Travel Soup

Many of us pick up souveniers when we travel.

Some buy jewelry, others local artwork, still others coffee mugs or paperweights or even refrigerator magnets.

My husband and I pick up food.

My lighting puts a yellow cast on everything - a food photographer I will never be

Last night, my spouse made me soup for supper.  Our weather here in upstate New York has been cold and there is nothing on a cold winter's night like a bowl of homemade soup.

Especially when the soup is made with souvenirs of our travels.

Here is my spouse's recipe.  He is a hands on cook, throwing in some of this and some of that so his recipes are never exact, and neither are his explanations.  If you are an experienced cook, you'll get it.  If you aren't...well, good luck.  But this soup was so delicious tonight that I wanted to share it with you.

Travel Soup
Sea Island Peas (an heirloom field pea we picked up in Charleston, South Carolina.)  You can substitute another small bean -perhaps a red bean.  Or, another bean, but you would have to presoak.
Smoked Ham Hocks (which we bought in a Mennonite store in Ohio)
Enough water to cover meat

You do not have to presoak the peas.  Rather, put them in a pot of cold water with the smoked ham hock, with 3 or 4 bay leaves and garlic cloves, chopped coarsely, to taste.

Bring mixture to boil, then lower to very gentle boil, with pot covered. 


Cook this until the meat and peas are tender. (He wouldn't give me a definite time but said about two hours.  So, your judgement.

 Then, take off lid, turn heat up a little until gently boiling, then let reduce until the broth is as srong as you want it.

Remove meat and beans, strain broth in a fat separator to remove excess fat, then put defatted broth into another pot.  Then, add veggies:  sliced carrots, celery, green onions, spinach, corn, or whatever you have on hand.  Then cook until veggies are tender.

Separately, cook some pasta until al dente, drain, add to soup bowls.

Take meat off bone, chop up into chunks as big as you want, and then put into the soup bowls.  Put a measure of beans into each bowl.  Finally, add the broth/veggie mixture.

Serve with my corn muffins I blogged about earlier this week.

Do you like soup? What is your favorite soup?

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - January 2015

On the 15th of every month, gardeners from all over the world participate in a meme called Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, hosted by an Indiana garden blogger, May Dreams Gardens.  I've been participating in this meme since mid 2011, when I was told about it by a blogger in my very first blogging challenge.

GBBD, as we call it, can get just as addictive as blog challenges

But, for this gardener in zone 5b Johnson City, New York, January can be a challenge, as I scour the house looking for something that is blooming.

This is an unknown coleus I got at a farmers market this past spring.  The vendor did not know its name.  It is a narrow leafed coleus, that is all I know.  When it grew outside, the leaves were almost like little red needles.  They are slightly broader and greener in a northern window in my bedroom.

I rooted some branches (I tried to overwinter the entire plant but it died) and they now have these tiny flowers.

One of my two kalanchoes, under siege from whiteflies, is blooming.  This plant has a story behind it and I will not let it go to kalanchoe heaven without a fight (although the person it was initially given to, sadly, has passed.)

My newest African violet is still blooming its heart out-I purchased it in November and it is still going.

I had potted up some amaryllis.  I have three plants.  One bloomed for me last year.  But I was too late, and they are just now starting to grow. (Well, one is.  The other two bulbs haven't sprouted but are still alive).

And, finally, a plant showing there is always a surprise in the house.

I decided to try to overwinter some of my hanging baskets.  It's been a struggle, butI have some geraniums and one petunia still alive.  Several days ago, I noticed a single bloom on the petunia.

The flower is on its way out, but it waited (barely) until Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  I even had two Thanksgiving cactuses with blooms just a few days ago, but the blooms didn't make it to today.

Have a few minutes?  Head on over to May Dreams Gardens, click on some other GBBD links, and see what is blooming in gardens (and houses) from all over the world.

Winter Wonders - Trees

The sun has been out recently, here in upstate New York, after a long stretch of dreary, cloudy weather.

It isn't always a good thing to have sunny weather.  For example, my guess is, we will have a sunny day today.  Right now (6:15 am) it is -3 F (-16 C).

But there is a beauty in dreary winter weather, when you look at it close up.

Today, I feature some of the work of my guest photographer, who lives out in the country, and takes walks in the woods to bring me some photos of her country world.

These pictures were taken in mid December, during our dreary spell.

For instance, this frozen beech leaf, still on the tree, makes a wonderful close up.

Baby trees, covered in snow.

And, you never know what you will find around the bend.

What is the weather like for you today?

The Perfect Greeting Card

When I was ten years old, my father was hospitalized with a life threatening case of pneumonia.  For three days we didn't know if he would live or die.  He lived, but developed complications that required he be hospitalized for almost two months.  

I missed him terribly.  In those days (the early 1960's) children my age could not visit their hospitalized parents, at least in the VA hospital in the Bronx where he was being cared for.

