February Features #SkywatchFriday

When we got some sunshine earlier this month, I couldn't resist these  pictures.

Near sunset.  To me some of them look like feathers.

Sometimes you just have to draw a line in the sky.

Or two, or three.

I love the variety of clouds from day to day.


Today I am joining the bloggers who watch the sky at Yogi's #SkywatchFriday.

Slumber in White #ThursdayTreeLove

They slumber on, the trees.

Cutler Botanical Gardens, last Sunday, Binghamton, New York

Surrounded by cold snow, they patiently await a signal none of us humans can hear or sense.

The signal tells them it is time.

They will start to bud, then bloom, then finally, grow leaves to catch the spring and summer sun.  Another cycle will begin.

But it's not time yet.

They sleep.

They wait.

Do you love trees?  Why not take a picture and post a link at Parul's #ThursdayTreeLove, which is in session every second and fourth week of the month.

Walk LIke a Penguin #WordlessWednesday

Where I live in upstate New York, we are in the heart of winter.  That means snow.  And ice.

Ice is pretty but deadly.

We have a large senior population in my county (my spouse and I included) and falls are especially dangerous for our age group.  Falls are one of the leading causes of deaths among the elderly.  If you are young, you aren't immune, either.

Hence the advice:  Walk like a Penguin.

Ice scares me, but I will also say, I've been seeing these signs pop up more and more where I live.  This one is near our local library.

Here's how to walk like a penguin.


I am joining two #WordlessWednesday blog hops this week:
1.  Sandee at Comedy Plus

2.  Natasha and Esha.

Changes Come to Otsiningo

What is a community garden?

Our community garden - Summer of 2018

One definition of a community garden I found online is:   "Any piece of land gardened by a group of people."

It's as simple as that!

Of course, nothing is ever "as simple as that".

We've participated in two different community garden associations in our 30 plus years living in the Binghamton area.

We started out when we first moved here (here being, at the time, Binghamton, New York), and were living in an apartment on the northeast side of Binghamton.  When we ended up buying a house in a nearby community, most of the lot was  shady, and also wasn't big enough to have the garden plot we wanted.

But at least we own our own home.  For many community gardeners, a community garden is the difference between being able to garden and grow their own quality food,  and having to depend on sometimes substandard produce.

Indeed, parts of Binghamton, New York, where our community garden plot is located, is considered a "food desert".  An organization called VINES is working hard to change that.


It's been a long time-a long, long time-since I've last blogged about the community garden my spouse has belonged to.  Actually, there were two different gardens.

The first Garden's story (it is now a movie theatre/Applebees site called "The Gardens" and its demise.

The second Garden's story, which began in 1996. 

Starting this year, there will be a third story, as VINES takes over our community garden.  This should be an interesting experience, especially as I emailed them the other day to get some information and no one has responded (yet). No signups, and we've already bought seeds and ordered onion plants.  Keep fingers crossed.

I am looking forward to the details.  VINES, after all, stands for "Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments".

While I am at it, I wanted to explain a little about my gardening history.

I was 17 before I ever saw my first vegetable garden.

When you grow up in a New York City housing project, you don't have many opportunities to garden.  But a friend of mine had a grandfather who lived out in the country.  One summer, her family invited me to spend a week with them.  It was an amazing experience.

When I ate homegrown cucumbers for the first time, I couldn't believe that cucumbers had taste. I got sick off of gouging myself with raw peas.

Somewhat shy sunflower, summer of 2018

But my urge to garden goes back even further.

From my earliest years, I longed to grow things. I can remember the urge from at least second grade.  In my case, it was flowers.  One day, I should blog about my attempts to flower garden on a Bronx windowsill.  I even tried to grow lettuce in cottage cheese containers.  It didn't work out too well.

If there had been a community garden where I lived in the Bronx, I would have not hesitated a minute to join it.  It would have been heaven to me, to be able to dig my hands into the dirt, plant seeds, and be able to grow food.

