And here are the decorated eggs at my house.

Fifty Years Ago. ...

 ... Dan and I were planning our wedding.

He had the rings after we spotted them in a jewelry store in Washington, DC near where my HUD internship had taken me to work on an assignment at OMB.

I had purchased my wedding dress, a shirtwaist in blue, when I was on an assignment to the HUD office in Atlanta early in 1974.

We planned to go to a Justice of the Peace to get married because we didn't see the necessity of spending oodles of money on a big wedding.

On this day 50 years ago, I perched on a step stool in the kitchen while Mom made dinner and posed the question: "How would you feel about Dan and I getting married by a Justice of the Peace?" 

Well, Mom didn't take it so well. The next night, Wednesday, Dan and I and Mom and Dad met for dinner at a restaurant to talk about it.  We settled on an immediate family only church wedding with Dad performing the ceremony.  When Dad asked the question "When do you want to do this?" Dan replied "Saturday." Dad's jaw dropped.

But we pulled it off.  Dad got his license to perform the ceremony just before we got our wedding license at the Fairfax County Courthouse. Dad arranged for us to use the Fairfax Presbyterian Church where they were members, Mom made a reservation at Evans Farm Inn for a dinner afterward.  She bought a cake at the local Giant food store. 

We told all that were invited and only one of my brothers couldn't come from Pittsburgh. My other brother flew down from Boston without his spouse.  My older sister was local and she, her husband and her first daughter, 3 months old attended. My two younger sisters were still living at home. Dan's parents were divorced so his dad came to the ceremony and his mom to the dinner. His three younger brothers attended.

Saturday evening, March 30, 1974 we were married.

In keeping with our frugality we didn't take a honeymoon until 1983 when Emily was 2.  We went to the St. Thomas, Virgin Islands for a week and Emily went to her cousin's home for that week.

On March 30th this year to celebrate, we will go to a play and dinner out.  Later this summer we will travel to Switzerland for two weeks and Emily and family will join us.

50 years ago. Age 23!

Now.

It's been a wonderful 50 years.

Have You Seen This?

 It makes a great point.

Click HERE to read the CNN article and click on the ad.

Spring Snow Storm

 We are being dumped on - all the snow that didn't fall through our winter!

Here is the picnic table at 8:30 am.

Close up at 11:00 am.

Birds are busy.  These peony supports are 18" I think.  Look at them now.

Juniper and propane tank.

Dan out shoveling to get a start.

Even the juncoes which usually feed on the ground are struggling to get to the birdfeeders.  I'm glad I filled them yesterday in anticipation of this storm despite warnings about bears.

I think we've surpassed the amount of snow predicted for today and it's only 11 o'clock!

