Healthy Super Bowl!

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

"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.  I've repeated this post several times, updating it each year, so here goes:

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, one of our splurges.  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 is point free. 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 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, and on the current WW program (what Weight Watchers is called now), fat free plain Greek yogurt and beans are point free.  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.

We also plan to make turkey chili - chicken and turkey breast are also point free on the current program.  Sadly, avocadoes still have points (SmartPoints, in the current system).

I don't think I'll even miss the fried, gloppy wings.  My pocketbook will thank us, too.



Do you make your own snacks?

Local Saturday - The Frozen Groundhog

Today is Groundhog Day in the United States, where we pull a groundhog out of the ground to predict the weather.   It's purely scientific, of course, and this is how it works:

If the groundhog sees its shadow, we have six more weeks of winter.  If the groundhog doesn't see its shadow, we get an early spring - supposedly.

The groundhog usually sees his shadow, but, according to our Weather Channel, the main groundhog (in Pennsylvania) has only been accurate about 39% of the time.

In 2015, one of our harshest Northeast winters in many years, the ground hog saw its shadow, despite the fact that it was overcast, and a rain/snow mix was moving in.  Somehow, that ground hog almost always sees its shadow.

In 2013, it didn't see its shadow and we still got six more weeks of winter.   The groundhog almost got the death penalty for that one.  (On the other hand, considering how many of my plants groundhogs have destroyed over the years, good thing I wasn't on that jury.)

In 2016, it was unseasonably warm.  2017?  It got up to 42F (5.5 Celsius) at our house yesterday. This post from 2014 shows a more typical February day.

Then there was 2019 and the polar vortex.  We in upstate New York didn't get the brunt of it, but still.  The morning before we set a new record of -10 (-23 C) with gusting winds.

There are multiple predicting groundhogs in the United States, and they even compete with each other.  But this year, the two main groundhogs agreed.

They didn't see their shadow.  An early spring!  Well, since Thursday, this has been proved to be a bit overoptimistic, but some parts of our country are going to see a temperature swing of over 100 degrees between this week and next week.

Of course, since I woke up to plus 3 degrees F this morning (-16 C) we could use an early spring.

Let's cross our fingers!

Mega Snow Squall #SkywatchFriday

We skywatchers usually watch the sky to witness sunrises, sunsets, beautiful cloud formations, and so forth.

We don't usually want to show you a sky you can't see.

But sometimes there are exceptions.

I was attending a Weight Watchers meeting in a conference room in downtown Binghamton, New York and had a bird's eye view of downtown.  We were waiting for the meeting to begin when someone looked out the window and saw it coming.

Here, you still have a good view of the courthouse across the street from the building I was in.

Then the squall moved in.  That isn't fog.  It's snow.

Trust me, you don't want to be out in that.

A few feet to the right of the first three pictures.  Seconds later, you literally couldn't see out the window at all.  It was a wall of white.

So why am I making a big deal about a snow squall?  We get them several times each winter, but this one was special.  The system that created it created squalls that impacted millions of people. 

I'm happy I was snug in an office conference room, because, as it turns out, my spouse and my guest photographer were both outside when it hit.

Join Yogi and other bloggers who watch the sky each Friday at #SkywatchFriday.  Maybe next week I'll get back to skies you can see.

Within the Vortex

On this last day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, I keep a promise I make to my blog readers, some of whom live in places that never see snow.   The promise is, I will show them snow.

In fact, they can have all of it.  Today, we experience below zero (F) temperatures.  Last night, the wind howled.  Tomorrow, I will have a special Skywatch Friday for you.

It isn't just us.  Much of the nation is suffering worse, much worse.  Where I live near Binghamton, New York, we are actually fortunate.  In some states, mail delivery has been suspended.  Schools are closed.

Ice on side of a highway

It makes you look at your world in a new way when you think of something so common to you that is exotic to others.

If you want even more snow, here some of my favorite snow posts, for your enjoyment.

Shoveling Nemo.

Oreo snow.  Yes, there is such a thing, and we had it yesterday.

 Must Frosty die?

Great Glops of Snow.

The winter that's been a wonder. 

