How Do You Decide What to Read Next? #blogboost

Have you ever had trouble figuring out what to read next?

I don't usually have that problem.  I go to my local library 2-3 times a week, usually on my lunch period, and browse the new books.  I usually find something that looks interesting.

Right now, I am getting into an author, Katherine Center, whose latest book is called "Things You Save in a Fire".  I read that book, and then devoured two other books by her.  There's just something about her voice that I love.  And, it would seem that I am moving way from YA literature that I spent several years enjoying.

But what happens if you can't figure out what you want to read?

All is not lost.

A while back, I was told about a website called What Should I Read Next? and I decided to conduct two searches to test the site out.  I had just given up on a YA book that disappointed me.  Actually, a number of books I've tried to read recently have disappointed me.  So maybe a website could pick better than me? 

My first search was on one of my favorite YA books, The Fault in our Stars, by John Green.  This is a story written from the point of view of a teen aged girl terminally ill with thyroid cancer.

Based on that book, what else might I want to read?

These were some of my results, and I may pick one to read.

• • Jennifer E Smith - The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (I looked on Goodreads and it had a slightly less than 4 star rating - but the description didn't seem to appeal to me.)
• • David Levithan - Every Day (A 4 star rating - and the description intrigues me.  Every day, a different body, a different life.  This one has possibilities.)
• • Gayle Forman - Just One Day (a tiny bit more than 4 stars but it is more of a romance than what I normally go in for.  Yes, The Fault in our Stars is a romance, but it was so much more.  Interesting, the site also picked the sequel to this Gayle Forman book.
• • Matthew Quick - Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock (this one sounds so harrowing, I don't know if I would be able to pick it up. It is told from the point of view of a suicidal teen intending to murder someone.)
• • Rachel Cohn, David Levithan - Dash and Lily's Book of Dares (a "Christmas in New York" type of book.  Not sure.)

But now, as I am writing it, I put in "Things You Save in a Fire".  The result?  They couldn't give me a recommendation!

By now, I had intrigued by the Internet wanting to help me with my next reading selections. What a site had found me based on The Fault in Our Stars introduced me to several books, including one I may just read (although, I never did).  So, I started looking for other sites providing this service.   I tried a site called  Bookkaholic but apparently it doesn't exist any more.

Finally, I found an intriguing site called Lazy Library, where no recommended book is over 200 pages.  But several searches resulted in blank pages.  I don't think it was working well with my browser settings.  Or maybe just with me.

I guess I am on my own for choosing my next book, which I really don't mind.

Do you use web sites to help you choose your reading?  What kind of results have you had?

Maybe the "featured books" shelf in my library is the best, after all?

Day seven of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

New Beginnings #MusicMovesMe #Blogboost

It's the first Monday of a new year.  The First Monday of a new decade.  It's time for #MusicMovesMe!

Who are the members of Music Moves Me?  We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only,  please containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)   First, there is XmasDolly.  Her chief co-conductor is Cathy of Curious as a Cathy. Her other co-conductors are Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, and me.  

Today, I welcome those in the Ultimate Blog Challenge to rock out with me.

For January, our guest conductor is Michelle at Music and Merriment with Michelle.  Today, our theme is "New Beginnings".

Some of these are favorite songs from my teen years and early adulthood.

Like this song from the Byrds, and its biblical references:  "Turn! Turn! Turn!"

Chicago - Beginnings, from 1969. (This is the full version, clocking in at about eight minutes).

Johnny Nash -  from 1972, I Can See Clearly Now

I don't often feature dance music, but if I'm in the right mood, I will listen to this music.  Here is a song I found called "New Memories" by Dubvision & Afrojack.

REM and "Begin the Begin" from 1986.

And finally, the Beatles and "Here Comes the Sun"

It's a wrap!  Join me next week, same time, same place, for more music.

Day 6 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.

The Train to Florida #blogboost

It's been an experience, raising a son and experiencing him as both a child and an adult.  Sometimes, I like to look back at some of my fondest experiences.

