This is a straight up-homage to the day. Not the turkey and football filled day, not the sweet potatoes and pilgrim hat day. For those of us who don’t practice thankfulness as often as we should (including me), today is a day to help us do just that – practice thankfulness.
You’ve heard it before – what are you grateful for?
Last week the Trail hit 7,000 followers. This made me curious about some of our other current stats.
But these are just numbers.
What do YOU think is noteworthy about the Trail? And if you have never commented before, this is your day – just a one word comment to add to our stats?
Over the weekend, PJ got me going when she said “I can think of worse ways to go than death by ice cream.” It reminded me of the time we had talked about death by rhubarb and Clyde actually found a book entitled exactly that. (It was awful!)
So I went looking for death by ice cream titles. Didn’t find exactly that, but found plenty that were close enough. Here are a few:
Ice Cream Murder (A Sprinkles Cozy Mystery) by Jennifer Martin
Death with a Cherry on Top by Molly Dox
Chunky Raspberry Fudge Murder by Penelope Manzone
Death by Chocolate Sundae by Constance Barker
Triple Dipped Murder by Gretchen Allen
Death by Chocolate Malted Milkshake by Sarah Graves
I requested a couple from the library – you never know, maybe I’ll find a new author I need to follow.
But while I was searching around, I found this:
National Ice Cream Death Museum, Derbyshire
Perhaps the most unusual display anywhere in Britain, this small but lively museum is devoted to major accidents, deaths and disasters caused by ice cream, from the great M65 pile-up of 1981 (caused by a discarded vanilla tub, on which a lorry skidded) to the case of the Sussex child who swallowed a wooden ice cream spoon in 1967 and still walks around happily with it inside. Anyone who has any new ice cream disaster to report should ring their Cones Hot Line (sic).
(Independent.co.uk 1998)
I couldn’t find any indication that the museum is still open. I can’t even confirm that there was a great M65 pile-up of 1981 or that a Sussex child swallowed a wooden ice cream spoon in 1967. But it’s fun to think about.
What’s the most interesting museum you’ve ever been to?
It was a hot day, sunny with a bit of a breeze. The big pavilion next to Sea Salt was blocked for a family gathering and all the nearby tables, even the ones with no shade, were filled up. We had a tablecloth that we could have spread out on the ground but we thought it would end up being a re-telling of The Princess & the Pea. A little ways off we could see what looked like some empty picnic tables, in the shade no less, so we trooped over.
Minnehaha Park is heavily forested with oak trees. None of them are famous (although there are plenty of famous oak trees if you believe the internet) but they provided a nice, cool bit of shade. We settled in and then fairly quickly realized why no one else had claimed the spot.
Acorns are oak nuts; they usually contain just one seed and can take between 6 to 24 months to mature before they can sprout into an oak tree. All I can say is that the acorns in the oak trees above us were ready to go. The terminal velocity of a falling acorn from a tall 40-foot tree is 22 miles per hour. Most of the acorns didn’t hit us directly, but they made a whooping loud noise when they hit books, plates, phones and the tables themselves. Even though we stayed for a couple of hours, when we got up to leave we felt like we were fleeing from a dangerous situation.
When did you first fall in love?
Today’s post comes to us from Ben.
Pastor Mike married us. And he baptized both kids.
A few years after that he moved back out to the West coast; a place where his soul really belonged.
We’d message on FB occasionally. He was learning to play guitar and I’d ask what he was listening too or what he was learning to play.
Johnny Cash was a common subject for both of us. Johnny’s ‘American’ series of recordings were some of our favorites. Mike would give me a verse from Tennessee Stud or Delia’s Gone and I’d give him the next. It was a neat way to connect with one of my favorite people.
Mike died of a brain tumor this winter.
I’m lighting a production of ‘Ring of Fire’ at the Rochester Civic Theater. It’s a Johnny Cash retrospective. Not much story, just a lot of his music played by 5 different singer/musicians. The other night at rehearsal they practiced Delia’s Gone.
I thought of Mike and how, maybe to no-one but myself, this show was for him.
I left rehearsal and headed for home. Checked some fields along the way. Stopped to check on our neighbor’s house since they are gone on vacation, stopped to close the gates at the end of our driveway and saw a motorcycle coming down the road. And I sort of groan inwardly… dang bikers. Thought I better get the gate shut quick.
As the bike gets closer I see it’s more of a scooter and a couple about my age on it. I say Hello and pull one gate shut. They pull up a little closer and call my name. And when they take the helmets off, it’s John and Mary.
Pastor John who was associate pastor with Pastor Mike.
I’m pretty sure Mike sent them out to see us tonight.
And I thought of this group of Baboons and Serendipity again.
Got a favorite religious person?
Today’s post comes from Barbara in Rivertown.
A few weeks ago I was laughing out loud at the following exchange on The Trail:
———————-
NorthShorer
Another funny moment in my “annals of kindness” I often leave a loaf of bread hanging on the door of our next door neighbor when she comes home from teaching music all day. I left a loaf Thursday. I just found a note telling me very tactfully that she has given up bread for Lent. 🙂
PlainJane
Guess she doesn’t want your wonderful bread to go to waste.
littlejailbird
If I was your neighbor, I would never give up bread for Lent.
Of course, I’ve never given up anything for Lent, but if I did, I would give up something like liver or blue cheese.
PlainJane
Tut, tut, ljb, it’s supposed to be a sacrifice.
littlejailbird
how did you guess that it wasn’t?
PlainJane
Just a hunch.
————————
Although Lent has already come and gone, if you were going to give up something for Lent that was a true sacrifice, what would it be (knowing that it was just for a few weeks)?
What would be your faux sacrifice alternative, like ljb’s liver or blue cheese?
Time to celebrate.
We’ve officially made it over a year on our own and now we’ve covered the cost of the Trail for the next year. 261 posts. We average 1,085 comments a month with an all-time total of 131,623 comments. Every week we average between 850 and 1,000 views and a whopping 806,982 total views over the years with 6,276 followers. Our most active time of day is 9 a.m. I think the baboons are thriving!
We’re celebrating. What would you like to see at the party?
