Sunday, February 9, 2025

what do you see?

As a child I loved to pick up things and put them in my pockets. As an adult, I still do. The other day Todd and I took a walk and on a cul-de-sac by the golf course, I looked down and saw some little white shells. Shells on a road in Ohio? I had to pick them up and put them in my pocket. What to do with them? I don't know. It's the joy of the find.

Late last fall, after the walnuts had fallen and the squirrels had cleared out all the goodies, a half walnut shell caught my eye. When I saw it on the road, it looked like a heart so into my pocket it went. I like to find heart shapes in nature. It sat on my kitchen windowsill for a while along with some other knick-knacks. 

The other day I picked it up and looked at one side of the shell and then the other. Look and see what your imagination brings to mind. My thoughts are below.


✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻

On the left, I see an owl's face - on the right, a skeleton's face.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

snow 🌨

When we left for Chicago, our yard and patio were covered with snow. When we got home, the only evidence of the big snowfall was a pile that was slowly melting on the patio. Monday's 60° F (15.5° C) melted every last bit of the white stuff.



The last winter when every state received snow was 15 years ago in February 2010.

The January 20–22, 2025 Gulf Coast blizzard brought snowfall to regions of the Gulf Coast that rarely receive wintry precipitation. This was the first recorded blizzard on the Gulf Coast and the most significant winter storm in the region since 1895. The Gulf Blizzard of 2025 will go down in history as one of the most unusual and impactful winter storms the Southeast has ever seen. It caused major disruptions, canceled flights, and closed schools. But it also gifted Southerners with an unforgettable taste of deep-south powder—proving that Mother Nature is still the one in charge.



Friday, February 7, 2025

the friday feed: corn

We arrived home from Chicago on Sunday evening. Monday morning I made my grocery list, got sidetracked doing other "stuff" (going to yoga, taking a 4 mile walk on a beautiful sunny, 60° day, getting the trip laundry done, etc.) and I didn't make it to the store. The refrigerator was bare - I cleaned that out before our trip - so we relied on things that were in the freezer. Todd grilled a pork tenderloin; a package of frozen green beans (steamed) and frozen corn (sautéed) rounded out the dinner. It was a simple, easy Monday night dinner.

With the corn, I sautéed some garlic and onion in olive oil, added the corn to that mixture, and finished it off with a nub of butter. It was tasty but it got me to thinking about summer and working at the farm and fresh corn on the cob. Oh, what a taste of summer! The corn concoction was tasty and it will do until the next fresh corn season is upon us.


Frozen Bird’s Eye corn

Six months ’til fresh corn season

Can't wait for July!

Thursday, February 6, 2025

chicago to dayton

As we drove out of Chicago, the GPS guiding us, I glanced at the screen and noticed the "Chicago spaghetti," all the roads that converged, crossed, and carried thousands and thousands of cars in each direction.




When we got to the I-75/I-70 interchange, Dayton's major highway intersection, the view and the amount of traffic changed drastically. To be fair, Chicago's population is 2,638,159 and Dayton's metro population is 754,000. 





Wednesday, February 5, 2025

wednesday's words and wonderings and wanderings

Most people don't make Chicago a winter destination but when our daughter asked us to babysit our little grandson, yes...we're there in no time! Actually it takes a little over five hours to get there if we hit the traffic just right.

We did a lot of walking in the Humboldt Park neighborhood, whether it was for walking the dog or just to explore the area.

Humboldt Park became a part of Chicago in 1869. The creation of Humboldt and several other west side parks was originally envisioned to provide a beautiful scenic escape from the congested city life.

After the Great Chicago Fire, large numbers of German, Scandinavians, and Italians moved to Humboldt Park. Other nationalities, including Polish and Russian Jews, and Ukrainians, also began to move into Humboldt Park. In the mid-1950s, Humboldt’s diverse neighborhood grew to include Puerto Ricans. With such a diverse history, Humboldt Park’s community has always been a mixture of different languages, foods, and traditions. On several streets you can see beautiful murals that tell the history of the community and when we go in warmer weather, I will walk up and down the neighborhood streets to find more of these murals that tell the story of the Puerto Rican community. 