In 2006, it had been 30 years since I last set foot in Florida.

Now it was time to go back.

How much had things changed since I lived in Tampa, Florida between 1974 and 1976?

I remember a lot about what is now called "old Florida" from living there, and from visits in 1966, 1969 and 1972 as a teenager. I remember Busch Gardens in Tampa when it was a free brewery tour followed by a free trained parrot show. I remember Disney World when it first opened (my first visit was 10 months, I believe, after its opening) before you needed a bank loan to visit.

So how did I prepare for this nostalgic visit? By researching it to death. I discovered various Tampa landmarks of my years there were gone-Mirabella's, Maas Brothers - and others had been bought up or had name changes. The Tampa skyline definitely was not what it was (or, more like it, what it was not) back in 1976. But absolutely nothing prepared me for what was to come.

And now...how to get to Florida?  I am scared of flying (a long story).

I remembered seeing ads for the Auto Train in the early 1970's when I still lived in New York City.  It still existed.  So we booked it, myself, my spouse and my then-16 year old son, and our car.

Lorton Auto Train terminal, March 2013

Here's a post I wrote in 2018 about riding on the Auto Train.  It's named the Auto Train, by the way, because you must have a motorized vehicle (which rides in separate cars) to ride on the train.

Once the train pulled out of the station in Lorton, Virginia, there was the amazing sense of getting ready to complete a journey that had started in 1966. Forty years earlier, an Atlantic Coast Line train had brought me home from Tampa, Florida during an airplane strike. Now, in a way, I was taking the return train.

In Fredericksburg, Virginia, we passed near Civil War battlefields we had visited years ago. At Quantico, we went right through the marine base and watched helicopters in flight. We passed over a beautiful lake and had close up views of the countryside. In Richmond, Virginia, we passed so close to a highway we could see the faces of drivers heading in the opposite direction. It was so tempting to wave!

A train (not the Auto Train, but on the same tracks) traveling through Ashland, VA, April 2017

We passed people going home for their supper hour. In one town (Ashland, Virginia) we passed right down the middle of their main street, with driveways backing right into the path of the train.

Even after darkness fell,  I peered out the window every time lights and the start of whistle blowing announced a town. We passed through southern North Carolina as I fell into a fitful sleep. The train seemed to speed up. When a train passed in another direction it felt as if the train would rock right off its tracks.

Finally, we pulled into a well lit station - our one stop, to change crews and do maintenance only: Florence, South Carolina. We stayed there a while, and then traveled on.

At some point I woke up in time to see a huge, well lit billboard for a Crab Shack on Tybee Island and didn't know if it was part of a dream or not. (It was not a dream).

The next thing I knew, it was 6am and time for breakfast. We were traveling through southern Georgia.

As darkness made way to light, my son and I gazed upon a southern green scape. What a feeling it was to share this with my son, pointing out the southern vegetation and  landmarks as we came across them. How awesome is it to share a piece of your life with your teenage son?

The sun was already high in the sky as we crossed over the St. Mary's River into Florida. It glared down with the promise of a broiling August Florida day. After breakfast, we slowly wound through Jacksonville, Florida.  Jacksonville is the largest city (in area) in the United States and the Auto Train gives a very good view, taking a good 20 minutes to pass through.

To my delight I saw names I had not seen in 30 years...Kash and Karry, Winn-Dixie. They had survived the 31 years since I had been last in Jacksonville.

South of Jacksonville, we saw many shade houses on farms, and the conductor announced these were fern growing areas. Certainly nothing you would have seen from the Interstate.

Finally we got to Sanford, and the circle started in 1966 was complete.

It was the last time my spouse, my son and I would take a common vacation until August 2017, when we traveled together (well, in separate cars) to see the total solar eclipse in Columbia, South Carolina. I asked my son if he remembered the trip to Florida.  He did, and said he wouldn't mind traveling on the Auto Train again. 

