Fads

Hair styles of women are a 'statement' of the latest fashion in clothing. From the extreme arrangements of Marie Antoinette, to the short, shingled cuts popular with women of the Flapper age in the '20's, women readily follow the latest trends. I have no idea how the fads get started, but they sweep the nation over night it seems. The women on the street, as well as those appearing on television, all wear their hair the same way.

In my opinion, the latest hair fashion makes women look like cyclops. Hair is draped over one eye so that only the other eye is seen by an onlooker. During a conversation in person, or as seen on a television screen, when a women is interviewed or reporting the news, a lock of their hair hangs over one eye in fashion. No effort is made to brush the lock aside as the interview or report continues. Apparently the woman believes this is attractive, but I find myself wondering how the woman can see thru the hank of hair. I stop listening to what's being said and start brushing my own hair away from my forehead, wishing the woman would do the same.

Another fashion I see on television, is a style that looks scraggly. Wisps of hair stick out in all directions giving an unkempt appearance. When the most serious topics of the day are being discussed by a woman with this hair style, I always have the feeling that she's a scatterbrain and what ever expertise she may bring to the conversation is lost on me.

I am also amused by women who ignore their years and wear their hair long and flowing like a teenager. Perhaps those prepping a person for the TV camera are to blame. since they think hair brought forward on each side of a woman's neck is more feminine.

Who knows what the next fad will be. What goes around, comes around. I wouldn't be surprised if long braids wrapped around one's head became fashionable again.

Marie Antionette

Theater: 101 Years of Broadway by Richard

Frances, my valentine, and I had the pleasure of seeing the musical revue 101 Years of Broadway. The musical revue was about several of the best musical Broadway shows, with the actual stars singing the beautiful songs. It was incredible and fascinating to watch listen and enjoy.

Neil Berg was the musical director and producer who also played the piano and the lead in the New York Band. The cast of Ron Bohmer, Chuck Wagner, Sandra Joseph, Andrea Rivette and Lawrence Clayton all were so talented that they brought the music to life in such way, it was magical.

This musical revue transformed the audience and my self back in time, as if we were back watching these musical plays again. Frances and I left the theater with a better understanding of Broadway Musical productions.

To Neil Berg,the cast, and the band, well done.

[Editor's note: This story was written by Richard]

Skipping Stones

Today as I surfed the television channels to find something interesting to watch I stopped for a few minutes to watch cowboys in the movie, Broken Trail, to skip stones across a creek. I had seen the movie several times and knew the plot, but didn't remember the skipping stones scene.

It brought back many memories of standing on the bank of a body of water with family and friends on picnic outings and competing to see how many times we could skip a stone and how far it would go.

These little competitions were never planed. It was a spontaneous move on the part of someone in the group to pick up a stone and skip it. Now and then a stone wouldn't skip, in which case, the group telepathically appraised the moment and as a group, silently agreed to mosey on our way, or automatically begin competing to see who could skip stones the best.

At any one skipping session we could spend an inordinate amount of time developing our skill. Of course there had to be a good supply of skipping stones available. Skipping stones is one of those childhood skills that stays with one, but you never hear anyone bragging about it. When I saw the two old cowboys in the movie casually showing off their skill to each other, I realized we do take pride in our accomplishments and draw on them when we want to show off.

Skipping Stones by Alan Bray

Superstitions

I am not a superstitious person and I do not believe in the supernatural, but I do believe in something we call luck or chance. It's hard for me to define luck, but I think I am a lucky person. I feel lucky. That doesn't mean that I think I'll win the lottery, or come into a fabulous inheritance. It's just a feeling I have.

I not only have a feeling of being lucky, I make up little reasons why I'm lucky. I know my pretend lucky signs are just that, pretend, but they are fun and I change or add to the list when it suits me.

Currently, Camel cookies are a sign of luck. I buy animal cracker cookies in a large plastic 14 0z size container from Sam's. When I grab a hand full of cookies and find a camel cookie, it's lucky. If I get more than one, the luck doubles.

I also pretend numbers in sequence bring me luck. When I glance at the clock on the microwave and it reads, 2:20 or 4:44, that's lucky. Whenever I check the time on my cell phone, any combination of like numbers brings luck and if there are more than two, the luck goes up accordingly. The other day, on the 25th of January, I woke early and checked the cell time. It read, 25,5:55,55 Now that is REAL LUCK!!!

Camel Shape

Sponge Garden

I am growing a tiny garden on a kitchen sponge.

One day while I was filling my canary and parakeet seed feeders I wondered what would happen if I sprinkled some seeds on a wet kitchen sponge and kept it moist for a few days. I had a hunch the seeds would sprout and if so, I'd have some fresh greens for the birds to eat.

