Welcome! I hope I bring a spot of calm and happiness into these uncertain times. I blog about my photography adventures, flowers, gardening, the importance of chocolate in a well lived life, or anything else on my mind.
Welcome to Music Moves Me, a music meme I participate in every Monday. In the merry, merry month of May, we are
having one of our faithful music bloggers choose our biweekly theme as a
guest conductor on our musical train. In May, our themes
are being chosen by John of The Sound of One Hand Typing. But, John is off today - and we have a "freebie" week.
Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers? We call ourselves 4Mers.
So, what's on my playlist today, dear readers? Yesterday was Mothers Day. For me, it is a bittersweet holiday, as my Mom has been gone 53 years. My mother in law, meantime, is in declining health.
This song was a favorite of my Mom's - Rosemary Clooney (the aunt of actor George Clooney) Come On-A My House, a hit in 1951.
My Mom and my mother in law both love(d) Frank Sinatra - this song is a song I can not listen to without crying - A Very Good Year. This song was originally written for another singer, back in 1961, Erwin Drake, who recorded it with the Kingston Trio. But Ol' Blue Eyes made it his own.
Also, a handful of songs that mention mothers in one context or another. The Shirelles - Mamma Said
Queen - Tie Your Mother Down
What's Going on by Marvin Gaye. Sadly, this singer was tragically murdered by his father on April 1, 1984 after an argument between the two men turned physical.
And last but not least, again by Queen, the classic hit Boheminan Rhapsody.
I hope you had a rockin' good time. Next week, John is back with a theme we'll always remember...
On this Mothers Day I want to pay tribute to five women who helped make me into the person I am today.
The
first person was my mother, who died too soon and too young. She was a
stay at home mother who, I know, wanted to be in the workplace but the
times (the early 1960's) did not support that. Instead, she became the
mother that the neighborhood children would call for treats. Yes, call.
We lived on the fourth floor of an apartment building in the Bronx.
When we would play, and got hungry, we would gather under the window and
yell in unison "Mom!" Somehow she always knew "Mom" meant her and not
one of the other 130 Moms in the building. Well, OK, sometimes we had
to yell for a few minutes. But soon, a bag would be dropped out the
window for all of us to share.
Mom was so very proud that her
English skills were such that she had gotten a job meant only for
college graduates. She graduated from high school and never went further
in her education. She had been a contest judge for a famous
organization and I used to love to hear her tales about that. She had
also studied to be a dental hygienist, and still had one of her
textbooks. It was way too hard for me and I was amazed that she could
have studied from it.
When I was 10 years old, I broke my leg.
As my sixth grade class was on the fourth floor of my elementary school, and
there were no elevators, the school sent a home instructor to my
apartment for the two months I was out of school. As it happened, the
teacher grew up in the the same neighborhood as my mother and they would
have coffee and chat as I worked on my studies.
One Friday
morning in November my mother left me to go shopping. When she returned,
she was crying. She turned the TV on and that is how I found out about
the assassination of John Kennedy.
In the last years of her
life, rheumatoid arthritis stole much of her mobility and left her so
exhausted that she would lie on the couch. She was so very depressed,
too but I was too young to understand. I would rub her feet and help her
feel better. I would go to the market with her and do the shopping
while she sat in the front of the store.
My Mom loved lilacs - too bad the neighborhood lilacs aren't quite open yet
The second mother was
the mother of a good friend from school. After my mother died, "Mrs. F"
showed me how to use a washing machine, how to open cans (would you
believe I didn't know how!!) and so much more, and kept an eye on me. More than once, after I grew up, she asked me to call her by her first name but I never could bring myself to do so. I had great respect for this strong woman and Holocaust survivor. "Mrs. F" passed away in 2013. She was in her 90's.
The
third mother was an aunt and my Dad's "kid sister", who lived in Tampa, Florida for most of her adult life. In many ways she stepped in to fill the huge hole the death of my mother created in my
life. I visited her (from my native New York City) three times during my teen years. She showed me and
taught me many of the things that my mother would have shown me if she
had been alive. My Aunt died young, from pancreatic cancer. This past January, I was fortunate in being able to visit both of her children, who still live in Florida.
