There’s nothing like fresh vegetables out of the garden, or maybe from a farmer’s market. One way to have the same freshness during the winter is to preserve your own. This is the first ever Mason Jar Day, and that is your main tool when you want to “can your own.” Continue reading “Preserve Some For Later”
I’m guilty……I order from Amazon…..but only when I can’t find what I want locally. Why, you ask? It is so easy to shop in your pajamas, just look online and click that button to order. The excitement about getting a package builds, and the anticipation of your new whatever carries you through the waiting period, even if it is only two days. Continue reading “Keep Them Open”
On the day before gathering around the turkey, gather around the nearest jukebox to celebrate National Jukebox Day! The day before Thanksgiving is known as the best drinking day of the year (in my neck of the woods anyway.) Continue reading “Music to Party By”
It’s National Read a Road Map Day. I love how these days occur where I can fit in a subject I want to talk about. A few of you noticed my blog was missing last week. That was a big compliment. I wasn’t in front of my computer because I was using a city map to walk the streets of New Orleans; mainly, the French Quarter, a bucket list vacation.
My husband and I like music. I prefer country and we have had the privilege of walking Broadway in Nashville a couple of times. Loved it. My husband prefers jazz so last week we walked the French Quarter and are ready to go back as we didn’t get our fill of Dixieland Jazz with brass instruments in the bands. When we checked into the Royal Sonesta hotel on Bourbon Street they gave us a city map. We didn’t go anywhere without it. By the third day we pretty well had the streets in the Quarter learned, but then we walked to the World War II museum that was in the Arts district. I will admit, we liked our vacation so well, we have been talking about retiring there and dreaming about real estate.
Last night on NCIS, the team’s phones were hacked so they couldn’t use the GPS on them. Gibbs asked them if they knew how to read a map. We had to chuckle as we had just relied on a map for a week.
We also used to ride a Harley and one of the fun things we did is go on road rallies. The map we got was more like a written list of landmarks we had to follow to get to check points. We usually did it in the locale I was raised in and often arrived at our final destination in the top 10% of the group. A feather in our cap (helmet).
Reading a road map, whether landmarks one is familiar with, city street names one can’t pronounce, or following interstates seems to be a lost art among the young. I’m glad I know how to do it. And, if you like music and people watching, New Orleans French Quarter is a great place to do both. Take lots of single dollar bills as everyone expects a tip, even the guys that drape beads around your neck.
There are people that see rainbows as an artistic masterpiece in the sky, to others it is a sign of hope and to many a sign of promise.
It can be all three; beauty, hope and promise. (Jill Magnus)
A rainbow is actually nothing more than a phenomenon of nature created when a spectrum of light in the form of a multicolored arc, appears in the sky, caused by both reflection and refraction of light in water droplets. Rainbows always appear directly opposite of the sun. The light is refracted (bent) when it enters a droplet of water, then is reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it, thus a masterpiece of color is seen in the sky. Or, you can create one with a prism wherever you would like to, if you have a prism handy.
A rainbow is mentioned six times in the King James version of the Bible, in some places as a sign of hope, and other places as a seal on a promise from God that a flood will not destroy mankind. It is also used in the Torah to mean the same thing. So a person may think of a rainbow as a religious symbol.
The fantasy that there are no troubles on the other side of the rainbow comes from the songwriter, Cole Porter. In the Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland sings the lyrics he wrote that has told us that “truth” since 1939. That song is still being sung in Jazz clubs, school auditoriums and over the airwaves all these years later, and we still believe every word.
The rainbow is now being used as an identifying symbol by the gay community and that’s all right with me too, if my opinion matters.
Personally I use the rainbow color card when I am quilting, to understand the relationship of colors. It’s a valuable tool that I consider a friend. Since I have learned to use it, the colors in my quilts are more vibrant and at the same time more pleasing to the eye.
I’m not sure how easy it would be to go find a rainbow at will, but the peaceful feeling I associate with it can be something I hold close, live by, and demonstrate every day toward other humans just because I want to. I challenge you to do the same.
It’s National Common Courtesy Day. I am old school and still think using the words please, thank you and you’re welcome, out loud, are a necessity. My husband and I have been together sixteen years and use these words on a daily basis. It helps to not take each other for granted. Note: “No problem”, is not acceptable. We happen to hate that terminology, and if you break down the meaning of the words, it is actually inaccurate most of the time.
When I was a kid there was chivalry between the male and females of the human race, then women’s rights came along and destroyed it. My husband still opens my car door for me. It makes me feel important and more like a lady. People give him odd looks, like maybe he is crazy. I appreciate his kind of crazy. When he does it for a friend, or a workmate going to a meeting with him, they don’t even know how to act. It’s sad that it has come to that.
We gave a family member a very large cash present recently. She didn’t look in the envelope in front of us, but we never got a text that said, “Wow”, “Thank you” or a card after the fact. Yes, we gave it because we wanted to, but with no acknowledgement of any kind, it’s likely not to happen again. The plain old common courtesy of saying thank you, even in a text, would have insured a repeat. Are we being mean? I don’t think so. You might disagree.
I have read that the last cookie or piece of pie tends to get left because no one wants to be accused of eating it. I say, if you want it, courteously offer it to anyone around, then when everyone says no, offer to eat it so it doesn’t go to waste. You get what you want, and you are being courteous at the same time. Works for me.
To mark this day of common courtesy, let someone into traffic, take care of someone’s cart at the grocery store, don’t sit too long at your table at lunch time if there is a line waiting, find a way to do some little thing to acknowledge the importance of your fellow human. I promise, it will make you feel good inside.
Sue Spitulnik 