Roy g biv

Rood, rouge, rot, rosso, rojo, redi, rosu, rooi, or in my native - red!  Such a bold, vivid color - one that is full of vibrance. It's a color associated with strong emotion - love and anger.  It most definitely makes the top five list of my most favorite hues.

This post was prompted by the subject in my first sneak peak photo below.    I love that my kitchen has large windows across the front, and one day while working there, I spied this fellow flitting around my front yard.  I watched from indoors for a while, but then couldn't help myself.  I grabbed by trusty zoom, and headed outdoors.  While waiting ever so patiently to grab a shot of this beautiful red guy, I had the time to see just how busy nature is - creatures constantly working.  Rarely do I just sit and watch - I too feel like a creature constantly working sometimes.  It was nice to watch and wait - nice to get the exact shot I wanted.  My little subject made me wait but boy did he give me a show!

Every time I wear something red, I hear a voice in my head - the voice of my dear grandmother.  "I just love that red!"  It was her favorite color and everytime she saw someone wearing the brillant hue, she commented that it was her favorite.  Looking back, it fit her personality.  Red is strong and so was she.  The mother of five girls has to be strong!  Hard work was natural to her.  Persistance and determination were evident in her presence.  Qualities for which I admired her; qualities I hope to share.  I can just hear her voice now as she sees me walk into the room wearing the item in my next zoomed shot.  Oh, I know she would love them!

I am so incredibly sentimental - to a fault at times.  I attach memories to objects which makes it incredibly difficult to do some much needed purging at times!  But objects that I will never purge are featured in my next sneak peak.  In fact, just last year I decided to showcase these treasures of mine.  I have so much fun unpacking these jewels each year - many of them with some sort of red ribbon or red paint attached.  Each time I look at them, I'm taken back to sweet moments in my children's lives - proud faces as they handed me a package decorated with their primary handwriting and precious drawings, a package containing my treasure. 



Oh how I absolutely love, love, love traditions!  Now, honestly, I do love creating and replaying the many traditions that our family has established; however, I am secretly hoping that my children will enjoy them as much as I do so when they are grown and gone they will miss our traditions and travel back home to visit their dear old momma who makes the snow cookies only at Christmas time.  Many of our family traditions involve food, probably because I enjoy cooking so much.  Since my children were old enough to stand on a stool beside me at the kitchen counter, we have all worked together on Christmas Eve to make a very special item.  I know they do so enjoy eating this yummy treat; however, I think they most enjoy the mess of red they can make while we create our Christmas Eve masterpiece!

In this season of red, rojo, rood, rouge, or whatever your native tongue declares, my hope is that each of you can find interest and inspiration in the ordinary images that surround you.  That you take the time to actually look and then  really see the beauty around you.

LOL #21

Those that know me, know that I absolutely love to cook.  But as much as I love to cook, I have never had the desire to make a Mincemeat Pie. 

My first thought the other day when I passed by this Robertson's jar of mincemeat wasn't - "Oh, I should try to make a mincemeat pie."  Instead, my librarian mind went straight to Pip or even Ebenezer, two characters made famous by the pen of Charles Dickens.  While I couldn't quote the chapter and line, I knew for certain that a mincemeat pie had been consumed in at least one of those books!

Seeing this jar made me chuckle.  Maybe because I'd never before seen a jar of mincemeat sitting on a grocery shelf or maybe because I turned the jar around to find out exactly what meat was in this mincemeat cuisine concoction.

 

Sugar - check

Apples - check

Currants - check

Raisins - check

Various fruit peels - check

Spices - check

Meat - NO check!

To my surprise - absolutely no meat! Ok, so maybe I'm the last cook on the planet that didn't realize mincemeat contained no meat.  Regardless, it sent my research geared mind to spinning.

Apparently, the traditional English dish did contain some sort of meat at one time - maybe mutton, quail, chicken, pheasant, hare, liver... (At this point, I'm thinking the mincemeat pie sans the meat was a good idea.)  From my research, based solely upon the quick readings of several websites, the pies may have been originally called Christmas pies because of their oblong shape possibly resembling Jesus' crib with a small pastry doll placed in the center on top of the pie.

During the Medieval period, Crusaders brought new spices back to Great Britain which gradually and slowly replaced the meat in the pies.  Interestingly, the name was never changed.

Today, the traditionalist seem to scoff at the mincemeat pie in a jar, and this sweet vs. savory dish is alive and well in some circles - the Mince Pie Club, to be exact. This group hosts a site "dedicated to the appreciation of the Mince pie."  This site itself gave me a little LOL!  I guess we all have our causes.

