December 28, 2013. A Bit of News.

Saturday, December 28,  2013.

Suddenly it's almost New Year's Eve! Where did all that time go, since it was New Year's Eve of 2012?

We shall welcome The New Year, with open arms. We shall welcome more regular weather, won't we? The weather of 2013 was rather strange in many areas.

Swimming, sun bathing, playing and running in the sand, listening to the ocean, filling your bucket with sand, swimming again, playing volleyball on the beach, one doesn't even need a sweater on ~ what more can anyone ask, for a very warm Christmas?

That was what southern California residents had, this past week!

Up in New England, there were very cold temperatures; thick ice on the trees, branches, fences, walks, bushes, back yards, telephone and power lines; PLUS no electricity for thousands and thousands of homes. No showers for days and days, no laundry done, getting sick of peanut butter sandwiches ~ where is a luscious fried egg?

The northern part of this country really suffered with such rainy, cold, freezing rain, sleet, snow, and the outage of power was the worst after so many days of it.

Your friend or relative gets word to you that their power is on, so you quickly go there to take a shower and shampoo as invited. "Ahhhhh, at last," you say over and over. They invite you to stay for a piece of toast and an over-easy egg. Bliss.

CALIFORNIA, HERE I COME!         ...      oh, yeah   ...


I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

We Have a Cold Day; Thinking of Cooking.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013.

There have been many cold days in probably every state in the union these past weeks, and more cold is still coming. Have you been cold? What do you do when you are cold? Sometimes I don't like to step out the door, and I'll stay inside and put a sweater on.

Sometimes when it gets cold, we think of soup, don't we? Making a delicious warm soup always gives us comfort on a cold day. One day in 1986 I made some soup with chicken skin and juice from turkey sausage, adding a potato, garlic, carrot, celery and bay leaf. It certainly did warm me up. I had cooked some skinned chicken legs for a few meals the week before and froze the skin. How lucky I was that day to have it in the freezer. Bay leaf makes a soup tasty, and we can also find this and that in our refrigerators, for making soup on a cold day.

It is cold here today, about thirty-five degrees, but sunny. It will probably rain by the end of the week. The eastern part of the country is getting ready today for some rain, snow, and sleet before mid-afternoon. Maryland, eastern Pennsylvania, and much of New York are having bad weather already.

It's quite amazing how excited we can get with making certain foods! Late this morning I thought of the acorn squash that I had in the fridge. I wanted to see how it would cook in the crock pot. I washed and cut it in half horizontally, scooped out the seeds, then the stringiness, and put half of it in my one-quart crock pot to cook. This crock pot is so small, it has only low temperature, so I must wait another few hours for that half to be cooked.  

With the other half, I scooped out the lovely seeds first, then the strings (to keep them separate from the seeds). I turned on the oven to 400 ˚ and put a bit of olive oil in the squash on a small pan. The seeds stirred it up and patted it all down. The seeds were ready to come out in about nine or ten minutes, and
turned out to be such a lovely shade of tan / brown, crispy, and very delicious (and very good for you). The oven half is still in the oven, with a little added honey. I am eager to taste it.

Then I thought that while I'm at it, I may as well take out one of the medium turnips from the fridge and cook it in a frying pan. A little olive oil goes a long way, to gently fry some half-inch strips of peeled turnip. Yummy is all I can say! Sometimes I plan what I shall have for a meal. At other times I have impulses and good ideas that are not planned, which turn out to be quite interesting and tasty.

I hope you are using your cold day to make some soup...


I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

Over the River and Through the Woods ...

Sunday, November 24, 2013.

"Over the River and Through the Woods ...
To Grandmother's house we go ~ 
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh 
Through white and drifted snow ..."

When I was in elementary grades at school, we would sing it when Thanksgiving Day was approaching. What fun that was! It is so interesting to envision these lyrics of the olden days. Somewhere there is Grandmother's house, and there's always a wood to gallop through before you can see her house. The woods are 'dark and deep' and covered with snow on the pathway through. These lyrics weren't written to describe any place in southern California, were they? Unless there was a mountain or two that would be gifted with snow and cold air, like Old Baldy.  

There might be very few woods without snow in Canada, don't you think? It's rather cold up there, much colder than down here in the United States. I wonder if they have their own special song for Thanksgiving Day. If so, I would like to hear it. 

No matter where we live, it is good to have a Day of Thanksgiving for the many gifts bestowed upon us.  