I hope he does one day.

Have you ever traveled long distance by train?

Day 5 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

The Day the Firemen Cried #blogboost

The horrific fires of Australia are all over the news.  Several bloggers in Australia I read for SkywatchFriday live in Australia and have been posting (not close up!) amazing photos.

I have never been to Australia although I have dreamed of visiting since I was a child.

Nor do I live in California, but the daughter of someone I work with did.  And I mean "did" in the sense of a fire going through her community in 2017.  Her rental house survived but many of the students in the college she was attending found themselves homeless.  She ended up moving back to New York State.  She has a young son.  Maybe she would have stuck it out on her own.  After all, she had lived in California for 10 years - in Oakland, in San Francisco, in the Russian River Valley, but there was her son, and the air quality.

And, though blogging, I cyber-know others affected by fires.

I thought that floods (having been through three of them at different points in my life - a flash flood in Arkansas and two where I live in the Southern Tier of New York) were the scariest thing around, but I was wrong.

And all of these news programs have brought up a childhood memory.

It could have been a disaster, and I could have been right in the middle of it.

On April 20, 1963 I accompanied the Brownie (or it could have been Girl Scout by then) troop I belonged to a Girl Scout camp out on Staten Island.  Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of my native New York City.  Staten Island, at the time, had large areas of undeveloped land, full of brush.  There were fire hydrants, but inadequate pressure.

It was Easter Saturday.  There had been a drought.  Everything was tinder-dry.

Three brush fires on the island rapidly turned into what New York City firemen call five alarm fires - and we were trying to get back home in the midst of it.  I don't know what road or highway our bus was on but we got a view of one of the fires.

Traffic was at a standstill, and heavy smoke hung everywhere.  In the distance, we could see fields and houses on fire.  At one point, my memory tells me that I saw a train car explode. The world was on fire.

The adults on the bus kept us calm. At one point, we were on the floor of the bus.  My memory is hazy on a lot of this, about as hazy as the sky was.

Unlike the tragic Staten Island Octopus Attacking the Staten Island Ferry of November 22, 1963, this was for real.  But, amazingly, although 36 people (according to news reports) were treated in hospitals, no one died.  500 people were left homeless and more than 100 houses were destroyed - all in the largest city in the United States

The firemen couldn't fight the fires as there was next to no water pressure.  News reports said some of them cried as they watched houses burn.

I wasn't scared, though - until we finally were able to get back to the drop off point and my mother ran forward, grabbed me, and almost suffocated me with hugs and kisses.

THEN I was scared.

I hope so that I never get closer to a fire than I did that day.

Older residents still remember what they call Black Saturday.

But now, the world is experiencing one Black Saturday (and Sunday, and Monday....) after another.  I wonder how many people even remember Staten Island's Black Saturday.

Day four of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Look Up From That Phone! #SkywatchFriday #blogboost

As I left for work yesterday, I wasn't sure if we would have a wonderful sunrise.  My instincts said "yes", but as the sun brightened the eastern horizon, I didn't know just how wonderful it would get.

As I walked to the bus stop, facing east, it was just beginning.

On the bus, as the driver drove east, the sunrise unfolded and even the driver remarked on how beautiful it was.  I was resigning myself to watching and not photographing because it is difficult to photograph on a bus.  But I looked around, and most of the other passengers were staring at their phones, oblivious.

I wanted to scream "People, LOOK OUT THE WINDOW!"

Well, I didn't scream.  Just whipped out my phone when we stopped for a light and used my phone for what it is intended for.  Photography. (OK, only kidding, my point of view is that a smart phone is a camera you can text and talk to other people on. And, oh yes, the Internet.)

As the driver drove, I photographed.  And people continued to stare at their phones.  Their loss.

This is what I saw as we drove east. (Please forgive the reflection towards the top of the photo from a fluorescent light.)

By the time I got to my bus stop in downtown Binghamton, the fireworks were over.