The
fourth mother was an aunt who lived out in Iowa. After I married and moved out to the Midwest, I became close to her.
She was one of the most understanding, and most accepting people I have ever met. I list her fourth but in many ways the mark she left on me was
second only to my own natural mother.
The last mother is my
mother in law. She is 90 now. Sadly, she has dementia and also is in declining health. She is a three time cancer
survivor and the mother of a man with autism. My brother in law was
born years before autism was something discussed in the daily news.
My mother in law was one of the generation of women who did not institutionalize her son
and tried to make as normal a life for him as she could while he was
growing up. The parents of children with autism today owe a lot of
gratitude to women like my mother in law, who "made it up" as they went
along, without support, without understanding.
We all will be visiting her today, the last of my five "mothers" still alive.
My mother in law loves flowers, too - picture taken at local nursery on Friday
Happy Mothers Day
to all mothers, and to these mothers in my life.
I originally posted this on April 12, 2012. And I figured that you, dear reader, would want a break from my several consecutive days of posting flower pictures.
(But no worries - I'll be back Sunday with more flowers, just in time for Mother's Day.)
Several days ago, I read a blog post that touched on The March of Dimes charity and the late President Franklin Roosevelt who had (or may not have had) a once dreaded disease called polio.
On the anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt's sudden death on April 12,
1945, I blogged about a scourge of my early childhood
that, hopefully, will never reappear in our lifetimes. This post follows:
I visited Warm Springs, Georgia in March of 2010 and saw the Little White House where Roosevelt died, the unfinished portrait
that still sits in the house, and the pools where Roosevelt had found
relief from his polio. Yes, Roosevelt was a disabled man in a time were
disabled people were disrespected and discriminated against - so much
so that Roosevelt had to hide the fact that he depended on a wheelchair
for mobility.
Otherwise, people might have thought he was unfit for office.
That would be totally inconceivable today - but those were very
different times. Still, Franklin Roosevelt had a large role in making
disability acceptable, and gave hope to a lot of people with polio.
Ever hear of the March of Dimes? It started as a movement to find a
cure for polio
At the time of his death, polio
was a feared scourge. I can vaguely remember the panic that was felt
during the summer - the peak time for polio. Parents would even keep
their children away from public swimming pools, as it was believed that
pools were one place you could "catch" polio. As children, we believed
that being near a storm drain could give you polio.
But then everything changed.
A charity called The March of Dimes was
founded by Franklin Roosevelt in 1938.. Roosevelt had a simple idea-
asking Americans to send in a dime, just one dime, to fight polio. The
"march"of dimes helped to finance research, so that the Salk and Sabin
vaccines could be developed. In honor of Roosevelt's fund raising, his
face appears on the dime and has for many years.
Ironically, Roosevelt's polio may have been misdiagnosed - but many people alive today can be grateful for that misdiagnosis.
I was a member of the first generation in human history that did not
have to fear polio. And to my son, polio is just a historical
curiosity - although one of his older cousins married a woman who had
polio as a child, and has a noticeable limp to show for it.
I realized, in researching my blog, that I had never published my
photos of Warm Springs, and I hope to fix that in the near future. And
yes, there is still a Roosevelt Institute for Rehabilitation in Warm
Springs.
If you need a story on how one person can change history, and enrich the
lives of millions, you need look no further than this story.
This Friday, although I have awesome pictures of a sunset from last Friday, but you aren't going to see any.
Ok, just one, because you asked so nicely.
But I think what you REALLY want to see are flowers. Well, at least that's what I really want to see And they have finally arrived. I pinch myself daily - am I dreaming? You see, less than three weeks ago, we were still waking up to snow on the ground, or at least flurries in the sky. (If you don't believe me, see the first picture in yesterday's post.) The Binghamton, New York area can be like that, but that was extreme even for us.
So I tried to work in the sky so I would have an excuse to bombard you with flower photos.
