Foodie Friday - Summer Time Food

 

For most, but not all, of my readers it is the start of the summer season. Time for fresh local fruits and vegetables.  For fresh simple preparations, cold salads, grilling, burgers and sausages. The glory of modern food distribution, you can get fresh fruits and vegetables year around.  If you shop in your local mega mart, you might find it hard to tell what season it is by walking through the produce section as the selection changes little through the year.  Think about it, if you couldn't read the signs that say local, would you know? Yet we can know, we can be aware of what is in season, and what has spent hours on a plane, or days in a truck or on a train.  It is not that I don't love fresh asparagus 12 months out of the year, but it is at it best when it was cut in the field this morning.  And I know it is a spring and early summer plant in this climate.  

My cooking changes with the seasons.  Simpler, cooler in summer, heavier, long cooking and simmering soups and stews in winter.  One exception is pulled or chopped pork.  We live in a high rise, with a strict local fire code, barbecue grills are verboten. I love slow cooked pork.  So even in the heat of summer, it is one thing I will cook low and slow for hours.  

Start with a cheap cut of pork, Boston but, or pork shoulder, my local mega mart recently had these on sale for 97-cents a pound.  The one I bought was just shy of 4 pounds.  I use a dry rub, a mix of spice and brown sugar.  Salt, peper, a touch of cayenne,  onion powder, garlic powder, and a little smoked paprika.  Generously coat the pork with the dry rub, place in a heavy pan (I have an enameled cast iron dutch oven.) Put a little liquid in the bottom of the pan, shy of a 1/4 inch, apple cider would be good, I used red vermouth because that was what was handy. Cover tightly, and place in a slow oven, 225-250 degrees fahrenheit, 100-105C.  And leave it, 4 to 10 hours.  When it is done,  it will fall apart when you stick a fork into it and twist.  

Serve with your favorite sauce.  A taste of summer. 

Thursday Ramble- What I Have Been Thinking About

I have train tickets and hotel reservations for a few days in New York in late August. Plans are being made for lunch with a dear blogger who will be in from out of town, and a meet up with a dear friend that moved from Oakland, CA to NYC this past year.  I made cancelable plans.  I felt giddy about making travel plans. It has been a long 16 months, I am ready to return to travel.  

I have been debating potential retirement dates. I am leaning in the direction of sooner, rather than later.  Still 26 months down the road.  Yes, I am counting, and Yes I do have a date on my calendar.  

I took an extra long weekend last weekend, adding Friday to the three day "holiday" weekend.  The first morning I slept 1 1/2 hours later than usual, the second morning an hour later than usual. My office changed the policy on carrying paid time off forward, limiting it to 4 weeks and changed it from a once a year use it or lose it, to an accrual cap, meaning when I reach that point I stop earning time, until I have taken time to get me back below the limit.  This will force me to take about 5 weeks of paid time off each year.  I have a few more extra long weekends coming up, and a week off in July and one in August.  The change was made to satisfy the bean counters that had a large pool of money set aside for unused paid time off, that they wanted to dip into, or write off onto the available to spend ledger.  I hate the reason, but wish people took time off because they have earned, they need it, they deserve it, and not worry that the world will come to an end if they are not there. In Lexington I was told that I was irreplaceable, I had over six months of accrued unused paid time off when I left, they replaced me in less than three weeks.    

YouTube has become my go to for mindless entertainment.  One of my favorites is two guys living on a narrow boat in England.  The story telling and photography is simply spectacular. If you have 20 minutes for an informative, fun, and often relaxing ramble down the canals and towpaths of life, they post every Friday afternoon. 

https://www.youtube.com/c/FoxesAfloat/featured 

Last weekend was kinda rough.  Anne Marie dying was a shock.  I knew she had faced some health challenges, but as Todd said, she never realized how sick she was. She will be missed.  A high school friend of mine died, Carol had been in the hospital for over two months with Covid, was transferred to larger city hospital a few weeks ago.  She had heart and breathing problems, had been sick for a couple of years.  Health conditions that made Covid deadly serious.  She was a political liberal, living in right-wing-nutter-land.  