But it was still pretty.

Join Yogi and other sky watchers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.

Day 3 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Who Am I Anyway? #blogboost

It's day two of the Ultimate Blog Challenge and I haven't even introduced myself.  Let's take care of that now.

I am a "young" senior citizen living in the Southern Tier of New York State, not far from the snowbelt.   Yes, we get so much snow here we need a snow pole in our stores - only kidding but I did find this in a Trader Joes about an hour from where I live, back in 2016.

I'm an amateur photographer, with no formal training.  I love to take pictures.

Right now I blog and I also work full time in a totally unrelated field.  Call blogging my relaxation, my excuse to have almost 10,000 photos on my phone, and my way for me (an introvert in real life) to connect with others.

With this blog, I try to create an oasis of calm, showing you the beauty that is my world here in the Binghamton, New York area.  I have been blogging since April of 2009, inspired to finally jump in to blogging by a tragic mass shooting near where I work.  You can check out my very first blog post if you want to read more (note, I would edit it a lot more if I was writing it today).

I've been blogging daily since late April of 2011.  I started doing that with a blog challenge that no longer exists, and just kept on going after I found the original Ultimate Blog hallenge.  I don't know when that daily blogging streak will stop - in fact I'm giving it a bit of thought right now.  This post will be my #3,709th.  Do I really need to keep going?

I'm a big believer in "bloom where you are planted".

My current lineup of posts depends on the day of the week, so you can join in daily, or just for the days that interest you.

Mondays are Music Mondays - I join in a meme called Music Moves Me, where a number of bloggers blog weekly - one week on a theme picked by a monthly "guest conductor" and, on alternate weeks, any type of music we want.  As long as your blog contains at least one music video, we would gladly welcome you, too.

Every second and fourth Thursday, I join Thursday Tree Love, where we blog about - yes, you guessed right.  Trees. Because some of bloggers in this twice a month feature lives on the Indian subcontinent, I see climate zones way different from mine.  I really enjoy this one.

Friday I participate in Skywatch Friday, where bloggers from all over the world show the sky in their part of the world.  Some participants are amateur photographers (like me) and others professional.  It's an interesting mix, and I like this one, too.

Finally, on the 15th of each month I write a post for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, where participants take pictures of whatever is blooming in their yards or houses.  I've been doing this one since 2011.

On other days, I blog about anything that moves me.  Like today.

I'd love if you introduce yourself to me in the comments below.  

Day two of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.

For Old Times Sake #blogboost

I welcome to my blog (I'll give you more of an introduction in the following days) if you are finding me due to the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  If you are already one of my readers, thank you for returning today.

Although I gave up making New Years resolutions years ago, and don't choose a "word of the year", I am aware that this year is going to be a year of major changes in my life (more on that later this month).

I also find I am finally recovering from some of the strain of having been a caregiver to an aging mother in law (although it wasn't as physical hands-on as many experience, it was a strain in many other ways) and realize that I need to reconnect with people I know.

I've let relationships drop.  I won't blame anyone but myself.  Now, I have to try to find some of those loose ends and reconnect them.

Some of this was hastened by news in November that one of my first cousins has cancer (her prognosis is good- the last good news of the Old Year 2019).  But I am reminded once again of how short and precious life can be, as I know two people battling cancer right now (one on battle #2), plus a former co worker who spent much of 2019 battling cancer but hopefully now in remission.

So, New Years Eve was the perfect opportunity.  I texted, Facebook messaged, and spoke on the phone - and did some long awaited catching up.

We are a spread out people.  One cousin I wished Happy New Year to is in Italy right now.  A woman I've known for some 45 years, who lives in suburban New York City, is visiting her daughter in California.  I texted with a cousin who has retired to Texas and one who is a world traveler, and we joked that our texts seem to gravitate to discussions of our medical conditions and doctors (hmmm, did I find that silly when I was a teen?)  I shared photos of my late mother in law with my husband's cousin who lives in New Mexico.