The building in the distance is the junior high (now called "middle school") that Binghamton native son Rod Serling (Twilight Zone and other masterpieces) attended. Let's call this one history.
I photographed this daffodil Tuesday in the garden of our local library. Let's call this one "literature".
This reflection is in the window of a local business so we can call it "business".
This one is in my front yard. Let's call it "local color". Oh wait, no sky in this one. Sorry....
Flowers are a precious commodity,where I live. Our springs after winters like this are rush affairs - don't blink or you may miss them. I've literally had spring flowers last only a day or two in my yard.
But you don't need flowers as an excuse to watch the sky, do you?
Join Yogi and other bloggers watching the sky every Friday from all over the world at #SkywatchFriday.
Four views of the same Bradford Pears, near where I live in the Binghamton, New York area.
April 19.
May 3.
May 8.
Yesterday, almost the same view as the first photo.
And now, the leaves will grow, and these flowers will be gone in another day or two. But the Bradford Pears have been so beautiful this year.
The humble Bradford Pears (which are also invasive, and unwelcome in certain areas of our country) remind us of how fleeting time is, and how we must grab the moment and enjoy it when it comes.
Spring is speeding by in my yard in upstate New York.
My mother in law was released from the hospital yesterday. On her trip back from the hospital she enjoyed looking at the flowering trees and other flowers.
Sometimes we lose sight of what the important things are, such as the ability to just step out and watch the flowers. To smell, and to touch.
Today, I am sharing some pictures I took yesterday evening, during the "golden hour", in my front and side yards.
Tuesday tulips. I don't remember their names, but I believe they were developed, years ago, by Cornell.
Definitely daffodils.
More daffodils.
Still more daffodils.
There are so many flowers opening and closing in the past week or so - it seems like they are passing by at super-speed.
Just like this famous scene from the movie "The Time Machine".
Today, why don't you watch or touch a flower, while you can?
If you are looking for my Monday #MusicMovesMe post, click here.
Another April gone, in a flurry of snow, and of blogging.
A lesson learned.
I've completed my fourth Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Each year, in the first week of May, we are asked each year to reflect on this
challenge. If you survived it too, congratulations! If you didn't, that's fine, too.
This fourth challenge turned out to be a real challenge for me in more ways than one. It was a good thing I had prewritten many of my posts, as my elderly mother in law ended up in the hospital twice. And now, she is hospitalized for a third time and all we can do is take it day by day.
My theme "Florida-Outside the Theme Parks" was a joy to write, and I had a good time putting the Challenge blog posts together before everything started to (as the saying goes) go south.
If I could give any advice to myself (and others):
1. Prewrite. It's near impossible to keep up.
2. Don't beat yourself up if you can't keep up with reading of other blogs. I think this has become the weak spot of this Challenge, with so many people participating.
It's impossible.
3. Should you have a theme? I've always had one. That works for me.
What I don't like about the Challenge? Finding a blog that interests me, and then, on May 1, it either sits, unloved, for the next few months, or changes into something completely different.
And, in the end:
I want to thank everyone who read my blog during
the month of April, both long time readers, and new. I hope you will
stick with me, because I got behind - way behind- in visiting new blogs and commenting. I found myself sticking mainly to blogs I had found in previous years - old favorites.
I got to thinking that blogging, in a way, is like one of my favorite Beatles song, Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End.
Because, in the end of a #AtoZChallenge, the effort you make is equal to the enjoyment you take.
If you are looking for my Blogging from A to Z Reflections post, please click here.
Welcome to Music Moves Me. In the merry, merry month of May, we are having one of our faithful music bloggers choose our biweekly theme as a guest conductor on our every-Monday musical train. In May, our themes are being chosen by John of The Sound of One Hand Typing.
Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers? We call ourselves 4Mers.
The Head 4M'er (Engineer) is XmasDolly. Her co-conductors are: Callie of JAmerican Spice, (who is on hiatus but is always welcome back once she is able to conduct once again) and ♥Stacy ofStacy Uncorked♥ Also, Cathy from Curious as a Cathy. And, ahem...me. That means, if you link up above AND you have mewsic (to share one of Cathy's phrases), I'll be visiting you sometime during the week! And, please, in turn visit as many of us as you can - especially John, our guest conductor. He's a treasure trove of True Music Knowledge.
