Hidden Depths

One of the highlights of our Saturday shopping expedition with our granddaughter was PIZZA for lunch! The pizza place in the mall is in the food court on the upper level of the mall. Disclaimer: Food Court at this point in time is probably a misnomer. The upper level used to have a Friendly’s Restaurant anchoring the section on the left, followed by a Burger King, an Arby’s, a Video Arcade, a Chinese Restaurant, a deli, the pizza place and a coffee stand. On the opposite side of the food court was the cineplex. Today, the Chinese place, the pizza place and the coffee stand are all that remains of the “food court”. Sad.

Today, however, the mall was buzzing. The Easter Bunny was in house for photos and vendors were on site—mostly businesses, but a few crafters as well. Upstairs, we got our pizza slices and drinks and sat at a table to enjoy our food and people watch a bit.

We weren’t disappointed! The older folk were mostly in jeans and shirts, jackets, that type of thing, but the younger people? My goodness! Ripped jeans, short skirts, and far out shoes—each more outlandish than the previous ones! But one guy stood out. I saw him standing at the pizza counter and he was sporting a bleached pony tail pulled over his left ear protruding under a ball cap turned sideways. His face was adorned by several piercings and his earlobes sported giant purple buttons—not ON his lobes—IN his lobes.

As he was ordering pizza, a woman approached with a toddler and a stroller. She had BRIGHT blue hair, at least 4 pairs of earrings and looked to be dressed in 3 or four layers. I could see leggings, and a plaid skirt, and several brightly colored shirts under a thin jacket.

The toddler was a little girl, with delicate features but big brown eyes, wearing an adorable matching outfit in soft pink. The baby in the stroller was equally striking and smiling profusely.

As we ate, we all seemed to watch the couple and the family dynamic unfolding. The mother seemed brutish and the father quite timid and I realized we were staring at them like they were in an aquarium tank. So I hurried everyone along so we could leave the food court.

Our granddaughter wanted to go to Burlington’s and she found several items she wanted to try on. Grandpa sat outside in the mall area, while I went with her and sat outside the dressing room. I watched ladies come and go, browsing and going in and out of the dressing rooms when something bright blue caught my eye. I turned and saw the young woman storming thru the aisles. Lagging behind her was the young man pushing the stroller. The baby was swaddled in a blanket and the toddler was grasping the side of the stroller and walking along.

As I sat and watched, he spoke softly to the toddler and cooed to the baby. As they passed me, the toddler was saying “wowwowwowwow…” and the young man was repeating “wowwowwowwow…” and smiling at her.

It was perfectly charming and adorable. Then the toddler stopped suddenly and stared up at him and reached her arms up. He swiftly picked her up and cradled her close and kissed her forehead. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and hugged him.

All my preconceptions about the young man vanished and I found myself smiling at the young father and admonishing myself. When the young man saw me smiling, he blushed and smiled back at me.

You never know what lies beneath the surface…in the hidden depths.

That’s GARBAGE!

Garbage is an easy to learn card game for 2 or more players using a standard 52 card deck. The object is to get your cards in a specific sequence. To begin, shuffle the deck.

The dealer deals 10 cards to each player (if 3 or more people are playing, 2 decks will be required). The players then place their cards face down in 2 rows, and the dealer puts the remaining cards in a pile in the middle. This is called the GARBAGE pile. The top card is placed face up creating the discard pile.

The first player to make a move is the player immediately to the dealer’s left. They will either draw the top card off the draw pile or use the card in discard pile. If the card is between an Ace and a ten, they will place it face up in the corresponding spot in the layout before them. For example, if they draw a five, it would be placed on the fifth spot in the layout.

Then, the player would turn over that first card that is being “replaced” by the card they just drew. It would be moved accordingly, if possible. So, if you flip over the fifth card in the lineup and have a ten, you would move that ten to the tenth spot and continue.

This continues until the player reveals a number already face-up in the line-up or until they draw a Jack or a King. The Jacks and Kings are garbage and end up in the discard pile. That signifies the end of a turn.

The Queens are wildcards and can replace any face-down card in the layout. If a Queen is being used as a wildcard and the player reveals the correct card for that wildcard spot, the card can replace the wildcard. Then, the wild card can be moved to another spot. When a move is no longer possible, the last card a player has is placed in the pile and the game moves onto the next player.