But, as an adult, gardens have been in my life almost every year since 1977.  It's been a long run.  Community gardens helped make it possible.

I haven't blogged about our community garden in several years.    Here's a several years old peek at it.

Now, our community garden plot enters a new phase.  Let's hope it's an improvement.

There is nothing as constant as change.  Not only to our gardening, but other changes re coming - to you, and me, to all of us.

It's up to us to adapt.

The Blurry Metro Mantra Goodbye #MusicMovesMe

 It's time for Music Moves Me!


Who are the members of Music Moves Me ?  We are bloggers who blog with music each Monday. If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only- Please post containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)  Every other week we have a theme and on alternate weeks we have "You Pick".  

Our conductors? 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.  

For February our guest conductor is Robin at Songbird's Crazy World.  For today, her theme is: "You Pick".

So, what is calling to me today? 

I'm thinking of visiting a big city - so here is Berlin's Metro, from 1982.

Midnight Oil - "Beds Are Burning" from 1987 is a plea to give land back to the Pintupi indigenous people of Australia.

From 2018, Bring Me the Horizon singing "Mantra", a song nominated for a Grammy last year.

"BLURRY (out of place)" by Crown The Empire, from last year.

A song from the 70's that hold so many memories for me: "Goodbye Stranger" - Supertramp
 
And with that, it's a wrap!

Join us again next Monday, same time same place!

The Library Loves Me

Yesterday, my local library gave me a gift.

No, it wasn't one of the many gifts they give me every day I walk in.  It wasn't a book to borrow, or a seed library (more on that another time), or a free pass to one of several museums, or even a member of their staff helping to find something.

No, when I walked in, there was a display of wrapped books. I asked if they were free for the taking.  "Take one", said the librarian.

Each wrapper had a description of the book.   One of them, I was guessing, was "Lincoln in the Bardo" from the description.  Several others were thrillers, a genre I don't really get into that much.

I am more into science fiction, dystopian fiction (if done well), alternate history (if done well), and some non fiction, especially if it is related to a historical event.

This is what I chose.  I unwrapped it today and....

My gift from my local library.  It's a book (I hadn't heard of) about a historical event I had never heard of.

It sounds fascinating, and I've put it on my "to read" queue.  Interestingly, you'll note that the edge of the front cover has been cut off.  At one time, I knew what that meant, but no longer.  Do any of my readers know?

No matter.  A gift is a gift.

Does anyone else live in a place where the library gives Valentine's Day gifts to their clients?

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Friday is Valentine's Day.  For some it is a day of happiness - a day for lovers to celebrate themselves. For people not in a relationship, it can be a genuine time of sadness and depression.

On Friday I hope to be doing something I love to do - watch the sky.  And, oh, something else - eat chocolate.

One of our supermarkets is taking chocolate covered strawberries to a new level.  In a case by the front of the store, various flavors of chocolate covered strawberries are displayed for sale.  They've been doing this for several days now, and I expect it to continue until "V-Day".

You can buy toffee, cinnamon, dark chocolate, white chocolate with curls, maple with bacon, and more.  For $2.50 each.

But we thought $2.50 each was a little steep, as good as they looked.  So I talked my spouse into going to the local Aldi and getting a quart of strawberries for $1.69.  We had the other ingredients in the house already.

Using a recipe we found online for inspiration:

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

1/2 cup high quality semi sweet chocolate chips
2 tsp coconut oil (not essential but it helps with the hardening process)
8 strawberries
Parchment paper

Method

Rinse strawberries, pat dry.  Unfold parchment paper.
Melt the chips and the coconut oil (coconut oil is a solid at room temperature) in the microwave, about 30 seconds at a time until melted.
Dip strawberries into the chocolate
Immediately place onto the parchment paper, then refrigerate until chocolate shell is firm.
Take out of refrigerator before serving and let them come to room temperature.

My spouse is an excellent cook, and I know these will taste good.  Being artistic with food, though, takes talent neither of us have. So giftable they are not.  For that, I would recommend the $2.50 each strawberries made by pros.