So I did the next best thing.  I spent my days making get well cards for him.  As time passed, they became more and more elaborate.  I poured my heart and soul into them.  My mother, in turn, would bring the cards to him when she visited him.

I wish I had even one of those cards.  I am curious to know what they looked like and what they said.  I only have vague memories of the content of the cards, although I have clear memories of some of the other things my Mom and I did together as we waited for my Dad to return home.  What I do know is, they were filled with love, and my creativity flourished as I designed each card.

Fast forward almost fifty years.

I am looking for the perfect greeting cards for several people I know.

A Nice Card Cover?

The cards are for people with serious illnesses. They are meant to let the person know he/she is not forgotten, and that I am thinking of them.  Short, sweet and not smelling of "you, the recipient, know from the wording that you are doomed."

I would rather buy the cards locally.  There is a company called Cardthartic whose cards I particularly enjoy, but the local dealers seem to stock mostly birthday cards.
Then, one day, I thought of those long ago cards for my Dad.  Shouldn't I be writing my own greeting cards?

Just as I did 50 years ago.

So, I have bought some blank cards with nice covers.  I am not trying to compete with Hallmark, but I am a writer, after all.   I should be able to write a line or two.

I do wish, though, that there was a nice line of cards, easy to purchase, for times like this.

Yummy Corn Muffins

Yesterday, a gloomy upstate New York day (gloomy because it had warmed up into the 20's) called for some baking.

There is nothing like baking to dispel gloom on a cold winter's day.  Baking helps heat up the house.  It gets you on your feet and the aroma of baking makes a house smell like a home.

Next to chocolate, one of my favorite foods is corn muffins.

Because I am back on the full Weight Watchers diet to get rid of late year weight gain, I decided to bake one of my favorites - corn muffins - but try a recipe that was supposed to be healthier.  I made a couple of substitutions, in turn, since my stomach doesn't like spicy food that much. 

This recipe is dairy free, but is not vegan nor is it gluten free.  Also, it is written in American measurements; with apologies to my metric blogging friends I didn't try to convert this.  From what I've read (although I could be wrong) corn may be less popular overseas than it is in the States.

This recipe is on the Weight Watchers public website.  Here it is, with my modifications below.

Almond Milk Corn Muffins
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup almond milk
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1 tbsp honey (I used local dark, but you could use any honey)
1 4 3/4 oz can chopped mild chilies (if you want heat, use hot chilis)
1 c canned corn kernels, drained (creamed would be interesting, too)

Method (you will need two bowls)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Spray muffin tin with cooking spray, or use oil, or paper liners.

Mix cornmeal, flower, baking powder, salt in one bowl ("dry" ingredients).

In the other bowl, whisk the almond milk, egg, oil, honey ("wet" ingredients) until combined.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just enough to wet everything.  Do NOT overbeat.
Gently stir the chilis and corn kernels into the batter.
Spoon mixture into the muffin tins, filling about 3/4 full.

Bake about 18-19 minutes or until done. (toothpick will come out clean)

Let cool.  Serve warm, or at room temperature.  In the old days, I would always eat corn muffins with butter - no more.  But you are more than welcome to.

So, how did I like these?

They are a bit less sweet than commercial muffins tend to be.  But, I liked them.  Then again, I've been eating the Weight Watchers way for over two years now, so my taste buds have adjusted to this style of cooking.  My husband felt they were a little underbaked (although they were browning, and came out clean with a toothpick), so you may want to watch the time in the oven carefully.

Do you have a favorite way of making corn muffins?

Civil War Sunday - Thrust into History

I am going to pause my Civil War Sunday post this Sunday due to the events in France this past week.

I have a small personal link to France through family.  One of my cousins married a man born in France to a French mother and an American father.  I met his mother and sisters when they came from France to the the United States to attend his wedding.  The children of that union have visited France to meet their French relatives.

I watched the rally in Paris tonight, live on CNN.  I saw the faces of the thousands there, mirroring sadness, fear, exhaustion, and determination.  The CNN headline read "Standing with France."


A number of French bloggers have read my posts, and I have read theirs.  Through the Internet, we interact with people all over the world every day, and think nothing of it.  It's such a different world than the world I was born into 62 years ago.

So, instead of blogging about a Civil War peace initiative, I would like to blog instead about the fickle finger of history.  

History has a way of taking ordinary people and thrusting them into the front lines of history.  This has happened so many times, and this past week is no exception.

Staff members of a Paris satirical publication.  Shoppers in a kosher supermarket.  A policeman in the wrong place at the wrong time who died in the line of duty, caught on video.  A kosher supermarket clerk who saved upwards of 15 shoppers by hiding them in a freezer.

The events of this week in France, in a strange way, have something in common with the study of the United States Civil War.