Hopeful News from Jennifer Rubin

 from The Washington Post

March 22, 2024

by Jennifer Rubin

What caught my eye Legal peril: Former president Trump increasingly faces threats to his campaign stemming from his past actions and contempt for the law. While the wheels of justice turn slowly, four criminal cases against him remain. The New York trial on falsification of business records will likely begin in April, now that the judge issued a slew of devastating evidentiary rulings against Trump. New polling suggests a conviction in Manhattan could significantly hurt him in November. Moreover, Trump has run out of financial entities willing to help him post bonds while he appeals his mammoth civil judgments. He finagled Chubb insurance company to meet the bond requirements on the E. Jean Carroll verdict. However, he has come up short on the gigantic $454 million verdict for his inflated real estate evaluations. The Post reported that none of the 30 companies Trump and his organization approached would “accept property as collateral — stalling any efforts to obtain a bond with a week before the state might begin collecting.” Without appellate court relief, the state could begin seizing his assets. The legal consequences will inflict further financial and psychic strain on the self-described “billionaire” (now appearing a whole lot less liquid than he once claimed) and might further deplete campaign resources as he tries to fund his defense in multiple cases. Campaign vulnerabilities: Trump’s most acute vulnerability remains his mouth. He continues to spew noxious views that provoke harsh media coverage and even draw rebukes from some Republicans. His dehumanizing of immigrants (“I don’t know if you call them people … In some cases they’re not people, in my opinion”), salutingthe traitorous Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists (before their “anthem” played), referencing Jan. 6 convicted criminals as “hostages” and invoking of violent imagery (“bloodbath”) in his speech in Ohio triggered some of his harshest coverage. Moreover, when given a chance to repudiate Nazi phrases (“poisoning our blood”), he refused. Trump apologists claimed his reference to a “bloodbath” was merely a prediction of ruin for the car industry. That doesn’t fly, as many analysts noted. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on reactionary strongmen, explains, “To get people to embrace violence, fill them with existential dread- the fear that it’s the Leader or the abyss. This is an incitement to violence speech. Trump is a propaganda machine devoted to destroying America.” Ben-Ghiat provides the real “context” for his comments: “Each element of propaganda works with narratives and emotional cues already established by the Leader.” She continues, “Here Trump speaks about the auto industry but the emotion of ‘me, or a bloodbath’ echoes his Jan. 6 ‘If you don’t fight like hell [for him], you won’t have a country anymore.’” The Biden campaign put out its own take on Trump’s constant flirtation with violence: Biden Ad on X In addition to the “bloodbath” remark, Trump’s “hostages” comment provoked even former vice president Mike Pence, who has refused to endorse Trump (utterly unprecedented, but understandable since Trump egged on the mob seeking to hang Pence). On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Pence declared, “I think it’s very unfortunate at a time that there are American hostages being held in Gaza, that the president or any other leader will refer to people that are moving through our justice system as hostages. It’s just unacceptable.” None of this — nor his call to imprison members of the Jan. 6 committee — is acceptable or characteristic of a stable, pro-democratic presidential nominee. It’s the stuff of fascist regimes that rely on intoxicating violence and retribution. Arguing that voters should put his words aside for his “policies” (Which ones? Using the military to quell dissent? Installing a national abortion ban?) beggars belief. Trump’s “policy” is authoritarian rule. Trump’s words and actions finally might disrupt the too-prevalent habit of treating the 2024 race as an ordinary election between two normal parties. Sure, some outlets still cloak his disgusting rhetoric in obtuse language (“a caustic and discursive speech” is how the New York Times described his Ohio screed!), but the average voter will now see more coverage compelled to report on Trump’s warped character and twisted mind-set. They will understand that voting for him ratifies the views of a wannabe dictator who lionizes violence, dehumanizes non-Whites, celebrates traitors, disdains the rule of law and despises deeply held American values.

Some Funnies

 

Cookie Bars

 I signed up to make cookies for a local Coffee House Saturday night so decided to modify a cookie recipe I had and make bars instead.

The original recipe is also a modification of a chocolate chip cookie I got from a coworker in the 1970s.  I wanted to add coconut.

Here's the new recipe:

Preheat oven 325º

Cream: 1 cup each vegetable oil, brown sugar, and white sugar.

Add two eggs one at a time, then 2 tsp. almond extract

In a separate bowl mix together 1 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder.  Add these dry ingredients in two parts to the above mixing well.  [I use King Arthur flour.]

Add one cup oats and one cup coconut. [If you want to skip the coconut, use two cups oats for Oatmeal Almond cookies.]

Spread on greased wax paper on a cookie tray.

Bake 15- 20 minutes.

Let cool then cut into bars.  This made 3 dozen bars.

The container on the left went to the Coffee House and I kept the other.

Both disappeared quickly, they were that good.

****

On an unrelated note Blogger continues to send comments to Spam indiscriminately. Sometimes your comment will be accepted and other times sent to spam.  I have no idea why.  I try to check regularly and accept those sent to Spam that are not Spam.

Old Photos

Bring back memories?

I remember the first time we stopped at a McDonald's and how delicious that hamburger was.

And when the Good Humor truck came through the neighborhood the music preceded him which gave us enough time to beg for money to buy a good humor bar.