The pumpkin pie is mentioned in the lyrics of Over the River and Through the Woods, and some people must have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. It is a very old tradition. 

Can you smell the satisfying aroma of Roast Turkey? By Thursday, you will definitely know that turkey meat is roasting everywhere. Sweet potatoes are often served with dinner, mashed potatoes, and many more different kinds of food. Oh, the stuffing for the turkey is very important, so do not forget to make it. 

To everyone who sees this bit of writing, Happy Thanksgiving! May you enjoy being with your families, relatives, friends, and neighbors at this time of year. If you must be alone, have a wonderful day, as you are being thought of by many people.  

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

My Name; When I Was A Child.

November 16, 2013.

By the way, my name ~ every time I hear someone else say my name, 'Anna Mae', I think I am hearing someone saying 'animation' or 'animate'.  I now think that 'anime' is such a nice short-cut for people who are very busy! You can make your phone show simpler things so you wouldn't have to type so much? Someone sent me an email, and that is what they called me. They told me that it is from their phone. I don't know what kind of phone, iPhone, Smart Phone, or Genius Phone? It sure does save time. 

When I was just a kid, my mother would call out in the neighborhood in the coal mining town where we lived near Wilkes-Barre, PA., when it was time to come home, 'Anna Maeeeeeee, but it sounded like 'ENNNNNA meeeeeeeeee'. An older kid, teen maybe, would call me 'Enemy' until she learned my name is 'Anna Mae'.

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As I remember, it was so much fun when I was growing up: there were the coal-dusty alleys to run through, a large open area to play in, and down the alley was another group of kids who would play kick-the-can (a kind of hide and seek game), and "Mother, May I?" (a game in which you ask the leader of the game if you could take a baby step, a medium step or a giant step, to reach 'home'). I would have to look it up on the internet to know the exact way to play that game.  

There also were games of hop scotch, and a very small ball with 'jacks', which I dearly loved.  

Sometimes when you got bored, you'd go to the lower parts of a culm bank and walk around on those rocks and coal pieces, to find some good coal to take home to Mommy and Daddy. Everyone in the coal towns burned coal in those days in their furnaces. 

All of the kids played outdoors. I definitely do not remember any chubby kids! Running and playing keeps the fat on our bodies from settling down somewhere inside our skin. Riding our tricycles and little red wagons up and down the dusty street was one of our favorite things to do. 

Oh, yes, we also played in the small gutter in front or our homes. Many streets weren't paved yet, and the trickle of household sink water would come down the street in the little ditch. I remember playing there, it was like a baby creek, and all kids love to play in water, don't they? I think I caught pneumonia one year by playing in the ditch. 

Another great pastime is gathering those prickly little burdocks from the weeds, and making little pieces of furniture. I would often do that, and visually remember making a little sofa with those round little burdocks. The couch had three rows of burdocks for the seats, and three burdocks for each of the arms, one little ball for each of the four feet, and then you have to work on the back of the sofa to make it look like a sofa. That was truly great fun! 

One more weedy game is looking for plaintain weeds with the long oval leaves, and the spike in the center that carries the seeds for future plaintain weeds. I would almost fill up a cigar box with those seeds. You have to wait until they are tall enough and the seeds become mature, for them to come off easily. I realize now that these plaintain weeds are healthful and medicinal for us to use. The pioneers took them on their trips across the plains to find a new place to live. 

Mother Nature was so good to us little kids! Just think of an empty lot across the street where the Buttonwood School was! When I'd go home for lunch, I'd stop (of course!) on my way home to pick a fistful of purple violets. That lot had so very many! Oh, what we are missing today! I can still see this in my mind, a house on one side, and on the other side of the lot, a small hill with little bushes on it. There was a house on that little hill. The empty lot would be full of purple violets when they began to bloom, and it was a free place to pick the violets for Mommy. 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

Did You Watch the World Series? The Doggies Did.

Thursday, November 7, 2013.

Did you watch the World Series this year? I did, at the home of my son and his lovely wife, and loved every minute of it. It was so exciting to watch the game without thinking about getting to my long list of chores I left at my place.

I hadn't seen much of the pre-series games, but I was eager to watch The World Series! When I was in high school, in a rural area, the school bus would take us to baseball games, but I really didn't know a lot about the rules in baseball. I just enjoyed being 'out', and on the bus, and being with an exciting group watching the players out on the field.

