Make Me Think Monday Archives - View from the Front Porch

22 07, 2024

America’s Favorite Dessert – Ice Cream

By judythemorgan|2024-07-19T12:11:40-05:00July 22nd, 2024|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

Here in the United States, we celebrate National Ice Cream Month each year in July, and National Ice Cream on the third Sunday.

We can thank President Reagan for the celebration.

In 1984, he signed a proclamation that declared July to be National Ice Cream Month. He adored ice cream along with 90% of Americans who consume over twenty gallons per person annually.

No wonder. Ice cream is rich, creamy, and filled with summer flavors while the chill cools us down from the heat of summer.

Flavors range from Neapolitan to chocolate chip cookie dough to Banana Pudding to Pistachio Almond. Check out all the Texas Blue Bell Creameries flavors.

Plain old vanilla is still the top flavor according to the International Dairy Foods Association.

Our love for ice cream goes way, way back.

Ancient Chinese were the first to discover cold + sweet created a delicious treat that resembles what we enjoy today. Most famous leaders from Roman Emperor Nero to Alexander the Great enjoyed cold treats. By the 1500s ice cream had spread throughout Europe, though only wealthy aristocrats could afford the expensive treat.

No one knows for sure when ice cream made its way to the US, but at least two early presidents were fans. Thomas Jefferson wrote the first known American ice cream recipe and George Washington reportedly spent $200 in a single summer for ice cream.

If you missed National Ice Cream Day, no worries. July’s not over.

Grab a dish or a cone and dig in today.

15 07, 2024

And Then Came Beryl

By judythemorgan|2024-07-14T16:33:35-05:00July 15th, 2024|Make Me Think Monday|1 Comment

Photo: www.outlookindia.com

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms are a way of life here on the Texas Gulf Coast. And, there have been some doozies.

Hurricane Alicia in 1983 The area hadn’t seen a hurricane in three years and this one packed a wallop – 21 deaths, and NO power for twelve days.
Tropical Storm Allison (2001) Another doozy that hung around for four days dumping rain that flooded the Texas Medical Center. Allison was the flood of record for the Houston area before Harvey (2017) which was the worst flood storm in US history.

During hurricane season, weathermen track disturbances from the African coast. When the whirling winds head into the Bay of Campeche, our serious storm preparations begin.

Beryl (2024) looked harmless as it crossed into the Gulf of Mexico. We prepared but didn’t worry. Then the storm picked up steam, became a Category One hurricane, and turned westward toward our part of the coast.

Beryl fooled us when it came ashore at 4 a.m. unleashing powerful wind and intensified over us. Trees swayed and tumbled. Water rushed. Power lines went down. Homes lost electricity. Hospitals ran on backup generators for days. Thankfully, our whole house Generac kept us powered. Sadly, there are still homes without power today.

Seven people died in Texas, and 2.5 million customers were without power.

Beryl was the first storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season to make landfall in the US. Scary to think we have four more months to go.

There have been other Beryls. Beryl in 2012 was a Tropical Storm that hit the Southeastern coast over Memorial Day weekend, ahead of the June 1 official opening date for hurricane season. That storm’s powerful winds knocked out power across the region and dumped 4 to 12 inches of rain.

Beryl in 2018 was the first Atlantic hurricane that year. It intensified quickly from a tropical depression to a Category 1 hurricane. The remnants of Beryl brought gusty winds, rough surf, and dangerous rip currents to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Nice name Beryl, but its reputation is awful and scary. I’d suggest picking a different name for the next Hurricane season.

12 07, 2024

Simple Things

By judythemorgan|2024-07-09T20:03:38-05:00July 12th, 2024|Friday on the Miller Farm, Make Me Think Monday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara

I have had the privilege of being with our grandsons several times in the past month. Sometimes they were at our house, other times I was at their house. Sometimes Mom and Dad were there, sometimes just Mom, and sometimes just Grandma.

In every situation, there was much laughter and joy.