Take care of yourself.  Have fun! Take no prisoners.  

 

The Way We Were Wednesday - Richard's House on the Lake

 These photos were taken around New Year's in 1969 or 1970.  Me in front of fireplace on the lower level of uncle Richard's lake house, holding our house cat, and the road side of the house looking down from the parking spaces.  The house was built into a steep hill, the road side was probably 50 feet higher than the lake level. What you see here is the road side (there was a years long debate if this was the front, or if the proper front was the side facing the lake) and all you see here is the upper level.  The lower level, opened on the lake side onto a terrace, with another flight of steps down the front lawn and onto the lake level. 

Richard, Dick as everyone called him, bought a house on a lake, because he had a boat. The boat came first, his mother's neighbor won it on "The Price is Right" it was delivered to her front yard and she had no idea what to do with it, so Dick bought it.  Then he needed a place for it, so he bought a house on a lake, then he met my Aunt Edith.  

The upper level had two bedrooms, one bath, a tiny kitchen, and a living room across the lake side with windows entirely lining three walls.  It was a delightful sun filled room with peaceful views of the lake.  The lower level had two more bedrooms, another bath, a second larger kitchen, and a large living area with the fireplace.  

We were there, and our cat was there, because there had been a massive ice storm, and the farm was without electric power for nearly two weeks.    

I spent 2 to 4 weeks most summers for about a decade at the lake.  I loved it. They added a row boat that I could play in, and in later years I was allowed out alone with the power boat.  I loved the boats and the water, I have an unfullfilled desire to own a boat. 

Travel Tuesday - Paris Metro and Beyond

The first subway system, underground train system, that I rode was in London in May of 1990.  My first trip to Europe.  I loved it.  A few months later we went to Amsterdam and Paris.  And I used the Paris Metro, an absolutely amazing system.  There are a few of these Art Decco subway entrances left in Paris, but many of them have been replaced with covered entrances, and many are in art museums around the world (this one is in Washington DC.) 

When I started thinking about wanting to live in a place of my choosing, and a made a list of things that made up the ideal place for me to live, having access to a train based mass transit system was on the list of must haves.  In the USA that narrows the list of cities, New York, Boston, Philladephia, Washington DC, Atlanta, San Francisco, LA, Chicago.  There are a few other small systems, and increasingly light rail, at street level.  Some of these were ruled out as being in too cold of a climate, I interviewed for jobs in DC and San Francisco.  DC ended up being the winner.  I bought a condo a ten-minute walk from a station. 

The idea of living in a place were I didn't need to drive everyday, where I could get around, while sitting back watching the world go by, started with those visits to London and Paris, 30+ years ago.  
 

You Tube Monday - A funny story or two - Gabriel Iglesias

I slept with one of Gabriel Iglesias's tour managers one day. Now get your minds out of the gutter.  I was on a 7:00 AM bright and early flight from Detroit to Phoenix.  Sitting in the first row of first class, this was when I was flying a lot and the Airline liked me.  Liked me a lot for a couple of years.  This big guy reclines the window seat, pulls his hat down over his eyes and I think he was asleep before the wheels left the ground.  Looked like a nice idea, I had breakfast first, because it was first class and there was real food.  Then closed my eyes and slept for like three hours.  Made up for having to be up at 5:00 AM to catch the before daylight flight.  I had stayed in the Hyatt in the airport the night before so I could cut the time as short as possible.  As we are landing he wakes up, I notice his hat says "Fluffy Breaks Even". I had no clue what it meant, and I asked about it. He said, "I am one of the tour managers for Gabriel Iglesias, he finished a series of shows downtown Detroit last night, took us all out for drink afterwards, I didn't get to my room until 2:00 AM, with a 5:00 AM taxi and a run through the airport to make the flight, I am headed home to LA we move to the next city on Wednesday." So, yes all we did was sleep, and it was good first class sleep.  