Have you ever made special Valentine's Day desserts?

Zig Zag Sky #SkywatchFriday

Although I love taking pictures of the sky and clouds, I don't know that much about clouds.  My spouse, on the other hand, has been fascinated by weather all his life.  His two brothers are, too.  In fact, he seriously considered becoming a meteorologist when he was preparing for college (he didn't, for various reasons.)

But he knows his cloud names.

In the past few years, though he tells me, some new cloud formations have been identified due to factors such as human activity and global weather changes (which, come to think of it, are related.  At least, many think so.)  Although these are not a new cloud, according to him, he had never seen anything quite like these.

Like what?

Pictures taken February 5 near sunset in the Binghamton, New York area. We got mixed precipitation later that night.

I call them "zig zag clouds". Or maybe "zig zag sky"?

From a different direction they look more "normal".

Nice sunset. The clouds almost look to be going into infinity.

What do you think?

Joining Yogi and fellow bloggers watching the sky each Friday at #SkywatchFriday.

The Safety Net Revisited

In 2015, I blogged about the fact that for the first time in many, many years, we would not be having Christmas with relatives in Yonkers, New York.  Earlier that year, due to health and other issues, we had to move my mother in law up to where we live, and about 150 more miles (approximately 241 km) away from those relatives.  

As my regular readers know, my mother in law passed away the day after Thanksgiving, 2018.

At the time I first wrote this blog post in December, 2018, my spouse's last living aunt down in a New York City suburb was getting ready to celebrate her 107th birthday.  She lived with her son, who took care of her.

In December, the son, who was in his early 70's, died suddenly.  We had last seen him at my mother in law's funeral.

Now, my spouse's aunt is gone.  She passed away last year, at the age of 107.

When her younger son died, the son who was living with her, there was a niece  who lived nearby.  She took the aunt in.  She had cared for both her parents years ago.  Her mother died, in her 90's, from injuries suffered in a fall.  Her father took the long road down Dementia Lane.  During that journey, the niece was diagnosed with cancer.  While being treated,  her father's caregivers ended up caring for her, too.

In turn, one of the aides that helped her father (and her) was available for the 107 year old aunt, and became a full time live in aide for the last months of the aunt's life.  Eventually, the aunt was deemed eligible for hospice care, remaining in the niece's home until her death..  But what if that niece hadn't been there?  Or if she (who, herself is a senior citizen) hadn't been able to step up?

The path of a caregiver is a hard one.  The caregiver doesn't take care of him or herself, sometimes with tragic results. 

Late last year, our office of aging reached out to me because I had been unable to attend a "focus group" on what caregivers in our community need.  I never answered that email.  But, instead of answering their questions directly, perhaps I should just describe what is happening around me.  I never did, but now I have another chance.

It scares me.  Our social safety net is fraying.  Will it rip before my spouse and I reach old age?

Back To The Past with Voting?

Normally, I participate with a couple of "Wordless Wednesday" memes, but not this Wednesday.

I'm not wordless.

In July of 2009 I blogged a post called "New York's Electronic Voting - Back to the Future". If only I could see into the future - almost 11 years, to be exact, and the Iowa caucus that showed us how electronic voting results could go so badly wrong. 

Since I blogged this, New York State has adopted the electronic voting I described below. 

But now, we must ask ourselves:  Just because we can do it electronically, is doing it electronically the right thing to do?  New York's system may be a good one, as we actually still vote using paper ballots which are processed into a box.  The boxes are not connected to the Internet.

It's like we've gone full circle from 1952.

 The only reason why we have results from Iowa is because all the caucus goers were asked to fill out paper.

So...now what?  Do we go back to the past to record and report votes?  The below is from 1952, the year of my birth., the dawn of using computers, this time just to count paper votes.

Perhaps not Univac, but we need a better way.

Here's my post from 2009 with small edits:

Today I experienced the future of voting in New York.

