This post is from 2023. I still think beauty abounds when we have the right mindset.
I have another post from August 19th from the year 2021 which gives another perspective on how we can find the beauty around us. It will be my next post.
Category: Family
The Beauty of Asymmetrical
The post about asymmetry is from this day July 31st in the year 2016. My early posts did not include pictures. I have included a picture today. A beautiful relative when she was much younger. She is from South Africa.
Reading Books
This summer has not been a big reading time for me because I have been too busy with projects around our home, and working outside trying to prevent our backyard from becoming a wilderness of weeds, and doing some experimental cooking and mixology, and tending to my family’s needs.
This past Tuesday I checked out my first book of the summer. Its title intrigued me, The Origin Of Ava. I am only on page 17 at this point. I have never been a super avid reader like my brother and sister. I have to be in the mood and have the time and see a book that captures my attention. There are a few writers that I own several of their books, and they range from entertaining non-fiction to purely fiction. I prefer writing that appeals to a nerd’s desire to learn new things or is detailed with specific facts within a fictional story. I often have been challenged when asked what is my favorite book because I don’t think I have just one. For some reason, when I opened the recent library loaner, I thought of the first adult book that really captured my attention and kept my attention for all of the 937 pages. This book was Hawaii written by James A. Michener. I chose this picture from Wikipedia because this is what the book cover looked like. It was a book that must of come into my possesion from my parents collection.
I was surprised today when I looked up the information about this book. It was published just a few months after Hawaii became our 50th state. “August 21, 1959 President Eisenhower signs the formal proclamation admitting Hawaii as the 50th state.” This means that Hawaii was not yet a state when my brother was born there in 1955. I never knew this or really thought about it until today.
You live and you learn! 🙂
Family Connections
I have been talking about cleaning projects around my house this summer. My biggest project was cleaning, organizing and updating a few things in my office and sitting area. This is the room I keep my cookbooks, garden books, other books, writing materials, and tech equipment. It also used to contain the old family recipe box I salvaged from our garage a few years back. The old box literally fell apart the other day. At first I was going to buy a new recipe box, however, it did not seem right for what I was going to put in it. I thought surely I must have an old box to transfer the old recipes into. I found this box in my bedroom. I don’t remember exactly how this came to me, though it is from relatives on either my mother or father’s side of the family.
It was very enjoyable going through all the old recipes. It started with an email from my sister asking me if I had grandmother’s cheesecake recipe that used milnot. This is its own story which I will not go into at this time. I did not find one labeled as my grandmother’s, however, I did find one that must be very similar, if not the exact recipe she used. I did find a recipe for a 4-square fudge cake that I had remembered making for my father’s birthday long ago. I have been looking for it now and then over the years and never could find it. Well, it was cut out from a magazine, and I had written at the top of it, Daddy’s birthday cake 1980. Many of the old recipes were not written neatly on index cards. They were cut out from various sources.
I found one old recipe card that I don’t ever remember, and it was very interesting in many ways. At first I thought it was from a local source since it had the name Fairfax in an address on top. I have a long history in Fairfax County, and Fairfax city in Virginia, so I tried to look it up. It turns out it is from an old historic Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles, CA. There is a Fairfax District which is a historic neighborhood in Central Los Angeles. My sister used to live very near to the Old Farmer’s Market, and I do remember her taking me there. I think this recipe card must have been picked up by either my mother or my father, and then made its way into the family recipe box.
Out of curiosity I looked up Marconda’s Meat Market and it is still there at stall 514, though my recipe card states stall 512. They have been open since 1941, so maybe stall numbers changed at some point.
I am making the beef stroganoff today. The recipe card is 2-sided. The veal birds in sour cream recipe made me ask – what are ‘veal birds’? I had to look it up. I will let you do the same if you are interested. I will have to try this recipe in the future. It does sound good.
It’s a small world!
Update 7/27/2026 — I found a picture of the recipe box before it fell apart. Look below.