So, back to my original thought upon seeing this mincemeat pie in a jar - Charles Dickens.  Let me end this LOL post with an appropriate quote from A Christmas Carol -

"There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor."

Jump In

At approximately 1:30 this afternoon, I was driving home from the pediatrician's office for the third time this week.  To be completely honest, I wasn't happy about it.

At approximately 1:30 this afternoon,  I was driving home from the pediatrician's office for the third time this week when I heard the horrific announcement on the radio - a senseless and asinine act of cowardice had occurred in our country.

At approximately 1:30 this afternoon, I was driving home from the pediatrician's office for the third time this week when suddenly I was overcome with gratitude that I had made the three trips to the pediatrician's office with two of my three precious children.

I have been tragically reminded today that I am thankful - thankful for:

• the socks continually left on my living room floor
• the toothpaste in the sink that just seems to never get washed down the drain
• the never ending laundry
• the soccer shin guards that are so smelly we have to roll the windows down to make it to the game
• the empty cup that is always left on the counter instead of the sink from a quick drink of water before bedtime
• the arguing voices 
• extracurricular activities every night of the week, even when I'm tired
• having to repeat myself over and over
• the bathroom hand towel that never gets put back on the towel ring
• an empty toilet paper holder
• Lego pieces that really hurt my foot when I step on them
• the sticky syrup that never seems to get wiped off the kitchen table...

I asked my husband a few weeks ago if I would be a scrooge if I didn't put out all the Christmas "stuff" simply because I didn't want to clean it up afterwards.  Last weekend, we picked out a tree and the boxes came out of the attic.  We managed to get the tree decorated but all week, we've been walking around red and green plastic storage bins.  

Tonight, I jumped in - jumped in with both feet.  Stockings are up, Christmas books are out, Nativity scenes are set, the second tree is up and decorated, Christmas plates are displayed...  Our halls are decked!  Perspectives, they can change in an instant.

Tonight, I jumped in - I listened more intently, I hugged a little tighter, kissed an extra smooch, watched and prayed as children slept...

Tonight and tomorrow and the next day, jump in -

 

Encourage

In an effort tonight to clean out the photos on my trusty pocket cam (AKA iPhone 4) in order to make room for a long overdue update to its software, I came across a photo I took this past summer - one of those extend-the-arm-out-of-socket-self-portrait kind of photos.  It brought a smile to my face as well as a much needed reminder to my heart - encourage someone.

I met these two wonderful ladies a little over twenty years ago.  Okay, I'm taking deep breaths and admitting my age, but I was fresh out of college and ready to tackle the world of education.  I thought I was doing a great job at the time, but looking back through my eyes of age, I did okay.  I would have never known it though because of these two special teachers - my encouragers.

They complimented regularly, guided as necessary, laughed often (with me not at me), taught me by modeling what good teachers do - encourage.

Encourage (verb) 1. give support, confidence, or hope to (someone) 2. give support and advice to (someone) to do or continue something.

Throughout the past twenty-two years, these ladies and I occasionally pick up where we left off, chat over lunch or dinner, laugh out loud, discuss our common interests and take a little time to catch up with each other. They still compliment and guide; they still encourage.

Twenty-two years later, I'm still in a school trying to tackle the education world and hoping to make a difference, a difference, of course, that I may never know has occurred.  I needed this reminder to encourage those that sometimes aren't so easy to encourage.  To encourage without regard to behavior, to encourage even when I don't feel like being encouraging.  To compliment regularly, guide as necessary, laugh with and not at, to teach by modeling what good teachers do - encourage.

LOL #20

Oh how the busyness of life makes us put the non-essentials on the back shelf for a while.  I am excited today to take a few moments to myself, upload a few photos, tap tap on the keyboard, and post my most recent LOL photo.

My oldest one-of-three played her last regular season soccer tournament for the fall this weekend.  In between games we stopped at  a convenience store in, really, the middle of no where - one of those old convenience stores.  We were picking up some drinks and I was looking for something chocolate covered when I stumbled upon the items features in today's LOL photo - Pickle-In-A-Pouch!  There among the chips, the beef jerky, the fountain drinks, the candy bars was a large dill pickle sitting in its own juice inside of a heavy duty plastic bag.  Now, being from the south, I've seen large dill pickles sold individually; they are quite popular here. Usually, though, they are taken from a giant pickle jar or even served deep fried - not served individually in a pouch!  My trusty pocket cam (AKA iPhone) came out of my pocket and I had to snap a few shots.