New York, to the best of my knowledge, is the last state in the union to adopt some version of electronic voting. Up to last year, we were using those old dinosaur lever machines with the curtain - you stood there and had 3 minutes to pull levers for your candidates.

Before that (as my 80 year old plus neighbor tells me) New York had paper ballots.

Guess what. We will have paper ballots again. Sort of.

I went to a demonstration of the new voting system at the Broome County Library today and this is how it works:
First, you have to fill out a paper ballot. You do this at a "corral" accommodating four voters. It is on an approximately 8 1/2 x 14 sheet. There is a square box next to each candidate's name. You have a pen, like a fine magic marker, that you fill in the boxes with. Then, you will need to put this in an envelop (so it remains secret) and wait on line to feed your sheet of paper into a machine.

The machine reads your ballot and if all is OK you hear it drop into a box. It is also scanned and there is also a paper receipt (which wasn't demonstrated). The demonstrator emphasized safeguards so the results wouldn't be hacked.

If you "overvoted" (filled in too many boxes) the ballot is spit back out and I assume you have to get back into the line for the corral.

If you "undervoted" the machine will tell you and you can override and tell it to accept your ballot, or have it spit out to correct.

What happens if you start to fill out a box and change your mind? What happens if you put a stray mark near a box? I had a lot of questions but of course I thought of them after I went back to work (this was on my lunch).

I'm not sure if I'm sold on this. I did find an interesting blog devoted to keeping the lever machines.

THE END?

 

The Good Guy

January 28th was a sad day for those who grew up in New York City in the 1960's-1980's, with the passing of DJ Harry Harrison at the age of 89.

So many of the great New York City DJ's have passed now, including Dan Ingram, who meant something special to me.

And then, there was Harry Harrison, the voice of the morning.

Harry Harrison was our Morning Mayor and one of the "Good Guys".  He reigned on three New York City radio stations:  WMCA (starting in 1959), WABC (starting in 1968) and WCBS-FM (starting in 1980 and retiring in 2003, when the station changed format).  He was on New York City radio for over 40 years..

In 2004 he returned to WCBS-FM for another eight months.

He started in radio at Chicago, moved to Peoria, and was then invited to WMCA in 1959.

Some memories of Harry Harrison.

May You Always (a New Year greeting).

"Every brand new day should be unwrapped like a precious gift."

How true.

We'll miss you, Harry.  You were a Good Guy.

Not So Silly Love Songs #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday, the day after Super Bowl Sunday (have you recovered yet?) and it's time for Music Moves Me!

Who are the members of Music Moves Me (4M)?  We are bloggers who blog with music each Monday. If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only- Please post containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)  Every other week we have a theme and on alternate weeks we have "You Pick".  And, see the special announcement at the bottom of my post today.

Our conductors? 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.  

For February our guest conductor is Robin at Songbird's Crazy World.  For today, her theme is: In honor of Valentine's Day, we will have love songs.  Songs about falling in love, being in love, missing the one you love, even about losing love."

I wondered how many love songs have been recorded.  Google gave me an answer:  perhaps upwards of 100 million.   This is pretty overwhelming.  Where do I begin?

So I'd like to share some of my favorites.

The Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody.  How I loved their music. 

Beach Boys "God Only Knows" is one of my favorite Beach Boys songs.

Paul McCartney and Wings, from 1976 "Silly Love Songs"

The Troggs' 1966 cover of "Wild Thing" 

We must include Billy Joel, who has recorded a number of love songs.  "Leningrad" may be an unusual choice, but it's about a different kind of love than romantic love.  Stay with the song and video - you'll be glad you did.

Then there are the standards, and I found this one on a fellow Music Moves Me blog post last week.  As a lover of the 80's, how can I resist "Fly Me to the Moon" sung by Martin and Shirlie Kemp.  Martin Kemp was in Spandeu Ballet and his now-wife Shirlie was a backup singer for Wham!  I love her voice especially in this.

