What a difference 30 minutes can make.

“There’s a generous current in the American spirit.  And if we can simply give voice to that once in a while, I think it’s a good message.”  ~ Fred Rogers

The saga:  Once, when I was maybe about fifteen, I attempted to mow a lawn. Sadly, it was not counted as a success. At the time, we were even living on a fairly flat piece of ground, for East Tennessee real estate. I think I pushed the machine around for about 15 minutes before giving up. Time has dulled my memory of just what caused me to give up so quickly – was it a too-hot summer day? I have a vague memory of sneezing, wheezing, and watering eyes – allergy excuse? Was I just being lazy?

I am just not a garden or yard person, and have managed to live in apartments most of my life ~or in houses where someone else tended the yard.  I used to buy house plants – and I love painting plant pots - but was so rarely successful at keeping the plants green (or their appropriate color) that I finally decided to stop the madness and wanton destruction, and just gaze from afar at other people’s plants, with envy.  I love gardening television.

This year, I am taking responsibility for a yard for the first time ever.  Thank goodness for National Public Radio on a Saturday morning!

Wait, question, before you even get to the mowing part, what do you do with all the branches that the wretched trees are constantly raining down on the lawn??  I hope they will work in the fireplace this winter; otherwise, they’re going to be returning to the earth naturally, and possibly right where they lie.  Kidding, at least I have been putting them into a pile.  Anyway…

The yard is a really nice size (whoa, it looks awfully big from behind the mower).  I have been working at it for a couple of months, and can do the front, sides, and part of the back in about an hour and a half.  I have accepted the fact that my neighbors are standing behind their curtains (in cool air conditioning) laughing and laughing and laughing as they watch me winding back and forth and up and down and crossing over myself multiple times, very inefficiently working this mowing-the-yard thing out.  What do they know, they all have riding mowers.  At least I’m getting some exercise!

Well, the farthest portion in the back has been a challenge.  I decided to approach it by adding about 5 passes of the mower each time.  I worked my way halfway up the hill, having to go over the overgrown grass a couple of times, but knowing each next time would be faster.  (Yes, that makes sense, just read it again more slowly.) 

The happy ending:  Saturday was a lovely, sunny, cool morning.  At 8 a.m., I started by taking down a few rows in the back, and it was such a nice morning that I just couldn’t stop and  ended up doing a whole section of the upper stretch, all the way to the neighbor’s yard!  Figuring I had about an hour and a half more of the double-duty stuff to finish off the last section, I was running out of steam by 10:30 and stopped to feed myself and my visiting niece.  The one who was asleep on the couch the whole time.  Did I mention she’s an energetic 16-year-old who runs track and plays tennis?

After a breakfast of leftover chicken quesadillas, off we went to the dump and then for some window shopping.  (It’s a small community.)  When we got home after three, I realized I was hearing a lawn mower awfully close by, just out the back.  When I stepped out, there was my neighbor with his mower!  It took him about 30 minutes to knock down the last few yards of tall grass!  I love my neighbor!  He said his wife commented to him that I was working hard on it all morning ~ I guess she took pity on me and sent him out to finish it off.  I love that about her!

So, now all the grass is finally at “neighborhood” level, and will be a snap to mow next time.  What a difference 30 minutes of time from a generous stranger can make in your world!  This is one I will be paying back and paying forward.

Hope your grass is green and you have a great week!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”  ~ Winston Churchill

Food for Friday

This being a summer holiday weekend and all, one of the big ones that traditionally features sparklers and grills and watermelon seed spitting and weak paper plates and bugs and sunburn, it seems a good time to share a recipe from a coworker that is my new and most favoritest dish of the year.

She served this at a Relay for Life dinner ~ at which I decided that it was delicious enough to be counted as dessert ~ almost as tasty as a Key Lime pie ~ and I then served it at my sister’s wedding rehearsal dinner.  I made two huge pans of it, and they were both absolutely licked clean…the pans I mean, not the wedding party… (it still wasn’t pretty to watch).  This is the perfect dish for your weekend extravangaza, whether indoors or out, so grab a BIG SPOON and enjoy.

Recipe shorthand:  T = Tablespoon; t = teaspoon; C = Cup.

Rancho Beans, courtesy of Laura Elkins, Kitchen Goddess

2 1-lb cans of pork & beans, drained
1 lb ground beef
1 C brown sugar
1 C ketchup or catsup, your choice (I’m just listing it the way it was given to me!  Ha!)
2 C diced onions
1 T vinegar
2 T prepared mustard
1 t salt
Optional:  4 to 6 slices of cooked bacon, chopped

Brown the beef and onion together in a skillet.  Place this and all the other ingredients into a crock pot and cook for 2 to 3 hours.  Optionally, you may bake the mixture in a 325- to 350-degree oven for 45 minutes.

I did the oven bake option, which was good because I forgot to drain my pork & beans so they were kind of soupy.  However, when we reheated the dishes several hours later for dinner, the extra juice kept everything just right.  Also, feel free to vary the ingredients to your taste – I think a few shots of Tabasco sauce would be a fun addition.

Laura, you rock the beans!  These are for you, babe: 

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.  ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

Almost Wednesday ~ and almost July

There seems to be a general case of that ”almost Wednesday” feeling floating about today - I know I am not alone in wishing for some nap time…some Mondays are just that much more Mondayish.  Where’s a George Costanza desk when you could really use one??