Now, I just have to keep these relationships going - easier said than done.  Old acquaintances should never be forgot.   They should always be brought to mind.

It's the beginning of a new day,  a new year, a new decade, and it's up to us how we will use this day we've been granted.

Every New Year's Eve, right before midnight (yes, I'm one of those who insists on staying up till midnight, although it's harder and harder each year), I get ready to watch the ball drop in Times Square.  After all, I grew up in New York City.

After the ball drops at midnight, the TV will play a song called "Auld Lang Syne".  Have you ever wondered what the lyrics mean?

Here they are.

Yesterday, we thought of old times past.  Today, we start looking towards the future, the decade that many already are starting to call "The Roaring 20's".

I intend to do some of my own roaring.  And I hope to do it with friends and family.   That's part of the awesomeness of the Ultimate Blog Challenge - I reunite with bloggers known, find new ones, and enjoy the companionship.

What about you?

Happy New Year!

Day 1 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

A Nostalgic New Years Eve

Today is New Years Eve, and the end of a decade.

Tonight we wish for a 2020 full of prosperity, and an end to the fear that grips many of us - fear of the future, fear of the unknown, fear of what is to come.

But tonight, let us celebrate.  And allow me to become a little nostalgic.

When growing up, there was only one band to listen to on New Year's Eve-Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians.  There was only one way to mark the end of the year - the dropping of the ball from the Times Tower in New York City, narrated by Ben Grauer.

This is Ben Grauer's coverage in New York City, for New Year's Eve 1965.  This was my first New Years Eve as a teen.  And no, although I grew up in New York City, I've never seen the ball drop in person.

Do you remember Guy Lombardo? He's been dead for many years - in fact he passed away the same year as Ben Grauer did.

For years, Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians performed at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria.  I can not think of New Years Eve without hearing his band play in my mind.

So here's a modern version of Auld Lang Syne, by Susan Boyle.  I wanted to ring out 2019 with a beautiful video, and, thanks to a fellow music blogger, I found just what I wanted.

But before I go, one more memory.

In 2009 (my first year of blogging) I remembered us entering another decade - and another century.  This is what I blogged then:

"How time passes.

10 years ago ..... I had a nine year old and the day off.  New Years Eve 1999.  I spent part of the day with my son and one of his friends celebrating the last day of the 20th century (although technically it wasn't).  We tracked the New Years on a globe and watched a bunch of New Years fireworks - Sydney, Australia, Egypt, London.

I don't want to ask my son if he remembers; it would probably embarrass him.  And he had a falling out with this friend early in high school.

Nothing like tracking your life through what you did with your children and when to really make you feel how quickly time passes, and how you need to treasure all the things you do with your young children.  Because one day they will have their own lives.

Now we are about to enter a new decade.  May it be a better one than this first decade of the 21st century.

Happy New Year!"

I meant it then, and I mean it now.

Happy New Year to you, my dear readers!

Tomorrow, I start the decade with a month of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Please join me, and other bloggers, on a month long challenge for the New Year.  If you are interested, the signup is here.  It is not too late to join.


Again, Happy New Year!

Last Music This Decade #MusicMovesMe

It's the last Monday of 2019.

That means it is time for another episode of Music Moves Me.  We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only,  please containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)   First, there is XmasDolly.  Her chief co-conductor is Cathy of Curious as a Cathy. Her other co-conductors are Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, and me.  
 

The theme for the entire month of December is "Christmas" but I am going to deviate a bit on this, because...

it's almost time for a new decade.  So, this week, we will see many programs on TV, or articles in magazines, talking about the last decade.  Yes, Lasts.

So how about some Lasts?

Wham! - Last Christmas (For some reason, I kept hearing this song over and over again) to keep up with our Christmas theme.