And how about a "off the beaten track" songs

Ben, sung by Michael Jackson, is an ode to....a pet rat.

And,  finally, a love song that is hundreds of years old, and shows us how every generation has mourned over lost love.  The ballard "Greensleeves". 

Now, why don't you visit these fine Music Moves Me participants for even more love songs?


So once again - it's a wrap!

But before I leave, a little announcement:

Starting this month, all 4M participants will get a chance to be guest host/hostess for a month as we're going to set up a rotation system.  You'll be given advanced notice to accept and submit your themes.  You'll be placed at the top of the linky party but no worries; if for some reason you can't actively do the co-host/hostess duties and want to toss in your theme ideas anyhow, then you can send them, receive credit, and join the party at your convenience. This is subject to change. We're exploring new ways to keeping things fresh at the best dance party in Blogosphere and feel free to add suggestions.  

And again, if you know anyone who loves music and musical Mondays, why not invite him or her to join our party each week?

Join me again next Monday, same time, same place.

The Groundhog's Palindrome

Today, February 02, 2020, is both Groundhog Day and Superbowl Sunday in the United States.

Later today, groundhogs will be forced out of their winter snoozes to predict for American humans whether we would have an early spring or six more weeks of winter.

Tonight, 22 grown men collectively paid millions of dollars will chase and throw a ball around a field while tackling each other for everyone's pleasure.  (OK, sorry, it's more complicated than that.  At halftime, there will be some music.)

But today is even more interesting because today is a special day for people who like number patterns.  This one hasn't happened since the year 1111.

To keep my mind off what the groundhog predicted I read an interesting article about today's date being a universal palindrome.

Whether you write dates in American style (MM DD YYYY) or European style (DD MM YYYY)
today is a "universal palindrome"  02/02/2020.

We don't have to wait almost 1,000 years for the next one, but none of us alive today will have to worry about that.

Need a Super Bowl recipe?  Check these out:
Bean Dip
Guacamole, Peanut Sauce

And may you have a good time, regardless of what you do today.

Super Bowl Bean Dip

Tomorrow is Super Bowl, which has become a national holiday of eating (and drinking, if you drink) to excess.  It's a reason to eat fatty foods with friends and family:  fried chicken wings, dips with high calorie ingredients, pizza, chips.

But why not have something healthy, too?

Here's a Super Bowl Bean Dip.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cooked beans - pinto or black or other favorite bean
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp olive oil
1 pkt Goya Sazon seasoning (note, this contains MSG and salt, so you may want to use this as an alternative.)
ground chili powder to taste
1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
6 green onions/scallions (whatever you call them where you live) or to taste, roughly chopped


Method
If using whole cumin seeds, grind in a mortar and pestle
Saute garlic cloves in oil in low heat for about three minutes
Mix in cumin seeds

Add all the above to the beans and mash with a potato masher until mashed up.

Then add the chili powder.

Add Greek yogurt and mix.

Add chopped green onions/scallions and mix.

Can be made a day in advance and chilled.  Serve at room temperature or slightly warmed.

Note:  this is my spouse's recipe. He cooks by "feel" so all measurements are approximate.

This is a perfect recipe for those following WW (formerly Weight Watchers), which I do.

Other Super Bowl recipes good for the waistline.

Do you have a favorite Super Bowl recipe?

January Clouds Blue Sky #SkywatchFriday #blogboost

I can't believe that 2020 is already almost 1/12 over.  It's also the last day of the January Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Where I live the sunrise is finally getting earlier and the sunset is getting later.  It's noticeable now.  Sunrises and sunsets can be incredible, but a lot of the time, our famous clouds (we are one of the cloudiest places in the lower 48) block the view.

But there's also the middle of the day.  Last Friday, it was warm (warm!) and it was sunny (sunny!) at noon.  At the same time.  That isn't that usual

It was lunchtime in downtown Binghamton, New York and I decided to take a little lunch stroll.  No freezing my fingers in 18 degree weather to bring photos to you like last week.

