Coldest morning this past week was 10 degrees on the 16th.
Thursday morning 23rd … light snow started 0830
Expecting heavy around sunset.
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My younger son brought me a huge jar of Mt. Olive Dill Pickles a week ago (he knows I use them as probiotics with my meals). They are probably the best dill pickles available in this part of California.
They are large and quite straight so are easily quartered lengthwise. It took me xx morning to get them ready and will last me xx
You know you may be a bit strange when you are grateful for a gift of pickles.
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Ravens have been visiting the seed feeder for small birds outside one of my windows and scolding because they can’t get at the seeds even though they are not actually seed eaters.
Ravens certainly aren’t fussy eaters! Favorites include:cat or dog food (small pellets), corn, unsalted peanuts and nuts, fruits, and vegetables.
Now I need to find a way to leave food out for the ravens without other birds or other animals , like squirrels, helping themselves.
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A surprise last week was finding two poems in two separate places which were quite similar. One was an NPR radio publication, i.e. schedules and articles by staff members and letters from listeners etc. The other from a book written by an author whose books I’ve been reading for quite a few years.
The surprise was that I read both within days of each other.
I am sure neither of the writes have any knowledge of the other unless the poet read the writer’s work but that is unlikely since there didn’t seem to be any chronological connection between the author whose work had to have been written quite some time before the poet’s work.
The interesting thing was a poem written by a character in a book part of a well known series and the other submitted to a column in a local radio station publication featuring local poets.
Both poems dealt with female reproduction using almost identical wordage for physical organs.
As one son used to say “Coincidence? I think not.”
Still there doesn’t seem to be any proof of one author knowing the other or even knowing of the other’s work.
Coincidence???
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Because I rarely cook from scratch for myself anymore (cooking for one can be a pain) I make use of Marie Callender’s pot pies and other small serving frozen meals. They often contain peas.
I don’t know which Grandmother taught me this doggerel but I think of it whenever I am faced with peas in any form other than mashed, puréed, or as part of a casserole …
I eat my peas with honey
I’ve done it all my life
It makes my peas taste funny
But they don’t roll off my knife.
Okay you’re welcome. Now it will be part of your relationship with peas.
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Recently I had a reminder of my middle son who was an artist and innovator. He once moved into a new (for him) apartment without any furniture other than a couple of old kitchen chairs and some bedding, but he did have access to a pile of cardboard moving boxes.
By the time I got over to see the new digs he had two chairs, a coffee table, and a small bookcase in the the living room … a bed with a headboard, a bedside table, and another small bookcase in the bedroom, and the big surprise was a table for two in the kitchen area … all fashioned of cardboard.
He was slowly able to replace all that with real furniture so that when he moved to another place he was fully covered, mostly with handovers from friends and stuff scrounged from take-it-for-free piles.
I’m not sure I would have been able to accomplish that.
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A memory of the teacher who taught me, rather not merely dates and other school stuff, but how to learn.
The memory surfaced when I was reading a booklet shared at the dinner celebrating our 25th graduation anniversary from the HS class of 1947.
The teacher’s address was in the booklet’s appendix as part of“Remember these teachers?”
The first assignment in the teaching process was to identify this poem and learn about the poet.
“She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes.”
Lord Byron …
It was a booster for an awkwardly tall girl.
The memory triggered the memorycame as part of a booklet shared at a class reunion in He continued to send me homework until he died.
I’m so glad I was able to tell him how I still value those lessons.
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Rather than read a daily horoscope, I read the daily posting on the Old Farmers Almanac. One section is What happened on this date and for the 19th were really interesting to me.
They said …
- First practical U.S. coal-burning locomotive (York) tested, York, Pennsylvania -1831 (I’m a big fan of the 4449 .. I used to ride her back and forth from southern California when I was attending CAL in Berkeley)
- The first rescuers reached the Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada mountains, California – 1847 (I’ve seen the memorial on the site showing depth of snow that year was ooooooooooooo tall – 23 feet as I recall)
- Knights of Pythias founded – 1864 (my maternal Grandfather was a member but not until a few years later since he was born in 1880)
- Prizes are included in Cracker Jack boxes for the first time – 1912 (I remember them and the Swabbie pictured on the the box. Did any of you play with the toys or recognize the swabbie?)
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This week’s collection of trivia …
Ladies Home Journal was published for the first time– 1883
The nation’s first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated, in Haleyville, Alabama– 1968 The farm where Abraham Lincoln was born was called Sinking Spring Farm. when I first looked at the posting my first thought was it said Stinking thinking maybe it was near a swamp).
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One of my favorite poems is about the boyhood of Judas and I recently discovered a book written by one of my favorite authors and a clerical consultant called “the Gospel According to Judas”. I plan to buy a copy. It should be an interesting read.
I’m one of those who believe Judas was part of the fulfillment of prophecy and has been badly maligned in the it-wasn’t-me-it-was-him finger pointing.
One of my favorite poems is written in the voice of Judas’s mother and the final line is “.. and I weep for Judas. I weep for my son.”
If you haven’t seen the movie Jesus Christ Superstar it might be a good one to watch this coming Eastertime.
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Came across some more interesting information about Shakespeare. This time on a PBS program titled Shakespeare’s Tomb which was a deep study of where Shakespeare was REALLY buried.
It proved he is not in Westminster Abbey but in a family grouping near the altar in Stratford’s Holy Trinity Church, next to his wife Anne, under a stone carrying a blessing and a curse. It reads [or as close as I was able to copy]…
Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare
To digg the dust enclosed heare
Blesed be ye man he spares these stones
And cursed be he who moves my bones
The curse is thought to refer to ossuaries which in the times of Elizabeth I were used to make room for burials when cemeteries were full and evidently Shakespeare wanted to stay with the family.
There is a lot of information in the documentary
especially about the alleged theft of his head by grave robbers and why his grave is shorter than those of the rest of the family.
Holy Trinity Church, in order to follow Shakespeare’s wish, will not allow any opening of the grave so ground penetrating radar was used for research.
The truth that this site is the real burial place, and not Westminster Abbey, is validated by parish records.
If you are interested in the man called the greatest British writer of plays and poetry watch this show.
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My oh my … I’m sure full of advice this week.
A bit late but to close out the week …
As was said in one of Lynn Johnston’s For Better or Worse columns …
So keep smiling and I’ll be back next week …