Here are some other songs with Last in the title:

Save the Last Dance for Me - The Drifters 

Famous Last Words - Tears for Fears

Last Train to Clarksville-The Monkees

All things have to come to an end.  For my LAST song of the decade, I will circle back to Christmas, with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Canon.

Happy New Year to all of my listeners, and it's a wrap!  "See" you next decade.

Hate Rides Again

I should be blogging about this being the end of this decade.

Instead, I'm taking a trip back in history.    A trip back to very scary history for those among us who are Jewish.

We Americans thought, when I was growing up in the 1960's, that our children would not repeat the hate of the past.  We would be different.

We were wrong.

This past Hanukkah, which will be entering its final day at sundown tonight, has seen at least 13 anti-Semitic incidents in New York State.  The latest one, in a heavily Jewish county to the north of New York City, involved a (allegedly) 37 year man entering the home of a Rabbi and stabbing or otherwise assaulting at least five visitors (one being a son of the rabbi) with a machete.  He then ran to a nearby synagogue, but the people inside, hearing the screams coming from the house, wisely barracaded themselves in.

This is what we have come to.  We don't want to go back any further in history.

Temple Israel, Binghamton, New York

From time to time in Jewish history, the lighting of Hanukkah candles had to be done in secret.  Are we heading that way again?  You'll recall that I blogged recently how the synagogue above has had to lock its doors and install security cameras to screen visitors, as have many synagogues and Jewish community centers throughout our country.

Menorah, Oakdale Mall, Johnson City, New York

On some days during this particular Presidential election season, it seems that hate oozed from every dark corner of this country.  Those dark corners have come alive. People of hate are now encouraged, thinking that finally, the conditions are right once again for their hate to blossom.  It isn't just Jewish people at risk.  Other ethnic and religious minorities have been targeted.

You, dear reader, can always become the target tomorrow.  In truth, I feel we have more to worry about from domestic terrorists than ones coming from overseas.

Meanwhile, various minorities walk around the United States feeling they have bulls-eyes printed on their backs.  If you aren't one today, you could be one tomorrow.

So now we hold our breaths and see how our fellow citizens will react.

By Our Works

For a number of years, spouse and  I spent every Christmas in Yonkers, New York, with some of my husband's family, hosted by one of my spouse's cousins "B".

Now, my mother in law is gone, a cousin who came every year is gone, and his 107 year old mother are gone. 

A tradition ended?  Yes.

A tradition begun?  Maybe.

When old traditions end, I like to think new traditions begin. Everything eventually changes.

Sometime in November, B gave us a call.  She wanted to come up here for Christmas - there was little reason for her to stay at home (she lives by herself).  She promised to bring her signature dish that we all loved.  And, she would even stay in a motel (her preference, as she enjoys her alone time).

Several days later, she called again.  Could she also come for Christmas Eve?

So, we hosted both Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners, complete with the cousin's signature dish.

We shared a lot of memories, but memories are more than things that exist in our memories.

In a way, we live on in our works.

My spouse's 107 year old aunt (when she was younger) and the cousin who visited us were sisters.  One thing they both did was beadwork.  This is one example, one that I was given as a gift years ago. 

It was an honor to display, on my tree, a needlework ornament made by a work friend who died from cancer 21 years ago.  Every year I bring this out, and other ornaments she gave me (she loved to craft), and I remember her through my Christmas trees.

More memories, and I remember the year I made the doilies underneath some of the knickknacks.

The days of 2019 are dwindling, and so are the days of our lives.

I don't know how many more holiday seasons my spouse's cousin will be with us.  Or others I love.
I do know that we are gone, our works will remain.
Will your works be remembered?  Will mine?

I never thought about that when I was young.  But now, in my 60's, I think about it a lot.

Do you?

Last 2019 Skies #SkywatchFriday

Joining up today with Yogi and other sky watching bloggers at #SkywatchFriday.

Last week, I thought I would be featuring a "best of 2019 skies", but, for most of this week, the sun came out where I live in upstate New York.  Once I figured out what that bright ball of light in the sky was, I knew some nice sunrises and sunsets were on the horizon (no pun intended).

