Music in Education #MusicMovesMe

It's time for another #MusicMovesMe. 

Who are the #MusicMovesMe bloggers? We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only on this music train, please!)   First, there is XmasDolly,   Her co-conductors are:  ♥Callie of JAmerican Spice♥,  and ♥Stacy of Stacy Uncorked♥   Also, co-conducting  is  ♥Cathy from Curious as a Cathy♥ .  Last but not least, there's - (said humbly) me.

Every other week, we are asked to blog about a musical theme.  The other weeks are free weeks. One more thing I need to mention - if you have music (or mewsic, as the many cat loving music bloggers that participate say) to share, come join us!  But this linkup is for Music Posts Only!

For the month of March, we have a guest conductor - Patrick Weseman.  Today, he asks us to remember that March is Music in our Schools month - and we are to blog about how music educates us.

Well, for me, I can remember music being part of my education in the New York City public schools from kindergarden, when we played music with sandblocks, triangles, and other simple instruments.  What we didn't know were the benefits.

Some believe that music and math educations are interrelated.

Then, there's music as language.

Many teachers know that music can be a positive way to learn.  People of a certain generation remember a show called Schoolhouse Rock.  One of their more famous songs is "I'm Just a Bill", proving that some things never change.

If you look on You Tube, you will find thousands of songs that teach colors, numbers, and more to pre preschoolers.

An alternative rock duo (backed by an ever changing cast of musicians) called They Might Be Giants have devoted part of their musical efforts to educational songs.

And some songs even teach you about musicians - sort of.  One of these, Falco's Rock Me Amadeus, became a hit in 1985.   There are several versions of this song and I can't guarantee the accuracy of the translation on the screen.

But, on a still more musical note, there are so many songs about schools and education, not all of them complementary.  How about closing this post out with a few songs about schools, teachers, or education?

Sam Cooke - Wonderful World.

Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall

Rock & Roll High School - The Ramones

School's Out - Alice Cooper. 

One more - OK, it isn't exactly school, but I was born in Queens, after all.  Paul Simon - Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, complete with John Madden.

BONUS TRACK - ever see the movie School of Rock?  Here, from a reunion concert, is "Long Way To The Top".

One last comment - in April, due to my participating in Blogging from A to Z, I may be switching my Music Moves Me posts to Sunday.  As they said in the old days of radio and TV, stay tuned!

It Was Blue and I Saw It on Oprah

Today, I needed a good laugh.  The gloom of the typical upstate New York winter has settled upon me, knowing we are in for snow and then bitter cold weather.  The groundhog's prediction of six more weeks of winter seems a distant memory now.

Some days, I am so happy that I didn't follow my childhood dreams of being a librarian.

When I was growing up in the Bronx, I could have lived in my public library.  I dreamed of working in a bookmobile.

As it happens, I know a (retired) librarian - one of my spouse's cousins.  I've also read occasional posts by librarians, past and present.

Somehow, I'm glad I never became one - at least, that I didn't work in a public library.

This is one of many posts that are funny only if you've never had a customer service job.  Imagine, someone coming into your bookstore and library, and asking you to find a book for them.  All they know is the color of the book.  Or, they heard about the book on a radio show but you are supposed to use your mind reading abilities to know what they mean.

You know...the book about those two people who fall in love and then....ummm.

Everyone knows librarians are miracle workers.

They really are.

Sorry, but this Saturday Night Live skit, to me, is hysterical.

(Changing the subject quickly, I haven't plugged this library weeding blog lately).

Which reminds me, I haven't said recently, "support your local library today." It also reminds me I should schedule a library post for the Blogging for A to Z Challenge.

Well, maybe don't support your local library today because it may be closed on Sundays.

But on the other six days, why not?  Just don't ask them where the blue book you saw on Oprah is.

Happy 3400th To Me

 Happy 3400th blog post to me!

I started my blog in April of 2009 and, since late April 2011, have been blogging daily.  I still plan to blog daily, although I am not sure for how long.  Certainly, I will end it when it doesn't "spark joy" in my anymore.

Thank you, my reader, for your loyalty, and for stopping by.

I blogged the other day that I would do something special for this blogoversary.  I often don't take psychological tests but this one fascinated me.  I found it the other day on a fellow midlife blogger's blog.

I was curious to know if I was left or right brained dominant.  I don't consider myself that organized, or logical, but I don't consider myself as exceedingly creative, either.