A player wins when the cards are all face-up and in sequential order from Ace to ten, with any Queens in the appropriate wildcard slots. At this point, the player wins the round.

In this next round, the cards are reshuffled and dealt again. The player who won the previous round is dealt one less card than the round before.

For example, if this is the second round and the first layout of ten was just cleared, the winner of the round would be dealt nine cards instead of ten. Every other player receives the same number of cards they had in the previous round.

Being dealt one less card makes it just slightly easier for the player to clear their layout. Instead of going Ace to ten, they will now only need to go Ace to nine. This continues until a player is down to one card in the layout.

The final win occurs when a player is down to just one card and is able to clear it with an Ace or a wildcard. There are many variations in this game–some prefer to use Kings as wildcards, some allow every player a final turn after the winning player completes their turn.

My granddaughter taught us this game several years ago and it has become a family favorite. So much so that the Garbage Champion is a much contested opinion. I believe myself to be the champion while my granddaughter believes herself to be the champion.

To settle the disagreement, I have challenged her to a championship match and fashioned a Garbage Trophy to boot!

I’ll update when a winner is determined!

UPDATE: The Garbage Championship was played this weekend. My granddaughter won the first 2 rounds…I came back defiantly and won the next 2 rounds…so it came down to the final round! We were neck and neck, but in the end she finally beat me!

She’s taken the trophy home to put proudly on her trophy shelf, with an offer to let me take another crack at her at Christmas! Challenge accepted!!

The Light and the Spirit

I do not honestly remember sitting in church when i was a child, but my mom claims pictures of the four of us, her and my dad, my older sister and I dressed in our Sunday clothes is proof that we did. When I was 5, two things happened simultaneously: my brother was born and we moved in with my great grandmother to care for her.

It was at this point, our church going stopped. We still said grace at every meal, still said our evening prayers, but no formal religious instruction. Instead, we learned about God through our parents and He was always a loving, patient Father.

Perhaps that’s why i ignored Him for the most part till I was 17. My first “real” boyfriend asked me one weekend to accompany him to church and I did. I sat enthralled in the church pew, listening to the sermon, singing the hymns…I wanted more! After the service, greeting the Priest at the door, I asked where could I learn more and he talked to me about adult catechism classes. After taking those classes, he explained, I could take another step in my journey towards God…taking my First Holy Communion on Easter Sunday.

I took the classes in earnest, learning about my faith and the sacraments, and prepared to take the final steps–meeting with the Priest one on one, making my first confession and doing my penance. The meeting with the Priest was relaxed, comforting, and welcoming and he guided me in making a good confession which was to occur on Good Friday.

That morning, entering the confessional, I was nervous. The class instructor provided a printed confession process for us, so the basic mechanics were covered…the rest was up to me. I made my confession, received my penance and went into the church. Part of my penance was to recite so many “Our Father’s”, “Hail Mary’s” and “Glory Be’s” which I did all the while concentrating on how sorry I was to have offended God.

When I entered the church that morning, the sky was cloudy, but now as I left the church, a beam of sunlight broke through. I looked upward and felt the sunshine on my face as expected, but what i did not expect was the enveloping feeling of warmth and love. I felt it from my feet all throughout my body–it was the Holy Spirit of this i have no doubt!

Days later I was describing the feeling to my aunt and we were talking about the entire experience. I told her I wanted to question the Priest the coming Sunday about my penance…saying Our Father or Hail Mary x amount of times seemed silly. She asked me–you said the entire prayer each time, right? My mortified face told her no, I did not! (Our classes centered around beliefs, but not basic things they assumed everyone knew.)

I left work early that day and drove straight to the church to see the Priest. In tears I told him about my mistake and was so upset that I took my Holy Communion under false pretenses. I was afraid I would never be allowed to participate again, but he assured me I could confess again IF I felt I needed to, but it’s not just the deeds that God pays attention to. It’s also what’s in our heart…our intent. When I was doing my penance, my intent was to be sorry for my sins and the Priest said that was quite evident.

His attitude, along with my parents’ own views have helped shape my view of God. I am not in the fearful of a vengeful God crowd…I believe in a loving, patient, welcoming Father.

Let’s Hop to It!

