Local Saturday - The Once Loved Book

The book was lying there, in our library  It was old, stained, and starting to fall apart.  But once, it had been one of our most beloved books.

I had bought it back in the late 1970's, when we used to dream of self sufficiency.  It followed us to Arkansas, where we lived on 34 acres of land in the 1980's.

The recipes were so inspiring.   We learned that the world of pickles was so much broader than those pickled cucumbers we bought in the supermarket.

We had three gardens on our land, and a lot of our summer (when we weren't working at paying jobs) were spent growing, harvesting, and preserving.  Sometimes, at the height of summer, we would be up to midnight, canning, freezing or refrigerating.

We made mustard pickles, pickled eggs (from eggs laid by our hens), jardiniere, marinated mixed vegetables, and carrot pickles.  We made (and still make) salsa. We never did make the pickled fish, though.

Now, it was over 30 years later.



My spouse and I were decluttering - going through our library to see what we should dispose of.


My spouse put the book in a pile for the garbage.  I took it out.  It had been years since we had made any of the recipes, but there were too many recipes in the book.

I don't know if we will ever do anything with the book again, but I did look it up online, hoping to get a better copy.  It turns out the book has been out of print for many years.  I saw some sellers offering the book for $70 (or more), so it is unlikely we will ever be able to replace it.

I don't know if all the recipes would be considered safe, using current canning guidelines.  And, pickling recipes are just an internet search away.

But this book is a part of my life, and I just can't throw it away.

Yet.

Have you ever thought that way about an object?

The Power of Compassion #1000Speak

I am a private person. 

Today, I could not write a blog post.  I was blocked, and had no inspiration until I read one of the most powerful blog posts I have ever read.

You really have to watch those women from Nebraska.  They sneak up on you.

So, I learned today there was a project called "1000 Voices for Compassion", where bloggers were encouraged to " write posts about compassion, kindness, support, caring for others, non-judgement, care for the environment etc, and ALL PUBLISH ON THE SAME DAY (Feb 20th) to flood the Blogosphere with GOOD!"  

This young woman from Nebraska talked about her fiance.  She is in an interracial relationship.  She talks honestly about some of the "ugly looks" that have been directed in their direction.

So let me tell you a little bit about myself that I have never told my readers about before, and tell you about lessons in compassion that I never fully realized until recently.

In 1970, when I was 17 years old, I started dating a boy who was going to the same college as I was.   We were of different religions.  I am Jewish.  My husband is Catholic.  In 1970, that mattered.

It mattered a lot.

Some members of my family were less than thrilled.  I have had no contact with my mother's side of my family in many, many years.  Some members of my future husband's family were less than thrilled, too.

But there were the many people who had compassion, who saw past the religious differences, who accepted us for who we are, and I owe a great debt of gratitude to every one of them. Until tonight, I've never thanked them publicly.  Some of them, sadly, are no longer with us, having moved on to the next level of existence.  But I want to say to each of them, "Thank you".  My grandfather.  Cousins.  A childhood friend. My husband's next door neighbor. Some Aunts and Uncles on both sides of our family.  And this is just for starters.

Meanwhile, we, my husband and I, have been married for nearly 41 years.  Our love is deep.   I hope that young woman in Nebraska can say the same about her and her Warrior Man, 41 years from now. (Too bad I won't be around to help her celebrate.)

Times have changed tremendously.  I owe a debt to those who went before me, who helped pave the path of compassion that my husband and I walked.   I haven't done enough to extend that path to the generations that have followed me.

You never know what one small act of compassion will do, until you are on the receiving end.

The Shack That Lost Its Way

Once upon a time, there was a store called Radio Shack.  They had been in business for something like 90 years.

You could buy so many things there.  One nice thing about Radio Shack was that it was a chain, but they had local neighborhood stores.  You could find one close to your house, and get supplies you needed for hobbies and more.  My father was an electronics hobbyist when he was young.  My son, who never knew his grandfather, followed in granddad's footsteps.  Radio Shack sold educational kits, amateur radio supplies, solder, transistors, and more.

My son played with a primitive educational device I bought there.  He played with their RC cars.  He built a crystal radio from one of their kits.

Their commercials are part of our living history.  Have a listen.

Cell phones, 1985 - only $1,399. ($3,078 in 2015 dollars).

The cell phone, circa 1990.  Things had gotten a little better, it would seem.  

Home computers from the 1980's.

So many historic commercials and catalogs to learn from.

I used to be one of their customers, many years ago.  But, somewhere along the line, they lost their way. They stopped doing what they did well, and became indifferent to their customers.

I haven't been in one of their stores for years, except to buy specialty batteries.

Earlier this month, Radio Shack declared bankruptcy.

Several days later, most of our local stores were closed.

Another "icon" of my childhood, lost forever.  Except, it's been gone for years.

This just made it official.

Winter Wonders - No Whining Please

The polar vortex has returned, and millions in the United States are in its grip.

Here in upstate New York, things are not that much out of the ordinary.  (I want to assure my readers that what you've been hearing about Boston is NOT happening here.  Crossing fingers that it doesn't, either.)

Remains of basil peek above snow.

Ho Ho Ho, Merry February.

But winter has become serious business for many.  Boston is buried - 90.5 inches of snow (almost 230 cm) since January 24.  As I live on the edge of the snowbelt, I've seen that kind of snow (and more), but not all in a three week period.

People are going to war over parking spaces that took hours to clean out.