Sunday Sadness and Five Lessons

Devastating news this week, Anne Marie in Philly died after a short illness.  We met in person a couple of times, at a Blogger gathering a few years ago and for lunch in September 2019.  If the Warrior Queen liked you, you knew it. She was a constant commenting on blogs, sending birthday, anniversary and Christmas cards.  We had been trying to work out meeting in August for lunch.  Her weekly Dance Party postings were legendary and showed her diverse taste in music.  Her periodic "Hurls" truly revealed the depth of her feelings. 

Five things I learned from Anne Marie?

1. Origin is not destiny, you are not the family you came from, you are the family you make for yourself. 
2. When life gives you a second chance be fierce and grab it by the horns (or anything you can get a good grip on!) 
3. Don't accept the excuses of the haters, ever! 
4. If someone does not treat you with respect, say "fuck dat" and move on. 
5. Love everyone who treats you with dignity and respect. 

Dance like no one's watching.

Sing like no one's listening.

My heart breaks for Todd, the love of her life. 

Life is fragile.  Take care of yourself. Have fun along the way.  Don't let others limit you.  Don't tolerate hate.  Be fierce, be a Warrior.   

The Saturday Morning Post - Deep Rich Colors

Though my house is painted in soft pastels, I have always loved deep rich colors. There may be 50 shades of grey, but at this time of the years to trails have 10,000 maybe 1,000,000 shades of green.  They say arctic natives have 100 words to describe snow, words fail me when trying to describe the colors of the trees, shrubs and grasses.  

The Cardinals have a distinctive shade of red.  Brighter than the arm bands of the red-wing blackbirds.  But the black birds also have bands of yellow. 

The plant at the bottom is indigo.  I never knew what it looked like.  The golden bloom on the deep purple flower stalks is distinctive.  This is the original organic source for the blue in denim. Valued for its durability, fade resistance and beauty. 

I haven't downloaded this weeks photos yet.  The Eaglets have fledged, as in started to fly from the nest.  And we have three Owlets, and their parents hanging out in the trees this year.  The Owls are easy to find, look for the guys and gals with the $10,000 lenses pointed into the trees and look at what they are pointing at. 

Beyond that my printer/scanner failed, it downloaded a software update and quit working.  I swear the manufacturer send these things self destruct orders after a few years. I bought a new one, a different brand, it worked fine on everything except printing from Chrome on my Mac desktop computer. It would print from Chrome on my Chromebook, or Ipad. It printed and scanned from other applications on desktop. A new software update loaded, and now it works as intended.    

I had brunch one day in a cozy restaurant on Castro Street in San Francisco.  There was a table of marketing people for one of the big computer and printer manufacturers next to me.  From listening to them, I am convinced they plan for obsolescence, it is part of their marketing plan.  (Sit next to me in a restaurant, when I am eating alone, and I will listen in.) Don't you?    

Foodie Friday - Onions

Onions, big yellow Spanish onions dominated the garden of the widow that lived across the street from my grandparents on the farm.  His wife died of cancer, probably breast cancer, but this was the 1960's and people didn't talk openly about specifics, let alone breasts.  He had a daughter who was only slightly older than I, with a birth related spinal condition, she was seldom well enough to go to school. About the time she should have finished high school she had a major surgery, and did much better after that.  She married young, and moved back in the house after her father died in the 1980's. She died a few years ago.  

My family couldn't understand the neighbor growing a year's supply of onions, he told me he needed at least one a day, plus extra for holidays and big family dinners.  A bag of onions would last for weeks in my mother's kitchen, my grandmother would buy them one at a time. 

I was in my early teens when I discovered the joys of onions. I remember stopping at a produce market, and buying a 25 pound bag of onions - for something like $2.50.  Onions add so much savory flavor when sweated or gently fried.  A bite when raw.  A sweetness when allowed to caramelize. 

All onions are not the same, white onions tend to be more mild but tend to go sulfurous as they age, yellow onions have a deeper flavor, red or purple onions tend to be sweeter, then there are green onions, scallions, shallots, and I won't go into the more distant members of the onion family garlic. 

