All posts by verily sherrilee

Directionally challenged, crafty, reading mother of young adult
Nature, News, Uncategorized

Gosling Crossing

21 Comments

After yesterday’s trail discussion, I spent quite a bit of time yesterday thinking about how we keep calm when it feels as if the world around us is unraveling. As I pondering this and driving along 66th Street, I noticed that the traffic was stopped a few cars up.  As I got a little closer, I noticed a huge gaggle of geese and goslings leisurely crossing the street, apparently oblivious to the traffic.  It was then that I realized that another piece of remaining hopeful is to RECOGNIZE little kindnesses when they happen.  All the cars stopped, nobody honked impatiently and even when the goslings finally got across the street, no one rushed hurriedly on.  A gentleman standing on the far side of 66th watched the whole time to make sure the little flock was safe.  It was just a small incident but it made me feel a little better.

Have you witnessed any small kindnesses recently?

Family, Food, Gatherings, Kids, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized

Stuff Rant

47 Comments

It was a gorgeous day for the zoo. Lots of young families.  Lots of strollers.  Big strollers.  Double-wide strollers.  Holding lots of stuff.  I guess the world has changed but when Baby and I went out and about, I used a narrow umbrella stroller, put a couple of diapers and a ziplock w/ some wipes in my purse, filled up a sippy cup and off we went.

Apparently these days you need considerably more to venture out into the world: multiples sippy cups (and strollers have sippy cup holders built in now), bags of animal crackers, apple slices, cookies, cheerios, large containers of wipes, massive numbers of diapers, toys, towels, changes of clothing for the little ones. I’m sure there is more needed, but this is just what I saw with my own eyes.  And that’s just the stuff for the kids. Parents need bottles and cup holders and snacks as well.

On a busy day, all these strollers full of stuff take up a LOT of room at places like the zoo. I wholeheartedly encourage  families with young kids to enjoy places like the zoo, but do they really need so much STUFF?

What kind of of stuff do you need for an outing?

Fitness, Food, Games, Gatherings, News, Uncategorized

Feeding Frenzy

63 Comments

Photo Credit: RitaE

In odd news this week, Molly Schuyler, a competitive eater, has taken the Z Burger Annual Burger Eating Contest for the fifth time. This year she ate 32 burgers in 10 minutes (complete with buns), breaking her record of 27 burgers last year.

I’ve never understood competitive eating. I’m not sure why being able to stuff your gut with massive amounts of food is something to be lauded. There is a show on the Cooking Channel right now called Man vs. Food and each episode ends with the host (whose name I can’t remember) takes on an eating challenge.  I haven’t watched a whole show but have seen bits and pieces, enough to know that there is always a crowd standing around urging him on as he gorges on whatever platter is in front of him.  Why is this interesting, I just don’t know.

And competitive eating during which the contenders eat hot things like peppers baffles me even more. I think it would be a sad thing to say about my own life if I’d need to get a high from torturing my digestive system.

Have you ever won a contest?

Family, Food, holidays, Uncategorized, Weather

Parade Swag

40 Comments

The first time I experienced parade swag was at the Great American Cheese Festive in Little Chute, Wisconsin. Child was about seven.  There was a Great American Cheese Parade at the kick-off to the festival and as Child and I settled in, the family next to us said “don’t you have a bag?”  and  gave Child an extra plastic bag that they had brought along.  I wasn’t quite sure why but it didn’t take long to figure it out.  Most of the participants in the parade were tossing candy to the kids along the route; Child made a candy killing.

The practice of handing out candy has morphed into handing out parade swag of all types. At the Richfield Fourth of July Parade this year, there were all kinds of fun stuff.   There were lots of folks doing candy: Dum Dum suckers, Jolly Ranchers are staples, but a couple of groups upped the ante with Butterfinger minis and Skittles.  YA even scored some Sweet Tarts.

The first swag of the day was actually a small flag that we could wave throughout the parade. Then there were coupons for the Renaissance Festival, dog treats from Chuck and Don’s and a smoothie place.  There were icee pops from Cub, icy cold water from a youth group, a ballpoint pen from one church and a nicer pen from a high school band.  There were two different groups giving out can cozies and we also ended up with a little red rubber football and a mini-frisbee.  A Lions Club volunteer even handed YA and I each a paper bag with White Castle Sliders.  We’re’ not sure why she singled us out, but since we’re vegetarians, we offered them to the family sitting next to us.

The best swag of the day were the sunglasses from Davannis. When we were parking the car before the parade, it was pretty cloudy so both of us left our sunglasses in the car.  This was an unfortunate choice since right about the time the parade got started, the sun came out.  The Davannis sunglasses  were just the right swag for both of us.  And of course we learned our lesson after the Great American Cheese Festival Parade – we had a bag!

Have you ever gotten any good swag?

 

 

 

 

Family, Food, Gatherings, holidays, Nature, Uncategorized, Weather

Picnic

46 Comments

“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.”          Erma Bombeck

YA had our first 4th of July picnic early this year.  We made our annual trek up to Fawn-Doe-Rosa on Tuesday.  We have several traditions around this trip, including taking a picnic lunch and enjoying it after we’ve had our fill of goat/dear/llama petting and bunny whispering.

This year we had sandwiches (cheese for YA, PB&J for me), coleslaw, watermelon and strawberries as well as tortilla chips and salsa. All packed in our trusty cooler and enjoyed with pop purchased from the pop machine at F-D-R.  It was a beautiful day and I think eating outside in the shade made the food taste better!

