Past Blogs

During these pandemic times, not being able to visit friends in person is one of the biggest hardships. Family and friends are the keystones of life. How ironic that now we must show our love by our absence.

This crazy situation started me thinking about how we find friends in the first place. And then I broke out laughing. Many of my best friends hired me. Literally.

One hired me to be the art teacher at her school. Another employed me as the children’s programmer at her library. And more brought me into their libraries and schools to do programs.

The longest friendship I have had started in 8th grade and has endured all these years. My husband and I have also had the gift of good neighbors becoming good friends. More friendships resulted from my love of animals, especially the feline variety.

One day the pharmacist at our local drugstore starting chatting with me when I was picking up my cat’s prescription. We soon discovered a mutual love of cats, dogs and mid-century modern design. Two other friendships were sealed when acquaintances helped us find wonderful homes for five calico kitties we were desperate to place.

And finally, my husband and I met another lovely friend because of our sheer confusion. We were at Kinderdijk, the United Nations World Heritage site of windmills in the Netherlands. We had spent hours exploring this special place by foot and boat, and it was time to drive back to our hotel. Having lost our way several times driving down, we were staring at a large outdoor map of the site and surrounding area and laughing. We were trying to figure out a route back and knew we would probably get lost again. That is the moment when a lovely lady asked if she could help us. We then talked for an hour and a friendship was born. And her directions were perfect; we did not go astray on the drive and ferry ride back.

Friends do help us find the way…and not just with road navigation.

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Whether you call them schnecken, schnecke or schnecks, they are delicious. These are the names Midwesterners of German origin give to what others refer to as sweet rolls or Danish.

The name schneck is most apropos. “Schnecke” is the German word for snail, and these pastries are curled up in a spiral just like giant snails. My childhood was filled with schnecks as well as many other sweet treats. Our town was dotted with home bakeries and my father had an active sweet tooth. Our family’s first stop after Sunday mass was always a bakery.

Some of my friends’ parents were even more serious about having bakery security. They would get up in the wee small hours of Sunday morning to buy their breakfast treats at the back door of a bakery that started selling their products as soon as they left the oven.

Looking back on my childhood and teen years, I was not lacking for sugar. My dad supplemented the schnecks with cream=filled, streusel=topped coffee cakes and potica (poh TEET sah), a nut and cinnamon filled roll that resembles snails when cut.

With adulthood came the realization that bakery products were not staples of the diet, essential food items. But this is not to say I don’t indulge. I do believe in the pleasures of the senses. And when I do splurge, my ultimate treat in the pastry department is no longer a schneck or a cruller (aka “crawler”). I will always pick the pain raisin, that delectable, flaky French puff pastry. It’s shaped exactly like a snail, which is why the French have a second name for it…escargot.

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I spent the first twenty years of my life in one house; a small, bilaterally symmetrical, clapboard Cape Cod. Our family home was painted white with dark green trim and doors.

About every six years, our white house needed a new coat of paint as we lived in an industrial suburb of Milwaukee. Our house would turn gray and gritty from the nearby factories and foundries.

Neither my mother nor father was handy with a paintbrush, so the painters would be called and my parents would begin discussing possible color choices.

When my mother asked me, ”What colors do you think the house should be?”, my five-year-old brain started racing. Having already decided that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, visions of how our house could look immediately popped into my mind.

However, my parents rejected my suggestions and once again our house was painted white with dark green trim and doors.

I have never forgotten how I wanted our house to look and was recently delighted to see a picture of a house that closely resembles my childhood fantasy.

I love this house but must confess that I live in a sage green house with tan trim. But I certainly would not mind having this colorful house in my neighborhood.

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I found myself awake at 4:00 AM the other morning. Rather than starting to worry about the state of America, the environment and the world in general, I decided to see if I could mentally list all the states in alphabetical order. I’m not a game player, but I do love maps and have visited every state. This seemed a better way to lull myself back to sleep than thinking about depressing stuff.

By the time I had managed to get the states in their alphabetical alignment, I noticed some interesting trivia. It also occurred to me that this exercise would be a good game for grade school children. There is no time for geography in today’s curriculums, and I find this regrettable.

So here’s the short quiz I would devise about the first letters of the states’ names.

1. Which two letters tie for being the initial letter of most states? Hint: They each have eight states.

2. Which two initial letters start the names of three states?

3. Three alphabet letters start the names of four states. Which letters are they?

4. Four initial alphabet letters start the names of two states each. Name the four pairs.

5. Eight letters get only one state. Who are the loners?

6. And last, the losers. Seven letters are stateless. Which are they?

Stay tuned. The Democrats might bring about some changes to this game. I totally agree with these words on the District of Columbia license plates: End Taxation Without Representation.

Here are the answers:

1. M and N

Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana

Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota

2. C and O

California, Colorado, Connecticut

Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon

3. A, I, W

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas

Idaho, Illinois, Indians, Iowa

Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

4. K, S, T, V

Kansas, Kentucky

South Carolina, South Dakota

Tennessee, Texas

Vermont, Virginia

5. D, F, G, H, L, P, R, U

Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah

6. B, E, J, Q, X, Y, Z

 

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Fads are nonsensical, unpredictable and fun. I love trying to spot the beginnings of these silly infatuations. And I particularly enjoy fads involving animals.Down through the years, Americans have been smitten by “Lassie” dogs, poodles, singing chipmunks, macrame owls, howling coyotes, dolphins, hedgehogs, rainbow unicorns and dog breeds that end with “doodle”.

You might wonder what’s next?

This past Christmas featured two animal fads. I knew something was up when one of our neighbors placed a giant internally lighted llama on her front lawn as a Christmas decoration. Then a llama Christmas card arrived in our mailbox, followed by catalogs loaded with llama themed gifts.

Fortunately, I did not receive any nightshirts saying “No Drama Llama”, “Ask me about my llama” or “Fa la la la llama”.

Squirrels were runner-ups to the llamas in the catalogs. My favorite items here were the squirrels going crazy car sunscreen and a metal sign proclaiming “CAUTION! Area protected by ATTACK SQUIRREL COMPANY”.

I did not need or want any of these items. But I laughed a lot, and that is a gift in itself. Plus, I expect to have fun spotting llama and squirrel stuff for several more months….until the next fad arrives.

 

 

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