A Surviving Flower
I was outside trying to cut back weeds and remove water from a couple of flooded places. The weeds are thriving with all the rain. As I was working in an area where I have an old large Hosta named ‘June’ that is often surrounded by weed overgrowth, my eye caught a spot of lavender color. I reached down and pulled up this flower. I planted this Hosta long ago since the name June is a family name. I don’t like to cut flowers from the garden, however, I knew its beauty would be lost where I found it, so I cut it and brought it inside.
I wondered where I could put it to showcase it. I remembered this rectangular Ikebana vase that I purchased from the National Museum of Asian Art many years ago. I was not using it and it was stored away. I got it out, and then I had to decide where to put it. I wanted a place that receives sunlight, and I thought of one of our bedrooms. This picture not only shows the beautiful Hosta flower and Ikebana vase, it also shows my dad’s ginger jar lamp that he made. This lamp was always in my family home as I was growing up. I think my dad made it in Hawaii, and that is where my brother was born. So, this lamp is older than I am. I think it was rewired at some point long ago. I posted about this lamp here on my blog many years ago. See the link below
https://movingforwardslowly.com/2018/06/17/my-dads-ginger-jar-lamp/
I posted this long ago and I have since moved the lamp to its current location. I could not get a good picture of the lamp when I originally wrote about my dad and this lamp. Today as I was taking a picture of the flower I realized I had a good picture of his lamp, so I thought I should link my original post about it.
Food for Father – Summer Solstice 2026
Before this weekend I had not used my Big Green Egg outdoor cooker in 2026. I have been too busy cleaning and organizing inside and outside, trying to make this summer as enjoyable as possible.
The duo of Father’s Day and Summer Solstice occurring on the same day seemed like the perfect time to start my outdoor cooking adventures.
At Food Lion the other day I was looking for some type of beef to cook. I was amazed to see Beef Ribs! The meat department worker was right there putting out meat, and I exclaimed to him, “I can’t believe you have beef ribs. I have never been able to find them before now. I remember my parents preferring to cook beef ribs instead of pork ribs.” The meat department worker responded, “we occasionally get 1 or 2 boxes of them. I put out 6 packages this morning and now we are down to 2. Sometimes one person will see them and buy all of them. Next time you shop here, if you don’t see any, ask the butcher to look in back.”
I decided to also pick up 3 yuca roots (also known as cassava or manioc.) My mother used to make it frequently since her husband was from Paraguay. She would boil it. I have never made it until this weekend. Peeling it and cutting it up is a chore. Then I just covered it with water and boiled it, and drained it. It turned out just like my mother’s. I chose yuca over potatoes or bread because the glycemic index for it is very low, and as a matter of fact, all this food has a fairly low glycemic index. My husband was diagnosed with adult onset diabetes several years ago. He has been very good about eating the right food ever since then. He thought the beef ribs were a little too fatty. I loved them! They were slow cooked at low heat, so the meat was very tender. I used a dry rub for seasoning.
Happy Father’s Day and celebrate summer!
River Blessings
When doing my Sunday reflection this morning the thought of rivers came into my mind. I am still thinking about March as a month to honor my Scots-Irish heritage. River symbolism runs deep in many cultures, and the river is used symbolically in the bible as well. As I was researching rivers in Scotland and Ireland, I remembered the Riverdance show starring Michael Flatley. My daughter was in love with this show, and we bought her the VCR tape which we still own and can still watch on an old TV/DVD/VCR machine we still have. I took a picture of it. See below.
She is watching this today. Luckily the tape still works and so does the TV/VCR/DVD player. I wish we could buy another newer version of this same machine. It is made by Toshiba. When we bought it was being discontinued. We got the last one.
This coming week Saint Patrick’s day will be celebrated, and not necessarily in the way it was historically intended. However, we live in America and the year is 2026, so the spirit of celebration is one of happiness with family and heritage.
Cheers!
Scots Irish or Scotch Irish
With Saint Patrick’s Day being celebrated this month, I have been thinking about my heritage on my mother’s side of the family (the Irwin’s). She always said they were Scots-Irish. She even traced her family tree back to Rev. John Craig of Augusta county Virginia and the Old Stone church. She was able to visit it and take pictures before she died.