Besides knowing I am introverted, and love some creative crafts (crocheting, photography, blogging) I was curious. 

Here’s the link. The test is simple, takes just a few moments,  and is free: https://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/3178


This test is for personal use only, and since I do not make any money off this blog, I thought I would take the test and publish the results. 

It turns out I am quite balanced. (I wish I was as well balanced on my feet as, apparently, in my mind.) This is quoted from the test results:

"Studies on patients with brain damage have allowed scientists to determine how each side of the brain controls different functions. The left hemisphere, for example, specializes in language skills and logic. The right hemisphere allows us to recognize shapes and faces and express and read. Most people are not likely to be strictly left-brain or right-brained - we use each side of our brain depending on the task we're dealing with. However, some theorists and researchers believe that there may be one side of the brain that we draw on more, which can in turn make the personality traits characteristic of that side of the brain to be more dominant than others. How to read your results: If you score closer to the right side of the graph, your personality is more characteristically right-brain. If you score closer to the left side of the graph, your personality is more characteristically left-brain. If you score somewhere in the middle, you share characteristics of both sides of the brain.
Overall Result	46
Both your right and left hemisphere seem to have reached a level of perfect harmony - rather than trying to dominant each other, they work together to create a unique and well-balanced "you". Your spontaneous, impulsive, and free-flowing right brain creates an exciting and adventurous world, while your left brain helps you make sense of it and keep track of everything. When faced with a problem or a tough decision, you're not only able to break things down and make an informed and sensible choice, but you're also not afraid to go with your gut when necessary. You tend to express your individuality both in words and actions, and although you're perfectly comfortable running on a schedule or planning things ahead of time, there are occasions when you love to throw in a little spontaneity. Your balanced outlook and approach to life creates a desire in you to not only understand the world, but to also take it in your hands and mold it as you see fit. With both your right and left hemispheres working together to guide you, you are able to understand yourself and life in general from so many wonderful perspectives" If you take the test, I would be curious to know your results, if you care to share them. And again, thank you so much for stopping by (unless you are a spammer, although some of those comments are quite entertaining, too.) Here's to 3500!

Circular Sunset #SkywatchFriday

A couple of upstate New York winter sunsets for your viewing pleasure, on this first day of March.

Earlier this month, I walked out of our local mall after an exercise walk just in time to see the sun set.  In the setting sun, I saw a number of contrails.

And on February 15, after a late afternoon rain (on a rare warm winter day), the clouds reflected golden hour light in a fiery finish.

March is here - and, in about three weeks (according to the calendar, anyway) it will be spring.

Weatherwise?  I doubt it.

Tomorrow will be my 3400th blog post.  I'll have to plan something special.

Join Yogi and other skywatching bloggers each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.

Trees in the Sunset #ThursdayTreeLove

A number of the tree lovers who participate in Parul's #ThursdayTreeLove every second and fourth Thursday have been pondering variations of the question "do trees have consciousness?"

There is some evidence that it is possible that trees can communicate with each other through their roots.

I wonder, when I see trees bathed in winter golden hour light, if the trees enjoy the sunset as much as we humans do.  Do they feel the light in some way? Did they see the red light show after a rare winter rain?

Perhaps not in the winter, when our deciduous trees in upstate New York hibernate, but maybe they retain some consciousness. 
I wonder if we humans ever will know.

Come back March 14 for more tree loving.

Reflections on Ice #WordlessWednesday

Spring has not yet come to where I live.

My guest photographer's picture speaks to me of the last part of winter.  The snow is mostly melted in the urban area of upstate New York where I live, but out in the woods, where my guest photographer lives, winter (and this reflection in ice) persevere.  No worries for snow lovers, though, because we are going to get another snowstorm today.

New to #WordlessWednesday but would like to participate? Well, here’s how you can join Natasha and Esha. Just follow their three easy steps:

1. Post a picture on your blog that speaks for itself. It could be from your adventures, experiments, life’s quirky moments, travels or just plain random shots. Or absolutely anything that stoked your being. Or made you think.
2. Add their badge to your post and add a backlink to our posts.
3. We’d love it if you read, comment and share all the posts linked.

Blogging from A to Z 2019 Edition

Are you ready for a challenge?

I am, and I will be doing this for..oh, the fourth year. (2016, 2017, 2018, and now 2019.) I'm proud to say I finished each April intact (and hopefully, sane).