When history calls, ordinary people act heroically.
Nothing is ever as clear cut as it seems.
We must not ever give in to fear.  And we realize how hard that can be.
Stereotypes are just that, stereotypes, but they can cause immense damage. 
And, sadly, a country can be ripped apart by hate. But it can also grow stronger from the struggle to understand and overcome.
And, sometimes we don't know what we had until we have lost it.

In our Civil War, history touched the lives of so many people (I have blogged about some of them and hope to blog about others before the end of March), who may have been unknown to history.  But, instead, we study them and learn from their actions.

We in the United States must stand united with the people of France.

Next week, perhaps I will blog about what I intended to blog about this week - a Civil War peace initiative started by a man no longer a household name, but once well known in the United States, and an amazing link this man has with a modern actor once a household name in our country.

Blue Skies Sunshine and a Trampoline?

What a day for a science experiment.

Today, where I live in upstate New York, I was greeted by the sun streaming through my window.  Half asleep, I knew what that meant.

It was bitterly cold outside.  It was eight above zero.  (-13 Celsius)

When I took this picture, it was 12.(-11 Celsius). The rhododendrons are not happy. (Actually, this is a normal behavior when it is cold, to conserve moisture, and they will be fine when the weather gets warmer).

In January and February, about the only time we see the sun is when it is brrr cold.  So that's why my spouse and I are planning to go through some seed catalogs this weekend, and plan our garden for the year.

But nothing beats this Minneapolis, Minnesota principal's ice experiments. 

Especially this one, which has now gone viral.

This man heads an inner city school, and inspires his students with these experiments.  Pretty awesome, in my opinion.

(My Local Saturday returns next Saturday).

What do you do when it is cold (if you get cold winters where you live)?

It's the Almost Wonderful Time of the Year

What is the most wonderful time of the year?

Some people say December is the most wonderful time of the year.

That could be for some, but for others, the most wonderful time of the year is January.

Why do I say that?  My hatred of snow and cold is well known by my blog readers.

Because cold takes us hostage and, while we are huddled in our homes, we keep warm in our imaginations.  We read.  We crochet.  We blog.  We edit our NaNoWriMo manuscript.

During the holidays, in all the busyness, catalogs have been coming in the mail.  In our house, they are piled on a table as they come in.   Our mental energy is elsewhere.

Then, one day, my spouse and I decide it is time.

For us, it is the day the notification that it is time to renew our community garden plots comes in the mail. (We almost didn't have one this year, a blog post for another time.)

The notification came yesterday.  It's official - we have a community garden!

This weekend, out come the catalogs.

Right now, the 2015 gardening season is perfect.  In our imagination, every planted seed germinates. There are no insect or mammal pests.

In our dreams, none of these critters exist.

Bountiful harvests await. There are no failures.  Rainbows stretch from one end of our community garden plots to the other.

The first tomatoes are such a thrill.

In that perfect garden here are no rocks in the soil.  No droughts.  Nobody steals our crops (sadly, that has happened at times).

Now, when we go through the catalogs, we will find DIFFERENT things to grow.  Plants so tempting, we just must try them. 

Then, there are the favorites we come back to year after year.

What will we find in the catalogs?  Would you like to know? (Of course you do.  You wouldn't be reading my blog if you didn't want to know.  Admit it.)

In this year of being DIFFERENT (my word for this year), I can still hardly wait to read those catalogs.

Do you garden?

International Blog Delurking Week

Come out, come out, whereever you are!  Come out and leave a comment, even a single word, to let me know you are present. 

Now, why should you do that?  Here's why.

Did you know that this week is International Blog Delurking Week?

I didn't know, either, until a fellow blogger at Alphabet Salad told me. (Thanks, Laurel!)

I'm guilty of lurking at some blogs - never commenting - and maybe you are, too.  I'm also guilty of falling behind in reading my comments of the past several days.  But I will.

There is nothing like getting comments to make a blogger happy (except for spam, of course.  That's a topic for another day.)

International Blog Delurking Week lasts from January 4 to January 10.  So, you still have a couple of days to join the fun.

All you have to do is comment on my blog, then go to Stirrup Queens and comment, there.  And, then, grab the badge below.

You can leave one word (a nice word) like "hi!"  

Like Stirrup Queens, I'll even give you a prompt if you want:  what's your favorite food?

But only if you want.  (My favorite food? Dark chocolate.)


You can even go to my Facebook blog page and like me.  OK, I made that part up - it isn't part of the official celebration.  But you can do it if you want. 

(This badge was created by Melissa at Stirrup Queens, who has given all blogers permission to use it for anyone who wants to do their own International Blog Delurking Week 2015 post.)

Oh, and about Alphabet Salad - it's a great blog.  Check it out while you are celebrating!

So - if you are here for the first time, or the 50th, just comment that you are here.   Then, join the fun and spread the happiness.  And if you have commented in the past - thank you!

