History – movingforwardslowly

Horseradish

All the pictures shown above came from the Wikipedia site.

I’ve been looking through my Treasury of Christmas cookbook and perusing online recipes. The holidays is definitely a time when I do more cooking than normal. I have a boneless leg of lamb in my freezer, so I have been researching lamb recipes. The lamb recipes in my Christmas cookbook all use mustard or horseradish in the cooking and serving. Neither of these spices appeal to me at this time.

I do remember horseradish from my childhood. The first time I tried it I ended up spitting it out. My father liked it and used it generously on some meats, specifically roast beef. I never ate it after trying it that first time.

I am interested in plants so my curiosity caused me to look up more information about it. Plus, I wondered how it got its name. It has nothing to do with horses, and it can be toxic for them. Linguists think that perhaps something got mixed up in translations. It is a root of the plant Armoracia rusticana. Thank goodness for scientific names. There is also a Horseradish tree which is a different plant altogether, and should not be confused with the horseradish condiment.

According to Wikipedia, “The root was used as a condiment on meats in Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain… and both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson mention horseradish in garden accounts.”

After researching horseradish I have turned my attention to other spices. A lamb leg will be cooked, using neither horseradish or mustard in the cooking or serving. I am still reading about different spices, and I have not decided definitively what spices I will use. I saw a Persian slow cooker recipe that used pumpkin pie spice (or a Persian spice blend.) I do have pumpkin pie spice I could use. This recipe also used saffron spice. My husband recently gifted me a bottle of saffron threads, so I am leaning toward using this. I might end up using a more traditional rosemary and sherry blend. We will see…

Right now, my house smells like corned beef. It has been cooked for a breakfast casserole I will cook this week.

Happy menu planning to anyone out there who might read this!

Washington D.C. in 1950

https://www.katequinnauthor.com/books/the-briar-club/

This novel begins in Washington D.C. in 1950. I picked it up about a week ago at my local library. After a few days, I realized it had to be returned earlier than I expected since it was in high demand. I started reading it on Friday and got hooked immediately. I had to force myself to set it down this weekend when my family needed attention. I was able to finish it before bedtime on Sunday evening. Before I finished my first Kate Quinn book I ordered her book, The Rose Code. I bought it because I did not want to be rushed reading it.

I loved reading The Briar Club novel. After I finished reading it, I read a few reviews of this book, and heard some complain that it was too slow-paced with deep dives into characters. The in-depth attention to portraying all the characters is one of the things I really liked about this book. I, like Grace, enjoy watching people, and studying their behavior and trying to understand their motives. The book has several surprises which I did not expect. I am normally very good at predicting what is going to happen in movies and books before they happen.

The setting is a boarding house in Washington D.C. during the 1950's. If you are a student of history, you will know this was when Senator Joe McCarthy was terrorizing everyone with his investigations into complaints about Communist sympathies. I guess bullies will always exist, and flourish when people are too afraid to stop them.

I would highly recommend this book.

It is Veteran's Day today. I would like to thank all those men and women who have served our country in the military, and in some case had to put their lives on the line.

Pippi Longstocking Pumpkin Sculpture!

(AP photo/Markus Schreiber) “Pumpkin sculpture depicting fictional Swedish book character Pippi Longstocking is displayed at Klaistow’s farm’s annual pumpkin festival, which this year celebrates ‘powerful women’.” It is near Berlin, Germany. See the link below .

https://apnews.com/article/germany-pumpkins-halloween-farm-festival-cb94e3a160a87a8041cbd23c78487f24

You should click on the link to see a fantastic pumpkin festival that has a 22 year history. They have several other sculptures that you should see of real-life women who were strong in a real life sense. I have never seen so many pumpkins in one place. Thank you to AP news for posting this story.

Pippi Longstocking books were enjoyed by me when I was a young girl. She was super naturally strong and this was depicted in the very first book where it shows her lifting her horse onto the porch of her home. She could overpower all men who tried to trick her or her friends. I will post a screenshot of the history of these books.

This AI summary was taken from a **Bing** search.

My own daughter, Laura, owns a few Pippi Longstocking movies.

I received a Pippi Longstocking book for Christmas when I was about 9 or 10. I have a picture to prove it. Unfortunately we cannot read which Pippi book it was. This picture is very old and of poor quality.