Since this little experiment worked, I'll start several sponge gardens and test various seeds to see which sprout easily, perhaps lettuce seeds.

Sponge Garden

Humor by KimB

Humor

Humor is a welcome twist,
In the midst,
Of the angst.

Cause by the dread,
And the fear,
That ends the year.

Of forms to be filed,
And taxes to pay,
By end of the day.

While we race through the forms,
to finish on time,
and avoid any fines.

Gives us a laugh and a grin,
and Humor it’s said,
keeps us ahead,.

Puts a smile on our face,
as we contemplate fate,
and review our estate.

In the State & the Feds,
We know if we search,
There’s an abundance of mirth.

And in spite of our woes,
Shows there’s fun to be seen,
On lines in between.

KimB Feb 1996

Trees

To celebrate Arbor Day in Houston, Texas, volunteers planted 25,000 trees in four of the cities parks. The goal is a million trees for Houston.   Back in my grade school days, the school made planting a tree on Arbor Day a big event by having children plant the tree.

Long before I seriously began my study of art, I used to draw trees. I found the various shapes of trees interesting and drew them on scraps of paper. When we lived on the asparagus farm, there was a beautiful poplar tree along the gravel road that I could see from my bedroom window and I often made drawings of it.

Among the trees I knew in my childhood was Black Walnut, Butternut, Oak, Maple, Flowering Lilac, and many kinds of fruit trees, including pear, apple, cherry and plum. Living in California we had Orange trees, tall Palms, giant Sequoias and Pines. In Texas I became familiar with Magnolia, Myrtle, Dogwood and Pecan trees.

For some years I was a member of the Arbor Day Foundation and would receive 10 free trees every year to plant in the area in which I lived. I either planted them or gave them to others who would plant them. The Arbor Day Foundation has a Hazelnut Research Project inviting people to become patrons and receive three Hazelnut bushes to grow. One can Google for more information about the project at the Arbor Day Foundation Hazelnut project.

I once saw a magnificent collection of 2 and 3 hundred year old bonsai at a museum in San Francisco. I've tried making bonsai but was never able to keep one growing for more than a short time. I either over watered them or had to leave them behind when I moved.

We lose many trees when hurricanes and tornadoes happen. Knowing how beneficial trees are to our environment, I think the government should start a national push to re-forest the country. Trees might help us thru those hot days of summer as the planet continues to warm up.

Lovely Trees

Weather

I can't believe the warm January days we are having here in Houston, Texas. It has been 70 degrees and higher with no predictions of cold weather. Several times recently, the weather reporter on TV has said cold weather was due , but it never materialized.  I have experienced various winter weather patterns in my life time, but frigid, snowy days dominated.

In those long ago school days, my siblings and I wore heavy coats or snow suits and snow boots. The boy's snow boots had a knife pocket, which I always thought unfair since the girls boots were just plain. We also wore knitted hats with pom poms on the top which were called tokes [sic, recte tuque].

One of my earliest memories of blizzards was when I was in the first grade and walking home from school. I was unaware that it was a blizzard, only that it was very cold and the wind was so strong I had to walk backward when the cold gusts pushed me off the sidewalk. The sleet pricked my face and walking with my side turned toward the wind helped. About half way home, my mother appeared in the blowing snow and sleet and held a newspaper in front of my face and put her arm around me as we walked the rest of the way home.

In those early school days of my childhood, Dad was often asked to leave his inside job of switch board operator at the phone company to help linemen who were working to restore telephone lines that had come down during blizzard conditions. It would often be late in the evening when he would get home. Mom would have steaming coffee and a hot meal waiting for him. I watched as he took off his heavy clothes and unlace his boots, and rub his hands together to get them warm, all the time telling Mom about how bad the weather was and how many miles out in the country side they had to work.

Having a 'white' Christmas was special, and we were rarely disappointed. One year my husband and I spent the holidays with his family in Philadelphia. I had been told about the sledding on the hill near the house, but there had not been snow all season so I was not going to enjoy a sled run down the hill. Imagine my surprise when we woke Christmas morning to find everything covered with a thick blanket of powder snow!

My first Christmas away from home was in San Francisco and I spent the day joining other sun bathers on the beach under the Golden Gate bridge. The temperature was 85 degrees. I still remember how strange it seemed to wear my bathing suit on the day I opened my Christmas presents.

The Mistral winds of the southern of France are similar to the Santa Anna winds of Southern California. When my husband and I were on our walking trip thru France, Switzerland and Italy, we experienced them on the return route to Paris. We were told by the inhabitants that the Mistrals often lasted a week, and after experiencing them for three days, we understood what people meant when they said Mistrals could drive you crazy.

