Happy Easter and God Bless!

 

When we were children, there was a lady in Millers Falls, who made elaborately designed Easter eggs, and possibly, decorated eggs for other occasions.  I don’t know if she was Polish, Russian, or Ukrainian.  Her eggs were beautiful and sometimes, magical in design.  We are hearing, now, about the increased significance of the decorated Ukrainian Easter eggs.  I am not sure when, where or how this Tradition began.  I sent an Easter ecard referencing the Romanov decorated eggs, a Russian tradition that may or may not be related to the Ukrainian tradition of decorated eggs. The point is, the Russians, the Poles, and the Ukrainians have so many shared traditions. It is so sad that peoples with shared traditions can go to war against each other. It is also a blessing that the Polish people and other Eastern European peoples have opened their hearts and their homes to the Ukrainian refugees.

Easter is a time of renewal and rebirth.  It is my prayer that there is some opportunity peace, renewal, and rebirth for the Ukrainian nation.

It is also my prayer that your personal trials find peace, renewal, and rebirth.

God bless and Happy Easter.

 

 

 

New Year's Eve Tradition

Fireworks are okay, and I thought I heard some earlier, but they usually go off closer to midnight.  With the snow, I am not sure how much business the fireworks stands have done.  But people are determined.  And will probably think that with all the snow around, the fire danger is minimized.

My two traditions are black eye peas, a nod to the South http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/vegetables/blackeye.html, and pickled herring (Sledzie) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickled_herring, which the Polish eat at Christmas or Easter.  I have morphed it into a New Years tradition for myself.  And, if true Sledzie is available in Lubbock, I would not know it.  So, I buy a commercial product that is herring in wine sauce (still a pickled brine.) I usually eat about half of a small jar, and then it sits, often until Easter.  (Pickled herring does not seem to go bad quickly.) 

I rarely go out. I often have champagne, and start my "midnight celebration" at 11 PM.  Often, this is one night of the year I do not make it to midnight.  One of the big reasons for that is the State of Texas gives us the day off. So, unlike a regular work day, I often rise very early, and by early evening, I am tired. I did so today.  The weather was too cold to sit out, but if I do, being in the fresh air helps me to sleep better, and sooner, also.  But, if I make it to midnight, central time, I toast the New Year in a second time. 

I tend not to do resolutions. 

In 2014, I set out to read a book a week, a goal I accomplished.  I did not have a goal for 2015.  And, I am not imaginative enough to come up with a goal for 2016 (the book a week was a goal one of the book club members had for 2013.  She shared it, accomplished it, and it sounded like fun.) It was.

I am trying to read more non-fiction. But do not have a specific plan for that.

I am enjoying a quiet night. TV off and on.  No vested interest in any sports tonight. 

A good book will do.

Tap Dancing

Call me corny, I don't care, but I love to watch tap dancing.  When I was little, I don't know what age, my mother enrolled me and siblings in tap dancing classes. We did not persist, and I believe I did not make it to the recital. (I think I hated it.)

As an adult, I have grown to admire tap dancing.  Even in the old Lawrence Welk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lawrence_Welk_Show TV shows.

Tonight I was watching the Stephen Colbert Show http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/, and he had a guest who was a tap dancer, Michelle Dorrance http://www.dancespirit.com/news/michelle-dorrance-to-appear-on-the-late-show-tonight/.  Colbert and Dorrance performed together, and Colbert admitted he had practiced before the show.  They did good.

I like tap dance. I am glad to see it is not dead.  Thank you, Stephen Colbert.

NASCAR

There was a time in my life when I was a diehard NASCAR fan.  I recorded races if I could not watch them live. I adjusted my schedule around NASCAR races, and I watched NASCAR racing shows when I could find them.

That has changed.  In part, it changed because NASCAR changed.  They took races away from some of the romantic short tracks like Hickory, and moved races to cookie-cutter tracks in Chicago, Las Vegas, Kansas.  They raced on Mother's Day weekend which never happened before. They took the Southern 500 away from Darlington on Labor Day.  They developed a "Chase" format in an attempt to make the championship more exciting. But they had to create their own hype to make the championship exciting.  They did all kinds of things to make sure the winners were the eventual champion, when all they needed to do was give major points to each race winner.  They could not figure that out!  Duh!  So simple.  NASCAR became such a business they forgot their roots.

They are making some changes to get back to the sport they once were.  They will never return to the NASCAR of old, but one change they made was to return the Southern 500 to Darlington, but on Labor Day http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2015/09/04/darlington-return-lady-in-black-back-on-labor-day/.

Maybe I can become a NASCAR fan again.

The Yankees and the Red Sox

So this is baseball heaven:  Watching the Yankees http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nyy and the Red Sox http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=bos play baseball.  It does not matter the venue, although tonight it is Fenway Park https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenway_Park.  It is currently a close game, in the 7th inning.

For the regular reader, you know that I am a fan of both the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.  I am thrilled to hear tonight that these two teams have 7 more match ups this season, although, the likelihood of my seeing those games on TV is slim or none.

I do not care who wins tonight.  My favorite Yankees - Red Sox scenario is a close game, such as we have so far tonight, and extra innings. 

What is your favorite baseball scenario?

NASCAR

I like NASCAR http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series.html. I used to be a die hard NASCAR fan.  Some of my heart died with the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Earnhardt. 