One of the keys to enjoying onions is getting comfortable cutting them up.  For this you really need a comfortable medium chefs knife.  And a good cutting board.  Being raised by a family with a rational basis for fear of foodborne illness, my cutting boards have to run the dishwasher, I have a stack, 5 or 6 medium size white plastic cutting boards that easily fit in the dishwasher to run at high temperature for the wash and dry. 

I started to write an essay on how to cut an onion, there are tons of them out there, there are some great how to videos on YouTube, and Jamie Oliver is more fun to watch than I am.  

My tips, your knife needs to be large and sharp. If you have trouble cutting it is not you or the onion, it is likely a dull knife, or a knife that is really to small for what you are trying to do. Take your time, pay attention to where you want the next cut to be, the knife will go where you place it, place it with care, being slow is okay, speed comes with practice, the people demonstrating on TV have been doing this for years, years from now maybe you will cut like that. And always be careful. Draw the knife through the onion, if the knife is sharp pulling it across the onion will give you the cut are seeking, if you have to force it, the knife is not sharp.  The knife should have a sharp point, so then you pierce or plunge it into the onion, it just sort of sinks in.  If you have to stab like the shower scene in Psycho, your knife is too dull or is not shaped with a sharp point like a chefs knife.

If I were writing a cookbook about main dishes, almost all of them could start with "take one onion".    

Thursday Ramble - If I had known then, what I know now

 A dear friend of mine's son is finishing high school, he is a bright young man, well over 4 feet tall, and destined for college, starting this summer.  His parents are very bright, expectations are high.  As I am want to do, I wrote a letter offering sage advice from someone who has been there and done that, and wished I had known then what I know now.  Here are some excerpts from the letter (Jen if he didn't let you read it, there was nothing to worry about.) 

* Take time to sit in the shade or the sun, and just absorb the sounds of a college campus.  Some of my fondest memories are sitting by a fountain between the residence halls for 15 minutes before class.  

* Enjoy being a scholar, for the next few years you have the privilege of pursuing knowledge and thinking deep thoughts, just because you can. For most of us a lifetime of reading what needs to be read and thinking what needs to be thought (what someone is paying us to think) awaits. 

* Learn how to learn, how to explore the world, how to develop understanding of things outside your knowledge and comfort zone, it will serve you well in life. 

* Never stop learning.  

* Read everything that interests you.  The ancient model of higher education was not based on textbooks, it was based on reading deeply and widely, to develop a broad understanding, far beyond what is in any single book. When an idea seems incomplete - go read the underlying sources and you will find what was edited out to give you just what the author wanted you to know.  Don’t let others edit your knowledge. 

* A lifetime of rushing from obligation to obligation awaits, for the next few years enjoy the pace of school.  Learn to say no to things that don’t have to be done. (I still struggle with this one.) You don’t have to finish college in record time (says the guy who spent nearly 10 year finishing his BA.) 

* Schedule your work, so you are not rushing at the last minute. No one does their best when they are rushing.  There are two kinds of work, perfect and done, you always need the second kind. (I have a friend who can’t get anything finished on time.)  

* The most important thing to do the night before an exam is get a good night's sleep. 

* Be true to your own self.  You don’t need to be who anyone else wants you to be, or thinks you should be.  Self acceptance is hard, you are a fine person just as you are.  Don’t compromise yourself to try to make others happy, you won’t make them happy and you will not make yourself happy in doing so.   

* It is okay to not be the life of the party. 

* Find your path, do what makes you happy.  If the path you are on does not make you happy, change directions. It took me three tries to find something that was a good fit for me.  You deserve happiness. If you are not happy, it is okay to change. 

* Travel, go wherever and whenever you can.  

* Your parents love you.  They will be happy if you are happy in life.  

* Don’t fear leaving the past behind, we live in the now, informed by the past, and dream of the future.  

