Weekend – Sunday

Sunday’s are always busy for me – that’s the day to do laundry, vacuum (ick), dust, scrub and clean.  This past Sunday included those things . . . and  . . . mowing (oh my god, the leaves are practically up to my knees!), and deciding about Christmas decorations.

OK – back up a bit here.  Starting in 2010, putting up a tree and anything else became a mental argument – did I really want to??  a lot of work . . . had to put it all away again . . . Bah Humbug!  But I did put up a very small tree and pulled out a few of the many ornaments in those first years after.  Why?  Because, for me, they evoke happy memories.

Fast forward to today.  On Thanksgiving day, this sprouted up in my living room.  Well, actually, my very tall grandson put it up for me.  And, it just stood there until Sunday.

Saturday, I started bringing in these . . . . .

And by Sunday, taadaa

To me, unpacking ornaments if like – uhmmmm – opening a treasure box or time capsule.  Along with each ornament comes a memory of when and who and where. 

One year I discovered the Legend of the Christmas Pickle. 

In the 1880s Woolworth stores started selling glass ornaments imported from Germany and some were in the shape of various fruit and vegetables, including pickles.  Around the same time it was claimed that the Christmas Pickle was a very old German tradition and that the pickle was the last ornament hung on the Christmas tree and the first child to find the pickle got an extra present. 

Then, another suggested origin is that the tradition came from Camp Sumter during the American Civil War. The Bavarian-born Private John C. Lower had enlisted in the 103rd Pennsylvania Infantry, but was captured in April 1864 and taken to the prison camp. As the story is told, on Christmas Eve, starving, he begged a guard for a pickle. The guard provided the pickle, which Lower later credited for saving his life. After returning to his family, he began a tradition of hiding a pickle on their Christmas tree each year.  And still another story is a Victorian era tale of St. Nicholas saving two Spanish children who were trapped in a barrel of pickles by an evil innkeeper.

Probably – it’s all a myth and most likely an 1880 ornament salesman with a lot of spare pickles to sell, invented any or all of the legends of the Christmas Pickle! 

Okay - just a few more to share

Some are old

Some, not so much

 

Some are covered with beads

Some just a little (strange?different?odd?) unique!

Some were made by little hands

Some remind me of people now gone to the Summer Lands.

Aunt Doll

 Aunt Mimi

Carol

Mom

Dad

Michael

Take care – Ho Ho Ho

First Weekend - Saturday

 This past weekend I had the pleasure of being able to attend the Boling Christmas Parade. 

And, in case you’re not familiar with Boling, it’s a small town southeast of Wharton, on FM 1301 and FM 442.  And, when I say small – there are about 1300 residents.  Boling was founded in 1900 when the New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad built a line through the area.  By 1907 the town had a school, a store, a blacksmith shop, and about ten families.  The population exploded to 450 in 1930 after petroleum, sulphur, and natural gas were discovered locally.  The town's streets were named after the oil companies that operated nearby (Atlantic, Gulf, Humble, Magnolia, Sinclair, Sun, and Texas). 

My number one curiosity about the parade – where does it go?  I mean, the Boling business district is right at the cross roads of two Farm de Markets.  Well as it turned out, it comes up Texas Street, makes a turn onto FM 442 and then “poof!” disappears.  It was a good parade though and had all the important features . . . . . .

Started with the Boling Volunteer Fire Department

Included the Cheer Team

Marching Band

Royal Court

Patriots

 

Girl Scouts

And, of course ….

Santa

What more could you ask for in a parade!

Take care

More oddities and strangeness

Today is the last day of November.  Already.  Finally.  Thank goodness.  For some odd reason, the first days of November rush by until Thanksgiving.  Then, the last days creep along until the 30^th.  Of course, now the days will run pell mell to the many holidays coming along.

Today, November 30 is National Mason Jar Day.  It is the day to celebrate when, in 1858, John Landis Mason filed a patent for “An Improvement in Screwneck Bottles” and home canning became a safe reality.  I know – a little weird that there’s a DAY for that.

Still, not any weirder than Nov. 25, which was Crystal Skull World Day (Bringing harmony into your life).  oookay  and how many of you realize that these unique …. uhmmmm … art pieces, “generate a healing energy able to cure common ailments and fungal infections”.  Whatever works.

Or what about celebrating Sinkie Day, Nov.23.  Did you celebrate by standing over the sink to eat all the Thanksgiving leftovers.  Oopsie, missed that one.

The other day, I went by to see a friend of mine.  He has a smallish, rather ordinary looking, tree in his yard and under the tree were these ….

Know what they are?  Limes covered with mildew?  No.  I give up.  These are Juglans nigra, the Eastern Black Walnut.  Walnuts, like the kind you eat?  Yes. 