After making it back home, I was intrigued enough about my find to do a little research on the Von Holten product.  I was stunned to find out that not only have they been serving these pickles in pouches since 1939 but that they also come in twelve different flavors!  I only saw two varieties, but apparently they range from the Hearty Dill to Little Pepe'.  Each plastic pouch is not only filled with a giant dill pickle swimming in pickle juice, but many are decorated with a wide array of pickle characters! 

For a mere $1.49, pickle lovers can enjoy a treat that has been satisfying the pickle-cravings of oodles of others for over 70 years.  I must say, I passed on the opportunity, but after reading some of the testimonials on the web site, maybe I shouldn't have!  Hmmm...maybe if they came up with a chocolate covered version?  Ok, maybe not.

Fairy Floss

To the French, it's papa's beard; in Germany, sugar wool, Great Britain says candy floss and in the good ol' USA, we say cotton candy.  However, my favorite name of all is the original - fairy floss! 

This super sweet treat is a favorite at fairs, carnivals, circuses and the like.  The kiddos flock and the parents usually cringe.  Not this parent though.  Maybe it's my super sweet tooth that supersedes common sense, but regardless of the reason, I love this sugar on a stick! Today, I'm celebrating the sticky stuff - spun sugar to be precise. 

1897 is the year it all began.  Two Tennesseans, William Morrison and John C. Wharton, have been given credit for creating the first electric machine to produce this sugary delight. These candy making men introduced what they called fairy floss to the world by taking their cylindrical centrifuge heating device on the road to the 1904 World's Fair. At an exuberant cost of 25 cents a serving, half of the fair admission price at the time, they sold a shocking 68,655 servings! The sugary goodness was an instant hit and has been ever since.

Interestingly, this cotton like candy, dubbed so in the 1920s, has served more than just a sugar fix.  Scientist have studied its unique transformation from one type of solid to a liquid to an entirely different solid form. By doing so, they have used cotton candy as a form or mold for developing artificial capillaries which could, when perfected, be used in artificial skin for burn victims.  Who knew?

I bet you also didn't know these quirky tidbits about fairy floss as well:

• each strand of cotton candy is a nanofiber, just 3/1000s of an inch across.
• a company called Gold Medal developed the current cotton candy machine in 1949 and still to this day makes almost 100 percent of all cotton candy machines.
• our fluffy fairy floss has its own holiday - December 7th is National Cotton Candy Day.
• a bag of cotton candy only contains about one to two tablespoons of sugar.
• even though this sweet treat is made from entirely sugar, a cone or bag of cotton candy contains less sugar and calories than a can of soda.

D'alto, Nick. "Ordinary Sugar, Extraordinary Science." Odyssey. Feb 2012, Vol. 21 Issue 2, p38-41.
Collier, Marcy L. "What's Candy Floss?" Fun For Kidz. Jan/Feb 2009, Vol. 8 Issue 1, p22-23.

Imprints

About a year ago I came across a book that instantly grabbed my attention.  I am an incredibly visual person and this book makes a huge impact by using over-the-top visuals and graphics.  While children are the target audience for Human Footprint: Everything You Will Eat, Use, Wear, Buy, and Throw Out in Your Lifetime by Ellen Kirk, the book definitely should be shared with any and all.  The book opens by defining your human footprint as "the mark you make on the Earth."  As the book continues, incredible photos magnify how much of what we consume in our lives impacts our planet.  The numbers are startling!

Now, before I am labeled a tree hugger (no offense intended to my arbor enthusiast friends), I want to further explain my interest in the book.  Granted, the statistics are intriguing and most definitely thought provoking, but it is the definition of "human footprint" that struck me.  Not, how much refuse I'm going to produce in my lifetime, but in reality, how much will my imprint impact the people I touch in my short lifetime. 

The past few weeks I have constantly been reminded of this theme.  As I walk my little nutter butter into school each morning and back out of school each afternoon, I often see the sidewalk tracked with the fallen leaves of the age old trees lining her schoolyard. Some of these leaves are trapped to the sidewalk by either a recent rainfall or the early morning dampness of an autumn dew.  The leaves, when moved, have left their exact replica on the sidewalk - their imprint. Maybe I just have mind that works on overdrive, but my instant thought was - how apropos!  Right in front of a school building, where children are impacted daily, I'm being reminded of the importance of imprints.  

Of course, after about a week of saying each day to my youngest-one-of-three, "I've got to bring my camera and get a photo of these leaf prints," I finally did.  An image to remind me, not about how much trash I'm going to leave on this earth, but how much treasure I can leave.  And to quote the book (with a slightly different intent), "Yes, you matter. What you do adds up."

  

Just in case you're curious, here are a few stats from Human Footprint:

• You wore a total of 3,796 diapers when you were a baby.
• Every 3 years, you eat your weight in bread.
• A parade of 28,433 little, yellow rubber ducks shows all the showers you'll take in your lifetime.
• You will drive the equivalent to 25 times around the world.
• You and your fellow Americans throw away 694 plastic bottles a second.
• In a lifetime, you will use 656 bars of soap, 198 bottles of shampoo, 389 tubes of toothpaste, 272 containers of deodorant, and 156 toothbrushes.

I will end with that note of irony - I guess we are really clean, trashy people.

LOL #19

I just need know right now if anybody out there under the age of 35 knows what book is in the photo above! 

This week's LOL is more like a little chuckle to myself.  Let me set the stage. The time is mid-morning and I'm sitting at my desk at work editing my school's website.  When I look up from my computer, around my desk, out my office window and into the vast expanse of library space, I see: 1 circulation computer, 6 student computers, 1 laptop by my side, 1 document camera to my left, 30 computers in an attached lab, 1 LCD projector, 1 smart board, 5 laptop carts, 1 iPhone, 1 piece of chocolate cake, 1 ice cream cone, 1 pickle... (sorry, I digress - I couldn't resist the Eric Carle mode I had going on there).  Needless to say, I'm sitting at my desk engulfed by technology.

I'm typing new information on the site; I think I may have misspelled a word, my chair swivels, and I grab the above pictured dictionary off of the bookshelf behind me!  Suddenly, it dawned on me that I couldn't remember the last time I actually looked up a word in a book-in-hand, paper-paged dictionary!  Online dictionaries have become commonplace to me.  I chuckled aloud.  I was surrounded by technology and I grabbed the physical dictionary!  My next thought was, "Hey, this feels good in my hands - the feel of the shiny, hard cover; the crisp pages, the print slightly raised."  Seeing those pages filled to the brim with word after word after word - all of those words that are just waiting to be spelled or spoken or spewed from our speech.  An appreciation, I guess, only experienced by word junkies such as myself.

Makes me wonder - what else have I replaced with technology that maybe, just maybe, might need a revival every now and then?

roy G biv

It's not that easy being green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow, or gold
Or something much more colorful like that

It's not easy being green
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
And people tend to pass you over
'Cause you're not standing out
Like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky

But green's the color of spring
And green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like a mountain
Or important like a river
Or tall like a tree

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why
But why wonder why wonder
I am green, and it'll do fine
It's beautiful, and I think it's what I want to be


At various times in my life, I've had the desire to be red, or yellow, or gold, or something more colorful - not ordinary green.  I'm quite sure it's a universal feeling.  But then, reason takes over and I say to myself, "What's so bad about being green?"  After all, green is verdant, green is growth, green is lush and flourishing!  Who wouldn't want to be green?

This past summer a friend of mine let me borrow a book on CD called It's Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider by Jim Henson, the Muppets and Friends and recently, I added a Jim Henson picture book biography to my libraryland collection called Jim Henson: The Guy Who Played with Puppets by Kathleen Krull.  Other than the fact that he was the creator of the Muppets, I really new very little about this amazing puppeteer.

After listening to and reading these stories, anecdotes, quotes, and facts, Jim Henson emerged as someone I really didn't think him to be - quite extraordinary.  His positive perspective, his desire to follow his dreams, his focus on his family, his forthright yet encouraging approach to colleagues, his effort to be the best he could be, his amazing creativity...  

When I was three years old, the Children's Television Network began a new show and enlisted Henson's help.  He hesitated, but then agreed.  Sesame Street was born and children for years to come would grow up with Oscar, Bert, Ernie, and the gang.  The children viewers may not have known Henson, but they sure knew his characters.  Sesame Street has since aired in 120 countries.

Henson's Muppets weren't limited to children though.  They've opened for Saturday Night Live and have interviewed notables such as Linda Ronstadt, Harry Belafonte, Rita Moreno, Florence Henderson, Harvey Korman, Lena Horne, Candace Bergen, Vincent Price, Don Knotts, Ethel Merman, Steve Martin, Dom DeLuise, Loretta Lynn, Racquel welch, John Denver, Dudley Moore, Christopher Reeve, Johnny Cash and many others.

I wonder if Henson ever thought of being red, yellow, gold or something more colorful.  Even though it's hard to imagine, I have to think he did; after all, he wrote Kermit's song.  I guess that just proves that it's universal.  Regardless of one's success or lack there of, being something other than what we are seems appealing.  However, after reflection and thought, just like Kermit (aka Jim Henson) says "I am green, and it'll do fine.  It's beautiful, and I think it's what I want to be." 

