Pancake Race #WordlessWednesday

My spouse and I had pancakes for breakfast yesterday.  

Something seemed familiar about pancakes on the day before Lent begins, and then I remembered. 

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday.  It was also Pancake Day in Liberal, Kansas.

Years ago, when we lived in Wichita, Kansas, we learned about a pancake race each Shrove Tuesday between Liberal, Kansas (which is about 200 miles from Wichita) and Olney, England. This race is followed closely all over Kansas, including Wichita.  It takes place in both cities.

So how did this tradition start?

In Olney, the tradition is some 600 years old. Making pancakes used up rich ingredients such as butter and eggs forbidden during Lent.  As the legend goes, a woman was making pancakes in 1445 when the church bells rang.  Realizing she was going to be late to church, she ran still holding her frying pan, flipping her pancakes as she went. The next year, the townswomen mocked her with their own pancake runs, but the church vicar thought it was a great idea.  The race became an annual event with women running the race to the church while flipping pancakes. The official race course is 415 yards.

In 1950, someone in Liberal, Kansas saw a magazine article about the race, thought "why not get into the fun?" and contacted the good folks of Olney.  He proposed a friendly pancake competition.  Olney accepted the challenge, and women of the two cities have been competing ever since.  Here is more on the topic.

So far, Liberal has won 43 races, Olney 31, but it's all in fun, right?

Since I didn't take a picture of the pancakes, I'll just post a picture of a pancake mix with local maple syrup I received as a Christmas gift.  But the racers make their pancakes from scratch, not a mix, and here is a recipe.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday

 

Purple #MusicMovesMe

 It's Monday and it's time for music!

Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers?

We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post link may be labeled "No Music" or even removed.)   We have occasional theme weeks, but you are welcome to ignore the theme and use music of your choice.  Why not join us?  You don't have to sing, or play an instrument.  All music lovers are welcome.  

Today, our theme is:  "February ‘s birthstone is the Amethyst and flower is the Violet. Both are purple in color. Find song picks inspired by these things."

I love the color purple, especially in flowers such as petunias.  I know someone who buys purple everything.  I think she even has a purple Keurig coffee maker.

Here are some song picks that may or may not be familiar to you:

Frank Sinatra and Violets for Your Furs, recorded with Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra in 1941.  This was recorded from a 78 record and you can hear the crackling so familiar from my childhood.

Fleetwood Mac and Purple Dancer, from 1970.

Purple Toupee, a 1988 song from They Might Be Giants.  The lyrics are....different.

Finally, a couple of songs that will be a lot more familiar.  The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Purple Haze.

Finally, from 1958, Sheb Wooley and the novelty song ThePurple People Eater.  Sheb Wooley, besides being a former cowhand and a talented country singer, was also a character actor who appeared in movies such as High Noon, Hoosiers, and The Outlaw Josey Wales, and spent several years on the TV series Rawhide.

And that's a wrap!

Join me again next week with another episode of Music Moves Me.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day February 2026 and #ShadowshotSunday

 Two memes today for the price of one.

First, Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, where, on the 15th of each month, bloggers from all over the world post the flowers that are blooming in their yards or houses/apartments.

In my Southern Tier of New York zone 6a small garden, it's been cold.  In the last 30 days, we reached a low of -3F (-19.4 C) although outlying areas reached as low as -26F (-32.2 C) that morning.  Either way, that's cold. 

Here, in a cold winter, I have nothing outdoors to show you but snow. However, when the snow started to pile up, I had an early Lenten Rose plant with buds on it.  Right now, it's still covered with snow and I hope the snow sheltered it from the freezing cold.  We'll see.

Indoors, I don't have much to show you, either. 

The one Phalaenopsis I have is dropping its flowers.  These are all that are left.

My spider plant is trying to have baby spider plants.

Finally this blurry pink flower belongs to my Tradescantia.