The mayor is asking people not to jump from their windows into snowbanks, saying "This isn't Loon Mountain".  Swim suits seem to be a uniform for that activity.

Weathermen are starting to apologize every time they must forecast snow.

The elevated trains have shut down and commuters face up to four hours commutes. 

On Saturday, thundersnow (yes, thunderstorm) was predicted by 1pm.

The resulting thundersnow video fascinated a baby who, apparently, hasn't learned to hate snow yet.

Sign in Brooklyn after the Boston Marathon bombing - it's been a bad two years for them

Boston is buried, and may not be found again until summer.  In the meantime, Boston has asked points south to stop whining about shutting down during smaller snow totals.

Sanibel Island March 2013

It does make me think fondly of Florida.  It made Ithaca, New York think of Florida, too, as a tourism website promoting Ithaca encouraged visitors to visit Key West, Florida instead.

No doubt about it.  In the Northeastern United States, we are tired of winter and the polar vortex.

For the second day in a row, I beseech spring:  please come back.  Soon.  Whatever we did wrong, we're sorry.  We won't do it again, ever. We miss you.

Not that I'm whining, Boston.

The Season of Renewal

By the time Easter comes, spring would have (I hope) arrived even where I live in upstate New York.

Snow falling, downtown Binghamton, New York

Right now, spring seems like it is thousands of miles away.  Snow is piled outside.

Glaciers have formed on the roadsides.

Not my yard

One day - oh please, let it be one day soon - I will see this instead when I walk outside.

30 more days until the first day of spring.


Spring is the season of renewal.  Part of this, for the gardener, is preparing for the growing season.  Seed catalogs have been arriving since November, and we've been reading, dreaming and planning.

Our hour of decision is now upon us.  It is time to take the leap of faith that gardening demands.

The outspoken CEO of Burpee, George Ball, once wrote an essay called Easter in the Garden.  I invite you to read it. It does have a religious slant, but I think there is a universal message in this essay.

Spring. The return of warmth and green. Peeps marshmallow candy, and baskets full of goodies can be nice, but what we celebrate is the reawakening of nature after the sleep of winter.  It is the season of forging ahead to meet the future, and to be grateful we've been permitted to see another spring come.

Ice on the street side near my driveway

Until then, we lower our heads, grit our teeth, and dream.  And, putting our faith of the return of spring into action, we start filling out our seed orders.

The Mixed Up Holiday

Today, I am repeating a post from February 2013.  It's a bit amusing that I am off from work today due to a Federal holiday here in the United States that is a lot more than it appears on the surface.

This holiday is actually a sensitive subject in some parts of our country, proving (to me, anyway), that we are still fighting a war that ended 150 years ago this spring.

Enjoy:

What's in a Name?

Today, in the United States, we are celebrating a holiday called - well, it depends on where you live.

When I was growing up, there was a holiday, Washington's Birthday, which was celebrated on - imagine that, his birthday. February 22. We'll ignore the fact that Washington actually was NOT born on February 22.  He was born on February 11, 1732, under the old Julian calendar.  When Britain switched over to the Gregorian calendar we now use, his birth date was renumbered.

(Can you imagine the chaos today, in our computer-driven world, if they renumbered the calendar?  More proof that our ancestors were more adaptable to change in some ways than we moderns are.)

February 22 became a Federal holiday in 1885. Washington's Birthday, honoring George Washington, our first President.  The beloved "Father of our Country." 

Well, that meant that sometimes the holiday could not be celebrated as a three day weekend.  We couldn't have that, could we?  In the early 1970's it was decided that Washington's birthday, and several other holidays that were celebrated on specific days, would be moved so we could have three day weekends.

So, this holiday was moved to the third Monday of February.  Ironically that also means it can never be celebrated on February 22.

After all these years, most people here no longer call the holiday "Washington's Birthday", although that is still its official name.  It is called either "Presidents' Day" or "President's Day". (Sometimes, Presidents Day with no comma.) And herein lies the power of a comma.

Presidents' Day:  honors all Presidents. President's Day: honors one President.  George Washington. Or maybe not always.

Adding to the confusion, states have passed their own laws specifying what the holiday is called, and the honoree(s) thereof.  Some states honor Washington.  Some states honor Washington and Lincoln (Lincoln was the Federal president during our Civil War 1861-1865). At least one Southern state honors Washington and another President, Thomas Jefferson, as most of the states that seceded during the Civil War still choose not to honor Lincoln in any way, 152 years after the fact.

So, if you are in the United States, happy....uh, whatever your state calls it.

And if you are not from the United States - does your country have something as confusing?

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day - Feb 2015 Heart of Winter

It's the day after Valentine's Day here in upstate New York.

It's the heart of winter.  And winter is having no heart.

Today, we are not supposed to get out of the single digits. It is 6 degrees F (-14.4) with lots of wind right now. We had snow squalls last night.

I was fearful I would not find any indoor flowers for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  My one blooming African violet had finally quit after blooming for almost four months.  My primrose's last blooms have faded.  The one petunia plant I was able to save from the summer (it had bloomed last Bloom Day unexpected) was now in Petunia Heaven.

What would have happened if I found myself empty flowered for the first time in almost four years of GBBD posting? found a couple of flowers, for your pleasure.

A kalanchoe, still alive after a run in with mealybugs, blooms in a southern window.

The Alternathera I had had been sold as a "narrow leafed coleus", another outdoor plant I brought indoors, is still blooming.

I had one more surprise awaiting me.

I have a dracaena that is almost 20 years old.  It is tall, and its upper part is hidden by a window shade.  But I happened to lift the window shade....