What beautiful streaks across the sky. The sky was blue.

It made this picture of two historic Binghamton buildings (left-Security Mutual building, right, the historic Carnegie library which is now owned by the local community college and will become their culinary campus) even more beautiful

The show ends with a picture of our Civil War monument with more historic buildings in the background.  (And yes, that white stuff at the bottom is snow).

Just think, if the sky is like this on February 2, the groundhog will see its shadow and we'll have six more weeks of winter.  But guess what?  We'll have six more weeks of winter, regardless.

I hope you have enjoyed my sky pictures, and invite you to join Yogi and other sky watching bloggers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.

Day 31 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.

Oreo Love #blogboost

It's the next to last day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and I'm so close to the finish line...but a cookie is appealing to me.

My Facebook friends know I am fascinated by Oreo flavors.  At one time, I would buy all the special flavors, the ones that were "limited edition".  I don't any more (partially because I'm on Weight Watchers), but Oreos still call out to me.

I don't know if Oreos are "America's favorite cookie" but if not, they must be close.

When I was growing up, there was only one type of Oreo.  And, they weren't even kosher.  Or vegan.

Now, things are different.

I like to play a "yea or nay" game with my friends on Facebook.  Many times when I see new flavors, I will post them, asking "yea or nay".  So how about a short game with you?

Yea or nay?

Yea or nay?

In March of 2012, I blogged about Oreos, which was then celebrating its 100th birthday.  Since then, there has been an absolute parade of short term flavors.  There's been almost every flavor you can imagine.

One Easter, there were Peeps Oreos.

As I have some readers outside the United States, a quick explanation - Peeps are marshmallow candies shaped into various animal shapes.  They started out shaped as chicks and sold for the Easter holiday.  Now, their products have greatly expanded.  People who love them, love them.

Watermelon Oreos got a definite "nay" from me.  I did like Fireworks Oreos.


I so miss the strawberry milkshake Oreos that were made years ago.  Not the strawberry shortcake ones from a couple of years ago.  I never tried those.

Now, here's part of one of my Oreos posts from previous years.  I still think Oreo should create an International Sampler.  What do you think?  Do you have a favorite flavor?

Happy 100th Birthday to My Favorite Cookie (condensed from a 2012 post)

I never thought of International Oreos, but they are sold all over the world.  So I won't explain to my readers what Oreos are, except that when I grew up there was only one kind - one flavor.  Chocolate cookies with vanilla cream. That's it.

Now, of course, you find regular, chocolate, peanut butter, mint, Double Stuf, Golden Oreos, double delight Oreos that are both regular and golden, fudge covered, frozen Oreos with ice cream stuffing.....even mystery flavors not disclosed on the label.

If you live in the United States, go into your food store and look at the various flavors.  Some are made here.  Some are made in Canada.  I wonder why.

As a  gift to their fans, I propose that Oreo create an International Sampler.  Why?  If you look at the list of flavors that have been sold in other countries, some of them sound very interesting:

Blueberry ice cream, lemon ice, orange/mango, dulce de leche, and my favorite strawberry Oreo, sold in Canada but only sold here for a few months back in 2010...so why not?
 
So, Oreo?  How about a sampler pack?

Day 30 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Nothing is Forever #WordlessWednesday #blogboost

Recent events show us how life can change in a moment.  Just one helicopter crash took nine lives from our world in just an instant (including a beloved sports giant and one of his daughters) and even spawned various hoax rumors.

It may seem trivial, but I was walking in the mall the other day and this scene struck me - it isn't just lives that can disappear in a moment.  So many retail stores have closed in recent years, impacting the lives of all their employees.

I can only wonder what happened in our latest store closing in our local mall.  What happened to the employees?  How long will it take them to find new employment?  How will they pay their bills.

How sad.

Nothing lasts forever.

Joining some #WordlessWednesday sites.

Natasha and Esha.

Sandee at Comedy Plus

Day 29 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

The Grim 75th Anniversary #blogboost

I'm forming a bad habit - blogging about topics the day after, or even a week after, I should be.