Some of my heart died when NASCAR started changing things:  racing on Mother's Day weekend, decreasing the Firecracker 600 to a 400 mile race, closing the races at the short tracks such as at North Wilkesboro and Hickory, adding a lot of " cookie cutter race tracks" that were the boring same run, week after week, and changing the championship formula. The change in the championship formula was the last straw: They "invented" The Chase to try to make the race for the championship more exciting.  It did not do what they wanted.  The formula before the first change was points for leading a lap, points for winning, and points for finishing place.  The problem was that sometimes some driver could have a really, really good year, finish high in a lot of races, but not win any races.  The answer was simple:   increase the additional points for winning from 5 to 20.  Make it substantial.

No, NASCAR did all these other machinations to make the championship race more interesting. But, it did not succeed. So, now, instead of just worrying about points, they now also put some emphasis on winning.  Get rid of "the chase."  Go back to the points system, with large number of points for winning. It will take care of the problem, and I will be more interested in NASCAR.

But not until they return to some traditions: no racing on Easter weekend (period, including Saturday.) No racing on Mother's Day weekend at all.  More short tracks.  Lower ticket prices.

NASCAR has done well to keep the drivers and pit crews accessible to fans.  But that is probably the only thing they have maintained.  

Recipe Lost

I have a cornbread dressing recipe that I have had for more than 30 years.  I can visualize, written on an index card, in the handwriting of the co-worker who gave it to me.  It is a fairly simple recipe.  And, I have used it, sometimes more than once a year. Some years, though, I do other things.

My employer, last year, gave out gift certificates for turkeys, and I did not redeem mine until this month.  So, I am cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving.  And, I am making cornbread dressing.  I was a little unhappy tonight when I could not find the recipe card, but decided it did not matter. I know what I am doing and how to make this dressing.  I know the recipe card is somewhere, I just did not go through every piece of paper I have to look for it. 

My dressing will be fine.

Season Opener: Texas Tech Basketball

Texas Tech Basketball http://www.texastech.com/

I went to the season opener of the Texas Tech Lady Raider basketball game, against Jackson State University.  If the Lady Raiders had a pre-season exhibition game, I missed it.  I have not purchased season tickets this year.  I will not pay the price. I am hoping on promotions and specials that will reduce some of the prices, to get fans into the stadium. I will attend as many games as I can. The Lady Raiders won.  It was not a well played game, and the players have some to go, but they won, at least.  They had not won a game since before conference play last year.

It was a double header:  after 2 exhibition games, the Texas Tech Red Raiders opened their basketball season at home against Loyola.  This was a special game, because head coach Tubby Smith matched his team against a team whose head coach was his son, G. G. Smith http://redraiders.com/sports-red-raiders-mens-basketball/2014-11-13/family-affair-tubby-smith-face-against-his-son#.VGb86E3wvIV.  It was a good game; Tech was down early, but came back to win!

Yeah!

Contemporary Inuit Art

The Texas Tech Museum has a temporary exhibit on Contemporary Inuit Art http://www.depts.ttu.edu/museumttu/exhsch11.html.  It is very interesting, but a little sad. The Canadian Government "settled" the Inuit from their nomadic way of life. However, they later made a fairly generous treaty or pact with them, but it is based on the Inuit not being nomads.

The good news is that the Inuit art contributed to their transition to a more settled way of life.  And, their contemporary art still reflects traditional values.

Easter Eggs

I almost always color Easter Eggs. For years, I boiled the eggs on Good Friday. I frequently worked for places that had Good Friday off.  Most recently, my employer does not give Good Friday off. I could take the day, I have the leave. But why.

So, in the more recent past, I have boiled eggs on Saturday morning and colored them then. Tonight, I boiled eggs, and after they cool, I plan to color them.

When I was a child, we colored eggs on Good Friday, and my mother prepared our Easter meal in advance. We set it out Saturday morning, and the priest came by and blessed our meal.  I wonder how many hours he spent going from house to house, blessing Easter meals.  That was a wonderful, special tradition. I suspect it no longer happens. 

Once is a Tradition

I was afraid this would happen.  Earlier this week, I had to get up very, very early, 3:30 AM, to get to the airport in time to take a very early morning flight out of town.  Well, we do what we have to do.  I set the alarm, and managed to get up and get out of town on time.

I had the forethought to shut the alarm off while I was gone. I do not always remember to do that, and it must drive the cats nuts, because the alarm will shut it self off, but only after ringing for about two hours. Those poor cats.

I know the cats do not care for the alarm, and for years, Sake would wake me up about 5 minutes before the alarm would go off. That has changed in the last few years, but still sometimes one or the other of the three cats does wake me up before the alarm goes off.

I was gone a few days. I had hoped that my absence would intervene so that the cats did not think I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning. Well, Friday morning, Haiku woke me up about 3:30 AM.  And, this morning, she woke me up about 3:45 AM.

Well, a friend of mine says that with her pet, one time creates a tradition.  I have noticed the same is true with my cats.  And, if I try to change the tradition, they learn quickly and adapt to the new tradition, but do not want to give up the old tradition.  Hmmm.

The Green Monster

For the baseball fans among us,"The Green Monster" is well known.  It is the large wall in left field at Fenway Park. It is an icon in baseball.  Players are known to go behind the wall and sign in. It holds a now out of date hand manipulated scorecard.  Yaztremski used to go out and practice caroms off the wall. They now have seats built above it. If I were to go to a Red Sox game, that is where I would want to sit. Well, the New York Times did a piece on the wall.  I hope this link http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/07/19/sports/baseball/Fenway.html 
takes you there.

"The Green Monster"  An icon of American baseball. We have to thank the Red Sox organization for understanding how important Fenway Park http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/ballpark/index.jsp is.  So many other baseball arenas have been demolished and renewed, even Yankee Stadium.  But the Red Sox organization takes good care of Fenway Park, updates it, renews it, and keeps it sacred as a treasure of major league baseball. Thank you, Boston Red Sox.