....and to my surprise, I found this. (OK, it's dried up, but it counts in February!)  I wonder when that happened!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day never ceases to amaze. Carol at May Dreams Gardens is  right - if you keep a garden journal, you learn so much.  I don't keep an official journal, but I have been keeping an informal, online one by posting my blooms the 15th of each month since mid 2011. (Carol, you sneak!)

If you want to see what is blooming all over the world today, visit May Dreams Gardens, who hosts this monthly meme, and join the fun.

Is anything blooming for you today?

Valentines Day Easy+Light Chocolate Mousse

It's Valentine's Day! 

Love is in the air, everywhere (especially in retail establishments).

Love is big business.  But today I want to feature a simple recipe - it doesn't matter if you have a partner, a friend, a spouse, or a child, that you want to show some love to.  This is a simple dessert and not too heavy.  It would make a nice parent and older child project, too, if you use something other than the bourbon or rum.

Valentines Day Easy and Light Mousse. (Sorry, metric folks, I did not convert). Note, this does have eggs in it.

Take three eggs - we use free range eggs from the local farmer's market - and separate them.  Reserve the yolks for another use.  Put the whites in a clean bowl.

Mix a scant 1/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup bourbon or rum. Heat gently until the sugar is dissolved.  Let cool. 

In the meantime, melt 1/2 cup of chocolate chips in microwave.  They will still look whole, but they are melted.  Stir them.  Then, combine with the liquid well.  If desired add 1 tbsp of "Just Great Stuff" (powered peanut butter).

Beat your three egg whites, with 1/8 tsp cream of tarter, until stiff peaks form.

Then, gently fold in the chocolate mixture.

Divide into two (or four) dessert glasses, chill until nice and firm (perhaps two-three hours), and serve.

Yes, I know.  I am using raw egg whites!  Well, if this bothers you (one reason why I am using farm esh eggs from a small farmholder), you can use  pasteurized egg whites  But it won't turn out as good, in my opinion.

Do you have a favorite dessert for Valentines Day?

Do Wine and Chocolate Go Together?

It's the day before Valentine's Day and it's Friday the 13th. The pressure is on - I should be coming up with a post about love, or romance, or at least wine.

Ah, wine.  Either I've just gained a lot of readers for this post, or lost their interest.  So, up front, let me admit - I am no wine expert.  Or even close to it.  When people swirl a wine in their mouths and gush about the notes of peach, blackberry, tobacco, leather, heather, or whatever, I say "um, this tastes like - uh, wine."

So let's talk about chocolate, instead.

What goes better with Valentine's Day than chocolate? Wine.  The problem is, they usually don't go together.  Wine and chocolate don't mix.  Or do they?

Last night, we went to a wine and chocolate pairing seminar at a local liquor store.  I had low expectations but it was the promise of free chocolate that drew me in.  My previous experiences with pairing wine and chocolate had been disappointing.

Last year, for example, I decided to try a New York chocolate/grape wine, Chocolate Lab wine. I never did write my review of it because I was so disappointed.

This time, though, I would be trying something paired by a wine expert.

I sat next to a large wine glass, and six items arranged on a napkin.  There was (clockwise) a raspberry, a wafer of white chocolate, a chocolate covered almond, a piece of dark chocolate with raspberry flakes, a small piece of 72% cacao chocolate and a piece of dark chocolate infused with cinnamon.

The six pairings began.  The first wine was prosecco, a sparkling white wine from the eastern part of Italy.  It is sparkling wine, NOT Champagne.  The really nice thing about prosecco (besides its price) is that it is approachable  - a good beginner's choice.  I love prosecco.

This wine just isn't good with chocolate (told you so!), and, instead of chocolate, it was paired with the raspberry.  By tasting this combo, I learned why my previous experiences with wine and chocolate hadn't worked.  The wines were just too acid. And the chocolates were wrong.

Last night, I learned that chocolate can be paired with wine.  It's hard to do but, like all hard things, it has its rewards.  Above are my notes from my tasting.  (One note - the port "from 1727" - it was the company, not the port, that dated from 1727.)

In the past year, I've decided to be DIFFERENT (my word for 2015).  My early close encounters with wine were of the Manischewitz/Boone's Farm/1970's sangria kind, and, during the 40 years of my adulthood, I had never progressed past super-sweet.  I had never learned how to pair wine with food, either.

Last year, I decided to learn more about wine, and I've had a good time doing so, even taking two trips into Finger Lakes wine country for that purpose.   I've learned a little about wine (just enough to be dangerous), even though my drink of choice with food continues to be - believe it or not - flavored seltzer.

Still, I've just begun to learn just how complex the art of wine is.  I live just about an hour outside New York's wine country.  As our wine expert said last night, you could fling certain types of grapevines on the ground here, and they would grow.  Catawbas, Niagaras and Concords do quite well here.  Other grapevines need a lot more care, but wineries are popping up everywhere around some of the Finger Lakes.  On parts of Seneca Lake, you can almost literally walk from winery to winery, if you don't mind dodging cars.

This weekend, some wineries are doing chocolate and wine pairings.  Now, if only we could start growing cacao in the Finger Lakes, we would be all set.  Just think.  Native New York chocolate.

New York - The State of Romance.

Imagine that.

What food or beverage does your home area specialize in?

Dining with Abraham Lincoln

It isn't every day you get to eat lunch with a sitting President of the United States.  Or, to be more exact, the sitting statue of a former President.

