Once again, it's time to give Your Home Library, my home's public library, a Valentine. It's only fair - they give one to me.
It's time to unveil my Valentine's Day gift from the local library.
Since at least 2017, our local library wraps up various books and displays them. Each patron can pick one.
The book we pick is ours to keep. We make our selection based on a short description.
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for #WordlessWednesday.
On February 13, 1998 a friend and co-worker passed on to wherever we go
after this life after a 16 month battle with lung cancer.
She had found a lump on her neck. She went to her family
doctor and he immediately knew something was wrong. The bottom line was
that she had cancer all through her body, so much so that it took
almost two months to trace back where the cancer had originated.
By
then it was almost Christmastime, and she started treatment. From the
first she knew the cancer was terminal but the hope was to prolong her
life.
She was a talented crafts person and spent her first Christmas with
cancer making the homemade gifts she loved to make, including for her teen-aged grandson and her co-workers: and that Christmas we got the
final homemade ornaments she made for us every year.
By that first February after her diagnosis she was no longer able to work.
Sometime that summer, she called me at work and invited me to a picnic
lunch. She drove down to her former office, picked me up, and took me
to a local park, where she unpacked a lovely picnic set, complete with
tiny salt and pepper shakers. She was having a good day. We had a
lovely lunch. She said she did not feel sorry for herself, that
although she had quit smoking years ago the diagnosis did not come as a
shock because of what her husband and she had loved to do-restore old
homes. During this work, she had been exposed to asbestos.
She lived in an old Victorian home, which she and her husband had restored.
At the time we picnicked, our office was falling apart. Due
to mismanagement, people were leaving, one after another. As summer passed into fall, the
last three of us from before this regional manager was hired quit.
One of us got another job right away. The other two of us, along with
our former office manager (another victim of the mismanagement), decided
we would visit our former co-worker and have lunch with her every week.
We did for several weeks, but she was getting weaker and weaker and
we stopped-although we kept in touch with her husband.
Her second Christmas was not filled with homemade gifts. Instead, we
went to her house (it was the first time I had been there) where her
husband gave us a tour. She tried to show us around but had to quit when
she couldn't catch her breath.
She was under hospice care.
In January she and her husband were watching the Winter Olympics ice
skating. She had fallen asleep on the couch but when he tried to wake
her, she would not rouse. He called Hospice, and they came over. They determined she had
suffered a stroke.
She never regained consciousness.
The Tuesday before she died, the three of us visited her bedside. She
lay on a bed in the living room, a radio nearby softly playing the
country music she loved. Medicine from a morphine pump dulled her pain. Her husband
told us that although it seemed like she was in a coma, she did
have some awareness. If we wanted to, we could talk to her and she
probably would understand, but would not be able to respond.
What do you say? What can you say? I spoke to her for a couple of minutes and said goodbye to her. I squeezed her hand.
I would love to imagine that she tried to squeeze it back.
On Saturday, February 14, I got "the" phone call saying she had passed the day before. My spouse was at work. My then young son was
going to a birthday party in a couple of hours and I did not want him
to know I was crying. I vacuumed the floor, silent tears running down
my face.
Her husband and her loved
each other deeply. I think she always expected him to "go" first but
that was not to be. She was only 56 years old.
At the funeral home, photos of her family and her artwork were placed near her coffin. At the church service, the family invited the three of us to go to the graveside with them, as if we were family. We declined as we felt the family should be together.
The three of us kept in some touch with her husband but finally, as these things go many times, we drifted apart. Her husband died several years ago. He had remarried and I hope that marriage was happy.
In our flood of 2006, I lost almost all of the homemade ornaments she had made for me. What I have left goes on our tree each year and I treasure each piece.
I still think of her every Valentine's Day.
Rest in peace.
I love Earl Grey tea.
I love dark chocolate. I somehow almost never manage to blog about chocolate, although, in the description of my blog, I mention "the importance of chocolate in a well-lived life".
Just in time for chocolate prices to soar.
I am fortunate that my life situation right now allows me to indulge in chocolate. And, I have someone to celebrate Valentine's Day with.
For years, my spouse has made chocolate mousse for me for Valentine's Day. True, he has, the past few years, switched to chocolate covered strawberries, but this year, the strawberries he found in the supermarket that were affordable also didn't look that great. So I was intrigued when I opened up a supermarket magazine and found a recipe for Earl Grey Tea Chocolate Mousse.
Apparently the combination isn't a new thing.
I never would have thought of combining the two. It turns out the combination of Earl Grey tea (which is flavored with oil of bergamot. Bergamot (Citrus bergamia), I am told, is a type of citrus fruit grown in Southern Italy. The fruit itself is said not to be edible, but the oil extracted from the rind is prized.
And, it (and Earl Grey tea) pairs well with chocolate.
So my mental wheels started to spin. As a lifetime member of Weight Watchers, I do eat dessert but in small quantities. What if....???
I found a recipe online for a two ingredient earl grey chocolate mousse.
I can't vouch for it and I don't know if my spouse will like it but I am going to mention it to him.
We'll see. Of course, there is always the chocolate covered strawberries.
Enjoy it while we can?
Today is Valentine's Day, a day that has an interesting history. It's the holiday of love, but today, I'm here for a grimmer reason.
It's also the fifth anniversary of the school shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland Florida. So many shootings before. So many shootings after, including one I woke up to this morning, in Michigan.
Each has its unique hurt.
It is only recently that I learned that the Parkland murderer (I will not name that person), during his spree, shot into a classroom where a lesson on the Holocaust was being taught. The symbolism is not lost on me.