* If you haven’t already, learn to do your laundry and cook for yourself.  No one should be dependent on others for the basics of a civilized life.  No one should feel obligated to do for you, what you can easily do for yourself. Two medium size loads of laundry will get cleaner than one overstuffed load. (Took me a few years to learn that one.) 

* Don’t stifle your creative side, art, writing, whatever works for you, and don’t worry if others like it.  Some of the ugliest paintings I have done have been the most meaningful to me (and most people don’t know that I paint.)    

The Way We Were Wednesday - Dad's Drivers License

My Sunday Five on Learning to drive a couple of weeks ago, reminded me of the story of my father getting a driving license.  He was barely 15 years old.  

Bob, one if his close childhood friends was a couple of years older, and had owned a car, or two or three.  Bob was not rich, far from it, he was a talented mechanic and would take junkers that everyone else was ready to send to the breakers yard and make them run, and drive the wheels off of them, then sell them for a profit.  

Dad was been pulled over by the local police, driving Bob's car, probably a little fast through town.  My grandmother was summoned to the local police department, dragging my father along.  The chief of police boomed at my grandmother, "if you are going to let him drive he needs a license and he needs to slow down."  She meekly said yes, "George SLOW DOWN, or you know what I will do!"  The chief asked my grandmother "does he know how to drive?" then started to laugh saying "I know he knows how to, he nearly outran my officers."  He said to my grandmother "if you will vouch for him, and promise to watch his speed, I'll sign off on it."  And that is how my father got a driving license. 

He drove well into his 80's.  He only had a couple of tickets.  Until the last few years of his driving only one accident.  In his early 80's he hit a farm wagon one summer in Michigan, and hit the curb hard enough to break the suspension twice.  He quietly stopped driving a couple of years before he died.  His choice, as it should be.  He never did slow down, I don't know how he avoided speeding tickets for seven-decades.  

The photo is my father at 18 or 19 years old, he drafted into the army near the end of World War II, and defended New Jersey, the Germans never took the state.  

Travel Tuesday - Off The Beaten Trail

 There are times when we are traveling when we want to stay on the beaten path, and times when we want to get off the trail.  I often find interesting local restaurants off the beaten path, there are times when I want the Michelin starred restaurant, and times I want the place the locals go everyday. At times I set the GPS to take me on the back roads only.  I live just of US highway 1, this road runs from Maine to Key West.  When  it was built, it was the beaten track, the main road, any more it is off the beaten track.  Lots of local towns and traffic, but no longer the main road.  Some of the most amazing adventures have been on back roads, away from the main trail. 

My Music Monday: The King's Singers "The Rose "

I marvel at the sound of the human voice, I look for the strings, the woodwinds, and those instruments are not here, this is all from the musical instrument that is the voice.  Amazing, 

The Sunday Five - To Your Health

The photos were taken a few months ago.  I had a ten year old crown removed, a root canal done, and a new crown made.  I started to write about it, but I didn't want to make anyone panic.  Other than the root canal taking a long time, my teeth are heavily calcified making them hard to work on, it was not unpleasant. The vibrations when the root canal was being done are unique, like nothing else, not unpleasant, but unusual.  I am very happy with the outcome, a complete success and the new crown is made out of some miracle substance that is likely to outlast me. (The doc said, you will break your jaw, before you will break that crown.) The 3 or 4 hours of time in the chair, payed off with being pain free and able to eat anything that does not eat me first. 

To your health, this weeks Sunday five 

1: Would you sooner see your Dentist or have your taxes reviewed by the IRS? 

2: Have you ever delayed a Dental appointment, for more than a year? 

3: Do you take a daily multivitamin pill? 

4: Do you like or dislike your doctor? (Or don't have one?) 

5: Would you trust a doctor that smoked? 

My answers: 

1: Would you sooner see your Dentist or have your taxes reviewed by the IRS?  I don't really fear either, at least with the dentist I know what to expect. 

2: Have you ever delayed a Dental appointment, for more than a year? Yes, how long did I live in Kentucky?  