One of the flags over Division Street that marks the beginning/end of the  Paseo Boricua


A blend of Puerto Rican and Polish



The cornerstone on the old Polish church


Slava Ukraini





 

Monday, February 3, 2025

monday's mulling: listening

“The art of conversation lies in listening.” Malcolm Forbes


We've been in our current home for almost 2 1/2 years. When we moved in we had a lot of boxes but not enough room to put our "stuff" where we wanted. We stored our surplus in the large room where there was a filled-in indoor swimming pool. A year later, a construction crew came in for the remodel and part of that project was a designated storage room for the overflow. We are going through boxes and now cookbooks have found a home on new shelves, books have been sorted for keeping or donation, and little knick knacks are taking their places for display.

I have always liked this little cup. It reminds me of my dad. A year or so after Dad died, my siblings and spouses were all together and my sister-in-law posed the question, "What is a memory you have about Dad?" My answer was that aside from giving us kids silly names like Snicklefritz, he used the expression "Ears open, mouth shut."

As a kid, that usually went in one ear and out the other, but as I got older, I understood what he meant: listening is more important than speaking. "Talk less, listen more" is a communication technique that involves actively listening to others instead of talking. It helps you build relationships, learn new things, and become a better conversationalist. Listening allows you to focus on what the other person is saying and try to understand their perspective. Rather than dominating a conversation by talking too much; listening shows respect and allows for deeper understanding. 

The following quotes emphasize the importance of actively listening to others. Many important people have shared their thoughts about listening. These are all good, but I'm going to stick with what I grew up with:


"Ears open, mouth shut." ~ Dad 


✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻


“If you make listening and observation your occupation, you will gain much more than you can by talk.” Robert Baden-Powell


“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.”

Ernest Hemingway


“Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking.” Bernard Barugh


“One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” Bryant H. McGill


“The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.” William Hazlitt

Sunday, February 2, 2025

be true to your heart

To my little grandson who was dedicated in his church today...


“Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Saturday, February 1, 2025

february 1



This certainly was January. No flu for me, just a big ole cold that hung on for longer than it should have. Here's to a February that's kinder than last month.

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. Will Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow and bring six more weeks of winter? Whatever...this marks winter's midpoint. We're halfway to spring!
 

Friday, January 31, 2025

the friday feed: pink, pink, pink!

Last Saturday I attended a brunch to celebrate the upcoming birth of my granddaughter and also my daughter-in-law, Jennifer. Going back to last September, Jennifer and Andrew went to a doctor's appointment for a routine check up and to possibly find out the baby's gender. We got a call from Andrew, expecting him to tell us that the baby was a boy or a girl. Instead, he was choking up as he told us that there were some indications that the baby might not make it to term. Joy turned to heartbreak in a matter of seconds. Over the course of the next couple months, Jennifer went through a lot of tests, some rather uncomfortable, to track the baby's growth. After a lot of uncertainty, but always filled with hope, her last barrage of tests showed that the baby was strong and healthy. We could finally celebrate and this brunch filled with so much pink overflowed with joy to welcome this little girl and to recognize a mother's love and strength.



Sugar cookies made from great-grandma's recipe.

with each sweet pink bite

love, happiness, best wishes ~

welcome baby girl.






Thursday, January 30, 2025

old habits are hard to break


Using two spaces after a period or other end punctuation used to be a thing but nowadays the double space after a period has become irrelevant and is no longer used. When typewriters were created, the spacing between letters horizontally was uniform so that every letter had the same amount of space between them. FYI, this is called monospacing. Because of this, it was confusing to tell whether there was a space after a period, so two spaces were put after an end punctuation. And so, people were taught to type on typewriters and two-spacing became the norm.


When the 20th century arrived with computer keyboards, double spacing remained standard because it had been for so long.

But why the shift to just one space? A computer’s word processing software was able to adjust to proportionate space for each letter, so the double space after each period wasn’t required anymore.


So much for the history of spacing.