 

Jennifer Rubin Says it Best

 from The Washington Post

March 15, 2024

by Jennifer Rubin

What caught my eye Democrats — freaked out by premature polls, despondent over delays in former president Donald Trump’s trials and still suffering from flashbacks of the 2016 election — are prone to forget the considerable advantages their own side has over his MAGA cult following. To say polls show President Biden would lose “if the election were held today,” is silly. The election isn’t today, and its outcome will largely depend on what happens between now and then. The election is no more predetermined eight months before Election Day than a Super Bowl winner is decided before the start of the regular season. Considering how much a single speech, such as the State of the Union, or a criminal conviction in one of Trump’s four criminal indictments might change perceptions, no one should underestimate the array of factors that will affect the direction of the race. As Donald H. Rumsfeld famously said, there are known knowns (e.g., a MAGA movement cocooned from reality), known unknowns (e.g., whether Trump will be convicted) and unknown unknowns (e.g., an international event, a natural disaster necessitating a federal response). Faced with uncertainty, people seek refuge in irrelevant polling. Time is better spent sizing up the comparative advantages of the two sides, which, over time, take on larger significance. We are all too familiar with Trump’s iron lock on his cult following and the media’s obsession with normalizing him. Shamelessness, some would say, is a superpower. But Biden has real advantages (in addition to sanity, a good governing record and experience) that Democrats should not take for granted. Since the State of the Union, several of these lesser-known advantages have become more evident. First, Biden has self-awareness. He knows he is old and can joke about it. He and his team understand just how underestimated he is, making it easy to defy expectations. His opening ad was a tour de force in self-deprecation. A little self-awareness and a sense of humor go a long way, as evidenced by the edgier Biden media operation (e.g. Dark Brandon, the “presidential advice” video). Trump, by contrast, fails to grasp when he is babbling, giving ammunition to his opponent or further incriminating himself. (The lack of self-awareness shows throughout the Republican Party and leads to missteps, such as the ridiculed response to the State of the Union.) Trump’s cluelessness might become more damaging to him as time goes on. His temper tantrums in courtrooms and boasts about his tyrannical agenda hurt him outside of his hardcore base. In sum, one campaign is flying blind, utterly dependent on a narcissistic figure degenerating under pressure; the other can adjust, improvise and compensate. Second, Biden has concrete advantages in resources. He landed a mammoth fundraising haul after the State of the Union, and none of his reserves need to be diverted toward astronomical legal bills. He has cohesive and functioning state parties, unlike Trump, and an impressive state-by-state operation to turn out the vote and marshal volunteers, something Trump also lacks so far. Biden hit the airwaves with a $30 million ad buy and has already staffed personnel in key states. Biden’s ability to travel anywhere as frequently as he wants(and hence run a more, not less, vigorous campaign than Trump) and tout popular projects will also bolster him as the election draws near. Biden also benefits from the enormously effective surrogates such as Jill Biden and the more combative, confident Vice President Harris, who connects with key parts of the Democrats’ base. That’s not to mention polished members of the administration and other elected Democrats (from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to California Gov. Gavin Newsom). Some even go on Fox News (!) to reach members of Trump’s audience, giving them news they would never hear. Trump, on the other hand, could not even keep Truth Social from crashing during the State of the Union, which deprived Trump of his rapid response. He is low on money, behind on organization and even now keeps bad-mouthing mail-in voting, a critical turnout mechanism. This week, he fired a slew of experienced staffers from the Republican National Committee, no doubt to be replaced by MAGA loyalists. Expect unquestioned obedience, once again, to replace competence as the chief criteria for Trump’s staff. (He rarely hired “only the best” people.) Third, there is something to be said for optimism and good cheer. Trump paints America as a hellscape; his view of a racial invasion and rampant crime (that is statistically nonexistent) is meant to keep his followers in a state of frenzy and despair. But the exhausting drama and aura of foreboding that hangs over Trump might not wear well. It surely didn’t while he was president and campaigning in 2020. Pundits sometimes portray Biden as offering “normalcy.” While it is not exactly “hope and change,” he does convey unalloyed faith in America and the promise of progress that Americans historically embrace. It’s no coincidence that Vanderbilt professor and acclaimed author Jon Meacham, Biden’s historian-on-call, is around to help channel the president’s natural optimism into a sweeping image of American resilience. “An encyclopedic historical recall and deeply studied presidential biographies give Meacham immense value to Biden,” the Nashville Scene reported. “The two openly embrace American exceptionalism and share a disdain for Trump, Biden’s political opponent and Meacham’s Lucifer, whose chief sins are contesting election results and marching on the Capitol.” Meacham and Biden are betting that Americans want to be proud, inspired and reassured by their president. If they are right, Biden will do just fine. Biden’s advantages don’t guarantee he will win any more than polls this far out (and often within the margin of error) ensure Trump will win. But Biden’s true advantages make it more likely he will reach, inspire and persuade more voters than Trump. That, after all, is what campaigns are all about.