What kinds of foods do you pack for picnics? Any favorite picnic spots?  Any picnics planned for the 4th?

 

Business, Fantasy, Fitness, Food, Media, Science, Uncategorized

Down the Rabbit Hole

46 Comments

Over lunch today I thought I’d watch John Oliver – he always makes me laugh while he’s giving me something to think about. That video led me to a SciShow piece debunking last week’s news about a study purporting that cell phone use was causing horns in young people.  That led me to a long piece on “How I Found Out” about flat earthers and the next step was to look up the big 2024 solar eclipse to see the closest spot to Minneapolis to see it in totality.  That led me to the calendar to find out what day of the week that will be in 2024.  Then I searched a bit to see if the calendar that I like for my fridge was done for 2020 yet, which led me to Amazon.  There I decided to check on an order that I placed a few days ago and was happy to see that my world map was on the truck for delivery. Then I got a text from a girlfriend about dinner tonight – how about El Jefe?  I googled them, they are closed on Mondays, so then spent time googling a few other restaurants, which  led me to recipes using corn and queso fresco.

Then suddenly my lunch hour was over and I hadn’t even finished eating my lunch!

What distracts you?  What rabbit hole have you been down recently?

Family, Food, Gatherings, Uncategorized

Melts in Your Mouth

25 Comments

Renee’s blog over the weekend was a perfect segue for me; I headed down to Northfield at 6 a.m. this morning to pick strawberries.  After I made some jam, I decided to make my favorite biscuits for Blevins.  Here is that recipe:

She’s Angel Soft Biscuits
1½ c. flour
2 tsp. sugar
1½ tsp. salt
2½ tsp. baking powder
¾ c. half & half
¾ c. heavy cream

  1. Mix the dry ingredients together.
  2. Add the wet ingredients and stir together until just mixed.
  3. Knead 10-12 times on a floured surface (this is wet, so be prepared).
  4. Roll out dough to about ½” thickness.
  5. Bake 10-12 minutes in 475°F oven on greased cookie sheet (or parchment covered cookie sheet).
  6. Optional: brush with melted butter immediately after taking biscuits out of the oven.

I served them with macerated strawberries and whipped cream – but you can served them with practically anything. These are YA’s favorites – I had to tell her to lay out so I had enough for book club!

What would you like to put on biscuits?

 

History, home, Uncategorized, Words

Dilemna or Dilemma?

39 Comments

In helping YA proofread an essay last night, I noticed that “dilemma” was not underlined as misspelled. When I corrected it to “dilemna”, I got the squiggly red line saying it was now incorrect.

The internet tells me that I am not alone in believing that “dilemna” is how it should be spelled. In fact, the internet also tells me that the majority of English speakers over 40 worldwide, believe that “dilemna” is correct, being taught that spelling in school.

The revered OED doesn’t even list “dilemna” as a variant, although the misspelling can be found as far back as 1551 (Wilson’s Rule of Reason) and even in Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

So here I am, after 50+ years, trying to figure out a way to remember the correct spelling. Maybe I’ll just come up with a good synonym instead!

What new tricks have you had to learn lately?

Business, Family, Food, Kids, Uncategorized

Pucker Up for Inflation

37 Comments

Two young girls had a card table set up outside the hardware store on Saturday, selling lemonade.  They had made up matching t-shirts for their cause and were very friendly and respectful.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before that I am a sucker for kids selling stuff.

I know I talked about my childhood KoolAid stands before. My mother always allowed me to use any Kool-Aid packets and sugar that I could find as well as Dixie cups and she never made me pay her back for the ingredients with my profit.  5 cents a cup.  Most days I made between 50 cents and a dollar, depending on how long I could keep it up.  I always felt a little like John D Rockefeller with this money.

These girls had options: water or lemonade. They also had something I never did – a choice of size!  Small, medium or large.  Their pricing started at $1.50.  I gave them $2 and told them to keep the change, thinking it wasn’t too much more than the pop I bought from a kid during the Lyndale Open Streets  festival a couple of weeks ago.  As I was driving home I thought back to my Kool-Aid days and hoped the money they made felt like a lot, like my 50 cents did to me way back when!

What’s something you’ve noticed has substantially increased in price since you were a kid?

 

 

Art, books, Fantasy, Uncategorized, Words

Literary Bust

37 Comments

As I was reading this morning (Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith [aka JK Rowlings]), the narrator casually mentions watching a show about art and the camera pans the room, to include a bust of Beethoven.  There is a smidge of discussion about how the protagonist looks a bit like Beethoven and then the story moves on.

But as the story continued, I was distracted by the thought of the Beethoven bust. Hadn’t a bust of Beethoven just been a book I finished last week?  And wasn’t there a bust of Beethoven in a book I read a couple of months ago.  Time to backtrack in my reading history.

There was indeed a bust of Beethoven in Transcription by Kate Atkinson.  It was included in a description of a room and then later was used by a Nazi sympathizer to try to escape from the MI5 agents who had uncovered her treachery.

The previous literary bust turned out to be Baudelaire, not Beethoven, in The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.  In that book, the Nazi (yeah, I know you ‘ve all heard me say I’m sick of WWII books, but apparently not that sick) uses a bust of Baudelaire to break the fingers of the young spy.  Gruesome.

I have no idea what this means to the larger world, that busts of Beethoven and Baudelaire have shown up repeatedly in my reading the last few months, but it’s fascinating to me.

Pick a bust for your living room… any composer, artist, writer or super hero. Living or dead.  Who is it?