The shooting as a whole took a little less than four minutes, left 17 dead, and a school full of traumatized students, parents, and staff who will remember this day for the rest for their lives.
More and more, I think we are in an endless loop, not knowing if this national nightmare will ever end.
But who knows when and how the cycle of gun violence will ever end.
Maybe this male bright red Northern cardinal knows. Back on February 4, it was feeding in our snow filled yard. Cardinals, many believe, are spiritual messengers.
On Sunday, a Northern Cardinal male sat on our fence, looking like it was deep in thought. Perhaps he was thinking of Douglas - the person, and the high school.
Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, the woman this school was named after, was an American journalist, suffragette (she was born 30 years before women got the vote in our country) and conservationist, who was known as the "Defender of the Everglades". She lived to the age of 108.
I'm sure she would have been heartbroken to know what happened in her namesake high school, but proud of the advocates some of the survivors have become.
There's nothing more to say that hasn't already been said. Except, perhaps, to note that an end to gun violence would be the best memorial ever to those who have suffered in some way.
At least two of our local libraries have Valentine's Day giveaways, where they wrap books and you, the patron, can take one of the books home and keep it.
This was the display at my local library this year, and a post I wrote about their giveaways back in 2017.
This is the book I picked last year.
To my surprise, when I opened the book, I discovered I already owned it. I just had never read it.
To my greater surprise, it wasn't exactly the book I owned. The book I own is on the left. What I got as a gift is on the right.
Turns out that something rare had happened between the author and her publisher. She was allowed a do-over, expanding the book,. She also edited or rewrote certain passages, something that was prompted by various book reviewers.
So, I now own two versions of this book called Orphan Train. The topic has interested me, every since (back in the late 1970's) I met an older woman in Wichita, Kansas (we worked together for a time), who explained she had been a rider on an orphan train. I don't know when but the last train was in 1929. She must have been one of the last passengers.
She never gave me many details; her childhood was a painful time.
Here's more information on the Orphan Trains.
Thank you, library, for this annual book giveaway.
Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.
It's never too early to get a Valentine.
Our local library, called Your Home Library, has a Valentine's Day gift for its patrons each February - a mystery book to take home.
Here are some of my previous posts on this annual tradition.
Yesterday was Groundhog Day, and, after my exercise walk, I had the time to go to the library. To my surprise and delight, they had the giveaway up.
This year several of the selections appealed to me. From the description, I'm positive one of the books was The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. I saw the movie a number of years ago, but I have never read the book. But other books called louder.
I got home, and unwrapped it. Here is my selection.
We are talking 7th century Britain, and a future saint (this is part 1 of a trilogy, which hasn't yet been completed). It may take me a century to read this book, which clocks in at 560 pages.
Am I ready for it? Not right now. But it's a long winter. After all, the Groundhog said so.
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| Pre-pandemic Your Home Library - this 100+ year old library has seen more than one pandemic |
Thank you, once again, Your Home Library.
We, your patrons, should be giving you our valentines. Consider this post my valentine to you.
Valentines Day - each February 14, we are supposed to think of the ones we love. Nowadays, too many times, it is a commercial, "Hallmark" moment. (For those outside the United States, Hallmark is a famous maker of greeting cards, among other things.) But during wartime, relationships of love become fragile. Times are uncertain. Bad things happen.
In a way, just like today's COVID-19 world. This post from 2016 is even more poignant given the number of the "Greatest Generation" that COVID has taken from us.
Here's the story.
After relocating my late mother in law, up here to be closer to her and other family in our area, we
were hanging pictures back on the wall of her apartment after the
move. There was a picture that my mother decided not to hang.
It was a picture of a soldier, most probably taken during World War II.
But something made her want the frame. We disassembled it, and found a
letter, a note and another photo.
"Love, Stanley", the note concluded. This, the photo we found, was a
photo of Stanley. The girl who was his valentine was my spouse's aunt.
And yes, they both survived the war, and married. They moved to Tuscon,
Arizona, had children, and farmed garlic among other things. I met
them once, in the late 1970's, when my spouse and I visited Tuscon.
Both Stanley and his wife are now deceased, like so many of "The Greatest Generation."
Do you have a Valentine's Day story to share today?
Our local public library does a book giveaway every year.
It's simple. The library wraps books in plain paper with a valentine heart attached. They give a short description of the book. If you want it, it's yours.
I didn't know if they would do it this pandemic year, but they did.
This is what I chose this year. Let's unwrap it, shall we?
I'm looking forward to reading my gift book, although I have a number of books ahead of it in my queue. It won't be right away.
Now, to what we really look forward to on Valentine's Day - chocolate.
For Valentine's Day tomorrow, I would like to give my readers a gift. This is a dessert that my spouse has made for many years. I'd like to share this with you. (If you have an egg allergy, here's a recipe an award winning B&B owner I stayed at once posted on her blog). Either way, you'll get your chocolate fix.
SPOUSE'S EASY CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
Take 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, melt in microwave.
Beat 3 egg whites until they are midway between soft peak and hard
peak. (we use the refrigerated egg whites, which are pasteurized, as we
do not have our own chickens.)
Take 1/3 cup cup rum. Add 1/4 cup sugar and mix with the rum until the sugar dissolves.
Next, add the alcohol mixture to the chocolate, mix till smooth, and wait until the mixture has cooled a little.
Finally, fold in the egg whites.
Pour into dessert cups and chill, at least 4 hours.
I hope all my readers stay safe, and can enjoy tomorrow with someone they love.