The sky did not disappoint.

Saturday, in the parking lot of a historic building on the edge of downtown Binghamton.

Later that afternoon, as sunset approached.

Monday, as spouse and I left my doctor's office, the sun had just set a few minutes earlier.

By the time we were on the road, an amazing redness (extreme left) awaited us.

And, near a creek, the last of the sunset beckoned.

Yesterday, the clouds and gloom reappeared, but the sunset made one final appearance.

It's been a wonderful year of sky watching, and I hope to bring more to you in 2020.

Happy New Year to my readers!

Peaceful Sunset #ThursdayTreeLove

It was the day before Christmas Eve, and, in upstate New York, the sun came out and temperatures rose.  Although t weak sun didn't melt as much of our snow as we may have wanted, we were treated to a spectacular sunset.

Although the red did not come through in this picture, the yellow and blue did.  There is just something so peaceful about the trees surrounding this storage shed.

All day long, they slept, unaware (perhaps) of the above normal temperatures.  But maybe, in their small way, they appreciated what was happening, and when the sun set they spread their protective branches over the shed, knowing that eventually, winter would return.

Silent night...

All was calm...

All was bright.

Join Parul at Happiness and Food and other bloggers who love trees each second and fourth Thursday, for #ThursdayTreeLove.  This is the last installment for 2019.

Happy New Year to my tree loving friends!

Peace on Earth?

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is more than just a Bing Crosby classic.

This song was based on a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written on Christmas Day in 1863.  

Longfellow had lost his wife in a tragic fire two years before.  His son then went off to fight in the Civil War, and was injured (he recovered).  This is the poem Longfellow wrote, in the midst of his grief.

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,

and wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;

"For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."
 
In 1872 the poem was put to music.  Even today, its lyrics remain powerful and timely.

Is it too much to wonder if we ever will have peace on earth?

Merry Christmas to all my readers who celebrate Christmas.

The Saddest Perfect Pet in the World

Today is my 3700th post, and I am thinking today about loneliness.  It is so easy to be lonely in the midst of celebration, of families reuniting, of people wishing each other Happy Holidays.

And here you are.

Here we are on Christmas Eve, and I am running out of time to write about the Perfect Polly.

Would you consider keeping a plastic pet shaped like a parakeet?

Back around 2013,  I was shopping  and saw this box.  It advertised something called "Perfect Polly".  You can see it in action in a video below.  It bills itself the "Amazingly Lifelike Parakeet".  And you don't even have to feed it (or, for that matter, clean up after it).

This is what Perfect Polly looks like.

I kept parakeets as pets for many years (although I haven't recently) and my interpretation of this plastic parakeet is - just no.

 I think Perfect Polly misses an important point.  In a way, it's all about lonliness, something that I think about more and more as I age (I'm a senior citizen now).

The holidays are a sad time for so many people.  And many seniors are alone, due to death, family far away, or for other reasons.  Perhaps one in three elderly suffer from loneliness.

I think it is part of human nature to need to connect with animals in some way.  Not everyone has a pet, and certainly many cultures can not (or do not have the resources to) pamper their pets the way we do in the west.  However, even if the pets must be working animals, we are still interacting.  And, I've known many people who mourn the death of their pet the way they would a member of their families.

I can't see a pet made of plastic.  And I couldn't see this as any kind of holiday gift.  But that's just me.  Still, I recently looked on Amazon and it was "out of stock" indefinitely.  I wonder if it is even made any more.

I found this interesting list of how to reach out to people who do not choose to be alone.

I couldn't see my late mother in law, for example, being kept company by a battery operated plastic something.  Even if it doesn't have to be fed or cleaned up after.

Perhaps the saddest thing in the world is that someone had to make a product like this.  No one should be alone during the holidays.

Or left to be entertained by a plastic bird.