Just in case you didn’t know, Black Walnut is a native tree found mostly in east North America.  It grows from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia and northern Florida and southwest to central Texas.  Who knew?  It’s difficult to get the actual nut out of the husk (my friend had to take a hammer to this one).  That’s because the thick, hard shell is tightly bound by tall ridges to the thick husk. Rolling the nut underfoot on a hard surface such as a driveway is a common method; commercial huskers use a car tire rotating against a metal mesh.

Just a few Did You Know? facts --

Black walnut nutmeats provide a robust, distinctive, natural flavor and crunch as a food ingredient.  Early settlers added them to soups and stews, and ground them into meal for baking.

The nut produces a brownish-black dye which was used by early American settlers to dye hair (and other things too, I suspect). 

Black walnut is highly prized for its dark-colored, straight grained, true heartwood. It is heavy, strong, and shock resistant. 

Walnut wood has historically been used for gun stocks, furniture, flooring, paddles, and coffins.

These trees suffer with maggots, weevils, cankers, moths, aphids, and a host of other pests and diseases.

Black walnut is allelopathic, which means it is toxic to other plants.

This tree can grow to 100 feet tall and 50 feet wide.

My plant books say you can grow them from seed. 

I just might have to try that.

Today

  the sun came out.  Yea!  It’s been overcast for the past several days.  Remember my saying that a Texas winter is made up of days - 2 warm and humid, 1 very warm and humid, 2 cold, 2 cool and humid – start again.  Well, today is the very warm and humid day. 

We have a cold front coming in late this afternoon; temps will drop like a stone.  Tomorrow it will only be in the upper 40’s and by Thursday, back to upper 70’s. 

Sunday is my day to do housework (a leftover habit from my working days).  So, while doing laundry, vacuuming, and dusting, I walked around my yard enjoying the balmy air and sunshine.  Here’s what I saw –

Spiders – all over the yard

The Sulphur butterflies are out in force

  

These little guys just wandering around

And, when I checked some of the greenhouse plants,
this little one looked out at me.

Still have a few blooming …..

Milk Weed

Blue Plumbago

Tiny little red roses

Pink Turks Cap

But as it is said – Winter is Coming. 

The Sycamore tree across the street is turning bright yellow –
eye catching with its white trunk.

 

My yard is full of leaves.

and ….

Chickweed – aarrrggghhhhh!

Days following -

And, how was your Thanksgiving? 

Ours turned out a little differently than planned.  The plan was – 2 grands would drive over from SA to my house; we would then proceed to Matagorda.  My youngest daughter and friend would meet us in Matagorda.  We’d have a nice several hours of walking along the beach, looking for and picking up interesting items, relaxing with the sound of waves and briny ocean air.  Stop at a local restaurant, have lunch.  Didn’t happen.  My daughter got there before the grands got here – texted me “we might want to rethink our plans – pretty darn cold here”  Plans changed; it was still a very nice day surrounded by family. 

Actually, I had every intention of asking about your TG yesterday but as it happened, I worked in the yard for several hours instead.  We are currently in the “2 warm days” of a Texas winter (2 warm and humid, 1 very warm and humid, 2 cold, 2 cool and humid – start again).  By the time I came in, my brain was in “take a break, chill out, put your feet up, breathe, in with the good air, out with the bad” mode; not able to form whole sentences.  

Now, while working in the yard, I encountered something I shouldn’t have.  Mosquitoes.  OK, it’s been very chilly – we’ve even had a couple of frosty mornings.  Mosquitoes should be in winter slumber not to appear until, well – never works for me - but at least not until next spring.  Nope.  Dozens and hundreds.  Arrgh!  Stupid things!  Why?? Where?  Hmmm …….

               and here’s the rest of the story …..

How Mosquitoes Came to Be

Tlingit

indigenous peoples of the
Pacific Northwest Coast of North America

 Long ago there was a giant who loved to kill humans, eat their flesh, and drink their blood. He was especially fond of human hearts. “Unless we can get rid of this giant,” people said, “none of us will be left,” and they called a council to discuss ways and means.

One man said, “I think I know how to kill the monster,” and he went to the place where the giant had last been seen. There he lay down and pretended to be dead.

Soon the giant came along. Seeing the man lying there, he said: “These humans are making it easy for me. Now I don’t even have to catch and kill them; they die right on my trail, probably from fear of me!”

The giant touched the body. “Ah, good,” he said, “this one is still warm and fresh. What a tasty meal he’ll make; I can’t wait to roast his heart.”

The giant flung the man over his shoulder, and the man let his head hang down as if he were dead. Carrying the man home, the giant dropped him in the middle of the floor right near the fireplace. Then he saw that there was no firewood and went to get some.