While Easter is not normally a big cake holiday–we tend to focus more on hams, chocolate bunnies, and marshmallow peeps–there are several easy to make bunny cake options which do not require special pans. We’re going to explore three: A bunny face, a bunny laying down, and a bunny butt. So let’s hop to it!

The Bunny Face

The bunny face requires 2 round cake layers. One layer is the face and the other layer is cut into the ears and bow tie.

Once assembled, you can get very creative with the decorating! The whiskers can be licorice strings, stick pretzels or just colored frosting! The bunny can be brown (chocolate frosting) or a white bunny and you can cover it with coconut! And a jelly bean for the nose!

The Laying Bunny

This cake also uses round cake pans. The diagram below shows only one layer, but the layers can be frosted together and cut as one. The ears are made of paper, and the eyes and nose are jelly beans. To tint the coconut for the surrounding grass, place coconut in a ziploc bag and add drops of green food coloring. Close the bag and shake or gently squeeze the bag to evenly distribute the color. Use plastic gloves to place the tinted coconut around the bunny to avoid dying your hands green!

The Bunny Butt

The butt bunny cake is shaped by using an oven safe bowl, cupcakes, and marshmallows. The carrots are celery pieces and fruit roll ups. The ears are made from paper. The feet pads can be made from fruit roll ups, fondant, icing or taffy.

These are just three of the many possibilities to delight your family this Easter!

Hanging With My Peeps

Before we moved to upstate Pennsylvania, I lived and worked in the southeastern part of the state at a logistics company. They moved cargo and containers from ports and railways all across the country. I was the “Cash Applications Manager”…lol…fancy title I know, and I was friends with several other managers in the company.

One of my best friends there, Jane, and I would walk every day we could, right after lunch. The building we worked out of, was nestled in a small industrial section of Bethlehem, and was not far from a main thoroughfare in the city. One sunny afternoon, we were feeling pretty ambitious and decided to take the “long” way back the office.

I could smell the air changing as we walked and a puzzled look must have crossed my face because Jane asked me what was wrong. “Can’t you smell it?” I asked.

She looked around briefly, sniffed and said “Just Born.”

Just Born is the maker of the famous Peeps…and jelly beans…and all sorts of wonderful candy. On most days when we walked far enough, or the wind was blowing just right, we could smell jelly beans being made–the fruity smells filling the air!

Of course, Just Born also is the home of the famous Peepmobile!

Peeps are not to everyone’s taste, but I love them! I enjoy mine stale. I remove the plastic wrapping from the peeps and let them sit out for a while to develop a crunchy outside…YUM!

The Pond Monster

Okay, OUR pond monster wasn’t quite this glorious or famous…but what an adventure!

We begin the tale on an average evening in April here in the Pennsylvania mountains, where an…ah…older couple have just finished their dinner and are doing the dishes, looking out at their quaint little pond.

Suddenly my husband notices a “black spot” on the pond and points…”What’s that, do you think?” I respond that i haven’t a clue. Since it was getting darker and there are no lights out near the pond and, of course, we wanna veg for the evening, we agree it’s nothing. Watching Third Rock from the Sun on dvd, laughing about aliens from another planet, makes us forget all about whatever is IN the pond.

In the morning, we continue our daily lives as though nothing happened the night before-no mysterious sighting in the pond. I do laundry, have coffee, peruse my favorite websites. Hubby gets his coffee and heads to his home office to begin his day.

I start to do the breakfast dishes and notice it’s raining…and my gaze wanders to the pond…the THING is still there…IN THE SAME SPOT. In our little pond, we have 2 outfall pipes to keep the water level as consistent as possible (droughts notwithstanding). Water enters the pond from the left (from my vantage point) via a waterfall and the outfall pipes are directly across the pond to the right. The THING in the pond is in the direct path of the incoming water but is NOT being drawn to the outfall pipes!

All at once, the rain becomes heavier…and as i watch, the THING in the pond moves! Not toward the pipes, but towards me! Well okay, it’s still in the water but it’s moving towards the pond’s edge. I call out to hubby that I’m going to investigate!! He laughs–imagine–he laughs! “It’s probably dirt or leaves or something.” I grab the binoculars and I see 2 white spots on the black THING–I yell–“IT’S GOT EYES!!!!!”

I yank on my rain slicker, grab the rolling pin (the handiest weapon I have in the kitchen) and storm out!