3: Do you take a daily multivitamin pill? Yes, started based on a recommendation from a Doc, 35 years ago. 

4: Do you like or dislike your doctor? (Or don't have one?) I like her, I wish her office would go to electronic records and electronic prescribing. 

5: Would you trust a doctor that smoked? Yes, as long as they were honest about it.  My father's doctor smoked, Cliff was honest that it was unhealthy and that he would likely live longer and healthier if he quit. He died of a massive heart attack driving his boat at high speed. 

Please share your answers in the comments, 

  

 

The Saturday Morning Post - Blogging

This summer I will pass 16 years as a blogger.  I started as a guest blogger for someone who was on vacation for a couple of weeks, didn't know how to update from the road, and didn't want two weeks to pass without an update.  It was fun.  I created Travel Penguin and moved forward.  There were a few lean years.  Then 6 or 7 years ago I decided to get serious and post something every day.  

I wanted my writing to get better, to be easier, to be more readable.  Writing is a challenge for me, based on how my brain works, things I have worked on since first grade. Yet no one had said, to get better at writing, practice, practice, practice.  Making a commitment to posting something everyday to the blog, forces me to write often.  

I don't do this everyday, most of my posts are created on Saturday mornings, and Sunday afternoons.  Some are in draft form for months or even years.  Once a week I make sure I have 10 days of postable content ahead of me. Nearly every post, goes up at midnight eastern time, because they are written ahead of time and scheduled.  (This post is being written on Saturday May 15th, to post on Saturday May 22nd.)  This avoids me needing to find time during a sometimes hectic work week to create content.  If something comes up, I can put something up right away, ether by rescheduling or by posting more than one per day. 

I recently uploaded my photo archive to a new cloud backup, it loaded about 70,000 images.  I love taking photos.  I love that the blog gives me a place to share them with world.  Most are average, a few are really great.  All of them are tied to a memory for me.  

I get questions about advertising on the blog. I use Google Adsense. No I am not getting rich, it has grown very slowly, and generates about $10 a month.  

Why do I do it?  Google makes money from blogspot. Blogs generate content, images, photos, for Google to link to and index.  They use my content to target ads to me.  They use your visits and comments to target ads to you. If they don't have ads on on the blog you visit, they use what they learn about you when you visit to target ads on any site that you visit, that allows Adsense ads. 

By allowing explicit advertising on the blog, I get a tiny fraction of the money.  If you click on the ads linked on the blog, a tiny bit more, if you buy from some vendors even a bit more.  If they do a good job of targeting the ads to you, they should be for things you are interested in.  

Online advertising is different than print, in that the ads you see on this post, are different than the ads the next person will see on the same post.  The ads are targeted either based on what Google knows about you, or if they know nothing about you, based on what the post is about to the extent they can figure that out. Google (Amazon, Facebook and others) are going to do this, if I am a part of it or not.  I think content creators should be compensated.  It is not much, but it is something to confirm that I helped feed the machine. Everytime Google makes another billion, I get another couple of dollars for my part of it.

Compensated or not, please keep creating content, I love reading it, I love reading your comments, even just saying Hi in a comment, lets me know someone has read what I created.     

 

Foodie Friday- A Classic Sort Of

I was in a mood recently for a cake, and I had fresh pineapple in the the fridge, so I thought why not a pineapple upside down cake. Cakes have never been my strength, but I am learning.  I looked at a couple of online sources and nothing looked like fun.  So I winged it. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

The pineapple was already cubed the base/top of the cake is pineapple mixed with melted butter and brown sugar to make a basic caramel.  I started with a half pound of Irish butter, about 1/3rd of that was melted for the caramel sauce.  How much brown sugar? I didn't measure, I mixed it with the melted butter until it looked about right.  