At our house, our bathroom has a pocket door that pulls out from the wall. Theo was fascinated by the latch.

I turned the knob and it disappeared. I turned it again and it reappeared. We spent about 15 minutes playing “peek-a-boo” with the door latch.

Such simple joy!

At his house, Theo has learned to climb on Alex’s lofted bed. When the lamp is on, his shadow appears on the wall. It makes a great playmate. I joined in with my shadow. Simple joy!

Then we went to the park at the end of their street. Alex insisted on going to the “tunnel” to show me what his Daddy taught him. It was a drainage pipe and if you shouted into it, you could hear the echo.

I soon found myself crouching down beside him and shouting into the “tunnel” to experience the simple joy of an echo.

I think growing up is highly overrated. Children know much better how to enjoy simple things.

8 07, 2024

Answering The Dreaded Question

By judythemorgan|2024-07-07T17:52:19-05:00July 8th, 2024|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

When you meet someone new or attend a party, the dreaded question always comes up.

“What do you do?”

We’ve all heard it. We’ve all produced an answer.

My answer is easy, there is one common thread in everything I do.

That thread is storytelling.

As a teacher, I told stories to help my students learn. As an antiques dealer, I told stories about the antiques I sold. As a writer, I create characters and their stories. Stories, which, in turn, are published. We all share stories in social conversations.

When I’m asked the question “What do I do?” My answer is, “I’m a storyteller.” then go on to explain I’m a published author.

Then come the tough follow-up questions: “What kind?“ “Where can I find your stories?” “Have I read any of them?”

The questions do offer the opportunity to mention my titles and hand out a calling card.

Not a bad thing.

I’m grateful my stories take written form in bookstores and libraries. I would love for everyone I talk with and/or readers of this blog to buy my books. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t.

Truth is, either way, is okay. I’ll always tell stories, no matter what the format – oral or written.

For you see, there’s always a story to tell.

What about you, how do you answer the dreaded question “What do you do?” when someone asks?

1 07, 2024

My Red Dragonfly Visitor

By judythemorgan|2024-06-28T18:51:57-05:00July 1st, 2024|Make Me Think Monday|1 Comment

This lovely creature has been hanging around our pond lately.

We have dragonflies all the time. I love them. They eat mosquitoes and gnats. So besides being lovely to look at, they eat those mosquitoes that love to eat on me.

That’s a win-win.

Curious about how common red dragonflies are, I went on a research dive. I discovered red is not the rarest. Dragonfly colors range from pink (the rarest) to grey/black with green being the most common.

There are around 3000 kinds of dragonflies on earth with about 350 species in the United States alone. Dragonflies and Damselfly are often confused. There are differences. Click here to see the differences.

As you can tell I fell down the rabbit hole of research, a frequent occurrence for me. I won’t bore you with all I learned. If you want to learn more about dragonflies, click here.

The thing that fascinated my Irish folklore-lover self the most was that red dragonflies are thought to be mystical creatures from the world of fairies and spirits, a spiritual totem.

Native Indian cultures of America and the Japanese culture view a red dragonfly as a symbol of happiness, courage, love, and strength. A visit from a red dragonfly is a sign of prosperity, good luck, and signals a life change.

We’ll have to see if my red dragonfly brings good luck and prosperity. Until that happens, it’s lovely to see it fluttering around the pond.

3 06, 2024

June Weddings and Wedding Dresses

By judythemorgan|2024-05-25T13:20:08-05:00June 3rd, 2024|A Writer's Life, Make Me Think Monday|2 Comments

June is the most popular month for weddings.

But why?

According to Bridetide, there are several reasons:

Weather

Temperatures are moderate in June, not too warm and rarely too cold, making outdoor weddings a choice.

Flowers

June offers a wider (and cheaper) choice of colorful flowers to help lower the cost of a wedding.

Favor from Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage.

Romans planned weddings in June believing their marriage would be showered with luck and good wishes from the gods above. The tradition continued.