I hear hubby laughing behind me as I charge the pond, determined to see what has invaded us! As we near the water’s edge, I can see it has moved even closer and I raise my rolling pin, almost clubbing hubby who now is as intrigued as I about IT. It’s turning in the water…this is just not dirt! Although there appeared to be twigs and leaves entwined together…there is something steering the small dark mass…it turns…and turns… and then we get a look at the driver…

A frog…the biggest darn frog I’ve seen to date around here…but just a frog.

Well, that’s what counts as an adventure around these parts.

What’s Cooking?

We’re in the kitchen today making one of my favorite side dish recipes–Vegetable Pizza. (We don’t make a hot meal for Easter; we have ham sandwiches and plenty of side dishes and this is a family staple.)

Vegetable Pizza

Preheat oven to 350*. Unroll 2 packages of Pillsbury crescent rolls and press the dough into a ungreased cookie sheet, patting the dough seams together. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

While the crust bakes, in a medium sized bowl, combine the following with a mixer:

8 oz softened cream cheese

1 package (dry) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix

1 cup cottage cheese (small curd)

3/4 cup mayo

chopped scallions to taste (i use a dash of onion powder instead)

Mix well and refrigerate for at least an hour. Then spread on cooled crust.

In a separate bowl mix the following diced vegetables:

1 cup cauliflower

1/2 cup green pepper

1 cup broccoli

2-3 medium tomatoes

Spread the diced vegetables over the cream cheese mixture covered crust. Refrigerate. Enjoy!

Till next time…Mangia!

First Love

Do you remember your first love? I do. It started when I was nine and my mom gave me my first sewing machine. It looked just like this one.

She began teaching me to sew by drawing shapes on fabric and had me sew around those shapes–learning how to maneuver fabric and control the machine.

When she was certain I could handle the machine, she finally allow me to choose fabrics from her scrap box. Mom was a skilled and proficient sewer–she had all sorts of fabric in there! And the colors!! I fell i love…with FABRIC!

I’ve worked with many different fabrics over the years: cotton, silk, wool, satin, fleece, flannel, denim, tulle. You name it and I’ve probably worked with it. I’ve made jackets from denim, fleece and corduroy; men’s suits out of wool; shirts out of flannel and blouses out of silk. And my wedding dress was satin, lace and tulle.

My favorite fabric though is cotton. It’s easy to work with and comes in soooo many colors and patterns.

And my favorite expression of my love of fabrics is quilts!

i made this for my granddaughter–minus the little maccas farm–and a green border…like grass

What was YOUR first love?

Deer Tales

Deer are amazing creatures to watch! During the fall, buck will stake out territory by scraping the ground, rubbing their antlers on small trees and leaving plentiful scent reminders.

In the spring, a pregnant doe will generally remain with her herd or family until she gets close to her delivery time. At that time, she will separate from the other deer and stake out her own territory to give birth. And there’s good reason for that. After birth is a very dangerous time for both the mother and fawn. The smell of the afterbirth is a powerful attractant to many predators in the woods—bear, fox, and others. So once a doe gives birth, she immediately cleans the young fawn as best she can, and then gets it moving. She needs to find a place to safely hide the fawn and will only return to feed it several times a day.

Once a doe finds an area she feels safe in, and can find food and water nearby, she generally returns to that spot to give birth year after year. We have several doe who use the area around our house as birthing areas. There is the pond and some grass, but mostly trees and brush so tiny deer can hide safely while the doe can eat and still be close enough to her baby should she sense danger.

After a few weeks, the doe will introduce her young to us. She’ll allow herself and her fawn to be seen in the open, giving the other fawns a chance to play and run together. Mostly they stay hidden until the does are around, but there are some that can’t wait to explore on their own.

Last spring, a few doe had twins and several of them loved to lay on the well hill in front of the garden fence basking in the sunshine.

It’s these 3 particular deer we’ve been watching all winter. We believe it’s them because they are not startled by seeing us. They watch, definitely, but they don’t run. They’ve adopted this as their home and us as part of it. The 3 are constantly together. Except for the last 2 days. The larger one is missing and we see her by herself down below the big pine tree. She comes out from the treeline…eats some grass or weeds, lays in the sun for a while and then retreats. Too early for her to give birth, but I believe she’s already claiming her spot!