The rest of the butter was creamed with about 3/4 of a cup of granulated sugar, until light and fluffy.  I added three eggs, beat it on medium for two or three minutes until it was light and fluffy.  I mixed about 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, a heaping teaspoon of baking soda, a heaping teaspoon of baking powder, a generous pinch of salt and slowly mixed into the wet ingredients.  I added a generous tablespoon of vanilla extract.  It hadn't quiet picked up all of the dry ingredients, so I mixed in two heaping soup spoons of sour cream.  

I sprayed a rectangular glass baking dish with cooking spray.  Spread the pineapple, with the butter and brown sugar mixture in the bottom, then layered the cake batter over the top, it makes a thin layer of batter, barely covering the pineapple.  

Bake about 35 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.  Cool for 30 minutes, cover with a plastic cutting board, flip, and hope that the caked falls out of the pan.  Miracle of all miracles it worked.   I slid it back in the baking dish, pineapple side up, I have a snap lid for that baking dish.  

It is my version of a classic, sort of, and it worked, it really worked.  The sour cream adds a lot of moisture.  Store tightly covered in the refrigerator, if it lasts long enough to need storing.  

I have been reading a book that among others talks about the relationship between Julia Child and Simone Beck.  Simone cooked and baked the way this was done, I call it winging it, Simone (co-author of the two volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking) thought of it as cooking by instinct and technique, knowing how to cook and adjusting as needed.  Julia was the one who insisted on precise measurements and detailed instructions (8 pages on how to boil an egg, 24 pages on french bread.) I learned to cook with detail, but failed to learn to bake by detail, because so many factors impact baking, temperature, humidity, ingredients, elevation, minor differences in ovens, even the material the mixing bowl is made out of can change the chemistry of baking. Learning to bake by technique and instinct has settled in later in life, and it works, sometimes it really works.   
 

Things that Make Me Turn my Head and Stare

I thought this was the neatest image, he flew up, landed about 15 feet away, and turned to stared at me.  He looks a little angry. 

So what is making me turn my head and stare these days? 

People who are wearing a mask/face covering, hanging down below their nose. Either wear it or don't, but don't leave something hanging out. People who wear their mask while driving alone in their car.  

Plastic bags of dog shit, left on the side of the nature trail. The bag has to break down, for the contents to be washed into the dirt, I really don't want to step in dog shit, but the balance of nature would be much better without the plastic bag. We have gone so deeply into the clean up after your dog, that common sense is lost here.   

People who still think the election was stolen.  If Democrats could figure out how to steal an election, do you really think Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham would have been re-elected? Not even Mitch and Lindsey believe the lie. Yup, I have unfriended, unfollowed, and deleted people from my life over this dumb_uckery.  

It is spring, the weather is often very nice.  The runners, and cyclists, cause me to stop, turn my head and stare.  

Critters, this past week I have seen an opossum, a raccoon, deer, turtles, and a snake on my walks.  Not things I see often, they make me stop, turn my head as needed and stare.  The opossum I heard before I saw, I looked over and thought what a big rat, then it turned its head and bared its teeth at me.  Not a rat! 

I was out walking on the trail one morning recently and I nearly tripped on a large fish.  I am talking 18 inches long, 2 or 3 inches thick, probably 3 or 4 pounds of fresh out of the Potomac River fish, laying on the hard packed gravel trail.  The fish was dead. At first I thought it was a tree branch, then I stopped, turned my head and stared, and realized it was a fish. A good 500 feet from the water.  Likely one of the Eagles, or an Osprey lost their lunch. The Eagles tend to be bullies, and will attack other raptors, to steal the fresh catch, the Osprey's will drop the fish to flee the attack, this one the Eagles hadn't caught or picked up yet.  It landed in a heavily traveled section of the trail.  The great circle of life, lunch for something. Thinking back, I should have sat down a distance away, with the longest lens and waited for the pick up.  Fresh fish to go.  