“The present building was dedicated on January 22, 1749 and is the oldest Presbyterian church in Virginia.” (https://www.augustastonechurchva.com/our-history)
The book pictured above was purchased by my mother and it came to me when she passed away. I read the book and enjoyed it. It contains a lot of good historical information about the Scots-Irish in America, and their influence on American culture.
Here is my great aunt Bess Irwin, and her sister, my grandmother, Myrtle Irwin DeVall. They were proud to be Scots-Irish and their father was an Irwin. . Their father was a teacher, and his father was a doctor.
I have decided to honor the Scots-Irish this month!
A Week of Celebrations
President’s Day holiday, Mardi Gras, the beginning of Ramadan, and the Chinese New Year all will be happening this coming week.
My brother’s birthday was last week, and he wrote to me that his wife was making him an angel food cake. When we were growing up together our mom would often make him one with strawberries and whipped cream for his birthday. I cannot remember the last time I made one.
This conversation got me to thinking about making an angel food cake for my family. I have one of the special inverted cake pans that is very old, so I decided to search for a new one. This took me outside my normal day to day radius, and I had fun exploring the Galleria. I found a nice new angel food cake pan.
I have been researching recipes because this cake needs to be dressed up for more flavor. I did not want to make the standard strawberries and whipped cream version. I found a recipe that uses pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice. I happen to have a can of pumpkin leftover from the Christmas holidays. This recipe does use whipped cream with added crystallized ginger for the middle and top of the cake. I had previously read that “gourds, particularly bottle gourds or hulu are significant in Chinese New Year for symbolizing prosperity, health, and protection.” Since pumpkin is in the gourd family, the pumpkin angel food cake will be the recipe I use. If I can successfully make one and get a good picture, I will post it later. I will need to wait a day for the crystallized ginger to arrive.
I hope your week ahead is productive and festive in one way or another.
I made the cake. There were a few small problems I worked around. It tastes great! I am not a professional baker. This was the first time I made a whipped cream frosting. It was made with a pint of heavy whipping cream and 1/4 cup powdered sugar. It made more that I expected. I had not originally intended to ice the whole cake. It will need to be refrigerated. You cannot see it, but between the two layers is a crystallized ginger paste. I made the mistake of putting some in a food processer and it made a sticky paste of it. Fortunately I did not put all of it in the processor, so I had some to chop into smaller pieces for the top. I think this will be my early birthday cake.
Don’t Knock the Shoebox –From Dollhouses to Nativity Scenes, and to Habitat Dioramas
Recently I saw an online news headline which used the phrase "shoebox size" to describe the size of a home. It was being used in a denigrating way to mock the size of a home. This got me to thinking about all the uses of shoeboxes. Then I remembered seeing students make habitat dioramas using shoeboxes. I started to research the use of cardboard boxes in different types of crafts. I was amazed at all the numerous websites that show examples of cardboard box crafts. I decided to ask the AI image generator on my WordPress resource to generate an image of a "shoebox nativity scene", next a "cardboard shoebox dollhouse", and lastly I asked for a "shoebox habitat diorama." Above you can see the images it produced based on these prompts. I especially like the use of an old worn out shoe in the outdoor habitat diorama. This made me laugh.
Many school holidays will be beginning soon, if they have not already started. I think making shoebox nativity scenes to teach about the birth of Jesus, or dollhouses to give as gifts, or habitat dioramas to teach a little science, are all great ideas of ways to spend quality time with your children, friends, nephews, nieces, or neighbors. This might make a greater childhood memory, and have a greater impact on their creativity, than simply buying something.
Anyone who uses the phrase "shoebox size" to describe a home is a snob. Maybe they need to do a little research on all the creative ways to use and enjoy a shoebox, and be grateful for what they do have. (This a just an older lady's advice. Take it or leave it, but don't knock the size of a shoebox size home, at least not in a public forum.)
movingforwardslowly 