And finally, if you wonder if snow sneakers are a thing - they are. (I'm not into snowshoeing or skiing, by the way - I've never been into winter.  Alas.)  The snow sneakers in this post are still going strong in 2019, by the way.

Happy last day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.

Snowday

Snow days have never been so musical.

A Michigan school superintendent and a high school principal teamed up to sing an announcement that their district was announcing a snow day.

They both have great voices.  Needless to say, this video is going viral.

Our local school district prides themselves on their music programs.  I think they should hire these gentlemen immediately.

I wish I could take a snowday, but my workday awaits.  Still, with a recently retired spouse, I am fortunate, for I will be transported to work while he does all the work.  In winter, you never retire in much of the United States - there is snow to scrape off the car, snow to shovel.

And if we get a snow day, it means things are really bad.

Keep warm, my readers trapped in the Polar Vortex!

Day 30 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.

Palm in a Box

We were looking around in a landmark farm stand in Florida earlier this month when my spouse noticed it.

"It" was a small palm sapling in a plastic bag inside a box.  The box was one of many on a display.

The box declared "Grows Indoors and Outdoors" and "Withstands Traveling in Sealed Plastic Bag". It guaranteed "Nursery Fresh Arrival".

Since we live in upstate New York, where temperatures are going to drop to below zero in the next few days (plus, we will get snow today), this palm would have to be an indoor plant.

The box assured us the plant would survive temperatures between 55 and 85 degrees once it was taken out of the bag.   "Your palm is definitely an indoor plant and should not be exposed to sunlight" although, in summer, it might want some outdoor time in the shade, "letting it have the benefit of the rain and dew".

It would really have been happy last summer, our wettest summer ever.

For my spouse, it was love at first sight.  It would be his Florida souvenir.  He bought it.

The box was correct.  The plant survived two weeks of Florida travel plus about 17 hours of transit within our vehicle, on a train. Who knows for how long it had been in that box.

And here it is, freshly planted.  How did the people selling this plant do it?

I'm a bit intrigued myself.

There's just one little problem.  I did research on the Neanthe Bella palm, also known as the table top palm, and it does make a nice houseplant.  They are native to southern Mexico and it's a popular houseplant, according to various websites.

However, it is very susceptible to an insect pest called the spider mite.  Yikes.

I have some stories about this pest, which is so small you don't even know your plant is infested, until you notice your plant is dying and you also note these weird webs all over the top of your plant. The spider mite, in fact, is related to the spider.  And they are difficult to eradicate.  I know that from experience.  I've never conquered them.

Gee, spouse, thanks.  I now have a spider mite magnet in my house.

But maybe I'll be lucky and we'll end up with a treasured plant.  That's part of the fun of growing plants, isn't it?

Either way, we were only out $4.99.

Here's to Florida, in the midst of the Polar Vortex.

Day 29 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Cold Music - #MusicMovesMe #blogboost

It's Monday and guess what time it is?  Yes, it is 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.  

Join us every Monday if you have music to share (no non music posts, please, because we need something to dance to) and you can join in on the music fun!

This is what I woke up to on Sunday morning.

Because this is a "free" week and we choose our own theme (and I'm watching snow come down as I blog) I am going to choose as my theme:  Songs that mention "cold", either in the title, the lyrics or in the name of the group.

This first song, from 1982, is Stone Cold by Rainbow, is not about cold, but about a man whose wife has just left him without warning - stone cold.

From 1980, the Rolling Stones and "She's So Cold". 

Still on the theme of male/female relationships, Foreigner and "Cold as Ice".

Coldplay is a group that I have not really gotten into all that much (gasp!) but I do enjoy this one song - Viva La Vida.

Because I did want to have at least one song dealing with cold weather, here's The Zac Brown Band - Colder Weather.

And I'll close with - yes, it's not Christmas, but the polar vortex is here so here's Frosty the Snowman, as sung by Jimmy Durante.  

Is it cold where you live?  See you next week at #MusicMovesMe!

Day 28 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Parakeet Curtains

The hospice is a small place, tucked into a neighborhood in a city in Pennsylvania.  Outside the house it must be lovely in the summer, but the trees were bare the day my spouse and I visited, and snow carpeted most of the ground.