I didn't even play many sports, because I was not athletically inclined. If I did play softball, I would get those 'shin splints' when I ran from base to base. Or I'd get a pain in my side. I would even get those 'shin splints' when I would roller skate on the old-fashioned ones, down the street. Were those skates  too heavy for my feet, or was I scared to skate, or was it because I was a bookworm instead of an athlete?

But during the times of those upcoming Series, I would be happy and excited like my schoolmates. I had always liked the Yankees, by the way, because that's all they talked about. The Yankees!

Nowadays, I don't usually watch baseball games, but somehow I was eager to see the World Series
this year. Oh, I know why, now! My son used to live in the Boston area, and liked the Boston Red Sox. He was now thrilled that they would be playing in the World Series. So I guess this contagious disease infected me in a hurry.

I was truly excited to be able to go to their house to see the games, because I do not have a TV hook-up yet. I know that I would be addicted to TV and I don't want that to happen now because of all the 'chores', 'projects', and necessary things I must do.

There are three almost BIG house dogs in their home, and these dogs feel they must be present if the family goes to the living room. Sometimes the family has a music jam, or something on TV is very interesting, or they have a family dinner and everyone goes to the living room after dishes are done.

Anyway, these lovable/loving doggies will lie at your feet if you are sitting on the couch, or will lie  near your shoes so they can rest their heads on/in them when they close their eyes to nap. In other words, they are very much under-foot and loving it. And so, there they were, in the living room with us, so happy to be 'watching' the Series with us, even if their eyes were closed.

Cheering? Of course, cheering! We would scream instantly if there was a run or a really lucky happening! As we did so, the three big dogs who think they are humans, would quickly get up from their lying position. Princess would nervously look for her ball so someone would throw it so she could run after it. All three would be ready to have some excitement!

It happened each time we all would piercingly shriek, yell, shout-out at our team, and some of us would stand up and begin to dance some 'hurrah' steps, throwing our arms up and moving in frenzy and getting that exquisite happy face! The dogs knew immediately that 'all hell' broke loose! They'd mingle so quickly with us, but of course, we had to pay attention to the next play, so the excitement would slow down again for a little while.

The dogs slowed down, too, muttering "DOG-done it, folks, we thought there was going to be a big celebration!" And the same thing would happen each time a player made a run, or better yet, a HOME run, and the dogs just loved every minute of it, too. Lily would always want to be as near as possible, with her head and feet on your shoes. Lucky would almost insist that he had to sit on your lap; he rarely gets that chance, and you have to steel yourself against that beautiful pleading in his big eyes. Princess is the oldest and has an obsession with her ball, always.

And this took place each night of the Series. The shepherd and two labs had a blast, and I did, too. I am so grateful for that opportunity to join in the fun of The World Series!


I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

A Prelude to Hibernation.

November 5, 2013.

Good evening, each and every one of you.

It is 5:06 pm, but it feels like evening. It is so strange to me, these last few days since the time change took place ~ "Fall back one hour" doesn't seem like much time, but actually with our human bodies pretending to be bears, bees, and birds, it feels like a whole evening.  

Each day I have been munching a lot of food during the morning and afternoon, preparing to go to bed when late evening comes, as in hibernation. I don't like to eat before I go to bed, because of the G.E.R.D. situation. I become too uncomfortable to sleep peacefully, so I like to stop eating around four or five o'clock. 

But lately, it feels to me that I should be going to bed between five and six o'clock. The outdoors is suddenly getting so dusky earlier, and quite soon it IS dark out there. I am not enthusiastic to do much, then, and would like to go to bed for the night.  

In the morning, if I wake up around four o'clock, it feels as if it is five or six o'clock, and I'm ready to spring out of bed to begin the day. But after the regular trip to the little room, I get back into bed and may sleep about ninety minutes more. 

And it is getting cooler on some nights, so I must put my flannel blankie over the regular covers. I wonder just when winter will come ~ it has been balking for quite a while now. There are so many warm days, and-not-so-cool nights, that it gets a little confusing. Is this autumn, or is this already winter?

With such strange changes of weather during the last year, or year and a half, we wonder what kind of winter we will have this time. I truly miss the snow very much because I used to live in northern New York and northern Pennsylvania, but I wouldn't want the people of the south to bear very harsh winters. Does anyone know what kind of weather is coming for the next few months?  

Brace yourselves for the 90% chance of showers and thunderstorms tomorrow, the 6th of November. 

