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Sue Spitulnik

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Sue Spitulnik

I am a retired grandmother that grew up in western New York State, left for 25 years, and am now back in the area. I happily live with my husband and two cats. I am pro-military, writing, food, family, and quilting. I am con-exercise, insulting commercials, and lack of common sense. I have met some great friends through this website.

National Vinyl Record Day

 

 

 

  • Vinyl records are referred to based on rotational spee.  The RPM’s, or revolutions per minute of the more popular vinyls are:
  • 45s
  • 33 1/3
  • 78s

Other features of vinyl records included reproductive accuracy or “fidelity” (High Fidelity or Hi-Fi, Orthophonic and Full-Range), their time capacity (long playing or single), and the number of channels of audio provided (mono, stereo or quadraphonic).

Vinyl records were also sold in different sizes such as:  12 inch;  10 inch;  7 inch

Vinyl records left the mainstream in 1991.  They continued to be manufactured and have started to become increasingly popular with collectors and audiophiles.

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When I was in grade school our house was the local teenager hangout in our little town.  We had a good record player in a brown wood cabinet and lots of 45’s.  Most of them came from the local bar when they were rotated out of the juke box.  My sisters and their friends would sit on the floor and discuss in which order the records would be placed on the spindle.  The player could handle about eight but any more than that and they wouldn’t be level anymore so the speed would be off and the words would come out in a drawl.   Sometimes someone would put the record on so the B side played and there would be a commotion about, “Who played that?”  I tell people I learned to walk to the music of the ’50’s.

My neighbor had a record player and a few 33’s.  You had to have good coordination to set the needle in the free space between songs so you could hear just the song you wanted.  We would go to her room and shut the door so her little brothers couldn’t bother us.

My time as an Air Force dependent wife was spent married to my high school sweetheart.  When he was stationed in England in the mid ’70’s we would go together to the local Pub.  He would make a bet with an older “Bloke” that he could tell them the year one of their favorite old songs was popular.  They all thought he was too young to know, so they would take the bet.  He got a lot of free drinks with that ploy and no one cared it was me that knew the answer.  Good memories.

I’ve lived and gone to weddings in a lot of different states and in England.  The thing that makes me feel like I’ve come home is when I get to dance in the locale I grew up in and I dance like everyone else does.  Until I traveled I didn’t know dancing was colloquial like language.

 

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National Son’s and Daughter’s Day

August 11 is designated to spend some quality time with your youngsters or if grown, give them a call and tell them how special they are.

I’m lucky; I have one of each that are my own that live with-in an hour of us.  We get together once a month for a family meal.  The rest of the time I have to be content with texts,  and calls because everyone is so busy.  I also have some bonus-kids.  The definition of that is children I claim as my own, but didn’t have to go through child birth for.  That can apply to step children or any others you “adopt” along the way.

One of those ‘along the way children’ is a good friend of my husband’s son.  Jon is from California but went to graduate school at the Newhouse School of Broadcasting in Syracuse, NY, then got a job near us.  It is our privilege to be called his and his wife’s Rochester parents.  We rescued him when he locked himself out of his apartment, loaned them a car, had them over for dinner, made sure they had birthday pies, drove them to the airport when needed, etc.; everything a parent would do except loan them money.  They are now back in California and we miss them wandering in and out of the house.  Their picture is on our mantle along with the natural kids.

I have an unproven premise about why a person is attracted to a certain type or look of another person, in the realm of girlfriend and boyfriend.  Both of my kids first playmates of the opposite sex were blondies.  I’m talking sitting on a blanket sharing blocks and Tupperware containers age.  As teens and now adults, they are both still attracted to blonds first.  My first boy friend was half American Indian.  The male I notice first in a crowd, even today, has the darkest hair and eyes in the room.  Like I said, I have no proof I’m right.  Think about your own children and see if it applies to them, or yourself.

If you can’t see your children today, think about all the joy they have added to your life, yes, and heartache too.  No matter how old our children get, they are still our babies.  I think I’ll text mine and tell them I love them.

 

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National S’mores Day

The origin of this tasty snack is credited to the entrepreneur Alec Barnum. However, the first recorded version of the recipe can be found in the 1927 publication of Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts.   Even though the Girl Scouts were not the first ones to make s’mores, Girl Scout groups describe them in their reports as early as 1925.  Earlier recipes used the name “Some Mores”.  It is unclear when the name was shortened to “S’mores”.

What ever the name, I hope everyone on earth has had a form of this treat at least once.  Maybe even once a summer.

I know the most common place to have s’mores is around a campfire.  That’s great if you like mosquitos and camp fires.  When my kids were in their early teens we got all the ingredients and cooked the marshmallows over candles in the living room.  I thought too late about what the black smoke would do to the ceiling.  Not a good idea in a hotel either.  It sets off the smoke alarm!  Not telling where I tried that one.

A couple years ago we were visiting my husband’s niece in Cleveland.  Her husband made her a s’more by cooking one of those new huge marshmallows over the flame on their gas stove; after their boys had been pronounced fully asleep.  She proved to us, no matter how old you are, dessert is a good thing, and there is no lady like way to eat s’mores.  She ended up with marshmallow on her nose and fingers.  If it hadn’t been bedtime we would have joined her.

I never went to Girl Scout camp, but we had s’mores at 4-H camp and at church camp.  In those days there were only three true ingredients: graham crackers, chocolate bars and marshmallows.  Today substitutions are encouraged, most of which have to do with peanuts.  Use a peanut butter cup, or add peanut butter or Nutella.