Afterall, green is so versatile.  It's emerald, chartreuse, sage, forest, lime, kelly, moss, olive, apple, aquamarine, pine, jade, verdigris, malachite...  How could one ask for more?

Today's photos are cropped and close up and GREEN!  I remember as a kid looking at zoomed-in-close photos in magazines and the objective was to try to guess what the whole picture was.  These were so much fun for me.  Maybe it was a foreshadowing of my fascination with photography.  Anyway, take a look at the above photos again, see if you guess what they are, and then check yourself by taking a look at the photos, in their entirety, below.

  

LOL #18

The day was long and busy and the smiles were few and far between. It was 8:30 at night. The kids had been given some semblance of dinner earlier in the evening while I busily tried to "catch up."  They were now into the nightly shower and sulk routine because I was forcing them to get ready for the impending doom of bedtime.  An umpteenth load of laundry had just been folded and put away. The hubster had just arrived home from work.

We talked for a bit, catching up on the day's activities. I tucked and prayed my little nutter butter into bed and secretly hoped my older two would soon be ready for the same so my evening could begin to wind down. 

With my stomach rumbling a bit, I walked to the kitchen and reached for my easy go-to dinner when it's really too late to be eating - cereal.  I poured myself a rather unexciting bowl of mini wheats and turned to the frig, opened the door, and reached for the milk jug.

Instantly, I was jolted by surprise at the site of a Cheesecake Factory bag on the top shelf of the refrigerator!  I quickly shut the door, making sure my children weren't around to see my decadent discovered treasure.  And when I realized the coast was clear, I opened the door again. As I did so, my knight in oh so shiny armor walked into the kitchen.  My eyes met his and a smile grew across my face like you wouldn't believe!

I walked straight to that bowl of cereal, opened the box back up, and dumped that strawberry coated shredded cardboard, uh, I mean wheat back inside.  With fork in hand, I want straight for the dairy again - this time in cheesecake form, of course.

After my first bite, I jumped back up from my chair; looked at the confusion on the hubster's face; and exclaimed, "I've got to take a photo!"  The result - this week's LOL shot. 



Tribute

Part I

After five or six years of use, my Canon 55-250mm f/4-5.6 never lets me down.  This was the first lens I purchased beyond the kit lens for my DSLR and while many "pros" wouldn't touch it, I have simply adored the results I have gotten - definitely a huge amount of bang for buck at around $250.  It is one of the least expensive Canon zooms but the results for general use certainly don't look cheap.  Sure, I would like to have a 70-200mm f/2.8 for those great low light shots but who has an extra $2000 dollars sitting around?  To me, the fact that I can clearly see the pilots of the Blue Angels in my shot that I took while standing on the flight line tells me that the lens is doing it's job.  Between the zoom capabilities, the image stabilization, and the fast focus, I couldn't ask for more from my $250.  The shot above is a cropped version of the one below.

All of today's shots, with the exception of the two with my brother-in-law and my nephew, were taken with my 55-250mm.  So, the first part of my tribute today goes to my trusty go-to lens, my 55-250mm.  From sports to landscapes to nature to airshows, it's always in my bag!

Part II

After almost twenty years of being around a family with such a strong military history, I have yet to become immune to the pomp and circumstance, the dedication and sacrifice, the tradition and honor, and the valor and bravery the military represents. 

I had the amazing honor of being part of my brother-in-law's retirement ceremony last weekend.  After thirty years of service in the United States Air Force, he was saying goodbye.  While his commander spoke at the ceremony, I learned facts about my brother-in-law's service and his life that he, like so many of those who serve, had never told about himself.  His voluntary life of service to our country reminded me that my life is the way it is, free and protected, because of the many that are just like he is.  The many who serve everyday both here in the United States and abroad.

I sat at his ceremony with Kleenex in hand as I watched and listened.  Watching our country's flag being ceremoniously folded and presented. Hearing congratulatory letters from commanders and former presidents being read.  Watching my sister-in-law pin a medal to the lapel of her husband that she often was without while their children were so young.  Hearing the names of so many family members, there to support my brother-in-law's accomplishments, being introduced.  Hearing the applause of appreciation and admiration from a filled-to-the-brim room of military personnel.  Watching father and son pass along tradition.

So, Part II of my tribute today goes to our military.  Every single day, this is what they are doing - serving so willingly and selflessly with such precision and perfection as unseen in any other organization or business in today's world.  Every single day, may we never forget that we have what we have in this country because of them!