Something to Think About

My college room mate included this with an email letter she sent me. Thanks for sharing this, Joyce. I know exactly that feeling.

 

The Very First for 2024

 

Coming up amid the dead leaves of day lilies.  The green leaves of the crocus are barely out of the ground  and yet the buds opened to bloom.

Homemade Pizza

It's been a very long time since I've posted something I've cooked.  I've thought of it several times but then didn't try to document with photos which is of course necessary on a blog.

I've had a hankering for pizza since Saturday but didn't follow up on that until today.

Here's the recipe for the crust copied years ago from a Jane Brody cookbook long since let go.  If you're not familiar with Jane she was a health guru in the 70s and 80s I think.  The only recipe I consistently made from her cook book was for pizza dough so I copied it and let the book go.

I used King Arthur bleached flour.  The white whole wheat I had was rancid so it went into the compost bin.  Bake time was a lot less on the pizza stone.  It was done in less than 15 minutes.

Here are the other ingredients.

The dough - half.  This one went into the refrigerator for another time.

In the past I've tried to spread the dough on a cutting board with cornmeal underneath while the pizza stone heated in the oven.  I've never been very successful at making the move to the stone, so this time I let the stone warm over the oven vent and then spread the dough on it and built the pizza.

The half I used spread out on a greased pizza stone.

I used a very small can of tomato paste adding sugar, basil and garlic powder.  I used roughly half on the pizza as first layer.

I tried carmelizing onions.

Sauteed mushrooms and red pepper slices.

Cubed some Canadian bacon.

I never remember to put the cheese on first and made that mistake again with bacon and some of the onions.  The rest of the veggies went on top.

Into the oven and here it is out.

A slice with sauteed spinach.

The crust was super crispy just like good restaurant pizza.

I had three pieces and Dan had 5!  I really thought we may have leftovers but Dan devoured it.

Clean plate club!

From This to This

 Thursday I took a walk around the house to find signs of spring. I had to look carefully but they were there.

crocus

daffodil

greening grass

Oops fallen over stones from rain saturated soil

iris

weeds and daffodil

Now Sunday morning it looks like this out the windows.

You may have noticed the car tracks in our driveway.  Dan got a fire call very early this morning.  I'm not sure if it was even 3:00 am for downed wires.  The car was in the barn so he had to get it out and close the doors before he departed. He was the first to respond to the fire house and thought he may have to go by himself to investigate until the captain arrived.

Shortly after he left I noticed how windy it was and then our power went out.  I knew I had to call it in on my cell phone so I fumbled for light.  First the emergency light which should have gone on in the hall.  I found it but my fingers couldn't find the switch to turn it on.  I then went to the hall bookcase where I knew Dan had a slim flashlight and fumbled in the dark to put that on. I finally got it then looked at the emergency light (also a flash light) to find the switch.  I came down to my cell phone and called our electric company.  There was a litany of already called in locations I had to listen to before I reported our outage. Obviously they hadn't heard about the need in our area yet because everyone else was probably asleep in bed.

At 5:00 am Dan returned.  I heard the car and he left it on so he'd have light to shovel some of the roof and steps.  He brought in wood knowing if the power stayed off we'd need the warmth.  We both went fast asleep.  I hadn't been able to sleep while he was out on the call.

He's still fast asleep as I write.  The power came on shortly after 8:00 am. Thank goodness.

But what a strange storm.  It can't decide if it's snowing or raining. We have inches of slush.

So much for the start of spring.