It's the Blogging from A to Z Challenge and I'll let Arlee Bird, one of the A to Z team members, explain it in his own words.

" It all began with my post from Saturday March 27, 2010 when I set forth a challenge to all bloggers for the month of April.   Can you post every day except Sundays during this month?  And to up the bar, can you blog thematically from A to Z?
       Most of the time if you subtract Sundays from April, you then have 26 days--one day for each letter of the alphabet.  When April 1st lands on a Sunday you begin on that day which will be the only Sunday you would post during that month's challenge. [This year, April 1 falls on a Monday.]

        Using this premise, you would start beginning April First with a topic themed on something with the letter A, then on April second another topic with the letter B as the theme, and so on until you finish on April thirtieth with the theme based on the letter Z.  It doesn't even have to be a word--it can be a proper noun, the letter used as a symbol, or the letter itself.  The theme of the day is the letter scheduled for that day."

When Arlee sent out this challenge in 2010, about 100 bloggers responded. 1300 responded in 2011. Every year since, participation has grown.  Now, Arlee needs five team members to help him out.  One of them, John Holton @ The Sound of One Hand Typing (read his blog and find out why that title) participates in the Music Moves Me Monday music meme I participate in, as do several other participants.

If you join in, I guarantee you will have a good time and maybe you'll pick up new bloggers to read or even more followers.

So, on Wednesday, when signups begin, I'll be there.  I'll be there on March 18, when there is a theme reveal.  You don't need a theme but I recommend one, just to help organize you.

I also recommend you think through each post, because this is not a time to be a "pantser" and write posts on the spur of the moment (says this confirmed pantser).

Other than that, you are on your own!  Last year, my theme was "Florida Outside the Theme Parks".  This year - you'll have to wait and find out.  I do intend to continue to participate in the memes I follow now plus A to Z - Music Moves Me on Monday, Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on April 15 (M day), Skywatch Friday, and the Thursday Tree Love of the second and fourth Thursdays in April.  That's a lot, yes - but hopefully, I'll get through it all.

Do you plan to join in the fun?

The Peters #MusicMovesMe

It's time for another #MusicMovesMe. Doesn't it seem like we just had one?

Who are the #MusicMovesMe bloggers? We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only on this music train, please!)   First, there is XmasDolly,   Her co-conductors are:  ♥Callie of JAmerican Spice♥,  and ♥Stacy of Stacy Uncorked♥   Also, co-conducting  is  ♥Cathy from Curious as a Cathy♥ .  And finally, there's - (said humbly) me.


Every other week, we are asked to blog about a musical theme.  The other weeks are free weeks, including today.  I am going to devote my post today to the late Peter Tork of the Monkees, who died on February 21 at the age of 77 of a rare cancer that affects the tongue, and Peter Frampton, who disclosed earlier this week that a degenerative muscle disease will soon be ending his musical career.

Tork was the oldest member of the Monkees, who started out as a made-up band for a TV show and ended up as a true band.  Tork played several instruments, and sang.

How about piano?  Tork plays the intro to one of my favorite Monkees song, Daydream Believer, from 1967.

Banjo? Yes, please, in "You Told Me".

"Your Auntie Grizelda" was the first song to feature Peter Tork on lead vocals.  Here, he performs it live in 2015.

As for Peter Frampton, although he has recorded more recently, I still love his oldie songs, such as Do You Feel Like We Do, here performed live in 2018.

And, also from the recent past, a live performance of "Show Me the Way".

Join me and the other members of #MusicMovesMe next Monday, same time, same place.

The Lonely Marker

The battle, off the coast of Virginia of the Union ironclad U.S.S. Monitor vs. the Confederate ironclad Merrimack (not the Merrimac, which was another ship put into service around 1864) was drummed (so to speak) into me in elementary school in New York City, back in the early 1960's.

The wood from which the keel of the Monitor was cut came from this area, now occupied partially by a site called Finch Hollow.

The site of the sawmill where the keel of the U.S.S.Monitor was milled is in walking distance of my home near Johnson City, in upstate New York.  The site is, in the present day, occupied by an enclosed shopping mall, the Oakdale Mall.


Like many malls, the Oakdale Mall has seen better days. It may default on a loan next year, in fact.  Its future is in doubt.