There are six rooms, and a kitchen like one you would see in a residence.  There is a place to sign in.  There is someone at the front desk and a buzzer sounds whenever someone enters or leaves.

Her room is named after a color which is also the name of a fruit.  Her window overlooks some of the wooded grounds, but she does not notice.

She sleeps almost all of the time now.  She does not see the couple of pieces of furniture in the room, nor does she see the curtains made lovingly by someone (I suspect) in a bird print - not quite parakeets, but that's what I want to think they are.  I love birds.  I love parakeets.

Her husband, my first cousin, held her hand and whispered that we were here to see her, but she did not awaken.  He had already been there for a couple of hours, and was going to go home soon to make lunch for himself and his adult son (who lives with him). Then, later in the evening, he would go to work.

The cancer had come quickly, leaving her partially paralyzed, and it took him a while to process what was happening.  His wife was given anywhere from a month to 18 months by her doctors.  Sadly, the tumor is growing quickly and now he just takes it one day at a time.

We all knew this visit (we had also seen her about two weeks ago) would be the final one.  There aren't too many days left for this loving, devoted couple.  My cousin is in a bad place right now - besides what is happening with his wife, he also lost his brother, his only sibling, less than a year and a half ago.

He's a man who uses humor and punning to interact with family and friends. On our last visit, his wife was able to talk briefly with us, and they shared some puns.    But when we visited the other day, there were no laughs, no puns.

An hour or so after we left, my cousin texted me. 

His text was simple.  "Thanks for stopping by it means a lot."

I was lost for words. 

I still am.

Bougainvillea, symbol of welcoming visitors

Day 27 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Local Saturday - Living Wormholes

Taken January 2013

She is what some call a human wormhole.  And I hope she'll forgive me for saying so, because she knows I love her very much.  It's not the most elegant name, the "human wormhole" but if you think about it a little, the name is a bit catchy.

I've blogged before about my spouse's last living aunt.  As of this week she is 107 (yes, 107) years old.  But she's so much more.  She is a link to the past, the past that, for all but a handful of us, exists only in textbooks.  When I touch her, when I talk to her, I am touching history.

She was alive when the Titanic made its maiden voyage (1912).

She was alive when our country enacted a constitutional amendment permitting the income tax (1913).

She was alive during the post World War I flu epidemic (1918-1919) and vaguely remembers wagons traveling from house to house where needed to pick up the dead (what a childhood memory).

We are fascinated by human wormholes.  I've blogged about some of them myself, from the living grandson of a U.S. President who served from 1841 to 1845 to a man who witnessed Lincoln's 1865 assassination and lived to tell the story on a late night game show in 1956.

One story has an interesting twist.  It is said that Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who fought in the Civil War, shook hands with both former President John Quincy Adams (born in 1767) and a young/future President John J Kennedy (whose life was cut short by assassination in 1963).  I can not find any firm evidence for this having actually happened (there is a fascinating discussion online about whether it might have been possible, though). However, Holmes did have a link to more than just the Civil War, where it is said he once saved Lincoln's life.

Holmes, who lived from 1841 to 1937, had fond memories of his grandmother, who could remember red coated English troops marching through the streets of Boston at the beginning of our Revolutionary War. When she was five. In 1776.

If I live long enough, I might be a human wormhole, too.  I don't know if that makes me happy - or scares me a little.

Do you know anyone who would qualify as a human wormhole?

Day 26 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Palm Beach County Sunset #SkywatchFriday #blogboost

I've said it more than once - January sunsets are some of the best.

We have nice ones near Binghamton, New York, where I work, but Florida has its share, too.

These photos were taken January 20 in Palm Beach County, on the east coast of South Florida.

I am not sure I've ever seen clouds quite like this.

Sunsets over water are the best.

The palm trees don't hurt, either.

Right now, all I can do is dream of returning to Florida one day.  For now, I will join Yogi and the other skywatching bloggers who gather each Friday for #SkywatchFriday.

Day 25 of the Ultimate Blog challenge #blogboost

The Road #ThursdayTreeLove #blogboost

My readers in warm climes will love today's post.  We who live in the Northeast United States will not.

Thanks to my guest photographer, who lives out in the countryside outside of Binghamton, New York, I will be able to provide you with your fix of snow.