Historical reasons include:

Harvest

Wedding dates in the past were chosen based on peak harvest times. If you married in June, a summer pregnancy would still be early enough in the season that a wife could help with manual work during that year’s harvest period. A spring birth meant the recovered bride would be able to help in the next year’s harvest.

Bathing

At one time in our culture, regular bathing was a once-a-year event usually during the last part of May or the beginning of June. A June wedding meant the couple would have had their “annual bath” and were the most presentable (less stinky).

Back in 1938, my parents scheduled a June wedding most likely because of the weather. We live in Texas and it’s not yet unbearably hot. Her mother made her wedding dress of imported Alençon lace.

It’s a wedding dress with a unique story to tell.

Twenty-five years after my mother and father’s June wedding, I wore the same dress.

We chose our non-June wedding date for practical reasons. Back then, the Memorial Day holiday was celebrated on May 30 and that year it was a Thursday, the day we married. We honeymooned nearby over the weekend and returned on Monday to classes and jobs.

Twenty-four years later, our daughter aka Chicken Wrangler Sara wore the dress at her wedding. Sara chose the second most popular month for weddings – August.

Three times a firstborn daughter has worn the beautiful hand-stitched dress. Each time with only minor alterations.

My mother was only four feet eleven inches tall, so my grandmother let the hem out for me to wear, then I added lace to the hem for my daughter, who was a couple of inches taller than I am.

Between weddings, the dress stays tucked safely in a cedar chest which was originally my mother’s hope chest.

22 04, 2024

Flowers, Showers, and Petrichor

By judythemorgan|2024-04-22T08:28:00-05:00April 22nd, 2024|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

The month of April means time to bring out rain boots and umbrellas and smell the scent of rain in the air.

That distinct scent has a name – petrichor. It’s the smell of the oil that’s released from the Earth into the air before rain begins to fall. Scientists suggest it’s familiar because we inherited an affection for the smell from our ancestors who relied on rainy weather for survival.

April also means hearing that age-old saying April Showers Bring May Flowers.

The poem originated in 1157 in a collection of Thomas Tusser’s writings titled, “A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry.” His version:

Sweet April showers Do spring May flowers

Tusser wasn’t the first writer to write about April showers. At the end of the Fourteenth Century, legendary poet Geoffrey Chaucer had his own say on April in “The Canterbury Tales.” His version goes:

“Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;”

Translated:

“When in April the sweet showers fall
That pierce March’s drought to the root and all
And bathed every vein in liquor that has power
To generate therein and sire the flower;”

Not exactly the same as our familiar poem, but close enough that we can call Geoffrey Chaucer the grandfather of our familiar saying.

As days grow warmer, genetically hard-wired plants begin to push through the thawing soil as frosts end. Those April rain showers help nutrients reach the roots faster and the ecosystem begins its activity anew.

Whether you sing in the rain or grumble inside on rainy days, think about what’s to come. Those dark days do bring beautiful flowers. So, while you’re gathering rain gear, dig out those flower vases for May’s flowers.

15 04, 2024

An Author’s Conundrum – Getting Book Reviews

By judythemorgan|2024-04-14T07:36:04-05:00April 15th, 2024|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

I’m a writer and I’m a reader. When I finish reading a book, I write a review.

Why do I take the time? To help the author and other readers.

Independent epublishing has generated a flooded marketplace of book choices. That ocean of available works makes knowing which book to select difficult. With book-buying budgets limited, book reviews can help readers make decisions.

So when I read an enjoyable book, I share the news by writing a review.

As an author, I also recognize that reviews posted on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iBooks are critical for sales whether you’re a new or established author.

Yes, I know some authors defraud the online review systems, and some reviewers use their power to target and destroy. Thank goodness, those types are in the minority and quickly dealt with.

I’m not saying don’t post a critical review if you don’t like a book. Most authors welcome an honest evaluation of their work if it’s in the form of constructive criticism, not trashing.

Finding reviewers is a major conundrum for authors. The validity of a review by family and friends can be questionable. You’ll find most retailers don’t allow family and friend review postings, if the bots catch the link between reviewer and author.