I learned to type on my mom’s little manual Smith Corona, first using my right index finger to push one key at a time and then adding the left index finger to gain speed. I learned how to type correctly in high school and for my high school graduation my parents gave an electric typewriter to me take to college. That little machine and I cranked out so many papers. And then came along the computer - no changing a typewriter ribbon, no feeding paper into the paper table and turning the platen knob to get a one inch top margin, no white out to fix typos, and a choice of fonts. What I would give to have that little manual typewriter! During all the typewriter transitions, I did the double spacing. That practice came to an end when I worked on my Masters. One of my professors who was a stickler in the APA format said that there was to be one space at the end of a sentence and she had an eagle eye to spot that spacing. She would be the one to review my final paper. No more double spacing for me. And now when I see double spaces, they look out of place.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

wednesdsay's words and wanderings and wonderings

The bitter cold that enveloped Ohio last week froze the suet that I put out for the birds. They pecked and pecked at those frozen lumps and barely made a dent. Hope they didn't hurt their little beaks. I made a stop at Wild Birds Unlimited to find another option to feed the feathered friends. The young man recommended a cylinder feeder and shortly after this new food was hanging up, the birds came to feed. I love watching them on the feeder, especially the cardinals. There are a couple young cardinals who feed and the mom and dad are close by watching them from the hedge that's around the patio.


Last Thursday was euchre night at my house. It's just four girls and I fixed chicken- vegetable-brown rice soup and loaded Greek hummus. I bought the hummus, pita bread, feta cheese, mini cucumbers, and olive mixture from the Halal store. Ohmygosh. That pita bread is the real deal and puts the stuff you buy at Kroger to shame. Anyway, it was a big hit and it will be a repeat recipe. Todd doesn't really care for all that Mediterranean food so I'll make a small batch just for me.


Saturday I was in Cleveland to attend a "sprinkle" for my granddaughter who will arrive in March. My little grandson was there for Mommy's party and he so desperately wanted a cupcake. The bribe was that he had to take his nap first and then when his nap was over, he could have a cupcake. He napped while the guests ate lunch and visited and two hours later he came downstairs..."Where's my cupcake?" 


After the shower, destination Chicago for our other grandson's dedication (similar to a baptism). We stopped In Elkhart, Indiana to spend the night. It was 8:00 p.m. and we were hungry. Right down the road from the hotel was a restaurant called the Chubby Trout. I was a little leery of a fish restaurant in Elkhart, Indiana (the RV capital of the world) but I figured we'd find something there that would work. Much to our surprise, we stumbled into a real gem and had a delicious dinner. We both ordered sushi and it was astounding. Good sushi in Elkhart, Indiana...who would have figured?


Sunday morning we arrived at the church for the baby dedication. Five babies were dedicated that day and the ceremony was very laid back and personal for each family. We went to my son-in-law's aunt's house for an after party and then arrived back in the city around 5:00. The sky was gray but the sun was peeking out and lit up Chicago's skyscrapers with a very eye-catching light. 


The last couple of mornings, I have heard a rooster crowing. My daughter told me that the rooster is next to the mural that is down the street from them. I took a stroll to see if I could find the rooster but he is a morning guy and my walk was an afternoon walk. I'm on a mission now to see him! The mural has a lot of interesting pieces to it and I want to figure out what some of the things mean. I did find two very relevant Chicago items: Michael Jordan's Air Jordan basketball shoe and the Chicago hot dog.







Monday, January 27, 2025

monday's mulling: books

I have a Facebook page but I'm not as active on it as I used to be. Some big changes in my life took away the zest for sharing photos and thoughts about whatever crossed my mind (not politics...that's a can of worms not to be opened) but I do occasionally like to get on FB to see what's going on in friends' lives. The other day a friend posted a quote about books and it really hit home. It brought back memories of my mom's books. She was a book lover and avid reader and had shelves and shelves and more shelves filled with books. My family moved a lot because of my dad's job and he always fussed that half of the moving expense was due to the weight of Mom's many books.

I love books, too. When we downsized, I looked at my shelves of books (not as many as mom's) and decided that it was time for some to find a new home. It was a tug-at-the-heart undertaking but now that time has passed the angst of letting those books go has passed.

Now back to the quote my friend posted...

Umberto Eco*, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries:


“It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.”


“There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.”


“If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, you go to the ‘medicine closet’ and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That’s why you should always have a nutrition choice!”


“Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity.”