When she took this picture, it was below 10 degrees F (-12 C).  I'll let you guess how deep the snow is.    I love how the trees line the road for as far as you can see.

Join Parul and other tree loving bloggers the second and fourth Thursday of each month for #ThursdayTreeLove.  Our next episode will be on Valentine's Day - February 14.

Day 24 of the Ultimate Blog challenge #blogboost

Mona Lavender - Wordless Wednesday

In the northeast United States, covered in snow and shivering in bitter temperatures, what we need now is a picture of a flower.

This is something called Mona Lavender, which is actually a type of Swedish ivy.  I have a plant in my bedroom window but I found this in a nursery and it spoke to me of spring.

Join Esha and other bloggers for #WordlessWednesday.

Day 23 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.

It's All About the Spam Comments

Nowadays, when I get on my blog in the morning, the first thing I see is comments - comments of encouragement and love.

Here are some from recent mornings:

"I love it when people come together to share great views!  Keep up the good work..."  (on a blog post from several years ago).

"We are a group of community organizers and find your blog of great use...."  (Hmmm, I've gotten that message at least 25 times a year.)

"I need help with my webblog. Can you contact me..."  (short answer, No.)

"It's not my first time to pay a visit this blog page" (again, on a post from years ago).

"Hey there I am so happy I found your blog, I really found you by accident..."  (I'm sure you did, especially as you said you found it on Ask Jeeves, which hasn't been Ask Jeeves in some 12 years).

"I know this is off topic...." yes, it is and no, I'm not responding."

"What blogging platform do you use?"  No comment, including to the anonymous blogger asking.

Yes, I get these comments and I'm sure you (if you are a blogger) do to.  But:  WHY?

Back in October, I encouraged (legitimate) bloggers to visit a post that had been, by far, the most hit-upon by spammers.  It was a Halloween themed post about Yonkers (a large city in New York State) and zombies.  I asked bloggers to comment about their most spam-hit upon blogs and the responses were interesting.

But getting this obvious spam (and some of it makes you think for a minute if it is really spam, as it is so well done)  makes me feel like someone has taken a (insert word of your choice here concerning removal of waste material from your body) on my blog, and that is not an image any blogger wants.

(So here's a better one for you - my last garden flowers in a vase from early November).

In case you've ever wondered why spammers come to your blog, this is a fascinating blog post about why.

This blogger gives three possible solutions for his platform.  On the platform I use (Blogger), there are several options - first, don't accept comments at all (which I will not do).  Then, use comment moderation (which allows me to read comments, sent to me in emails, before I decide if to post).  And finally, only allow commenters with Google accounts to comment.

At this point in time I can add that Blogger has made it so hard for people to comment, maybe soon all will be left are the spammers.  Too bad.

So, a question for you today:  has spam ever made you want to quit blogging?

Day 22 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Standing in the Shadows - #MusicMovesMe #blogboost

It's Monday and time for another Music Moves Me.

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. This month, our conductor is hiding in the shadows, refusing to reveal his or her identity.  Today, the theme he or she has picked is "songs containing the word shadow"

I was a big fan of the group The Four Tops and loved their hit "Standing in the Shadows of Love".

While researching this, I came across a song by Guns N'Roses that was recorded in 1986 but not released until last may called "Shadow of Your Love".

Which, of course immediately led to this song by Supertramp called "Shadow Song" that I had never heard before.

Although a performer formerly known as Cat Stevens released a song called "Moonshadow" in 1971, I decided to go with a cover by Patti LaBelle.

Finally, speaking of versions not all of us are familiar with, many of us have heard the Rolling Stones Song "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby (Standing in the Shadow)" but I had never heard this version of the song, recorded in 1966.

See you next week!

Day 21 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

A Technology Mystery

Have you ever heard of a wire recorder?

I have a little family mystery I've never been able to solve, and I'm curious to know if any of my readers have ever heard of this technology.

A while back, I blogged about the Air King wire recorder my son (a lover of old technology) bought out of the bargain bin in the local electronics store.  For those of you who have never heard of these....they are a technology that peaked in the late 40's and early 50's....recording sound on very thin wires.

The recorder came with a wire spool.

