A friend recently invited me to a luncheon where she served the most wonderful sandwiches. She also served a quinoa salad, dried fruit and a broccoli salad. However, the sandwiches caught everyone’s attention.
There were three kinds of sandwich fillings including a pineapple salad. Each sandwich was cut in half diagonally and then the cut part was dipped in nuts. As we enjoyed the meal, she explained that she had been served these sandwiches at another luncheon, but they had been cut into circles so there was no crust.
This led to a discussion about bread crusts and which families had members who regularly removed the crusts.
Then someone remarked they had recently seen crustless bread at our local store. It was not a particularly intellectually stimulating conversation but lovely nonetheless.
When I got home, I went to feed the chickens. I had some random bread to give them along with their regular food. As I shut the gate and headed back to the house I noticed something interesting:
The chickens had left the bread crust. Perhaps I should buy them crustless bread.
As we said goodbye to 2014 and welcome in 2015 tonight, I’m sure many of us will sing the traditional “Auld Lang Syne.”
I aim to watch the ball drop in Times Square and join in to sing. Of course, there’s no guarantee I won’t fall asleep, as I’m prone to do long before midnight. But I can always watch the re-run.
Like everyone else, I’ll fumble and mumble through the verses, singing the chorus much louder. It’s the part I know best.
And once again, I’ll wonder what I’m singing like Harry Burns, played so well by Billy Crystal, did in When Harry Met Sally.
“My whole life, I don’t know what this song means. I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot?’ Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances? Or does it mean that if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot them?”
This year I decided to figure out the answer to those questions. Since I broke my right wrist the Saturday before Thanksgiving and had surgery on Tuesday before turkey day, I’ve been doing more reading than typing anyway.
What I discovered is “Auld Lang Syne” translates to “times gone by.” Robert Burns wrote the 1700’s Scottish poem, which was then set to the tune of a traditional folk song (Round # 6294).
These are the words translated from the Scottish dialect in case you want to impress someone tonight.
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 footsince auld lang syne.
CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream from morning sun till dinner; But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne.
CHORUS
And there’s a hand my trusty friend and give me a hand o’ thine! And we’ll take a right good-will draught for auld lang syne.
CHORUS
While Burns never intend for the words to be a holiday song, today it is well known for bidding farewell to an old year at the stroke of midnight. It’s also used at funerals, graduations and as a farewell or ending to other occasions.
Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians have credit for popularizing the song during a live performance at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York in 1929. CBS broadcast the first half of his performance and, after midnight, NBC broadcast the second half. Between the two performances, his band segued by playing “Auld Lang Syne.”
Thus a tradition was born.
And, if you want to practice before your New Year’s Eve celebration or, know you’ll be fast asleep at midnight like me, try singing along with this YouTube video featuring Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians from 1947.
I was in my bedroom getting ready for work when I heard a chicken. On Miller Farm, this is normal.
The clucking was coming from right outside my window. This is not normal.
I put shoes on and went outside to see which one of our silly birds had spent the night outside the coop. As I rounded the corner of the house, I spied the escapee – except there was one problem.
In the story, the little bird is searching for its mother when it comes upon a steam shovel. It quickly realized that this was not its mother.
I named the stray bird “Snort.”
Now you may wonder how I distinguish my chickens from others. It isn’t always easy but this bird was a barred rock, and we have none of that variety at the moment.
Being a Chicken Wrangler, I could not leave her out in the open so I scooped her up and carried her to our coop. She was very calm about the whole process, until I let out all our chickens.
You see, chickens are not particularly kind to strange birds. They chased the poor stray around the yard until she flew up to the fence.
I tried to catch her again to clip her wings so she wouldn’t meet Bella (the chicken-killing dachshund). Since I was unsuccessful, I left the dogs inside while I went to work.
When I got home, the first thing I did was check the backyard. Sticking out from a bush against the fence was a chicken head.
The stray bird had flown the coop again. She seemed to want to go back inside the fence so I caught her, clipped her wings and put her back with the others.
Meanwhile I have asked my friend with chickens if she is missing a barred rock. She is checking her chickens.
I may have to post a “Found Chicken” sign at the corner. Someone may be missing their chicken.
Twenty-one years ago, my parents gave me a Christmas sweater. It was something they knew I would never buy for myself but would love.
They were absolutely right. I wore that sweater for many years starting with our daughters first Christmas.
This very same daughter has borrowed this sweater not once but twice to enter in “tacky Christmas sweater” contests. This year she’s loaning it out.