It Started with a “Twang”

Late this morning I was making egg salad for a sandwich. I opened a new jar of Duke’s light mayonnaise. On the top of the lid are the words: “Duke’s. It’s Got a Twang!” _TM

This got me to thinking about this word and its meaning. My first thought is that it is an onomatopoeia which is a word that is a vocal imitation of a sound, (Ex: bang, buzz, whop). Then I thought that mayonnaise does not make a sound, so I had to look the word up. It has a 3rd definition not used by me. (All definitions here are screenshots from Merriam-Webster online dictionary.)

I have used this word to describe a person’s voice that has a high nasal accent like in many Southern US accents. I immediately thought of Jim Nabors, aka Gomer Pyle, who was an actor (The Andy Griffith Show, and Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.) and a singer. These shows were popular when I was growing up.

My brother, sister, and I would tease my mother, and we associated her with Gomer Pyle. She grew up in Branson, Missouri near the Ozark mountains, and when she went back there she would start talking in a high nasal voice, which I guess was a throwback to her childhood. We would say to my mother, “How come I talk like this, but I sing like this?” We would try to imitate her high nasal accent and then try to sing smoothly like Jim Nabors. It was all to tease her, and my brother, the family comedian, was the leader of this.

I wanted to give you audio examples of what I am talking about. The files were way to large for this format here. I will give you pictures to research. (The album cover is from Internet Archive.) (I quickly grabbed the Gomer Pyle collection picture, so I don’t remember the source. But it is an ad.)

His voice is incredible smooth when singing.

There are several clips of Gomer Pyle on the internet where you can hear the high nasal twang that his character had. You can also research his singing voice which was incredibly good, and nothing like his speaking voice.

He had an opportunity to sing on his Gomer Pyle show during the 4th season, in an episode titled "The Show Must Go On" which was aired November 3, 1967. Nabors sang "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha. (This information is from Microsoft Co-Pilot.)

https://youtu.be/PCC9fUTDO3E?si=HjOITgRW3KKWPgs8

The Gourd Family

All these pictures were taken by me years ago at a road-side market in Berryville, Virginia.

Yesterday I was visiting several places in my community taking advantage of some rare time away from home and work. Most places I went I saw pumpkins and various other members of the gourd family.

Did you know that cucumbers were in the gourd family? I did not know this until today.

As I was walking into one of the stores I was visiting, I heard a little boy behind me ask whether he could have a pumpkin. I heard his father respond that pumpkins were for October. Without thinking, I responded, “Pumpkins are already in the stores.” Then as I slowed to get a shopping cart, the father smiled at me, and I realized that it was his lame excuse for not buying his son a pumpkin. I smiled back, and went on my way knowing my words could not be taken back. I hope the little boy will get his pumpkin, and I hope that he can draw faces on it or have his dad carve a friendly face on it.

I love the beauty and versatility of gourds. They are one of the reasons I love the fall season, and of course all the pumpkin breads, muffins, pies, and cookies that are available at this time of year. I saw my husband had a carton of a pumpkin spice high protein drink, and I winced at the thought of it. Is this carrying it too far?

Anyways, I went looking for my pumpkin pictures, and I was reminded of my husband’s Uncle Buddy and his llama farm. He is no longer with us, nor is the llama farm still there. All was sold off, and I believe the land was sold to a neighboring horse training farm. Time moves on and things can change. I will post a picture in honor of Buddy and his llamas. I am not sure whether his wife Cheryl is still alive. She left to be closer to some of her children.

I still have some llama wool items I purchased to help support the cause. I will have to pull out the llama wool blanket that I have never used for fear of ruining it. I might as well use it at this point since their is no good reason to ‘save it’.

Some of Uncle Buddy’s llamas near Berryville, Virginia. His property was a stone’s throw from the West Virginia and Virginia border. He was on the West Virginia side.

The Oldest Surviving American School Bus

This picture is from The Henry Ford Museum. https://thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/357533

As I was thinking about going back to work, and about the students coming back to school this year (2025), I wondered about the history of the school bus. It is interesting to see the yellow color has survived multiple upgrades of the American school bus. In American history 7th graders will learn about Henry Ford and his model-T car. Go to the museum link I have provided in the caption under the picture of the Blue Bird No.1., and you will be able to read more about the oldest surviving school bus in America.

Fortunately for students today the buses are much safer and more comfortable than back in 1927. I hope everyone has a good beginning to this school year 2025.

I know I have a picture of my daughter getting on a school bus for the first time, however, I could not find the picture at this time, though I did find a picture of her on her first bike with training wheels. I also found a picture of Ivan the giraffe from our visit to the San Diego Safari Park. I have added the picture to my post about date palm trees, and I found a picture of my daughter and my mother at the Anne of Green Gable house on Prince Edward Island, and I have added this picture to my last Sunday Reflection post.