The recorder works, sort of (as far as playback) but needs work. It has an arm apparently to play records, but it is broken.  Lights are burnt out.

My son, who loves to fix things, managed to clean the heads so the wire recording that came with this plays.  I sure wish I could identify what is on it.  Son did record this (via a microphone) onto his computer, just in case.

There is, first, something sounding like a late 40's music piece, which I suspect may have recorded off the radio.  Jazz?  Have to admit ignorance.

The next thing on the spool is a live reading of a satire of "The Night Before Christmas" that may have been done by some drunken fraternity brothers-or people playing drunken fraternity brothers.  As a history buff this one interests me.  I wonder if we could do some detective work to find the former owner of this recorder-although I don't have the time to do this.

The third (and apparently, last) thing is a recording of a woman singing, accompanied by a band, again might be a recording off the radio.

Unfortunately neither of us are up on the music of that era.

For now, the contents will have to be a mystery, but the recorder is a valued addition to my son's Museum of Obsolete Technology. 

Day 20 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

The Art of Keeping in Touch

A blog post I recently read reminded me of a blog post from 2012, which I repeat today with a little updating.

I had recently visited Brooklyn (over Christmas) and had dinner with several relatives who live in the area.  The death of a couple of my spouse's relatives in November and December, and the serious illness of one of my relatives (whom I visited a couple of days ago), have made me think more and more about keeping in touch.

Recently, in decluttering, my spouse found a CD of letters from the Round Robin, which also brought back this memory:

The Round Robin and the Art of Keeping in Touch

I had blogged about the Month of Letters project I had heard about through a fellow blogger.

The idea was to write 24 letters (hard letters, though the mail) during the month of February.  Or, at least, mail something.

It was a good idea but I didn't sign up.  But it did bring back memories of a letter writing tradition my father's side of the family participated in for a number of years.  And why trying to start it up again several years ago just didn't work out.

This project was called The Round Robin.  My father, who would be (in 2019) 104 if he was still alive, was one of six children.  As adults, they went their separate ways.  My Dad and two siblings stayed in the New York City area (they grew up in Brooklyn). One moved to Albany, one moved to Tampa, Florida and one ended up first in Texas and later in Iowa and Illinois.  Only one of them, the youngest, is still alive now in 2019.

To stay in touch (as telephoning, even someone in another part of New York City, was so expensive back then), they wrote letters.  I don't know who in our family started The Round Robin but the point was:  You wrote a letter, put it in a big envelope with everyone else's letter. When the packet got to you, you replaced your old letter with a current letter, and then sent it on.  The Robin's route was always the same.

By the time I was a teenager, I had taken over from my Dad.  So it was me, writing to five aunts and uncles.  I looked forward to getting those letters and I loved responding for my Dad.  But each time, the Robin packet would take longer and longer to come.  Finally, the Robin stopped.  In the meantime, I had grown up and had better things to do.  Time passed....lots of time.

Around 2007, I thought it would be a really good idea to start up the Robin again.   My Dad and his five brothers/sisters had a total of 12 children between them. (I am an only child.)  I contacted my 11 first cousins and almost all of them were eager to join in on Robin 2.0..  The oldest cousins at that point were near 60, the youngest were in their 40's.  All of us were of the last letter writing generation.  In fact, several of my cousins have never felt comfortable with computers.  (Guess I didn't inherit those genes.  My spouse thinks my computer is grafted to my body.)

Another cousin, whose grandmother and my grandmother were sisters, joined our Robin group.

The last of my father's siblings, an uncle, wanted to join, too, but...guess what happened.  The first packet took a year to make the rounds.  The second packet never made it back to me.  He never had a chance to write a letter-one that I saw, anyway.

And what about the generation of our children?  Between the 12 of us, we have 11 children.  Many of them are young adults, including my son.  None of them were interested in the Robin.

I have finally decided the Robin is not viable.  Not dead, mind you.  Just busy sunning him or herself in Florida, or the French Riviera, or somewhere else more pleasant than upstate New York, while most of us keep in touch by email, text, or Facebook.

Know how my last living uncle, who is in his mid 90's as of 2019, communicates with his three children?  Skype and email is a large part of it.  And I guess that's the point of this blog post.

