsaw puzzle.  Thankfully, this one only has 520 pieces.  Our youngest son and daughter-in-law had the puzzle made from one of our wedding pictures so it should be fun to do.

All in all he had a very good birthday celebration, but I got the best gift of all.  I found out today that I'm going to be a GREAT GRANDMA!!!  The baby isn't due until March so I must be patient, but I'm so excited.  

fast food

 According to my west coast brother today is "National 7-11 Day" also known as "National Slurpee Day."  On my own I discovered that it's also "National French Fry Day." I have never had a Slurpee and don't care if I never do.  I'm sure there's nothing wrong with them, I just don't drink soft drinks much and, if I'm going to indulge, it will be a frozen Coke.  

I do love French fries though and I'm wondering why it isn't French Fries Day.  I mean, nobody eats just one.  I also wonder why the device I clean my teeth with is called a tooth brush???  Everyone I know has more than one tooth. But I'm getting off topic.

Tomorrow we are having an open house style party (no big sit down dinner, no set time to gather) just come any time between noon and six, graze on all the goodies, wish the birthday people a happy day and relax and enjoy each other's company.  At least  that's how I hope it goes. 

We have had a busy few days getting ready for all this, which leads me to another special day.  Last but certainly not least, today is "National Mojito Day."  I could use a Mojito right now.  Actually, I've never had a Mojito, but I'm pretty sure I would like it more than a Slurpee. 

a tasty treat to read and eat...

 My west coast brother will be retiring at the end of July.  After that he should have lots more time to research special days for me.  Meanwhile he has provided me with this goodie.  Today is "Pick Blueberries Day."  I did not rush out and pick a bunch of blueberries off bushes somewhere, but I did pick a few out of my stash of frozen blueberries in our freezer.  It's like eating delicious little blueberry popsicles.  

Meanwhile, thinking about picking blueberries reminded me of one of my all time favorite children's books "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey.  If you have never read it I urge you to check out a copy from your local library or buy a copy, find a child who will listen, and read it to them.  It's full of drama, suspense and danger.

My son loved to be read to from the time he was very young, my daughter not so much.  She wanted to be up and moving, but she would sit still for "Blueberries for Sal."  I recommend it to all of you who have young children in your lives, and while you're reading you might let them munch on some frozen blueberries.  

a breakfast tale

 My west coast brother informed me that today is "National Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Omelet Day."  Coincidentally this bit of history came up on our Senior Moments Page a Day Calendar, an historic lesson in not putting all your eggs in one omelet:

Also, by happy coincidence, today was the day I had lunch with three girlfriends (I use the term girl rather loosely) whom I have known since high school at a very nice winery/restaurant here in Fort Wayne where I had, not an omelet, but a very tasty egg salad sandwich.  

Yet another coincidence - their Wednesday special was half price glasses of wine.  We had a lovely three hour lunch.  

Mooo...

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is "Cow Appreciation Day."  I do appreciate cows and this give me the opportunity to share two of my favorite cow stories.

When I was eight years old my parents moved from our cute little house in New Haven (only one half block from the candy store) to a five acre 'farm' in the country near Woodburn, my father's home town.  Our five acres was the corner of an 80 acre farm, with an old house - a never ending fix up project - a garage, two chicken coops and an apple orchard.  Adjacent to the driveway side of our five acres was a fenced in pasture area and an old barn.  When we first moved there, my uncle, who farmed that land and two other farms for the owners, kept some cows in that pasture.

When we moved there our dachshund Fritz moved with us.  He was a city dog, but very curious.  On the first day we were there he got into the pasture and raced up barking to the first cow he saw.  The cow looked down at him, obviously annoyed, and said MOOO! in a no nonsense way.  Fritz high tailed it back to the house and never ventured into the pasture again.

For some reason one of the cows liked me and I liked her.  I called her Daisy.  She was all brown with big beautiful brown eyes and a big black tongue.  She would come to the fence when I walked up to it and happily eat the grass that I picked for her from my side of the fence.  I guess the grass really was greener on my side.  I used to wonder if I could ride her but never got up enough nerve to try.

 Eventually all of the cows were moved out of that pasture, and that was the end of my personal association with and appreciation of  cows.  I think it was after some of them got out onto the road in the middle of the night and my father had to round them up.  My father was a skilled carpenter.  He had not moved to the country to be a cow herder.  He got my uncle to agree that the old fence just wasn't secure enough and the cows were moved to other greener?? pastures.

Then my folks started raising chickens.  Cows are nicer.

medicinal??

Once again thanks to my west coast brother who knows what I like, I learned that today is "World Chocolate Day."  Beyond national or international, chocolate definitely deserves a 'world' day.  For me dark chocolate is the very best, but I know there are some milk chocolate lovers out there.

