As a youngster our family birthday tradition was we got to pick the menu for that day and Mom would make a scratch two-layer cake and decorate it with the frosting color of our choice. My dinner was baked ham with pineapple and clove, mashed potatoes and peas. My cake was a Chocolate Town Special (recipe used to be on the Hershey’s bitter cocoa can) with white frosting and piped sky blue pink designs. Before frosting the cake Mom would wash a dime and push it, standing up, into the bottom layer. The four of us girls, Mom, her friend Doris and maybe a couple of extras would be on hand when the cake was cut. Who ever got the dime was supposed to have good luck all year. I don’t remember opening presents, but I have fond memories of those cakes. Continue reading “My Mom Did It”
I love the picture shown for this day of Do Something Nice. It depicts at what an early age a person enjoys an act of kindness. It is a little stereotypical in that the boy is doing something nice for the girl. Oh well. The kids are cute as can be. Continue reading “Show Some Love”
No this isn’t going to be a recollection about how I walked more than a mile to school, in the snow, uphill both ways…… I’m sure you have heard your grandparents or parents tell that tale a time or two. I lived seven miles from my school (K-12 all in the same sprawling building) and had to ride the bus every day. It was a treat for me when I would stay overnight with a friend in the town my school was in and we could walk home. I don’t remember the distance, but I do know it took of forever, not because it was so far, but because we were talking, looking at flowers, petting dogs, and goofing off. It was fun especially after sitting still all day in class. I never did that very well, still don’t. Continue reading “Enjoy the Fresh Air”
This is a day to show appreciation to boyfriends everywhere for the good things they do. The National Day of Calendar pointed out there are special days for just about every category of people: mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings and cousins, so why not boyfriends. Continue reading “Appreciation Goes a Long Way”
Coffee has been around a long time. The earliest evidence of it appears in the middle of the 15th century in the Sufi monasteries around Mokha in Yemen. It was there coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed. Yemeni traders brought coffee back to their homeland from Ethiopia and began to cultivate the seed. Continue reading “Make Mine Decaf”
With the recent hurricanes affecting the U. S. we have seen wonderful examples of good neighbors on the news. Too bad it takes a catastrophe to makes us aware that human empathy is still present in our crazy world of division. Continue reading “Look Out For Each Other”
Sue Spitulnik 