Apparently, back around 1998, there was a historical marker in the Oakdale Mall commemorating the history of the Monitor.

Re Finch Hollow, it still exists.  If you drive north on Oakdale Road (which runs north and south, just to the west of the mall)  from the mall, you will find a nature center on the site. I haven't been there in many years, but I remember going there with my then young son.  I don't remember any commemoration of its role in the Civil War on the site, however.

The Monitor (what is left of it) was discovered in 1973 and parts have been brought to The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, VA.  The keel, I am sure, is long gone.  Restorers are in a race against time to preserve the remaining metal parts and guns.  I hope to visit the museum although I've been hoping to do that since before the 150th anniversary of the battle on March 9, 2012.

Well, in the deserted part of the Oakdale Mall that I blogged about yesterday, there is something that few people see anymore, because almost all the stores in that section are closed.

Lonely, the Monitor marker is ignored by mall walkers who walk right by it.

If the Oakdale Mall drifts into history, what will happen to that marker?

I never realized my elementary school Civil War studies would lead to something right in my very (so to speak) front yard.

Have you ever explored the history of your area?

It's Just the Way It Is?

A Saturday morning in a mall in Johnson City, New York.  In center court, children are gathered around a Binghamton University "day", complete with games and educational exhibits.

But just a few hundred feet away....

Crickets.

A little further down, in a part of the mall that still has open stores, at least three businesses are holding going-out-of-business sales.   One is local and is closing its mall location (they say they've been there nearly 50 years).  One is part of a chain going out of business.

As the sounds of children, our future, echo through the mall, a song on the PA system competes with their sounds.

It's Bruce Hornsby and the Range, and their hit from 1986, The Way It Is.

If you listen carefully, the song teaches an important lesson - things will not change unless we work to make them change.  A lot of the song deals with social inequality, but more of it deals with people who warn "that's just the way it is...some things will never change".

Bruce counters with "Ah, but don't you believe it."

We the people have the power, but only if we believe it.

It was true in 1986, and it is just as true in 2019.

My part of upstate New York has so many challenges ahead , include the decline and possible closing of a mall that is more than a collection of stores. 

Just think, several years ago, we nearly voted ourselves out of existence.

Will we rise to the challenge?

Winter Rainbow #SkywatchFriday

All winters are different, where I live near Binghamton, New York.

All winters are the same.

Do those two statements make sense? To me they do.  Winter, where I live, means snow, cold and ice.  Some years we get lots of it.  Some years, we get less. But the weather is mostly the same.

Sometimes, there is a rare day, when weather miracles happen.

Last Friday, the temperature got into the 50's and the sun shone.  Late in the day, though, a cold front came through.

We got rain.  When it ended, we were in the golden hour so beloved by photographers.  So we got this.

And this.  (these colors, by the way, are totally untouched.  Yes, those trees were glowing with the light.  Not only that, some in the area reported a double rainbow.  I must not have been in the right position.)

And this.

Was nature trying to issue an apology in advance for the winter weather still to come?

Join Yogi and the Friday sky watchers at #SkywatchFriday.  If you have a sky photo to share, why not?

Say Goodbye To Montana?

Every time you lose faith in the Internet, the Internet comes through to entertain and enlighten us.
Take Montana, for example.

Montana, for the benefit of my foreign readers, is one of our 50 states, and is one of several states on our border with Canada.

Someone started a petition on change.org to sell Montana to Canada for $1 trillion dollars to "eliminate the national debt".

To everyone's surprise, some 12,245 people (as of the time I wrote this post) have signed this petition. The petition has now gone viral.

Goodbye, Montana?

I haven't been to Montana since 1979.  I only spent one night there, camping with my spouse in a deserted campground (mid September) and admiring the Big Sky Country. In case you've heard of Big Sky Country - it's real.  And I've never seen it since that day.  To me, Montana is far from useless, and I will give the petitioner credit for thinking outside the box (as the saying goes).

People from Montana pride themselves on independent thinking.  I suspect that more than a few of them might not mind joining up with Canada and becoming Canadian citizens.

Sometimes, I think I wouldn't mind becoming a Canadian.  How could I not love a people who paid tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy by "spocking" their five dollar bills?

Although, has anyone thought about how this might affect Bigfoot?

Selling off land is not a new idea.  After all, how do you think we obtained Alaska?  Or, all those states in the Louisiana Purchase? Governments sold territory to us in our younger days and I know people will point out that Russia and France sold us territories and not parts of their actual nations.  But is it possible for the United States to sell off a state?

