frothy coffee {december 8, 2022}

Small things to start the day on a good note...

My daughter and future son-in-law are off to a wedding in New Orleans and we are in Chicago to dog sit their 16-year old dog. Since the last time we visited, they have added a Nespresso and milk frother to their counter top. What fun! Watching the milk frother do its thing is mesmerizing: Pour in milk and in a minute, pour out foamy milk.

First time pour blop...not quite up to the coffee house barista talent!

wordy wednesday...infamy {december 7, 2022}

Today is December 7. In 1941 it was a date that would live in infamy. Before Alzheimer's took away my mom's memory, every December 7 she would tell us about listening to President Roosevelt's speech on the radio about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. declaration of war on Japan, her brother's World War II service in the Navy, how her mom went to her room every night after dinner and prayed the Rosary for her son's safety, planting victory gardens, the rationing of food, metal, paper, tires for the Allied cause, the death of a sailor from the tiny town of Danvers, Illinois in that attack, how a nation came together. When my parents finally got a garage door keypad, their code was 4197. 41, the year of Pearl Harbor. 97, the year of their youngest grandchild's birth.

T's dad was 17 years old in 1941 living in the tiny town of Bloomdale, Ohio. He and some friends listened to FDR's speech on the radio and were ready right then and there to go fight the "Japs." It didn't happen. Mom told him he had to turn 18 and finish high school before he could serve. He graduated in June 1942 and left shortly after for his Naval aviator training. He served on the island of Espiritu Santo in the Pacific.

We traveled to Hawaii in 2012 and visited Pearl Harbor. We weren't there on December 7 but regardless of when you step onto the Arizona Memorial, you feel the magnitude of this event and reverence for those who died. Droplets of oil still rise to the surface of Pearl Harbor everyday. Pearl Harbor survivors and others call the ascending droplets "Black Tears" or "Tears of the Arizona."

According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs statistics, approximately 167,000 of the 16 million Americans who serve in World War II are alive in 2022.

thank you {december 5, 2022}

To the people who own that house. We just discovered you this year. Come the day after Thanksgiving, you have enough Christmas lights to power a village. Your house draped in lights, larger-than-life mega tree, oversized candy canes and ornaments galore, the “dog park.” You are not the house in the neighborhood with sparing, intentionally-placed lights and baubles. No, you are the one that bounds chaotically past tasteful, into the realm of pure fun.

I read about you in a Dayton blog and saw photos from previous years. T and I made a point to drive by your Christmas house to marvel at the over-the-top decorations. At this point, they basically go hand in hand with the season. When the Christmas house is all decked out, that’s a local indicator that the holiday season has come at last.

We appreciate how you have created this holiday experience. Rejoicing in your home will become a tradition that we regard with nostalgia and warm regards despite chilly winter weather. Your festivities are delightful. You laugh in the face of minimalist decor, and we are happy you do so.

Thank you for your time and effort. It doesn’t go unnoticed. Creating this mega-display of Christmas spirit  cannot be easy. We take in the wonderful madness of your yard and ask ourselves, 'How in the world did they manage that!' and 'Where do they even keep all of this during the rest of the year?' Not to mention the cost to foot the electricity bill for all of those glorious, twinkling Christmas lights and automations.

We appreciate that you put up with the constant, pesky flow of traffic on your street, especially as cars slow down in front of your lawn and greedy eyes take in your home's exterior, which in any other context would be extremely concerning. You didn't have to share the holidays with so many onlookers but you chose to do so which brings joy to young and old alike. Thank you.

rockin' into christmas {december 4.2022}

Twenty-six years ago I remember hearing for the very first time on 104.7 WTUE, "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24." Talk about a song speaking to your soul. And the name of the group, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra. How very cool.  A lone cellist begins the song with a haunting "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," a pause, and then BAM! A powerful orchestra rocks out "Carol of the Bells." The story behind this song is that the cellist was playing Christmas carols in the midst of the Bosnian war. The piece reflects the drama of a single musician in the midst of war, reflecting on the power of music to bring hope. (Just an aside, on December 14, 1995, the Dayton Peace Accords were signed at Wright-Patterson AFB, to end the Bosnian War).

