A Little Tongue Will Do You

When I was a child my mom was a firm believer in at least trying everything that was on your plate.  Well...that is all well and good as long as it is not weird stuff...like beef tongue.  We had a butcher shop we visited every Friday to get the our meats for the week.  It was my favorite part of grocery shopping because we also go lunch meat there...and Jake had the best pastromi on the face of the earth.  He also had homemade fresh breads made by his wife.  My favorite was pumpernickel and Jewish rye.  So every week I knew we were going to get bread and pastromi.  One night when I was older and working after school I came home hungry and there....nestled in the bottom of the fridge was the red paper from Jakes that he ALWAYS wrapped my pastromi in.  I decided to take the lazy way and just reach into the paper and grab a couple of slices of pastromi....my hand went in....by refridgerator lite.....and it stuck on whatever was in the paper.  I mean...STUCK.  It just latched onto my hand.  I screamed and fell backwards onto the floor and the meat went sailing up to the new dropped ceiling tiles...and stuck.  I looked up...and a tongue was hanging down towards me.  I screamed again and this time my dad came rushing in to see what the commotion was all about.  You can imagine how he guffawed when he saw me laying in the floor, pointing to the ceiling, and there was the tongue half hanging towards me.  Needless to say...when my mom put it on the table the next night for supper....I was not having any of it.  To this day I have never eaten Beef tongue and have a thing about cows, horses, etc....licking me.  GROSS!  Did your mom ever make you eat anything that you found totally repugnant?  Drop me a comment and let me know what it was.  Happy Friday!

Women in Blue by John Singleton Copley

.c 1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Lydia Lynde.
1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Hannah Loring.

1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Anne Fairchild (Mrs Metcalf Bowler)
1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Mary Turner (Mrs. Daniel Sargent).1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Mercy Otis (Mrs James Warren).
1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Mrs Alice Hooper1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Sarah Sargent (Mrs. Nathaniel Allen)1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Mary Tappan (Mrs Benjamin Pickman).

When the Day is Done

I love topics about sunset and sunrise.  To me it represents hope and faith, and the gift of waiting.  Sunsets always remind me of my dad. When I was a little girl they meant he would be home shortly.  when I was older we would sit up on our roof and watch the sun set.  Sunsets with my dad were always special times....they were our time. This past week I took a few sunset pictures on my trek up and down Hwy 22.  The first one is on a day when snow was predicted in North Alabama.  I thought the thick layer of gray clouds with the split of sunset made it look like I was heading into a lake of fire.  It truly was beautiful.  I am thoroughly enjoying doing Project 365 because it means my camera is always on hand.  I never knew you could take such cool pictures driving down the road.....I do slow down if nothing is behind me....just FYI.

This picture is my favorite.  Does it not look like there is an explosion up ahead.  The sky is so blue above and then that ball of fire is peeking through the trees.  I actually had to pull over to get this one.  The sun was setting behind me and I could see this in my rearview mirror....and just had to see it face to face.  If you can't look at this and believe in God...hummmm....something is not right!

What a cold and dreary day this was.  I pulled over for this picture too.  I think the temperature at the time of the shot was somewhere in the low twenties and the wind was really whipping.  This sunset looked like embers to me....and were not warming like those of a fire would be.  I found a wide spot in the road to stop and get this picture.  Sunsets and sunrises are really cool to me.  I rank them right up there with barns and hands.

My final sunset and I think it was the perfect one.  You can see such detail in this one.  Even though the sky is blue it was still very cold outside and I took the picture stopped in the middle of the road.  There was nothing behind me and sometimes that is great coming up and down Hwy 22.  I have wanted to take a picture from the Tallapoosa River bridge but have yet to find it when no one was coming either way so I could stop briefly and snap a few.  I have a year to get that shot.  I have started keeping a notebook of shots I want to make....and am really enjoying searching for the perfect picture every day and being creative with my pictures.  I am a still photographer.  I found a wonderful poem about sunsets that I thought I would leave you with today.  It is by an Englishman named David Harris.  I think he too sees sunsets as something very special.

  Just Beyond The Sunset

Just beyond the sunset

Someone waits for me

Just beyond the sunset

Lies my destiny

Where the purple mountains

Lie in deep tranquillity

There I’ll find the treasure

Of love eternally

Just beyond the sunset

Waits someone so fair

Just beyond the sunset

All alone they wait there

Their hair is golden

The colour of the sand

Their eyes sparkle in the night

Like diamonds in your hand

Just beyond the sunset

Lies a home for me

Where the world is peaceful

Like a paradise should be

Just beyond the sunset

Someday is where you’ll find me

Written - July or Aug 1966

David Harris



Cheesecake Factory Love

Why?

Why doesn’t Wyoming have a Cheesecake Factory nearby?

It would get a lot of business. They could put one in our depressing mall.

When I visit my parents, I insist on going to the Cheesecake Factory. Like we-are-going-here-no-matter-what insist.

I got to go when I was visiting them last month.

I got the white chili first. I highly recommend the white chili.

And okay, yeah the prices are a little up there. But it’s worth it. You get a lot of food so if you can’t finish it, wal-ah, it’s lunch tomorrow.

I always get dessert. Even if I’m full. It’s a sin to go to The Cheesecake Factory and not get dessert. I once got this huge chocolate cake that lasted forever.

The last time I went, I got this:



That would be the Red Velvet Cheesecake.

It was amazing.

I so wish there was a Cheesecake Factory around here so I could go in and buy a slice of cheesecake when I was craving it.

Actually, maybe it’s a GOOD thing we don’t have a Cheesecake Factory. I’d be tempted to stop in every day, the workers would know me by name, I’d gain a billion pounds so when Tom came back from Korea he’d walk right past me because he wouldn’t recognize me since I’d be standing there in a muumuu.

So no Cheesecake Factory. Fine.

It’ll just be something I look forward to having whenever I visit my parents.


**I received no compensation for this post on The Cheesecake Factory but if they’d like to pay me to go, I’d be happy to do it, mwahaha.**

**Actually, I’ll review any restaurant since I love to eat and hate to cook. FYI.**

John Singleton Copley Paints 3 Cousins in Same Brown Dress

.1746 English Mezzotint by artist John Faber, Jr., after Thomas Hudson, The Right Honourable Mary Finch, Viscountess Andover. (The print my be seen at the British Museum in London and at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.)

In 1763, these 3 sitters apparently planned with John Singleton Copley to be portrayed in nearly identical brown costumes & outdoor settings copied from John Faber's 1746 English mezzotint. Lucretia Chandler Murray & Mary Greene Hubbard were cousins. Mary Greene Hubbard was also a cousin of Katherine Greene Amory.

It is likely that Copley finished these portraits in his studio over a period of months. He probably painted heads & hands in person and added settings & costumes to his subjects at a later date. He was incredibly busy, and he often did not finish his portraits one at a time.

In October 1757, Capt. Thomas Ainslie of Nova Scotia wrote to Copley that he had received his portrait, which "gives me great Satisfaction." Ainslie and others invited Copley to come to Canada "where there are several people who would be glad to employ You."Copley replied: "I should receive a singular pleasure in excepting, if my Business was anyways slack, but it is so far otherwise that I have a large Room full of Pictures unfinished, which would ingage me these twelve months if I did not begin any others."

1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Mary Greene (Mrs. Daniel Hubbard).1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Lucretia Chandler (Mrs John Murray).
1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Katherine Greene (Mrs John Amory)..

Grammar Boy

My son is 8 and his writing is....

It’s just, the thing is....

Fine, the boy can’t spell very well.

I mean, he tries, don’t get me wrong. But lately his penmanship leaves much to be desired. Oh, I work with him, but he doesn’t take me seriously when I tell him that a woman appreciates a properly spelled letter from a man. And that she’d also like to be able to make out the words.

Look, my husband Tom…he has neat writing but his spelling is...well, let me put it this way. He once spelled ‘regroup’ as ‘regrupe.’

Tommy is now enrolled in an After School program where he gets extra help in reading and writing. He listens to his teachers more than he listens to me. I don’t want him to be one of those adults who doesn’t understand the difference between ‘their,’ ‘they’re’, and ‘there.’ Or ‘your’ and ‘you’re.’ You have no idea how hard it is for me not to say something when I see a Facebook status with these words used incorrectly. Of course, my grammar isn’t perfect, but I do understand the basics. And I want the same for Tommy.

I asked him to write something about himself the other night.

“Why?” he sighed.

“We need to practice your writing daily. We’ve been through this before. Don’t you want to be a good writer?”

“Fine.” Tommy grabbed some paper and started writing. A couple of minutes later he shoved the paper at me. “There.”

I peered down at it:



“Kanye West, this is fabulous!” I exclaimed.

Tommy frowned. “Who is Kanye West?”

“Oh, just this guy who thinks he’s the greatest at like, everything. I just like how you mentioned that you were so handsome and…you know what, never mind. This is good, but can you see your mistakes?”

Tommy shook his head. “It’s perfect.”

“Ahh Kanye, no, for starters, it’s not proper to say ‘I got blue eyes,’ you’re not on Jerry Springer. You should have written ‘I’ve got blue eyes.' I like that you clarified that you have a mouth. Handsome is spelled like this.” I scribbled down the word for him to see. “And again, you should have written ‘I’ve got a girlfriend.’ Girlfriend is spelled like this.” And I wrote that down for him too.

“Thanks,” Tommy said glumly, taking the corrections.

“I know it can get frustrating, but you’ll get it,” I vowed. “And no kissing that girlfriend of yours until you’re...”

“Twenty,” Tommy finished.

Basically, his relationship isn’t that serious. They chat for a bit at the bus stop, exchange Silly Bandz, and engage in a game of Tag.

Still, I’ve drilled it in his head that there is no kissing until the age of twenty. I hope he continues to believe this for many years.

And I hope he never acts like Kanye West.

Hodge Podge on My Anniversary

It is Wednesday, and my 8th wedding anniversary, and Joyce has again posted some really thought provoking Hodge Podge questions for today. I love trivia…so I look forward to this Wednesday neme so I can see what kind of wildly random answers I can come up with.
1. Will you watch the Super Bowl? If so who will you root for? If you are outside the USA what is the 'big deal sporting event' in your own country? I live in the US and watch is a relative term….I will LOOK at the Super Bowl commercials (my favs are always the ones involving the Budweiser Clydesdales) and the half time show(unless it is the Who again. They were really lousy last year)…that is about it. I really am not a fan or follower of football. I would rather be watching a sappy girly movie or reading a good book.
2. Is ignorance bliss? Tough question but my answer would have to be yes, ignorance is bliss to most…if you are ignorant of something then you don’t have to waste energy worrying about it. On the other hand my problem is that not knowing would drive me insane.
3. Which of the seven dwarfs are you? (and just in case your Disney is a little bit rusty, here they are-Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy) Today I am Sneezy (actually….Drippy would be a better choice). I really should be at home in bed…but where am I….working. Most other times I am Happy or Sleepy(I reserve this one for weekends only).
4. When you are riding in the car with another couple how do you organize the seating? (Men up front? Women up front? Couples sit together?) I don’t organize where people sit. I tend to sit up front because I get car sick. If we are going a short distance I may ride in the back with the other female. When my parents lived with us…I always rode in the back….my dad had really long legs and arthritis and it was difficult for him to get in and out of my little HHR.
5. What is beauty? Beauty is the quality in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or lifts the mind or spirit.
6. If someone asks you to bring an appetizer or a dessert to a party in their home, which would you choose? I am not a great baker…so it would have to be an appetizer. I for a catering company in my spare time (can you hear me laughing hysterically here?)....she is a fabulous cake maker....I do the other stuff.
7. What is your crowd pleasing go-to appetizer? Black Bean Salsa.  It is so easy to make and yummy to eat.  Black Bean Salsa recipe:  2 cans of black beans, drained.  1- 8 ounce pkg of feta cheese crumbled.  1/2 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup of oil, 2 cans of shoe peg corn, drained, 1 bunch of scallions, chopped, 3/4 c apple cider vinegar, garlic salt and pepper to taste.  Combine all ingredients and refrigerate overnight of for at least a couple of hours.  Serve with scoops or Tostitos. 
8. Insert your own random thought here. Frank and I married at the end of our Arbor church service.  You know at the time where people come up to join the church....or pray...well we came down and were married.  There were about 50 people there who were not members of the church....the rest....it was the congregation.  It was the sweetest service.  My daughter Kat stood up for me and our good friend Robert was Frank's best man.   I have worked for Deborah at Your Day for a long time.  She has done the cakes at all my children's wedding receptions.  It was fun having her do a cake for me.  Sometimes in life....we get a chance for a do-over.  I was fortunate enough to get one.  Have you ever had a do-over chance in your life?  What was it?  Leave me a comment and share it with me.  Happy Anniversary Baby.  He reads my blog every morning....isn't he a wonderful guy?  I think so.  :-)  Hava a Blessed Wednesday