Our national debt really is no laughing matter.  But, why not lighten things up for a moment?

Would you sign this petition?

Let's have some fun with this, because it seems there is so little to laugh about.

The Sundog #WordlessWednesday

Today, a happier post than some I've posted recently.

My spouse was driving.  "Look at that!", he exclaimed.

Right in front of us was a sundog.  The actual sun is to the immediate left of the streetlight and the sundog is right on top of the streetlight furthest to the right.

We see them on occasion but I've never been that successful in taking pictures.  Until now.

Join Esha, The SkyGirl, and other bloggers for #WordlessWednesday.

Plane Train and Automobile

I was at a reunion nobody wanted to happen.

My spouse and I, newly arrived by car, were sitting in a pizza parlor in Pennsylvania. Facing me was a cousin who had flown in from Texas and on my right side was another cousin we had just picked up at a train station.  The fifth member of our merry group wasn't very merry.

We were there because of him.  Or, to be more exact because his wife of nearly 40 years had passed away three days before.  We were in Pennsylvania for the funeral.

We spent over two hours in the pizza parlor, talking.  The flying cousin and the mourning cousin are both in their late 60's.  In fact, they were both born in Brooklyn - born two weeks apart.  They were close when young, but then both their parents moved - over 100 miles apart.  They kept in touch, though.

And then several years before, the flying cousin had moved to Texas, to be closer to his brother in law. 

We all were aging.  The flying cousin's wife had to stay home - she was suffering from a physical issue that would make it difficult for her to fly.

One of us remarked that the only time it seems people of our generation get together anymore wee for weddings and funerals.  We'll swear we were going to get together but then life intervenes.

We talked and talked.  We exchanged jokes and puns.   Texas cousin confided that he was having problems making friends in Texas.  "Why is it so hard to make friends as you age?" he asked.  We all nodded agreement.  We've all had the same problem. 

We (minus the mourning cousin) were staying at the same motel and shared a Chinese takeout dinner together.  We talked and talked at a table in the lobby as we shared lemon chicken, wonton soup, beef and broccoli, and more.  The next morning, we had breakfast, and went to the funeral.  Spouse and I had to leave early because of the weather, and the cousin who came on train was returning home that afternoon.

Quickly we said goodbyes, as snow swirled around us.

We left with an invite from the Texas cousin to visit him and his wife.


Will we, before another reunion nobody wants occurs?

Hot Smoke and Presidents - #MusicMovesMe

It's both Monday and a national holiday today.  And it's time for another #MusicMovesMe.

Who are the #MusicMovesMe bloggers? We are bloggers who blog about music each Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only on this music train, please!)   First, there is XmasDolly,   Her co-conductors are:  ♥Callie of JAmerican Spice♥,  and ♥Stacy of Stacy Uncorked♥   Also, co-conducting  is  ♥Cathy from Curious as a Cathy♥ .  And finally, there's - me!!!! <

Today, our guest conductor, Cathy from Curious as a Cathy, has chosen as our theme: 
"National Battery Day keywords battery, smoke, alarm, & charge." When I think of smoke alarms, thought, I think of fire, so I've included "fire".

Battery - what comes to mind when I think of battery is fighting.  So I could have looked up a song about batteries but, instead, chose Kung Foo Fighting,by Carl Douglas.

The natural (to me) second song for this set is Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water.

My spouse would never forgive me if I didn't post one of his all time favorite songs:

Hot Smoke and Sassafras, from The Bubble Puppy.

Alarm?  Well, there's the Strawberry Alarm Clock, and Incense and Peppermints.

Fire?  I will raid my favorite musical era, the 80's, for After the Fire's Der Kommissar, although there are so many "Fire" songs out there.  

For "charge", I found this Iggy (Pop) and the Stooges instrumetal, "Master Charge".

But today is also a holiday celebrating our Presidents and that is calling to me equally.   When I was doing some research on President John Tyler (yes, the "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" President, who took office after "Tippecanoe" famously caught pneumonia while giving his inauguration speech and died not long after) I found a You Tube video of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" by They Might be Giants.

You won't believe this one.

And, unless you are of a certain age, you may not believe this one, either.  It turns out that Richard Nixon was an accomplished musician.