Winter Wonders - Warmth

My word for 2015 is DIFFERENT.

So, instead of posting some pictures of winter weather taken where I live in upstate New York, I am going to post some different winter pictures, for a change.


If you come to my blog for pictures of snow, come back again.  Eventually, there will be lots of Winter Wonders posts full of snow.

Just not today.

These are pictures I took, in the winter of 2013, in Florida, on Sanibel Island.

Winter butterfly and a flower.

Birds on a wintry beach.  We freeze, they bask in a breeze.

And an orchid made of shells.  Any orchid outside my home right now would be a dead orchid.

Ah, Florida.

Now doesn't that make you feel warm?

Warmth, when the wind is blowing outside, and it is cold.  Oh, so cold.

I like feeling warm. It feels so.....DIFFERENT.

What about you? Do you like being warm, or cool?

Title Envy

I've said it before:  I sometimes wish I had picked a different name for my blog.  Maybe something more clever.  Something that would draw readers like a blog magnet.

I know, I know. It's like saying you don't like the name of your child.  But you picked it, and you have to take responsibility. 

When I started to blog, in 2009, I didn't do that much research on how to name a blog. The name "Ramblin' with AM" reminded me of a radio show of my youth.  I do write about anything that crosses my mind.  My initials are "AM".

So here I am, almost six years later, with Title Envy.

There are certain blogs, certain books, certain stories, that have titles so perfect- or so different, that you just HAVE to check them out.

If there was a Best Title Causing Envy Award, my nominations would be as follows.

Best Blog Titles

Vomiting Chicken.  Yes.  This blogger owns chickens.  She also blogs about so many other things.  And, two of her grown daughters blog, too.  It's a farm blog!  It's a family blog!  It's a blogging dynasty!

Cut the Crap Solutions  She blogs to teach and delight. She does both.

Best Book Titles (and yes, I've read these books).

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee  - possibly the best book written in the 20th century.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K Dick. Phillip K. Dick is an experience.  Go treat yourself. (This sounds vaguely dirty, but it's not.)

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil:  A Savannah Story, by John Berendt.  You will want to visit Savannah, Georgia after reading this book.  I did.  Twice.

Waving Girl Statue, Savannah, Georgia

Best Short Story Titles (I've read the first one.  I haven't read the second one)

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (possibly the best short story written in the 20th century).

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O' Conner

Perfect titles.  Great writing.  I can only aspire to both.

If you were a judge in a Title Envy Contest, which titles would you choose?

Linking back to Write Tribe and a shout out to my other blogging challenges - the Ultimate Blog Challenge and the Ultra Blog Challenge.

Where Early the Sweet Birds Sang

The birds were singing sweetly and energetically in a nearby parking lot when I started my exercise walk yesterday.

It was a winter Sunday in upstate New York.  The day before, a thin snow had covered everything.  My little snow angel statue in my back yard stared at me, deep in thought, perhaps wondering what would happen next.

Today, the scene was totally different.  DIFFERENT is my word for 2015 and even the weather was paying attention to my word.

Rushing water, Vestal, NY January 4, 2015

This was the scene I saw just a few hundred feet down the trail off to one side.

You usually don't hear masses of birds singing in early January here, and I was wondering what it all meant.  DIFFERENT.  We do get January thaws here, but this is not the normal type of thaw.

The rivers are not frozen.

A friend who lives out in the country told me she had seen a bear last week.  Aren't they supposed to be hibernating by now?

Perhaps not.  This winter has been so up and down it is making me dizzy.   I wasn't wearing a coat or even a jacket as my spouse and I walked our four miles.  The temperature made it to 50 (10C). The snow had mostly melted.

It was so nice to be walking outside for a change, instead of in the local mall with its stale air, hard floors and scents of perfumed candles and potpourri. The grass was still green.  Knotweed (hardy bamboo) glowed brown, almost like sap was running in it.

Later, nature treated us to a brilliant sunset.

I do not know why the sweet birds are singing.  I don't think it was just the warm day.  I wonder if the birds know something we humans do not.

If they do, though, they (and we) will have to wait.  It's in the 20's, with howling winds, right now, and by Wednesday night, we are predicted to be down near zero (F).

What's the weather like right now where you live?

Civil War Sunday - Football and War

The past week or so, in the United States, we've experienced the end of the college football season.

One of the bowl games that end the college season, the Rose Bowl, even has its own parade, the Tournament of Roses Parade, which features beautiful floats decorated entirely in organic materials, plus marching bands, horse riding teams, and more. 

Have you ever thought of the link between college football and the United States Civil War?  I was intrigued to read about it in a New York Times blog post.

I remember, from years ago, a college all-star game played on Christmas Day called the Blue-Gray Football Classic. (For much of the war, the Union armies wore blue uniforms.  The Confederates wore various colors, but their uniforms are most associated today with the color grey.)  Not surprisingly, the Grey players attended college in former Confederates states, while the Blue players came from states that stayed in the Union during the Civil War.