Yes.  Letter writing has died out because....dare I say it?  There are now better ways to communicate.  Sad but true.

I wish letter writing projects the best, but I wonder how many of those people will still write to each other when February fades into March.

What do you think?  Did any of you have a family letter  packet like the Round Robin?  Do any of you keep in touch with siblings or cousins by snail mail nowadays?

Day 19 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Brooklyn Moods #SkywatchFriday #blogboost

Brooklyn, New York, is part of New York City.  It's a part that was once neglected by tourists, but more and more are finding that Brooklyn is a place they should be checking out.

I grew up in New York City.  For the first time in my life, this past December, I found myself (with my spouse and son) in a hotel room in downtown Brooklyn.  I took this sunrise picture from my window.

Dec 23 sunset, showing that sunrise and sunset beauty can be found anywhere.

Coney Island Beach Christmas Eve - no more clear weather; the clouds have arrived.

Dec 23 holiday lights.

Join Yogi and the other bloggers who watch the sky each Friday on #SkywatchFriday.

Day 18 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

The Lessons of MLK and Mudcat Grant

It is sobering to realize that January 15, 2019 would have been the 90th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.


Of course, he was never allowed to live long enough to celebrate it.

I am a senior citizen, and I realize that fewer and fewer people alive today experienced the world that Martin Luther King, Jr. was born into.  I never did, because I am white.  But my father witnessed segregation (again, through the eyes of a white man who grew up in Brooklyn) when he was stationed in the Southern United States (Mississippi and Arkansas) for a part of his military service in World War II.  He would use news stories about the Civil Rights movement as "teachable moments" for me.

Years later, I had the opportunity to meet Mudcat Grant, a former major league pitcher (and a member of the 12 Black Aces - black pitchers who had won at least 20 games in a season - quite an accomplishment) who grew up in Florida in the days of segregation.  (He's 83 now).

He told a group of us the story of how a teenaged boy he knew as a young child was lynched because he had committed the crime of going in the front door of a white woman's house while delivering her groceries.

It wasn't just that lynching, but his mother's reaction that stuck with Mudcat the rest of his life.  The reaction basically was that this is the way life was for his people, and he'd better get used to it.

What impressed me the most about meeting Mudcat Grant was his gentle-manliness.  He was  softspoken and you never would have guessed what he had gone through in his early years.

Now, hatred is on the rise again - and it is more and more acceptable to express that hatred, to the point of a Senator making offensive comments for years before being formally rebuked.

This hatred must be fought, least it once again become acceptable in our United States.

It is not enough to name streets all over our country for Martin Luther King, Jr.  For what Mudcat Grant and others in our country went through, we must say "never again" to all hate.

Day 17 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost.

The Great Molasses Flood

It wasn't a joke.  It wasn't sweet.  And when I first heard about it several years ago, it was hard to believe.

On January 15, 1919, a tank of molasses located in the North End of Boston exploded, with 2.5 million gallons of sweet, sticky molasses bearing down on the neighborhood  like a gigantic wall at some 35 miles an hour.

Nothing could withstand the flood.  People were crushed and houses crumbled as the flood swept over the area.  21 people died - the youngest 10, the oldest 78.

Here are some photos of the aftermath, including a photo of what the neighborhood looks like today.

Area residents claimed you could smell the molasses every summer for decades after.

This song commemorates the event, which led to legislation designed to increase safety in industrial construction.

Not all that is sweet is desirable.

Day 16 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day January 2019

Welcome to the 15th of January.  It's time for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Where I live in upstate New York, winter couldn't make up its mind if it wanted to come or not.  Snow,  warm, rain, snow, repeat.  But winter has closed in.

I don't have much blooming in my house. This African violet, which I purchased in early December, is still going strong.

Who knows if this primrose will make it to spring?

My reliable Thanksgiving cactus still blooming.

And finally, my geraniums struggle, but gave me one bloom.

It's bitterly cold today where I live in zone 5b near Binghamton, New York but we can still have our flowers.

Join Carol at May Dreams Gardens and other bloggers the 15th of each month for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  What's blooming in your house or yard?

P.S. Today is the 100th anniversary of Boston's Great Molasses Flood.  More on that tomorrow.

Day 15 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost