hallie louise

The princess and her cake!

One year ago today, Todd and I were at the hospital to meet our third grandchild and our first granddaughter. Andrew took her out of her little hospital bed and handed her to me, "I want to introduce you to Hallie Louise." My heart melted, it burst with joy, love made it grow ten thousand times bigger. Little people sure can make you feel big things. 

During the earlier stages of pregnancy the doctors had some concern about Hallie's development, which if the barrage of tests Jennifer had to go through showed certain readings, a tough decision would have to be made. The whole family went through an extremely stressful few weeks but now, look where we are - celebrating this beautiful little girl's first birthday! 

HALLIE - LOU - YEAH! It's time to celebrate "one-derful" you!

My grandpa, who would be Hallie's great-great-grandpa, was also born on this day, but in 1898. Three different centuries separate Grandpa (March 7, 1898) and Hallie (March 7, 2025). Just thinking of the history and all of the developments that have happened in 127 years is mind-boggling. I hope I'll be around long enough to tell Hallie stories of "When Didi was a little girl..." 

the friday feed: avocado toast

It's between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m., kind of early, but I've always been a morning person. For me it's not hard to roll out of bed, drink a big glass of water, and go to the kitchen to make the morning pot of coffee. The smell of coffee offers the psychological "wake up" before the first sip. After the coffee has brewed and my cup is filled, it is then time to sit down, open my computer to read blogs, and play a few New York Times games. I'm not hungry when I wake up and need to wait a few hours for the hunger pangs to set in.

For the last couple of weeks I've been on an avocado toast kick: a slice of toasted seed-sational bread, 1/4 an avocado, and giardinara to top it. It's crunchy, creamy, and the giardinara adds a touch of spiciness. Many, many thanks to my Chicago family for introducing giardinara, Chicago's quintessential condiment, to me. Giardinara is rooted in Italian tradition, the Chicago version is distinct, featuring chopped vegetables (carrots, celery, and peppers), pickled in oil and vinegar rather than just vinegar.

The avocado toast trend took off in early 2010, fueled by the wellness culture, Instagram foodies, and endorsements from chefs. It became a symbol of trendy, healthy eating, especially among the Millennials. Well, it took this Boomer quite a few years (15 years to be exact) to get enthusiastic about avocado toast and most recently, when the grocery store had a good sale on avocados, that's been breakfast for the past few days. 

In addition to avocado toast, this has been a fun week in the kitchen. I've made beef with barley soup, manicotti topped with marinara and ooey-gooey fresh mozzarella cheese, a big tray of roasted veggies, and an Asian chicken salad with a rice wine vinegar dressing. Lots of good leftovers.

happy national grammar day!

National Grammar Day's celebration falls on March 4 so, one day later, this is for you all you word nerds, grammar geeks, and apostrophe aficionados! 

A Clause for Celebration

On National Grammar Day they gathered with flair,

All eight parts of speech were already there.

The hall was booked by bold Noun -

Properly dressed in a velvet gown.

“I’ve named this bash The Grand Soirée!”

Declared Noun with nominal display.

Beside her stood Verb, full of action -

Dancing, leaping, a live interaction.

Verb boogied hard. “I move the night!

Without me, nothing’s done right!”

He twirled Adverb fast and quick - 

“Quite remarkably smooth!” she chimed in slick.

Adjective shimmered in radiant light,

Describing the décor as “sparkling” and “bright.”

She fluttered by Noun with colorful flair -

“You’re absolutely fabulous!” filled the air.

Pronoun slipped in, subtle and cool.

“Why repeat yourself? That’s not the rule.

When Noun grows tired, I stand in place - 

I, you, they - efficiency with grace.”

Preposition hovered near the punch,

Positioning guests in a relational bunch.

“Stand by the cake, sit on the chair,

Dance under lights - syntax is where!”

Conjunction arrived with a linking grin:

“I bring folks together - let the joining begin!

Noun and Verb, Adjective or Adverb - 

Without me, sentences would lose their nerve.”

Interjection burst through the door - 

“Wow! What a party! Encore! Encore!”

She popped like confetti, bright and loud,

Startling the rather composed crowd.

Soon they formed a sentence line,

Structured, rhythmic, quite divine.

Noun took Verb by the hand so tight,

Adverb modified the dance just right.

Adjective added glitter and gloss,

Preposition prevented semantic loss.

Conjunction kept the rhythm in sync,

Pronoun saved space - and time to think.

And as the music reached a stop,

They placed a period - full, on top.

A perfect end, no fragment in sight - 

Just well-formed joy, concise and bright.

“Cheers!” cried Interjection. “Hooray!”

“Let’s do this again next Grammar Day!”

wednesdsay's words and wanderings and wonderings

In front of the middle school where I taught is a little pep talk message for students to engage in reading. Whoever created this bulletin used the lingo that reaches the Generation Alpha youth. 6 7 (pronounced six seven) is a nonsensical meme without a fixed meaning, used for annoying adults and amusing peers. So typical of middle schoolers! But if this message gets across, then it's done the job. In actual life, to become accomplished, proficient readers students should read 6 - 7 nights a week. 

My son is on a hybrid schedule for work, working three days in the office and two days from home. On one of his office days he had to stay a little longer than planned and he called to ask if I would take his dog for a walk. Sure! We took a nice walk and on our way back to the house, at the same time, Brutus and I saw the biggest C-A-T ever. Brutus barked, the cat hissed, and I hoped that the cat would stay on the porch. It did.

On a beautiful day Todd and I took a four mile hike at Sugarcreek MetroPark. We took the path that went around the perimeter of the park, up and down some sizable hills and across Little Sugar Creek. The creek was filled with flowing water because of the 15 inches of snow that had fallen and melted. The trees are still bare but the spring leaves will be showing up soon.

On February 22, many Americans were glued to the TV to watch the gold medal game for the US v. Canada men's hockey teams. The US defeated Canada in overtime with Zach Werenski feeding the puck to Jack Hughes for the golden goal. Werenski plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets and my son and his buddy were at the game along with thousands of other fans to give a big hero's welcome to the veteran defenseman. 

A couple friends and I went to Cincinnati to take a tour of the Rookwood Pottery factory. This factory has been handcrafting ceramics in Cincinnati since 1880. Photography wasn't allowed in the factory but it was in one of the prettiest bathrooms I've ever seen. Look at those tiles. Such works of art.

And for $175.00 you can buy a hand-thrown Rookwood pet bowl for your favorite furry friend. I thought about my big dogs using a pottery bowl and what enthusiastic eaters they were. It's beautiful but dogs want food and they don't care what the vessel is. They just want to be fed. 

 

this is us

My husband has always liked watching TV - sports, movies, financial shows, the news. Now that he's retired the television is on for a good part of the day. (Right now, the news is on constantly to keep up with what is going on in the Middle East). Me, I'm not a TV watcher - really never have been. After dinner is finished and cleaned up, that is when I'll sit down and turn on the television. I don't watch much and a lot of times it puts me to sleep. During the day, I take walks, go to yoga, work on my blog, read, volunteer, figure out what to have for dinner, get together with friends, go exploring, and if something spur-of-the-moment comes up, I'm out the door to do it. My hobbies aren't his. We have our life where we share all kinds of moments, trips, family events and doings, social events, sporting events, and lots more. Our strengths complement one another, we share core values and similar life goals, and in August we'll celebrate our 46th anniversary.

monday's mulling: the art of noticing

David from the Adventures of Travel Penguin on his most recent Saturday Morning Post wrote about the difference between looking and seeing. What do you notice? Look for the unexpected in the everyday surroundings.

One week ago, I finished a Frozen Feet Challenge where the goal was to get out and walk every day for six weeks. The last day the plan was to do the usual neighborhood walk down the hill, turn left on the long, straight street, tour all the cul-de-sacs along the way, wind my way home in time to meet with the lady who was coming to the house to give me ideas about some new furniture pieces for the space we renovated. It was going to be a quick walk but then I looked down and saw it. That snow covered leaf - "snowliage" - a transient event, a limited-time masterpiece of nature.

My supposed-to-be-quick walk turned into an over-an-hour-taking-30-photos noticing walk. I just wanted to inject some novelty into the way I saw the neighborhood. It became a game - a single object scavenger hunt, played for the fun of noticing. (In case you were wondering, close call but I did arrive home by the skin of my teeth, just in time for my appointment).

happy 223rd birthday, ohio!

The state that I have called home for most of my life celebrates its 223rd birthday today. Happy Birthday to the Buckeye State! Ohio joined the Union and became the 17th state on March 1, 1803.

A few tidbits about my state:

Why is Ohio called the Buckeye State? In the 18th century when Ohio was settled, Buckeye trees were prevalent in the area. Hence, the nickname the Buckeye state.

Ohio is sometimes referred to as "The Mother of Presidents." Seven of of our presidents were born here.

The state bird of Ohio is the cardinal and the state flower is the red carnation.

The Ohio state flag is not rectangular in design and is the only pennant designed flag of our 50 states.

Photo: Jeff Kubina

More than 300,000 Ohioans served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Ohio is said to have had the most active network of the Underground Railroad of any state with 3000 miles of routes. Today, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is located in Cincinnati.

Thanks to Wilbur and Orville Wright, Ohio is also known as "The Birthplace of Aviation." The Wright Brothers pioneered their gravity-defying machine in their Dayton bicycle. Ohio is also home to prominent astronauts John Glenn, the first man in space and the oldest nam in space and Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. Ohio has been a source of aviation innovation over the years. The National Museum of the United States Air Force is located near Dayton, Ohio, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and is the largest and oldest military aviation museum in the world.

Ohio has two professional football teams: the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns. Interstate 71 connects the two cities for the Battle of Ohio. Canton, Ohio is home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where the National Football League was founded in 1920.

Ohio also is home to two professional baseball teams, the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Guardians (formerly the Indians). The Cincinnati Reds, originally known at the Cincinnati Red Stockings, were the first professional baseball team in the United States, founded in 1869.

Originally called the “mechanical money drawer,” the cash register was invented by Ohio native James Jacob Ritty in Dayton.

In 1839, Charles Goodyear from Akron, Ohio invented the process of vulcanizing rubber.

General Mills, of Akron, Ohio, trademarked Quaker Oats as the first breakfast cereal in 1877.

Thomas Edison, famous for inventing the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, was born in Ohio.

The inventor of the traffic light and gas mask, Garrett Morgan, is from Cleveland, Ohio and in 1914, the first traffic light in the United States was installed by American Traffic Signal Company in Cleveland.

“Duct Tape Capital of the World“ is in Avon, Ohio, where the DUCK duct tape brand was created.

Ohio was the first state to enact laws that protected working women in 1852.

Oberlin College was the first college in the United States to admit women and to admit black students.

In 1923, Cleveland High School students, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, created Superman.

What state is round on the ends and high in the middle? You guessed it...

O-HI-O!