Another blog talks about the Civil War origins of various college mascot names.

I was surprised by something I learned about the University of Pennsylvania football team.  When that team scores, the band plays a song that begins "Hang Jeff Davis [the President of the Confederate States of America] on a sour apple tree".  The lyrics are even on the band website.  The melody of the fight song was used for at least two Civil War era songs, John Brown's Body and The Battle Hymm of the Republic.

Many sources say football dates from around 1869, when the Civil War (which ended in 1865) was fresh in the minds of all Americans.  But then I found this, dating from 1861, the year the Civil War began.  What is not disputed is that many college team sports grew in popularity after the war, and a lot of war imagery was incorporated.  Football still means war today, according to the late American comedian George Carlin.

This is day four of the three blogging challenges I am involved in.  I normally have a Civil War related post on Sundays.  

Local Saturday - Must Frosty Die?

Snow and upstate New York go together like - well, snow and upstate New York.

You may love snow, you may hate snow, but in January, you are going to have snow if you live in upstate New York.  I work in Binghamton, which is on the edge of New York's snowbelt.  I live near Johnson City, about four miles from Binghamton.

 In some years we get over 100 inches (254 cm) of snow.

We are realistic about snow here, even having a friendly annual competition with other snowbelt cities in New York State called the Golden Snowball.

It doesn't mean you have to like it.

Snow can be beautiful.

It can be so decorative, if you don't have to walk or drive in it.

Along I-81, December, 2014

And, if you look past the snow, you see the beauty of bare trees, water, and hills in the distance.

And, people decorate with fake snow, too, directly from (well, maybe not) Buffalo, NY.

Poor Buffalo.  Their reporting station was in the wrong place.  Back in November, some places in and near Buffalo got almost 100 inches in one storm.  Yes, one storm.  I bet the residents wished they could have bagged that stuff up and sent it somewhere else.  They should have won the 2014-15 Golden Snowball without effort, but are struggling.

The readers of my blog know how much I hate snow.  And today, we are supposed to have "one of those days" snow, changing over to sleet and freezing rain.

But, as much as I hate snow, and appreciate snow melt products, I also think wishing Frosty the Snowman dead is a little harsh.

Do you like snow?  Or do you agree that Frosty must Die?

This is the third day of the Ultra Blog Challenge and the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and Write Tribe Pro Blogger Challenge.  It's not too late to join the fun.

Ten Tips to Survive a Blogging Challenge

Have you signed up for blogging challenges this month that require you to post daily, for 31 straight days?

Day one was intoxicating - you spent time reading and commenting on a lot of blogs.

Now it's day two.  You know there is no way you are going to do this.  You are already running out of ideas and energy.  Are you thinking of quitting?  Are you wondering how you are going to survive the next thirty days?

I have been blogging daily since late April of 2011.  When I took my first challenge in May of that year, I had been blogging for almost two days, but my schedule was irregular, and almost no one (except friends and relatives were reading my blog.

Several days out, I hit a wall.  Yes, I almost didn't do it.  I remember that feeling so well, and want to help anyone feeling they need the extra boost to succeed.

I'm just an ordinary woman.  You don't have to be a super person to complete a blog challenge.

The challenge is worth it!  And I am going to show you how to do it.

1.   You can do it!  You MUST believe in yourself.  You WILL do it.  Believe in yourself.

2.  Use the prompts your challenge provides, at least at first.  If not, find prompts online. One nice place to find prompts is a site called NaBloPoMo, which gives prompts each month for Monday through Friday blogging. Eventually, you won't need them except if you run out of inspiration.

3.  Pre scheduling is your friend!  No, it's not cheating. All of us have obligations, and sometimes you know you aren't going to be able to write a daily post.  All the major software (I use Blogger, but many bloggers use Wordpress, either the Wordpress hosted or self hosted) allows you to.

4.  Keep a supply of "evergreen" posts - always relevant posts that can be written months in advance, and kept in your drafts, just in case.  They should not have any material in them that "dates" them - and, if you use links, please make sure the links still work before you post.

5.  Read and comment on other blogs, but not so many that you feel overwhelmed.  A blog challenge with thousands of participants will overwhelm you. But do read and comment on blogs that sound interesting.    And, learn from them.  What content interests you?  What turns you off?  Reading other blogs will give you inspiration.

6.  If something isn't working for you, don't be afraid to change.  If you don't enjoy your blog, it will show, and you will run out of energy.

7. Make sure you are in the right challenge.  Is the challenge giving you what you want? Are you looking for writing practice, increased page views, encouragement, support, or something else?  If the challenge isn't right for you, you will get discouraged.  But do give it a chance.  Wait several days and see if you still feel the same way.