APRIL’S FOOLS

In honor of the holiday named for politicians (April Fools, I made that up), I am proposing a simple game. Try to determine which of the following statements are true or made up. Sounds simple, right? Ready?

The original London Bridge is currently in Arizona.

2. You can purchase alien abduction insurance in Florida.

3. KFC produced edible nail polish in Hong Kong in the flavors Original and Hot & Spicy.

4. There’s a church–The United Church of Bacon–whose mission statement is “Hail Piggy, full of grease, the Lard is with thee.”

5. There was a program in NYC & Washington,DC called Joints for Jabs which provided a rolled joint upon proof of vaccination.

So what do you think? Got these figured out?

Take your time…I can wait…

Okay…here we go…

The original London Bridge IS in Arizona.

Where is the London Bridge in Arizona? The London Bridge is in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, at the northern and western edges of the Sonoran Desert. It was originally located in London, England, where it spanned the River Thames for over 130 years. There have actually been several different bridges called the London Bridge in the same location along the Thames over the past 2,000 years. This London Bridge was built to replace the Old London Bridge in 1831, which had been in place for over 600 years. The old bridge was too narrow to support the volume of traffic crossing each day, and its narrow arches blocked boat traffic on the river.

Robert McCulloch, an American business owner and millionaire who was building Lake Havasu City at the time, saw the bridge sale as an opportunity to attract tourists and residents to his new Arizona city. He put in a bid of $2.4 million for the bridge, doubling how much it would cost the city of London to dismantle the bridge, and adding $60,000 – $1,000 for each year of his age when the bridge was reconstructed in Lake Havasu City. His bid was accepted, and work began to dismantle the bridge and transport it across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States.

https://study.com/learn/lesson/london-bridge-in-arizona.html

2. You CAN purchase alien abduction insurance in Florida.

UFO Abduction Insurance Company

This Florida insurer has been writing alien abduction insurance policies since 1987. Located in Altamonte Springs, the company says its policies are perfect “for anyone who thinks they have everything covered.”

You can purchase $10 million in alien abduction insurance for a single lifetime premium of $19.95. You’ll receive a “gold bordered” policy claim form and a frequent flyer endorsement, according to the company’s website.

Policyholders can claim the $10 million if they can prove they were taken by “aliens not from this planet” and then returned. Of course, they will need one of the aliens on the ship to sign the claim form. Once a claim is approved, the beneficiary will be distributed $1 a year for 10 million years, or until their passing.

This payout doubles to $20 million if the aliens insist on conjugal visits, if the encounter results in any offspring, or if the aliens refer to the abductee as a nutritional food source.

https://www.homeinsured.org/article/all-about-alien-abduction-insurance

3. KFC DID release edible nail polish in those flavors in Hong Kong.

HONG KONG (CBS) — This really gives “Finger Lickin’ Good” a whole new meaning.

KFC has made edible nail polish – in Original and Hot & Spicy flavors – to promote its fast food restaurants in Hong Kong.

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/05/05/kfc-edible-nail-polish-hong-kong-original-hot

4. There IS a church in Las Vegas called The United Church of Bacon. Their mission statement is “Hail Piggy, full of grease. The Lard is with thee.”

The church’s clergy members — who have the authority to officiate weddings and conduct baptisms and funerals — are called friars. The opening lines of “Hail Piggy: A Prayer for Bacon,” a play on Catholicism’s “Hail Mary,” are a medley of porky puns, such as, “Hail Piggy, full of grease, the Lard is with thee.” Clearly, some flavorful strategy has been put into the congregation’s principles.

5. There WAS a program in NYC and Washington DC called “Joints for Jabs” giving every person who had at least I cv shot a free joint.

Authorities in the US capital have been working around the clock to open up the state, as seen by the relaxing of its prior restrictions against breweries, pubs, salons, restaurants and so on – where some of these now even give out a free appetiser, drink or cup of coffee for proof of vaccination. Others were even authorised to arrange prize giveaways and free tickets to landmark sports events. However, their most daring venture yet just saw them setting up the ‘Joints for Jabs’ program, which aims to incentivise the vaccine rollout by giving out a free ‘blunt’ to each successful recipient of the vaccine – yes, you heard me, free weed for anyone who gets vaccinated!

https://cbdreviewstoday.com/joints-for-jabs/

Are you keeping score? That’s right…ALL of them are true…wait for it…

APRIL FOOLS