I am a huge Harry Potter fan and I think it's interesting that in the Harry Potter novels chocolate is used to make people feel better after run ins with dementors and other types of evil.  Interesting but not surprising.  I know it can make me feel better.

Right now, for example, I am eating a large chunk of dark chocolate as I write this, in hopes that it will lessen the despair I am feeling after being beaten by 27 points in Scrabble this evening.  

I think it's beginning to work but perhaps I will need another piece or maybe two.  Happily chocolate is one of the things we always keep on hand. 

stay alert please

Today, according to my west coast brother, is "National Air Traffic Control Day."  I, for one, am delighted to honor our air traffic controllers.  I had a friend some time ago whose husband was an air traffic controller, or to give him his correct title, an Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS).  He worked at Fort Wayne International Airport and found the job very stressful.  I can't imagine if he had worked at Atlanta's airport.  

My wonder spouse used to fly his own plane and I know he agrees with me about the importance of good air traffic controllers. He has flown in and out of many of the major airports in the US and I'm pretty sure he would not have wanted to fly in or our of any of those cities without the help of air traffic controllers.

So the next time you're flying anywhere think good thoughts about those men and women who are choreographing  your takeoffs and landings.

PS today is "International Kissing Day."  My spouse and I agree that after a safe landing is a great time for an international kiss.

a new record?

 My west coast brother told me that today is "International Cherry Pit Spitting Day."  I guess Independence Day was a tough act to follow.

 Not to brag but I once spit a cherry pit over 90 feet.  I believe that might be a world record.  I should check with Guinness (the records people, not the beer people).  Of course I was living in a tenth floor apartment at the time.  Don't worry, I made sure no one was standing below my balcony.

That's it.  That's all I have for the day after the 4th.  I hope you all are enjoying this long weekend.

On a more serious note, today was my oldest brother's birthday.  He died in 2020, an early victim of Covid.  I loved him dearly and I miss him.

The glorious 4th

 Happy Independence Day everyone.  The USA is 249 years old today. It's a day to enjoy picnics, patriotic music and fireworks.  The fireworks are going off all around my neighborhood as I write this.  But most of all, I think it's a day to appreciate that the booms and bangs we are hearing are only fireworks.  When we look up we see bright showers of sparkly colors, not bombs dropping.

It may not be perfect. Nothing ever is, but we are so fortunate to live in this great country of ours.  

Enjoy the fun everyone, and remember to count your blessings.

our great accomplishment...

 A couple of months ago, we think sometime in May, my spouse and I decided, after success with a 500 piece puzzle, that we would tackle a 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.  The main reason was because it was here.  Someone had obviously given it to one of us at some time.  We don't know who.  

Well today we finally finished it and here's the proof.

We actually had a lot of fun and good together time.  We listened to audio books or music or watched TV as we worked on it.  And yes, if you're wondering, I'm sure we will tackle another puzzle later this year, but never, never, never a 2,000 piece puzzle.  

By the way, this one can be easily disassembled, boxed and handed on to whoever would like to try it next.  Any takers?

write it down...

 My west coast brother informed me that today is "Made in the USA Day," "World UFO Day" and "I Forgot Day."  My spouse and I celebrated by eating bread and cookies from our favorite Amish bakery, definitely made in the USA, agreeing that neither of us has ever seen a UFO that wasn't ultimately identified.  Thanks to our "Birds of Indiana" book that we keep on the kitchen table most of the flying objects seen from our kitchen windows can be identified.  

These days I try not to forget things by making lists and putting everything on our shared phone calendar. It works most of the time.

But when I think about the phrase "I forgot..." it takes me back to the years when I was teaching and then raising children of my own and eventually helping with grandchildren.  Of course my children and grands were practically perfect, but everybody slips up sometime.

"I forgot my homework." "I forgot to bring that book home."  "I forgot to turn in my assignment."  "I forgot I have to make a shoebox diorama for history class." "I forgot we need to bring in popsicle sticks for an art project." "I forgot to bring my gym clothes home to be washed." "I forgot my boots." "I forgot to tell you I told the teacher that we will take care of the gerbil this summer. Here he is. His name is Rex." "I forgot, I'm supposed to bring cookies for the class picnic tomorrow."   

And my all-time favorite "I forgot I have a science fair project due tomorrow."  

Memories like these make me perfectly satisfied to be beyond the child care years.

yummy...

Once again my west coast brother has inspired me.  He told me that today is "National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day." What a great day.  I know there are lots of great flavors out there so instead of dreaming up my own I decided to research some creative choices.

Here are some I found when I Googled unusual ice cream flavors:  black sesame, durian (a fruit I had never heard of) wasabi, balsamic strawberry, Earl Gray, cheese ice cream, honey lavender, avocado ice cream, sweet corn ice cream, and dill pickle (pregnant women might love that one).  Lobster ice cream is considered the most unusual.  

I think I'll stick with mint chocolate chip.