One of the most supportive challenges I have found is the Ultra Blog Challenge. There are several "levels" of participating, but there is a free level, and there is nothing wrong with staying "free", if it meets your goals.  It has an excellent moderator, and is held monthly.  Other challenges I have enjoyed, and participated in, include Write Tribe (excellent articles), the four times a year Ultimate Blog Challenge, and the WordCount Blogathon (June only).

8.  Post daily, even if your challenge doesn't require it.  I can't emphasize this one enough.  You MUST develop the habit of writing, of blogging, of reading/commenting of other posts.

9.  Don't get discouraged if you don't meet your goals right away.  Overnight successes rarely are overnight.  You are seeing the tip of the iceberg if you look at overnight successes. 

Finally,

10.  HAVE FUN!  Without having fun, it is hard to succeed.

Do you have any other suggestions for those participating in challenges?

I am linking back to the Write Tribe Pro Blogger Challenge:  writetribe.com/write-tribe-pro-blogger-challenge/

Why We Should Break with Tradition

This morning, I woke up to The Weather Channel announcing "Binghamton, we forgot our resolutions already, too!"

So, I got to thinking.

It's January 1.

It's a brand new beginning.

I'm hung over.

I've been privileged to see a lot of new years, and - you know what, The Weather Channel is right!  Except, they were trying to be funny about it.

Year after year, we make all these great resolutions.  We are going to do this.  We are going to accomplish that.  Then, we don't do the work, and it doesn't happen.  We say, "oh, to heck to it" and go back to doing all the things we have been doing to hurt our minds and bodies, to hold ourselves back from true happiness, or to improve our health.  Nothing changes.

This is why we should sometimes break with tradition.  Sometimes, tradition is not something you want to pass down. 

I've been reading a lot lately about people who choose a word at the beginning of every year, and, when the alarm woke up my spouse so he could go to work this morning, the word came to me

DIFFERENT.

I rarely make resolutions, so this year will be different.

If I do something the same old way that doesn't benefit me or my family, I will see if I can do something DIFFERENT.

I will break with personal tradition when that tradition is hurtful.

Who knows, I may even change my blogging habits (but it's too soon for me to implement anything - and I have made commitments for January, already).

I know too many people who were diagnosed with serious illnesses last year, or were undergoing treatment for serious illnesses, and even a couple who passed from serious illnesses.  One of my cousins nearly died a week before Christmas from an asthma attack and ended up in the ICU.  (He's home, now.)

Eventually, we all realize that our days on Earth are not indefinite.

 I don't know if seeing this kind of thing around you is the best way to realize something, but in thinking about these individuals, I know that this year is going to be DIFFERENT.

The question for today is, will I be like those folks at the Weather Channel, boasting of how they've already forgotten their resolutions?

The answer is:  it really doesn't matter, because this is a year long challenge.  If I don't succeed today, there is no reason to quit.  I just try again tomorrow. That's a lesson Weight Watchers taught me over two years ago, and it's an important lesson.

Will you break from tradition and make changes in your life that are long overdue?

This is my first post in two challenges:  The Ultra Blog Challenge and the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I look forward to these two month long challenges, and with all my readers, new and old, a happy, DIFFERENT, New Year.

Winter Wonders - The Rock

Imagine being born in a shopping center.  And imagine asking someone to take a picture of your birthplace turning into a history lesson.

That is the story of my last blog post of 2014.

What started as an after dinner Christmas walk has become a holiday tradition for my spouse and me.

This year, it also became a lesson, all because of this rock.

In Yonkers, New York, there is an outdoor shopping center. Both my spouse and I shopped there (well, our parents did - we were just along for the ride) when we were small.

Back in the early 1960's this outdoor mall, the first in Westchester County, New York, contained large and small stores, a play area, and even a hospital.

It was called Cross County Center then, and Cross County Shopping Center now.  It opened in 1954 and is still going strong, unlike many other malls of the era. 

My parents would take two buses from our apartment in the Bronx (the northern borough of New York City, which borders Yonkers) to Cross County just to shop there.  I loved those outings.

Several months ago, I was chatting with a co worker where I work in Binghamton, in upstate New York.  I don't remember how we got on the topic of our childhoods, but I discovered that she had been born in the Cross County Hospital, and spent her early childhood in Yonkers, before moving away, eventually to Binghamton.

Small world.

Then, when I shared the fact that I had Christmas dinner every year in walking distance of that same shopping center, she asked me a favor: would I take a picture of the hospital for her?


I had to break the news to her that the hospital had closed in the 1980's.  The good news was, the building was still there.  I told her I would do my best to get a picture.

So, last week, after Christmas dinner, my spouse, my son and I walked to Cross County.

On the way, we saw flowers valiantly trying to stay alive in the cold early winter weather. (You knew I would try to sneak flowers into this post, didn't you?)