I would be offended except for two years running, my sweater has won.
I think I deserve at least some kind of prize for having held on to that sweater long enough for college kids to think it is tacky.
Today I pulled out my Christmas sweatshirt. It is even older than my tacky sweater.
After my first Christmas program (which was several years before our first daughter was born), my students presented it to me. It has the name of the Christmas musical – “The Town Hall Christmas Tree” – on the front and all the kids’ handprints in red and green on the back and down the arms.
My mother purchased a Christmas sweater for herself at the same time as she bought my sweater. Definitely fits the ugly sweater category.
But the overall winner of our ugly holiday apparel would be the red sweat suits with appliqued Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. The suits are long gone, but oh what fun Christmas memories!
YOUR TURN: Do you have an entry for an ugly holiday apparel contest?
Several years ago, we downsized our Christmas tree. Space was an issue as well as ease of construction – we bought an artificial pre-lit tree.
This meant there was no longer room for all the ornaments, which was good news for our children.
Their handmade ornaments with pictures from elementary school that were always hung and, because I think they are precious ornaments, I placed them to the front. Howeverthe 17, 19, and 21 year olds are not so fond of them. So I put the treasures back in the ornament box to be saved for when they have all moved away.
This year our oldest Catherine helped me set up the tree. I unpacked the ornaments and she hung them on the tree.
Together we evaluated which ornaments would go on and which to save for another year. We had fun remembering the origin of the ornaments.
There was the cinnamon ornament in the shape of Texas that someone made us before we moved to Mexico.
Then there were the ones Beekeeper Brian and I got on our honeymoon and the hot air balloon I picked up in Albuquerque at the museum. Several are made by Beekeeper Brian’s grandmother out of duck eggs.
By far the most fun is the set we got the Christmas before Catherine was born. At the time we had no animals living at our house and no idea of what the future held.If only we had known how prophetic those chicken ornaments would be!
Everyone has those special decorations in their family. Take time to pass on the stories that go with them. It is what makes families unique.
Putting up Christmas decorations requires Christmas music. At least at our house.Thus began my search for a CD we bought last year entitled Peace on Earth. It was not at the house so I figured I must have taken it to school.
Today I was at school getting all my materials together for my classes this week. I planned to read the book The Little Drummer Boy to my Pre-K class, but I couldn’t find it. After an unsuccessful search in the L section of my classroom library, I remembered I was going to check to see if our Peace on Earth CD was in my classroom. It was not.
So I went back to looking for Little Drummer Boy, which I found wedged in my copy of Little Rabbit Foo Foo.
All of this goes to prove that you cannot have The Little Drummer Boy and Peace on Earth in the same room.
As the mother of a percussionist, I should have known this.
The best part about holidays is having everyone at home, all three children, and all six dogs.
Included in the six dogs are Miller and Jengo, the occasional houseguests. Miller is a dachshund and fits right in with our pack. Jengo, however, is a beagle mix and still acts like a puppy. This can be a good thing.
For instance, he likes to chase the ball I throw for Tucker. If he gets to it first, then Tucker chases him and they both run around the back yard for a bit. This buys me a few more minutes as I’m feeding chickens in the morning. Jengo tends to wake up with lots of energy so taking laps around the back yard is a necessary part of his routine.
Then he likes to come in and play with the other dogs that may or may not want to play. Sadie will play for a bit and then she gets grumpy. So Jengo moves on to Bella who is eager to play for a few minutes but not nearly long enough for Jengo. Coco tends to stay completely away from him and Tucker is the supervisor of the pack. He barks at them when it is time to stop. Jengo doesn’t listen very well.
We watched the movie “How to Train Your Dragon 2” the other night. The story revolves around an alpha dragon that controls all other dragons in his nest except the baby dragons who listen to no one.
I decided that Tucker is our “alpha dragon” and Jengo is a baby dragon. He doesn’t listen to anyone. It is a good thing he is a cute “baby dragon”.
We recently attended a family wedding three states away in Wisconsin. We discussed whether to fly or drive.
Not for long though. You see our bucket lists contain a visit to all fifty states. Driving would help tick off two states … if we took a northern route back home to Colorado.
Family and friends cautioned about the possibility of adverse weather if we traveled by car in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. We listened and then decided to take our chances.
With our two four-legged children loaded in the car, we headed north.
(Note: Their advice would have been so correct if we had made the trip last week during the deep freeze and snow of the early winter storm in those states. We didn’t. We were nestled all snug in our cabin in Colorado watching Casper, Wyoming with temperatures of -35 degrees on the evening news.)