For today, John has chosen: Song titles that begin with each letter of your name - first, middle or last.
I chose my first name, because I am a bit private and most of my readers know me mainly by my initials (AM) but I introduce you to my first name - ALANA. (and because my last name has more letters - tee hee.)
Another One Rides the Bus by "Weird Al" Yankovic - performed live, and strangely, on TV - The Tomorrow Show (no longer on).
Lose Yourself by Eminem. Back when my son was young, Eminem was a household word, but not in a good way - we were warned by my son's elementary school to be cautious if we knew our children were listening to his raps. Perhaps his earlier raps were not suitable for children - but I consider this rap one of the most powerful songs out there. (Warning: violence, including a short scene of domestic violence).
All Night Long by Lionel Richie, is such a fun song to dance to.
N - for this I choose a German song, 99 (Ninety-nine) Luftballoons, by the band Nena. This is an anti-war song, and was also recorded in English.
And for my final "A", Apache by The Shadows (1960). I love the instrumentals of the early 1960's.
Our train has now reached it's final station for this Monday. Join us again for the #MusicMovesMe blog hop next Monday- same time, same places!
Sometimes, the strangest (or should I call it "strange"?) things happen in life.
We were desperate. My 90 year old mother in law had been rushed to the emergency room (they call it the ED, or Emergency Department) at 1:30 am on Friday in breathing distress. No one is thinking straight at 1:30 am, I can assure you. All we knew is that my mother in law's glasses, and another item that was valuable to her well being, had gone to the ED with her. Then, a nurse had put them into a hazardous waste bag (why? because there was no other bag available).
And then they had vanished.
Family members spent the next couple of days trying to look for the items, even notifying hospital security and the nurses at the front desk of the unit she is in. They looked and looked. Nothing.
Today, Sunday, was Sacred Sites Sunday in New York State, where various houses of worship open their doors for several hours and hold open houses. In our area were a synagogue, a mosque, and a number of Christian churches of various denominations.
I am not Catholic, but my mother in law is.
I woke up this morning with a vague memory, of what Catholics sometimes do when something is lost and can't be found. I did an online search and I found it. Pray to St. Anthony.
I was going to several church open houses anyway. When we visited my mother in law (who doesn't see well, and these glasses were so important to her well being) we mentioned St. Anthony and right away she said yes, please pray to him. (I also contacted asked the hospital, which is a Catholic hospital, if they could get someone to pray with my mother in law for the return of these objects.
St. Mary of the Assumption Church Binghamton, New York
As it happens, at this church, we talked to a church historian for this and another area church - St. Anthony's (which wasn't open for the open house). And, in comparing notes, we discovered her husband used to work with my brother in law - in fact they were born one day apart. So, well, I had prayed already to St. Anthony, but what harm would a reminder prayer do?
We left the church about 4pm.
Well, about 5pm, we got a phone call from the hospital.
They had found her missing items.
You could have knocked this Jewish gal from the Bronx over with a feather, as the old saying goes.
Today is the Cinco de Mayo (May 5), celebrated in many in the United States as an eating and drinking holiday.
Today is NOT Mexican Independence Day (that comes in September), but
rather, today commemorates a 1862 battle where Mexicans defeated a
French army despite being outnumbered. Eventually, the Mexicans won the
war and ousted the French. During our United States Civil War,
this holiday and what it stood for started to gain popularity in the
United States. Now, the Cinco de Mayo is actually more celebrated in the United States
than in Mexico.
For today, I am repeating a Super Bowl post from 2015. Whether or not
you are trying to lose or maintain weight, I am hoping you may get some
inspiration from this for your Cinco de Mayo celebration. And if you
don't celebrate - why not have some of this food, anyway?
A Homemade Healthy Super Bowl
"Healthy" and "Super Bowl" normally do not go together. And, if you
aren't careful, "delicious" and "healthy" variations of high fat items
do not go together, either.