Red and white building on the right, once a hospital, is soon to be a hotel

 I took the picture she asked for. 

But then, walking further, we saw a rock.  A rock with a  historical plaque.  A rock neither my husband nor I remember from our childhoods.  But it must have been there.

It turns out that the land Cross County is located on has been a trading zone for hundreds of years.  First, Native Americans traded here, by a rock which became known as the "Trading Rock". Later, European settlers carried on the tradition.

My family and my in laws were simply carrying on a tradition already hundreds of years old.

Here is one more picture of Cross County to end my blogging year.

Can you imagine, one day visiting the city of your birth and staying in the building where you were born in?  In a small way, I envy her.  (Why, I may blog about next month).

Tomorrow, 2015 begins - a year which I hope will be kinder to us all than 2014 was.

Happy New Year to my readers.

The Year in Review in Pictures

It's time to look back.

Today, on this next to last day of 2014, I want to share some photos that I took throughout 2014.  At my age (62) time seems to fly so quickly.

But when I look back, I realize just how much I've been blessed with - the health to be able to travel, the income that permits me to own an iPhone, and you, my dear blog readers, who brighten my life daily.  When I look back, time seems to slow down.

 I'm pleased to bring these photo highlights to you, for your enjoyment.

Charleston, South Carolina, early April, 2014, at sunset.  The palmettos above are symbolic of South Carolina and a palmetto is featured on its state flag.

Summerville, South Carolina, April, 2014.  This is a picture of a house I walked past. So appealing on a Monday in early April, this yard invites you to sit and visit.

Thayer House, Skaneateles, New York, June 1, dating from around the 1830's.

Fall color in downtown Binghamton, New York, late October.  The building to the left is the Security Mutual Life building, built in 1904.

And finally, a snowy morning on Skaneateles Lake, mid December.

Why did I choose these particular photos?  Perhaps because they all spoke to me in some way.

I hope they speak to you, too.

Thank you, readers, for sharing 2014 with me.

I will leave you with one more picture.  Right now, much of the plant world is in its winter sleep here in upstate New York.  In fact, as I write this blog post, it is snowing.

But one day next year, the landscape will green up, flowers will bloom again, and the promise of renewal will be kept.

I am counting the days.

The Last Chance?

On Christmas Eve, a cousin called me, and we got to reminiscing. Another cousin had recently been hospitalized with health issues, and it is clear to all of us that time is passing much too quickly.

We had tried to see this cousin twice in recent years as he lives about three hours from us, but circumstances intervened and we had to cancel both visits.

We talked about the possibility of a family reunion next year, especially as one cousin is moving out of the New York area (I live in upstate New York, but was born in New York City) probably to Texas, and we would want to do this before he moves.

It may be a last chance for a reunion of the New York area branch of my "cousins". 

Maybe it isn't strange at all that, this weekend, I took advantage of a free offer on a normally pay-genealogy site.

This reminded me of a couple of posts I've written - one, this summer, and the other, in August of 2012.

Have you ever organized a family reunion?

Two Reunions (July 2014)

Two years ago, on the first Friday of August.  It is two years since some first cousins and their families gathered at my home in Westover, near Johnson City, New York for a mini family reunion.  We haven't had one since and I don't know if we ever will have one again.

After the reunion was over, I wrote this blog post.  It's hard to believe two years have passed since the reunion, and almost three years since a flood that devastated my neighborhood, and other parts of the Triple Cities of Upstate New York.

It's been a time of recovery and a time of hope. A time of memory (the topic of the August NaBloPoMo),  A time of ReUNION.

Slowly, the flood ruined houses are finally being demolished. Much (not all) of the land will be turned into green spaces, never to be developed again.

Former BAE Industries, Westover, NY, July 3, 2014

The ruined factory I speak of (still not demolished) once occupied by BAE Industries and 1300 workers, still waits for its date with the bulldozer.  At one time it was the largest wood framed structure in the United States.  Its history is forgotten by so many.

But on the other hand, since I wrote this, at least one new business has started where another one had closed - a seed of hope.

And our town, the town of Union, has been planning a gigantic planning project, the ReUNION Project 2020.  There are a lot of high hopes for our area.  Time will tell what positive things will come out of this disaster.

This is the post I wrote after the cousins reunion, on the eve of the first anniversary of the flood.

On the Cover of the Rolling....Flood Book (August 2012)

It is said that everyone has their 15 minutes of fame.  Sometimes, that fame is a welcome thing.  Don't you want to be famous?  Doesn't everyone?

Sometimes, it is your neighborhood that becomes famous.

Many times, you just as soon wish it had never happened.
That's what I wish, every time I leave my house near Johnson City, NY and walk or travel more than about three or four blocks.

I pass buildings that became vacant 11 months ago today, and are still vacant.  Some don't have interior walls.  Some are still filled with debris.  Some have "For Sale" signs.  Some still have bushes encrusted with flood mud.