More people may remember Bill Clinton and his saxophone (no jokes or comments, please).  Here, he plays sax with various jazz greats.

It might make an interesting post to check out other historical figures and their love of music.  Too bad there was no way to record music in the day of Thomas Jefferson, for example.

Until next week, then - keep on rocking!

Don't Let Time Get Away Part 2

Yesterday, I started to blog about my mother's side of the family and how I lost contact with them for many years.  In 2015, after I started to create a profile on Ancestry.com, I was contacted by someone who turned out to be a first cousin once removed on my mother's side.  We friended each other on Facebook.

It turned out that her father, my first cousin, had wanted to contact me for years but he had never found me. We exchanged a few emails.

I never pursued the contact, though, as a lot of my time and energy was consumed in caregiving for my mother in law and related issues. 

The day after Thanksgiving, my mother in law died and one of my spouse's cousins celerated his birthday.  He was also a caregiver.  He lived with his 106 year old mother.

Two weeks later, he was dead.  Unexpectedly dead.

Around the time my mother in law started her final decline, I found out that a cousin's wife had brain cancer. She took chemo but it did not help.  Her condition deteriorated rapidly.  She passed away about 10 days ago.

All of this, and having a former co-worker diagnosed with cancer (plus other assorted bad news concerning some people I knew or knew of), made me think. Time gets away from all of us.  I was so guilty of letting time pass.  In being consumed with one part of family, I had totally neglected others.  This had to stop.

Yesterday morning, there was suddenly a post from my first cousin once removed on Facebook. It was a video of the bookstore in her home town and a feature about it on the local TV station.   The last I knew she was working there.

So I DM'd her, telling her we no longer had an independent bookstore where I live (sad but true) and asking if she still worked there (she wasn't in the video).  Within seconds she responded.

I had a brief attack of the "shies" but I fought back.  I had to do this.

I briefly explained why I had not been in touch. I held my breath.  Her father should be close to 90 by now.  If he was still alive, that is.

Had I waited too long?

The responding message came back.

"I know Mom and Dad would love to see you."

It wasn't too late.

Now I have to make it happen.

Don't Let Time Get Away Part 1

In 2015, I blogged about how,  for the second time in my life, I found lost family (or, rather, they  found me).

In February of 2015, I explained that I had not been in touch with anyone on my mother's side of the family in many years (by my count, it must be over 30 years).  

At about the same time, the genealogy website Ancestry.com offered a free weekend.  I took advantage of it, and I started to build a family tree of my mother's side of the family, the ____s.  Of course, my memory being limited, I didn't get that far.  After the weekend ended, I decided I didn't have the time to pursue this (as Ancestry is not a free website, I didn't want to waste my money).

Then I received a generic message in an email from Ancestry.com, with a family name I did not recognize but a message saying that she was working on a family tree of the ____s and thought we might be related.  I clicked to respond, and found I had to join Ancestry even to send a message.
 

A bit later, I received another email:

" Hi, I just spoke to my father (let's call him "N"), who told me that you are first cousins. My mom was thrilled that I had found you. Seems like they had been looking to contact you for years and could not find out where you were. They would love to be able to write or call you."

Her father "N" is vague in my memory.  I did some quick research (what I could get for free, because I could not remember his first name), but I sure knew the last name well. It was the last name of one of my Mom's sisters.  Could I truly have been found by my mother's family by someone, after years of searching?

I discovered that Ancestry was having another free weekend for  Memorial Day weekend, and I had limited access to the site again! I messaged back, with some more information.  And then I heard back.

The answer is yes.  I have been found by someone on my mother's side of the family.

The woman who sent me the message is my first cousin once removed on my mother's side (her grandmother and my mother were sisters).  Her mother, an aunt who had continued contact with me for a few years after I married, passed away (my newly found cousin told me) in 1998.  And now we have each other's email addresses.

I told my spouse and I think he was just as, if even more, excited than I am.

So let me backtrack a little.

When I was 17 years old, I started dating a boy who was in one of my college classes. 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. That sister of my mother's did keep in touch for a few years but then she passed away.   I had no contact with my mother's side of my family for many, many years. 

Times have changed tremendously. 

 

Well....I had a couple of email exchanges with my cousin "N", who sent me family pictures.  In November of 2015, he sent me an email ending "Let's keep in touch".