United States National Arboretum

The weather today is hot and sticky, even early this morning when I went out to run a few errands. I have not been going outside as much as I would like, however, I have been taking care of myself getting preventive medical exams and other healthcare appointments.

Today I want to spotlight the United States National Arboretum. Since I have been going through my old picture files, I found a folder of some pictures taken at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum which is located on the arboretum grounds. It was mid- February of 2009, and we took a car trip into D.C. to visit the National Arboretum. Winter is not as busy as other times of the year, so parking was easily available and the admission is always free.
https://www.usna.usda.gov

I have shown only a few of my pictures that I took on this trip. I revisited the U.S. National Arboretum website to see what was going on there currently in 2025. I discovered the interactive map (ABE) which is very cool. It gives you a bird's eye view of all the arboretum grounds and where it is located within the district. It has a plant finder feature which is very useful if you love to discover new plants or explore variations of known plants.
One thing I could not find on their site was a little history of how it all got started. I found this website: https://livingnewdeal.org/sites/national-arboretum-washington-dc/

If you have a child in school they will learn about U.S. history. One unit of study will be the New Deal which was a program to help the U.S. recover from the stock market crash (1929) and the depression that followed. The link above gives more information about this. I have taken a screenshot about how the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) helped to lay down the groundwork of the U.S. National Arboretum.

Thinking about the school year ahead, you might want to plan a visit to the U.S. National Arboretum during the winter break when your children are under foot, and you want to enrich their learning at no substantial cost to the family budget.

Flashback Friday

Old songs continue to be on my mind. My parents were not album or music collectors, though they did enjoy music. So, when I received as a birthday gift in 1971 a Sugarloaf Green -Eyed Lady 45 rpm vinyl record from my friend Judy Moreau, it was a big deal to me. Above you can hear the song. I will also post the lyrics here.

I did not get the album as a gift. I only got the small record of this particular song. I was floored when I just read above that Jerry Corbetta wrote the song about his girlfriend, Kathy, who had green eyes.

The heat wave has been broken. Today is overcast, a lot cooler, and damp. I now plan to get outside and get some work done. Until later…

Summer Vibes

The other day I was reading something and playing with numbers when I was reminded of a TV series that was on during my late teens (1976-1981). Do you remember the original Charlie’s Angels? I do. I even tried to make my hair look like Farrah’s hair. I never quite pulled it off, not to mention I looked nothing like her. Anyways, this morning I looked at what happened on this day June 25th in history. I was surprised to see that Farrah Fawcett died on this day in 2009. Her death was a little overshadowed by the death of Michael Jackson which happened on the same day. This coincidence with thinking of the TV series, and then seeing that the anniversary of Farrah’s death is today, made me look up the series opening soundtrack. Listen to it above.

The weather today is still too hot and humid for me. I am busy inside with other responsibilities, and when given the chance I still like to enjoy my favorite past time of looking at old garden pictures. It serves as a motivator for me. Look above at a picture from my past. I don’t have too many pictures of damselflies because they were shy and not as noticeable as the more flamboyant dragonflies.

I hope you are staying cool and refreshed. Don’t read the news if you want to stay in a good mood. This is my strategy when I can muster the willpower. The weather needs to get a little cooler and less sauna-like for me to get outside in the garden.

Memorial Day 2025: Spotlight on Pfc Ludwig Otto Krein

This Memorial Day I decided to see if I could research the history of my husband’s uncle that died in World War II. In the past when I asked my husband about his middle name, Ludwig, he told me he was given this name in honor of his father’s brother that had died in World War II. After doing a little research I discovered that several men in my husband’s family had the name Ludwig, including his grandfather Ludwig Jacob Krein. I was surprised to see that his country of birth was Moldova which is between Ukraine and Romania. This brought home the current conflict to my mind.

Ludwig Jacob Krein obviously had immigrated to the United States long ago, and he married a German woman, Magdalena Schoepp, and they lived in South Dakota and raised a large family.

Ludwig Otto Krein was the second to the youngest of their children. He was born in 1925 and died in 1945 in a battle in France. I was surprised to see that he was buried at Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial –Epinal, Department Des Vosges, Lorraine France. Later I discovered that there are many cemeteries and memorials around the world, outside of the United States, where our American soldiers have been buried.

Ludwig Otto Krein was only 19 years old when he died in a bloody battle. My husband never got to know him since he died before my husband was born.

Five thousand two hundred and fifty-two of our military dead are buried here. Many were probably just as young as Ludwig was.