Thanks go to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for keeping up this 15th of the month meme for all these years. Sadly, this will be the last year Carol will be hosting this meme, and I thank her.  GBBD, as we fondly call it,  has caused me to keep a sort-of gardening journal, at least for one day of each month.

Now, I'm switching to Shadowshot Sunday, brought to us by Lisa at This and That: A Blog.  I decided to use a flower theme from a warmer time.  Here's a camellia at Bok Gardens near Lake Wales, Florida, taken in January of 2018.

I love camillias.  I even tried to grow one where I live (back when we were zone 5b), and the story is told in several posts over the years.  Here's one of them.  Will I try again?  

Hopefully, next month, I'll be able to bring you other flowers.

Only 33 more days before spring!
 

Valentine's Day Eve #SkywatchFriday

Yesterday the friend I call my guest photographer sent me these two pictures.  I loved them so much, I just had to post them.  I'm not sure when she took them but we'll call it Valentine's Day Eve.

No sky here, but wine and love go together, too.  This picture was mine, taken in 2015.

Joining Yogi and other skywatchers for #SkywatchFriday.
 

It's Cold Out #WordlessWednesday

Someone I know who lives about an hour away from me sent me a picture of their outside temperature reading Sunday morning.

This -26F is -32.2C, for my readers who use Celsius. 

Either way, it's cold. (And no, we weren't that cold, but we were still cold.)  Still, the weather is warming up and I hope we are done with this cold wave.

 

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

Three in a Week #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday, and it's time for music!  Sadly, it's also time for a Rock and Roll Induction - actually, a triple induction. 

Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers?

We are a group of music loving bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post link may be labeled "No Music" or even removed.)   We have occasional theme weeks, but you are welcome to ignore the theme and use music of your choice.  Why not join us?  You don't have to sing, or play an instrument.  All music lovers are welcome.  

Today, our theme is:  You Pick.  Three more greats have joined Rock and Roll Heaven, and it's time for a tribute.

First, Chuck Negron, co-founder of Three Dog Night, who died February 2 from heart failure and COPD at the age of 83.  I loved his distinctive voice.  What I didn't know is that, like me, Negron grew up in the Bronx, a borough of New York City.  

Originally singing doo-wop, he also performed several times with the Rondells at the age of 15.  Subsequently, Negron joined up with two fellow college students to form Three Dog Night in 1967.

We may hear the Three Dog Night hit Joy to the World a lot this week.  Let's listen to a some other songs first.

A pre-Three Dog Night recording of Negron, who went by the name of Chuck Rondell for this recording.  The song was arranged by David Gates, who went on to his own fame with Bread.

 An Old Fashioned Love Song, from 1971. 

One of my favorite Three Dog Night songs:  Out in the Country. from 1970.

And now, the song you've been waiting for with Chuck Negron belting out the now-famed beginning about a certain bullfrog.  Here's Joy to the World. 

Next:  LaMonte McLemore, actor, photographer, vocalist, and founding member of The Fifth Dimension, died February 3 at the age of 90 after suffering a stroke. 

Let's travel back to 1969 with The Fifth Dimension cover of Age of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In. 

1967's fun Paper Cup.

 
Finally,  Brad Arnold, founder and lead singer from 3 Doors Down died Saturday at the age of 47. The cause of death was kidney cancer.

Their breakout hit from 2000, written by Arnold when he was 15 and in math class, Kryptonite, is still perhaps their most known. 

And that's still another sad induction wrap. May these three musicians rest in peace.

Join me again next week for another episode of Music Moves Me. 

January Snow Shadows #ShadowshotSunday

Since it's too cold and windy to go outside this weekend, I am using three picture from late January for today's shadows.  I did go outside yesterday to try to do some snow removal, and gave up because the wind kept blowing it back at me. Some days are just like that. 

I can't wait for spring, when the snow will be replaced by plants sleeping underneath their winter blankets.  Right now, though, it feels like winter will last forever.

We are under a extreme cold warning until 1pm today due to wind chills. 

Joining Lisa at This and That:  A Blog, for her #ShadowshotSunday.