The first time we tried to make healthy snacks, it was New Years Eve,
2012, I was new to Weight Watchers and much of the food my spouse made
was inedible. Dry. Tasteless Ugh. We decided that, in the future, we
would not try to do "healthy" makeovers of fatty food, but rather, forge
our own trail.
So, we have (no pun intended) lightened up a bit. It's a splurge day.
We will have guacamole, although we won't make it in this device. It is
so simple - peel ripe avocadoes, mash (we like ours a little chunky),
add chopped sweet pepper (orange, yellow, red), garlic, scallions, a
little salt, a touch of homemade ground chili pepper (my spouse's own
secret mix, so I can't tell you) and a touch of lime juice. Just don't
eat too much. Easier said than done.
We serve with chips - these happen to be local chips made about an hour
away from us. Or, make your own baked ones - take fresh corn tortillas,
cut into triangles (pizza cutter works great for this), spread on
cookie sheet, bake at 400 degrees F until they start to turn light
brown. (Celsius folks, you are on your own-sorry.)
Salsa makes a wonderful dip - and fat free salsa has no Weight Watchers
points. It's so easy to make, too, if you have good fresh tomatoes
available. If not, use canned dice tomatoes (preferably fire roasted
diced tomatoes). Simply chop up ripe fresh tomatoes or use the canned
ones, combine with chopped pepper and onions, season with cilantro, lime
juice, salt to taste, jalapenos if you like it spicy. Or, buy it pre
made in the refrigerated section of your market.
We'll be serving fresh fruit although, at this time of year, there is
little local fresh fruit to be had here in upstate New York. This is
the time of year we are grateful to Florida, California and Chile.
We don't bother with low fat versions of high fat dips - we are not fans
of fat free mayonnaise or fat free sour cream. You can substitute fat
free Greek yogurt with a touch of lime juice (for zing) for sour cream,
too. An easy dip can be made with the fat free yogurt, a can of black
beans, some cilantro, salsa, just blending it to consistency. Add
jalapenos for spice.
And last, instead of those chicken wings, how about some Thai Chicken Skewers? We haven't tried this recipe yet but I am a big fan of powdered peanut butter. We have used a product called PB2
but decided to use "Just Great Stuff" which we found locally. It is
organic, and uses organic coconut sugar, sustainably harvested and low
glycemic. I know some people shy away from this type of product, but I
don't have a peanut allergy, and this is a good alternative for me.
On this first Friday of the month, we in upstate New York are doing a happy dance. SPRING HAS FINALLY COME.
And here's the proof. Last week we were still getting snow flurries. This week, we are getting flower flurries.
Remember yesterday's rocks wedged in a weeping cherry? Here's the tree, set against a beautiful blue sky on May Day. This is in downtown Binghamton, New York.
Blossoms getting ready to open on the West Side of Binghamton, New York.
Magnolia buds opening.
Skip a couple of days to May 3 and what pictures of the sky can we find? Well, Bradford Pear buds opening at the Broome County Library.
With the Blogging from A to Z Challenge done, I am resting today.
For my post Monday, I blogged briefly about a woman who lived in a
housing development in Queens (part of New York City) called Arverne by
the Sea. Here is my original post from 2010, written before Superstorm
Sandy. If only I had been able to talk to her at length, but, alas, it
was not to be. She did tell me that the neighborhood in general had been greatly impacted by Sandy, but Arverne by the Sea, due to the planning that went into its design, survived with minimal damage.
Maybe one day I'll meet someone with more knowledge of what is happening in my birth neighborhood.
For now, my post from 2010:
I've talked about growing up in what became a slum neighborhood of the Bronx, but I am actually from Queens.
I have only a few childhood memories of tales of the place that was my
home back when I was a little baby, from where my parents moved from
when I was five months old. I was never to return...at least so I
thought.
Stories my Dad told me as a child, so distant in my memory, flooded back recently.
I was born in the Rockaways, an area of Queens (part of NYC). We lived on Beach 56th Street, in a neighborhood called Arverne.