Six 13 #MusicMovesMe

It's the first full day of Hanukkah, and it's time for #MusicMovesMe.
Thank you for joining me for another episode of Music Moves Me.  We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only,  please containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)   First, there is XmasDolly.  Her chief co-conductor is Cathy of Curious as a Cathy. Her other co-conductors are Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, and me.  

The theme for the entire month of December is "Christmas" but I am going to deviate a bit on this, because...

Hanukkah, the eight day Festival of Lights, began last night.  We don't have quite the selection of Hanukkah songs as we do for Christmas, but some modern groups have begun a tradition of singing traditional Hanukkah songs in a way that connects to people of all faiths through popular culture.  

Many of these groups sing a cappella, using only their voices.  This style of music is one traditional style in Jewish music, as the use of musical instruments is forbidden during our Sabbath, and the use of popular culture makes the songs more accessible.

In other words, you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy these songs, and I hope you'll enjoy.

First up is one from this year, an a capella group called Six 13.  This name comes from the 613 commandments in our Torah, the five books of Moses in what Christians call the Old Testament.

Their offering this year is A Star Wars Hanukkah.   I wish there were more English subtitles, but I think you will "get it".   One note -  the English part referring to "Rock of Ages" does not refer to the Christian hymn, but rather to a traditional Jewish song called Maoz Tzur  (Rock of Ages) praising the Almighty for the miracle of Hanukkah.  (Another note - there are various spellings of the holiday in English, given that Hebrew does not use the Roman alphabet). 

For those interested, this is the song Maoz Tzur, sung in both Hebrew and English.

Back to Six 13, this was their release for Hanukkah 2018 - A Bohemian Hanukkah.  This is my favorite Six 13 song.

 

One more Hannukah song for today - this is a traditional children's song called The Dreidel Song, and I enjoyed this jazzed up version, and the video that accompanied it.  This is done by the Boys Town Jerusalem Choir.

And that's a Hanukkah wrap!  Not only that, but it's a Christmas Wrapping, too, with the Waitress's classic song.  Why not rock out to two holidays at once, now that the calendar's down to just one page?

May you enjoy this season.  See you next Monday, same time, same place.

Jewish Foods from Hanukkah House

It's time to eat!  Hanukkah begins tonight.

I will say up front that my blog post name may be a little misleading.  Although these recipes were displayed in Hanukkah House, a Hanukkah museum in Binghamton, New York in December of 2017, they aren't really Hanukkah specific recipes.  But, why not mix and match?

Since the miracle of our Festival of Lights occurred with oil, it is traditional to eat a lot of fried foods.

Some of these, like the Mexican Chilaquiles, are more a Passover food (a Jewish holiday which takes place around Easter time), but would be quite suitable because they are fried.

Jews live all over the world, and our cuisine reflects that.

Here are foods from:

Mexico: fried matzo and eggs.

India Aloo Makalla are a type of fried potatoes, enjoyed by the Bene Israel Jews of Mumbai.

Argentina.  It may surprise you to know that the Jewish population of Argentina is the fifth largest in the world.

I wrote an entire post on egg creams, a traditional New York City refreshment back in 2017.  I don't consider them a Hanukkah food, but why not?  We can even get the traditional U-Bet chocolate syrup where I live in the Southern Tier of upstate New York.

Although this says borscht originated in the Ukraine, it is fondly remembered from my childhood during Passover.  In a kosher household, however, a meat based borscht would never have been served with sour cream. I remember most borschts served by my mother as being meat free, and served with potatoes.

How about this one?

This one isn't a true Hanukkah dish but I love it.  Because my spouse doesn't like the combination of meat and fruit (a combination I usually love), we don't put dried prunes in our version.  I was suprised to find its origin was in France.

Last but not least - Arkansas, by way of Germany.

The entire selection.

I chose this memory of Hanukkah House because this year's display is on the owner of the mansion the museum is located in, rather than the holiday itself.

Hungry yet?