Of course, by Wednesday, it will be next month already, and into what mist has the first half of 2008 vanished, precisely?  Ah, well, July will be a great month – after all, we get to celebrate all this wonderful summer stuff for the next 31 days:  Blueberries Month and Air-Conditioning Appreciation Days; Grilling, Ice Cream, Horseradish, Hot Dog, and Bikini Month; and Women’s Motorcycle and Nation Recreation & Parks Month.  I see some real alignment of the stars going on here – and the earth is at aphelion on July 4th!  ((The best thing about looking at the calendar occasionally is all the new stuff I learn.  Check out aphelion here if you don’t know it already.  Although this article refers to the year 2001, aphelion is occuring on July 4th again in 2008 according to the Navy.))

In addition to celebrating our nation’s independence this Friday, there are a plethora of special days this month.  Let me just mention the one which, perhaps, holds the most significance for the human race:  Chocolate Day, July 7th.  Never mind national or international chocolate day or any of the varietal chocolate days.  I find the simple Chocolate Day to be preeminent, expressed preeminently in the fudge state of being.  It comes long before Cow Appreciation and even Walk on Stilts days.

The United States is the only country with a known birthday.  ~ James G. Blaine

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

We welcome a visit by Uncle Sam to the store this weekend.  He will be handing out American flags to our guests, and reminding us of the hard-won freedom our nation cherishes and celebrates on Independence Day.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Speaking on Memorial Day

NPR had another great StoryCorp entry this morning, about a man who learned about his father’s life through helping him tend the graves of his community.  Go here to listen to the story.

A few quotes in honor of our service men and women this weekend:

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them.  ~ Francis A. Walker

The story of America’s quest for freedom is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots.  ~ Randy Vader

These heroes are dead.  They died for liberty – they died for us.  They are at rest.  They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines.  They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless Place of Rest.  Earth may run red with other wars – they are at peace.  In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death.  I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead:  cheers for the living; tears for the dead.  ~ Robert G. Ingersoll

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.  ~ Thucydides

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Cowboy Sky Off Fish Week

I participated in a youth leadership weekend recently (see Key Leader- it’s a great, great thing!).  Teams had to name themselves, and our fav was “Fiesty Baby Chipmunk Cookies” – this brilliant group of future leaders put a whole bunch of words into a hat and pulled four out - and we love love love the results.  I think this is how I will name all future posts.  [I think this could be how a lot of things should=can=do get named!  Have you seen any of the business-speak-generation web sites?  BRILLIANT!]

So, we’re half-way through Cowboy Poetry Week, Sky Awareness Week, Fish Fry Week, and TV Turn-off Week.  On top of all that, it’s Bill Shakespeare’s birthday today!  How many more excuses do we need to put on the pointy hats and eat cake with butter cream icing?  Sugar-high line forms behind me…I’ll take a corner slice, with flowers, please…

Okay, Cowboy Poetry ~ I recommend “The Night Before the Jackalopes Saved Christmas,” a rousing tale from David Althouse.  Not only will you find a wide-ranging selection of poetry at the Cowboy Poetry site, they also include a really cool selection of cowboy art and old ~ and new ~  photographs like this one.  I could spend some time here.

Sky Awareness Week ~ subtitle, “Chicken Little Was Here”?  Turns out this is serious stuff.  Now, the biggest sky of which I am aware is found in Montana, where I have many friends.  They have confirmed that yes, indeed, they are fully aware of the sky, and have particularly noted its presence above them this week.  Here’s an important take-away from SAW ~ there really is a difference between “partly cloudy” and “partly sunny.”   Take that to your next party and stop standing in the corner by the window – get out there and wow them with your clever banter and weather knowledge – you’ll be on everyone’s guest list by Christmas.  If you really want to rocket to the top of your social ladder, of course, you’d better nail your nephelococcygia.  Crucial for garden parties, weddings, barbecues, shrimp broils and what not.  I also think this is a great time to practice flying airplanes.  I mean the ones like this.

Oh, and Fish Frys, too – check out the Ultimate Fish Fry guide here.  My diligent, exhaustive,  and comprehensive search of the entire first two Google pages on “Fish Fry Week” failed to return a home site for this celebration, however – which means one of you opportunists out there can still grab “www.fishfryweek.com”, “www.fishfryweek.org” or “www.fishfryweek.net”.  Dude – fishfryweek.wordpress.com – start the blog!

As an avowed -though selective- TV-enthusiast, I cannot bring myself to say anything more about TV Turn-off Week.  Please take my actual mention of this so-called celebration in this column as the first of 431,567,908.2*{√π} steps to conquering my addiction.  Let’s move on.

Finally, The Bard’s Birthday!  I know you’ll make time today to reread a couple of plays and poems and insert a few pithy quotes into casual conversation.  It’s so easy.  “To be or not to be” “a rose by any other name” “is rotten in the state of Denmark.”  See??

“When you do dance, I wish you
A wave o’ th’ sea, that you might ever do
Nothing but that.”

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

P.S. Watch for it Saturday ~ Hug an Australian Day!

In Anticipation of Spring

Enjoy a few minutes in anticipation of spring… 

It’s spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you’ve got it, you want – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!  ~Mark Twain

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.  ~Bern Williams

I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring.  Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature’s rebirth?  ~Edward Giobbi

Is it so small a thing to have enjoyed the sun, to have lived light in the spring, to have loved, to have thought, to have done?  ~Matthew Arnold

I love better to count time from spring to spring; it seems to me far more cheerful to reckon the year by blossoms than by blight. ~Donald G. Mitchell

The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.  ~Harriet Ann Jacobs

The true harbinger of spring is not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of the bat on the ball.  ~Bill Veeck

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.  ~Rainer Maria Rilke

Nothing is so beautiful as spring – when weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring the ear, it strikes like lightning to hear him sing. ~Gerard Manley Hopkins

Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment.  ~Ellis Peters

Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. ~Kenneth Grahame

You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.  ~Pablo Neruda

~Janet @ The Christmas Place