Arverne had become a slum, too, by the time I was a teenager. My two
childhood homes, both slums. No wonder I escaped New York City all
together.
My Dad told me he would wheel my baby carriage on the Boardwalk. I was
a baby during the winter. When it snowed, the snow would melt in the
salt air. I love the ocean, although I don't see it often. The ocean is
in my blood.
The other day, I picked up an old New York magazine where I exercise.
People discard magazines and books. Sometimes I find something
interesting. This magazine caught my eye. I brought it home.
The magazine talked about various New York City neighborhoods. One made me totally stop and gasp.
It's urban renewal as you've never seen it. A social experiment. To be
blunt, a lot of the area is high crime, and the commute to Manhattan is
quite long. But on the bay side, Arverne by the Sea rises, challenging a
hurricane to destroy it.
I found something else online..the word Edgemere
Houses. It's not the housing project where my parents lived-I wish I
could remember the name but I know Edgemere wasn't it. [I have since found it] But- I looked
Edgemere up on the Internet and found a treasure trove of
photos....including that boardwalk where I was wheeled in a baby
carriage. Part of it is called Ocean Promenade and all together it's the
largest boardwalk on the East Coast.
But much of what it winds through is....vacant. Abandoned. Such sad photos. Arverne by the Sea seeks to change that.
Arverne by the Sea. I will continue to follow the development with
interest, and wish it much success.
Spring has blazed into upstate New York, where snow covered the ground in many places just a week ago.
I took a picture of a flowering weeping cherry in downtown Binghamton, New York - on a horizontal branch lay two painted rocks. If you come back Friday, I promise to show you what the rest of the tree looks like.
Today is May Day, a traditional spring holiday in many countries. In the United States, years ago, we used to celebrate with May baskets of flowers hung on doors - but no more, apparently. I've never heard of the custom - have you?
Instead, I will celebrate with some photos taken in my yard over the last two days of April. Unlike Sunday's post, which featured flower photos taken in the Binghamton/Johnson City New York area, these are all from my yard.
Snow all through April. We even got snow flurries yesterday, but spring, finally, will not be denied.
May flowers for you.
Bloodroot has been blooming in my back yard for several days now. This is a short lived flower - but its early blooming habits make it so welcome.
These tiny jonquils are so welcome, too.
Vinca.
One of my two Lenten roses - the other one, an earlier variety, is done.
Finally, a taste of flowers to come - white hyacinths.
Now, if only the trees would start to leaf out. With suddenly warm temperatures, I suspect that spring is going to be intense - and short. In fact, we have a possibility of severe weather on Thursday.
I never thought that the end of my January trip to Florida would result in a trip into my early childhood. But it did, in one of those "it's a small world" events.
We were on the Auto Train, preparing to head back to Virginia.
We were just about ready to leave the Sanford, Florida station when the woman sitting in front of me struck up a conversation. It was her first trip on the Auto Train, and, since I had ridden it several times, she started to ask me some questions.
We were chatting as the train began to move. We were about five minutes out, maybe even less.
Suddenly she started to yell, "Did you see that? Did you see that?"
Not what we saw on the Auto Train- Riverbanks Zoo, Columbia, South Carolina August 2017
"I saw giraffes! They were just there, walking alongside the tracks!"
I thought about it for a minute, wondering if she was hallucinating, but then remembered that there is a zoo near Sanford, Florida (The Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens).
I've always loved zoos - I know not everyone does, for various reasons.
I was born in the Rockaways, in Queens, one of the boroughs of New York City, but grew up in the Bronx, another borough. An aunt used to take me, several times a year, to the Bronx Zoo. I loved being with her, and loved visiting the zoo. I had my favorite exhibits, she had hers, and we always had a good time.
Hearing my train friend's accent, I suspected my train mate was from New York City, too.
I asked my seat mate (one row ahead of me) where she lived. And she said "in Queens, in a development called Arverne by the Sea."
What were the chances?
My first home, as a baby, was located blocks from Arverne by the Sea. What were the odds, out of everyone who travels on the Auto Train, to find someone who lived in my birth neighborhood?