Today's going to be a somewhat grim topic - the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by Soviet troops, yesterday, on Holocaust Day.

World leaders gathered, along with some 200 survivors of the camp, where historians estimate 1.1 million people died (or were murdered) between 1940 and 1945.  Consider this:  this was out of an estimated 1.3 million people sent to the camp.  Men, women, children.  Most were Jewish but there were also Roma, non-Jewish Polish, Soviet prisoners of war - anyone the Nazis decided didn't deserve to live.  Those who weren't killed upon arrival were registered, tattooed and sent into forced labor.

I looked into the faces of some of the survivors as they walked into the camp.  Some had been back after it was turned into a museum and historical site.  Some had never returned until yesterday.  Many of them are afraid of the tide of hate that is growing daily.  They've seen it happen before.  They need to be our voices of experiene.

I grew up in the 1950's Bronx among adults who survived the Holocaust.  Some were in concentration camps. They never spoke of it but we, the children, somehow knew. I wasn't shielded from many of the terrible details of what happened, either.  It was part of my heritage.  Although both my parents were born and always lived in the United States, I am aware that the town where my maternal grandfather came from was wiped off the map by the Nazis and that one of my uncles, who never immigrated to the United States, most likely perished in the Holocaust.


If you ever read the story of a Holocaust survivor with a tattoo, that person had spent time at Auschwitz, because Auschwitz was the only camp that tattooed its prisoners..  And the fictionalized story of that tattooist (based on interviews with the elderly tattooist) is a fascinating read.

The story of Auschwitz is both horrifying and complex.  What we know as "Auschwitz" was actually a combination of several camps built at different times.

So, why should we care?  Should we care because the hate that led to what we call the Holocaust still exists today, and is resurging?  That's one good reason.  Should we care because more people every day seem to doubt that the Holocaust either never happened or did happen but was way exaggerated?  Perhaps that is even a more urgent issue.

Why would people deny history?  Or worse, feel that "the job" wasn't completed and it's up to them to complete it?

Consider this:  most of the survivors of the camp who participated in the ceremonies were not adults when they were prisoners.  So these are the last, and in not too many years, they will all be gone.

The witnesses will be gone.  Then what?

There have been many genocides in history. This was a huge one, but just one of many.  We've tried hard to keep the memory of this one alive but these efforts seem to be going sideways now.

We must say "never again".  To anyone.

Day 28 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Uncertainty - #MusicMovesMe #blogspot

A week late with last year's theme - oh, that tentativeness and uncertainty! But there's no doubt in my mind when I welcome you to another episode of Music Moves Me.


Who are the members of Music Moves Me?  We are bloggers who blog with music each Monday. If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only- Please post containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)  Every other week we have a theme and on alternate weeks we have "You Pick".  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 once again welcome those in the Ultimate Blog Challenge to rock out with me.

For January, our guest conductor has been Michelle at Music and Merriment with Michelle.  Last week, I missed the theme, which was " Tentative as in a relationship that you’re unsure of can be personal or spiritual. Song inspiration suggestion, ‘I Can Only Imagine’ by Mercy Me."

It took me a long time to come up with my songs, except for this first one.

For me "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash is a classic 80's song (from 1982).  It would seem a lot of younger listeners have found this song through a streaming show called "Stranger Things".

I ran across a Blondie song called "I Know but I Don't Know" from 1978.  Should she break up the relationship?

I am not sure if this fits the theme but I also thought of Meatloaf's 1977 "Paradise by the Dashboard Light", featuring Meatloaf as a teen trying to get his girlfriend (sung by Ellen Foley) to "go all the way" and the uncertainty of if he will convince her. She holds out for a promise of him "loving her forever" and he swears he will "till the end of time" before she agrees.  Singing in a future where he can't stand her any more, he vows to continue to keep the promise he made to her that night.

One more, which is a song by Avenged Sevenfold called "So Far Away" where the band mourns the death of their drummer, Jimmy Sullivan, who died from an opoid/alcohol overdose in December of 2009.  I can't listen to this song without tears streaming down my cheeks, especially the stanza that begins "Plans of what our futures hold....".  Yes, nothing in life is certain.

No uncertainty about this, it's a musical wrap!

Join me again next Monday for More Music Moves Me.

Happy Belated Birthday #blogboost

The two people in the photo looked at me, as I looked at them.

Maybe it was a coincidence.  Maybe it wasn't.

Yesterday, I was watering my houseplants.   I have a table near one window sill. While watering, a picture caught my eye.  It was a picture of two people.  To be exact, it was a photo of my spouse's aunt, who died last year at the age of 107, and her younger son, who died unexpectedly in December of 2018, at the age of 72.  He lived with his parents all his life, and took care of his Mom in her old age.

The photo was taken at the birthday party when she turned 106.  Someone had thoughtfully written that on the back.  That day was proclaimed her day in Yonkers, New York, where she lived almost all her life.

And then there was another photo, just the aunt alone, and the writing on the back indicated it was taken January 25, 2019, the day she turned 107.

Yesterday would have been her 108th birthday.

Was it a coincidence that these photos were suddenly on that table yesterday?  I'd like to think so.

I used to call my spouse's aunt a "human wormhole", a link to our past, through her memories.  She was born three months before the Titanic sank.  She lived through the 1918 "Spanish flu" epidemic.  She worked in a bomb sight factory during World War II. She studied opera and had many talents I wasn't even aware of until her final years.  Spouse and I last saw her in March of last year, and dementia had taken her - yet, right before we left, she suddenly recognized me.

Now this woman, and her memories, have been gone almost a year.

Happy belated birthday in heaven to you.

Day 26 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.

Opposite Day #blogboost

Today is opposite day, a fellow blogger tells us.

I can agree that sometimes we just have to do things the opposite of how we normally do them.  But today didn't start well.  I didn't have dinner for breakfast (and I won't have breakfast for dinner).  I didn't put my underwear on last.  I didn't walk backwards (although that is good exercise).  I didn't brush my teeth with my non-dominant hand (actually, another good idea).

But nature had other plans for me.

I don't see my sleeping flower garden during the week because I am still leaving for work and returning from work in the dawn and/or dusk.  Plus, for most of this week, it was under the snow that fell over last weekend. 

But this morning, my spouse looked out the window and he saw something.  We had to wait until heavy rain (yes, rain, not snow) subsided to see what he was talking about.

My white Lenten rose is blooming.

Nature was observing Opposite Day.

Actually, it appears it's been blooming for a few days, totally without my knowledge.

Sigh.

The next cold wave (and there will be one) may well kill the flowers, but it is so nice knowing I have something in bloom out there.

Most surprises Nature gives upstate New York in January aren't pleasant ones, so this was a wonderful sight.

Has Nature given you a surprise lately?

Rosy Fingered Sunrise #SkywatchFriday #blogboost

When I was in high school, growing up in New York City, I wasn't much into sunrises or sunsets.   Nor was I much interested in classic literature.

I was so bored by us having to dissect (every year, it seemed) the ancient Greek classic The Odyssey.  The translator gushed about "rosy fingered dawns".

Never did I realize that, one day, I would love sunrises and sunsets.

Like this sunrise yesterday.  It was about 18 degrees outside, and my fingers did not want to be exposed to the cold.  Nevertheless, the beauty finally got my courage (and heat) up, and out my cam...I mean, phone came.

This isn't the first of the series.  A couple of the photos came out so blurry you couldn't see anything.  It's a problem I'm seeming to have more and more with my iPhone SE.

As I walked along, I enjoyed the view.

These three Bradford Pears patiently awaited the sunrise.

I couldn't wait any longer, but the sun was getting ready to make its appearance.

What a show!

Joining up with Yogi and #SkywatchFriday as I do each Friday.

Day 24 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.