A little history behind the Trans-Siberian Orcherstra (TSO). Producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill founded this group in 1996. He built the band on a foundation created by the marriage of classical and rock music. The "Washington Post" referred to the TSO as "an arena-rock juggernaut" and described their music as Pink Floyd meets Yes and The Who at Radio City Music Hall." How the name came about: Paul O'Neill says, "In the 1980s I was fortunate enough to have visited Russia. If anyone has ever seen Siberia, it is incredibly beautiful but incredibly harsh and unforgiving as well. The one thing that everyone who lives there has in common that runs across it in relative safety is the Trans-Siberian Railway. Life, too, can be incredibly beautiful but also incredibly harsh and unforgiving, and the one thing that we all have in common that runs across it in relative safety is music. It was a little bit overly philosophical, but it sounded different, and I like the initials, TSO."

Onto the concert...my girlfriend and I went and from the moment the music started we, along with lots of others, were singing and clapping our hands, amazed by the string section (TSO hires local musicians for its string section) the light show, lasers, moving trusses, video screens, pyrotechnics, and effects synchronized to music. The visual production was as impressive as the music. Put them together and POW! You have a 2+ hour Christmas rock concert. TSO ended the show with "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo" and in 2022 that piece touched my soul just like it did 26 years ago.

"Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies."     Edward Bulwer Lytton

it's back! {december 3, 2022}

The last couple of years Wreathzilla has been tucked away in its box, waiting for the perfect spot to radiate all its Christmas cheer. Shine on, old friend, shine on! (PS, Froggy will don a Santa hat and scarf. He needs to get with the holiday spirit...ribbit!)

tradition {december 2, 2022}

I love soup and to start off "soup season,'" is my post-Thanksgiving tradition of making a big pot using the turkey carcass, leftovers, this, that, and other remains. The main motivators are to clear the fridge from food clutter and to waste no food. (I took out a small national debt fixing food for nine people!) 

This pot of soup is never the same from one year to the next. The broth always starts out with simmering the carcass and other bones with onions, carrots, celery, and herbs but after that what gets thrown into the pot after that depends on what's left in the fridge. It's game to use what's only there.

Simmering the meat and bones creates a flavorful broth and makes it easy to get a lot of meat off the bones.

Just a few of the ingredients going into the soup: leftover spinach, carrots and celery that were about to pass their prime, Parmesan rinds, a couple spoonfuls of corn casserole, leftover tomato paste. Not pictured: chopped up green beans from the good ole green bean casserole made with mushroom soup (hey, I wanted steamed green beans but the angry masses made their voices heard for green bean casserole), roasted sweet potatoes, a cup of barley, plus the turkey that was so easy to pick off the bones after simmering.

Soup has so many benefits. Barring the cream soups, soup helps you meet your daily veggie quota. They're inexpensive, easy to prepare (I love my Instant Pot), and if you make a big batch, it's easy to freeze. Bonus to freezing soup, you have a meal at the ready when you're busy, not feeling well, or just too tired to cook. Soups keep you hydrated and give your immune system a boost especially when you load it up with garlic, onion, celery, and carrots. This soup-er food and will make you feel souper duper!

'tis the season {december 1, 2022}

Thoughts for the upcoming season ~ 

🎄 “Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.” ~ Dr. Seuss

🎄 “May you never be too grown up to search the skies on Christmas Eve.”  ~ Unknown

🎄 “What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, and hope for the future.” ~ Agnes M. Pahro

🎄 “Oh, Christmas isn’t just a day. It’s a frame of mind.” ~ Valentine Davis, Miracle on 34th Street

🎄 “Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!” ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie

🎄 “The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” ~ Burton Hillis

🎄 “I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale