Holidays
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Happy Independence Day!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeahROQ716M[/youtube] Get your patriotic groove on, folks, and remember that the flag that flies above us flies for us all, and was born from blood, sweat, and tears…we’re all in this together, much as it sometimes does not feel that way.
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April Come She Will
April come she will When streams are ripe and swelled with rain; May, she will stay, Resting in my arms again June, she’ll change her tune, In restless walks she’ll prowl the night; July, she will fly And give no warning to her flight. August, die she must, The autumn winds blow chilly and cold; September I’ll remember. A love once new has now grown old. ~Simon & Garfunkel, April Come She Will. Listen. God, I really do love them, and the poetry of their lyrics. It’s April already…how did that happen? Not sure. But April makes me think of this song, and of my mom, since her birthday is…
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Gung Hay Fat Choy!
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Friday Randomness
Thanks everyone for your kind birthday wishes. I had a lovely birthday, and a lovely time off from work. One of Maya’s Christmas gifts was tickets to go see Wicked, which was a lot of fun. I’m not a huge fan of the musical as a play, but this one was really fun and interesting and kept your attention the whole way through. Excellent gift, Ted! Btw, Ted wrote a great review of the show for Popdose, and he included a couple of YouTube clips that are pretty great. Along the theme of gifts that are not things, we also received tickets for dinner on the Napa Valley Wine Train,…
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On the First Day of Christmas…
(image found here) A Facebook friend posted this morning, “Happy First Day of Christmas”, which confused me, because I thought Christmas Day was the first day of Christmas, with Epiphany being the 12th day, and the day that the magi came bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. But what do I know, I’m an atheist. Thanks to the internet, all I had to do was search for ‘1st day of Christmas’, and I found this very informative page, which both agreed with what my Facebook friend said, and what I had said as well. In other words, different traditions and churches celebrate it on different dates. I don’t know about…
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Friday Randomness, Now on Tuesday!
(photo found at SF Gate, here) Does anyone else still get a newspaper delivered to your house, as opposed to looking for your news online? We are suckers and pay quite a bit to support this dying industry. Sometimes I wonder why, and other times, I’m glad. Today I was glad, as I saw the picture above, which I might have missed if I had been looking online. The story is that the San Francisco Ice Co. donated 10 tons of ice to the San Francisco Zoo, which the zoo had blown into snow for the Polar Bears, who look like they’re LOVING it, don’t they? Doesn’t the bear in…
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Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone
It’s Wednesday afternoon, and tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. I got up early and went to the grocery store before it got too crowded and insane. Came home and started some cooking. Sweet Potato Pudding? Check. Homemade Cranberry Sauce? Check. Green beans prepped for my favorite green bean dish (green beans, steamed, then sauteed with butter, then tossed with Gorgonzola cheese and toasted walnuts. Yum.) Check. Pumpkin pie and pecan pie purchased? Check. All that’s left to do tomorrow is make my Grandma’s Fruit Salad, put together the green beans, and enjoy a lovely feast with the family. And, of course, stop to think about what I’m thankful for. That is a long…
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Thank You
(Photo of Union Soldiers occupying the U.S. Senate during the Civil War, found here.) Thank you to all of the veterans of our many horrible wars, just and unjust. Thank you for putting your life on the line, for risking all. Thank you to the families, the husbands, wives, parents, and children, of those who are sent into harms way, over and over again. Veteran’s Day is a day of Remembrance, a day to ponder the sacrifices of those who serve. A day to ponder our future, and whether this might, perhaps, be avoidable now, and in the future. For now, though, thank you. Ted and I happened upon a…
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I Am the Flag
Ted was born in Ontario, Canada, and came to the Bay Area at the ripe old age of 1. When the family naturalized as U.S. Citizens 5 or 6 years later, some neighbors gave them a little book, titled, I Am the Flag: A Portrait of America, by Lawrence M. Jones. It’s kinda groovy, with very early 70s illustrations. I thought it appropriate to copy here, for Independence Day. I am a composite being of all the people of America. I am the union if you are united. I am one and indivisible if you are undivided. I am as strong as the weakest link. I am an emblem of…
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Juneteenth
On June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, word of their freedom came to the slaves of Texas. Major General Gordon Granger brought the news via General Order Number 3, which began: “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer.” This is clearly a truly American holiday, as it marks the end of slavery in the United…
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Wordless Wednesday ~ Pic from a Memorial Day Picnic in the Park
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Happy Pi(e) Day
(perfect pi/pie pic found here) Today is 3.14, March 14th, aka, Pi Day. I’m thinking we might celebrate with some pie. Ala’ mode, of course.
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TiVo Alert ~ San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5cYEAM6Te4[/youtube] We were fortunate enough to catch an encore performance of San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker yesterday. It was beautiful and really, really well done. I looked on our local PBS website, and there’s only one showing left, 2AM Tuesday morning. If you have a chance, record it. You won’t be disappointed, even though the Nutcracker Prince has a mask that looks a bit too much like the Burger King for my taste. It was filmed last year, and is distributed this year via Great Performances. Of course, there’s a DVD available for the ballet lovers out there. Enjoy. It’s gorgeous.
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Thankful
My plan for today’s blog was to make a Thursday 13, and list 13 things for which I am thankful. Family, friends, our health, having a job, good elections, etc. etc. As so often happens, though, life got in the way. Let me tell you what happened. Ted and I use WordPress to maintain our blogs. Ted’s really good about updating his blog to the most current version of WordPress, but often the update comes with a small hand full of problems. There will be something new that he has to tweak, and it takes time, and blah blah blah. Me? I’m more the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix…
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Champagne Turkey Recipe
When I moved to San Francisco in 1987, I worked at a big hotel as a front desk clerk. Since I had no seniority, I had to work both Thanksgiving and Christmas days. My roommate, Troy, worked at another hotel (though he later left and came to work at the same hotel as me). He had the pleasure of working the ‘graveyard’ shift, so he was usually asleep while I was at school or work, and I was asleep while he was at work. Troy was a pretty darned good cook, and on Thanksgiving Day, while I was working, he cooked a delicious Thanksgiving meal for me and some of…