Living here in Houston, I've become familiar with hurricanes and hot, humid temperatures of 100 plus degrees. While watching videos of glaciers breaking apart in huge chunks, demonstrating climate change, I can't help but wonder how people will cope and endure the drastic changes predicted. Humans are resilient and resourceful, so I have no doubt they will find ways. I can only imagine the strange garb they will be forced to wear to protect themselves. In the meantime I will continue to knit sweaters for cold, windy days, and blankets for cold winter nights.

Highways and Byways
I knitted this blanket for my son's Christmas present 2011

Flower by KimB



Flower by KimB 2005



Election Money

The huge amounts of money the candidates campaigning for President have raised and continue to raise is an OBSCENITY! Where does all this money come from? It certainly isn't coming from those in the 99% who are looking for work and struggling to put food on the table or families desperately trying to avoid being homeless.

There is a race between super PACs to raise ever higher and higher amounts to pay for television adds, which spew negative propaganda against competitive candidates. The media also adds to the mania with endless speculation night and day of who's up and who's down in the hourly polls they run.

The schism between beliefs of what government is and how it should work is drastic. Some advocate business oriented programs with less regulation. Some want government to limit personal rights. Some threaten loss of national security if their views are not accepted. They all invoke the constitution intimating they alone know exactly what the founding fathers meant but rarely mention liberty and justice for all.

In my opinion, its the power elite doing what they do best, make certain they continue being the power elite.

Is this any way to elect a president?

Even though worker capacity and motivation are destroyed when leaders choose power over productivity, it appears that bosses would rather be in control than have the organization work well.

Margaret Wheatley, How is Your Leadership Changing?©2005

The Egypt Game

I'm playing the Egypt game again. The name of the game is A Tale In The Desert 6. There is no combat in the game, only role playing with avatars of people and animals. Avatars can plant and grow veggies, fish, build buildings and monuments, create fireworks and have festivals. Avatars achieve levels by solving puzzles. Each 'Tale' last about a year and a half, then a new 'Tale' starts. This is the 6th version of the game or "telling".

So far I have reached level 5. When you earn a new level you get "zapped" by lightening. My palace is on the Red Sea right on the waterfront. I have plam trees and date palms in the courtyard.  I have sheep and camels too. If I want to travel to any other part of Egypt, I have to take a chariot to where ever I want to go. I do not plan on reaching a high level in the game as some players do.

I enjoy doing the simple things and have as much fun as those trying to be the first to reach the highest level possible. In the last Tale I designed a mall with trees, fountains, and lanterns.

I may do something similar this time. It all depends on how much time I devote to playing the game. I started knitting a baby blanket for Heidi, my sister Esther's, granddaughter, who is expecting a baby next month. We don't know if it's a boy or girl so I am using colors that will be for either.

Getting ZAPPED!

New Year 2012

New Year aspirations of 'peace and good will' burst into full flower as we sang Auld Lang Syne and toasted each other for health, wealth and happiness. During the hours of celebration we forgot personal troubles as well as those plaguing the nation.

As holiday events fade into memory and the ringing bells of 'peace and good will' fall silent, our economy again takes precedence and we concentrate on matters personal.  Our personal resolves give way to old habits as government officials continue to seek ways of easing the plight of those who have lost, or are losing the 'American Dream'.

Air ways have become saturated with rhetorical boasts of politicians declaring they have solutions to the nations problems, Our teetering economy is causing a great deal of apprehension. The belief that hard work would let you live the 'American Dream' is no longer true. The struggle to maintain this illusion does not result in achieving the great 'American Dream' much to the chagrin of those who have lost jobs and homes thru no fault of their own.

There are solutions to the disparity of those who have and have not. We just have to be courageous enough to opt for them. Perhaps this is the year we will find a way for families to get back a semblance of tranquility and prosperity and the country regain a stable economy.

Auld Lang Syne (English Translation)

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
and surely I’ll buy mine !
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine† ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

Highways and Byways

Highways and Byways

Highways and byways
Old and new
Some less traveled
Some with a view

From old familiar places
Up hill and down
To wide open spaces
And around town

Thru hot sandy deserts
Or cold mountain snow
Some are fast
And some are slow

From border to border
And between coastal shores
Lie many old favorites
To visit once more

No matter how varied
From beginning to end
Highway signs show where you are
And where you have been.


Marion Bigelow December 2011

So How Does YOUR Garden Grow?

KimB

The weather here in Central California has been cold recently. We've had almost no rain so it's a good thing I opted to put in a drip system for the container garden. Mostly I've been able to ignore the garden. Didn't seem to be much going on. The all plants sprouted and so did the potatoes. The current freeze at nights has wilted some leaves but there's little I can do about that. I figured, "Oh well, something might survive."   Little did I know....