The zoo was far in the past by now. We were on our way back home.
Lake Myra, Florida
The train traveled on, as the sun started to set in Satsuma, Florida.
The rising sun tinted the eastern sky red as we passed through Richmond, Virginia the next morning.
Truly homeward bound, as visions of Bok Gardens, Lake Wales, January flowers, St. Petersburg, Madeira Beach, manatees, seabirds, gulf sunsets, Ybor City, and now giraffes, danced through my memory.
But I'm not done yet. After all, this is Monday and it's time for #MusicMovesMe, a Musical Train that leaves the station every Monday.
Who are the 4Mers who participate?
The Head 4M'er (Engineer) is XmasDolly. Her co-conductors are: Callie of JAmerican Spice, (who is on hiatus but is always welcome back once she is able to conduct once again) and ♥Stacy ofStacy Uncorked♥ Also, Cathy from Curious as a Cathy. And, ahem...a special announcement - guess who is the newest conductor? Yours truly - me! (Thank you, fellow conductors!) So...with thank you's out of the way....
Time for songs beginning with "Z".
Scorpions - The Zoo
OK, technically, this 1967 song by one of my all time favorites, Simon and Garfunkel, is called At the Zoo, but I am counting it as a "Z" song.
Zoot Suit Riot by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. I have to admit, I am also partial to the satiric version by Weird Al Yankovic called Grapefruit Diet.
Zombie - a current song by Bad Wolves.
And now, once more, thank YOU, 4Mers, for voting me the latest conductor for Music Moves Me. will strive to carry out my conducting responsibilities.
On that note I end the April 2018 Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost, and the Blogging from #AtoZChallenge. On May 7 we are supposed to blog a retrospective post, but since that is a Monday, I will do it sooner.
Thank you for taking the train ride with me, and joining me on the trip through Florida - Outside the Theme Parks that was my A to Z theme.
Why not join me daily, and enjoy my other offerings?
"Spring has arrived" - the three most welcome words anyone in the Northeastern United States can hear.
Ten days ago, hardly any flowers were blooming here in the Binghamton, New York area. Although there are snow flurries in today's weather forecast, it would appear spring has finally taken control. Forsythias are out. Daffodils are blooming everywhere.
A couple of walks in the past four or so days yielded these flowers, which seem to have sprung out of nowhere. But they didn't come out of nowhere - they just waited patiently until some internal clock whispered "it's time".
Star magnolia opening up by the Johnson City, New York post office.
Daffodils, Endicott, New York.
A viola on my mother in law's tiny lawn - this must have seeded from a hanging basket we had bought her last year.
Squill, Binghamton.
More squill, Binghamton.
Hurrah! Even if we are supposed to get snow showers today.
Day 29 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.
Tomorrow is the last day of both the Ultimate Blog Challenge and the Blogging from #AtoZChallenge. Join me then!
Ybor City, a neighborhood near downtown Tampa, Florida, is a National Historic Landmark District district.
It was founded in 1885 by cigar manufacturers, including one Vincente Martinez Ybor, and was incorporated into Tampa a couple of years later. The cigar years were good ones for Ybor City - this city of Cuban and Spanish immigrants had many high paying jobs in the cigar manufacturing industry available to them. But, by the time I first set foot in Ybor City (escorted by a cousin who grew up in Tampa) in 1966, the community had slid way downhill.
In the last thirty or so years, Ybor City has experienced a revival. These pictures were taken by me in 2013.
Let's walk down 7th Avenue for a minute, and see what is out there to see, free of charge.
The beautiful Columbia Restaurant is decorated with many historic tiles.
This is one of my favorites - decorated with grapes. It should be noted that, in addition to Cubans making up much of Ybor City's early population, there was also an influx of Italian immigrants.
The cigar heritage of Ybor City was evident in some of the offerings at the weekly farmer's market.
This is the only time I've ever seen cigars for sale at a farmer's market.
The old Ferlita (before that, La oven Francesa) bakery on 9th avenue is now a museum.