As it worked out, we were so glad we drove.
Little Bighorn National Cemetery
Teddy Roosevelt National Park
The beauty of the landscape was breathtaking.
The people we met friendly and interesting.
Lunch in Portage, WI Pub
The wedding inspiring.
Congratulations, Abram & Becca
This Thursday many of us will be gathering to eat turkey and all the trimmings with family and friends.
In 1621, the Plymouth the Pilgrims and Indians celebrated survival and the hopes of future good fortune on the first Thanksgiving.
Our trip of over 3,500 miles reminded me of the awesome things we have to celebrate this Thanksgiving Day.
Majestic mountains
Fields ripe with grain to harvest
Moonlight on lakes
Water rushing in streams and cascading down waterfalls
And, most of all the fellowship of family and friends
You would think that having lived in Texas most of my life I would expect the weather to be unpredictable. However, winter’s arrival caught me off guard.
Sure, the weatherman predicted a wintery blast, but I don’t always believe the weatherman. He said there was a cold front coming in on Tuesday.
When I got up to swim, it was 65 degrees. By lunch it was in the 40s. I realize that doesn’t sound cold to people who live north of here but for us Texans who put up with 95+ degrees all summer, 40 is COLD.
If you don’t believe me, ask the chickens.
When I went to close them up Wednesday night they had their heads tucked under their wings.
It was a disconcerting sight at first until I realized what I was seeing.
Of course, I didn’t have my phone with me the first night, but I remembered to take it Thursday when more artic air arrived.
It took several tries to get the picture and the poor chicken kept turning its head to see what was happening every time the camera clicked.
When I finally set the flash and got this picture, I decided not to press my luck. After all, I’ve had to deal with a grumpy hen in the past.
What I have to remember is, this is Texas. It is likely to be back up to 80 by the weekend.
Our Old English sheepdog came to us nine years ago at age nine weeks. Our bond was instant. He’s been my best friend and trusty companion ever since and is constantly by my side.
Now that he’s grown, picking him up is next to impossible, but that doesn’t stop him from sitting on my lap.
When Toby was five, Buster joined our family. We inherited the little Maltese from my daughter and, since the dogs had spent time together at family gatherings, we didn’t have issues when Buster came to live with us permanently.Watching the two dogs together has taught me some important lessons about life.
Be Loyal (but not to a fault)
Loyalty can be a huge asset, but my canine boys have taught me blind loyalty is foolish. Walking is our ritual. Three times a day we hike around the area. I always do the early morning sunrise walk, but sometimes, I’m on deadline or absorbed in writing and those noontime and evening walks aren’t going to happen. They might prefer my company, but necessity often dictates they have to go with my husband. Loyalty is definitely an asset, but not to a fault. Sometimes, we have to do what it takes to get the job done.
Trust your instincts.
I see this principle often when I walk the dogs. Both will react if they deem someone or some animal we meet along our way as threatening. I trust their instincts. There might be a bear or coyote lurking that I can’t see. Sure, it’s important to take time to listen to others’ input. But in the end, we should heed our gut instincts.
Know what you want and be super persistent.
Dogs know persistence pays. Buster and Toby recline by my chair at mealtime like bookends. One on my left, one on my right. They don’t beg unless ice cream or pizza crust is involved. Then Toby sits in that perfect sit he never seemed to manage in dog obedience class and Buster, not to be ignored, jumps up on the edge of my chair.
Looking into those Bambi eyes staring up at me, I cave. The scenario reminds me how very, very important dogged persistence can be. We should never give up on our goals.
Poor Toby and Buster don’t always get to lick the ice cream bowl…especially if company’s here. Seeing a dog lick a bowl humans use tends to freak some people out. But hey, that’s what the sani-wash option on the dishwasher is for. Even if we fail, we can learn what to do better next time or what techniques or approaches work, and what doesn’t.
Last, and probably the most significant, thing Buster and Toby have taught me is …
Unplug. Go outside and play.
Writing is a solitary occupation. I tend to spend hour upon hour at my laptop. For Toby and Buster, it’s boring. With technology penetrating every portion of our lives and jobs, it’s easy to be online and working 24-7. We forget the importance of refreshing our mind and body.
Toby will nudge my elbow and Buster will whine – not pretty, but effective – until I give up and push away from the computer, iPad, or iPhone. I never regret spending the time with them.
The chickens had left the bread crust. Perhaps I should buy them crustless bread.