This is my collection of Dayton and Ohio books. I've read a few but not all. I'm not sure if I'll get to all of them but I love the idea of owning books I've not read. Maybe one day they'll provide diversity to my literary “nutrition,” and when I am old and have more time to sit still, they will enlighten and comfort me.






* Umberto Eco was an Italian philosopher, essayist, and semiotician** who turned to novel writing with his 1980 work, The Name of the Rose. Eco subsequently wrote several more novels, some of which, including The Prague Cemetery, became international best sellers.


**Semiotician: semiotician - an expert or student of semiotics***.


***Semiotics: semiotics -the study of the use of symbolic communication. Semiotics can include signs, logos, gestures and other linguistic and nonlinguistic communication methods. As a word, semiotics derives from the Greek sēmeiōtikós, which describes the action of interpreting signs.

Sunday, January 26, 2025

flapping hawk

Friday night we went to the University of Dayton vs. St. Joseph's University basketball game. St. Joseph's didn't win the game but it has one of the most famous mascots in college sports - the St. Joseph's Hawk. The Hawk represents the University’s motto, “The Hawk Will Never Die,” by flapping its wings non-stop (even during halftime) throughout every basketball game and has done so since 1958.

Since 1992, the Saint Joseph's University  "Hawk" mascot position is considered a scholarship position, meaning the student selected to be the mascot receives a scholarship as part of the role. The chosen student is considered a full member of the basketball team and receives an endowed scholarship.


Can you imagine wearing this costume and flapping your wings non-stop for 2 1/2+ hours? Hope the scholarship includes a weekly shoulder massage!





Saturday, January 25, 2025

hard copy


I keep a physical address book. This is from back in the day when digital address weren't a thing and I keep it for sentimental reasons. This shows years and years of contacts in my handwriting. It follows friends' moves from new home to new home to new home. My kids' first addresses after each one moved out on his or her own are in this book. Friends from Todd's work who lost their jobs and moved away after PNC bought out the mortgage company are in there. It tells a story.

At Christmas I was getting ready to send a few Christmas cards and oh no! I could not find the address book. I looked everywhere but no luck. I put it in one of those places where I would never forget where it was when the house remodel started. A little while ago Todd was looking around for something and guess what he found? Yep...the good ole trusty address book. Friends' Christmas cards turned into Happy New Year cards. 

I am still keeping my address book but am working on transferring addresses into the Contacts on my computer. It's the best of both worlds.

Friday, January 24, 2025

the friday feed: anchovies

The other day late in the afternoon, I hit a brick wall and couldn't think of anything that sounded good to fix for dinner. Todd suggested a few things - chili, tacos, hamburgers - but those weren't doing it for me. He mentioned taco salad, too, but no. Then he asked, "Do you want me to grill steaks? I wasn't in the mood for just steak but the taco salad got me thinking and so "What do you think about a steak salad?" It would have the steak he wanted and the salad element I wanted and Voila! The idea had been born.

What kind of dressing to put on the salad? Something to complement the steak but not overwhelm the lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. And for whatever reason, I thought about my mom's Green Goddess dressing recipe. It's an old recipe and as a kid, I loved it. Its taste is bold, seasoned with garlic, Worcestershire, and anchovy paste, but the sour cream and mayonnaise tone down those flavors. It would be perfect for our steak salad dinner.

Anchovies. From that moment Mom put a little anchovy paste on my finger to let me taste it, I was hooked. I think she thought she would get a "Ewwww. Yuck!" reaction. Nope. I loved it.

When Todd and I celebrated our 30th anniversary, we took a trip to Italy. One of our stops was in Lerici, a lovely town on the Gulf of Poets. For our first dinner we ordered an appetizer plate with a variety of nibbles, one of them being fresh anchovies straight from Lerici's fishing docks. Ohmygosh. Heaven. You've heard of farm to table. This was sea to table. One day we hiked in the Cinque Terre, stopped for lunch, and I ordered pasta with anchovies. I was hooked! When we got home, I went to the local fish store, Foremost Seafood, and asked if they could get fresh anchovies. Yes, they could but it would be very expensive. I don't eat anchovies that often, but every time I do, that taste takes me back to those lovely seaside villages.


Despised by many,
Belov'd by a select few
Anchovy, you're mine.