So, as I was planning on what to have for our New Year's Dinner I took a stroll out to look in the pots. All seemed as it did before except the carrot tops looked just a bit taller. So I rooted around the pots and LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

KimB's Carrots and Turnips

The Recipe Box: Harvard Beets

Harvard Beets
From the recipe box of Esther

This recipe is the one that Mom used to fix beets and that I liked so well. It was a favorite of every one I think.

When I think of the big gardens we use to have when we lived on the acerage and the cost of buying veggies today, it reminds me of how far we have come from the good old days. Life was much more simple then but look how much the new gadgets have saved us from the hard labor---like the old scrub board!!!

Harvard Beets

1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup beet liquid
2 1/2 cups cooked beets, cubed or sliced (I use canned beets)
1 tablespoon butter

1. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a one quart sauce pan.
2. Add vinegar. stir untill smooth. Add beet liquid.
3. Cook over medium heat, stirring till liquid just begins to thicken.
4. Add cube or sliced beets and cook for four more minutes
   or till beets are hot.
5. Add butter.

Harvard Beets

Snowfall by KimB

Snowfall

It glints and glimmers,
Shakes and sways,
Like gossamer falls on towns and ways.

It gifts us lakes,
Creeks and swamps,
It flows like air o'r base and top.

We feel the burn,
And the bite,
By the day and across the night.

From below,
And from the heights,
It drapes the land: white on white.

It comes, then goes,
And leads the heat,
Changing form with every beat.


KimB 2010

Tribal Travels, Musings, and Jawbone Canyon Chapter 10 - Epilogue by R. Cane

I hope these reminiscences have offered a pleasant glimpse into our tribe's wonderful travels back in the good ol' days. These and other travels with the family brought me to the early conclusion that 'Travel', per se, was the very best educator - for those receptive to the wonders of new horizons.

Sadly, I was never able to actually get to Jawbone Canyon (yep… vetoed for 'another time and trip' by Grams, The Decider), however I hear it's become quite a popular get-away place, and worth the effort to get there. So... now we have come full circle - to the part where I finally have a dog in the game! It's my turn to offer suggestions for the best roads to get you there... pay attention here, and don't miss the connections.... To get there, AND make the best time (most important of course) take...

… I-10 to 395 and take a right before 6 (approx. 100m) there's a good stretch where you can do 70...watch for the turn off at the home made motorcycle sign (where the old gas station used to be) continue until you find paradise – about 100m at 60mph – ( voice fades out here still rattling off numbers)...

Well… y'all get the idea by now… Do send a postcard if you ever make it there – I have heard there might be some good jawbones to be found by those with keen eyes… and good hearts!

It has been nice going back to these dear memories, and fun sharing my musings about a most wonderful and carefree time in my life.

Happy Travels!

[Editor's note: This story was written by R. Cane and is the last of a 10 story series.]

Jawbone Canyon Sign

Golden Leaves

Golden Leaves

A cluster of golden leaves
among the green
Hangs like a star amid
the leafy sheen
Kissed by winter,
yet to come,
Signals Autumn's
Farewell song
Of brilliant colors,
bright and strong,
To greet the Winter's
Chilly snow
That blankets all,
While cold winds blow,
'til Spring time's warm
And sunny light
Sprouts again, the green
Of Summer's life.

Marion Bigelow Nov 5, 2011

Happy Holidays!



Happy Holidays!

The Recipe Box: Mock Apple Pie

Mock Apple Pie

From the recipe box of A.Nonymous

One of my favorite pie recipes is the infamous 'Mock Apple Pie'.

No apples are in this dish, but because of the spices that are used, it seems similar to an apple pie. Historians date this pie to the early days of the American pioneers, when apples were in short supply. Crafty settler women stumbled into a recipe that embodied the spirit of an apple pie when the red, green and yellow orbs weren't available. Today, clever cooks follow their lead when their own pantries come up short.

It is made with saltine crackers, and the several times I've tried it, it is so amazing that you almost never 'get' that it does not have apples!!

Its a fun, budget desert, that will fool your friends. It's easy to make and surprisingly good. Here is this vintage pie recipe made with saltine crackers and apple pie spice seasonings.

Ingredients:

pastry for 2-crust 9-inch pie
1 sleeve saltine crackers
2 cups water
2 cups granulated sugar (or use your favorite sugar substitute equivalent)
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon butter
cinnamon

Preparation:

1. Line a 9-inch pie plate with rolled-out pastry. Break saltines coarsely into the pie shell.
2. Combine water, sugar, and cream of tartar in a saucepan; bring to a boil.
3. Simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add lemon juice and peel; cool.
5. Pour the syrup over crackers.
6. Dot with butter and sprinkle generously with cinnamon.
7. Cover with top crust and flute edge.
8. Cut slits into top to allow steam to escape.
9. Bake in a 425° oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and crisp.
10. Serve warm, with ice cream, if desired.

Mock Apple Pie