As soon as the monster had left, the man got up and grabbed the giant’s huge skinning knife. Just then the giant’s son came in, bending low to enter. He was still small as giants go, and the man held the big knife to his throat. “Quick, tell me, where’s your father’s heart? Tell me or I’ll slit your throat!”

The giant’s son was scared. He said: “My father’s heart is in his left heel.”

Just then the giant’s left food appeared in the entrance, and the man swiftly plunged the knife into the heel. The monster screamed and fell down dead.

Yet the giant still spoke. “Though I’m dead, though you killed me, I’m going to keep on eating you and all the other humans in the world forever!”

“That’s what you think!” said the man. “I’m about to make sure that you never eat anyone again.” He cut the giant’s body into pieces and burned each one in the fire. Then he took the ashes and threw

them into the air for the winds to scatter.

 Instantly each of the particles turned into a mosquito. The cloud of ashes became a cloud of mosquitoes, and from their midst the man heard the giant’s voice laughing, saying: “Yes, I’ll eat you people until the end of time.”

And as the monster spoke, the man felt a sting, and a mosquito started sucking his blood, and then many mosquitoes stung him, and he began to scratch himself.

Food, Foodies, and Historians

I suspect today many Americans are, today, confirming menus, making last minute trips to the store for forgotten items, baking and generally preparing for tomorrow’s big feast.  Typically tables will be overflowing with turkey, gravy (giblet, please), stuffing/dressing, sweet potato casserole (with marshmallows on top), white potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and a whole slew of other items particular to each individual family.  

All things considered, Turkey is a late comer to American tables as the Thanksgiving centerpiece.  Didn’t become popular until the early 1900’s. 

According to Food Historians (and who knew there was such a thing), at the first Thanksgiving in 1621, the main meat sources were venison, passenger pigeon, goose, duck, swan, eels, shellfish, and, probably, wild turkey.  There were no potatoes, sweet or otherwise (those hadn’t made it up from South America and the Caribbean).  And no cranberry sauce (no sugar). No pies (no wheat flour).  Bread – probably yes but made from maize flour.  Stuffing was made from onions, herbs, and nuts.  Squash, maize, and beans – yes.  And, omg – there was likely no beer – just water to drink.  Still, in 1621, a glorious feast shared by all.

How about some fun facts about some of the first Thanksgiving foods –

Three Sisters – maize, beans, squash.  These were introduced to early colonists by the Wampanoag and is one of the best illustrations of companion planting.  As older sisters often do, the maize (corn) offers the beans needed support.  The beans, the giving sister, pull nitrogen from the air and bring it to the soil for the benefit of all three.  As the beans grow through the tangle of squash vines and wind their way up the cornstalks into the sunlight, they hold the sisters close together.  The large leaves of the sprawling squash protect the threesome by creating living mulch that shades the soil, keeping it cool and moist and preventing weeds.  The prickly squash leaves also keep away raccoons, which don’t like to step on them.  By the way, this is a great way still to plant.

Eels were a staple in European and early American diets though they’ve fallen from favor here.  And, by the way, regardless of how they look, eels are a fish.  They can be found from north to south, east to west, most often in tidal pools or mud flats.  They can be boiled, fried, broiled, soup, pie, collared, pickled, stuffed, fricasseed, jellied, smoked, or baked.  Eels helps to lower cholesterol, blood pressure and chances of arthritis. It enhances the development of brain, good eyesight and functions of nervous system.  Hmmmm – enhancing brain development - maybe we as Americans should start thinking of them as a food source again.

Passenger Pigeons were a good sized bird – 15-16 inches in length.  They were a very popular food source.  They lived all over North America, as many as 3-5 billion at one point.  They could fly as fast as a gazelle could run, upwards of 60mph.  They only laid one egg at a time.  And they’ve been extinct since 1914 due to hunting and deforestation.  I hope we’re getting smarter about hunting and destroying natural homes for the rest of the animals on this planet, including ourselves.

Of course, I have to include Turkey even though it wasn’t the centerpiece in 1621.  Wild turkeys can fly, but domestic turkeys cannot.  Turkeys can run up to 20 miles per hour.  Male turkeys are called “gobblers,” after the “gobble” call they make to announce themselves to females (which are called “hens”). Other turkey sounds include “purrs,” “yelps” and “kee-kees.”  There are approximately 5,500 feathers on an adult wild turkey, including 18 tail feathers that make up the male's distinct fan.  The wild turkey was hunted nearly to extinction by the early 1900s, but restoration programs across North America have brought the numbers up to seven million today.  Maybe we are getting a little smarter.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving to all.  This is what I’ll be doing and I’m thankful that I can.