A worm's tail

Today my west coast brother suggested to me that I should blog about Cordova Ice Worms because today is "National Cordova Ice Worm Day."   Since my first search revealed that Cordova is a city in Alaska, and I have a fondness for Alaska, I decided to dig a little deeper.  First of all, it's not just a day, the Cordova Ice Worm Festival is a week long event including a parade, fireworks and an amazing array of other activities. 

Here's some of what I found:

 "The Iceworm Festival is one of Alaska’s best known winter festivals, and Cordova’s oldest community festival. Each year, we come together to put on a jam packed week of fun for all ages. We’d love to have you join us!"

This year the festival runs from January 31 to February 7, so you still have time to get there. It's always held at the end of January and into February to celebrate the increasing light each day and the anticipation of spring. I think this sounds like a lot more fun than Groundhog's Day.

Another note I found said that the ice worm in the parade is very long and looks something like a Japanese parade dragon. The tail of the dragon is removed and hidden at the beginning of the week. The person who finds the tail wins $100.

"Believe it or not, Iceworms are real ice-dwelling creatures! They existed long before our beloved festival. In fact, they were first discovered in the 1800's by Dr. G. F. Wright on Muir Glacier in Glacier Bay. They live as far south as Washington, and can be found in Southeast and South Central Alaska."

I find the above paragraph particularly interesting because my west coast brother actually lives in Washington State. Since he brought this whole ice worm event to my attention, I think he should find one (there's probably one lurking somewhere on his farm) and take a picture to send to me. Since he reads my blogs I'm telling him right now do NOT send me a worm, just the picture.

As soon as I receive a picture, I will share it.

fine dining...

 My spouse and I tutor children on Monday afternoons after school.  We go to their school and meet in the media center (aka library). Because of holiday and weather interruptions, today was our first tutoring session in three weeks.

My third grader was happy to see me and we had a good time reviewing some materials and reading together.  Among the things we reviewed was a list of his favorite things that I had typed out for him to read.  On the list was his favorite food - chili dogs.

Having worked up an appetite with all that hard tutoring, and having chili dogs on my mind, I mentioned this child's favorite to my spouse at the end of the lesson.  We both agreed that, since we would be driving through down town Fort Wayne on the way home, and since it was almost supper time, having chili dogs for supper seemed like a really excellent idea.

And so we stopped at the original Fort Wayne's Famous Coney Island, in business at the same location on Main Street for over 100 years, where their 'buns are steamed' to have our supper.  We each had two of their original chili dogs.  My wonder spouse added catsup and I added cheese and they were soooooo good.  It's surprising how filling and satisfying two hot dogs can be. This may not sound like gourmet fare to you, but trust me it's an experience not to be missed, and having dined their once, you will go back.

just for laughs

 My west coast brother has informed me that today is "Spunky Old Broads Day" and also "National Dark Chocolate Day."  Well, it goes without saying that I'm always happy to celebrate anything involving dark chocolate, but I needed to think about spunky.

At 81 I'm pretty sure that I qualify as an 'old broad' but I'm not so sure about being considered spunky, so I looked up the definition.  It turns out that spunky means courageous and determined.  It can also mean feisty, energetic and daring.  There's a whole other meaning in the UK but I won't go in to that.

I have been daring, courageous and determined in my life. Moving to a town in upstate New York for a teaching job and tending bar when I ran out of money comes to mind.  

Much more recently I think it took some courage to decide to remarry at the age of 79.  Of course that may have taken more courage on my wonder spouse's part.  I think we both were pretty spunky during our trip to Egypt last November, although I didn't ride a camel so maybe he was more spunky than I was.

All in all though, after giving it careful thought, I think that yes indeed I am a spunky old broad.  I think I'll go eat some dark chocolate to celebrate.