Today, February 12, would have been the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.  Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, and our country's President during the United States Civil War.

I enjoyed some vintage photos of the late President and then remembered I had a couple of pictures of my own.

In the summer of 2013 my spouse and I drove from our home in upstate New York to Arkansas for a visit.  On the way back home, we stopped for a rest break in Vandalia, Illinois.

Back in the 1830's, Vandalia was the capital of the state of Illinois - the second capital of Illinois,  from 1819 to 1839.  It no longer is the capital and you may be surprised to learn who is partially responsible for that.

This was the Vandalia state capital building, built in 1836.

In the city of Vandalia, a young Illinois state legislator got some of his early political experience.  His name was Abraham Lincoln.  (One day, I will blog more about Lincoln).  Ironically, this particular statehouse was built to try to convince Lincoln and some of his colleagues to keep the capital in Vandalia.  Lincoln and some of his colleagues wanted the capital closer to the geographic center of the state.  It replaced a different building that was torn down while the legislature was in recess.  The hope was, the building would so impress the legislature that they would stay in Vandalia.

Looks nice, but Lincoln never tried any cases in this room.

The bribe (if you could call it that) didn't work, and Lincoln was not a beloved figure in Vandalia for his actions in moving the capital away from their city.  But, time has a way of dimming memories.  Now, Lincoln is quite beloved in Vandalia.

In 2001, Lincoln Park was built near the statehouse. It features a statute called "Sitting with Lincoln".

On this bench, I ate lunch with Abraham Lincoln in 2013- a tuna sandwich we had purchased in Missouri that morning, to be exact.  It was a hot sunny day, a day I would treasure today, when I think of the subzero wind chills outside at this moment.

I hope Lincoln enjoyed that wonderful Missouri tuna sandwich as much as I did.

Have you ever met a famous person, or a person who became famous later in life?

Winter Wonders - Banned in Boston

Step right up, my blog readers - ladies and gentlemen.  I have some soon to be banned (maybe) pictures to show you.

Do any of you remember the expression "banned in Boston"?  Do you remember a time when the city "fathers" banned books, movies, plays, and magazines for being suggestive, impure (in the moral sense), or containing adult content?

I remember it well, as this was still happening when I was growing up.

Works banned in Boston, the capital of the state of Massachusetts, include the books Elmer Gantry, by Sinclair Lewis; Oil, by Upton Sinclair, (the book the movie There Will Be Blood was inspired by), and A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway.

Times have changed in the great city of Boston, but if there was one thing they could ban from their city today, it would be snow.

Right now, they have a lot of snow.  Measured either in Gronks (one Gronk = 6 feet 6 inches) or smoots (one smoot = 5 ft 7 inches or 1.7 m), the 73.9 inches (187.7 cm) Boston has received is a lot of snow.

I have no pictures of Boston buried under massive amounts of snow, but I will leave you with some pictures of snow from my home in upstate New York.

Enjoy the pictures while you can.

They may soon be Banned in Boston.

What is your weather today like?

Why I Might Live Forever

I know I'm going to live forever, and here is the proof.

Several times a month, I get them in the mail.

I get them from my credit union.  From my other credit union.  From AAA.  From AARP.

"Statement of Acceptance We Invite You to Apply Today!" one says.

One even enclosed a free "Family Keepsake". It was a little pamphlet with facts that I could write down.  Facts that could help the person charged with writing my eulogy.

Yes.  All of these mailings are solicitations for life insurance.

They must think I am going to live forever.

At the very least, they must figure I'm not going to die anytime soon.  I imagine they wouldn't make much of a profit if I did.  And, if I never died, they would probably make a whole pile of money.  One of these solicitations offered "term life" for only (only!) $158.50 a month.

One of the recent solicitations admitted I was going to die, because the insurance was for "final expenses".  And they don't mean chocolate I will take into the afterlife, either. 

I can remember this, going back years, many years.  I remember my father, entering his "golden years", getting constant life insurance solicitations in the mail.  There must be something about becoming a senior citizen (some would consider me one, already, at the advanced age of 62) that triggers these mailings.

But maybe they know something I don't know.  In that sense, it's reassuring.

Perhaps I'll start worrying when the mailings stop.

Do you get these mailings, too?

My A to Z Theme

I've signed up for an April challenge called the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  On every day except Sunday, I have to blog - on April 1 on a topic beginning with A, on April 2 a topic beginning with B, and so forth.

After I signed up, I had a moment of doubt.  April, 2015 is the 150th anniversary of a special month in United States history.  In fact, some historians consider April, 1865 as a turning point in our history - the fall of Richmond, Virginia (the capital of the Confederate States of America, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender to Union General (later President) Grant, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and so much more.  Lots of human interest.

But I've made my decision about what to do for A to Z.

I've played around with different themes.  Some people have written stories on their blog, 50 words at a time.  Others post photographs. The challenge asks that we write at least 100 words a day. This post is a tiny bit more than 250 words.

Just think - photos (and just a few words) from my 3,600 plus photo library on my iPhone. (My son, who calls me a digital horder, would be so proud!) could be another idea.

Different flowers
Places I have visited.  
Photos from my guest photographer
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (April 15) and yes, I've found a way to fit it in.
The ending of the American Civil War.

I've made my decision, looking through my photos.  My theme will be Charleston, South Carolina, with a selection of other posts.

Do you plan to join the challenge?

Civil War Sunday - Too Racist to Enjoy?

The United States Civil War ended (officially) in April/May, 1865, 150 years ago this year.  But, in some ways, it has never ended.

It certainly had not ended on February 8, 1915, when the silent movie The Birth of a Nation was released. The movie is still controversial today, 100 years later.  

It is rarely publicly screened in its entirety. Why?

It was a groundbreaking movie in many ways.

In an era where movies normally didn't run more than 20 minutes, this was the first movie "blockbuster" - at 3 hours and 10 minutes.

I am not a film expert, but it pioneered many film techniques still used today, including techniques used for battle scenes.

It was the first movie ever screened at our President's residence, the White House.

It was the highest grossing movie ever until Gone with the Wind (another Civil War movie, and a movie celebrating its 75th anniversary this year - it was released in January, 1940).

Theaters charged admission of up to $2 - or, $47, in 2015 dollars.

It has been referred to, in some way, in many movies, including Forrest Gump.

So you would think we should all go out and see this movie.  And perhaps we all should, but not just for those reasons.

When seeking to understand history, we must explore the influence of books and other media in shaping our perceptions.  Think of the book Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  This book, published in 1852, horrified many with its depiction of American slavery.  It changed the world for the better.  It is still in print today.


The Birth of a Nation did just the opposite.  It was one of the most racist movies of all time.  I have only seen clips, but they were enough to turn my 2015-era stomach.  Black legislators in South Carolina eating fried chicken and taking their shoes off as they laugh and pass legislation demeaning to white people. (Footnote, major black characters were portrayed by whites in blackface.) White women endangered by former slaves, and saved by the Ku Klux Klan.  No surprise; it was used as a recruitment tool for racist organizations.

Many people suffered and died, indirectly, because of this movie.

It is rarely screened, but it can be seen, in its entirety, on You Tube.  It is in the public domain.

So what should happen to a movie like this?  Should it be censored, hidden away and never seen again?  What do you think?

I do not think so.  Evil must be understood, and faced head on.  As troubling a movie as this is, I believe it does need to be seen, and considered in the context of 1915.

In my high school history class, we screened portions of the Nazi classic propaganda film  Triumph of the Will.  Why not this movie?

Here, in 2015, we should not be too proud.  We can see the progress we have made since 1915, but we still have a long way to go.

We must finally end our Civil War.

Footnote:  I encourage thoughtful comments, even if they disagree with me.  But, if I end up getting any hateful or off topic comments as a result of this post - well, they would have just proved my point.  Those WILL be deleted.)

Local Saturday - The Long Slog

It's so easy to become depressed on a blah Saturday in upstate New York.

It's cloudy.  We've had snow flurries on and off all day.

It's full of slush.  Cars are coated with crusty white briny road yuck.  Piles of snow lie everywhere.

I thought about putting some kitchen scraps in my compost bin, but when I looked at my back yard, I changed my mind.   The compost bin is barely visible in the top middle next to the fence, mostly buried.  Perhaps I should run a contest to see how many readers can find it.

 

This was what my son's car thermometer showed on his way to work yesterday. -27F works out to about -32.7 C.

But then I thought back to just yesterday, when it was so cold, and my spouse volunteered to take me to work.

I stepped outside, and there was the sunrise. No, this is not photoshopped.

And then, on the way to work, the sun made its appearance.

We are far from seeing the end of winter. Our forecast for the next few days is not encouraging.  It's going to be a long slog to spring. 

Today, we are doing a seed inventory, having ordered our two community gardening plots.  Then, we'll see what we want to buy or order for our garden.

As for the weather- I will always remember that sunrise.

Photos and Memories

Recently, I blogged about the dying art of letter writing.

Yesterday, I read a post about a blogger and his visit to his maternal grandmother.  She had kept a treasured photo of her childhood.  She showed it to him.  The photo was about 75 years old, and was of a 10 year old girl, dressed formally, with a frown on her face.

You guessed it - the elderly grandmother was the young girl in the photo.  He marveled at how many details of the taking of the photo his grandmother remembered.

So he took a picture of his grandmother, and other pictures during his visit. He promised to give a photo to his grandmother.  He didn't print one of of vacation photos, though, not one.

 I have over 3600 pictures on my phone.  My son (my 20 something son!) calls me a "digital hoarder".  He's right.  I have even more on a computer I don't use that much.

Number of photos printed out from my phone = zero.  What do they include? Well, pictures of my spouse's now 103 year old aunt.  Pictures of my mother in law, my son, my spouse, a family reunion from 2012, and several vacations.  Lots and lots of memories.

And this photo I took at the house of one of my spouse's cousins.  It's a photo of an old family photo.

Think about it.

How many of us have spent treasured times with elderly relatives while they showed us pictures of our families from years ago?  How many memories were passed on?  How many stories were told?

Here's a personal memory.  Years ago, in an album, I ran across a photo of three young girls.  It was in black and white.  One of the girls looked just like me (almost exactly like me!) but the dresses they wore looked like something out of the 1920's.  They posed, formally.

Fortunately, someone had written on the back of the photo.  The photo was of my mother, and two of her sisters.  And yes, it was taken in the 1920's.  I looked at this photo and marveled, just as the blogger had done. Except my mother was long dead, and could not share her memories of the day.

Will I be sharing photos with my yet-to-be-born grandchildren one day?  Or will those photos languish in a landfill somewhere, in a computer long discarded?

Do you print out your treasured digital photos, or display them in a digital photo frame?  Or are you a digital hoarder, like me?

Locked and Snow Loaded

Winter has upstate New York locked in.  It could be worse, though.  I could have lived in Boston, with the giant mounds of snow on their narrow streets.

February is the most predictable month of winter for us.  We can have mild weather intervals in January.  In March, we can also.  But one thing you can depend on - February will be harsh.

In the country, a deer (taken by my guest photographer).  All you can see is the head, just to the ight of center of the photo.   I love the shadows in the snow.  Looks like ripples, doesn't it?

This is what five degrees above zero F looks like.

In the city, trees in front of an abandoned BAE Industries building near Johnson City, New York glisten with snow in the minutes before sunrise today. This building was abandoned after a flood in 2011 and is scheduled for demolition later this year. (We'll see about that).  But today, it looks beautiful.

In downtown Binghamton, the county courthouse still has decorations up from the holiday season.

And, a snow loaded tree, also near the county courthouse.

If the weather forecasts are correct, we may get up to 24 more inches (nearly 61 cm) of snow by Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the temperature is supposed to drop through the day, bottoming out at about -7 F (-21.6 C).

Spring, please come soon!

Winter Wonders- A Mockingsequel

What better news can we get, on a snowy February day, than to find that Nelle (Harper) Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, is going to have her second book published - at the age of 88.

Rather than endure the fame of a best selling author, Lee eventually returned to her small home town in Alabama. She never wrote another book - or so we were told. She lead a simple life until (according to reports) she suffered a stroke in 2007.  Today, she lives in an assisted living facility.

Her older sister, Alice Lee, died three months ago at the age of 103.  Alice was Harper's attorney and was the oldest practicing attorney in Alabama at the time of her retirement at age 100.

Their father was the inspiration of Atticus Finch, the heroic father of the book.

So, am I happy?  I am one of millions of readers who loved To Kill a Mockingbird, both the book and the movie, which starred Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.  So you would think I would be thrilled to have a sequel published.  And it is a sequel, taking place 20 years after Mockingbird ended.

I am not thrilled.  I am puzzled.

Lee never wrote a second book for her own private reasons.  Fame took her by surprise.  I respect that decision.  Putting myself in her shoes, I don't know if I would have acted differently.  I do not enjoy the spotlight- I might have run back into the shadows.

But, now, out of nowhere, after about 55 years - a sequel! Now?

The book about to be published was Lee's first work.  It was lost, and then it was found, by her new lawyer.  Or so the publisher says

So, did Harper (as she is known) Lee have a change of heart at the age of 88?  Did the death of her sister convince her that life is too short?  Or, was the manuscript truly lost until recently?

In July, we'll know if it is a worthy sequel.

Harper Lee does not plan any book tours.  It is said aging has not been kind to her in recent years.

Do you plan to read the sequel?

Harder than A to Z?

I signed up for an annual April blog challenge called the A to Z Challenge.  (You can join me, here). It will be my first A to Z.

The way it works is easy - and hard.  You blog every day except Sunday (Sunday is a "free day" for those who do blog on Sundays).  That part is easy.  The alphabetical part will be the challenge.  26 days in April require 26 blog posts.  The topic of your first post must start with A, the second with B, and so forth. 

That's it, basically.  Oh yes, they encourage you to visit at least five other bloggers a day, which is part of the fun.  They also monitor for inactive blogs. Considering the thousands of people who sign up, that is an impressive task.

So, why did I sign up?

I wanted to be DIFFERENT - that is my word for 2015.  I wanted to take changes.

I am a seat of the pants person.  A to Z requires you to plan posts out. That would be DIFFERENT.

As the A to Z website says, "creativity is creativity."

Well, that takes care of "C", anyway.

Seriously - please join me every day in April and see what I have planned for you.  Planning is so much fun when the wind chills are below zero F.  Who wants to be outside?

Are you going to participate in A to Z?

It's the Groundhog's Fault

The Super Bowl, in warm Arizona, is over.
We are left with snow, and six more weeks of winter.  Alas.

Today is Groundhog Day in the United States, where we pull a groundhog out of the ground to predict the weather.   It's purely scientific, of course, and this is how it works.  If the groundhog sees its shadow, we have six more weeks of winter.  If the groundhog doesn't see its shadow, we get an early spring.

Today, the ground hog saw its shadow, despite the fact that it was overcast, and a rain/snow mix was moving in.  Somehow, that ground hog almost always sees its shadow.  In 2013, it didn't see its shadow and we still got six more weeks of winter.

The groundhog almost got the death penalty for that one.

So, for Groundhog Day in the Binghamton, New York, area, what is our weather like?

The lumps are flower planters

I woke up to these front steps, after we had a storm overnight.  You can sort of see the covered steps in the bottom of the photo.

Come on, tree.  Don't you know that a frown is just a smile upside down (according to cliche)?

Goodbye, football season.  Let's take one more look back at yesterday.

The party started here, and the party ended in our living rooms, leaving us to the mercy of the cold, blowing snow.

Subtracting the snow already on the ground, we received about nine inches (22.86 cm) of snow.  This isn't Boston, true, and we didn't get ice like they got downstate.  But tonight, it will drop to near zero F (-17 C).  Considering that, a couple of days ago, they were predicting a low of -12 (-24 C), I can't complain.

I will feature some more pictures on my Wednesday Winter Wonders feature.

What is the weather like where you live?

Civil War Sunday - The Thirteenth Amendment

On January 31, 1865, (150 years ago yesterday) Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  It was ratified on December 6, 1865 and adopted on December 18, 1865.

It is a brief amendment, but sometimes, it doesn't take much to say what needs to be said.

"Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

And, in two small paragraphs, slavery was outlawed in the United States.  Just like that.

No, not just like that.  The Civil War was still being fought on January 31, 1865, and, before it was over, over 620,000 people would be dead (it is believed by many that figure is underestimated.)  The war (contrary to a lot of popular opinion) was not fought purely to free slaves - there were a lot of reasons for the war.  But, as the war progressed, it became more and more clear that, if the South lost its bid to secede from the union, slavery would also end.  At least, officially

Slavery had existed here since the Europeans founded colonies.  But, our Constitution had never before mentioned the word "slavery" or "slave".

If you want to learn more about the events leading to the passage of the 13th amendment, the 2012 movie Lincoln's plot revolves around Lincoln's efforts to get this amendment passed.  Or, better yet, go to the historical source documents.

Or even read this blogger's perspective.

It is obvious that we have a lot of unfinished work in this country.

A Homemade Healthy Super Bowl

This is my third Super Bowl on Weight Watchers, which creates quite a challenge.

For those of my readers not in the United States, a brief explanation.  Super Bowl Sunday (tomorrow) is the final, championship game of our football (meaning American football, not football meaning soccer -oh, never mind) season. People gather to drink lots of beer, eat lots of snacks, gorge on mass quantities of fried chicken wings with caloric sauces, and watch commercials that cost millions of dollars.  And, somewhere in there, there is a sports match and a half time show featuring a celebrity singer.  This year, it's Katy Perry.

"Healthy" and "Super Bowl" normally do not go together. And, if you aren't careful, "delicious" and "healthy" variations of high fat items do not go together, either.

The first time we tried to make healthy snacks, it was New Years Eve, 2012, I was new to Weight Watchers and much of the food my spouse made was inedible.  Dry. Tasteless  Ugh. We decided that, in the future, we would not try to do "healthy" makeovers of fatty food, but rather, forge our own trail.

So, we have (no pun intended) lightened up a bit.  It's a splurge day.

We will have guacamole, although we won't make it in this device.  It is so simple - peel ripe avocadoes, mash (we like ours a little chunky), add chopped sweet pepper (orange, yellow, red), garlic, scallions, a little salt, a touch of homemade ground chili pepper (my spouse's own secret mix, so I can't tell you) and a touch of lime juice. Just don't eat too much.  Easier said than done.

We serve with chips - these happen to be local chips made about an hour away from us.  Or, make your own baked ones - take fresh corn tortillas, cut into triangles (pizza cutter works great for this), spread on cookie sheet, bake at 400 degrees F until they start to turn light brown.  (Celsius folks, you are on your own-sorry.)

Salsa makes a wonderful dip - and fat free salsa has no Weight Watchers points. It's so easy to make, too, if you have good fresh tomatoes available. If not, use canned dice tomatoes (preferably fire roasted diced tomatoes).  Simply chop up ripe fresh tomatoes or use the canned ones, combine with chopped pepper and onions, season with cilantro, lime juice, salt to taste, jalapenos if you like it spicy.  Or, buy it pre made in the refrigerated section of your market.

We'll be serving fresh fruit although, at this time of year, there is little local fresh fruit to be had here in upstate New York.  This is the time of year we are grateful to Florida, California and Chile.

We don't bother with low fat versions of high fat dips - we are not fans of fat free mayonnaise or fat free sour cream.  You can substitute fat free Greek yogurt with a touch of lime juice (for zing) for sour cream, too.  An easy dip can be made with the fat free yogurt, a can of black beans, some cilantro, salsa, just blending it to consistency.  Add jalapenos for spice.

And last, instead of those chicken wings, how about some Thai Chicken Skewers?  We haven't tried this recipe yet but I am a big fan of powdered peanut butter.  We have used a product called PB2 but decided to use "Just Great Stuff" which we found locally.  It is organic, and uses organic coconut sugar, sustainably harvested and low glycemic.  I know some people shy away from this type of product, but I don't have a peanut allergy, and this is a good alternative for me.

Do you make your own snacks?

Five Reasons Why You Should Still Write Letters

Yesterday, I saw a blog post asking "Is letter writing a fading art?"

It really made me think about all the things of my childhood that are now obsolete:

Typewriters
Mimeograph machines
Vacuum tubes
Airmail
Rotary phones
Waiting for a letter in the mail.

When I was growing up, long distance telephone calls were expensive.  Adjusted for 2014 dollars, a 10 minute long distance call from New York to Los Angeles (east coast to west coast of our vast country) in 1950, two years before I was born, would have cost about $65.81.  (For those not in the United States = that's a lot of money). So, let me explain it another way for my foreign blog fans.  On this date in 1950, the minimum wage in the United States was $1.00 an hour.  If you made the minimum wage, that 10 minute phone call would have cost a lot of hours of work.

So, unless it was urgent, people wrote letters to each other.

I wrote so many letters in the first 30 or so years of my life. It was as natural as breathing for me. And, in the last 10 years, I've hardly written any.  Shame on me.

So, why should anyone care about the fine art of writing a letter?

1.  It's a way for young people to communicate with older generations.  I just got to thinking - bet my spouse's 103 year old aunt (yes, she turned 103 earlier this year) would be delighted to get a letter.  Which leads me to reason #2:

2.  It's a way to preserve history.  Can you imagine a collection of love texts bundled and tied by a lovely ribbon, to be found in a closet years later by a grandson or daughter?  I can't, either.

How about all those historic correspondences that historians depend on to get glimpses into history?