 

The Way We Were Wednesday - Christmas Gifts I remember

This would have been christmas of 1971, 72 or 73.  The date is based on the box of golf balls my father is holding.  He is wearing a new sweater, my mother's go to gift for my father, he had dozens of them.  The golf balls were in a package that my oldest brother sent from Hong Kong or Singapore. My oldest brother finished high school in 1970, and enlisted in the Navy in early 1971.  His first assignment was on a aircraft carrier.  Most the time spent off the coast of Viet Nam.  Breaks would take them to Philippines, or Hong Kong or Singapore. The ship was nuclear powered, and Japan wouldn't allow them in port.  He sent a box with christmas gifts one of those years, I remember the golf balls. The white artificial tree was a favorite of my parents, I think it was bought the winter we lived in Phoenix, 1965?  

Funny the little things that trigger memories. 

Travel Tuesday - Travel Outside Your Comfort Zone

 Drafting the recent piece on grandparents, I was reminded that one of the lessons I learned from my grandmother was to take myself outside of my comfort zone.  She had me drive her to places she wanted to see, that were outside of my grandfather's comfort zone.  She boldly went to Alaska in her 80's, basically saying she'd sooner die enjoying the trip, than sitting safely at home wishing she had gone.  

Any place where I don't speak the language is stretch.  If I work at it, I can muddle through in French, a little bit it Italian, and a tiny bit of Spanish.  But not mutch.  Germany turned out to be easy, virtually anyone under 40 speaks at least some English.  Greece was a real challenge.  The alphabet is different, I tried my normal preparation with audio language tutoring and found Greek impenetrable.  In two weeks I think I got out hello, and thank you maybe five times.  Yet it was an amazing experience.  In Athens english was common, we got out into the countryside on that trip, and none of us spoke modern Greek and English was rare.  

I am fascinated Japan and South Korea.  They are outside of my comfort zone.  Languages that are entirely different.  I need to remind myself, that it is better to go outside of my comfort zone, than to die wishing I had.   

You Tube Monday - FFRF's Ron Reagan Ad

When I am traveling, I enjoy visiting churches.  The architecture, the art, the glass, the peace.  The first time I visited Notre Dame in  Paris, in 1991, was the first time I encountered lighting candles in a church, I find it calming to do. The fellowship of a faith community, the rituals create a feeling of connection and the comfort of routine. Yet, I am not a practitioner of any organized religion. I understand that some people need a explanation, for the incomprehensible, others rely on a touchstone of faith to cope with the stress of life, whatever gets you through the night. I have found other ways of accepting the unacceptable, and allaying my fears.  

I am distrustful of those who think that their way is the only way, that feel compelled to try to bring others into their fold.  I am angry at religious leaders who shelter abusers, spread hate, and discrimination. I don't believe in mixing religion and politics.  The US Constitution has a clause mandating a separation of church and state because of the horrors in the name of religion that Europe had experienced in the years before the Constitution was written.   

I ran across this little gem, by the son of a dead President, a President who started to blur the line between church and state.  

Sunday Five - Driving

Mitchell is getting a driving license in Spain.  He has a few years of experience, but the rules are different in Spain, so he is driving with an instructor to get ready.  Made me think about my learning to drive.  Hence this weeks Sunday five, driving. I think when he passes he should get something in red, like the car above, it would look good on him. 

1. Did you ever drive on the road before you "officially" learned to drive? 
2. At what age did you get your first driving license? 
3. Can you drive a car with a drive a manual transmission? 
4. Was your driving test easy or hard? 
5. Did you have to parallel park to get a license? 

My answers:

1. Did you ever drive on the road before you "officially" learned to drive?  Only once, I spent a week on a ranch in Colorado and drove a pickup truck back from one of the remote parts of the ranch to the barns, I was terrified.  
2. At what age did you get your first driving license? 16, my father insisted. 
3. Can you drive a car with a drive a manual transmission? Yes, I did about have of my student driving in an aging Ford pickup truck with a three speed manual. The last time was a rental in Iceland in 2015. 
4. Was your driving test easy or hard? Easy, three left turns, one right turn and the examiner said "get it stopped in the parking lot without hitting anything and you passed." 
5. Did you have to parallel park to get a license? Thankfully, NO, still not my best skill. 

Please share your answers in the comments.