There is the former credit union building.  The former day care center.  The former doctor's practice. The former 600,000. square foot factory building that once held 1300 workers.  The former adult day care center.  The sagging houses that will never be occupied again.  One entire street is almost devoid of occupants, with just a handful of hardy souls trying to reclaim their lives.

The out of business and for sale tire store whose mechanics nourished my son's love of car repair especially touches my heart.  The former.....the former.....

Many businesses have reopened.  The Home Depot.  The Ollies.  The window contractor.  The Aldi.  Our local pediatrician. A dentist.  A massage therapist.   My beloved Unicorn Electronics.  Wild Birds Unlimited.

We must look towards the future and I usually do, but today I look back one last time.

This past weekend, I had several cousins visit from the New York City area, Pennsylvania, and (by Skype) Florida, the midwest and Texas.  We had a lot of fun, and we talked about many things.  Still, a certain book I had taken out of the library drew a number of fascinated readers.  They paged through the pictures while my young adult son provided the narration.

One of the cousins graduated last year from Binghamton University.  She looked at pictures of places she knew. She had graduated in May of 2011 and the pictures were taken during the period of September 7, 8 and 9, 2011 during the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Lee,  It was a book about the flood.  If she had still been going to the college, she may well have volunteered at the Events Center, which became one of the evacuation centers.

My neighborhood is on the cover of the flood book.  My house is even visible (no, not telling you which one) in the aerial photo.

Our neighborhood of Westover, along with several other areas (some of which suffered much worse than we did) have become a symbol of the flood.  Let us name them:  Owego. Castle Gardens.  Twin Orchards.  The Southside of Binghamton.  There are others.  I really don't know why our neighborhood was chosen for its 15 minutes of fame, but it was.

When I first found out our neighborhood would be on the cover, it was emotionally very hard.  It was just a couple of months after the flood, and my feelings were still too raw.  But, when I saw the book at the library this past July, I knew it was time.  Time to put the flood where it belonged, in the past.

Time to read the book.  Time to move on.

So we looked at the book, and then went on to much happier things. We had such a good time that my sides ached the next day.

I wish the flood had never happened.  I wish I could have had the power to prevent the storm from doing what it did to our part of upstate NY and parts of several other states.  But wishes have no power.  Only actions.  We have come so far, and we should be proud.

Next month will be the one year anniversary.  I will write about the flood recovery one last time.  And then I hope to move on permanently to other blog topics.

It is time.

Civil War Sunday - The Descendents

Today, a major genealogy website, ancestry.com, is offering free searches of various databases for its non-paying members.

I decided to take the opportunity to do a little research on my mother's side of the family, one that I don't have that much knowledge of.  I am more fortunate with my father's side, as an uncle did extensive research years ago.  I quickly found I needed skills I did not have enough time to learn, but spent an interesting hour or more stumbling around the site.

Then, I decided to satisfy some curiosity today - do major figures of the Civil War have living direct descendents? Years ago, I had met a man who had claimed George Armstrong Custer (although best known for his death in the famous Battle of Little Big Horn,  he was also a Civil War general) as one of his ancestors. What other people related to the Civil War had descendents, and what had those descendents accomplished?

What I found would take me many days to read about.

Many people who know they are descended from historical figures in the Civil War are proud of that fact, but many also have the philosophy of "don't depend on your ancestry".

It turns out there are a number of famous Civil War related figures who have living descendents- Confederates and Federal figures, abolitionists, and slaves.

Reading through their stories is fascinating, and there are thousand of more stories waiting for the reading - civilians, soldiers and others who lived through the war.  It is estimated that one in 17 people in the United States have an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.

The story of Kenneth Morris, Jr, in particular, inspires me.  A descendent of both Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, he fights to abolish modern day slavery- just as his great-great-great grandfather, Frederick Douglass, fought to abolish slavery in our country.

Then there is Ulysses S. Grant's great-great grandson, a native of Syracuse (a city about an hour from where I live) who is a museum curator and art expert.

There is Bertram Hayes-Davis, who preserves the memory of his ancestor Jefferson Davis, best known as the President of the Confederate States of America. 

Confederate General Stonewall Jackson (who has a number of ties with New York State) has living descendents although he did not survive the war- his granddaughter, who passed away in 1991, was 104.

Meanwhile, Dennis Chamberlain, a direct descendent of Union General and Battle of Gettysburg hero Joshua Chamberlain, is the latest of a long line of Chamberlains to service in the military.

The Lee family of Virginia also has had a distinguished history, although many of them were not direct ancestors or descendents of the famous Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

There is one missing name, though, from people alive today.  Abraham Lincoln.  The man who was President of the United States during the Civil War, has no direct descendents alive today.  This is his genealogy.

Do you have a famous person or historical figure in your family tree?