 

But we didn't.  It was all my fault.  When "N" (who was in his 80's) sent me that email, my mother in law was having a major health crisis.  One thing led to another and I thought of my family from time to time in the resulting haze of caregiving, working full time, and various family dramas, but I never did respond to my lost-then-found family.

 

Until today.

 

Tomorrow....the story continues.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and SkywatchFriday - February 2019

It's Friday and it's February 15 - time to watch the sky with Yogi and his merry crew of skywatchers at Skywatch Friday, while I also participate in a monthly gathering of gardeners each 15th of the month for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

So what's blooming for me near Binghamton, New York in my zone 5b garden this strangest of all winters?  Up and down, up and down the temperature goes, and when it will stop, nobody knows.

Would you believe me if I told you I had outdoor flowers?  Or, let's be slightly technical here - buds opening.  Well, I do.  Probably.  At least they were out earlier this month.

The problem is, I can't show them to you.  They are under several inches of ice and snow right now.  This plant is one of my two Lenten Roses, and it always tries to bloom in January/February.  It doesn't always succeed.  So you'll just have to believe me.

Indoors, it's not a great story, either.  By the time February comes, I'm scraping the bottom of the flower barrel, so to speak, examining every windowsill and my one table with plants under lights hoping for....something to show you.

My one blooming African Violet from the beginning of December is almost done blooming.

My Thanksgiving cactii are between blooms but have a couple of buds.

But my one Phalaenopsis orchid that decides to bloom each year has some buds.

And another Phalaenopsis, which was growing a keiki (baby plant) late last year, is ("ahem") progressing in its "pregnancy" under the watchful eye of some of my other African violets.

February 5th - yesterday's sky was not that photogenic

Meanwhile, for #SkywatchFriday, I offer this reflection in a melting snow puddle.  The white on the path inbetween some blue are clouds, not snow.  There was melting snow and ice yesterday, but the reflections did not cooperate, so I chose a picture from earlier in the month.

And here's a picture of the sky from a few minutes before the reflection picture.

Thank you, Yogi at Skywatch Friday, and Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting these weekly/monthly memes.  Why don't you visit both their site and click on some of the other participating sites?

And thank you, my readers.  In the spirit of Valentine's Day plus one, I love you all. (Well, except for the spammers).

See you next time!

Tree Love #ThursdayTreeLove

It's Valentine's Day, the day of love.

And it is the second Thursday of the month, and time to blog about my love of trees. What to do?

It's no contest.  Today, I combine my two loves, sunset and trees.

February 2nd

There's something about winter sunsets, especially when there is a clear sky, bare trees and snow on the ground.

And some sadness.

Today is  the first anniversary of the horrific school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.  

As someone who works in a community that suffered its own mass shooting (ours was in an adult classroom) on April 3, 2009, my heart goes out to the families and students/teachers/first responders who were impacted that day, and will be impacted for the rest of their lives.

I wonder if, one day, a school shooting survivor will become our President.  If so, I hope I live to see it.

Join Parul of Happiness and Food at #ThursdayTreeLove every second and fourth Thursday, and love a tree today.

A Final Act of Love

I know someone who has been helping to take care of an elderly man, living near her, who has dementia.  Despite the best efforts of those who care for him, it appears this man can no longer live on his own.

That leaves the fate of his blind dog and several cats living on his rural property up in the air.


This brought up a memory I had not thought about for many years.  Years ago, an aunt died suddenly in an accident.  My aunt, who lived alone, had not made provisions for her two cats in the event of her death.

A kindly neighbor took care of the cats in the immediate days after the accident that killed her (which happened out of town) but then, decisions had to be made concerning the cats.  Ironically, my aunt had done volunteer work at an animal shelter local to her.  And her grown children lived hundreds (in one case, thousands) of miles away.  But she never realized she needed to spell out her wishes.

I've been blogging recently about how my spouse and I hadn't updated our will in many years. We are between pets, but we may not have made provisions for pets, either.  We didn't the last time we updated our will, and we had a pet then.

Yikes.

Have you made provisions for your pets in case of your death?  If you (heaven forbid!) died suddenly tomorrow, do you know who would care for the pet?  Or, what happens if you are in an accident and are incapacitated?  Or are diagnosed with a serious illness?  If you have, do you have that information in your wallet? 

Does that person know he or she will be asked to take that responsibility on?

There are a lot of things to think about. 

For pet owners, one of them is a final act of love.