3.  It makes you stand out.  Who gets letters anymore?  Write letters, and you are sure to be noticed. Some newspapers even want to interview you.

4.  It brings out the artist in you.  When I was a teen, I decorated envelopes with cartoons, jokes, and so forth.  Last year, I got a gift from a blogger, and guess what? A decorated envelope.  Memories!  And, remember stationery?  I used to get such joy shopping for stationery.

5.  Pen pals? Anyone out there remember pen pals?  As an adult, I had a pen pal for a while who I found through a pen pal section of a country living magazine.  I sometimes wonder what happened to her.

There are even more reasons than the ones I can come up with.  I won't even blog about how cursive writing is dying out.  Soon, there will be few people even able to read it, meaning so many historical documents will be unreadable by the average man or woman.

Some things deserve to become obsolete - such as $65.81 phone calls.

Some things, such as writing letters, shouldn't become obsolete.  And I am just as guilty of enabling letter writing to die out as anyone of my generation that has abandoned the art.  Or not transmitted the art to their children. I didn't do that, either.

Do you still write letters?

Ten Things I Love About My Spouse

How about a link up where we show some blog love towards the one who loves us?

Bethany, over at Dandelion Pie, is sponsoring a linkup where she gives us permission to brag about the man (or woman, as the case may be) we are sharing our lives with.

Well, although my spouse does not read my blog, I am going to take Bethany up on this.  Why?  Because, dear reader, this is my 1900th published blog post.

Bring on the celebration!

What an excellent idea, to blog about the spouse whose patience makes my blogging possible, on this important occasion.  Thanks, Bethany.

Therefore, I present:  10 Things I Love About My Spouse But Not Necessarily In This Order

1.  He puts up with my snoring.  Of course, HIS snoring is much worse.  Sometimes, epic.  Well, maybe not that epic. But pretty bad.

2.  He cooks for me.  In fact, he's cooking for me right now!


3.  He puts up with my blogging.  Like when I'm blogging and dinner is ready, and I'm totally oblivious to that fact.  Or breakfast.  (Not lunch.  He doesn't do lunch.)


4.  He's been known to take me to work when the weather is really bad.

5.  He remembers birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

6.  He takes care of me when I am sick.

7.  He puts up with my bad moods.

8.  When I was addicted to FarmVille, he put up with that, too.

9.  He likes to do many of the same things as I do.  Not everything, mind you.  But that would be boring!

10.  He loves to travel with me, and I could not have a better travel companion.

Do you have a list to share?  Go over to Dandelion Pie, and post in the comments!

It's Lump Day

Do you know what day it is?

A good friend of mine does. But before I go into the details of this special day for her, I need to backtrack a little.

Yesterday, I blogged about a friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  The next step after the biopsy that diagnosed her was for her to have an MRI to stage her (to find out how far along the cancer was)  So, she had her "girl" MRI'd, and, let's just say, you don't have this test done with many clothes on.

Let me have her tell you (with her permission!) what happened next.

Of course, after it was over and I was standing in my little cubbyhole [not dressed enough for public display], the fire alarm went off. I finished dressing, peeked out and lights were flashing and the PA system said, “Code Red in Atrium”, but nobody was running away. The fire trucks were there, too, but guess it was a false alarm.

THEN I decided to hit the ladies’ before going out in the cold. Hung my coat on the door and placed my purse on the edge of the sink. While I was, let’s say, unable to jump up and run across the bathroom, my purse fell into the sink which activated the faucet. I dumped everything out when I got here and ran my heater on the inside  lining. Nothing got ruined.
 And you thought YOU had a bad day.

Well, when she saw the surgeon, he told her that her lumpectomy would have to be done on a Wednesday, because he only does lumpectomies on Wednesdays.

 For most people, this is what Wednesday is.  It's - well, let the camels tell the story.

For my friend, it's Lump Day.  Hopefully, the hospital won't have a fire alarm in the middle of her surgery.

My friend loves puns. And so, I'm busy trying to round up greeting cards with pun themes.  I've got one I will send out to her soon.

There is nothing funny about cancer, yet, her stories have a way of making me smile.

My friend reads my blog regularly, so those who left well wishes or offers of prayers yesterday will be read by her, and appreciated.  Thank you.

You, my readers, are the best.

A Tale of Two....

Once upon a time, there were two friends.  They had been friends for over 16 years.

These two women, on paper, have little in common.  One is big city bred, one small town bred.  One an only child, the other with full and half siblings. Different religions.  Different life experiences.  An animal rescuer and a petless person.  One is an expert punner.  The other is her victim.

Yet, they had become friends.

One day, one confided in the other.  There was something wrong. A suspicious lump where no woman wants a lump.  She had had a mammogram and an ultrasound.  The results required a biopsy.  She was waiting for the results of the biopsy.

The other friend said, funny you should mention that.  On my recent exam, my gyn found a suspicious lump in my dense breasts. She showed me, and I felt it.   I had a mammogram and an ultrasound.  Negative, the other friend continued, but I just got a call from my gyn.  She felt something didn't add up between the results and what she (and I) had felt.  My gyn wants me to come in for a followup....

They hugged, and talked about what would happen if the results were positive. They would support each other.  In case treatment took their hair, they decided on the color of their wigs.


One friend's biopsy result: Positive.

The other friend's followup:  Negative. 

A good writer would write such a good, punny, ending to this, but, knowing my friend will be operated on tomorrow, I just can't.


I just know something about tomorrow is going to make me smile, because that is the kind of person my friend is.

And tomorrow, you are going to smile, too.