An inspiration while I was cleaning paintbrushes. (May 19, 2020)
There is a boy in one of my classes that likes to whistle really loud, and it reminded me of this, though, my blue dog here had a much quieter whistle.
This old post makes me laugh.
Next day update: Early this morning when I made a regular stop on my way to work, I opened my car door to get out, and saw on the ground about a foot from where I stood up, a child’s old blue paintbrush! I have been making this quick stop for years and have never seen trash or anything unusual on the ground where I normally park. I found this very odd considering this post I published yesterday. Could the blue dog and his cloud know my routine? I smiled and saw this as a friendly sign. I quickly went on my way since I was on my way to work.
This is not a new story for the press, however, it is a new story for me since I only discovered the successful propagation of “Stumpy” today. “Stumpy” was the famous Yoshino Cherry tree that lived for many years along the tidal basin in Washington (District of Columbia). This tree became famous during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it was finally cut down in 2024. The good news came as a result of a collaboration between the U.S. Park Service and the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. I will post the story of “Stumpy” from Wikipedia and from the U.S. National Arboretum website. First, I want to share the meaning of “Yoshino” since I was curious and looked it up. “Yoshino is a Japanese name of geographic and topographic origin that translates to “lucky field” or “auspicious plain”.” After you read the story that I will post, you will indeed agree that “Stumpy” was a very lucky tree!
I downloaded it as a PDF and then did a screenshot. There are 3 pages of information and credits. I only took a screenshot of page 1. It contains some history about the famous Yoshino Cherry tree named Stumpy.
There are so many news stories these days which are depressing. I was cheered when I read about the successful continuance of the Stumpy genetic line. Blessing to all involved in making this possible.
“Truman lamented that Dwight Eisenhower had given in to congressional “snollygosters“—unprincipled politicians.—Orme Wilson”
This is a quote I found on the Merriam Webster Dictionary website. I was going to talk about the word “gumption” which is today’s word of the day. I was sidetracked when I saw that snollygoster is the current top word look-up at this website. I did not know what it meant, so I looked it up. I found the above quote. I tried to look up Orme Wilson since I did not recognize this name. I found that there was more than one Orme Wilson, so I searched who was the Orme Wilson that used the word “snollygoster” to describe politicians. I found this:
“President Harry S. Truman. Truman lamented in his personal correspondence and speeches that Dwight D. Eisenhower had surrendered to congressional “snollygosters”—which he defined as unprincipled, shrewd politicians who care more about getting into office than about party, platform, or principles. Because Orme Wilson Jr. was a prominent diplomat during the Truman era, his papers, letters, or related historical records are cited by lexicographers as the source material verifying Truman’s use of the word.” I found this quote from Wikipedia.
According to Merriam Webster, the word can be traced back to the word “snallygaster” which was a mythical creature. Etymology– “probably alteration of snallygaster a mythical creature that preys on poultry and children.”
Could this be a snallygaster or a snollygoster?
In case you are more interested in the word “gumption”, here is the link: Definition of gumption.
A football fan wearing a pig hat celebrates enthusiastically at a game
The original post did not have a picture. To add a little humor I had the image generator come up with similar football fan to the ones that I remember from when I was a teenager.
This post I just linked is from the year 2015. The original post did not have a picture. This comic strip was added today, though it is not a comic in the Ha,Ha sense. I had some other posts before this one, however, I deleted several from the year 2015. I decided to revisit this post today because oddly I did wake from a very strange dream this morning, and it was a relief to me that it was just a dream.
The image and caption above are both generated images in the comic book style. Though some of my dreams during this period of time were downright terrifying or very confusing. I don’t know why the image generator made the character a man. I decided to keep it this way because it puts more distance between me and my past dreams.
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.
I miss my water lilies. We had to totally clean out the pond this spring because the cattails had taken over. It was a mess to clean out, so I am skipping water plants this summer. Next summer I will probably put one in, and closely monitor cattail invasion. Without pond plants there have been very few dragonfly sightings.
Here are 3 pictures taken today of an Ironweed native plant named “Southern Cross”. It is just beginning to bloom. I purchased it out at the historic Abernathy & Spencer Green House & Garden Center in Lincoln, Virginia
My camera card is full of pictures, some I had never downloaded and really looked at. I chose one to highlight today. It is a picture of a North American Green Tree Frog that I took at Huntly Meadows Park in Fairfax County, Virginia. For more information about the frog look here: https://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/amphibians/frogsandtoads/green-frog/index.php
Since I am not an expert, I am just guessing that it is a North American Green Tree Frog. I provided a link so that you could make your own determination.
Since the full Buck Moon is today/tonight, I did a little research on historical events that have happened around the full buck moon in July. I was surprised to see that the Apollo 11 Moon Landing was close to the full moon (not exactly on the full moon). They listed other historical events, though none appeared to have happened exactly on the day/night of the full moon. I did not do extensive research.
This is one of my favorite t-shirts. I wore it yesterday
I saw the buck moon last night and it was so lovely, it looked full even though it was only almost full. I hope to see it again tonight.
Cranberry bean update– I picked my third full bowl of the beans this afternoon. I have made 2 soups so far…soon to be 3. 🙂
Update 7/30/2026 –5:26 PM-– I did see the moon last night! After I had cleaned up everything for the day and turned off all the lights, I had the thought to check to see if I could see the moon, and sure enough it was front and center skimming the tree line directly in line of my kitchen window. I went outside and right on the threshold between inside and outside I got a beautiful full view of the Buck Moon. Light wispy clouds were hugging it and some moved across its surface, though none could dim its brightness and its beauty.
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.
Screenshot taken today.
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.
I still have the pieces. It might be able to be glued back together.
A regal sorceress steers an ornate magical ship through a starry cosmos.
Someone the other day asked me how long I have been blogging. I told her I think it was 2015 in the late summer. The blog was started as my way to mentally work through a tough time in my life. The other day when I was cleaning a file cabinet I found a bag with printed out copies of some of my earlier posts. I have to search my posts to remember whether I saved it here or whether I deleted it. I have deleted many of my earlier posts. My earlier posts had no pictures. I found a paper copy of a post from December 22, 2016 which I think is pretty funny. It was a stretch of my imagination that went outside the boundaries of reality. I decided to let my picture generator here create a picture for this post. I think it goes well with the light-hearted theme. Rather than link the post I will post a picture of it. It is easier for me this way.