Reviewers who are paid to write book or movie reviews can be extremely expensive. Small publishing houses and indie authors can’t afford to use those services, instead, they rely on readers spreading the news.

Why is coaxing a reader to write a review so hard? Maybe because it brings back painful memories of those dreaded book reports we had to do when we were in school.

Whatever the reason readers don’t write reviews, I wish more readers understood how helpful reviews are for an author.

The process of posting a review is easy. Many Kindle books offer a link to review at the end. Reviews don’t have to be lengthy or formal. You can also leave star reviews.

Next time you finish a book, why not leave a review or stars?

8 04, 2024

It’s Poetry Month!

By judythemorgan|2024-04-07T07:44:02-05:00April 8th, 2024|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

April is National Poetry Month. Poets.org has provided opportunities and activities to celebrate poetry and poets.

One of my favorite poems is about a realio, trulio, little pet dragon named Custard by Ogden Nash. I read the poem to my children, greats, and grands so often most of them memorized it.

“The Tale of Custard the Dragon”

Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,
And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

Now the name of the little black kitten was Ink,
And the little gray mouse, she called her Blink,
And the little yellow dog was sharp as Mustard,
But the dragon was a coward, and she called him Custard.

Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth,
And spikes on top of him and scales underneath,
Mouth like a fireplace, chimney for a nose,
And realio, trulio daggers on his toes.

Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of bears,
And Ink and Blink chased lions down the stairs,
Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage,
But Custard cried for a nice safe cage.

Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful,
Ink, Blink and Mustard, they rudely called him Percival,
They all sat laughing in the little red wagon
At the realio, trulio, cowardly dragon.

Belinda giggled till she shook the house,
and Blink said Weeck! which is giggling for a mouse,
Ink and Mustard rudely asked his age,
When Custard cried for a nice safe cage.

Suddenly, suddenly they heard a nasty sound,
And Mustard growled, and they all looked around.
Meowch! cried Ink, and Ooh! cried Belinda,
For there was a pirate, climbing in the winda.

You can read the rest of the poem here: https://internetpoem.com/ogden-nash/the-tale-of-custard-the-dragon-poem/

I do love Ogden Nash. Reviewers of his work often criticized him for taking liberties with spelling and rhyme.

Liberties that I find delightful because I have this habit of adding syllables and phrases to words and names too. Grandchildren became Brook E, Abby-Me-Gail, Faith-e-foo, Morg-from-org, and Rachel-Roo. Children: J.Beetle, Sa-RA, Stefoney, etc. It always brought a smile to their faces until they hit their teen years.

I love the Custard dragon poem so much when I saw this dragon welded from spare farm parts at a craft fair, I had to add him to the guard the patio.

Enjoy poetry month! You can find a chronological list of other poems by Ogden Nash here: http://www.ogdennash.org/ogden_nash_titles.htm

1 04, 2024

April Fools’ Day

By judythemorgan|2024-03-30T08:28:29-05:00April 1st, 2024|Holidays, Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

Today is officially the day when pranks and pranksters abound. Be alert!

An April fool is the victim of a joke or trick played on April 1^st hence the name April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day.

A little aside here, finding a grammatically correct meme wasn’t easy. The day is April Fools’ Day. There are multiple fools in the world. This is their holiday hence the s apostrophe.

Although dictionaries show both fools’ and fool’s, the plural possessive makes the best logical sense to me.

Whichever way you spell it, playing jokes and tricking people has been around for centuries, but no one knows its origins for sure.

My favorite theory is April Fools’ Day is of French origin and dates to 1582 when the Council of Trent required the French to switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.

Those who embraced the new calendar started to mock the reluctant ones, offering false presents, and playing tricks on them. Those tricked or fooled are called April fools or Poisson d’avril (April Fish).

Eventually, the fish name-calling tradition evolved into the exchange of fish-shaped cakes and then paper fish associated with jokes and hoaxes.

School-aged children in France design paper fish to stick on the backs of unsuspecting people.