It is very dark outdoors now, so I think I shall practice getting into my cave for the real hibernation.

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...

A Few Items to Share.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013.

Hello, you all, y'all, darlings, folks, sweethearts, 

Do you remember when I found a four-leaf clover near the foot of my lovely concrete bench? It was only a couple of months ago, or maybe more. Well, each time that I sit there, to wait for the senior bus, or Bill and Jen, or just to sit and relax for a while, I look around my feet to see if there are any more four-leaf clovers. There are small clover plants that come up and show their pretty 'wings', and I adore them. I look all around my feet, and can never find any. Well, yesterday when I was waiting for the senior bus to take me to the grocery, I suddenly saw a four-leaf clover! I took note of exactly where it was, because the house door was locked and the bus was coming. 

When I returned from my grocery trip and got the bags of groceries into the house, I went out to pick that wonderful four-leaf clover. It was still there, almost smiling at me, and I picked it up, took it into the house, put it between two sheets of paper, and this evening it is dry. I'm quite proud, I yam. Gram B used to find them every time she would look for them. That is one thing I didn't quite inherit from her ...  or did I? Maybe my finding them is just beginning! 

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Another item: I've been using a certain brand of butter ever since I came here to this area. I like to cook my egg in a dab of butter in a small frying pan, cook it just two minutes over low heat, sunny side up/no turning over, and it's always good. Well, there was only one pound of butter left in the freezer and it was four long sticks in the pound of butter, unsalted. I noticed that the butter would make a loud sizzle, as if there was water in the pan. I began to notice it every time. The box said "butter", and the ingredients underneath said "milk, cream". I didn't like that at all. I want BUTTER in my pound of butter. Why do they have to add these other liquids to BUTTER? To make more money, that's why! 

I used up two sticks because I didn't have any other butter and wasn't going shopping much because of all the doctor appointments taking  up so much of my time. Finally, yesterday I went to the grocery by senior bus, and took along my little box of butter with two sticks in it, and went to the service counter. "I would like to return this butter." The girl didn't hesitate a bit about taking the butter, wouldn't even look at the register tape I had, and gave me three dollars and some change. The cost of the butter was $2.88, on sale; I am wondering if other people had returned this kind of butter, to make her ask no questions. While shopping, I bought a pound of butter, proudly; no liquids added. 

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A few days ago, I went to sit down on my lil bench, and there were several pieces of butternut shells on the ground, right where I would be putting my feet. I bent down to see what it was. I don't know butternuts very well, and two were not broken open yet. I brought one into the house to take a knife and see if I could open it. Never got to it, yet. I thought that the outer rough shell was off. I wonder if that falls off automatically when they mature and dry. I wondered if a child came and sat there with the nuts, or did a squirrel. There didn't seem to be any tooth marks from a squirrel, and I kept wondering about it. 

Well, after I had come home yesterday from the grocery store, it hadn't rained yet. We were supposed to be getting rain all day. After I got most of the purchases put away, the rain began to sprinkle down. I went to the bathroom in the back of the house, looked out the window to see what's what, and there was a squirrel hurrying across on the top of the fence. He looked perky and eager, and it had been sprinkling   already. I wondered why he was out in the rain. He went along the top of the fence about fifteen feet, suddenly stopped so he could jump down to the ground (I think they sort of use their claws on their way down to the ground) and as he had stopped at the top of the fence I noticed that he had something in his mouth. One butternut stuck forward out of his mouth, and he had one in each cheek, sticking outward, and I wished with all my heart that I could have clicked my camera! But the camera was still in my purse/bag. I kept watching him. It was such a cute sight to see, this little squirrel with such a funny triangle on his tiny face! 

He clambered down to the ground, gingerly leapt across the pebbles and then the lawn. He stopped about a foot across the lawn, laid the nuts down onto the grass, put one in his mouth and leapt a few happy leaps farther toward the house, and stopped. He looked around, then quickly dug a hole in the lawn as his little front paws worked so fast. He bent his head and put the nut in that hole, pulled dirt over it, and grass, and his paws went this way and that, patting the debris over his buried treasure. What a whimsical sight that was! It was raining a little heavier then, and he went back to find his little pile of nuts. I had to leave the window, and yearned to see him bury the other two. 

Then I pondered, and wondered if he was the little guy who sat on my lil bench gathering butternuts. 

So there you have it! Three little items making a short story long! 

I'll see you at the Corner Post ...