Which ever way you choose to enjoy this delicious, messy treat, make sure summer doesn’t get by you without having one.

 

 

 

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National Book Lovers Day

Books have always been a big part of my life.  Growing up whenever I asked my mother a question, she would say, “Go look it up.”  I guess she thought I would learn more if I took the time to get out the World Book Encyclopedia and do the work myself.  I remember sitting on the floor by the book case and after I found the answer to my question, looking at pictures and reading about other subjects.

I am six, and more years younger than my three sisters, so a lot of times, I needed to entertain myself.  Reading was a way to fill hours and I enjoyed it.  I can remember people’s names from forty years ago; unfortunately that doesn’t translate to authors and book titles so now when I am sitting in a writing group and they are rattling off names, I can’t join in.  It’s a bit of a detriment.

Once in high school I decided I wanted to write a short story for extra credit in English class.  It didn’t go well because I discovered how much work it was.  I now know that it was the lack of personal maturity and experience that were the bigger problems.  I am currently working on draft number five of the novel I wrote.  It needs to be condensed and I am learning a lot about editing.  Writing the original is much easier than rewriting.  It’s hard to let go of your own creativity.

I once read that a house with full bookshelves in a publicly used room meant the home owners were open minded.  We have lots of books on display in our family room.  About a third of them are reference books.  There is a series by Jennifer Chiaverini and another by Emilie Richards that are about quilters.  There are novels by David Baldacci, Tom Clancy, Jean M. Auel, Stieg Larson, Ann Rule, and J.K. Rowling.  There are also some that are by authors I have met recently.  The ones that are most important to me are by men that I went to school with: Bill T. Jones and Phillip Sheppard; and a family friend, Mick Foley.  I thoroughly enjoy being able to say I know the author personally.  It’s even more fun to see them in a public forum and be able to talk family with them.

Hopefully one day soon, my novel will be on the shelf too, in hardcover book form instead of a big pile of paper.

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National Frozen Custard Day

Ice cream vendors, Archie and Elton Kohr, invented frozen custard on Coney Island, New York in 1919 when they found that adding egg yolks to ice cream created a smoother texture and helped the ice cream stay cold longer.

  • The Kohr brothers sold 18,640 cones on their first weekend on the boardwalk.

That is a heck-of-a-lot of cones! I had to look up how frozen custard is different than ice cream, so thought I would share the information.

In western New York state, where I live, we say we only have two seasons, winter and construction. It’s sort of that way with frozen custard and ice cream too. A lot of the specialty stores that sell just that are not open between Halloween and Memorial Day.  One place near Conesus Lake posts a sign that says “Closed for the season, Reason, Freezin’.”  Reading it always makes me smile.

As a military wife I lived in my home state of New York, Mississippi, Illinois, Washington, and England. I don’t remember “going for ice cream” like we do here. In Mississippi it melted too fast, and western Washington was rarely hot enough to create the craving. It would be interesting to look up which states sell the most custard and ice cream. I’ll leave that for you to do.

If you have read my previous posts, I think you have figured out that I like to eat. A special young couple in my life was discussing my birthday last year. They thought gift certificates to Bruster’s and Abbott’s would be an appropriate gift. Bruster’s sells home-made hard ice cream and Abbott’s sells frozen custard. I’m glad they didn’t get me the certificates. My car knows its way to both places without any coaxing.

With the summer we are having, hotter and dryer than usual, any day is a good day for frozen custard.  Maybe I need some right now.

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National Purple Heart Day

The first Purple Heart was created by General George Washington in 1782 to be presented to soldiers for “any singularly meritorious action”.  Since 1917 it has been awarded to any soldier, in any branch of U.S. service, when they are wounded or killed in action.  I happen to believe it should be awarded to every service member because of the wounds they receive to their psyche; the ones that another person can’t see.

I attend the local Veteran’s Writing group in the city where I live.  We met yesterday morning and I asked who had a purple heart.  Out of the three Viet Nam Vets, One WWII Vet, and three Iraq/Afghanistan Vets, no one had been awarded a Purple Heart for a visible wound to their body.  But, I know they all carry the wounds of being deployed.  Each one of them has lost a close friend, or wartime “brother” or “sister” during a combat related experience.  Each one of them admits to nightmares about something they were ordered to do, something they saw happen, or sometimes about the fact they couldn’t make a difference when they thought it was their duty to do so, or the fact they came home alive when their buddy didn’t.

I made the comment, “I was just a dependent wife,” because in my mind, that’s all I was.  I never had to face being shot at in a war zone, or hold my friend’s mortally wounded body while he took his last breath.  One of the Vets, Steve, told me after our writing session that if I left my childhood home to be the wife of a military service member, I too was a veteran.  If only for the fact I understand what sacrifices they make so the citizens of the United States can enjoy the freedoms they do.  I wish I had the capability to make eveyone understand what it does to any past or present military service member when they see someone disrespect the flag of this country.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am all for free speech and freedom of expression.  I just wish everyone could understand those freedom’s come with a heavy price for our service members.  Another point Steve made today is that military personnel are expected to be tough.  They go through a rigorous training to make them that way.  So when they realize they need help with some of their unseen wounds it is hard for them to admit it and seek help.

I have come to respect every person I’ve met in the Veteran’s Writing group, if not love them.  If it were up to me, they would all have a Purple Heart.

 

 

 

 

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